action could be transacted without that ceremony, whatever it might mean. Idlers were everywhere celebrating the merits and "dacency" of the various buyers and sellers. Huge greasy leather pocket-books of undoubted antiquity, were to be seen in many a hand, and rolls of bank-notes were deftly changing owners. The ground, too, was beginning to clear, and purchasers were driving off their cattle. Many of the dealers who had disposed of stock were taking their ease in the inns.

You

could see them looking out of the open windows; and, occasionally, a man whose potations had been early and excessive went whooping through the crowd. In a short time John returned with his friend.

"Captain Broster," said John, presenting him, "has promised to dine with us at three. Sharp at the hour, mind, for we wish to leave early."

"I'll be punctual as clockwork," said the captain, turning to look after his purchases.

We strolled up and down till three o'clock, and then bent our steps to the inn, where we found Broster waiting. In honour to his guests the landlord himself brought in dinner, and waited with great diligence. When the table was cleared we had punch and cigars, and sat chatting at the open window. The space in front was tolerably clear of cattle now, but dealers were hovering about, standing in clumps, or promenading in parties of twos and threes. But at this point a new element had entered into the scene. It was dinner hour, and many of the forgemen from the furnaces above had come down to see what was going on. Huge, hulking, swarthy-featured fellows they were. Welshmen, chiefly, as I was afterwards told; who, confident in their strength, were at no pains to conceal their contempt for the natives. They, too, mingled in the crowd, but the greater number leaned lazily against the houses, smoking their short pipes and indulging in the dangerous luxury of "chaffing" the farmers. Many a rude wit-combat was going on, accompanied by roars of

laughter, snatches of which we occasionally heard. Broster had been in the Crimea, was wounded at Alma, recovered, went through all the work and privation of the first winter of the siege, got knocked up, came home on sick leave, and having had enough of it, as he frankly confessed, took the opportunity on his father's death, which happened then, to sell out and settle as a farmer on a small property to which he fell heir. He chatted about the events of the war in an easy, familiar way, quietly, as if the whole affair had been a game at football; and when courage, strength, and splendid prospects were changed by unseen bullet, or grim bayonet stab, into a rude grave on the bleak plateau, the thing was mentioned, as a mere matter of course! Sometimes a comrade's fate met with an expression of soldierly regret, slight and indifferent enough, yet with a certain pathos which no high-flown oration could reach. For the indifferent tone seemed to acquiesce in destiny, to consider that disappointment had been too common in the life of every man during the last six thousand years to warrant any raving or passionate surprise at this time of day; and that in any case our ordinary pulse and breath time our march to the grave; passion beats the double-quick, and when it is all over, there is little need for outcry and the shedding of tears over the eternal rest. In the midst of his talk, voices rose in one of the apartments below: the noise became altercation, and immediately a kind of struggling or dragging was heard in the flagged passage, and then a tipsy forgeman was unceremoniously shot out into the square; and the inn door closed with an angry bang. individual seemed to take the indignity in very good part; along he staggered, his hands in his pockets, heedless of the satirical gibes and remarks of his companions, who were smoking beneath our windows. Looking out, we could see that his eyes were closed, as if he scorned the outer world, possessing one so much more satisfactory within himself. As he went he began to sing from sheer

The

excess of happiness; the following stanza coming distinctly to our ears.

"When I was a chicken as big as a hen, My mother 'ot me an' I 'ot her agen ; My father came for to see the r-r-rrow, So I lifted my fist an I'ot him a clow."

"I hope that fellow won't come to grief," said Broster, as the forgeman lurched through a group of countrymen intent on a bargain, and passed on without notice or apology, his eyes closed, and singing as before,

"Ses my mother, ses she, there's a

peeler at hand."

"By Jove, he's down at last, and there'll be the devil to pay! 7!" We looked out the forgeman was prone in the dust, singing, and apparently unconscious that he had changed his position. A party of farmers were standing around laughing; one of them had put out his foot and tripped the forgeman as he passed. The next moment, a bare-armed, black-browed hammersmith stood out from the wall, and, without so much as taking the pipe from his mouth, felled the dealer at a blow, and then looked at his companions as if wishing to be informed if he could do anything in the same way for them. The blow was a match dropped in a powder magazine. Alelu! to the combat. There were shouts and yells. Insult had been rankling long in the breasts of both parties. scores had to be paid off. From every quarter, out of the inns, leaving potheen and ale, down the streets from among the cattle, the dealers came rushing to the fray. The forgemen mustered with alacrity, as if battle were the breath of their nostrils. In a few seconds, the square was the scene of a general melée. The dealers fought with their short heavy sticks; the forgemen had but the weapons nature gave, but their arms were sinewed with iron, and every blow told like a hammer. These last were overpowered for a while, but the alarm had already spread to the furnaces above, and parties of twos and threes

Old

came at a run, and flung themselves in to the assistance of their companions. Just at this moment, a couple of constables pressed forward into the mad yelling crowd. A hammersmith came behind one, and seizing his arms, held him, despite his struggles, firmly as in a vice. The other was knocked over and trampled under foot. "Good heavens, murder will be done," cried Broster, lifting his heavy whip from the table. "We must try and put an end to this disgraceful scene. Will you join me?" "With heart and soul," said Penruddock, "and there is no time to be lost. Come along, Burdett." At the foot of the stair we found the landlord shaking in every limb. He had locked the door, and was standing in the passage with the key in his hand. "McQueen, we want out; open the door."

"Shure, jintlemen, you'r not goin' just now. You'll be torn to paces if you go."

"If you won't open the door give me the key, and I'll open it myself."

The landlord passively yielded: Broster unlocked the door, and flung the key down on the flagged passage. "Now, my lads," cried he to half a dozen countrymen who were hanging-on spectators on the skirts of the combat, and at the same time twisting his whip lash tightly around his right hand till the heavily leaded head became a formidable weapon, a blow from which would be effective on any skull of ordinary susceptibility; "Now my lads, we are resolved to put an end to this, will you assist us?" The captain's family had been long resident in the county, he was himself personally known to all of them, and a cheerful "ay, ay,' was the response. "Penruddock, separate them when you can, knock them over when you can't, Welshman or Irishman, its quite the same." So saying, in we drove. Broster clove a way for himself, distributing his blows with great impartiality, and knocking over the combatants like ninepins. We soon reached the middle of the square, where the fight was hottest.

The captain was swept away in an eddy for a moment, and right in front of Penruddock and myself two men were grappling on the ground. As they rolled over, we saw that one was the hammersmith who had caused the whole affray. We flung ourselves upon them, and dragged them up. The dealer with whom I was more particularly engaged had got the worst of it, and plainly wasn't sorry to be released from the clutches of his antagonist. With his foe it was different. His slow sullen blood was fairly in a blaze, and when John pushed him aside, he dashed at him and struck him a severe blow on the face. In a twinkling, Penruddock's coat was off, while the faintest stream of blood trickled from his upper lip. "Well, my man," said he, as he stood up ready for action, "if that's the game you mean to play at, I hope to give you a bellyful before I've done." "Seize that man, knock him over," said Broster; "you're surely not going to fight him, Penruddeck, it's sheer madness; knock him over." "I tell you what it is," said Penruddock, turning savagely, "you sha'n't deprive me of the luxury of giving this fellow a sound hiding." Broster shrugged his shoulders, as if giving up the case. By this time the cry arose, "Black Jem's goin' to fight the gentle man," and a wide enough ring was formed. Many who were prosecuting small combats of their own desisted, that they might behold this greater one. Broster stood beside John.

"He's an

ugly mass of strength," whispered he, "and will hug you like a bear; keep him well off, and remain cool for Heaven's sake." 'Ready?" said John, stepping forward. "As a lark i' the mornin'," growled Jem, as he took up his ground. The men were very wary, Jem retreating round and round, John advancing. Now and then one or other darted out a blow, but it was generally stopped, and no harm done. At last the blows went home; the blood began to rise. The men drew closer, and struck with greater rapidity. They are at it at last, hammer and tongs. No shirking or flinching now. Jem's was flowing. He was No. 9.-VOL. II.

He

evidently getting severely punished. He couldn't last long at that rate. fought desperately for a close, when a blinding blow full in the face brought him to the earth. He got up again like a madman, the whole bull-dog nature of him possessed and mastered by fierce, brutal rage. He cursed and struggled

in the arms of his supporters to get at his enemy, but by main force they held him back till he recovered himself. "He'll be worked off in another round," I heard Broster whisper in my ear. Ah! here they come! I glanced at John for a moment as he stood with his eye on his foe. There was that in his face that boded no good. The features had hardened into iron somehow; the pitiless mouth was clenched, the eye cruel. A hitherto unknown part of his nature revealed itself to me as he stood there. Perhaps unknown to himself. God help us, what strangers we are to ourselves! In every man's nature there is an interior unexplored as that of Africa, and over that region what wild beasts may roam! But they are at it again; Jem still fights for a close, and every time his rush is stopped by a damaging blow. They are telling rapidly; his countenance, by no means charming at the best, is rapidly transforming. Look at that hideously gashed lip! But he has dodged Penruddock's left this time, and clutched him in his brawny arms. Now comes the tug of war, skill pitted against skill, strength against strength. They breathe for a little in one another's grip, as if summoning every energy. They are at it now, broad chest to chest. Now they seem motionless, but by the quiver of their frames you can guess the terrific strain going on. Now one has the better, now the other, as they twine round each other, lithe and supple as serpents. Penruddock yields ! No! That's a bad dodge of Jem's. By Jove he loses his grip. All is over with him. John's brow grows dark; the veins start out on it; and the next moment Black Jem, the hero of fifty fights, slung over his shoulder, falls heavily to the ground.

At his fall a cheer rose from the

dealers. "You blacksmith fellows had better make off," cried Broster; "your man has got the thrashing he deserves, and you can carry him home with you. I am resolved to put a stop to these disturbances-there have been too many of late." The furnace men hung for a moment irresolute, seemingly half inclined to renew the combat, but a formidable array of cattle-dealers pressed forward and turned the scale. They

decided on a retreat. Black Jem, who had now come to himself, was lifted up, and, supported by two men, retired toward the works and dwellings on the upper grounds, accompanied by his companions, who muttered many a surly oath and vow of future vengeance.

When we got back to the inn, John was very anxious about his face. He washed, and carefully perused his features in the little looking-glass. Luckily, with the exception of the upper lip slightly cut by Jem's first blow, no mark of the combat presented itself; at this happy result of his investigations he expressed great satisfaction-Broster laughing the meanwhile, and telling

him that he was as careful of his face as a young lady.

The captain came down to see us off. The fair was over now, and the little streets were almost deserted. The dealers apprehensive of another descent from the furnaces-had hurried off as soon as their transactions could in any way permit. Groups of villagers, however, were standing about the doors discussing the event of the day; and when Penruddock appeared he became, for a quarter of an hour, an object of public interest for the first time in his life, and so far as he has yet lived, for the last; an honour to which he did not seem to attach any particular value.

We shook hands with the captain; then, at a touch of the whip, the horse started at a gallant pace, scattering a brood of ducks in all directions; and in a few minutes, Keady,-with its white-washed houses and dark row of furnaces, tipped with tongues of flame, pale and shrunken yet in the lustre of the afternoon, but which would rush out wild and lurid when the evening fell,lay a rapidly dwindling speck behind.

Ir is very important to arrive at some definite opinion on a subject which has been so much confused.

I wish to direct attention to three distinct series of effects which have been produced by the new gold.

Firstly. The substance which is by so many nations adopted as a medium of exchange has been augmented in quantity.

Secondly. The new gold has influenced the wealth and the social condition of the countries in which it has been discovered.

Thirdly. Great Britain has been affected by this change in the social and material condition of one of her most important colonies.

When it was found in 1851 that Australia and California would each year supply nearly 30,000,000l. of gold, or, in other words, at least four times as much as all other gold mines had annually yielded before, it was supposed that gold would rapidly decline in value to the extent of at least twenty-five per cent. The best authorities now agree that this decline has not as yet occurred. I will, in the first place, state the reasons which justify this supposition, and then explain in what manner the increased gold has been absorbed, and its value been maintained. An inductive proof of a change in the value of gold requires data which cannot be obtained, for a comparison of general prices during the

last ten years will not afford a sufficient proof. Thus the average price of wheat is lower now than then. The value of gold compared with wheat has risen; but how erroneous would it be thence to conclude that its general value had risen! Wheat has declined in price because it can be imported cheaply from other countries. On the other hand, the price of meat and dairy produce has of late risen considerably. This rise in

price we know is partly due to the increasing wants of an advancing population, and especially to the increased consumption of a more numerous and better paid labouring class; but although we know this, we cannot assert that the rise in the price of such produce has not been augmented by a fall in the general value of gold. Manifestly such comparisons avail nothing. The price of silver will afford the most important evidence. Silver and gold have been adopted as the general media of exchange because they are liable to little change in their value. The value of these metals, like agricultural produce, is determined by the cost of obtaining them under the most unfavourable circumstances. Therefore their value is not altered, unless the current rate of profit in a country falls, and renders it profitable to work worse mines than those already worked; or, on the other hand, rises, and renders it no longer profitable to work these worse mines. Where commodities are employed in industrial occupations, the demand is variable; their value depends upon the demand; and this value constantly tends to obtain that position of stable equilibrium when the supply equals the demand. But the quantity of gold and silver which is used for industrial purposes is comparatively very insignificant; and when a substance is used merely as a medium of exchange, the demand is always exactly equal to the supply; the aggregate supply determines the value, and the value in a cross way regulates the supply, because the supply must give such a value as will cause the current rate of profit to be obtained in the worst mines. If, therefore, within the last ten

years no silver mines of exceptional richness have been discovered, and the worse mines which were then worked are worked now, it affords strong evidence that nothing has occurred to affect the value of silver. If, therefore, gold has declined in value twenty-five per cent., silver estimated in gold would have increased twenty-five per cent. in price. But it has not increased five per cent. This, I believe, affords important evidence that the general value of gold has not yet declined. For some years up to 1840 our exports and imports had steadily increased. About that time the progress seemed to have ceased, for from 1840 to 1846 our exports remained at the stationary point of about 50,000,000. per annum. The fettered energy of the country seemed to have achieved its utmost. Free trade and the repeal of the navigation laws unloosed these fetters, and then the country started on a career of the most extraordinary progress. Our exports in nine years advanced from 50,000,000l. to 115,000,000l. In 1847, 475,000,000 lbs. of cotton were imported; in 1856 more than 1,000,000,000 lbs. This increased commerce stimulates the accumulation of capital; the wage-fund of the country is augmented, and wages, especially in the manufacturing districts, obtain a very decided rise. Free trade also cheapens many of the prime necessaries of life, and much more can therefore be spared for luxuries. No luxury is more prized by the poor than tea; and hence we find that only 50,000,000 lbs. of tea were imported in 1850, but that 86,000,000 lbs. were imported in 1856. In Europe, during the last few years, there has been a great failure of the silk crop. China has been resorted to; and thus, while only 1,700,000 lbs. of silk were imported in 1850, more than 4,000,000 lbs. were imported in each of the years 1854, 1855. The plodding industry of the Chinese enables them to supply this increased tea and silk; but, surrounded with all the prejudices which have resulted from an isolation of two thousand years, we can induce them to take no useful commodities in return. They will be