254 SPOKTS AND ANECDOTES. 



And I was there afterwards. But at the actual time 

 of the famine I was in Italy, but after my return 

 to England I went with a friend to Erris and there 

 the graves of those who had died from starvation, 

 and disease brought on by starvation, were every- 

 where to be seen. " Next to starvation," which is a 

 common occurrence I fear in the far west wilds of 

 Ireland, must be bad enough, but "actual starvation," 

 from the failure of the potato crop, must have been 

 dreadful indeed. 



A friend of mine who arrived in Ballina, and who 

 was well up in beggars of all kinds, knowing that he 

 would as usual be persecuted the moment he showed 

 himself in the said town, where he had often been 

 before, had recourse to the following ruse to get rid 

 of them. Having summoned the most importunate 

 beggar ot the whole crew, he told her that next 

 morning she must collect every beggar in the town 

 and bring them before him ; accordingly, at about 

 eleven o'clock next morning there was such a crowd 

 of rags, and dirt, and squalidness before his lodgings 

 as I think could hardly be seen anywhere but in 

 Ballina. " Now are you all there?" said he. "I 

 don't see So-and-so ! Where is she ? " For he 

 was pretty au fait of all the beggars. " Go and 



