Chapter 6 No.6

----Al llegar à las puertas de la villa que era cercada, salio regimiento del pueblo à recebirle, tocàron las campanas, y todos los vecinos dièron muestras de general alegria, y con mucha pompa le llevàron à la iglesia mayor à dar gracias a Dios, y luego con algunas ceremonias le entregaron las llaves del pueblo, y le admitièron por Gobernador de la insula.

Don Quixote, tome IV. ch. 45.

TRANSLATION.

When he approached the town gates (for it was walled) the officers came out to welcome him, the bells rang, and all the inhabitants made show of a general gladness; and they carried him in great pomp to the high church, to give God thanks; and shortly after some ceremonies they delivered him the keys, and admitted him as Governor of the island.

Don Quixote, book IV. ch. 45.

The Duke of Tyrconnel took his departure, as was observed in the last chapter, at an early hour; the roads were in excellent order for travelling, the morning appeared settled and serene, and an enlivening sun shone forth propitiously on his journey.

The vice-regal carriage had just reached the town of Ballyshannon, when one of the fine animals (a leader) which drew the vehicle lost a fore shoe, which caused the cavalcade to stop. This interruption to the journey afforded an opportunity to the Duke, of which he availed himself, of visiting the venerable ruins of Ashrow Abbey, which were at that point of time noble and imposing even in decay. The beautifully pointed gothic arches, and the gilded ceilings in the vaults of the cloisters, called forth and attracted the attention and admiration of His Grace. When the Duke had returned to his inn from the inspection of these venerable monastic remains, a large party of horsemen were discerned trotting onward at a round and rapid pace. The Duke was stationed in a small gallery, or balcony, surmounting the door of the inn, when a tumultuous congratulatory roar from the equestrians, and addressed to His Grace, resounded on all sides, and the well-known Irish welcome of "Cead millia failtha," (that is "a hundred thousand hearty welcomes,") saluted the ducal ear. His Grace took off his hat, which he most gracefully waved, and graciously bowed. He then addressed them, and was pleased to say, "My good friends, I feel truly grateful for this warm burst of loyalty; but I request to ask whither, and in such rapid haste, ye are all proceeding?

'Go ye in peace, or go ye in war?'

There is surely no fair now going on in these parts of the country; there is no wake, no saint's patron-day recorded in the calendar; there is no racing, no hurling-match, no rural sport that I know of; and therefore I feel at a loss how to account for thus assembling in numbers, and I must needs doubt whether the motive be justifiable."

The troop of peasants, to the number of twelve or fifteen persons, were mounted on horseback; most of the horses carried double, in accordance to an old strange Irish usage, and which custom prevails in many parts of Ireland even at the point of time in which we now address our readers. The peasants replied, in respondence to the queries of the Duke, to this effect: "So may it please your Lordship's noble Reverence, we are men of the mountains, just going up for a bit to town, to procure a little law," [i. e. being duly interpreted, means litigation.]

"Then," rejoined the Duke, "if such be your intention, my serious and friendly advice to you all, my good men of the mountains, is simply this, that you do all at the present immediately return back to your respective districts, and peaceably retire to your native hills and homes; avoid law, strife, and litigation; return to the tranquil heights of the lofty Tyraugh, and there enjoy, undisturbed by the factious or the turbulent, that peace and tranquillity which is shed around your happy cottages, beyond the turmoil of the world, and there dwell, and likewise cultivate the Christian virtues of peace and brotherly love. Forget and forgive the past; bear and forbear! And if I wore the sacerdotal garb, I could not in so few words, perhaps, advert more to the present purpose which has, be it what it may, conjured up some bad blood, as I have strong reasons to apprehend. This line of conduct, my countrymen, you must be sensible, it is your bounden duty to pursue; attend to your farms, cherish your families, and look to yourselves; obey your magistrates, and attend to your religious duties; and last, though not least, honour and reverence your noble king. I feel it incumbent on me to tell you such ought to be your line of conduct, and to this effect, too, will all your Clergy to a man pronounce to you, whether parson, priest, or prelate!"

This speech allayed the threatened storm; and as if the wind had changed to a different point, gently impelling a vessel in a contrary course, thus suddenly were the litigious intentions of the "men of the mountains" changed. They thanked his Lordship's "glorious Honour for his kind condescension, and solemnly protested that they would forego the bit of law which they had intended, and willingly abide by his Lordship's most worshipful advice." Reining round their steeds, they proceeded upon their return home in a trot more rapid even than that in which they had approached; and giving three loud distinct cheers of "Cead millia failtha," were soon out of sight.

The book of wisdom saith "a soft answer turneth away wrath;" and it is no less true, that a generous act, or even a kind expression, makes an indelible impression upon the grateful heart of an Irishman!

While the Duke was engaged in the foregoing expostulation with "the men of the mountains," the farrier, as he called himself, was meantime actively employed, in which his tongue was as prompt as his hand was ready, in performing, as he conceived it, the proud destiny of replacing the fore shoe on the noble leader, in lieu of that which had been lost; and thus from his anvil he addressed the Duke's valet: "Och then, plaze your honour, master Brushwell, may be it isn't I who understands, any how, in a jiffy to whip on a shoe upon any poor beast in the four bordering counties; and a great sin and shame in me it would be if I didn't exart myself for one of the true ould Irish stock? In troth in a jiffy I will knock off the job, and by J-- it shall be properly well done! for oh, naboclish, sure enough may be Tom Hob isn't the boy, after all, for quickly knocking off a job for a parson he loves; and in troth he may say with the ould ballad-

'Tom's heart, like his iron, is hissingly hot,

Though his iron should cool, his heart it shall not!'"

In these remote days the peaceful methods of life, the arts of agriculture and husbandry, were but imperfectly known; and the practice of farriery was rudely and ignorantly performed; then veterinary professors did not exist, [the foregoing incident of the lost horse-shoe has led to this short digression,] and farriery was clumsily practised, save, perchance in the forge of some farrier of heavy dragoons. The arts of war, meanwhile, were but too successfully carried on, while the happy arts of peace slumbered in the shade, and neglected agriculture sunk depressed beneath the warlike tone and temper of the times. The sickle and the ploughshare, the attributes and implements of husbandry, were destined to be neglected, else otherwise to be transmuted into the spear and falchion of war.

But we resume our narrative.-The first day and night of the Duke's departure he dined and slept at the hospitable abode of Castle-Caldwell, the noble and magnificent mansion of the Baronet of the same name, which delightful residence derived its name from the owner. The promontories that raised their peninsular summits above and around the beautiful and expanded lake of Lough Erne, were all brilliantly illuminated by bonfires made by the peasantry. The beacon-flame also blazed from the crowned summit of every surrounding hill and mountain. These bright testimonies of gladness burst forth to hail the Duke's welcome arrival. In furtherance of which the furze, fern, heath, and tall sword-grass, on hill and rock, were all set into one universal conflagration, the brilliant coruscations of which flashed, flamed, and undulated upon the expanded waters of Lough Erne; while bonfires were seen to burn and blaze upon the cloud-crested heights of the Tyraugh mountains.

Meanwhile, in sympathy with the scene, the great promontory of Ross-a-Goul brightly bore the beacon blaze upon his lofty brow, which flamed forth and flashed volcano-like above the adjacent woods and groves, illuminating every islet, rock, and indented shore, and reflecting its ruddy light in brilliance upon the dark waves of Ross-Moor, which seemed emulous to flash back their radiance on Ross-Goul.

The town of Churchill manifested similar demonstrations of joy and gratulation upon the arrival of the popular viceroy. It is time, however, to return to the hospitable board of the worthy host, who, with his noble and distinguished guests, sat down to a magnificent dinner at the good, early, rational, but now antiquated hour of four o'clock, which was the healthy custom in these times remote. Among many surrounding nobles and gentry present at this splendid banquet, we must not pass by unobserved two notable characters who were seated at the Baronet's table: the one was the Lord Viscount Glandarah, and the other was the Rev. Doctor Dismal Drew, L.L.D., a quondam Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin,[16] and who had been collated to the valuable living of ----, the advowson of which was in the gift of the University of Dublin. These two worthies formed a remarkable and striking contrast to each other.

Lord Glandarah, imitating the profitable example of the wise Ulysses, who

----"Multorum providus urbes

Et mores, hominum inspexit,"

had visited foreign countries and courts, where he had resided during a very long period, even from his early youth. It was whispered, and it was also believed, that he was at heart un bon Catholiqué. However, whether the assertion was true or false, certain it is that his Lordship took his seat in the Irish House of Peers; so that his case was completely in foro conscienti?, and with which nobody had any right to intermeddle, it being a matter between him and a higher power than any court upon earth, temporal or spiritual.

His Lordship was an accomplished and polished nobleman; he had seen, and with no unobserving eye, the different nations and courts of Europe; had examined their laws, their governments, and establishments; he had been so long resident upon the continent, (even from his earliest years,) that from his foreign intonation of voice, and speaking, as he did, broken English, he might readily have passed for a German or a Frenchman. Lord Glandarah was personally known by the Duke of Tyrconnel, who, upon this interview, heartily shook hands; and the former warmly congratulated the latter upon his promotion to the viceroyship of Ireland: "Gad save my soul, mon trés-excellent Duke, I am absolumént delighted; je suis ravis entirement á vous revoir. I am tout delighted! Jamais, jamais si bien heureux! Un verre de vin: á votre tres bonne santè, et aussi la de votre tres amiable et accompliè Madame la Duchesse. Nous aurons une petit Cour de Versailes á la Chateau de Dublin. Sans doute et comme certainement nous verrons! Tres joli, tres joli! Sir Jacques Colville, j'ai l'honneur de salu?r votre santè."

Lord Glandarah was attired in a court dress of green Genoa velvet, richly embroidered with gold; and the old aristocratic peer was so orthodox that even his hunting wig, when he rode on horseback, had une petite bourse attached to it, and the peruke was surmounted by a small cocked hat, trimmed with broad gold lace, with an appendant feather; and these he considered as indispensable appanages of un gentilhomme comme il faut! or, as Horace has expressed it, "Homo factus ad unguem"-a finished gentleman, even to the paring of his nail! Compared with Doctor Dismal Drew, he was "Hyperion to a satyr." Doctor Drew was in stature six feet by two, without diminution or subtraction, but awfully

"Measured by cubit, length, and breadth, and height."

The Doctor's head was of a portentous size, which induced his cotemporaries, while a student in college, to bestow on him the epithet or sobriquet of "the bull-headed (βο?? κ?φαλο?) student;" and most certain it is, that the exterior exceeded in dimensions every other head within the precincts of that learned corporation. He was extremely near-sighted, and always wore either goggles or spectacles made of green glass, which, as our readers may fairly suspect, did not by any means add to his personal appearance or attraction, whatever they might have abducted. He was however, be the truth spoken, an excellent scholar, philosopher, and moreover this same "learned Theban" was a mathematician to boot. His manners were unpolished-nay, repulsive. His gait in the street or drawing-room was so strange and inhuman-like, that it was only ideally to be compared to the floundering motion of a wounded walrus standing on its hind legs, then dragging its heavy weight along. At table the movement of his arms was so exceedingly annoying to his neighbours that it invariably caused them to keep a most circumspect and respectful distance. His voice, when he spoke, which was only when he wanted to be helped to some piquant viand, was harsh and stentorian, and might not unaptly be compared to the discordant cadence of a cracked bassoon. He was learned-he abounded in anecdote; and if he chose to be at the trouble, he could be witty. But no; during dinner, and even when the cloth was removed, solemn as the grave he sat doggedly pinioned to his chair, silently sipping drop by drop his Burgundy. He seemed to be apprehensive that the time he would occupy in conversation would interfere with the time allotted for the act of deglutition; therefore he sat taciturn, as if the use of his tongue was inevitably and irretrievably to destroy the powers of his palate!

Doctor Drew was by no means deficient in dry and sarcastic humour; and many anecdotes may be still found savoury in the college-courts and dinner-hall of this quondam queer-fellow of old alma mater; however we will trespass on the reader's attention only with one anecdote:-

Doctor Dismal Drew passing one morning through the college courts, from the library to his chambers, happened to meet a young student who had been only a few days matriculated, and such are, in popular parlance in the university, called jibs; the young student had the ill-fortune to pass this learned Leviathan, without the usual salutation of doffing his four-cornered cap to his mighty superior:-"Halloo," roared the Doctor, "come back; hark ye, I say, young master, pray how long, young gentleman, allow me to ask, have you worn the academic gown?"

"Just eight days, may it so please your Reverence."

"Ay, ay; in sooth, young master, I thought as much, for we all know that puppies cannot make use of their eyes until they are nine days old!"

When Doctor Dismal Drew had with-drawn from the dinner-room, Lord Glandarah addressed the Duke of Tyrconnel in an under tone: "Gad save me, my Lord Duke, mais cette est un homme austere, outré, et tres singulier; et, par tout, un bête horriblé."

"Adonis, you recollect, my Lord, was killed by a boar!"

"Excellent, O Duke! and I too should be killed by-the Doctor's company!-non, pardonnez moi presence, I should say; he be no company! en verité two entire days would despatch me. He is assuremént Polyphemus le second, mais avec cette dissemblance par tout que le monstre il eut un ?il bel excellent, pendant que, le Docteur ave sans doubté deux diaboleúx bad eyes!"

"Oh, unquestionably, my Lord! but then he has an intellectual one; and we must give due credit to Sir James Caldwell for the attention and kindness which he dispenses to his quondam tutor. It is kind, considerate, grateful, and honourable, to his feelings."

Sir James Caldwell, for whom the Duke of Tyrconnel entertained a great regard and affection, from long acquaintance and intercourse, took an opportunity, previous to the departure of His Grace, of making a strong and impressive request that the Duke would be pleased to appoint his worthy and learned friend the Doctor to be one of His Grace's domestic chaplains.

"Why really, my kind and worthy friend, your request appears to me to be a matter of greater difficulty than you, Sir James, seem to be aware of, biassed, no doubt, by your kindness and partiality for the Doctor; however you must needs acknowledge that there is somewhat outrè and repulsive in the tout ensemble of this extraordinary man; his general appearance, his manners, his dress, and address, and those unindurable appendices of green goggles, and his je ne scai quoi impression, which is better seen than described. However, if it be possible I shall willingly assent to your request, provided that you, on the part of the learned Doctor, accede to my capitulations, which I require and demand. First, I insist upon the total abandonment of those everlasting green goggles, in which I verily believe he sleeps withal. Secondly, I resolve, as a sine qua non, that the learned Doctor, upon his arrival in the metropolis, shall employ either a drill sergeant or a maitre de danse, to mollify his movements of legs and arms! You stare in astonishment, my good Sir James, but marry, I do not mean, in sooth, that your grave Doctor and L.L.D. should slowly glide down the sober minuet, or the more solemn paven, with formal features and extended cassock, chausse the cotillion, or trot down the merry contredanse; no, mehercule, by no means, but this exercise I would fain prescribe merely in order to give a gentlemanly ease and deportment of person. And thirdly, I must require that the Doctor should purchase a new gown and cassock; these habiliments having become threadbare in the service of old Alma. Fourthly, that the Doctor shall, sine mora, have constructed a neat orthodox wig, curled and powdered a la Louis Quatorze, &c. &c."

All these sage and precise preliminaries being agreed, ratified, and concluded upon, by the high contracting parties, the Duke upon the following morning took a friendly leave, and set off to pursue his journey to Dublin. He kindly offered the Lord Glandarah a seat in his carriage, who was likewise destined for Dublin; and which offer was most thankfully accepted by the noble peer. Having duly paid their respective devoirs to their hospitable host they departed, much gratified by their reception at the noble and social mansion of Castle-Caldwell.

The Duke and his noble compagnon de voyage travelled onward without any accident or occurrence worth narrating, and arrived that day to dinner at Tarah-Castle, the noble residence of the Lord Tarah. But at the present day no vestige of this once celebrated castle remains, where once

"To chiefs and ladies bright

The harp of Tarah swelled!"

Upon this distinguished day the hospitable board was loaded with every luxury; generous Burgundy and enlivening Champaign flowed around in bumpers; while it seemed a mooted matter of opinion which was most to be admired, the generous courtesy and hospitality of the noble proprietor of the castle, the excellence of his viands and wines, or the "soul of music" that breathed around!

Moments of convivial joy and harmony, however, soon pass by, and are forgotten likewise in the advance of time.

The following morning, soon after breakfast was concluded, the Duke of Tyrconnel bade an affectionate adieu to the Lord of Tarah, and accompanied by Lord Glandarah, set off in his travelling carriage for the castle of Dublin. The journey was safely proceeded on to Dunshauglin, where the Duke's state carriages and horses were in attendance to convey him to Dublin, accompanied by a squadron of horse.

[Pg 135]

[Pg 136]

As he approached the city of Dublin, at the barrier of Barrack-street the horses were taken from the carriage by the populace, and His Grace was drawn in triumph to the capital; all the cathedral and church bells ringing forth a merry peal. His Grace was sworn into his high office, the patent having been read, before the privy council; at the same moment three rockets in succession ascended from Birmingham Tower, which were signals of His Grace having been sworn into his high official station; and were duly responded to by the salute-battery in His Majesty's royal chase, or park; and the salute was again returned by the battery stationed on the south-wall of the Liffey. At night a general and splendid illumination succeeded, which concluded the rejoicings of this most memorable day.