lyo LIFE IN IRELAND 



CHAPTER XV 



Why an Irishman cannot be drowned — Why a dead man cannot 

 speak — A particular mode of thanks for being aHve when )'Ou 

 thought you were dead — -The Death of Tom Evans — Rough 

 and ready on board a man of war — Turning the Turtle — An 

 attack upon a bomb battery — A challenge — A Dutch sexton's 

 hand-bills — Brian shoots his mark — Songs on the occasion, by 

 Brian Boru and Grammachree— Sally Jenkinson's moral 

 observations. 



A WET jacket is thought no more of in Dublin 

 Bay than a wet throttle in a coffee-house. 

 Irishmen do not wear cork jackets, but their hearts are 

 so very light they ahvays swim, and never deig?i to 

 sink', save, and except when they can't keep their 

 heads above water, and they go because they can't 

 stay. Now, whether the upsetting of this boat and 

 party was the fault of the wind, or the sails, or the 

 passengers, cannot be very readily determined ; to 

 bring an action against ^fCoLUS would be of no avail, 

 the passengers regulated all their actions by rule of 

 thumbs, and scorn even Ladge's Thumbo; Law over 

 Tom Evans the Muse, or the narrator has no power. 

 Tom might be a bad helmsman from his upper works 

 being overloaded. It would be vain to call him to 

 an account, for he got droivjied at last in right earnest, 



