LIFE IN IRELAND 103 



and won't be here for two years to come ! ' This was 

 too much for Sir Shawn's risible faculties to stand ; 

 he burst into a fit of laughter, exclaiming, ' Upon my 

 honour ! instead of three tight Irish Boys returning to 

 Dublin from a party of pleasure in a curricle and pair, 

 we look like three criminals going to the gallows to be 

 hanged without benefit of clergy, or hopes of salvation 

 in another world. Come, come, rouse your spirits ; 

 there's Life in Ireland yet to be enjoyed, and before 

 to-morrow's sun goes over the Wicklow Mountains to 

 light the Royal squadron up the Irish Channel, I '11 

 shew you some sport. You, Grammachree, have good 

 reason to rejoice, for you have gained a commission, 

 and the country has gained a loss of two hundred a year 

 by it.' ' By my modesty ! ' grinned the Major, ' but you 

 say the thing that is not true, for I spend my money in 

 the country.' ' In town, you mean,' said Brian. "Tis 

 all the same thing,' says Gram, 'the town's in the 

 country, and the country's in the town, for it is built 

 upon it, and if I have two hundred a year more, by 

 Jasus ! I '11 drink three hundred and sixty-five more 

 bottles of port in the time, so what comes from the War 

 Office will go back to the Treasury in an Exciseman's 

 pocket.' 



Good humour now reigned over all ; and after a 

 severe struggle up Bagot Street, midnight found them 

 snug in Sir Shawn's mansion, drinking 'A safe 

 passage home to George the Fourth and his merry men 

 all.' 



i\s Grammachree's commission had never been 

 wetted, it was agreed that it should next day pass 

 through that necessary ceremony. This is a point 



