MARTYRS.
THE ranks of the "noble army of martyrs" have received numerous recruits of late years. It may be doubted whether the veterans of the corps do not lock upon the new comers as having been ad- mitted on too easy terms. Worthy gentlemen and ladies who earned the title of martyr by undergoing lengthened fasts and flagellations in lonely wildernesses, by being exposed naked and unarmed to wild beasts, by being flayed alive, shot to death with burning arrows, or broiled on a gridiron, must look upon our mo- dern martyrs with a feeling like that entertained by one of " the Old Guard " towards one of " the Young Guard," who had not received " the bapterne de feu." Modern martyrdom is a much more easy process. A gentleman is sequestered for some months from his usual haunts; he is relegated to an airy, comfortable apartment ; allowed to walk for certain hours in a garden or court- yard; has his books about him ; and, like Dives, " fares sump- tuously every day." He receives the frequent visits of his friends, with all the delicious sense of importance which has been known to reconcile invalids to sickness if not too severe. And when the pe- riod of his retirement has elapsed, he issues from his place of retreat, like O'CossatEr.r., to receive the plaudits of assembled thousands, or like BURDETT, to enjoy them by proxy in the person of JOHN GALE JONES, with the flattering unction that by not appearing to collect them in propria persona he has conducted himself magnanimously towards his persecutors. Even beatified saints may be supposed to retain enough of mortal infirmity to grudge the attainment of their blood-bought honours on such easy terms. It is all very well saying, that with the advance of general civilization, honours, like wealth and learning, become attainable with less of toil, and that our ancestors, if true philosophers, will rejoice to see their descendants earn easily what they were sore tasked to obtain. Men who have read ADAM SMITH and FERGUSON and PALEY may understand these refine- ments; but St. Laurence and St. Bridget had no opportunity of reading those authors in the flesh, and it is to be hoped they have less tedious occupations now to fill up their time. Strenuous though O'CossatELL's labours have been to uphold and restore " the old faith," it is odds but the martyrs of antiquity more than half begrudge him the martyr-title he has so cheaply won ; and as for heretics like O'CONNOR and BURDETT, the assumption of it can never be forgiven them.
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