LIFE IN IRELAND 225 



Saint Domingo, and made purchases of linen to the 



amount of four hundred thousand pounds ; it was all 



paid for honestly, and with punctuality.— Some people, 



taking advantage of his liberality and credulity, got him 



to put his name to bills for forty thousand pounds, 



which were never taken up : he refused to pay, and has 



been here six months ; the thing will soon be settled, 



and he released: he is an odd fellow, and full of 



humour, frequently giving balls to the natives of Straw 



Hall, himself leading off the dance, with a black boy 



and an old black woman, who attend upon him : he 



gives away daily several gallons of whiskey, and will 



have no intercourse with genteel society ; he says the 



only gentlemen in Ireland are the ^/a^/^-guards, because 



they are of his own colour. 



The Honourable and Reverend Mr. D is the 



steady personage you see with spectacles on his nose, 

 and poring over the newspaper : he was once the first 

 preacher and first fox-hunter in the north ; he kept two 

 packs of hounds, and ran horses at the Curragh with 

 much success : his character was that of a jolly good 

 fellow— and his wife, who was rightly allowed to be 

 one of the finest women in Ireland, ran off with the 



Marquis of H . As a clergyman, he could not 



challenge the aggressor, but he entered an action, and 

 recovered twenty thoicsa7id pounds damages.~^\ioxWy 

 atter, he was thrown into prison for some trifling debt, 

 and has remained here twelve years. The Twenty 

 thousand potmds he divided betwixt his two daughters, 

 who are well married, and dine with him every Sunday! 

 —The profits of his livings are more than three thou- 

 sand per annum, and he lives at a moderate expense. 



