the hour of ten o'clock
Ireland , however , abounds with such instances of female piety and fortitude , not , indeed , as they would be made to appear in the unfeminine violence of political turmoil , in which a truly pious female would not embroil herself ; but in the quiet recesses of domestic life -- in the hard struggles against poverty , and in those cruel visitations , where the godly mother is forced to see her innocent son corrupted by the dark influence of political crime , drawn within the vortex of secret confederacy , and subsequently yielding up his life to the outraged laws of that country which he assisted to distract . It is in scenes like these that the unostentatious magnanimity of the pious Irish wife or mother may be discovered ; and it is here where , as the night and storms of life darken her path , the holy fortitude of her heart shines with a lustre proportioned to the depth of the gloom around her . When Fardorougha reached the town in which his ill-fated son occupied the cell of a felon , he found to his surprise that , early as were his habits , there were others whose movements were still more early than his own . John O'Brien had come to town -- been with his attorney -- had got a memorial in behalf of Connor to the Irish government , engrossed , and actually signed by more than one -- half of the jury who tried him -- all before the hour of ten o'clock . A copy of thi 's document , which was written by O'Brien himself , now lies before us , with the names of all the jurors attached to it ; and a more beautiful or affecting piece of composition we have never read . The energy and activity of O'Brien were certainly uncommon , and so , indeed , were his motives . As he himself told Fardorougha , whom he met as the latter entered the town -- `` I would do what I have done for Connor , although I have never yet exchanged a syllable with him .