Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1825-05-05

less privileged place. He fingered
long beside them, seemed to find a
sad qualification in relating several
particulars connected with their fates.
Many of the anecdotes that he men.
toned have been already published.
Two or three that interested me, /
had not heard before. cit was not to
be expected" he said, ''that such a
man as John Sheares could have esca
| ped the destiny that befel him. His
doom was fixed for several years be.
fore his death. His passion for free
dom, as he understood it, was incura
BILE; for it was consecrated by its asso
citation with another passion, to which
every thing seemed justifia6le' You
have heard of TIE once celebrated
Observation-Disclosures John heares
was in Paris at the commencement OF
the revolution, and was introduced to
her. She was an extraordinary crea
ture; wild, imperious, and fantastic in
| her patriotic paroxysms, but in her ma.
tural intervals, a beautiful and fascina
ting woman.
lie became deeply enamoured Of
| her. and not the less so for the politi
| cal enthusiasm that would have repel.
| led another. have heard that he as.
| sisted, in the uniform of the national
| guard, the storming of the Bastile and
that ne encountered the peril as a
| means Recommending hlmselfto the
| object Of his admiration. She return
| ed that sentiment, but she would not
| listen to his suif. When he rendered
a proposal of marriage, she produced
a pistol, and threatened TO lay him
dead il he renewed the subject. This
| had from himself But her rigour
did no. extinguish his passion. He re-
| turned to Ireland, full OF her image,
and l suspect not without a hope that
| the success of the fatal enterprise in
| which he embarked might procure
him, at a future day, a Tor favoura
BILE hearing, but Of this and all his o
Their hopes you see (pointing to his re
mains) the lamentable ISSUE" ] asked
whether his mistress had heard bis fate,
and how she bore it. My friend re
| piled: "When / was at Paris, during
the short peace of Amiens, / asked
the question, but l met with no one
that had personally known her. She
was then living in a condition, howe
yer, to which death would have been
preferable. She was in a miserable
state ofinsanity, and confined in a pub.
lie institution" "John Sheares," he
continued "hung himself into a reyo
~Iutionary cause, from principal and
temperament: but Henry wanted the
energy Of a conspirator; ofthls he was
forewarned by an incident that / knew
to have occurred. Shortly after he
had taken the oath ofap United Irish
man, (t was towards the close of the
year 1917 he was presented at the e
lection for the city Of Dublin; a riot
took place at the hastings, the military
inferred, and the people fed in confu
| sion; tradesmen, who resided in or
near the vicinity, hearing the shouts,
hastily moved towards the spot to in
quire the cause.
The first person he met was Hen
ry Sheares, pallid, trembling and al
NEST gasping for breath He asked
what had happened; Sheares, with
looksi& tones importing cxtraordin airy
perturbation, impIored him, if he va.
lued his life, to turn back. 1t was
with some difficulty that the interro-
CATER could obtain an Ineligible ac-
count of the cause and extent of the
danger. AS soon as he had ascertain
ed the fact, he fixed hiseye on Sheares
and said, "Mr. Shearcs, | know more
of some matters than you may be a
ware of; take a friends advice, and
have no more to do with politics; you
have no nerves, sir, for the business
you have engaged in" But the infatu-
lion of The times, and the influence of
his brothers. character and example
prevailed. When the catastrophe
came, John Sheares felt, when too
late, that he should have offered the
same advice. This reflection embit
tered his last moments. IL also called
forth some generous traits that deserve
to be remembered. His appeal to the
Court in behalf ofhis brother, as given
in the repor: of The trial, is a model
of natural pathos; bnt ] know of no
thing nor pathetic in his conduct than
a previous scene which Curran once
described TO me as he had witnessed