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mixed up with our conversation, and I laughingly re-called for the old Dean's edification the valedictory scene between the chaplain and " M a c " under the gallows-tree m a n y years before. I never have forgotten the commentary, which was nearly verbatim this: — " A n d so the fellow ' M a c ' told you that, did he? (Here a short, low whistle). I doubt m u c h if any priest ever uttered such words; but if he did so, all I can n o w say is (another whistle) that if the rogue ' M a c ' could get to Heaven in a minute then, he was a great fool not to chance it, for I verily believe if he died to-day, instead of doing the journey in sixty seconds, it would take him a full three weeks; and even then I a m not all sure that something would not trip him up on the road." It must not be supposed that the opinion so confidently expressed by the worthy padre indicated any indirect disclosure of Confessional secrecy, for " M a c " was not over particular in supplicating a forgiveness of sins through the agency of contrition, a vow of reformation and penance. Dean Coffey based his surmise upon his general knowledge of the individual's merits and demerits. " M i c k y M a c " found his w a y to Port Phillip at the close of 1839 after a slightly round-about fashion. H e was shipped to N e w South Wales, as an item of a convict cargo, and his wife quickly followed and settled in Sydney. After a brief interval under the then prevalent system of prison assignment, her husband obtained a ticket-of-leave, and became his wife's assigned servant. This was a practical evasion of the law's intention, but in special cases it was connived at by the authorities. T h e Monteagle influence did not sleep at home, and through Governor Sir Richard Bourke, another Limerickite, " M a c " soon obtained a pardon restoring him to entire personal freedom, except that it conditioned that he should leave the colony ; whether there was the further proviso that he should never return to it, I cannot say, but such was usually the form in which such indigencies ran, and it is not likely this case was an exception. However, this might have been, " M a c " complied, so far as clearing out of N e w South Wales with his better-half was concerned. H e went to V a n Diemen's Land, and after a brief sojourn, doubled back to Melbourne where he remained for m a n y years. T h e faithful wife accompanied him, and be it recorded to his discredit that he did not requite her affection as it deserved. " M a c " once actually offered a ,£5 premium for a new curse for which there were half-a-dozen competitors, and the winner of the "prize" is not only still (1888) alive and well in Melbourne, but anyone seeing the solemn-phizzed semi sanctimonious looking worthy "doing" one of our public places, could scarcely conceive the possibility of his ever having taken so questionable an " honour." It is a laughable circumstance that the first person to experience the effect of the particular malediction was the late Sir (then Mr.) John O'Shanassy. " M i c k y " had a fairly prosperous career in Melbourne for more than twenty years, when he levanted to California, and was never after, so far as I know, reliably heard of. " B I G M I C K " was a burly, lazy-going, soft-faced, sly-eyed customer w h o occasionally fraternized, but more often fought, with a little customer nicknamed " Micky the Ribbon," from certain proclivities marking his career before leaving the " Himmeral Hoile," as he was wont to designate the land of his nativity. "Big M i c k " and the "Ribbon m a n " were night-watchmen. T h e big fellow's beat was Collins Street, and the little one's Elizabeth Street: but the only boundaries they beat were the back doors of public-houses, where they skulked and begged for free drinks. " M i c k y " was thefirstto lie down in the Old Cemetery; but " M i c k " managed to spin out existence until September, 1849, when he gave up the ghost, and was interred by the Friendly Brothers, a small Charity Society, whose good deeds have long been forgotten. " LONG M ," though not a convict, acquired a dubious notoriety before he transferred his corpus from Launceston to Melbourne. A loud boaster of a past military career, (he was an ex-soldier sergeant), hisfirstpublic appointment was the overseership of a small gang of prisoners, into whose care was temporarily given the maintenance of the unmacadamized streets. In M , the luckless devils had a rough, unreasonable master, and matters finally assumed such a threatening aspect that to evade probable assassination the overseer threw up his billet in terror and disgust. A s a constable, he supplemented his pay by blackmailing drunkards and both licensed and unlicensed grog-sellers, and he clung with a sort of affection round the door of the Police Office, as, what is known in