LIFE IN IRELAND 109 



astonished me by a passage to this effect — ''There is 

 a great call at Rio January for English malefactors^ and 

 if there is not soon a fresh importation, they will rise 

 in price to more than double their value." — This to me 

 was heathen Greek, so I rung for the paper and found 

 the true meaning was, that goods of British manufacture 

 were in high estimation at Rio Janeiro ; now, by my 

 truth, ministers might take a prime good hint from an 

 Irish blunder, and relieve the country from the expense 

 of sending rogues to Botany Bay to breed rebels, and 

 take the colony from the mother country whenever it 

 is worth the trouble ; send every convict to the coast 

 of Barbary, where you are sure of a good price for the 

 living raw material any day in the year.' 



"Tis too barbarous to merit even a laugh,' said the 

 Baronet, as he whipped his bays up to the door of the 

 Elephant and Castle, better known as the Pig and 

 Tinder Box. 



Here Grammachree was already seated at table sur- 

 rounded on three sides by his friends, in an arbour 

 formed of hawthorn entwined with honeysuckle and 

 roses. The place is well known ; the two powerful 

 oaks from which hang the tavern sign form a vista up 

 which you enter, and you have from it a neat bird's-eye 

 view of Tom Reed's travelling pig-stye, the horse trough, 

 turnpike gate, and a watch-box. A short introduction 

 by the Major took place; an old veteran Colonel of 

 Artillery sat in the chair, a Militia Colonel, famous for 

 having, with his single regiment, thrashed and made 

 prisoners of four thousand French at Castlebar after 

 they thrashed and made to run General Lake and six 

 thousand men, leaving behind him his artillery ; and 



