At this period, notwithstanding the circumstances which we have just related--and they were severe enough--the distress of the Protestant clergy of Ireland was just only beginning to set in. It had not, as yet, however, assumed anything like that formidable shape in which it subsequently appeared. To any scourge so dreadful, no class in the educated and higher ranks of society had been, within the records of historical recollection, ever before subjected. Still, like a malignant malady, even its first symptoms were severe, and indicative of the sufferings by which, with such dreadful certainty, they were followed. On that day, and at the very moment when the mysterious attempt at assassination,which we have recorded, was made, Dr. Turbot's worthy curate, on returning home from the neighboring village of Lisnagola, was, notwithstanding great reluctance on his part, forced into the following conversation with his lovely but dejected wife: “Charles,” said she, fixing her large, tearful eyes upon him, with a look in which love, anxiety, and sorrow were all blended, “I fear you have not been successful in the village. Has Moloney refused us?” “Only conditionally, my dear Maria--that is, until our account is paid up--but for the present, and perhaps for a little longer, we must deny ourselves these 'little luxuries,'” and he accompanied the words with a melancholy smile. “Tea and sugar and white bread are now beyond our reach, and we must be content with a simpler fare.” Mrs. Temple, on looking at their children, could scarcely refrain from tears; but she knew her husband's patience and resignation, and felt that it was her duty to submit with humility to the dispensation of God. “You and I, my dear Charles, could bear up under anything--but these poor things, how will they do?” “That reflection is only natural, my dear Maria; but it is spoken, dearest, only like a parent, who probably loves too much and with an excess of tenderness. Just reflect, darling, upon the hundreds of thousands of children in our native land, who live healthily and happily without ever having tasted either tea or loaf-bread at all; and think, besides, dearest, that there are, in the higher circles, a great number of persons whose children are absolutely denied these comforts, by advice of their physicians. Our natural wants, my dear Maria, are but simple, and easily satisfied; it is wealth and luxury only that corrupt and vitiate them. In this case, then, dearest, the Christian must speak, and act, and feel as well as the parent. You understand me now, love, and that is sufficient. I have not succeeded in procuring anything for you or them, but you may rest assured that God will not desert us.” “Yes, dear Charles,” replied his wife, whose black mellow eyes beamed with joy; “all that is true, but you forgot that Dr. Turbot has arrived to receive his tithes, and you will now receive your stipend. That will carry us out of our present difficulty at least.”