You would n't know Paddy Byrne, how much he's grown, and the wonderful
whiskers he has all over his face; but he 's as bowld as brass, and has
the impedince of the divil in him. He never ceases tormentin' me about
Taddy, and says I ought to take out a few florins in curses on him, just
as if I could n't do it cheaper myself than payin' a priest for it As
for Paddy himself,--do what the mistress will,--she can get no good of
him, in regard to his duties. He does all his stations on his knees, to
be sure, but with a cigar in his mouth; and when he comes to the holy
well, it's a pull at a dram bottle he takes instead of the blessed
water. I wondered myself at his givin' a crown-piece to the Virgin on
Tuesday last, but he soon showed me what he was at by say in', "If she
does n't get my wages riz for that, the divil receave the f arthin' she
'll ever receave of mine again!"
After all, Shusy, it 's an elegant sight to see all them great people
that thinks so much of themselves, crawling about on their hands and
knees, kissin' a relict here, huggin' a stone there, just as much
frightened about the way the saint looks at them as one of us! It
does one's heart good to know that, for all their fine livin' and fine
clothes, ould Nick has the same hould of them that he has of you and me!
I had a great deal to tell you about the family and their goin's on, but
I must conclude in haste, for tho' it's only five o'clock, there's the
bell ringing for martins, and I have a station to take before first
mass. I suppose it's part of my mortifications, but the mistress and
Mary Anne never gives me a stitch of clothes till they're spoiled; and
I'm drivin to my wits' end, tearin' and destroyin' things in such a way
as not to ruin them when they come to me! Miss Caroline never has a gown
much better than my own; and, indeed, she said the other day, "When I
want to be smart, Betty, you must lend me your black bombaseen."
There's the mistress gone out already, so no more from
Your sincear friend,
Betty Cobb.
I think Lord G. is right about the mistress. The saints forgive her, at
her time of life! More in my next.
LETTER XXI. JAMES DODD TO ROBERT DOOLAN, ESQ. TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN.
The Inn, Orsaro.
My dear Bob,--This must be a very brief epistle, since, amongst other
reasons, the sheet of letter-paper costs me a florin, and I shall have
to pay three more for a messenger to convey it to the post-town, a
distance of as many miles off. To explain these scarce credible facts,
I must tell you that we are at a little village called Orsaro, in
the midst of a wild mountain country, whither we have come to perform
penances, say prayers, and enact other devotions at the shrine of a
certain St. Agatha, who, some time last autumn, took to working miracles
down here, and consequently attracting all the faithful who had nothing
to do with themselves before Carnival.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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