LIFE IN IRELAND 193 



straw, and the yard is not so extensive as a cockpit. In 

 thiis dreadful den Brian obtained a small room, for 

 which he had to pay tJwee guineas per week. Patrick 

 Mooney had only leave to come in the daytime and 

 attend his master ; and as for Sally Jenkinsox, she 

 called upon him the first and second day, and then, 

 with true gratitude, bade him good bye, and with two 

 thousand pounds in her pocket, went to the Continent, 

 under the protection of a French Count, of whom we 

 shall give some account hereafter. 



The keeper of the prison received Brian Boru with 

 respectful attention, and recommended him to the care 

 of Crofton, who kept the Tap, where whiskey punch 

 and strong beer are sold at treble their value. Brian, 

 under the care of Crofton, made a descent into the 

 lower regions down a flight of crooked steps, with iron 

 ballustrades, and at the bottom found himself in the 

 tap-room, where fifty jolly souls were assembled in 

 council together. 



Brian Boru pinned in the Sheriff's Prison Tap. 



Tiie roof of this place is vaulted, and the walls done 

 over with whitewash, on which a thousand disgusting 

 figures and scenes are drawn in charcoal, from the 

 whim and fancy of the various prisoners. Chairs and 

 forms mingled together, held the motley group, of all 

 ranks and conditions, from i^ao. general dcddi the admi7'al., 

 down to the corporal and the cobler; whiskey punch 

 steaming on a long old oak table, porter pots and 

 tea things, all on the same side ; and nearly as 

 many women as men, all busily engaged doing some- 



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