236 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Wonderful are the inventions of man ! The slaughter 

 of an unhappy stag has been made good and sufficient 

 cause for all the idlers of the community assembUng at 

 our cabin. They are squatted round the fire like 

 Indians in a wigwam — and old John, no bad authority 

 in such matters, declares in a stage whisper to his master, 

 " that a four-gallon cag will scarcely last the night, 

 there is such a clanjamfry of coosherers in the kitchen 

 — ^the devil speed them, one and all ! " Let me explain 

 this phrase. It is used in Ireland to designate that useless 

 and eternal tribe, who are there the regular attaches of 

 families of ancient lineage. Nurses, fosterers, discharged 

 servants, decayed sportsmen, and idlers of every sex, 

 age, and calling, come under this description. 



There was a higher class of nuisance under the title 

 of poor relations who formerly wandered over Connaught, 

 and from the interminable ramifications of the old 

 families, there were few houses into which these worthies 

 had not a right of entree. The last one I recollect when 

 a boy, traversed the country upon a white pony, 

 dressed in dingy black, and arrayed in a cocked hat ; 

 a certain number of houses were under annual requi- 

 sition, and such was the influence of annual custom, 

 that none would venture to refuse this forced hospitality, 

 although the man was latterly a sad bore. Some gentle- 

 men, when their " loving cousin " was expected, had his 

 approach observed, and stopped him in the avenue with 

 an excuse that the house was full, and a subsidy of a 

 few guineas. The money was always acceptable — 



