284 LIFE IN IRELAND 



manner: indeed Sir Shawn felt a strong impression 

 in favour of the youngest, who for her part did not 

 suffer his elegant person to pass unnoticed. All party 

 was excluded, and the usual toasts bumpered in excel- 

 lent prime old port and claret. Though by the bye, 

 the cellar of the Baronet could have produced better in 

 their kinds, as none in Dublin excelled his taste in such 

 things, though neither a drunkard nor an epicure. 



Grammachree enjoyed his bottle and friend with 

 true Irish humour, and swore that next to the King his 

 Excellency was the completest gentleman he had ever 

 the honour to be acquainted with. 



At this time there was a great scarcity of water in 

 every house in Dublin ; the Pipe Water Committee 

 having withheld the customary supply, on account of 

 wishing an advanced price; so that towards evening, 

 when a motion was made for whiskey punch, the Lord 

 Lieutenant remarked, that he was just as ill used as any 

 humble individual, as whiskey was more plentiful in the 

 Castle than ivater. By Jasus, said Grammachree, if 

 I was your Grace, I 'd order them to set every cock 

 running, or else whip them all into Kilmainham 

 gaol upon bread and water for a month. Your ideas 

 are all martial, said his Grace; and it won't do for me 

 to legislate by the gun and bayonet, whilst the law can 

 do it much more quietly and efficiently, without the 

 least trouble. At any rate, the job is one that must be 

 put an end to, as the cruelty of keeping people without 

 water is horrible in the extreme; but, like all public 

 companies in Ireland, they are never content, and their 

 patents are of such a sweeping nature, that they are 

 indefinable. 



