38 LIFE IN IRELAND 



to float a Baldriggan wherry or a Cork hooker ; but it 's 

 all for the good of trade. 



' There 's Lambay, and the Devil's own bay it is ; 

 the sweetest place that ever was seen for shooting 

 puffings, and breaking your neck off the rocks by 

 way of finishing a day's gayling. There's Dalkey too : 

 Och ! and wasn't I there last installation day of the 

 knights, and the coronation takes place in a month. 

 The King of the Dublin beggars is always crowned 

 King of Dalkey; 'tis an ould custom. A glorious 

 procession on water takes place ; all the beggars, black- 

 guards, and gentlemen in and out Dublin attend ; and 

 to see the fun of dancing, boxing, tripping, and drown- 

 ing of the mob, och ! it would do your heart good, and 

 make you cry with laughing. No less than three brogue 

 makers, two journeymen butchers, a stock-broker, a 

 justice of the peace, and a watchman, were all swallowed 

 up by the tide of Dalkey last coronation day. You 

 shall go, Master Brian, and have a share in the rigdum 

 when it begins. By the piper that plays before Moses, 

 I had nearly forgot ! We had such a prime battle 

 between two cats ! Your English bull-dogs are no 

 more to be compared to your Irish cats than Gregor 

 MacGregor to the Duke of Wellington ; the one was 

 a tabby and the other a blue. Sim Ellis owned the 

 blue — Sim that was hanged for making a mistake in 

 his name on a piece of stamped paper; and Barney 

 Steele owned the tabby ; everybody knows Barney, he 

 killed himself by drinking whiskey hot from the still, 

 but that was no one's business but his own ; this is a 

 land of liberty, and any man has a right to live or die 

 in any way he likes best. Well, to it the poppets went ; 



