40 LIFE IN IRELAND 



quality for every pound he possesses,' said Sir Shawn. 

 Brian would have risen to make a bow, but Lady 

 Demiquaver, with true Irish frankness, sat down betwixt 

 them and commenced a rally in that style which only 

 those who have seen Life in Ireland can do justice 

 to ; Brian 



Blush'd and look'd and blush'd and look'd 

 And look'd again. 



Lady Demiquaver had numbered forty-five, was fat, 

 fair, lively, elegant, and expressive ; she had long led 

 the van of female fashionables, and still continued to 

 be a star of the first magnitude in a hemisphere where 

 a constellation was visible every day and night. She 

 introduced more beauty to the Castle than any one of 

 her rank in Dublin ; she governed the judges out of the 

 four courts, the barristers when out of their gowns and 

 ^vigs, the collegians when out of alma mater ^ the com- 

 missioners when out of commission, Generals when out 

 of command, players when out of an engagement, and, 

 in short, shook the poppy seed over the heads of all 

 the fashionable world. 



Sir Shawn recommended Brian to her tutorage, 

 and she undertook the task, remarking, that every 

 grass widow loved to model to her taste a hay or straw 

 batchelor. Her Ladyship patronised a concert at the 

 Rotunda on the following evening, and our heroes 

 promised to appear in her train. As our party had not 

 yet taken the dew off their stomachs, Lady D. ordered 

 a cold collation from her jaunting car, and a happier 

 set never enjoyed a meal under the shade of Wicklow 

 mountains. 



