captain stewart, afterwards lord castlereagh, when he was a young man, happened to be quartered in ireland. he was fond of sport, and one day the pursuit of game carried him so far that he lost his way, the weather, too, had become very rough, and in this strait he presented himself at the door of a gentleman's house, and sending in his card, requested shelter for the night. the hospitality of the irish country gentry is proverbial; the master of the house received him warmly; said he feared he could not make [pg 137] him so comfortable as he could have wished, his house being full of visitors already, added to which, some strangers, driven by the inclemency of the night, had sought shelter before him, but such accommodation as he could give he was heartily welcome to; whereupon he called his butler, and committing the guest to his good offices, told him he must put him up somewhere, and do the best he could for him. there was no lady, the gentleman being a widower.
captain stewart found the house crammed, and a very jolly party it was. his host invited him to stay, and promised him good shooting if he would prolong his visit a few days: and, in fine, he thought himself extremely fortunate to have fallen into such pleasant quarters.
at length, after an agreeable evening, they all retired to bed, and the butler conducted him to a large room, almost divested of furniture, but with a blazing turf fire in the grate, and a shake-down on the floor, composed of cloaks and other heterogeneous materials.
nevertheless, to the tired limbs of captain stewart, who had had a hard day's shooting, it looked very inviting; but before he lay down, he thought it advisable to take off some of the fire, which was blazing up the chimney in what he thought an alarming manner. having done this, he stretched himself on his couch and soon fell asleep.
he believed he had slept about a couple of hours when he awoke suddenly, and was startled by such a vivid light in the room that he thought it on fire, but on turning to look at the grate he saw the fire was out, though it was from the chimney the light proceeded. he sat up in bed, trying to discover what it was, when he perceived the form of a beautiful naked boy, surrounded by a dazzling radiance. the boy looked at him earnestly, and then the vision faded, and all was dark. captain stewart, so far from supposing what he had seen to be of a spiritual nature, had no doubt that the host, or the visitors, had been trying to frighten him. accordingly, he felt indignant at the liberty, and on the following morning, when he appeared at breakfast, he took care to evince his displeasure by the reserve of his [pg 138] demeanour, and by announcing his intention to depart immediately. the host expostulated, reminding him of his promise to stay and shoot. captain stewart coldly excused himself, and, at length, the gentleman seeing something was wrong, took him aside, and pressed for an explanation; whereupon captain stewart, without entering into particulars, said he had been made the victim of a sort of practical joking that he thought quite unwarrantable with a stranger.
the gentleman considered this not impossible amongst a parcel of thoughtless young men, and appealed to them to make an apology; but one and all, on honour, denied the impeachment. suddenly a thought seemed to strike him; he clapt his hand to his forehead, uttered an exclamation, and rang the bell.
"hamilton," said he to the butler; "where did captain stewart sleep last night?"
"well, sir," replied the man; "you know every place was full—the gentlemen were lying on the floor, three or four in a room—so i gave him the boy's room; but i lit a blazing fire to keep him from coming out."
"you were very wrong," said the host; "you know i have positively forbidden you to put anyone there, and have taken the furniture out of the room to ensure its not being occupied." then, retiring with captain stewart, he informed him, very gravely, of the nature of the phenomena he had seen; and at length, being pressed for further information, he confessed that there existed a tradition in the family, that whoever the "radiant boy" appeared to will rise to the summit of power; and when he has reached the climax, will die a violent death, and i must say, he added, that the records that have been kept of his appearance go to confirm this persuasion.
