'But hang it, there 'th no uthe in doing things by halves. Melpomene's the most jealous of the Muses. I tell you if you stand well in her gratheth, by Jove, Thir, you mutht give yourthelf up to her body and thoul. How the deuthe can a fellow that's out at drill at hicth in the morning, and all day with his head filled with tacticth and gunnery, and--and--' 'And 'farced pigeons' and lovely women,' said Devereux. 'And such dry professional matterth,' continued he, without noticing, perhaps hearing the interpolation, 'How can he pothibly have a chance againth geniuses, no doubt--vathly thuperior by nature'--(Puddock, the rogue, believed no such thing)--'but who devote themthelveth to the thtudy of the art incethantly, exclusively, and--and----' 'Impossible,' said O'Flaherty. 'There now, was Tommy Shycock, of Ballybaisly, that larned himself to balance a fiddle-stick on his chin; and the young leedies, and especially Miss Kitty Mahony, used to be all around him in the ball-room at Thralee, lookin', wondhrin', and laughin'; and I that had twiste his brains, could not come round it, though I got up every morning for a month at four o'clock, and was obleeged to give over be rason of a soart iv a squint I was gettin' be looking continually at the fiddle-stick. I began with a double bass, the way he did--it's it that was the powerful fateaguin' exercise, I can tell you. Two blessed hours a-day, regular practice, besides an odd half-hour, now and agin, for three mortial years, it took him to larn it, and dhrilled a dimple in his chin you could put a marrow-fat pay in.' 'Practice,' resumed Puddock, I need not spell his lisp, 'study--time to devote--industry in great things as in small--there's the secret. _Nature_, to be sure--' 'Ay, Nature, to be sure--we must sustain Nature, dear Puddock, so pass the bottle,' said Devereux, who liked his glass. 'Be the powers, Mr. Puddock, if I had half your janius for play-acting,' persisted O'Flaherty, 'nothing i'd keep me from the boards iv Smock-alley play-house--incog., I mean, of course. There's that wonderful little Mr. Garrick--why he's the talk of the three kingdoms as long as I can remember--an' making his thousand pounds a week--coining, be gannies--an' he can't be much taller than you, for he's contimptably small.' 'I'm the taller man of the two,' said little Puddock, haughtily, who had made enquiries, and claimed half an inch over Rocius, honestly, let us hope. 'But this is building castles in the air; joking apart, however, I do confess I should dearly love--just for a maggot--to play two parts--Richard the Third and Tamerlane.' 'Was not that the part you spoke that sympathetic speech out of for me before dinner?' 'No, that was Justice Greedy,' said Devereux. 'Ay, so it was--was it?--that smothered his wife.' 'With a pudding clout,' persisted Devereux. 'No. With a--pooh!--a--you know--and stabbed himself,' continued O'Flaherty. 'With a larding-pin--'tis written in good Italian.'