at that instant, and called out to the mob, “Gentlemen, it is yellow!  Gentlemen, it is not orange!” In consequence of this happy distinction they let go the coachman; and the same man who had mounted guard at the gate, came up with his friends, rescued the carriage, and surrounding the coachman with their pikes brought him safely into the yard.  The pole of the carriage having been broken in the first onset, the housekeeper could not leave Edgeworth Town till morning.  She passed the night in walking up and down, listening and watching, but the rebels returned no more, and thus our house was saved by the gratitude of a single individual.

’We had scarcely time to rejoice in the escape of our housekeeper and safety of our house, when we found that new dangers arose even from this escape.  The house being saved created jealousy and suspicion in the minds of many, who at this time saw everything through the mist of party prejudice.  The dislike to my father’s corps appeared every hour more strong.  He saw the consequences that might arise from the slightest breaking out of quarrel.  It was not possible for him to send his men, unarmed as they still were, to their homes, lest they should be destroyed by the rebels; yet the officers of the other corps wished to have them sent out of the town, and to this effect joined in a memorial to government.  Some of these officers disliked my father, from differences of electioneering interests; others, from his not having kept up an acquaintance with them; and others, not knowing him in the least, were misled by party reports and misrepresentations.

’These petty dissensions were, however, at one moment suspended and forgotten in a general sense of danger.  An express arrived late one night with the news that the French, who were rapidly advancing, were within a few miles of the town of Longford.  A panic seized the people.  There were in the town eighty of the carabineers and two corps of yeomanry, but it was proposed to evacuate the garrison.  My father strongly opposed this measure, and undertook, with fifty men, if arms and ammunition were supplied, to defend the gaol of Longford, where there was a strong pass, at which the enemy might be stopped.  He urged that a stand might be made there till the King’s army should come up.  The offer was gladly accepted—­men, arms, and ammunition, all he could want or desire, were placed at his disposal.  He slept that night in the gaol, with everything prepared for its defence; but the next morning fresh news came, that the French had turned off from the Longford Road, and were going towards Granard; of this, however, there was no certainty.  My father, by the desire of the commanding officer, rode out to reconnoitre, and my brother went to the top of the courthouse with a telescope for the same purpose.  We (Mrs. Edgeworth, my aunts, my sisters, and myself) were waiting to hear the result in one of the upper sitting-rooms of the inn, which fronted the street.  We heard a loud shout, and going to the window, we saw the people throwing up their hats, and heard huzzas.  An express had arrived with news that the French and the rebels had been beaten; that General Lake had come up with them at a place called Ballynamuck, near Granard; that 1500 rebels and French were killed, and that the French generals and officers were prisoners.