136 MIDNIGHT REFLECTIONS. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



Midnight Reflections A good Story-teller The affair of Ninety-eight. 



WE separated for the night, and I retired to my well- 

 appointed dormitory; every thing bespoke cleanliness and 

 comfort, from the snowy coverlet to the sparkling fire of 

 brilliant bog- deal. The room was papered with caricatures, 

 and crowded with prints on sporting subjects. This was 

 cheerful and bachelor- like. I looked at the mantelpiece ; a 

 brass blunderbuss and a case of pistols were there suspended 

 in most effective order. This brought on a train of thought, 

 and all the pleasant narratives of my kinsman and his visiter 

 rushed back to my recollection. 



I have, God help me ! no fancy for what the Irish call 

 active amusements. I would have no ambition to hold a 

 nocturnal colloquy with Mr. Bulger nor would it afford me 

 satisfaction to listen to solemn assurances of his determination 

 to cut my throat. I would not give one farthing, to spend 

 half- an- hour in a dark closet with three robbers and a case- 

 knife* I love uninterrupted repose, and it would annoy me 

 to have my window dismantled at midnight, and my entire 

 toilet annihilated by a well-directed volley of paving- stones. 

 On earth there is not a more enchanting object than the 

 exquisite symmetry of a w r oman's well-formed leg ; but 

 Miss Morden's would have no charms for me, if preluded 

 by a discharge of musketry. There is moreover a murderer 

 quietly cantoned within a room or two of mine ; and though 

 the man may be " honest," as my loving cousin believes and 

 verifies, yet one feels nervous in being within a dozen yards 

 of a man who has thinned the population for the third time. 



Your stupid Englishman retires to bed after his daily 

 labour is ended your livelier Milesian then only lays him- 

 self out for pleasure, and betakes himself to shoot at a 

 Justice of the Peace, or still better, amuse himself with a 

 too-roo among the Peelers. Do you go out to dinner ? 

 Calculate at being fired at when returning. Do you require 

 a physician ? The odds are, that the honest doctor is 

 qualified for a patient himself, before he leaves your lawn. 

 Do you delight in hunting ? You will find the monotonous 



