[Illustration: DRAWING TAUGHT.]

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THE O'CONNELL PAPERS.

OUR EXTRAORDINARY AND EXCLUSIVE CORRESPONDENCE.

We have been favoured by the transmission of the following singular
correspondence by the new Mayor of Dublin's private secretary. We hasten
to lay the interesting documents before our readers, though we must
decline incurring the extreme responsibility of advising which offer it
would be most advantageous for Mr. O'Connell to accept.


LETTER I.

SIR,--I am requested by the management of the Royal Surrey Theatre to
negotiate with you for a few nights' performance in a local drama, which
shall be written for the occasion, and in which you are requested to
represent the Civic dignitary in the identical robes which have become
immortalised by your wearing. Mr. Dibdin Pitt is of opinion that something
might be done with "Whittington and his Cat," merely transferring the
scene from London to Dublin; and, as he hears your county is highly
celebrated for the peculiar breed, sending to Ireland for one of the
esteemed "Kilkenny species," which would give a greater reality to the
_dramatis personæ_ and feline adjunct. This is a mere suggestion, as any
other subject you may prefer--such as the Rebellion of '98, Donnybrook
Fair, the Interior of the Irish Mansion House, or the House of Commons,