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Narrative of a residence in Ireland during the Summer of 1814, and that of 1815 (Author: Anne Plumptre)

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Celebration of the Patron. — The Long Dance. — Anecdote relating to one. — The Querne Cake. — Anecdotes respecting Irish Hospitality. — Instances of the great Family Affection subsisting among the low Irish. — The Funerals and the Funeral Orations of the Keeners. — Tenacity respecting the Places of Interment. — Remedies for Diseases. — Enchantment. — Bonfires on St. Johns Eve. — Marks on the Skin. — Youthful Marriages. — Former Modes of Dress among the Women. — Litigious Dispositions. — Anecdote of a Clergyman — and of an Irish Giant.

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The veneration for saints so prevalent in all countries where the Catholic religion prevails, has been already frequently alluded to, as being very strong in Ireland. Each parish has its patron saint, whose birth-day was always a holiday celebrated with great festivity. These days were called patrons. On such occasions, not only the people of the parish but the neighbours far and near assembled themselves together, dressed in their very best clothes. The older people never failed to go into the church-yard, and offer up prayers for the dead, particularly if any among their own connexions happened to be interred there. Sometimes, indeed, the whole day was spent in tears and lamentations. This was the case particularly among the females; and the merry-making ended in a day of sadness. The place where the festivity was celebrated was a large common, about which tents were erected; and there was plenty of eating and drinking, with a proportionate quantity of fiddling, piping, and dancing. In the dancing, each lad dressed in his best clothes selected his lass, who was equally adorned in all the finery she could muster. A circle was then formed, not a very spacious one, scarcely more than two yards each way; when one of the couples danced a sort of jig within the circle, neither of them taking their eyes from the ground the whole time; till at length the jig being concluded, the man took the woman round the waist, gave her a twirl, and snatched a kiss. Another couple then succeeded, and after them another and another, continuing thus till all had taken their turns. But as


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the whiskey always went round pretty freely at these meetings, they often ended in scenes of riot and disorder, not unfrequently in fighting, when ancient quarrels, which had been slumbering, broke out again. For this reason the patrons have, by desire of the Catholic priests themselves, been nearly laid aside.

The above festivities were of a very ancient date. Dances of a different kind, by no means so ancient, still continue to be celebrated, principally when a number of persons are desirous, for any particular reason, to honour some of their superiors; as for instance, the tenants of an estate for any act of favour shown them by the landlord, or the like. These they call Long Dances. The party is headed by a lad and lass chosen for the occasion as king and queen; the youngest and handsomest are generally selected. They are very much dressed with ribbons and other finery. The man is always in a nice clean shirt, the sleeves tied round the arms with ribbons, and the woman is in white; they carry a garland between them, and walk or dance at the head of the troop. When they arrive at the house of the person they intend to honour, they stop before the door, and the king and queen standing still, the rest of the dancers linked together by handkerchiefs held between each, dance in a long string round and round them till they are completely encircled; the company then dance back in the same order, till their majesties are entirely disencumbered, when they in their turn dance. This done, the king invites any of the ladies belonging to the mansion to come and dance with him, which is seldom refused, as such a refusal would be considered a great want of urbanity. The queen then invites any of the gentlemen to dance with her; and this concluded, the whole company dance according to their fancies, or else, which is more commonly the case, one of the men offers to amuse the company with a hornpipe. His performance is however any thing else; he twists and twirls himself about, hopping and jumping and turning in all directions, making great exertions, and showing great dexterity and agility in his motions, though the name of dancing can scarcely be applied to it. His countenance remains all the time entirely fixed, nor could the world combined make him alter a muscle: this exercise he continues as long as his breath and limbs will hold out; he does not cease till he is nearly exhausted. The company then, linked together, once more encircle their sovereign, and then untwisting themselves they all dance off in the same order that they came. They always expect the lady and gentleman of the house to


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furnish them plenty of drink, but do not desire any thing to eat, and very rarely will accept money. The company is attended by a man and woman, dressed-up ridiculous figures, who are called the Pickled Herring and his Wife; they make grimaces and play anticks something in the style of a Merry Andrew. Many of these frolics took place without the least disturbance ensuing, even at the time when the country was considered as in its most disturbed state.

The above account was given me by an Irish lady whom I have the pleasure of calling my very good friend, and who, having lived a great deal in a country village, has not unfrequently seen these dances, and describes them as really a very pretty sight. She added the following relation: "A few years ago I had been for some time resident in England; it was at a period when Ireland was represented as in a state of the utmost disorder and anarchy. Having however been warmly pressed by a friend in Ireland to return to that country, and take up my residence with her, I determined to disregard the terrible stories I heard, and accept her invitation. I went accordingly, and received from her the most warm and flattering reception. It was the month of April, the weather was uncommonly fine, and the new place of my abode looked with all the enchantment that could be presented by this delightful season of the year, by hanging woods, and a fine stream of water. Soon after my arrival, my friend, one day, proposed a walk into a neighbouring wood; thither we accordingly went, when we wandered about so long that she at length was exceedingly tired, and sat down while I continued my wanderings. Presently I was alarmed with hearing such a shout close by, that it almost stunned me; instantly all the terrible stories I had heard in England rushed upon my mind, and I thought I was going to see some of them realized. In the utmost emotion I hastened back to my friend, whom I found surrounded by a number of men; yet there was nothing in her countenance or manner that betrayed any appearance of alarm, and I perceived that the men were all standing quietly with their hats in their hands. They were her tenants, and were desirous of doing honour to a gentleman in the vicinity, (who had procured a number of them employment during the severity of the winter in a neighbouring town,) by planting the maypole before his door: hearing, therefore, that she was in the wood, they had followed her thither to ask her permission, as owner of the wood, to cut down a tree for the purpose, and they concluded their petition


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with three cheers, which was the noise I heard. Their prayer was granted, with the proviso that they were to seek for the ranger of the wood to assign them a proper tree; and giving three more cheers they set off in search of him. He was soon found, a tree was fixed on, three more cheers were given, the axes were applied to the root, and in a few moments it was laid prostrate on the earth. My friend and I hurried home to see it carried in procession to be prepared, painted, and dressed up for the occasion. The men I should think were in number about forty, and the tree being very tall they all assisted in carrying it upon their shoulders. By the time they passed my friend's house they were joined by a piper, who was seated across the tree, and thus borne in great state, he playing all the time, while the Pickled Herring danced along at the head of the procession. When they came in front of my friend's windows the tree was laid down, and she was once more saluted with loud and repeated shouts, attended with a request that her honour would permit them to come down the next day and have the Long Dance. Her consent obtained to this, again she was cheered; and the people resuming their burthen, the piper struck up a merry tune, the Pickled Herring resumed his antics, and away they all marched with the greatest order and regularity. The next day they did not fail, according to the permission, to have their Long Dance."

Another mode of the tenantry complimenting the landlord is, that a small quantity of the first wheat cut at the time of harvest is set apart, and instead of being thrashed, a person, holding the stalks of the wheat in his hand, beats the ears against a cask till the corn is all beaten out: this is called being scutched. The grain is then cleared away entirely from the chaff, and kiln-dried, after which it is spread out on a cloth or in a dish, and every bit of stone or dirt carefully picked out. This done, it is ground in what is called a querne; that is, it is put between two stones, the one convex the other concave, and rubbed till it becomes a fine flour, the bran being all ground with it; this is a very tedious and laborious process. It is only some farmers who have a querne; those that have not carry the wheat to a neighbour who has, and borrow the use of it. This flour is presented to the landlord, who has it made into a cake with cream and butter; it is baked on a griddle and eaten hot, being considered a great treat. When eaten, the lady of the house repeats a sentence in Irish, which


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signifies "May we all eat the same together this time twelvemonth!" No luck would attend the house if this were omitted.

The Irish hospitality of old so much and so justly celebrated, notwithstanding the alleged state of barbarism of the country, — though indeed I am afraid true hospitality is much more to be found among people little advanced in what is called civilization than among those who are very much so, — this hospitality, though very much upon the decline in Ireland, is by no means wholly extinct. In the county of Waterford, a family of distinction practise it to this day in its fullest extent. Their house is constantly open for the reception of strangers; — rich and poor are equally welcomed with true kindness of countenance and demeanour, and genuine warmth of heart. The house is consequently always full, always the abode of cheerfulness and happiness; the voice of mirth and glee resounding no less in the kitchen than in the parlour. It is a fact, which I have from an eye-witness on whose credibility I can safely rely, that at one time a cask of wine was always standing in the hall, from which any body might at any time draw forth as ample a libation to Bacchus as he chose. Yet was this generosity never abused; it was repaid with the proper forbearance, and the hall was never disgraced by drunkenness or riot. Part of an English regiment being once quartered in a town near this mansion, the wife of a lieutenant who was not very rich, having nothing but his pay to live upon, was seized with a dreadful and dangerous illness, a malignant fever, which plunged her husband into the deepest distress, not only from the affliction caused by her situation, but from his inability to procure her all the comforts and assistance which her situation demanded; indeed, from the nature of her malady, it was difficult to find any one who would come near her. The hospitable family in question, hearing of the circumstance, sent their carriage for her, and being well wrapped up she was removed to their house, where, through the good advice procured for her, and the extraordinary care and attention she experienced, she soon recovered. Most happily the kindness shown was not attended with any disastrous consequences to the family, not one caught the fever. Two poor labourers from the county of Kerry, who had come into the country for harvest work, on their return home were near this mansion plundered by robbers of their little earnings, and cruelly beat; they were found in a very


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miserable condition, were taken into the house, where they remained till recovered sufficiently to pursue their journey, and were then furnished with money to repair their losses and carry them home. — Such was the practice of old in all great houses, though now retained by very few.

It is an old saying, that when poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the window. I believe this to be in part true; that is, as far as it concerns the poor rich, who are perhaps in the very worst state of poverty. But it is amazing to what lengths family affection is carried in an Irish cabin. This I shall perhaps be told is a refinement of sentiment, which militates strongly against what I have before said of the pernicious effect such extreme wretchedness must have upon the mind. I can only say, that there cannot be a stronger proof of the innate power this sentiment has over the heart, when not chilled by bitter blasts from adventitious circumstances, than that it is to be found so strongly in the midst of such misery. In one of these wretched abodes, where lived a poor labourer with a very large family, one of the sons, a lad about fourteen, fell into a consumption, and was obliged to quit a trade to which he was apprenticed and come home to his parents. Nothing could exceed the care and attention shown him by all the family. Two wretched rooms constituted the whole of the habitation, and he always had the best place in both; if sometimes he was able to walk out a little, and by chance his father or any one had taken his seat, the moment he appeared it was given up to him. Though the rest of the family lived upon potatoes, the best bread was always procured for him, and he had milk daily from the mansion-house in the village, whence also other trifles were occasionally sent him which might humour his sickly appetite. One of bis brothers, who had not the very best of dispositions, and was a great coxcomb in his way, (if such a term may ever be applied to the inhabitant of an Irish cabin;) this lad, overbearing to every body else, was yet kind and gentle for the most part towards his unfortunate brother. One day, however, when off his guard, he spoke to him harshly; the other, irritable from disease, snatched from him an oak stick which he held in his hand, and gave him several strokes with all the force his feebleness would permit: this the offender suffered without any attempt at resistance; nay, several times repeating that he had been very much in fault, and begged his pardon. Whether the exertion And irritation accelerated the poor creature's death it might be difficult to determine,


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but he died in two or three days after. The family, far from appearing to think themselves relieved from a heavy burthen, lamented the loss of him exceedingly, and in a manner which could leave no doubt as to the reality of their sorrow.

Another remarkable instance of this affection was shown by a mother, who having been married some years without children, and wishing for them exceedingly, at length had a son, who unfortunately proved an idiot. Yet this mother's fondness for the child was unbounded: it was not the fondness of compassion, but her whole soul seemed wrapped up in it; she would clasp it to her bosom with looks of the most tender sadness, calling it the core of her heart and the apple of her eye; saying that she loved it the more because no one else ever would love it. And when at about four years old it died, nothing could exceed her grief at being deprived of it, nor ever did grief appear more sincere: she never spoke of it but with bitter regrets, and expressions of the fondest affection.

The practice of employing hired mourners at funerals, though involving one of the most palpable absurdities that can be imagined, has notwithstanding been always a very prevailing one. This is carried to a great height in Ireland, not being by any means confined to the lowest classes, but obtaining equally among those several degrees above them. There are men who make it their regular employment, and have fixed prices for their services; these are called Keeners: the lowest price for the hire of one is five shillings; but the poor will distress themselves in any way for other things, rather than omit this tribute of respect to a deceased friend. The Keener when hired is informed of the connexions and family of the deceased, and the principal circumstances of their lives, that they may come properly prepared for what they are to say; and they make orations over the body, which are, according to report, at the same time extremely pathetic and truly poetical: they are always in Irish. The corpse is set out in the room, and the friends and neighbours are seated round it, leaving room at the head for the Keener. He takes his station and begins his lamentations, which are made in a sort of song or recitative, bending his body backwards and forwards, and making many gesticulations, clasping his hands together between every sentence. If the deceased happens to be a young person, he pathetically asks, "Why did you leave us? had you not every comfort that


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heart could wish? were you not beloved by your parents and your friends? but now your house is left miserable and desolate; your poor father, like a blasted oak, remains open to every wind of heaven, having lost its finest branches even in their early bloom." — Various other questions of a similar kind are put, the dress of the deceased is described, the place they used to occupy in the room while living; in short, every tender and melancholy recollection possible is conjured up and descanted upon with true pathos, and apparently with the deepest feeling, though perhaps, till this moment, the speaker had never heard of the person he laments. When his oration is finished, all the friends begin their doleful cry, having the hoods of their cloaks thrown over their heads and handkerchiefs in their hands. After they have continued this awhile, they cease, which is the signal for the Keener to begin again; and he is never at a loss for something to say: — thus they go on alternately, till the Keener has given the worth of the money he is to receive, when the lamentations cease, the eating and drinking commence, and pipes and tobacco are handed about — they are an indispensable part of the ceremony. If there is something almost ludicrous in the idea of the Keener's lamentations, thus called upon to evince a sorrow which he cannot feel, this must be a bitter and harrowing ceremony to the near connexions who do feel. It is to be observed that the ceremony is confined to the Catholics.

No person goes singly to purchase things for a funeral, — that is reckoned very unlucky, — the coffin in particular; two or three persons must be at the purchase of that, or it would be absolutely fatal. It was once a custom, but now nearly laid aside, that whenever a funeral passed where four roads meet, every person accompanying took up a stone and threw it by the road-side, uttering a prayer for the soul of the departed; in time these stones amounted to a large pile, which no one ever passed without crossing themselves and repeating a prayer. When young unmarried people are interred, a garland of flowers is placed at the head of the grave; and this no person on any consideration would think of removing, so that the time the deceased has lain there may be judged by how much more or less the garlands are faded. The attachment of the Irish Catholics to particular places of interment has been noticed: they are so tenacious of these spots that they will not on any account suffer a stranger to be intruded into them if the


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thing is attempted, they will even take the coffin up, carry it to a proper distance from the sacred ground, and there leave it exposed.

Some curious remedies for diseases and accidents are employed by the lower class of the Irish. A poor woman was once bit by a dog, which she immediately concluded to be mad, though it was not so in reality. She insisted upon the owner of the dog killing it, and desired that some of the blood and hair might be sent to her to make a plaster for her wound. This the man thought an odd remedy, nor could persuade himself but that it must be very pernicious to make use in this way of the blood of an animal supposed to be in such a diseased state; yet, desirous of satisfying the woman, he had a chicken killed, and sent her some of the blood with some hair which he cut off the dog. The woman applied the plaster; and her wound healing soon, she boasted very much of what she had done, piquing herself exceedingly upon her sagacity in thinking of the application. The trick that had been played was never disclosed to her.

A lady once walking after sunset over a rock which had the reputation of being enchanted, sat down awhile to rest herself, not thinking how late it was and the danger which might be experienced from the damps. When she got up she found a dreadful pain on a sudden dart through her heel, which increased so much that she got home with difficulty. She was immediately supposed to be fairy-struck, and nothing less than her speedy death was looked for by all the neighbours. The malady proved the erysipelas, from which by the assistance of good advice she soon recovered; on which the people who had been so assured of her death concluded her something super-human. The prayers of the priest are however in most cases thought of much greater efficacy than the medicines of the physician. A nurse to whom the care of a weakly rickety child was given, asked the mother's permission to carry it to a priest who lived near and get him to say some prayers; she said it was the only thing that could do it any good. The mother consented, the child was carried to the priest, he said the prayers desired; the child in time grew strong and healthy, and the nurse gave the whole credit to her spiritual comforter.

Pleurisies and agues are exceedingly common among the lower classes; they are indeed the natural result of the damps to which they are continually exposed, sometimes unavoidably, and sometimes through their own fault. They will


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often, when obliged to wait any where, extend themselves on the ground with their faces downward, regardless how damp soever it may be. Their cabins too are scarcely ever weather-tight; I have heard a lady say that she had gone sometimes into these abodes of wretchedness to visit the sick, and found the bottom (for they are never paved) quite a mire, the patient most likely lying upon a bed raised but a few inches from the ground by some pieces of plank. The first time after I came to Ireland, that I went to stay in the country, I was rather amused by seeing a paper stuck upon a wretched cabin in a village, half-unrooted, announcing Dry lodgings to be had here. It put me in mind of the noted Mr. Elwes's room where there was just one dry corner for the bed; though I must say that in these dry lodgings I questioned whether there was even a corner sheltered from the weather. I afterwards learnt that the meaning of dry lodgings, was, that lodging only was to be had, without eating and drinking.

The custom observed in most Catholic countries, of making bonfires on the eve of Saint John the Baptist, is still preserved in Ireland, though somewhat on the decline. An addition to it prevailed here, however, which I never saw abroad, that the children and cattle were made to pass through the fire; grown people would also not unfrequently do it voluntarily; it is considered a certain preservative against disease or accident. When the fire is dying away, the old women assemble round, and each takes away a burning stick to carry home with her, which is to bring a blessing upon the house, and is carefully preserved till the next year. It is reckoned very dangerous to be exposed to the air after sunset on this day, for the evil-ones are about, and are then endowed with particular power to harm any body. At all times it is thought hazardous to be near a wood at night, but the risk is never so great as on Saint John's eve! Much the same tricks are played among the young people in Ireland on Allhallows eve, as Burns describes in Scotland in his poem upon that subject. If a stranger comes into a farm-house where any of the usual occupations are going forward, such as making cheese or churning butter, if the visitor omits to say "God bless your work," and the work should afterwards go wrong, it is all ascribed to this omission, and the poor visitor is terribly execrated.

The people have a custom of marking themselves in a manner very much


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after the nature of tattooing in the South Sea Islands, only not carried to that excess. The women with a needle and thread dipped in strong blue water prick themselves, drawing the blue thread through, which leaves a mark that is never wholly effaced. They generally make this mark between the thumb and fore-finger. The men will also sometimes mark themselves in a similar manner. A friend has told me that she knew a gardener in a family whose arm was marked with the figure of Jesus Christ upon the cross: this had been done when he was a child, with the point of a needle dipped in soot water; he was then an old man, and the figure was still fresh. These marks are considered as religious. It is a custom of very ancient date.

If a young woman among the class of wealthy farmers, or a rank equivalent, has any fortune of her own, it is always judged adviseable by her parents to marry her very early, lest any other match should be proposed which they do not like and dare not refuse. They therefore look out for a man of good character, to whom she is given, often when not more than fourteen years of age. A young creature who was to be thus disposed of, on the morning appointed for the wedding was met on the staircase by her governess, who asked her whither she was going; she answered, To practise her last new lesson on the piano-forte. "My dear," says the governess, "don't you recollect that this is your wedding-day?" — "Oh dear, very true," she replied, "I declare I had quite forgotten it." When a young couple are about to be married, they go together to choose what is called the living: This is the same as the French trousseau, (the wedding-clothes,) with which the man presents his bride. For a long time after they are married, sometimes even for several years, they are never seen walking side by side, the husband precedes the wife two or three yards.

Formerly, indeed within the last twenty years, the farming class of women had a style of dress peculiar to themselves, which seems to have borne a great resemblance to the dress of the peasantry in some parts of the continent, particularly Switzerland. Blue stockings and shoes of the same colour with silver clasps, a short blue cloth petticoat plaited full all round, and a jacket of the same bound with silk twist and laced up the front; short sleeves with cuffs, and a mantle of the same colour, or brown bound with the same silk twist as the jacket, and having a little scolloped cape. The hair was combed up straight from the neck and forehead,


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and fastened in a knot at the crown of the head, round which was pinned a piece of broad ribbon of any fine showy colour. Over this was a cap of some very thin material through which the ribbon and hair could be seen, having ears to fasten under the chin, and a plain border of lace. Over the cap was tied a thin muslin or silk handkerchief, but put on so that the ribbon by which the hair was fastened might still be seen. Some wore gowns of camblet or crape stuff open in front, the sides and bottom of the gown being bordered within, to the depth of a finger or more, with a different-coloured stuff. The long blue or gray cloth cloak after a time superseded the little mantle, and now the whole costume is laid aside, this class imitating the fashions of the great. These women have an amazing fondness for rings, she who possesses a good stock of them is looked upon as a person of very great consideration. Broad heavy gold rings are those which are the most prized. A sort of linen used formerly to be in great request which was called band-linen, having that name from the measure by which it was sold, termed a handle; it was about the length of three fingers; the cloth was very narrow, not more than a handle in width; it used to be sold at about four-pence or five-pence that measure; but rising enormously in price, it is now fallen almost entirely into disuse.

The lower class of the men when inspired by whiskey are very apt to get quarrelsome; and if this happens at a fair or any kind of meeting where a number are assembled, old quarrels are often renewed, and a broken head or two is not unfrequently the consequence. Nothing will then satisfy them but law, and they must have recourse to a magistrate. — A man went one day to lay the case of one of these whiskey encounters before the justice, and begged he might have a little bit of a summons for his neighbour, he only wanted it about so big, showing the size he wished. In talking to their superiors these people commonly make use, in the style of sovereigns and critics in newspapers, of the plural number we, instead of the singular I; We would be very glad always to serve your honour; we will certainly do as your honour bids us. It is remarkable that excepting in the matter of shall and will, which are a never-ceasing fund of mistake, the common classes in Ireland speak better English than the same classes in England do. They would never mistake between we and us, or ours, as is not unfrequently done in England. I once heard a woman say very eagerly, "I am sure he killed we three pigs" meaning, "he killed three of our pigs."


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How! write a Tour in Ireland, and not give a string of Irish Bulls — that seems strangely out of character33, — it would make an excellent termination to the present chapter. — To this I readily assent: but indeed I must confess my stock to be very scanty. I had minuted down one which I considered, indeed, as of the first quality, and by which I hoped to gain great credit among my readers; but on referring to Miss Edgeworth's Essay, I find she ascribes the honour of it to England:
"He who saw these new roads before they were made,
Will lift up their hands and bless General Wade."
Now this, which I was given as from an Irish finger-post, she transfers to an English one. Disappointed then in my choice morceau, I must make an apology for this part of my work being so denue, and conclude with two stories vouched for to me as actual facts.

A clergyman going one Sunday some little distance to perform the duties of the day, in his ride was so unfortunate as to lose his sermon. In the case of such losses it is very common to post an advertisement upon the church-door, by which means the article lost is often retrieved. The next day an advertisement to the following effect appeared upon the church-door: "Lost, on such a day, between such and such a place, a sermon. Whoever has found it and will bring it to such a place, shall receive a suitable reward, it being of no use to any body but the owner." It was however nothing more than some memoranda written on a slip of paper, the clergyman being in the habit of preaching extempore.

An Irish giant had the good fortune to captivate three fair sisters at once,


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who all took some means of making known to him their tender sentiments. He was exceedingly perplexed — he had himself a decided preference for one; but he did not like to declare it, since that would seem an affront to the others. At length he hit upon the following expedient. He went to the top of a very high mountain, announcing that she among the three competitors who should first reach the top and join him, should become his happy bride; but, like many another promoter of a race, he played booty and gave a hint to the object of his choice what she should do. The two others set off upon the race at the utmost stretch of their powers, and had soon completely blown themselves out of wind; the third began gently, and kept on an even pace never beyond what she could continue, and by that means in the end passed her exhausted sisters and arrived before them at the goal.


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