244 



WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



they'll look into the Lodge. Did you curse the scoun- 

 drels from the altar ? " 



" Not I," said the churchman. " They are all north- 

 men* and foreigners, who would not care a brass button 

 whether I banned or blessed them for a twelvemonth. 

 There is a ruffian of the flockf that acts as a spy and 

 guide, and I suspect he sent them." 



" Excommunicate him ! " exclaimed the commander, 

 with drunken solemnity. 



" I did that last Candlemas. He brought a girl out 

 of Achil, on book oath, and he with his three decent 

 wives in the parish already. I quenched the candles 

 on him, and then he took to the revenue Nemo repente 

 juit turpissimus." 



11 And how do you and the new minister get on ? " 



" Poorly enough," answered the Priest. " This 

 reformation work has put the country clean asunder." 



" No good will come of it," said the Colonel. " I 

 mind the time in Connaught when no man clearly knew 

 to what religion he belonged ; and in one family the 

 boys would go to church and the girls to mass, or may be, 

 both would join and go to whichever happened to be 

 nearest. When I entered the militia, I recollect, the 

 first time I was ever detached from head-quarters, I 

 went with the company to Portumna. Old Sir Mark 

 Blake, who commanded the regiment, happened to be 

 passing through, and the night before he had had a 

 desperate drink with General Loftus at the Castle. 

 When I left Loughrea, I forgot to ascertain where I 



* Northmen is a phrase not only applied to recent settlers from 

 the North of Ireland, but even to families who have been located 

 here tor centuries. 



f The flock -a Roman Catholic congregation is so termed in 

 Connaught, 



