four in the morning
Could he be but once quiet in his grave , and have done with it all -- be rid of the care , turmoil , and uneasiness , he would have been content . Could he have been again unborn -- uncreated ! He had once repined to Father John , that existence had been for him a necessary evil ; and though checked by the priest for the impiety of the thought , was it odd if he often thought , that he was one of those for whom it would have been better had they never been born ? About three or four in the morning , he fell asleep , and was awakened by Father John about eight ; he dressed himself in his best clothes -- those in which he had been accustomed to go to mass -- ate his breakfast , and about ten o'clock was led out of gaol , handcuffed , into the court-house . The gaol at Carrick-on-Shannon is not far from the court-house , and as they are both built on a neck of land running into the river , no portion of the town has to be traversed ; but yet there was a great crowd collected to see the poor fellow pass by . This was the first of the bitter moments to which he had so constantly looked forward for the last few months . At length , however , he was in the dock , and here the high wooden palings , twelve feet above the ground on which he had to stand , would screen him from the view of all , save the miserable prisoners beside him and the policemen who had brought him in , -- until he should be called on to take his place at the bar .