74 THE RECORDER OF BALLYPOREEN. 



power, and who were marching up and down the town, followed by 

 fifty hardy, weather-beaten farmers, wearing scarfs of the gaudiest 

 colours that could be procured orange, blue, scarlet, or pink and 

 each man carrying a stick, a rusty sword, an old gun (perhaps with- 

 out a lock), or a pistol devoid of a barrel. In the centre of these 

 strutted the Corporal, who carried a large flag, on which was painted, 

 " They Cing and Koanstichewshun" His entire person was enve- 

 loped in stripes of glazed calico, of different colours ; but in which 

 the orange and blue predominated. Old Switzer brought up the 

 rear. His large and manly frame was adorned in a similar manner 

 to that of his friend Hall ; and he, too, bore a flag, on which the 

 same ingenious orthographist, who ornamented Hall's banners, had 

 inscribed, " Hole an they Law for ivir." There were other banners, 

 which bore such inscriptions as " Cing Willim," " Glorus Memry" 

 " Bine trathur" &c. &c. &c. This gallant procession, after parading 

 the town three times, to the amusement of the inhabitants, marched 

 up to the Court-house, where an orange and blue standard was 

 erected ; and in honour of which a feu-de-joie was fired four of the 

 guns of the entire party being found capable of discharging a blank- 

 cartridge each. The Orangemen then left the town, amid the huzzas 

 of the people, and followed by the innumerable offspring of Bally- 

 poreen. This was a great, and a mighty, and a glorious day for the 

 gossoons. Every one of them that could muster a pop-gun, was 

 firing away with haves, as he ran after the procession ; while the 

 shillelahs of the fathers, and the crutches of the grandaddies, were 

 flourished by youthful hands, and with a dexterity indicative of the 

 immense use that would hereafter be made of such arms, when the 

 weekly fair, or monthly market, or a future election, should call for 

 their exercise. 



It was with a proud and a most military step that old Hall marched 

 at the head of his " merry men." He fancied, as he strutted along, 

 and looked upon the banners and the group that surrounded him, 

 that the good old times were returned again. He thought that he 

 was on a foraging party against the rebels, and in his imaginative 

 loyalty, he cut down, with his rusty broad sword, every tall thistle 

 - that came within his reach , and in doing so, bawled out, " he was 

 knocking the head off some impudent insurgent from Vinegar Hill." 

 The little papists, wha followed in his track, imitated the capers in 

 which the gallant commander indulged; and as each tiny urchin 

 bent down a yellow boukerlawn, or a white-topped dock-weed, he 

 joined in the cry of old Hall, and exclaimed " down with the rebels !" 

 Gladsome was the progress of this extraordinary party through the 

 country the women laughed at them, as they held forth their little 

 children to see the fun; and the men, who were working in the 

 fields, shouted after them, and then observed to each other, " this is 

 the Protestants' May-day, by dad! when they get tipsy they're 

 queerer fellows nor ourselves." The procession was a triumph for 

 old Switzer it was a merry one for his companions ; but it was most 

 successful for old Corporal Hall. The Orangemen took care to re- 

 serve their music for the special edification of the different magis- 

 trates, and who between the din, and the noise, the numbers, and 



