28 LIFE IN IRELAND 



Breakfast being dispatched, a confabulation took 

 place betwixt the two new friends on the material 

 subject of apparel. * Is it,' said Grammachree, 'in 

 these tundering brown rags you 're going to visit 

 Shawn O'Dogherty ? By the holy poker ! all Dublin 

 will be after laughing at you ; the boys at the Pheusa- 

 tecnecan would hoot us, and half the attorneys' clerks 

 in Bagot Street would hunt us to Merion Square, as if 

 we were thieves going to O'Grady, with a brief-account 

 of sheep-staling. Your pockets would hould a cargo of 

 smuggled tobacco, and the tails of your coat cover a 

 bleach green ; as for your boots, the Wicklow girls 

 would take 'em for hatid-churns if your brawney legs 

 were put outside of them.' 



By the Captain's advice Murphy was sent for, and in 

 four hours' time accommodated Brian with as taper a 

 suit of the first cut as ever was shook in Dame Street ; 

 to be sure they sat rather awkward upon Brian, and 

 caused Grammachree to compare him to David in 

 Saul's armour, ' or more properly speaking,' said he, 

 ' like an Egyptian ox clad in silks for a sacrifice ; so 

 come along, my boy, and I '11 stand executioner on the 

 occasion. Och, by my soul ! ' he cried, as they entered 

 Merion Square, eyeing Brian from top to toe, ' beef to 

 the heels, like a Mullingar heifer! it's well seen you 

 come from a country where there's more meat than 

 modesty, and more pigs than Protestants any day in the 

 year ! ' 



' By the living G — d you 're welcome to your friend 

 and to Dublin ! ' exclaimed Sir Shawn O'Dogherty, as 

 he shook Brian heartily by the hand, who cordially 

 returned the squeeze. Be not alarmed, good reader, 



