166 THE SCHOOLMASTER AT HOME. 



said, '^ Oh Denis ! Denis ! how could you be thus after dealing 

 with the powers of darkness : how could you consent to drink 

 the Devil's broth — never, no never Denis, will you get absolution, 

 for dealing with devils, or fairies, which are with me all as bad, 

 until you come with and show me where it is you get this anti- 

 christhen liquor." So, sorely against his will, Denis Was forced 

 to guide his Raverence to the beloved lough ; and would you 

 believe it, such was the vartue of this man of God — such his 

 abstinence from all things carnal, that though he loved a glass of 

 good liquor as much as any man, and could take it cheerfully 

 when it was dacent so to do, not one drop of the enchanted stuff, 

 for so he called it, would he let between his lips, — no, but flinging 

 a Gospel* into the lake, and repeating the proper Latin prayer, 

 and making the sign of the cross at the east, and west, and north, 

 and south side of the lake, in the turning of a hand, the liquor 

 ceased to be malt, and came back to be as clear, and as cold, and 

 as nathral water as ever." 



THE SCHOOLMASTER AT HOME. 



Further on as we ascended the hill, we came into a snug 

 hollow, in which was a low hut without a chimney, covered with 

 a net work of ropes, to save the thatch from the stripping of the 

 storm; and there came forth from this hive or IfSVel, a hum as if 

 from a wasp's nest. This may be the Cape Clear School, said 

 my friend, let us go in and see the seminary ; so bending double 

 to pass, as through the aperture of a cavern's mouth, we descended 

 into a hole, as dark, smoky, and smelly, as the cave of Cacus; 

 but in a short time, our eyes assimilating themselves to the pal- 

 pable obscure, could observe about twenty children sitting on 

 stones, humming forth their lessons like hornets preparing to 

 swarm; every little healthy, ragged, fish-smelling urchhi, had a 

 bit of a book in his hand — one had a leaf of Reading made Easy, 

 another a scrap of the Church of England Catechism, another a 

 -torn copy of the Heart of Jesus, and a big girl was poreing over 

 a large octavo volume, covered carefully with a case of green 



* A Gospel means, amongst the lower classes, a verse of St. John's Gospel 

 written on a slip of paper ; it is used as an amulet against enchantment^ dis- 

 ease, and bad luck, and is hung round children's necks. 



