LIFE IN IRELAND ii 



drinks, and runs the range of every gambling-house in 

 Dubhn. At D'Arcy's in Earl Street he was one night 

 engaged to play for a serious sum, and conceiving that 

 the Marker had tipfd him the fling, he hurled one of 

 the balls at his head. Every ball has its billet, says 

 the soldier ; 'twas so in this case, the ball struck the 

 Marker's temple and killed him on the spot.' 'And 

 why dident they hang the villain ? ' said Brian. 

 ' Because they dident try him,' said Sir Shawn. ' By 

 the foot of Pharaoh,' said Brian, 'I'm off; the man 

 that wantonly destroys a fellow creature is no company 

 for me, and deserves to be whipped through Connaught 

 stark naked at the heel of a car, or thrown from the 

 Giant's Causeway into the Brine. Come along, come 

 along ! ' Out they both sallied, having first had a 

 roller of raspberry whiskey from the fair hand of Miss 

 Maydew ; everybody knows her : her father was 

 hanged for being in the way of the police officers, and 

 having hanged several croppies on false evidence, the 

 truth of which nobody ever doubted : she then got a 

 good name, set up an umbrella-shop in Trinity Lane, 

 broke down, got up into a garret near Smithfield, made 

 bonnets, at length made some money, and made a 

 purchase of the bar in Sackville Street. She is pretty 

 and polite, manages to get custom, and manages her 

 customers in more ways than one, but she never loses 

 by her management. 



'Tim Byrne, my friend Brian, is a character you 

 may come in contact with hereafter, 'tis proper you 

 should know him ; he was an eminent wine merchant, 

 and failed to make his fortune ; he is worth half a 

 plump , stands high upon Curragh, is booked at every 



