We find Father Ignatius, at the beginning of the year 1851, begging in Ireland. It was not his custom to go regularly from house to house; he preferred collecting people together, and addressing them, and, if this were not practicable, getting permission from the priests to speak to their flocks on Sundays and festivals. He wanted prayers more than money, and he was delighted that the plea of begging justified his moving about, and gave him a kind of faculty to preach on his favourite topic, "the conversion of England." Oftentimes the spiritual interfered with his temporal interests, as when an Irishman, who was about to give him an alms, refused it as soon as he spoke about England. Strange enough, Father Ignatius thought England-hating Irishmen the very best subjects to practise his art of persuasion on. He thought them true souls, sensitive of their wrongs, and valued them far more than those who lauded England through lack of patriotism. He met many adventures during this begging tour in Ireland. In one parish, the priest promised to allow him to preach to his congregation on the Sunday, and collect from them. The priest did not seem to possess indifference to earthly things, or generosity either, in a very high degree; for, when Father Ignatius came to his place on Saturday, his reverence told him that he intended to claim the collection in the church, whilst Father Ignatius might stand at the door and beg for himself as the people were going out. Father Ignatius thanked God, and was content, only remarking that, with the priest's permission, he would prefer {401} to hold his hat under a large tree that grew near the church-door, instead of at the door itself. He preached at the last mass, and never said a word about where or when he was to receive the people's offerings; the collection was made by the priest, and a most miserable one it proved to be. Father Ignatius held his hat under the tree, and, since the day in Carrick-on-Suir, never had such a collection. It was a marvel to him; he could not account for it, and he was the more surprised when he compared notes with the parish priest after all was over. He found out the solution of the mystery that same evening. It seems that, on Saturday, he told a respectable lady in the neighbourhood of the priest's decision. She, without telling him a word of what she intended doing, went home, sent her servant through the village, and collected twelve stalwart active young men; she harangued them on what the priest was about to do, and sent them all off to different parts of the parish to tell the people of it, and also of the spot where Father Ignatius would receive their offerings. The people had reason to think their pastor was a little fond of money, and their indignation at his proceeding helped to increase their liberality.