however, was by no means so fortunate.  The next morning, he and his curate were under the necessity of holding a station in a distant part of the parish.  Father Anthony, however, feeling himself fatigued by his burthen of the preceding night, sent the curate on before him, with an assurance that he would follow him in an hour or two.  He accordingly did so, but, with his usual inattention to dress, was seen the next morning, about ten o’clock, riding along the public road—­which was a great thoroughfare—­towards the locality of the station with the history of the previous night’s transaction written as clearly oh his back as if it had been labelled there in large and legible print.  The truth is, the humane and charitable priest had neglected to get his coat brushed—­an operation which it never underwent unless on a Sunday morning—­and the consequence was, that whilst the front part of his dress was tolerably black, the back part of it would have done credit to the coat of a miller.  The sagacity of the people was not for a moment at fault.  Both circumstances were immediately connected; his reverence’s secret took wind, and before the expiration of forty-eight hours was known to the whole parish.

CHAPTER XVI.—­Massacre of Carrickshock

—­Mogue Moglan’s Anxiety for the Safety of the Purcels—­Tithe Distraint—­Good News for Mr. Temple.

Matters had now arrived at such a crisis, that either the law must be vindicated, or tithes should be considered as put down by violence on the one hand, and passive resistance on the other; for, as the question stood, it had to grapple with both.  The clergymen of the establishment, cramped by poverty, and harassed by delay, were not now in a condition to recover their incomes by the tedious and expensive processes that were hitherto resorted to.  Some point, however, was made, or some antiquated statute was ferreted out, owing to the black-letter craft of certain astute lawyers, by which the parson or proctor, we believe, as the case might have been, instead of being forced to incur enormous expense for the recovery of any individual responsibility, was enabled, through what was termed a “Writ of Rebellion,” to join the greater part of a parish, if not the whole of it, in the same legal process, by inserting their names in the writ.  At first, however, and in the early stage of the proceedings, the resistance was by no means passive.  Experience, however, soon taught the people that the law and the executive, when opposed, were anything but playthings, and the loss of several lives on the part of those who attempted, by force, to obstruct the execution of the former, led to the expediency of adopting the passive plan.  A widow’s son had been shot in a tithe-levy; and on the other side, a clergyman named Ryder had fallen a victim to the outrage of the people—­as, we believe, had other reverend gentlemen also, together with a tithe-proctor, who was shot in his own field