Tales and Novels — Volume 02: Popular TalesEdgeworth, Maria
General
Tales and Novels — Volume 02: Popular Tales
Edgeworth, Maria
Fiction
Having finished dinner with this solemn speech, Mr. Hill settled himself
in his arm-chair, to take his after-dinner’s nap; and he dreamed of
blowing up cathedrals, and of oak bark floating upon the waters; and
the cathedral was, he thought, blown up by a man dressed in a pair of
woman’s Limerick gloves, and the oak bark turned into mutton steaks,
after which his great dog Jowler was swimming; when, all on a sudden, as
he was going to beat Jowler for eating the bark transformed into mutton
steaks, Jowler became Bampfylde the second, king of the gipsies; and
putting a horsewhip with a silver handle into Hill’s hand, commanded
him three times, in a voice as loud as the town crier’s, to have O’Neill
whipped through the market-place of Hereford: but, just as he was going
to the window to see this whipping, his wig fell off, and he awoke.
It was difficult, even for Mr. Hill’s sagacity, to make sense of this
dream: but he had the wise art of always finding in his dreams something
that confirmed his waking determinations. Before he went to sleep, he
had half resolved to consult the king of the gipsies, in the absence
of the attorney; and his dream made him now wholly determined upon this
prudent step. From Bampfylde the second, thought he, I shall learn for
certain who made the hole under the cathedral, who pulled down my rick
of bark, and who made away with my dog Jowler; and then I shall swear
examinations against O’Neill without waiting for attorneys. I will
follow my own way in this business: I have always found my own way best.
So, when the dusk of the evening increased, our wise man set out towards
the wood to consult the cunning man. Bampfylde the second, king of the
gipsies, resided in a sort of hut made of the branches of trees:
the verger stooped, but did not stoop low enough, as he entered this
temporary palace; and, whilst his body was almost bent double, his
peruke was caught upon a twig. From this awkward situation he was
relieved by the consort of the king; and he now beheld, by the light
of some embers, the person of his gipsy majesty, to whose sublime
appearance this dim light was so favourable that it struck a secret awe
into our wise man’s soul; and, forgetting Hereford cathedral, and oak
bark, and Limerick gloves, he stood for some seconds speechless. During
this time, the queen very dexterously disencumbered his pocket of all
superfluous articles. When he recovered his recollection, he put with
great solemnity the following queries to the king of the gipsies, and
received the following answers:
“Do you know a dangerous Irishman, of the name of O’Neill, who has come,
for purposes best known to himself, to settle at Hereford?”
“Yes, we know him well.”
“Indeed! And what do you know of him?”
“That he is a dangerous Irishman.”
“Right! And it was he, was it not, that pulled down, or caused to be
pulled down, my rick of oak bark?”
“It was.”
“And who was it that made away with my dog Jowler, that used to guard
the tan-yard?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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