"You know it better than I do, General," said the Major of Dragoons. "It may be a day or two earlier or later, but the issue will and must be--a surrender." "I don't agree with you," said Humbert, laughing; "I think there will be more than one 'Castlebar.' But let the worst happen, and you must own that your haughty country has received a heavy insult--your great England has got a _soufflét_ in the face of all Europe!" This, which our General regarded as a great compensation--the greatest, perhaps, he could receive for all defeat--did not seem to affect the English with proportionate dismay, nor even to ruffle the equanimity of their calm tempers. Upon one subject both sides were quite agreed--that the peasantry never could aid, but very possibly would always shipwreck, every attempt to win national independence. "I should have one army to fight the English, and two to keep down the Irish!" was Humbert's expression; and very little experience served to show that there was not much exaggeration in the sentiment. Our week at Castlebar taught us a good lesson in this respect. The troops, wearied with a march that had begun on the midnight of the day before, and with an engagement that lasted from eight till two in the afternoon, were obliged to be under arms for several hours, to repress pillage and massacre. Our allies now filled the town, to the number of five thousand, openly demanding that it should be given up to them, parading the streets in riotous bands, and displaying banners with long lists of names, doomed for immediate destruction. The steadiness and temper of our soldiery were severely tried by these factious and insubordinate spirits; but discipline prevailed at last, and before the first evening closed in, the town was quiet, and, for the time, at least, danger over. (_To be continued._) SKETCHES FROM LIFE. BY HARRIET MARTINEAU. I. THE OLD GOVERNESS. The afternoon was come when the Morells must go on board. They were going to Canada at last, after having talked about it for several years. There were so many children, that it was with much difficulty they had got on for some years past; and there was no prospect for the lads at home. They had, with extreme difficulty, paid their way: and they had, to a certain extent, educated the children. That, however, was Miss Smith's doing. "We shall always feel, every one of us," said Mrs. Morell, with tears, to the elderly homely governess, "that we are under the deepest obligations to you. But for you, the children would have grown up without any education at all. And, for the greatest service you or any one could possibly render us, we have never been able to give you your due--even as regards the mere money." "I can only say again," replied the governess, "that you do not look at the whole of the case. You have given me a home, when it is no easy matter for such as I am to earn one, with my old-womanish ways and my old-fashioned knowledge."