M 4 / • • ^ti^fSx 'MlS^i 4f TMSM. 3m&i)^ .3^- ■c^?^- ■ r° PAT.I.FINOS ' ■ ■■< HiiW, : J -. . •, V A^c^ L/c^r^ '^nccr/c^ -^^-r^/^o // ^CHARLES O'MALLEY, THE IRISH DRAGOON. EDITED BY HARRY LORREQUER, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. MOST NOBLE THE MARQUESS OF DOURO, M.P. D.C.L. ETC. ETC. My Dear Loki-, The iuipei'fect atieiapt to picture forth some scenes of the most brilliant period of my country's history might naturally suggest their dedication to the son of hira who gave that era its glory. I feel, however, in the weakness of the effort, the presumption of such a thought, and would simply ask of you to accept these volumes as a souvenir of many delightfvil hours passed long since in your society, and a testimony of the deep pride \vith which I regard the honour of your friendship. Believe me, ray dear Lord, With every respect and esteem, Yom's, most sincerely, THE AUTHOK. HrtrieUes, Nov. l<:^41. LIST OF PLATES. Mr. Free making free Charley's Meeting with Sir Arthur The Sunk Fence Mr. Blake's Dressing Room The Election .... The Rescue Mr. Crow well Plucked Frank Webber at his Studies . Miss Judy Macan The last Night in Trinity Charles pops the Question, &c. The Adjutant's after-dinner Ride The Rival Fhinkies . The Pic Nic . Major Monsoon and Donna Maria . Oharley topping a Mule Cart . The Salutation The Skirmish A Touch at Leap-Frog with Napoleon Major Monsoon trying to Charge Mr. Free's Song The Coat of ^•■ Public, Having so lately taken my leave ot tne stage i/i a farewell benefit, it is but fitting that I should explain the circumstances wliich once more bring me before you, that I may not appear intrusive, where I have met with too much indulgence. A blushing debutante — entre nous, the most impudent Iristiman that ever swaggered down Sackville-street, — has requested me to pre- sent him to your acquaintance. He has every ambition to be a favourite with you ; but says — God forgive him — he is too bashful for the footKghts He has remarked — as, doubtless, many others have done — upon what very slight grounds, and with what slender pretension, my fessions have met with favour at the hands of the press, and the public ; and the idea has occurred to him to indite his oivn. Had his determi* nation ended here, I should have notliing to object to ; but, unfor- tunately he expects me to become his Editor, and in some sort responsible for the faults of his production. I have wasted much eloquence and more breath in assuring him, that I was no tried favourite of the public who dared take liberties with them — that the small rag of reputation I enjoyed was a very scanty covering for my own nakedness j VOJ> I. H that the plank which swam with one, wouUl most inevitably sink with two ; and, lastly, that the indulgence so often bestowed upon a first effort, is as frequently converted into censure on the older offender. My argu- ments have, however, totally failed, and he remains obdurate and unmoved. Under these circumstances I have yielded ; and, as, happily for me, the short and pithy direction to the river Thames, in the Critic, " to keep between its banks," has been imitated by my friend, I find all that is required of me is to write my name upon the title, and go in peace. Such, he informs me, is modern Editorship. In conclusion, I would beg, that if the debt he now incurs at your hands remain unpaid, you will kindly bear in mind, that your remedy lies against the drawer of the bill, and not against its mere humble endorser. HaKRY LoBRK()l;£«. ffrussels, March, 1844^ CHAHLES o^malley, THE IRISH DRAGOON CHAPTER I. dalt's club uoi;s£. The rain was dashing in torrents against the window panes, and tho wind sweeping in heavy and fitful gusts along the dreary and deserted streets, as a party of three persons sat over tlieir wine, in that stately old pile which once formed the resort of the Irish Members, in College Green, Dublin, and went by the name of Daly's Club House. The clatter of falling tiles and chimney-pots — the jarring of the window-frames and howling of the storm without, seemed little to affect the spirits of those within, as they drew closer to a blazing fire, betbre which stood a small table covered with the ddbris of a dessert, and an abundant supply of bottles, whose characteristic length of neck indicated the rarest wines of France and Germany ; while the portly magnum of claret — the wine par excellence, of every Irish gentleman of the day — passed rapidly from hand to hand, the conversation did not languish, and many a deep and hearty laugh followed the stories which every now and then were told, as some reminiscence of early days was recalled, or some trait of a former companion remembered. One of the party, however, was apparently engrossed by other tlioughts than those of the mirth and merriment around ; for, in the midst of all, he would tmn suddenly from the others, and devote him- self to a number of scattered sheets of paper, upon which he had \^Titteu some lines, but whose crossed and blotted sentences attested how little Fviccess had waited upon his literary labours. This individual was a short plethoric-looking, white-haired man, of about fifty, with a deep, round voice, and a chuckling, smothering laugh, which, whenever he indulged, not only shook his own ample person, but generally created a petty earthquake on every side of him. For the present, I shall not stop to particularise him more closely ; but, when I add, that the person in ques- tion was a well-knowu member of the Irish House of Commons, whose 4 CHARLES O'MALLET, acute understanding and practical good sense were veiled under an affected and well-dissembled habit of bliuidering, that did far more for his p;irty than the most violent and pointed attacks of his more accurate associates, some of my readers may anticipate me in pronouncing him to be Sir Harry Boyle. Ujion his left sat a figure the most imlike him possible ; he was a tall, thin, bony man, with a bolt up-right air, and a most saturnine expression ; his eyes were covered by a deep green shade, which fell far over his face, but failed to conceal a blue scar that, crossing his cheek, ended in the angle of his mouth, and imparted to that feature, when he spoke, an apparently abortive attempt to extend towards his eyebrow ; his upper lip was covered with a grizzly and ill-trimmed moustache, whicli added much to the ferocity of his look, while a thin and pointed beard on his chin gave an apparent length to the whole face that completed its rueful character. His dress, was a single-breasted tightly-buttoned frock, in one button-hole of which a red ribbon was fastened, the decoration of a foreign service, which conferred upon its wearer the title of Count ; and, though Billy Considine, as he was familiarly called by his friends, was a thorough Irishman in all his feelings and affections, yet he had no objection to the designation he had gained in the Austrian army. The count was certainly no beauty, but, somehow, very few men of his day had a fancy for telling liim so ; a deadlier hand and a steadier eye never covered his man in the Phcenix ; and though he never had a seat in the House, he was always regarded as one of the government party, who more than once had damped the ardour of an opposition ' member, by the very significant tlireat of "setting Billy at him." The third figure of the group, M'as a large, powerfully-built, and handsome man, older than either of the others, but not betraying in his voice and carriage any touch of time. He was attired in the green coat and buff vest which formed the livery of tlie club ; and in his tall, ample forehead, clear weU-set eye, and still handsome mouth, bore evidence that no great flattery was necessary at the time whicli called Godfrey O'Malley the handsomest man in Ireland. " Upon my conscience," said Sir Harry, throwing down his pen with an air of ill-temper, " I can make nothing of it ; I have got into such an infernal habit of making bulls, that I can't write sense when I want it." " Come, come," said O'Malley, " try again, my dear fellow. If you can't succeed, I'm sure Billy and I have no chance." " What have you Avritten ? Let us see," said Considine, drawing tlie paper towards him, and holding it to the light, " why, what the devil is all this ? you have made him ' drop down dead after dinner of a Ihigering illness, brought on by the debate of yesterday.' " " Oh, impossible !" " Well, read it yourself; there it is, and, as if to make the thing less credible, you talk of his ' bill for the better recovery of small debts.' I'm sure, O'Malley, your last moments were not employed in that Hianner." " Come, now," said Sir Harry, " I'll set all to rights with a postscript. * Any one who questions the above statement, is politely requested to call on Mr. Considine, IG, Kildare-street, who will feel happy to THE IRISH DRAGOON. 5 ftfford him every satisfaction upon Mr. O'Malley's decease, or upon miscellaneous matters.' " " Worse apd worse," said O'Malley. " Killing another man will never persuade the world that I'm dead." " But we'll wake you, and have a glorious funeral." " And if any man doubt the statemept, I'll call him out," said the count. " Or, better still," said Sir Harry, " O'Malley has his action at law for defamation." " I see I'll never get down to Galway at this rate," said O'Malley ; " and as the new election takes place on Tuesday week, time presses. There are more writs flying after me this instant, than for all the government boroughs." " And there will be fewer returns, I fear," said Sir Harry. " Who is the chief creditor ?" asked the count. " Old Stapleton the attorney, in Fleet-street, has most of the mort- gages." " Nothing to be done with him in this way," said Considine, balanc- ing the cork-screw like a hair trigger. " No chance of it." " May be," said Sir Harry, " he might come to terms if I were to call and say — you are anxious to close accounts, as your death has just talcen place. You know what I mean." " I fear so should he, were you to say so. No, no, Boyle, just try a plain, straight-forward paragraph about my death. We'll have it in Falkner's paper to-morrow ; on Friday the funeral can take place, and, with the blessing o' God, I'll come to life on Saturday at Athlone, in time to canvass the market." " I think it wouldn't be bad, if yoiu" ghost were to appear to old Timins the tanner, in Naas, on your way down ; you know he arrested you once before." " I prefer a night's sleep," said O'MaUey ; " but come, finish the squib for tlie paper." " Stay a little," said Sir Harry, musing ; " it just strikes me that if ever the matter gets out, I may be in some confounded scrape. Who knows if it is not a breach of privilege to report the death of a member, and to tell you truth, I dread the sergeant and the speaker's warrant with a very lively fear." " Why, when did you make his acquaintance ?" said the count. *' Is it possible you never heard of Boyle's committal ?" said O'MaUey ; ** you surely must have been abroad at the time ; but it's not too late to tell it yet. " Well, it's about two years since old Townsend brought in his enlistment bill, and the whole country was scoured for all our voters, U'ho were scattered here and there, never anticipating another call of fce House, and supposing that the session was just over. Among others, up came our friend Harry, here, and, the night he arrived, they made yiim a ' monk of the screw,' and very soon made him forget* his senatorial dignities. " On the evening after his reaching town, the bill was brought in, and, at two in the morning, the division took phxce — a vote was of too miich 6 CHARLES o'm ALLEY, consequence, not to look after it closely — and a castle messenger was in waiting in Exchequer-street, who, when the debate was closing, put HaiTy, with three others, into a coach, and brought them down to the House. Unfortunately, however, they mistook their friends, voted against the biU ; and, amid the loudest cheering of the opposition, the government party were defeated. The rage of the ministers knew no boimds, and looks of defiance and even threats Mcre exchanged between the ministers and the deserters. Amid all this poor Harry fell fast asleep, and dreamed that he was once more in Exchequer-street, presiding among the monks, and mixing another tumbler. At length he awoke and looked about him — the clerk was just at the instant read- ing out, in his usual routine manner, a clause of the new bill, and the remainder of the house was in dead silence. Harry looked again around on every side, wondering where was the hot water, and what had become of the whiskey bottle, and above all, why the company were so extremely dull and ungenial. At length, with a half shake, he roused up a little, and giving a look of unequivocal contempt on every side called out ' upon my soul, you're pleasant companions. — but I'll give yoi a chaunt to enliven you.' So saying, he cleared his throat with a couph of short coughs, and struck up, with the voice of a Stentor, the follow- ing verse of a popular baUad : " ' And they nibbled away, both night and day, Like mice in a round of Glo'ster ; Great rogues they were all, both great and small ; From Flood to Leslie Foster." " ' Great rogues all. " ' Chorus, boys.' If he was not joined by the voices of his friends m the song, it was probably because such a roar of laughing never was heard since the walls were roofed over. The whole house rose in a mass, and my friend Harry was hmried over the benches by the Sergeant-at-arms, and left for three weeks in Newgate, to practise his melodj\" " All true," said Sir Harry, " and worse luck to them for not liking music ; but come now, will this do ? — ' It is our melancholy duty to an nounce the death of Godfrey O'Malley, Esq., late member for the countj of Galway, which took place on Friday evening, at Daly's club house This esteemed gentleman's family — one of the oldest in Ireland, au( among whom it was hereditary not to have any children '" Here a burst of laughter from Considine and O'Malley interrupted the reader, who with the greatest difficulty could be persuaded that ho was again bidling it. — " The devil fly away with it," said he, " I'll never succeed." " Never mind," said O'Malley ; " the first part will do admirably ; and let us now turn our attention to other matters." A fresh magnum was called for, and over its inspiring contents all tlie details of the funeral were planned ; and, as the chjck struck four tlie party separated for the niyht, well satisfied with tlie result of the.v labours. THE lUISU DRAGOON. CHAPTER II. THE ESCAPE. When tlie dissolution of Parliament was announced the following morning in Dublin, its interest in certain circles was manifestly increased by the tact, that Godfrey O'Malley was at last open to arrest — for, as in olden times, certain gifted individuals possessed some happy immunity against death by iire or sword, so the worthy O'Malley seemed to enjoy a no less valuable privilege, and for many a year had passed, among the myrmidons of the law, as writ-proof. Now, however, the charm seemed to have yielded, and pretty much with the same feeling as a storming party may be supposed to experience on the day that a breach is reported as practicable, did the honest attorneys retained in the various suits against him, rally round each other that morning in the Four Courts. Bonds, mortgages, post obits, promissory notes, in fact, every imagin- able sjjecies of invention for raising the O'Malley exchequer, for the preceding thirty years, were handed about on all sides ; suggesting to the mind of an uninterested observer, the notion that, had the aforesaid O'Malley been an independent and absolute monarch, instead of merely being the member for Galway, the kingdom over whose destinies he had been called to preside, would have suffered not a little from a depreciated currency, and an extravagant issue of paper. Be that as it might, one thing was clear, the whole estates of the family could not possibly pay one foiu-th of the debt ; and the only question was one wliich occasionally arises at a scanty dinner on a mail-coach road — who was to be the lucky individual to carve the joint, where so many were sure to go off hungry. It was now a trial of address between these various and highly- gifted gentlemen, who should first pounce upon the victim, and when the skill of their caste is taken into consideration, who will doubt that every feasible expedient for seciu-ing him was resorted to ! While writs were struck against him in Dublin, emissaries were despatched to the various surrounding counties, to procure others, in the event of his escape. iVe exeats Avere sworn, and water bailiffs engaged to follow him on the high seas ; and, as the great Nassau balloon did not exist in those days, no imaginable mode of escape appeared possible, and bets were offered at long odds, that, within twenty-four hours, the late member would be enjoying his otium cu7n dignitate in his Majesty's gaol of Newgate. Expectation was at the highest — confidence hourly increasing — suc- cess all but certain — when, in the midst of all this high bounding hope, the dreadful rumour spread, that O'Malley was no more. One had seen it just five minutes before, in the evening edition of Falkner's paper — another heard it in the courts — a third overheard the Chief Justice stating it to the Master of the Ilolls — and, lastly, a breatldess wit- 8 , CHARLES O MALLET, ness arrived from College-green with the news, that Daly's Club House was shut up, and the shutters" clcfeed. To describe the consterna- tion the intelligence caused on every side is impossible ; nothing in history equals it, except, perhaps, the entrance of the French army into Moscow, deserted and forsaken by its former inhabitants. While terror and dismay, therefore, spread amid that wide and respectable body ^ho formed O'Malley's creditors, the preparations for liis funeral wero going on with every rapidity — relays of horses were ordered at every stage of the journey, and it was announced that, in testimony of his worth, a large party of his friends were to accompany his remains to Portumna Abbey — a test much more indicative of resistance in the event of any attempt to arrest the body, than of any thing like rever- ence for their departed friend. Such was the state of matters in Dublin, when a letter reached me one morning at O'Malley Castle, whose contents will at once explaic- the writer's intention, and also serve to introduce my miworthy self to my reader. It ijan thus : — "Dear Charley, " Your uncle Godfrey, whose debts [God pardon him] are more numerous than the hairs of his wig, was obliged to die here last night. We did the tiling for him completely ; and all doubts as to the reality of the event are silenced by the circumstantial detail of the newspaper * that he was confined six weeks to his bed, from a cold he caught ten days ago, while on guard.' Repeat this, for it's better we had all the same story till he comes to life again, which maybe wiU not take place Ufefore Tuesday or Wednesday. At the same time, canvass the county for him, and say he'll be with his friends next week, and up in Woodford, and the Scariif barony : say he died a true Catholic ; it Avill serve him on the hustings. Meet us in Atldone on Saturday ; and bring your uncle's mare M'ith you — he says he'd rather ride home ; and tell Father Mac Shane to have a bit of dinner ready about four o'clock, for the corpse can get nothing after he leaves Mountmellick — No more now, from yours, ever, •' Harry Boyle. ** Daly's, about eight in the evening. ' To Charles O'Malley, Esq. •' O'Malley-Castle, GaJway." When this not over clear document reached me I was the sole inha- bitant of O'Malley Castle, a very ruinous pile of incongruous masonry, that stood in a wild and dreary part of the county of Galway, border- ing on the Shannon ; on every side stretched the property of my uncle, or at least what had once been so ; and indeed so numerous were its present claimants that he would have been a subtle lawyer who could have pronounced upon the rightful owner. The demesne around the castle contained some well-gi'own and handsome timber, and, as the soil was undulating and fertile, presented many features of beauty ; beyond it all vfOB sterile, bleak, and barren. Long tracts of brown heath-clad THE lllISU DRAOOOIf. ' D mountain, or not less unprofitable valleys of tall and waving fern were all that the eye could discern, except where the broad Shannon, ex-- panding into a tranquil and glassy lake, lay still and motionless beneath the dark mountains ; a few islands, with some ruined chiuches and a round tower, alone breaking tlie dreary waste of water. Here it was that I had passed my infancy and my youth, and liere I now stood at the age of seventeen quite unconscious that the world contained aught fairer and brighter than that gloomy valley, with its rugged frame of mountains. When a mere child I was left an orphan to the care of my wortliy uncle. My father, whose extravagance had well sustained tlie family reputation, had squandered a large and handsome property in con- testing elections for his native county, and in keeping up that system of unlimited hospitahty for which Ireland in general, and Galway more especially, was renowned. The result was, as might be expected, ruin and beggary : he died, leaving every one of his estates, encum- bered with heavy debts, and the only legacy he left to his brother was a boy of foiu: years of age, entreating him, with liis last breath — " Be any tiling you like to him, Godfrey, but a father, or at least suQh,a one as I have proved." Godfrey O'Malley, some short time previous, had lost his wife, and when this new trust was committed to him, he resolved never to re- marry, but to rear me up as his own child, and the inheritor of his estates. How weighty and onerous an obligation this latter might prove the reader can form some idea ; the intention was, however, a kind one; and, to do my uncle justice, he loved me with all the affec- tion of a warm and open heart. From my earliest years his whole anxiety was to fit me for the part of a country gentleman, as he regarded that character — viz. I rode boldly with fox-hounds ; I was about the best shot within twenty miles of us ; I coidd swim the Shannon at Holy Island ; I drove four-in-hand better than the coachman himself ; and from finding a hare to hooking a salmon, my equal could not be found from Kil- laloe to Banagher. These were the stabile of my endowments; be- sides which, the parish priest had taught me a little Latin, a little French, and a little geometry, and a great deal of the life and opinions of St. Jago, who presided over a holy well in the neighbourhood, and was held in very considerable repute. When I add to this portraitm-e of my accomplishments that I was nearly six feet lugh, with more tlian a common share of activity and strength for my years, and no inconsiderable portion of good looks, I have finished my sketch, and stand before my reader. It is now time I should return to Sir Harry's letter, which so com- pletely bewildered me that, but for the assistance of Father Roach, I should have been totally unable to make out the ^vriter's intentions. By his advice, I immediately set out for Athlone, where, when I arrived, I found my uncle addressing the mob from the top of the hearse, and recounting his miraculous escapes as a new claim upon their gratitude. " There was nothing else for it, boys ; the Dublin people insisted on my being their member, and besieged tlie club-house. I refused — • tliey threatened — I grew obstinate — they furious. ' I'll die first,' said L JO CHARLES OMAI^IiUr, ' Galway or nothing !' ' Hurrah' from tlie mob ! ' O'Mulley for ever !* ' And ye see I kept my word, boys — I did die ; I died that evening at a quarter past eight. There, read it for vnurselves ; there's the paper ; H'as waked and carried out, ana here 1 am after all, ready to die in earnest for you — but never to desen you."" The cheers here were deafening ; and my uncle was carried through the market, down to the m.tyt.'ra kiyjao, who, being a friend of the opposite party, was complimented with three groans ; then up tlie Mall to the chapel, beside which Father Mac Shane resided; he was then suffered to touch the earth once more, Avhen, having shaken hands v-th aU of his constituency within reach, he entered the house, to partake of the kindest welcome and best reception the good priest coxild afford him. My uncle's progress homeward was a triumph ; the real secret of his escape had somehow come out, and his popularity rose to a white heat. " An it's little O'Malley cares for the law — bad luck to it ; it's himself can laugh at judge and jury. Arrest him — nabocklish — catch a weasel asleep," &c. Such were the encomiums that greeted him as he passed on towards home ; while shouts of joy and blazing bonfires attested that his success was regarded as a national triumph. The west has certainly its strong featm-es of identity. Had my uncle possessed the claims of the immortal Howard — had he united in his person all the attributes which confer a lasting and an ennobling fame upon humanity — he might have passed on unnoticed and miob- served ; but for the man that had duped a judge and escaped the sheriff, nothuig was sufficiently flattering to mark their approbation. The suc- cess of the exploit was twofold ; the news spread far and near, and the very story canvassed the county better than Billy Davern himself, the Athlone attorney. This was tlie prospect now before us ; and, however little my readers may sympathise with my taste, I must honestly avow that I looked for- ward to it with a most delighted feeling. O'Malley Castle was to be the centre of operations, and filled with my uncle's supporters ; while I, a mere stripling, and ustially treated as a boy, was to be intrusted with an important mission, and sent oft" to canvass a distant relation, with whom my uncle was not upon terms, and who might possibly bo ap- proachable by a younger branch of the fami) », with whom he had never RTv eoll?^ion. TUJE llllSil L»nAGOuN. . H CHAPTER IL. MR. BLAkJE. Nothing but the exigency of the case could ever have persuaded my uncle to stoop to the huiuilialion of canvassing the individual to whom I was now about to proceed as envoy extraordinary, with full powers to make any, or every amende, provided only his interest, and that of liis followers should be thereby secured to the O'Malley cause, The evening before I set out was devoted to giving me all the neces- sary instructions how I was to proceed, and what difficulties I was to avoid. " Say your uncle's in high feather with the government party," said Sir Harry, " and that he only votes against them as a ruse de guerre, as the French call it." " Insist upon it, that I am sure of the election without him ; but tha-t for family reasons he should not stand aloof from me ; that people are talking of it in the country." "And drop a hint," said Considine, "that O'Malley is greatly improved in his shooting." " And don't get drunk too early in the evening, for Phil. Blake has beautiful claret," said another. " And be sure you don't make love to the red-headed girls," added a third ; " he has four of them, each more sinfully ugly than the other." " You'll be playing wliist too," said Boyle ; " and never mind losing a few pomids. Mrs. B , long life to her, has a playful way of turning the king." " Charley will do it all well," said my uncle ; " leave liim aione ; and now let us have in the supper." It was only on the following morning as the tandem came round to the door that I began to feel the importance of my mission, and certain misgivings came over me as to my ability to fulfil it. Mr. Blake and his family, though estranged from my uncle for several years past, had been always most kind and good-natured to me ; and although I could not, with propriety, have cultivated any close intimacy with them, I had every reason to suppose that they entertained towards me nothing but sentiments of good-will. The head of the family Mas a Galway squire of the oldest and most genuine stock ; a great sports- man, a negligent farmer, and most careless father ; he looked upon a fox as an infinitely more precious part of the creation than a French governess ; and thought that riding well with hounds was a far better gift than all the learning of a Porson. His daughters were after his own heart — the best tempered, least educated, most higli spirited, gav, dasliing, ugly girls in the country — ready to ride over a four-foot palinsr without a saddle, and to dance the " Wind that shakes the Barley,-" for four consecutive hours, against all the officers that their hard fate, and the Horse Guards, ever condemned to Galway. The mamma was only remarkable for her liking for whist, and her invariable good fortune thereat ' a circumstance, the world were 12 ' CIIARLKS O'MALLEY, agreea in ascribing less to the blind goddess than her own natural endowments. Lastly, the heir of the house was a stripling of about my own age, whose accomplishments were limited to selling spavined and broken- winded horses to the infantry officers, playing a safe game at billiards, and acting as jackall-general to his sisters at balls, providing them with a sufficiency of partners, and making a strong fight for a place at the supper-table for his mother. These paternal and filial traits, more honoured at home than abroad, had made Mr. Matthew Blake a rather nell-known individual in the neighbourhood where he lived. Though Mr. Blake's property was ample, and, strange to say for liis coimty, unencumbered, the whole air and appearance of his house and grounds betrayed any thing rather than a sufficiency of means. The gate lodge was a miserable mud hovel, with a thatched and falling roof; the gate itself, a wooden contrivance, one half of which was boarded, and the other railed ; the avenue was covered with weeds, and deep with ruts, and the clumps of young plantation which had been planted and fenced with care, were now open to the cattle, and either totally uprooted or denuded of their bark, and dying. The lawn, a handsome one of some forty acres, had been devoted to an exercise ground for training horses, and was cut up by their feet, beyond all semblance of its original destination ; and the house itself, a large and venerable structure of above a century old, displayed every variety of contrivance, as well as the usual one of glass, to exclude the weather from the windows. The hall door himg by a single liinge, and required three persons each morning and evening, to open and shut it ; the remainder of the day it lay pensively open ; the steps which- led to it were broken and falling ; and the whole aspect of things without was ruinous in the extreme. Within, matters were somewhat better, for, though the furniture was old, and none of it clean, yet an appear- ance of comfort was evident ; and the large grate, blazing with its pile of red-hot turf, the deep cushioned chairs, the old black mahogany dinner-table, and the soft carpet, albeit deep with dust, were not to be despised on a winter's evening, after a hard day's run with the "blazers." Here it was, however, that Mr. Philip Blake had dispensed his hospi- talities for above fifty years, and his father before him ; and here, with a retinue of servants as gauche and ill-ordered as all about them, was ne accustomed to invite all that the coimtry possessed of rank and wealth, among which the officers quartered in his neighbourhood were never neglected, the Misses Blake having as decided a taste for the army as any young ladies of the west of Ireland ; and, while the Galway squire, ♦rith his cords and tops, was detailing the last news from Ballinasloe in ftne corner, the dandy from St. JameS's-street might be seen displaying more arts of seductive flattery in another than his most accurate insouciance would permit liim to practise in the elegant saloons of London or Paris : and the same man who would have "cut his brother," for a solecism of dress or equipage, in Bond-street, was now to be seen quietly domesticated, eating family dinners, rolling silk for the young ladies, going down the middle in a country dance, and even descending to the indignity of long whist, at " tenpenny " points, with only the miserable consolation, that the company were not honest. THE IRISH DHAOOON. 13 It was upon a clear frosty morning, when a bright blue sky and a eharp but bracing air seem to exercise upon the feelings a sense no less pleasurable than the balmiest breeze and warmest sun of summer, that I whipped my leader short round, and entered the precincts of " Gurt-na-Morra." As I proceeded along the avenue, I was struck by the slight traces of repairs here and there evident ; a gate or two that formerly had been parallel to the horizon, had been raised to the perpendicular ; some ineffectual efforts at paint were also perceptible upon the palings, and, in short, every tiling seemed to have undergone » kind of attempt at improvement. When I reached the door, instead of being surrounded, as of old, by a tribe of menials frize-coated, bare-headed, and bare-legged, my presence was announced by a tremendous ringing of bells, from the hands of an old functionary, in a very formidable livery, who peeped at me through the hall- window, and whom, with, the greatest difficulty, I recognised as my quondam acquaintance, the butler. His wig alone would have graced a king's counsel, and the high collar of his coat, and the stiff' pillory of his cravat, denoted an eternal adieu to so humble a vocation as drawing a cork. Before I had time for any conjecture as to the altered circumstances about, the activity of my friend at the bell had surrounded rae \Tith " foui' others worse than himself," at least, they were exactly similarly attired ; and, probably, from the novelty of their costume, and the restraints of so unusual a thing as dress, were as perfectly imable to assist themselves or others, as the Court of Alder- men would be, were they to rig out in plate armour of the fourteenth century. How much longer I might have gone on conjecturing the reasons for the masquerade around, I cannot say ; but my servant, an Irish disciple of my uncle's, whispered in my ear — " It's a red breeches day. Master Charles — they'll have the hoith of company in the house." From the plirase, it needed little explanation to inform me, that it was one of those occasions on which Mr. Blake attired all the hangers-on of his house in livery, and that great preparations were in progress for a more than usually splendid reception. In the next moment I was ushered into the breakfast-room, where a party of above a dozen persons were most gaily enjoying all the good cheer for which the house had a well-deserved repute. After the usual shaking of hands, and hearty greetings were over, I was introduced in all form to Sir George. Dashwood, a tall, and singularly handsome man of about fifty, with an imdress military frock and ribbon. His reception of me was somewhat strange, for, as they men- tioned my relationship to Godfrey O'Malley, he smiled lightly and wliispered something to Mr. Blake, who replied — " Oh! no, no, not the least, a mere boy — and, besides," — what he added I lost, for at that moment Nora Blake was presenting me to Miss Dashwood. If the sweetest blue eyes that ever beamed beneath a forehead of snowy whiteness, over which dark brown and waving hair fell, less in curls than masses of locky richness, could only have known what wild work they were making of my poor heart. Miss Dashwood, I trust, would have looked at her tea-cup or her muffin, rather than at me, as she actually did on that fatal morning. If I were to judge from her costume, she had only just arrived, and the morniog air had 1 i CHAlU-tS o'lMALLEY, left upon her cheek a bloom, tJiat contributed greatly to tlie effect of her lovely countenance. Although very young, her form had all the roundness of womanhood ; while her gtiy and sprightly manner indi- cated all the sans gene, which only very young girls possess, and which, when tempered with perfect good taste and accompanied by beauty and no small share of talent, form an irresistible power of attraction. Beside her sat a tall handsome man of about five and thirty or per- haps forty years of age, with a most soldierly air, who, as I w^as pre- sented to him, scarcely turned his head, and gave me a half-nod of very unequivocal coldness. There are moments in life, in which the heaet is, as it w^ere, laid bare to any cnance or casual impression, with a wondrous sensibility of pleasure, or its opposite. This to me was one of those ; and, as 1 turned from the lovely girl, who had received me with a marked courtesy, to the cold air, and repelling hauteur of the dark-browed captain, the blood rushed throbbing to my forehead ; and as I walked to my place at the table, I eagerly sought his eye, to retm'n him a look of defiance and disdain, proud and contemptuous as his own. Captain Hammersley, however, never took further notice of me, but continued to recount, for the amusement of those about, several ex- cellent stories of his military career, which, I confess, were heard with every test of delight by all, save me. One thing galled me particu- larly — and how easy is it, when you have begun by disliking a person, to supply food for your antipathy — all his allusions to liis military life were coupled with half-hinted and ill-concealed sneers at civilians of every kind, as though every man not a soldier were absolutely unfit for common intercourse with the world — still more, for any favourable reception in ladies' society. The young ladies of the family were a well-chosen auditory, for their admiration of the army extended from the Life Guards to the Veteran Battalion, the Sappers and Miners included ; and, as Miss Dashwooc" was the daughter of a soldier, she, of course, coincided in many, if not all his opinions. I turned towards my neighbour, a Chu"e gentleman, and tried to engage him in conversation, but he was breathlessly attending to the captam. On my left, sat Matthew Blake, whose eyes w^cre firmly rivetted upon the same person, and heard liis marvels with an interest scarcely inferior to that of his sisters. Annoyed, and in ill-temper, I eat my breakfast in silence, and resolved that, the first moment I could obtain a hearing from Mr. Blake, I should open my negociation, and take my leave at once of " Gurt-na-Morra." We all assembled in a large room, called, by com-tesy, the library when breakfast was over : and then it was that Mr. Blake taking me aside, whispered, " Charley, it's right I should inform you that Sir George Dashwood there is the commander of the forces, and is come down here at this moment to ." What for, or how it should con- cern me, I was not to learn ; for at that critical instant, my informant's attention was called ofi" by Captain Hammersley asking, if the hounds were to hunt that day. " My friend Charley, here, is the best authority upon that matter," eaid Mr. Blake, turning towards me. TUE lUISII DUAGOON. . \fi " They are to try the Pi"iest's meadows," said 1, with an air of some importance ; *' but, if your guests desire a day's sport, I'll send word over to Brackely to bring the dogs over here, and we are sure to find a fox in your cover." " Oh, then, by all means," said the captain, turning towards Mr. Blake, and addressing himself to him — " by all means, and Miss Dash- wood, I'm sure, woidd like to see the hounds throw off." Whatever chagrin the first part of his speech caused me, the latter set my heart a tlirobbing ; and I hastened from the room to despatch a messenger to the huntsman, to come over to Gurt-na-Morre, and also, another to O'Malley Castle, to bring my best horse and my riding equipments, as quickly possible. " Matthew, who is this captain ?" said I, as young Blake met me in the hall. " Oh ! he IS the aid-de-camp of General Dashwood. A nice fellow, isn't he ?" " I don't loiow what you may think," said I, " but I take him for the most impertinent, impudent, supercilious " The rest ©f my civil speech was cut short by the appearance of the very individual in question, who with his hands in his pockets, and a cigar in his mouth, sauntered forth down the steps, taking no more notice of Matthew Blake and myself, than the two fox terriers that followed at his heels. However anxious I might be to open negociations on the subject of my mission, for the present the thing was impossible ; for I found that Sir George Dashwood was closeted closely with Mr. Blake, and re- solved to wait till evening, when chance might afford me the oppor- tunity I desired. As the ladies had entered to dress for the hunt, and, as I felt no pecu- liar desire to ally myself with the unsocial captain, I accompanied Matthew to the stable to look after the cattle and make preparations for the coming sport. " There's Captain Hammersly's horse," said Matthew, as he pointed out a highly bred but powerful English hunter ; " she came last night, for, as he expected some sport he sent his horses from Dublin on pur- pose. The other will be here to-day." " What is his regiment ?" said I, with an appearance of carelessness, but in reality feeling curious to know if the Captain was a cavalry or infantry officer. " The ^th Light Dragoons," said Matthew. " You never saw him ride ?" said I. " Never ; but his groom there says he leads the way in liis own country." " And where may that be ?" " In Leicestershire, no less," said Matthew. " Does he know Galway ?" " Never was in it before ; it's only this minute he asked Mosey Daly if the ox-fences were liigh here." " Ox-fences ! then he does not know what a wall is r" " Devil a bit ; but we'll teach him." '* That we wiiy said I with as bitter a resolution to impart the 16 ruAULKs o'mallet, instruction, as ever school master did to wlup Latin grammar into one of the great vmbreeched." " But I had better send the horses do'vra to the Mill," said Matthew ; " we'll draw that cover first." So saying, he turned towards the stable, while 1 sauntered alone towards the road, by which I expected the huntsman. I had not walked half-a-mile before I heard the yelping of tlie dogs, and, a little farther on, I saw old Brackely coming along at a brisk trot, cutting the hounds on each side, and calling after the stragglers. " Did you see my horse on the road, Brackely ?" said I. " I did, Misther Charles, and troth I'm sorry to see him ; sure yer- self knows better than to take out the Badger, the best steeple-chaser in Ireland, in such a country^as this ; nothing but awkward stone-fences, and not a foot of sure ground in the whole of it." " I know it well, Brackely ; but I have my reasons for it." " Well, maybe you have ; what cover will your honour try first ?" " They talk of the Mill," said I, " but I'd much rather try ' Morran- a-Gowl.'" ". Morran-a-Gowl ! do you want to break your neck entirely ?" " No, Brackely, not mine." " Whose then, alannah -'" " An English captain's, the devil fly away with him ; he's come down here to-day, and from aU I can see is a most impudent fellow ; so, Brackely ." " I understand ; well, leave it to me, and, though I don't like the ould deer-park wall on the hill, we'll try it this morning with the blessing ; I'U take him down by Woodford, over the ' Devil's Mouth,' — it's eighteen feet wide this minute with the late rains — into the foiu" cal- lows ; then over the stone walls, down to Dangan ; then take a short cast up the liiU, blow him a bit, and give him the park wall at the top. You must come in then fresh, and give him the whole rmi home over Sleibhmich — the Badger knows it all — and takes the road always in a fly ; a mighty distressing tiling for the horse that follows, more particularly if he does not miderstand a stony country. Well, if he lives tlu'ough tins, give him the smik fence and the stone wall at Mr. Blake's clover-field, for the hounds will run into the fox about there , and though we never ride that leap since Mr. Malone broke liis neck at it, last October, yet, upon an occasion like this, and for the honour of Galway ." " To be sure, Brackely, and here's a guinea for you, and now trot on towards the house, tliey must not see us together, or they might suspect something. But, Brackely," said I, calHng out after him, " if lie rides at all fair, what's to be done ?" " Troth then myself doesn't know ; there is nothing so bad west of Athlone ; have ye a great spite again liim ?" " I have," said I fiercely. " Could ye coax a fight out of him?" " That's true," said I, " and now ride on as fast as you can." Brackely's hist words imparted a hghtness to my heart and ray step, and I strode along a very different man from what I had left the house half an hour previously. Tlir: IKISII DRAGOON. 1? CHAPTER IV. THE HUNT. Al-'^bsough we had not the advantages of a " southerly wind and clouded sky, the day towards noon, became strongly overcast, and promised to afford us good scenting weather, and as we assembled at the meet, mutual congratulations were exchanged upon the improved appearance of the day. Young Blake had provided Miss Dashwood M'ith a quiet and well-trained horse, and his sisters were all mounted, as usual, upon their own animals, giving to our turn-out quite a gay and lively aspect. I myself came to cover upon a hackney, having sent Badger with a groom, and longed ardently for the moment when, casting the skin of my great coat and overalls, 1 should appear before the world in my well-appointed " cords and tops." Captain Hammersley had not as yet made his appearance, and many conjectures were afloat as to whether " he might ha^e missed the road or changed his mind," or forgot all about it, as Miss Dashwood hinted. " Who, pray, pitched upon this cover ?" said Caroline Blake, as she looked with a practised eye over the country, on either side. " There is no chance of a fox late in the day at the mills," said the huntsman, inventing a lie for the occasion. " Then of com-se you never intend us to see much of the sport, for after you break cover, you are entirely lost to us." " I thought you always followed the homids, said Miss Dashwood, timidly. " Oh, to be sure we do, in any common country ; but here it is out of the question — the fences are too large for any one, and, if I am not mistaken, these gentlemen will not ride far over this ; there, look yonder, where the river is rushing down the hill — that stream widening as it advances, crosses the cover nearly mid-way ; well, they must clear that, and then you may see these walls of large loose stones, nearly five feet in height ; that is the usual course the fox takes, unless he heads towards the hills, and goes towards Dangan, and then there's an end of it ; for the deer park wall is usually a pull up to every one, except, perhaps, to our friend Charley there, who has tried his fortune against drowning more than once there.'" " Look, here he comes," said Matthew Blake, " and looking splendidly too — a little too much in flesh, perhaps, if any thing." " Captain Hammersley !" said the four Miss Blakes in a breath, " where is he ?" " No, it's the Badger I'm speaking of," said Matthew laughing, and pointing with liis finger towards a corner of the field where my servant was leisurely throwing down a wall about two feet high to let him pass. " Oh, how handsome — what a charger for a dragoon," said Miss Dashwood. Any other mode of praising my steed would have been much more acceptable. The word dragoon was a thorn in ray tenderest part that c 18 CHARLES o'mALLKY, rankled and lacerated at every stir. In a moment I was in the saddle, and scarcely seated when at once all the mauvais hontc of boyhood left me, and I felt every inch a man. I often look back to that moment of my life, and, comparing it with many similar ones, cannot help acknow- ledging how purely is the self-possession which so often wins success, the result of some slight and trivial association. My confidence in my liorsemanship suggested moral corn-age of a very different kind, and I felt that Charles O'Malley curvetting upon a thorough bred, and the same man ambling upon a shelty were two and very dissimilar individuals. " No chance of the captain," said Matthew, who had retm^ned . cm a reconnaissance upon the road, " and after all it's a pity, for the day is getting quite favourable." While the young ladies formed pickets to look out for the gallant militaire, I seized the opportunity of prosecuting my acquaintance with Miss Dashwood ; and, even in the few and passing observations that fell from her, learned how very different an order of being she Avas from all I had hitherto seen of comitry belles. A mixture of courtesy with naivete — a wish to please, with a certain femmine gentleness, that always flatters a man, and stiU more a boy that fain would be one — gained momentarily more and more upon me, and put me also on my mettle to prove to my fair companion that I was not altogether a mere un- cultivated and untliinking creature like the remainder of those about nie. " Here he is, at last," said Helen Blake, as she cantered across a field, waiving her handkerchief as a signal to the captain, who was now seen approaching at a brisk trot. As he came along, a small fence intervened ; he pressed his horse a little, and, as he kissed hands to the fair Helen, cleared it in a bound, and was in an instant in the midst of us. " He sits his horse like a man, Misther Charles," said the old hunts- man ; " troth we must give him the worst bit of it." Captain Hammersley was, despite all the critical acumen with wliich I canvassed liim, the very beau ideal of a gentleman rider ; indeed, although a very heavy man, his powerful English thorough bred, showing not less bone than blood, took away all semblance of over weight ; his saddle, well fitting and well placed ; his large and broad- reined snaffle ; his own costume of black coat, leathers, and tops, was in perfect keeping, and even to his heavy handled hmiting-whip, I could find nothing to cavil at. As he rode up he paid his respects to the ladies, in his usual free and easy manner, expressed some surprise, but no regret, at hearing that he was late, and never deigning any notice of Matthew or myself, took his place beside Miss Dashwood, with whom he conversed in a low and mider tone. " Thei'e they go," said Matthew, as five or six dogs, with their heads up, ran yelping along a furrow, then stopped, howled again, and once more set off together. Li an instant all was commotion in the little valley below us. The huntsman, with liis hand to his mouth, was calling oft' the stragglers, and the whipper-in following up the leading dogs with the rest of the pack. " They're found! — they're away!" said Matthew ; and, as he spoke, a great yell burst from the valley, and in an instant the whole pack were off at full speed. Rather more intent THE IRISH DRAGOON. 19 that moment upon showing off my horsemanship than any thing else, I dashed spurs into Badger's sides, and tiu-ned him towards a rasping ditch before me ; over we went, hurling down behind us a rotten bank of clay and small stones, showing how little safety there had been in topping instead of clearing it at a bound. Before I was well seated again, tiie captain was beside me. " Now for it, tlien," said I, and away we went. What might be the nature of his feelings I cannot pretend to state, but my own were a strange melange of wild boyish enthusiasm, revenge, and recklessness. For my own neck I cared little — nothing ; and as I led the way by half a length, I muttered to myself, " Let him for w me fairly this day, and I ask no more." The dogs had got somewhat the start of us, and, as they were in fiJl cry, and going fast, we were a little beliind. A thought therefore struck me that, by appearing to take a short cut upon the hounds, I should come down upon the river where its breadth was greatest and thus at one coup might try my friend's metal and liis horse's performance at the same time. On we went, our speed increasing, till the roar of the river we were now approaching was plainly audible. I looked half arovmd, and now perceived the captain was standing in his stirrups, as if to obtain a view of what was before liim ; otherwise his countenance was calm, and unmoved, and not a muscle betrayed that he was not can- tering on a parade. I fixed myself firmly in my seat, shook my horse a little together, and, with a shout whose import every Galway hunter well knows, rushed him at the river. I saw the water dashing among the large stones, I heard its splash, I felt a bound like the ricochet of a shot, and we were over, but so narrowly, that the bank had yielded beneath his hind legs, and it needed a bold effort of the noble animal to regain his footing. Scarcely was he once more firm, when Hammersley flew by me, taking the lead, and sitting quietly in liis saddle, as if racing. I know of nothing in all my after life like the agony of that moment ; for, although I was far, very far, from wishing real ill to him, yet I would gladly have broken my leg or my arm if he could not have been able to follow me. And now there he was actually a length and a half in advance ; and, worse than all. Miss Dashwood must have witnessed the whole, and doubtless liis leap over the river was better and bolder than mine. One consolation yet remained, and while I whispered it to myself I felt comforted again. " His is an English mare — they understand these leaps — but what can he make of a Galway wall ?" The question was soon to be solved. Before us, about three fields were the hounds still in full cry ; a large stone wall lay between, and to it we both directed our course together. Ha ! thought I, he is floored at last, as I perceived that the captain held liis horse rather more in hand, and suffered me to lead. " Now, then, for it !" so saying I rode at the largest part I could find, well knowing that Badger'^ powers were here in their element. One spring, one plunge, and away we were, galloping along at the other side. Not so the captain : his horse had refused the fence, and he was now taking a circuit of the field for another trial of it. " Pounded, by Jove," said 1, as I turned round in my saddle to observe him. Once more she came at it, and once more baulked, rear- ing up at the same time, almost so as to fall backward. 20 CHARLES o'mALLEY, ]\Iy triumph was complete, and I again was about to follow the hounds, when, throwing a look back, I saw Hammersley clearing tlie wall in a most splendid manner, and taking a stretch of at least thirteen feet beyond it. Once more he was on my flanks, and the contest renewed. Whatever might be the sentiments of the riders (mine I confess to), between the horses it now became a tremendous struggle. The English mare, tliough evidently superior in stride and strength, was still overweighted, and had not besides that cat-like activity an Irish horse possesses ; so that the advantages and disadvan- tages on either side were about equalized. For about half an hoiu* now the pace was awful. We rode side by side, taking our leaps exactly at the same instant, and not fom* feet apart. The hounds were still considerably in advance, and were heading towards the Shamion, when suddenly the fox doubled, took the hill side, and made for Dangan. Now, then, comes the trial of strength, I said half aloud, as I threw my eye up a steep and rugged mountain, covered with wild furze and tall heath, aromid the crest of whicli ran, in a zig-zag direction, a broken and dilapidated wall, once the enclosure of a deer-park. This wall, v,hich varied from four to six feet in height, was of solid masonry, and M ould, in the most favourable ground, have been a bold leap. Here, at the summit of a mountam, with not a yard of footing, it was absolutely desperation. By the time that we reached the foot of the hill, the fox, followed closely by the hounds, had passed through a breach in the wall, while Matthew Blake, with the himtsmen and whipper-in, were riding along in search of a gap to lead the horses through. Before I put spurs to Badger, to face the hill, I tm-ned one look towards Hammersley. There was a slight curl, half-smile, half-sneer upon his lip, that actually maddened me, and had a precipice yawned beneath my feet, I should have dashed at it after that. Tlie ascent was so stfeep that I was obliged to take the hiU in a slanting direction, and even thus, the loose footing rendered it dangerous in the extreme. At length I reached the crest, where the wall, more than five feet in height, stood frowning above and seeming to defy me. I turned my horse full round, so that his very chest almost touched the stones, and, with a bold cut of the whip and a loud halloo, the gallant animal rose, as if rearing, pawed for an instant to regain his balance, and then with a frightful struggle fell backwards, and rolled from top to bottom of the hill, cai'rying me along with him; the last object that crossed my siglit, as I lay bruised and motionless, being the captain as he took the wall in a flying leap, and disappeared at the other side. After a few scrambling eftbrts to rise, Badger regained liis legs, and stood beside me ; but such was the shock and concussion of my fall, that all the objects ai'ound seemed wavering and floating before me, while showers of bright sparks fell in myriads before my eyes. I tried to rise, but fell back lielpless. Cold perspiration broke over my forehead, and I fainted. From that moment I can remember nothing, till I felt myself galloping along at full speed upon a level table land, Avitli the hounds about three fields in advance, Hammersley riding foremost, and taking all his leaps coolly as ever. As I swayed to either side upon my saddle, from weakness, I was lost to all thought or recollection, save a flickering memory of some plan of THE IRISH DRAGOON. 21 vengeance, which still urged me forward. The chase had now lasted above an hour, and both hounds and horses began to feel the pace at which they were going. As for nie, I rode mechanically ; I neither knew nor cared for the dangers before me. My eye rested on but one object ; my whole being was concentrated upon one vague and undeter- mined sense of revenge. At this instant the himtsman came alongside of me. " Are you hurted, Misther Charles ? did you fall ? — your cheek is all blood, and your coat is torn in two ; and. Mother o' God, his boot is ground to ])owder ; he does not hear me. Oh, pull up — pidl, for the love of the Virgin ; there's the clover field, and the sunk fence before you, and you'll be killed on the spot." " Where ?" cried I, with the cry of a madman, " where's the clover field ? — where's the sunk fence ? Ha ! I see it — I see it now." So saying, I dashed the rowels into my horse's flanks, and in an instant was beyond the reach of the poor fellow's remonstrances. Another moment, I was beside the captain. He turned round as I came up ; the same smile was upon his mouth — I could have struck him. About three hundred yards before us lay the sunk fence its breadth was about twenty feet, arid a m all of close brickwork formed its face. Over this the hounds were now clambering ; some succeeded in crossing, but by far the greater number fell back howling into the ditch. I turned towards Hammersley. He was standing high in his stirrups, and, as he looked towards the yawning fence, down which the dogs were tmubling in masses, I thought (perhaps it was but a thought) that his cheek was paler. I looked again, he was pidling at his horse ; ha ! it was true then, he would not face it. I turned round in my saddle — looked him fiill in the face, and, as I pointed with my whip to the leap, called out in a voice hoarse with passion, " come on." I saw no more. All objects were lost to me from that moment. When next my senses cleared I was standing amid the dogs, where they had just killed. Badger stood blown and trembling beside me, his head drooping, and his flanks gored with spur marks. I looked about, but all consciousness of the past had fled ; the concussion of my fall had shaken my intellect, and I was like one but half awake. One glimpse, short and fleeting, of what was taking place, shot through my brain, as old Brackely whis- pered to me, " By my soul ye did for the captain there." I turned a vague look upon him, and my eyes fell upon the figure of a man that lay stretched and bleeding upon a door before me. His pale face was crossed Avith a piu-ple stream of blood, that trickled from a wound beside his eye-brow ; his arms lay motionless and heavily at either side. I knew him not. A loud report of a pistol aroused me from my stupor ; I looked back. I saw a crowd that broke suddenly asunder and fled right and left. I heard a heavy crash upon the gromid, I pointed with my finger, for I could not utter a word. " It is tlie English mare, yer honom- ; she was a beauty this morning, but she's broke her collar bone, and both her legs, and it was best to put her out of pain." 22 CHABLES O'MALLBT, CHAPTER V. THE DRAWING-ROOM. On tiie fourth day following the adventure detailed in the last chapter I made my appeai'ance in the drawing-room ; my cheek well blanched by copious bleeding, and my step tottering and vmcertain. On entering the room I looked about in vain for some one who might give me an insight into the occurrences of the four preceding days, but no one was to be met with. The ladies, I learned, were out riding ; Matthew was buying a new setter ; Mr. Blake was canvassing ; and Captain Hammersley was in bed. Where was Miss DashMOod ? — in her room j and Sir George ? he was with Mr. Blaiie. " What ! canvassing too ?" " Troth that same was possible," was the mtelligent reply of the old butler, at which I could not help smiling. I sat down therefore in the easiest chair I could find, and, vuifolding the county paper, resolved upon learning how matters were going on in the political world. But, somehow, whether the editor was not brilliant, or the fire was hot, or that ray own dreams were pleasanter to indulge in than his fancies, I fell sovuid asleep. How differently is the mind attimed to the active busy world of thought and action, when awakened from sleep by any sudden and rude summons to arise and be stirring, and when called into existence by the sweet and silvery notes of softest music, stealing over the senses, and while they impai't awakening tliovights of bliss and beauty scarcely dis sipating the dreary influence of slumber ; such was my first thought as, with closed lids, the thrilling cords of a harp broke upon my sleep, and aroused me to a feeling of unutterable pleasure. I tm-ned gently round in my chair, and beheld Miss Dashwood. She was seated in a recess of an old-fasliioned window ; the pale yellow glow of a wintry sun at evening fell upon her beautiful hair, and tinged it with sucli a light as I have often since then seen in Rembrandt's pictures ; her head leaned upon the harp, and, as she struck its cords at random, I saw that her mind was far away from all around her ; as I looked, she suddenly started from her leaning attitude, and, parting back her curls from her brow, she preluded a few chords, and then sighed forth, rather thau sang, that most beautiful of Moore's Melodies, — " She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps." Never before had such pathos, such deep utterance of feeling, met my astonished sense ; I listened breathlessly as the tears fell one by one down my cheek ; my bosom heaved and fell ; and, w hen she ceased, I hid my head between my hands and sobbed aloud. In an instant she was beside me, and placing her hand upon my shoulder, said, " Poor dear boy, I never suspected you of being there, or I should not have sung that mournful air." THE IRISH DRAGOON. Aj I started and looked up, and, from what I know not, but she sud- denly crimsoned to her very forehead, while she added in a less assured tone, " I hope, Mr. O'Malley, that you are much better, and I trust there is no imprudence in your being here." " For the latter I shall not answer," said I, with a sickly smile ; " but already I feel your music has done me service." " Then let me sing more for you." " If I am to have a choice, I should say sit down and let me hear you talk to me ; my illness and the doctor together, have made wild work of my poor brain ; but, if you will, talk to me." " Well then, what shall it be about ? — Shall I tell you a fairy tale ?" ** I need it not : I feel I am in one this instant." " Well, then, what say you to a legend, for I am rich in my stores of them ?" " The O'MaUeys have their chronicles, wild and barbarous enough, without the aid of Thor and Woden." " Then, shall we chat of every-day matters ? — should you like to hear how the election and the canvass go on ?" " Yes ; of all things." " Well, then, most favourably. Two baronies, with most unspeak- able names, have declared for us, and confidence is rapidly increasing among our party. This I learned by chance^ yesterday — for papa never permits us to know any thing of these matters ; not even the names of the candidates." " Well, that Avas the very point I was coming to, for the government were about to send down some one, just as I left home ; and I am most anxious to learn who it is." " Then am I utterly valueless ; for I really can't say what party the government espouses, and only know of our owii." " Quite enough for me, that you wish it success," said I, gallantly ; " perhaps, you can tell me if my uncle has heard of my accident ?" " Oh yes ; but somehow he has not been here himself; but sent a friend, a Mr. Considine I think ; a very strange person he seemed. He demanded to see papa, and, it seems, asked him if yoiu" misfortime had been u thing of liis contrivance, and whether he was ready to explain his conduct about it ; and in fact, 1 believe he is mad." " Heaven confound him," I nuittered between my teeth. " And then he wished to have an interview with Captain Hammersley, but he is too ill ; but as the doctor hoped he might be down stairs in a week, Mr, Considine kindly Iiinted that he should wait." " Oh then, do tell me how is the captain." " Very much bruised, very much disfigured, they say," said she, hall smiling ; " but not so much hurt in body as in mind." " As how, may I ask ?" said I, with an appearance of innocence. " I don't exactly understand it ; but it would appear that there was something like rivaby among you gentlemen chasseurs on that luckless morning, and that, Avhile you paid the penalty of a broken head, he was destined to lose his horse, and break his arm." '•' I certainly am sorry — most sincerely sorry for any share I might 24 CHAKLES o'mALLEY, have had in the catastrophe ; and my greatest regret, I confess, arises from the fact, that I should cause you unhappiness." • " Me — i^ray ex^ihiin ?" " Why, as Captain Ilammersley " " Mr. O'Malley, you are too young now, to make me suspect you have an intention to offend ; but I caution you, never repeat this." I saw that I had transgressed, but how, I most honestly confess, I could not guess ; for though I certainly was the senior of my fair com- panion in years, I was most lamentably her jimior in tact and discre- tion. The grej'^ dusk of evening had long fallen as Ave continued to chat together beside the blazing wood embers — she evidently amusing her- self with the original notions of an untutored unlettered boy ; and I drinking deep those draughts of love that nerved my heart througli many a breach and battle field. Our colloquy was at length interrupted by the entrance of Sir George, who shook me most cordially by the hand, and made the kindest in- quiries about my health. " They tell me you are to be a lawyer, Mr. O'Malley," said he ; " and, if so, I must advise you to take better care of your head-piece." " A lawyer, papa ; oh dear me ! I should never have thought of his being any thing so stupid." " Why, silly girl, what would you have a man be ?" " A dragoon, to be sure, papa," said the fond girl, as she pressed her arm around his manly figure, and looked up in his face, with an expres- sion of mingled pride and affection. That word sealed my destiny. CHAPTER VI. THE DINNEKk When I retired to my room to dress for dinner, I found my servant waiting witli a note from my uncle, to which, lie informed me, the nies- senger expected an answer. I broke the seal and read : — " Dear Charley, " Do not lose a moment in securing old Blake — if yi,u have not ali'eady done so, as information has just reached me that the govern- ment party has promised a cornetcy to young Matthew, if he can bring over Ills father. And tliese are the people I have been voting with — a few private cases excepted — for thirty odd years ! " I am very sorry for your accident. Considine informs me that it will need explanation at a later penod. He has been in Atldone since Tuesday, in hopes to catch the new candidate on his way down, and THE IRISH DRAGOON. 25 ^et him into a little private* quarrel before tlie day ; if he succeed, it will save the county nuich expense, and conduce greatly to the peace and happiness of all parties. But ' these things,' as Father Roach says, ' are in the hands of Providence.' You must also persuade old Blake to write a few lines to Simon Mallock, about the Coolnamuck mort- gage. We can gi\e him no satisfaction at present, at least such as he looks for, and don't be philandering any longer where you are, when your health permits a change of quarters. " Your affectionate uncle, " Godfrey O'Maelet. " P.S — I have just heard from Considine ; he was out this morning and shot a fellow in the knee, but finds that after all he was not the candidate, but a tourist that was writing a book about Connemara. " P.S. No. 2 — Bear the mortgage in mind, for old Malloch is a spite- ful fellow, and has a grudge against me, since I horsewhipped his son in Banagher. Oh, the Avorld, the Avorld !— G. O'M." Until I read this very clear epistle to the end, I had no very precise conception how completely I had forgotten all my uncle's interests, and neglected all his injunctions. Already five days had elapsed, and I had not as nuich as mooted the question to Mr. Blake, and probably all this time my uncle was calculating on the thing as con- cluded ; but, with one hole in my head and some half-dozen in my heart, my memory Avas none of the best. Snatching up the letter, therefore, I resolved to lose no more time ; and proceeded at once to Mr. Blake's room, expectmg that I should, as the event proved, find him engaged in the very laborious duty of making his toilette. " Come in, Charley," said he, as I tapped gently at the door ; " it's only Charley, my darling ; Mrs. B. won't mind you." " Not the least in life," responded Mrs. B. disposing at the same time a pair of her husband's corduroj'6, tippet fashion across her ample shoidders, which before were displayed in the plenitude and breadth of colouring we find in a ilubens. " Sit down, Charley, and tell us what's the matter." As, until this moment, I was in perfect ignorance of the Adam and Eve-like simplicity in which the private economy of Mr. Blake's house- hold was conducted, I would have gladly retired from what I found to be a mutual territory of dressing-room had not Mr. Blake's injunctions been issued somewhat like an order to remain. " It's only a letter, sir," said I, stuttering, "from my micle, about the election. He says that, as his majority is now certain, he should feel better pleased in going to the poll with all the family, you know, sir, along with him. He wishes me just to sound your intentions — to make out how you feel disposed towards him ; and — and, faith, as I am but a poor diplomatist, I thought the best way was to come straight to the point and tell you so." " I perceive," said Mr. Blake, giving his chin at the moment an awful gash with the razor, " I perceive, go on." " Well, sir, I have little more to say ; my uncle knows what influence you have in Scarifl', and expects you'll do what you can there." 26 CHARLES o'MALLET, " Any thing more ?" said Blake, with a very dry, and quizzical expres sion I didn't half like, " any thing more ?" " Oh, yes, you are to ^vrite a line to old Mallock." " I understand, about Coolnamuck, isn't it ?" " Exactly ; I believe that's all." " Well now, Charley, you may go down stairs, and we'll talk it over after dinner." " Yes, Charley dear, go down, for I'm going to draw on my stock- ings," said the fair Mrs. Blake, with a look of very modest conscious- ness." When I had left the room I couldn't help muttering a " thank God," for the success of a mission I more than once feared for, and hastened to despatch a note to my uncle, assuring him of the Blake interest, and adding that, for propriety sake, I shoidd defer my departure for a day or two longer. This done, with a heart lightened of its load, and in high spirits at my cleverness, I descended to the drawing-room. Here a very large party were already assembled, and, at every opening of the door, a new relay of Blakes, Burkes, and Bodkins, was introduced. In the absence of the host. Sir George Dashwood was " making the agreeable" to the guests, and shook hands with every new arrival, with all the warmth and cordiality of old friendship. Wliile thus he inquired for various absent individuals, and asked, most affectionately, for sundry aunts, and uncles, not forthcoming, a slight incident occurred, wliich, by its ludicrous turn, served to shorten the long half hoiu* before dinner. An individual of the party, a Mr. Blake, had, from certain peculiarities of face, obtained, in his boyhood, the soubriquet of " shave tlie wind." This hatchet-like conformation had groAvn with his growth, and perpetuated upon him a nick-name, by which alone was he ever spoken of among his friends and acquaintances ; the only difference being that, as he came to man's estate, brevity, that soul of wit, had curtailed the epithet to mere " shave." Now, Sir George had been hearing frequent reference made to him, always by this name, heard him ever so addressed, and perceived him to reply to it ; so that, when he was himself asked by some one, what sport he had foimd that day among the woodcocks, he answered at once, with a bow of very grateful acknowledgment, " Excellent, indeed ; but entirely owing to where I was placed in the copse ; had it not been for Mr. Shave there, " I need not say that tlie remainder of his speech, being heard on all sides, became one vmiversal shout of laughter, in which, to do him justice, the excellent Shave himself heartily joined. Scarcely were the sounds of mirth lulled into an apparent calm, when the door opened, and the host and hostess appeared. Mrs. Blake advanced in all the plenitude of her ch{U"ms, arrayed in crimson satin, sorely injured in its freshness by a patch of grease upon the front, about the same size and shape as the continent of Europe, in Arrowsmith's Atlas ; a swansdown tippet covered her shoulders ; massive bracelets ornamented her wrists ; while from her ears descended two Irish diamond ear-rings, rivalling in magnitude and value the glass pendants of a lustre. Her reception of her guests made ample amends, in warmth and cordiality, for any deficiency of elegance ; and, as she disposed her ample pro- THE IRISH DRAGOON. 27 portions upon the sofa, and looked around upon the company, she appeared the very impersonation of hospitality. After several openings and shuttings of the drawing-room door, ac- companied by the appearance of old Simon the butler, who counted the party at least five times before he was certain that the score was correct, dinner was at length announced. Now came a moment of difficulty ; and one which, as testing Mr. Blake's tact, he would gladly have seen devolve upon some other shoulders ; for he well knew that the marshalling a room full of mandarins, blue, green, and yellow, was " cakes and gingerbread" to ushering a Galway party in to dinner. First then was Mr. Miles Bodkin, whose grandfather would have been a lord if Cromwell had not hanged him one fine morning. Then, Mrs. Mosey Blake's first husband was promised the title of ICilmacud if it was ever restored, whereas Mrs. French of Knocktumnor's mother was then at law for a title : and lastly, Mrs. Joe Burke was fourth cousin to Lord Clanricarde, as is or will be every Burke from this to tlie day of judgment. Now, luckily for her prospects, the lord was alive ; and Mr. Blake, remembering a very sage adage, about " dead lions," &c. solved the difficulty at once, by gracefidly tucking the lady under his arm, and leading tlie way ; the others soon followed ; the priest of Portumna and my unworthy self bringing up the rear. When, many a year afterwards, the hard ground of a mountain bivouac, with its pitiful portion of pickled cork-tree, yclept mess-beef, and that pyroligneous aqua-fortis they caU corn brandy, have been my hard fare, I often looked back to that day's dinner, with a most heart- yearning sensation — a tiu-bot as big as the Waterloo shield ; a sirloin that seemed cut from the sides of a rhinoceros ; a sauce-boat that con- tained an oyster bed. There was a turkey wliich singly would have formed the main army of a French dinner, doing mere outpost duty — flanked by a picket of ham, and a detached squadron of chickens, carefully ambushed in a forest of greens : potatoes not disguised a la niaitre d'hotel and tortured to resemble bad macaroni, but piled like shot in an ordnance yard, were posted at dift'erent quarters : while mas- sive decanters of port and sherry stood proudly up like standai-d bearers amid the goodly array. This was none of your austere " great dinners," where a cold and chilling plateau of artificial nonsense cuts off" one half of the table from intercourse with the other ; when whispered sentences constitute the conversation, and all the friendly recognition of wine- drinking, which renews acquaintance and cements an intimacy, is re- placed by the ceremonious filling of yom* glass by a lacquey — where smiles go cm-rent in lieu of kind speeches, and epigram and smartness form the substitute for the broad jest and merry story. Far from it ; here the company eat, drank, talked, laughed, did all but sing, and certainly enjoyed themselves heartily. As for me, I was little more than a listener, and such was the crash of plates, the jingle of glasses, and the clatter of voices, that fragments only of what was passing around reached me ; giving to the conversation of the party a character occasionally somewhat incongruous. Thus, such sentences as the fol- lowing ran foid of each other every instant : — " No better land in Galway" — " where could you find such facilities" • — " for shooting Mr. Jones on his way home" — " the truth, the whole 28 CHARLES o'm ALLEY, truth, and nothing but the truth" — " kiss" — " Miss Blake, she's the girl with a foot and ankle" — " Daly has never had wool on his sheep" — " how could lie" — " what does he pay for the mountain" — " foiu* and ten pence a yard" — " not a penny less" — " all the cabbage stalks and potato skins, with some bog stufi" through it" — " that's the thing to" — " make soup, with a red herring in it instead of salt" — " and when he proposed for my niece, ma'am, says he" — " mix a strong tumbler, and I'll make a shake down for you on the floor" — " and may the Lord have mercy on your soul" — " and now, down tlie middle and up again" — '' Captain Magan, my dear, he is the man" — " to shave a pig properly" — " it's not money I'm looking for, says he, the girl of my heart" — " if she had not a wind gall and two spavins" — " I'd have given her the rights of the church, of coorse," said Father Roach, bringing up the rear of this ill-assorted jargon. Such were the scattered links of con^'ersation I was condemned to listen to, tiU a general rise on the part of the ladies left us alone to discuss our wine, and enter in good earnest upon tlie more serious duties of the evening. Scarcely was the door closed, when one of the company, seizing the bell-rope, saidj " with your leave, Blake, we'll have the ' dew' now." " Good claret — no better," said another : " but it sits mighty cold on the stomacli." " There's nothing like the groceries, after all — eh, Sir George r" said an old Galway squire to the English general, who acceded to the fact, which he understood in a very different sense. " Oh, pimch, you are my darlin'," hummed another, as a large square half-gallon decanter of whiskey was placed on the table — the various decanters of wine being now ignominiously sent down to the end of the board, without any evidence of regret on any face, save Sir George Dashwood's, who mixed liis tumbler with a very rebellious conscience. Whatever were the noise and clamour of the company before, they were notliing to what now ensued. As one party were discussing the approaching contest, another was planning a steeple-chase ; while tAvo individuals, mihappily removed from each other the entire length of the table, were what is called " challenging each other's effects," in a very remarkable manner, the process so styled being an exchange of property, when each party setting an imaginary value upon some article, barters it for another, the amount of boot paid and received being determined by a third person, who is the umpire. Thus a gold breast-pin was swopped, as the phrase is, against a horse ; then a pair of boots, then a Kerry bull, &c., every imaginable species of property coming into the market. Sometimes, as matters of very dubious value turned up, great laughter Mas the result. In this very national pas- time a Mr. Miles Bodkin, a noted fire-eater of the West, was a great proficient, and, it is said, once so completely succeeded in despoiling an uninitiated hand, tliat after winning in succession his horse, gig, harness, &c., he proceeded seriatim to liis watch, ring, clothes, and portmanteau, and actually concluded by winning all he possessed, and kindly lent him a card cloth to cover him on liis way to the hotel. His success on the present occasion was considerable, and his spirits proportionate. The decanter had thrice been replenished, and the THE imSII DnAGOON. 29 flushed faces and thickened utterance of the guests evinced that, from the cold properties of the claret there was but little to dread. As for Mr. Bodkin, his manner was incapable of any higher flight, when under the influence of wliiskey, from what it evinced on common occasions ; and, as he sat at the end of the table, fronting Mr. Blake, he assumed all the dignity of the ruler of the feast, with an energy no one seemed disposed to question. In answer to some observations of Sir George, he was led into something like an oration upon the peculiar excellen- cies of his native country, which ended in a declaration that there was nothing like Galway. " Why don't you give us a song, Miles ? and maybe the general would learn more from it, than all your speech-making." " To be sure," cried out several voices, together ; " to be sure : let us hear the ' Man for Galway.' " Sir George having joined most warmly in the request, Mr. Bodkin filled up his glass to the brim, bespoke a chorus to his chant, and, clearing his voice ^vith a deep hem, began the following ditty, to the air wliich Moore has since rendered immortal, by the beautiful song " Wreath the bowl," &c. And although the words are well known in the West, for the information of less favom-ed regions, I here transcribe "THE MAN rOR GALWAY." " To drink a toast, A. proctor roast, Or bailiff as the case is , To kiss your wife Or take your life At ten or fifteen paces ; To keep game cocks — to hunt the fox, To drink in punch tlie Solway, With debts galore, but fun far more ; Oh, that's ' the man for Galway.' " Chorus— With debts, &c. " The King of Onde Is mighty proud, And so were oust the Caysars — (Ca3sars) ; But ould Giles Eyre Would make them stare, Av he had them with the Blazers. To the devil I fling — ould Rungeot Sing, He's only a prince in a small way, And knows nothing at all of a six foot wall ; Oh, he'd never ' do for Galway ' " Chorus— With debts, &c. " Ye think the Blakos Are no ' great shakes ;' They're all his blood relations, And the Bodkins sneeze At the grim Chinese, For they come from the Phcnai/cians ; So fill to the brim, and here's to him Who'd drinic in pimch the Sohvay ; With debts galore, but fun far more ; Oh ! that's ' the man for Galway.' " Chorus — With debts," &c. 30 CHARLES o'mALLEY, 1 much fear that the reception of this very classic ode would not be as favourable in general companies as it was on the occasion I first heard it I for certainly the applause was almost deafening ; and even Sir George, the defects of whose English education left some of the allusions out of his reach, was highly amused, and lauglied heartily. The conversation once more reverted to the election, and although I was too far from those who seemed best informed on the matter to hear much, I could catch enough to discover that the feeling was a confident one. This was gratifying to me, as I had some scruple about my so long neglecting my uncle's cause. " We have Scarifi" to a man," said Bodkin. " And Mosey's tenantry," said another ; " I swear that though there's not a freehold registered on the estate, that they'll vote, every mother's son of them, or devil a stone of the court-house they'll leave standing on another " " And may the Lord look to the returning ofl^icer," said a third, thro^ving vip his eyes. " Mosey's tenantry are droll boys, and, like their landlord, more by token — they never pay any rent." " And what for shouldn't they vote ?" said a dry looking little old fellow in a red waistcoat : " when I was the dead agent " " The dead agent," interrupted Sir George, with a start. " Just so," said the old fellow, pulling down his spectacles from his forehead, and casting a half angry look at Sir George, for what lie had suspected to be a doubt of his veracity. " The general does not know, maybe, Avhat that is," said some one. " You have just anticipated me," said Sir George ; " I really am in most profound ignorance." " It is the dead agent," says Mr. Blake, " who always provides sub- stitutes for any voters that may have died since tlie last election. A very important fact in statistics may thus be gathered from the poll books of this county, which proves it to be the healthiest part of Europe ■ — a freeholder has not died in it for tlie last fifty years." " Tlie ' Kiltopher boys' won't come this time — they say there's no use trying to vote when so many were transported last assizes for perjury." " They're poor spirited creatures," said another. " Not they — they are as decent boys as any we have — they're Avilling to MTeck the town for fifty shillings worth of spirits ; besides, if they don't ^•ote for the county, they will for the borough." This declaration seemed to restore these interesting individuals to favour, and now all attention was turned towards Bodkin, who was de- tailing the plan of a grand attack upon the polling booths, to be headed by himself. By this time all the prudence and guardedness of the party had given way — whiskey was in the ascendant, and every bold stroke of election policy, every cunning artifice, every ingenious device, was detailed and applauded, in a manner wliich proved that self-respect was not the inevitable gift of " mountain dew." The mirth and fun grew momentarily more boisterous, and Miles Bodkin, who had twice before been prevented proposing some toast, by a telegraphic signal from the other end of the table, now swore that THE IRISH DRAGOON. 31 nothing should prevent him any longer, and rising with a smoking tum- bler in liis hand, delivered himself as follows : — " No, no, Phil Blake, ye needn't bcwinkin' at me that way — it's little I care for the spawn of the ould serpent." [Here great cheers greeted the speaker, in which, without well knowing why, I heartly joined.] " I'm going to give a toast, boys — a real good toast — none of your sentimental things about wall-flowers, or the vernal equinox, or that kind of thing, but a sensible, patriotic, manly, intrepid toast ; a toast you must drink in the most luiiversal, laborious, and awful manner — do ye see now ?" — [Loud cheers.] " If any man of you here present, doesn't drain this toast to the bottom — (here the speaker looked fixedly at me, as did the rest of the company,) — then, by the great gun of Athlone, I'll make him eat the decanter, glass, stopper, and all, for the good of his digestion — d'ye see now ?" The cheering at this mild determination, prevented my hearing what followed ; but the peroration consisted in a very glowing eulogy apon some person unknown, and a speedy return to him as member lor Galway. Amid all the noise and tumult at this critical moment, nearly every eye at the table was turned upon me, and, as I concluded that they had been drinking my uncle's health, I thundered away at the mahogany with all my energy. At length, the hip, hipping over, and comparative quiet restored, I rose from my seat to return thanks — but strange enough, Sir George Dashwood did so likewise, and there we both stood amid an uproar that might well have shaken the courage o more practised orators ; while from every side came cries of " hear, hear" — " go on, Sir George" — " speak out. General — " sit down, Charley" — " confound the boy" — " knock the legs from under him," &c. Not under- standing why Sir George should interfere with what I regarded as my peculiar duty, I resolved not to give way, and avowed this determina- tion in no very equivocal terms. " In that case," said the General, " I am to suppose that the young gentleman moves an amendment to your proposition, and, as the etiquette is in his favour, I yield." — Here he resumed his place, amid a most terrific scene of noise and tumult, while several humane proposals, as to my treatment, were made around me, and a kind suggestion thrown out to break my neck, by a near neighbour. Mr. Blake at length prevailed upon the party to hear what I had to say — for he was certain I should not detain them above a minute. The commotion having in some measm'e sub- sided, I began — " Gentlemen, as the adopted son of the worthy man whose health you have just drunk." Heaven knows hov/ I should have continued — but here my eloquence was met by such a roar of laughing as I never before listened to ; from one end of the board to the other it was one continued shout, and went on too as if all the spare lungs of the party had been kept in reserve for the occasion. I turned from one to the other — I tried to smile, and seemed to participate in the joke, but failed — I frowned — I looked savagely about where I could see enough to turn my wrath thitherward ; and as it chanced, not in vain ; for Mr. Miles Bodkin, with an intuitive percep- tion of my wishes, most suddenly ceased his mirth, and, assuming a look of frowning defiance that had done him good service upon many former occasions, rose and said — 52 CHARLES o'mALLET, " Well, sir, I hope you're proud of yourself — you've made a nice beginning of it, and a pretty story you'll have for your uncle. But if you'd like to break the news by a letter, the General will have great pleasure in franking it for you ; for by the rock of Cashel, we'll carry liini in against all the O'Malleys that ever cheated the Sheriff." Scarcely were the words uttered, when I seized my wine glass, and hurled it with all my force at his head ; so sudden was the act, and so true the aim, that Mr. Bodkin measured his length upon the floor ere his friends could appreciate his late eloquent effusion. The scene now became terrific ; for though the redoubted Miles was hors de combat, his friends made a tremendous rush at, and would infallibly have suc- ceeded in capturing me, had not Blake and four or five otliers interposed. Amid a desperate struggle, which lasted for some minutes, I was torn from the spot, carried bodily up stairs, and pitclied headlong into ray own room, where having doubly locked the door on the outside, they left me to ray own cool and not over-agreeable reflectioiis. TIIP. lUISU DRACIOOII. 33 CHAPTER V[I TUE FLIGHT FROM GURTNAMORRA. It was by one of those sudden and inexplicable revulsions which occa- sionally restore to sense and intellect, the maniac of years' standing, that I was no sooner left alone in my chamber, tlian I became perfectly sober. The fumes of the wine — and I had drunk deeply — were dissipated at once ; my liead, which but a moment before was half wUd with excitement, was now cool, calm, and collected ; and, stranger than all, I, who had only an hour since entered the dining-room with all the vmsus- pecting freshness of boyhood, became, by a mighty boiind a man — a man in all my feelings of responsibility, a man who, repelling an insult by an outrage, had resolved to stake his life upon the chance. In an instant a new era in life had opened before me — tlie light-headed gaiety which fearlessness and youth impart, was replaced by one ab- sorbing thought — one all-engrossing, all-pervading impression, that if I did not follow vip my quarrel with Bodkin, I was dishonored and dis- graced ; my little knowledge of such matters not being sufficient to assiu-e me that I was now the aggressor, and that any further steps in tlie affair should come from his side. So thoroughly did my own griefs occupy me, that I had no thought for the disappointment my poor uncle was destined to meet with in hear- ing that the Blake intei'est was lost to him, and the former breach between the families irreparably widened by the events of the evening Escape was my first thought ; but how to accomplish it ? — the door, a solid one of Irish oak, doubly locked and bolted, defied all my efforts to break it open — the window was at least five and twenty feet from the groimd, and not a tree near to swing into. I shouted, I called aloud, I opened the sash, and tried if any one outside were within hearing, but in vain. Weary and exhausted, I sat down upon my bed and rumi- nated over my fortunes. Vengeance, quick, entire, decisive ven- geance I thirsted and panted for ; and every moment I lived under the insidt inflicted on me, seemed an age of torturing and maddening agony. I rose with a leap, a thought had just occurred to me. I drew the bed towards the window, and fastening the sheet to one of tli« posts with a firm knot, I twisted it into a rope, and let myself down to within about twelve feet of the ground, when I let go my hold, and dropped upon tlie grass beneath, safe and uninjured ; a thin misty rain was falling, and I now perceived, for the first time, that in my haste I had forgotten my hat ; this thouglit, however, gave me little uneasi- ness, and I took my way towards the stable, resolving, if I could, to saddle my horse, and get off before any intimation of my escapo reached the family. When I gained the yard all was quiet and deserted ; the servant* were doubtless enjoying themselves below stairs ; and I met no one in the way. I entered the stable, threw the saddle upon " Badger," and, I) 34 CHAKLES 0'M.i.LLEY. before five minutes from my descent from the window, was galloping towards O'Malley Castle at a pace that defied pursuit, had any one thought of it. It was about five o'clock on a dark wintry morning, as I led my horse through the well-known defiles of out-hoxises and stables wliich formed Jie long line of offices to my uncle's house. As yet no one was stirring ; and as I wished to have my arrival a secret from the family, after proAading for the wants of my gallant grey, I lifted the latch of the kitchen dooi) no other fastening being ever thought necessary, even at night, and gently groped my way towards the stairs : all was perfect.v still, and the silence now recalled me to reflection as to what course should piKsue. It was all-important that my uncle should know nothing of my quarrel, otherwise he would inevitably make it his own, and, by treating me like a boy in the matter, give the whole affair the very tiu-n I most dreaded. Then, as to Sir Harry Boyle, he woulri most certainly turn the whole thing into ridicule, make a good story, perhaps a song out of it, and laugh at my notions of demanding satis- faction. Considine, I knew, was my man : but, then, he was at Ath- lone — at least so my uncle's letter mentioned : perhaps, he might have returned: if not, to Athlone I should set off at once. So resolving, I stole noiselessly up stairs and reached the door of the Count's cham- ber : I opened it gently, and entered ; and, though my step was almost imperceptible to myself, it was quite sufficient to alarm the watchful occupant of the room, who, springing up in liis bed, demanded gruffly « who's there ?" " Charles, sir," said I, shutting the door carefully, and approaching nis bed-side. " Charles O'Malley, sir : I'm come to have a bit of your advice : and, as the affair won't keep, I have been obliged to disturb you."^ " Never mind, Charley," said the Count : " sit down, there's a chair somewhere near the bed — have you found it ? There — well now, what is it ? What news of Blake ?" " Very bad, no worse ; but it is not exactly that I came about ; I've got into a scrape, sir." " Rim off with one of the daughters," said Considine. " By jingo, I knew what those affable devils would be after." " Not so bad as that," said I, laughmg : it's just a row, a kind of squabble, something that must come " '* Ay, ay," said the Count, brightening up, " say you so, Charley ? Begad, the young ones will beat us all out of the field. Who is it with — not old Blake himself — how was it ? tell me all." I immediately detailed the whole events of the preceding chajiter, as well as Ws frequent interruptions would permit, and concluded by asking what further step was now to be taken, as I was resolved thy matter should be concluded before it came to my uncle's ears. " There you are all right, quite correct, my boy ; but there are many points I should have wished otherwise in the conduct of the affair hitherto." Conceiving that he was displeased at my petulance and boldness^ I was about to commence a kind of defence, when he added — " Because, you see," said he, assuming an oracular tone of voice, TUE IRISH DKAaOON. 35 " throwing a wine glass with or without wine, in a man's face, is merely, as you may observe, a mark of denial and displeasure at some observa- tion he may have made, not in any wise intended to injure him, further than in the wound to his honor at being so insulted, for which, of course, he must subsequently call you out. Whereas, Charley, in the present case the view I take is different ; the expression of Mr. Bodkin, as regards your uncle was insulting to a degree — grattutously offensive and warranting a blow. Therefore, ray boy, you should, under such circumstances have preferred aiming at him with a decanter — a cut glass decanter, well aimed and lov/, I have seen do effective service. However, as you remark it v,as your first thing of the kind, I am pleased with you — very much pleased with you. Now then, for the next step ;" so saying, he arose from his bed, and striking a light with a tinder-box, proceeded to dress liimself as leism-ely as if for a dinner party — talking all the while. " I will just take Godfrey's tax-cart and the roan mare on to Meelish ; put tliem up at the little mn — it is not above a mile from Bodkin's — and I'll go over and settle the thing for you : j'ou must stay quiet tiU I come back, and not leave the house on any account. I've got a case of old broad barrels there that will answer you beauti- fully ; if you Avere any thing of a shot, I'd give you my own cross handles, but they'd only spoil j'our shooting." " I can liit a wine-glass in the stem at fifteen paces," said I, rather nettled at the disparaging tone in which he spoke of my performance. "I don't care sixpence for that: the wine-glass had no pistol in his hand. Take the old German, then ; see now, hold your pistol thus : no finger on the guard there, these two on the trigger. They are not hair triggers ; di'op the muzzle a bit : bend yom- elbow a trifle more ; sight yom* man outside your arm ; outside, mind, and take him in the hip, and, if any where higher, no matter." By this time the Count had completed his toilette, and, taking the small mahogany box which contained his peace-makers under his arm, led the way towards the stables. When we reached the yard, the only person stirring there w^as a kind of half-witted boy, who, being about the house, was employed to run of messages for the servants, walk a stranger's horse, or to do any of the many petty services that regular domestics contrive always to devolve upon some adopted subordinate. He was seated upon a stone step, formerly used for moimting, and though the day was scarcely breaking, and the w^eather severe and piercing, the poor fellow was singing an Irish song, in a low monotonous tone, as he chafed a curb chain between his hands with some sand. As we came near he started up, and, as he pulled off his cap to salute us, gave a sharp and piercing glance at the Comit, then at me ; then once more upon my companion from whom his eyes were turned to the brass-bomid box beneath his arm ; when, as if seized with a suddtn impulse he started on his feet, and set off towards the house Avith tlie speed of a greyhound, not, however, before Considme's practised eye had anticipated liis plan ; for, tlirowing down the pistol case, he dashed after him, and, in an instant had seized him by the collar. " It won't do, Patsey," said the count, "you can't double on me." " Oh, Count, darlin,' mister Considine avn'ck, don't do it, don't now.* 56 ciiABi^Es o'mamjct, iaid the poor fuUow, falling on his knees, and blubbering like an infant. " Hold yoiir tongue, you villain, or I'll cut it out of your head," said Considine. " And so I will ; but don't do it, don't for the love of " " Don't do what, you whimpering scoundrel ? What does he think Vn do ?" " Uon't I know very well what you're after, \vhat you're always after too ? oh wirra, wirra !" Here he wrung his liands, and swayed himselt backwards and forwards, a true picture of Irish grief. " I'll stop his blubbering," said Considine, opening the box, and taking out a pistol, wliich he cocked leiswely, and pointed at the poor fellow's head : " another syllable now, and I'll scatter your brains upon that pavement." " And do, and divil thank you ; sm'e, it's yom' trade." The coohiess of the reply tlirew us both off oiu" guard so completely, that Ave burst out into a hearty fit of laughing. " Come, come," said the Count at last, " this will never do ; if he goes on this way, we'll have the whole house about us. Come, then, harness the roan mare, and here's half a crown for you " " I wouldn't touch the best piece in your piu-se," said the poor boy ; " sure it's blood-money, no less." The words were scarcely spoken, when Considine seized him by the collar Adth one hand, and by the wrist with the other, and carried him over the yard to the stable, where, kicking open the door, he tlu^ew him on a heap of stones, adding, " If you stir now, I'll break every bone in /oiu* body ;" a threat that seemed certainly 'considerably increased in its terrors, from the rough gripe he had already experienced, for the lad rolled himself up like a ball, and sobbed as if his heart were breaking. V^ery few minutes sufficed us now to harness the mare in the tax- cart, and, when all was ready, Considine seized the whip, and locking tlie stable door upon Patsey, was about to get up, when a sudden thought struck him. " Charley," said he, '' tliat fellow will find some means to giv the alarm ; we must take him witli us." So saying, he opened the door, and taking the poor fellow by the collar flung him at my feet in the tax-cart. We had already lost some time, and the roan mare was put to he: fastest speed to make up for it. Our pace became, accordingly, a shai-p one ; and, as the road was bad, and the tax-cart " no patent inaudible,' neither of us spoke. To me this was a great relief : the events of the last few days had given them the semblance of years, and all the reflection I could muster was little enough to make any thing out of the chaotic mass — love, mischief, and misfortune — in which I had been involved since my leaving O'Malley Castle. " Here we are, Charley," said Considine, drawing up short at the door of a little country ale-house, or in Irish parlance, shebeen, which stood at the meeting of four bleak roads, in a wild and barreii mountain tract, beside the Shannon. " Here Me are, my boy ! jiunp out and let us be stirring." *' Here, Patsey, my man," said the Count, unravelliti"^ thp prostrate TUf. IRISH r.RAGOOK. 37 and doabtly-kiiotted figure at oiir feet ; " lend a hand, Patsey." Much to my astonishment, he obeyed tlie sununons witli alacrity, and pro- ceeded to unliarness the mare, with the greatest dispatch. My atten- tion was, however, soon turned from liim to my own more immediate concerns, and I followed my companion into the house. " Joe," said the Count, to the host, " is IMr. Bodkin up at the house this morning ?" " He's just past this way, sir, with Mj-, IVIalowney of Tillnamuck, in the gig, on their way from Mr. Blake's. They stopped here to order horses to go over to O'Malley Castle, and the gossoon is gone to look for a pair." "All right," said Considine and added in awhisper, "we've done it well, Charley, to be before-hand, or the governor would have found it all out, and taken the affair into his own hands. Now, all you've to do is, to stay quietly here till I come back, which will not be above an hour at farthest. Joe, send me the poney — keep an eye on Patsey, that he doesn't play us a trick — the short way to Mr. Bodkin's is tlirou^h Scariff" — ay, I know it well, good bye, Charley — by the Lord, we'll pepper him." These were the last words of the worthy Count as he closed the doos belund him, and left me to my own not very agreeable reflections. Indei^endently of my youth and perfect ignorance of the world, whirh leL me unable to form any correct judgment on my conduct, I knew tiiat I had taken a great deal of wine, and was highly excited when my unhappy collision with Mr. Bodkin occured. Whether, then, I had been betrayed into any thing which could fairly have provoked his insult- ing retort or not, I could not remember ; and now my most afflicting thought was, what opinion might be entertained of me by those at Blake's table ; and, above all, what Miss Dashwood herself would have, and what narrative of the occmTence would reach lier. The great effort of my last few days had been to stand well in her estimation, to appear something better in feeling, sometliing higher in principle, than the rude and unpolished squirearchy about me ; and now here was the end of it ! What would she, what could she think, but that I was the same pvmch-drinldng, rowing, quarrelling bumpkin as those whom I had so lately been carefully endeavouring to separate myself from. How I hated myself for the excess to which passion had betrayed me, and how I detested my opponent as the cause of all my present misery. How very differently thought I, her friend the Captain would have conducted himself. His quiet and gentlemanly manner would have done fully as much to wipe out any insult on his honor as 1 could do, and, after all, woidd neither have disturbed the harmony of a dinner table, nor made himself, as I shuddered to think I had, a subject of rebuke, if not of ridicule. These harassing, torturing reflections continued to press on me, and I paced the room with my hands clasped and the perspiration upon ray brow. One thing is certain, — I can never see her again, thought I ; tliis disgraceful business must, in some shape or other, become known to her, and all I have been saying these last three days, rise up in judgment against this one act, and stamp me an impostor ; I that decried, nay, derided our false notion of honour. W^ould that Considine were tome. What can keep him now ? I walked to the door : a boy •elonging to the house was walking the roan before the door 38 CHARLES o'mALLEY, What had then become of Pat, I inquired ; but no one could tell — he had disappeared shortly after our arrival, and had not been seen afterwards. My own tliouglits were, however, too engrossing to permit me to think more of this circumstance, and I turned again to enter the house Avhen I saw Cousidine advancing up the road at the full speed of his pony. " Out with the mare, Charley — be alive my boy — all's settled." So saying, he sprang from the pony, and proceeded to harness the roan with the greatest haste, informing me in broken sentences as he went on, with all the arrangements. " We are to cross the bridge of Portumna. They won the groimd, and it seems Bodkin likes the spot; he shot Peyton there three years ago. Worse look now, Charley, you know : by all tlie rules of chance, he can't expect the same tiling twice — never four by honours in two deals — ■ didn't say that though — a sweet meadow, I know it well ; small hillocks like mole hills all over it — caught him at breakfast ; I dont think he ex- pected the message to come from us, but said that it was a very polite attention, and so it was you know." So he continued to ramble on, as we once more took our seats in the tax-cart, and set out for the ground. " What are you tliinking of Chai'ley ?" said the Count, as I kept silent for some minutes. " I'm thinliing, sir, if I were to kill him, what I must do after." *' Right, my boy ; notliing like that, but I'll settle all for you. Upon my conscience if it wasn't for the chance of his getting into another quarrel and spoiling the election, I'd go back for Godfrey ; he'd like to see you break ground so prettily. And you say you're no shot ?" " Never could do any thing \rith the pistol to speak of, sir," said 1, remembering his rebuke of the morning. " I don't mind that : you've a good eye ; never take it off Iiim after you're on the ground — follow him everywhere : poor Callaghan, that's gone, sliot his man always that v^'ay : he had a way of looking without winlcing that was very fatal, at a short distance ; a very good thing to learn, Charley, when you have a little spare time." Half-an-hoar's sharp driving brought us to the river side, where a boat had been provided by Cousidine, to ferry us over. It was now about eight o'clock, and a heavy gloomy morning ; much rain had fallen over night, and the dark and louring atmosphere seemed charged with more. The mountains looked twice their real size, and all the shadows were increased to an enormous extent. A very lulling kind of light it was, as the count remarked. THE IRISH DRAOOON. 39 CHAPTER Viri THE DUEL. As tlie boatmen pulled in towards the shore, we perceived, a few hundred yards off, a group of persons standing, whom we soon recognised as our opponents. *' Charley," said the Count, grasping my arm lightly, as I stood up to spring on the land, " Charley, altho' you are only a boy as I may say, I have no fear for your courage ; but, still, more than that is needful here. This Bodkin is a noted duellist, and will try to shake your nerve. Now, mind that you take every thing that happens quite with an air of indifference — don't let him think that he has any advantage over you, and you'll see how the tables will be turned in your favour." " Trust to me. Count," said I, " I'll not disgrace you." He pressed my hand tightly, and I thought that I discerned something like a slight twitch about the corners of his grim mouth, as if some sud- den and painful thought had shot across his mind, but in a moment he was calm and stern-looking as ever. " Twenty minutes late, Mr. Considine," said a short red-faced little man, with a military frock and foraging cap, as he held out his watch . in evidence. " I can only say, Captain Malowney, that we lost no time since we parted ; we had some difficulty in finding a boat ; but, in any case, we are here now, and that I opine is the important part of the matter." " Quite right — very just indeed. Will you present me to your young friend — very proud to make yotir acquamtance, sir, yom* uncle and I met more than once in this kind of way. I was out with him in '92 — was it? no, I think it was '93 — when he shot Harry Burgoyne, who, by-the-bye, was called the crack shot of our mess ; but, begad your uncle knocked his pistol hand to shivers, saying in his dry way, ' he must try the left hand this morning.' Coimt, a little this side, if you please." While Considine and the Captain walked a few paces apart from where I stood, I had leism-e to observe my antagonist, who stood among a group of his friends, talking and laughing away in great spirits. As the tone they spoke in was not of the lowest, I could catch much of fheir conversation at the distance I was from them. They were discuss- ing the last occasion that Bodkin had visited this spot, and talking of the fatal event which happened then. " Poor devil," said Bodkin, " it wasn't his fault ; but you see some of the th had been showing white feathers before that, and he was obliged to go out. In fact, the Colonel himself said, ' Fight or leave the corps.' Well, out he came : it was a cold morning in February, with a frost the night before going off in a tliin rain : well, it seems he had the consump- tion or something of that sort, with a great cough and spitting of blood, and this weather made him worse, and he was very weak when he came to the ground. Now the moment I got a glimpse of him, I said to myself, lie's pluck enough, but as nervous as a lady, for his eye wandered 40 CHAItLES OMALLET all about, and liis mouth was constantly twitching. ' Take off youi great coat, Ned,' said one of his people, when they Avere going to put liini up ; ' take it oif, man.' He seemed to hesitate for an instant, when Michael Blake remarked, ' Arrah let him alone ; it's his mother makes him Mear it, for the cold he has.' Tliey all began to laugh at this, but I kept my eye upon him. And I saw that his cheek grew quite livid, and a kind of grey colour, and his eyes filled up ; 'I have you now,' said I to myself, and I shot him through the lungs." " And this poor fellow," thought I, " was the only son of a widowed mother." I ^valked from the spot, to avoid hearing further, and felt as I did so, something like a spirit of vengeance rising within me, for the fate of one so untimely cut off. " Here we are, all readj^" said Malowney, springing over a small fence into the adjoining field — " take yovu' ground, gentlemen." Considine took my arm and walked forward. " Charley," said he, *• I am to give the signal — I'll drop my glove when you are to fire, but don't look at me at all. I'U manage to catch Bodkin's eye, and do you watch him steadily — and fire when he does." " I think that the ground we are leaving behind us is rather better," said some one. " So it is," said Bodkin ; " but it was. troublesome to carry the young gentlemen down that way — here all is fair and easy." The next instant we were placed, and I well remember the first thought that struck me was, that thtre could be no chance of either of us escaping. " Now then," said the coimt, " I'll walk twelve paces,, turn and drop this glove, at which signal you fire — and together mind. The man who reserves his shot, falls by my hand." This very summary denmiciation seemed to meet general approbation, and the count strutted forth. Notwithstanding the advice of my friend, I could not help turning my eyes from Bodkin to watch the retiring figure of the count. At length he stopped — a second or tAvo elapsed — he wheeled rapidly round, and let fall the glove. My eye glanced toward my opponent, I raised my pistol and fired. My hat turned half round upon my head, and Bodkin fell motionless to the earth. I saw the people aroimd me rush forward ; I caught two or three glances thrown at me with an expression of revengeful passion ; I felt some one grasp me roimd the waist, and hurry me from the spot, and it was at least ten minutes after, as we were skimming the surface of the broad Shannon, before I could well collect my scattered faculties to remember all that was passing, as Considine pointing to the two bullet holes in my hat, remai'ked, " sharp practice, Charley, it was the overcharge saved you." " Is he killed, sir ?" I asked. " Not quite, I believe, but as good ; you took him just above the hip." " Can he recover ?" said I, with a voice tremulous from agitation, which I vainly endeavoured to conceal from my companion. " Not if the doctor can help it," said Considine ; " for the fool keeps poking about for the ball ; but now let's think of the next step — you'll have to leave this, and at once too." THE IlilSII DRAGOON. , 41 Little more passed between us. As we rowed towards the shore C