THE NEW MONTHLY BELLE ASSEMBLÉE. NOVEMBER, 1840. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS, CONSISTING OF TALES, ROMANCES, ANECDOTES, AND POETRY. A NIGHT IN AN IRISH CABIN. BY S. ANDERSON. Barney Sullivan was a broth of a boy, as ever danced on a green, or threw up a hat in a fair; he was the delight of the country round; old and young loved Barney, for Barney loved every one. We believe it is pretty generally understood, that an Irishman's character is composed of the following ingredients, viz., "Fun and frolic, drinking and fighting, and love and honour ;" and of all these ingredients was the warm heart of Barney Sullivan composed. Not a boy in the whole country round could shake a brogue, empty a cruiskeen, handle a shillelah, or kiss a pretty girl with better grace than Barney. He was " at all in the ring," and as we have already said, "a rale broth of a boy." To drink, dance, fight, make love, serve a friend, or leather an enemy was all on earth he cared for; his heels were light, because his heart was light; his arms were athletic and nimble, because they obeyed the dictates of an upright heart; and the twirl of his shillelah was the signal to his companions for fight or frolic. To add to his accomplishments, Barney had been a soldier, “and fought in famous battles," when the men of Britain led by the mighty Moore, compelled the haughty French to turn "their faces upwards," on the fields of Spain; and his wonderful stories of wars, and deadly breaches, made him a welcome guest at every board; therefore, at wake or fair, marriage or christening, the fun was not complete until Sullivan had arrived. At the west end of the village of Ballyshane, a considerable way from the rest of the houses, and on a bit of rising ground that overlooked the King's high-way, and the king's bog at the same time, stood the dwelling of Terence Carrol, the schoolmaster of the Ballyshane. The night was dark and cold, and Judy Carrol, the wife of the magister, had just thrown an extra apron of turf on the fire to make the shebeen of the dominie warm and comfortable. Moreover, she had just set the "black big-bellied bottle" on the table, filled with some beautiful Innishone, a couple of glasses, a basin of brown, or moist sagar, and a jug of boiling water. All was arranged to spend the night agreeably, when to the surprise and annoyance of Mr. Carrol, Barney lifted the latch, popped his head in at the door, and with his usual loud merry laugh,-" Ha! ha! ha!-well, and how are ye, masther, and how's Judy?" The inmates started as if they had heard the Banshee at the door; Barney continued his laugh, and had made one step in advance, but stopped short on observing a stranger occupying the master's corner of the fire-place. "I beg her pardin, sur; may be I'm one too many?" said Barney, still holding the latch of the door in his hand. "You are indeed," replied the schoolmaster of Ballyshane, rather petulant, and somewhat displeased to think Barney had used so little cercmony on entering the sanctum sanctorum of the parish pedagogue. Indeed there was an unlooked for familiarity, a kind of free and easy hale fellow, well met, in Sullivan's manner, that did not at all accord with the dignified ideas of the pedant; for Mister Carrol was no leveller, but possessed at this moment a high aristocratic feeling. Every dog to his own place," thought Mister Carrol, "and this is no place for you, ye spalpeen." And it was not to be wondered at that the erudite dominie was high crested-for, as we have observed, he had with him, in earnest conversation, a stranger, a learned friend; and he did not chuse to be intruded on by every unmannerly bog-trotter who might be inclined to drop in. By the same token, he and his friend had every reason, and every desire to be private that evening, for they had entered into a learned dispute; and the very moment Barney had showed his unconscious mug inside the door, the two friends were immersed to the eyes in argument, nay, on the very brink of deciding a most material point,-a point of the greatest moment to public speakers, teachers, and the rising generation in general; a question relating to orthoepy, and as Mr. Carrol was then compiling a pronouncing dictionary for the benefit of his pupils and the world at large, he considered it prudent to have the opinion of his learned friend, whether the word, Antistrophe, should be pronounced, antistrofe, or anti-strofy? Mister Carrol learnedly insisted upon the latter, arguing that as there were four syllables in the word, the accent ought to rest on the penultima, whilst his learned friend vehe S mently contended for the former, declaring the word consisted of three syllables only, and the proper pronunciation of it must be anti-strofe. For," said he, " my dear friend, you ought to know as well as I do, that in the English tongue, the final e is always silent; for instance now, a-l-e, ale; b-a-l-e, bale; s-a-l-e, sale; p-o-l-e, pole; h-o-l-e; hole, &c.; and in coorse," continued the learned friend, "s-t-r-o-p-h-e must be strofe." Now this would, "in coorse," as the master's learned friend expressed it, have been a complete desideratum in modern English orthoepy had not the vivacious Barney thus unmannerly broke in upon their privacy. Moreover, Judy, had just stirred about the beautiful whisky punch, the delightful incense of which ascended in grey curling sinoke to the black rafters of the shebeen, Mister Carrol, had only knocked the ashes out of his second pipe, and was with great composure charging a third, when the intruder entered. Barney certainly appeared somewhat crest-fallen as he stood with the latch in his hand, and his merry, laughing, devil-lurking, eye met the austere and authoritative frown of the "learned Theban." "Beggin' yer pardin, Misthur Carrol," said Barney, and pulling off his hat to show his manners to the stranger, yet without moving a step over the threshold, and the string of the wooden latch still in his hand, "beggin' yer pardin, Misthur Carrol, I was ignorant-" "I know that same," replied Mr. Carrol, interrupting him, "you are always ignorant; sure, I never was able to taitch ye a morsel of manners; and for all the time ye have bin away-" pecting to he interrogated farther, "its miself it has, all the world over, and back again.” "Indeed!" said the grave recumbent schoolmaster, sarcastically, and who indignant at Barney's intrusion, had thrown his legs in an easy graceful oriental style upon a three-legged stool, while his left arm rested on the back of an old wooden chair, he lolled at his ease, frowning as dark as Caius Marius, on the intruder, whilst volumes of smoke issued from the crater of the huge mount that rested on his shoulders, and his eyes alternately travelling between Barney and his friend, wishing the former at the any where but the place he stood in. "Indeed!" repeated Carrol's friend, at the same instant laying down his short black weed-consumer on the table, his little dark eyes twinkling with delight at the idea of being in company with a rule thraveller; for the stranger had been in France and Italy both, in his younger days, and continental reminiscences were still dear to him. "Come forward, my good man, and tell me what parts you have travelled in. I beg yer pardin, Mister Carrol," continued he, addressing the dominie of Bally, shane, "I beg yer pardin for interrupting ye in yer discoorse, I'll spake to ye by-and-bye.' His mind was still occupied by the learned discussion in which they were interrupted by the approach of Barney, and which he was resolved on convincing Mr. Carrol before he went to bed, and carry the material point triumphantly that the word antistrophe should hereafter be pronounced anti-strofe," because," argued he mentally, " the erudite Sheridan has declared-and who dare deny the affirmation of the immortal Sheridan ?-that the consonants, p and h, when put together sounds as "Savin yer presence, Masthur," said Barney, interrupting in his turn, "I was ignorant ov any one's bein' wid ye. May be ye'r ingaged, an' iff, and the final e prolongs the vowel o; now the that's the case, ye know" "Don't ye pursave I'm ingaged?" retorted the schoolmaster, frowning, "deeply ingaged, larnedly ingaged?" casting a consequential glance across the deal table to his learned friend, who was now silently cogitating on the proper pronunciation of antistrophe, while he puffed away the smoke he drew from the short black pipe he held in the corner of his mouth. word consists of three syllables only, viz., A-n, an; t-i, ti; and s-t-r-o-p-h-e, strofe. Now when an-ti precedes the strofe, and the vowel o precedes the double consonant ph, and the final e prolongs the o, and the ph sounds f, what the devil can a man call it but strofe?" Thus had he argued mentally when Barney's travels gave a sudden change to his ideas, and Father Dennis, for no less a personage it was who now addressed Barney, forgot the learned dispute upon orthoepy, and longed to hear the tales of foreign lands; then turning from the schoolmaster to Barney, he again inquired what parts he had travelled in? "Well then," replied Barney, shutting the door, "Och, as for the matter of larning," said Barney, rather piqued; for Barney was always kindly welcomed wherever he went, and this cold reception of the master put him somewhat off his guard, though not out of good humour; "As for the matter of laruing, its a thing miself never had no-scratching the back of his head, and advancing one thing to brag on, barrin' the little I had from yerself, sur, afore I left home; an' God knows that was little enough; I niver had any, savin' an' exceptin' what I pickt up on my thravles." "Thravles! Have you thravled, young man?" inquired the sage personage, who occupied the left hand side of Mister Carrol's turf fire, and whose rotundity amply filled the great arm chair which was exclusively kept for Mr. Carrol's afternoon hours of somnolency, but which on this occasion had been most disinterestedly evacuated for the ease and accommodation of his learned friend. "Have you thravled?" asked the stranger again. pace, "savin' yer presenze, I've thrav'lled in many a place I disremimber the name on, but I've been in the Indys, and in France, and I've been in Italy, and Spain, and Portin-gale, and in Jibberalter, and Corsicay, and many another place I disremimber now.' Barney thought he had said enough for nothing, and casting a wistful look at the jug of whiskey punch that smoked upon the table, and whose perfume regaled the olfactory nerves of poor Sullivan, creating a longing desire to taste; he was retreating to the door, when Father Dennis called him back again. Well, its miself it has," replied Barney, his "By your lave, Misthur Carrol, by your lave," wicked devil of an eye sparkling with delight as said the priest filling up a glass of punch, and he spoke, and advancing a pace from the door ex-handing it to Barney-"here, my good man, take a dhrop ov punch to warm yer heart--you've sarved in the army then, I presume?" continued Father | Dennis. 66 "Faith an' its miself it has done that thing, sur," replied Barney, making a leg to his reverence, and holding up the glass of punch between him and the light, closing the left eye, and looking through the liquor with the right. May ye never want a fellow to this on a could winter's night. It looks right good stuff, sur; rale Innishone, I'll warrant"-drawing the glass under his nose"och! that it is! I can tell be the smell ov it. Och, its miself that knows a dhrop o' the rule stuff the minnet I get it under my nose--here's my sarvis to ye, sur," and the punch was invisible in an instant. Barney looked in the empty glass, cocked his eye at the priest, at the same time giving him a knowing wink and a nod of the head. "Well, an' it was right good stuff, that it was; by my soul, if my mother had given me such milk as that I wouldn't have been waned yet." The priest condescended to grin. Why don't ye be mannerly, Barney?" growled Mr. Carrol, "do you know who you are speaking to?" "A parfit jontleman," said Barney, leering at the schoolmaster," and that's more than I can say of every one." he drew it near the table, close by the priest, and laying his hat by his side on the floor, there not being a peg to hang it on, set himself comfortably by his friend the ghostly father. The schoolmaster handed the priest the tobacco-box, and father Dennis immediately commenced filling his black burner; the master filled the priest a glass of the enlivening beverage, which his reverence, to use his own learned expression, "tuck'd under his shirt," in an instant; the wielder of the birch belped himself, whilst honest Barney sat in so| lemn silence. Mr. Carrol having deserted his recumbent posture, sat erect in his chair, and whiffed with more pleasure than he had done since Barney's entrance; for although he had assumed the air of authority on Barney's entrance, it was by no means natural, especially to Barney, who had received his first lesson from him and his last-" barrin' what he had pick'd up on his thravles." The master had loved Barney from a boy, so that there was a regard on one side and a respect on the other, and been deemed a pleasure by the worthy pedagogue; Barney's intrusion at any other time would have but to rush unbidden into the presence of the priest, and interrupt their learned dispute, was an unpardonable breach of good manners. However, there is always a plaster for a broken head," and Father Dennis, by his condescension to Barney, completely filled up the breach that had formerly been made. The party being now agreeably seated its beautiful perfume through the apartment, and by the blazing turf fire, the whiskey punch shed the small tallow dip glimmered delightfully on the "That's the reverend Misthur Dennis, of Lochgair," said the erudite A. B. C. Derian, with a pomposity that might have annihilated the unsophisticated Barney if he had been of a blushing nation, but he stood the test boldly, and making his best bow to his reverence, turned smartly round on the magister, replied-"well now isn't it your-illegant wooden stand where it was placed. self that's unmannerly, Misthur Carrol? wouldn't I have thought better things ov ye not to introduce me to his reverence when I came in!" then turning to the priest, with a sly knowing wink, and a significant nod of the head, applicable to an Irishman only, says, "I hope yer reverence will pardin the Masthur's want of manners, seeing the devil a grain he iver had. He hasn't thravled like yer reverence and miself to larn the rules of politeness and good breeding." The priest smiled assent, and looking across the table to the schoolmaster, with a frown, and a shake of the head, said, “you were wrong, very wrong indeed, Misthur Carrol, not to let the stranger know who and what I was. If he hadn't been a man of exparience, and one that knows the world, and good manners too, he might have inadvattently made a mighty big hole in them; but we'll let that pass. What's your name, my good man?" "Sullivan, an' plase yer reverence," said Barney, making his bow to the priest; 66 Barney, sur; Barney Sullivan's my name, I belong to-" "Sullivan?" said Father Dennis, knocking the ashes out of his ebony steamer, "Sullivan is a mighty good name, the Sullivans are a brave set, -take a seat my good man, and tell us some of yer thravles. Come, Misthur Carrol, stur about the punch, man; it'll be getting cowld standing there without drinking-come, fill up, and hand me over the backy-box, till I fill my pipe." Mr. Carrol removed his legs from the three footed-stool to obey the orders of Father Dennis, and Barney no sooner seeing the coast clear than "Now, Mr. Sullivan, if you please, will you favour us with an account of your thravles?" said Father Dennis, "hand me a spale, Misthur Car rol." Faith, and I will, plase yer reverence," said Barney. "Well then," continued the priest, putting a lighted spate to the weed in his ebony coloured about the continent, or the Peninsoola, I long to burner, and puffing a cloud, "tell us something hear of them places." Och, with all my heart, sur," replied Barney, places. Och, had ye been with me at Corroona-” "its myself can tell yer reverence all about them "Oh, ye wor at the battle of Corroona wor ye?" inquired the delighted priest. Well, and how did ye get on there, eh?" 66 "Oh, faith an' troth, we were no sooner on, nor we wor off again; a purty scamper we had of it I assure ye, sur," said Barney. "Well," continued he, eyeing the empty glass, "it was dry work we had ov it that day, yer reverence." Priest Dennis was one of those good natured clergymen who delight in seeing every one happy, took the hint given by Barney, turned up the corner of his eye with a knowing leer, as much as to say, "I understand you," filled Barney's glass, and handing it to him said, "I believe you, my honest fellow, therefore drink-the bare remem brance of those days makes one dry, so drink my good fellow." Barney drank to the priest, laid his empty glass on the table, and wiping his lips with the back of his hand, growled a sort of doleful grunt, some sogers "And did the government not punishment severely those aggressors?" inquired the priest. "Bless ye, where was government to be found in such days?" inquired Barney, "they knew they would never be called in question about the matter, sure them commissaries can do just as they plase when they're abroad, an' no one a bit the wiser." "And were those depredations common?" inquired his reverence. As common as a nose on a weaver's face, plase yer reverence," said Barney, "bless ye, sur, they wor ev'ry day occurrences-it was a parfit trade among them; och, they wor terrible fellows them commisaries, sur; why they made lashes ov money over there in Spain-och, they pickt up their crums nicely, I be bound." "How was that, Barney, dear?" inquired the priest, who became more intent on the subject every minute. "How was that?" "Och, it was as aizy as kiss yer hand, sur," said Barney. "For ye must know that the greater part of the corn and the hay, and the horses, and mules, and the cattle, that they robb'd the poor people ov for the use ov the army, when we would be on the march, they seldom carried farrer nor the nixt town, and there they sowld them for what they would bring, as over-plush stores, they could'nt carry with them, and pocket the money, and no mistake." may be six months after, for they had only to present the commissaries thurty bit ov paper to the English council, who paid the money after a thrifle ov throuble, so that owld England an' Ireland paid the piper after all, that is, when it was a rale commissary took the articles, an' gave the order; but if it was a bit ov a depity, maybe a sarjant, or a corpral ov his, passin' through, why he'd take the cattle, or the corn, or the hay, and in return he'd give them, maybe, an owld billett, or a bit ov scribble ov his own for the things, an' they were never heard ov again.” "Such men were a disgrace to the army, Sullivan," said the good-natured priest," and desarved to be kick'd out ov it." "Och, bless your heart, Sir, we never look'd on them fellows as belonging to us, yer reverence," replied Barney, "oh no, they weren't fighting men; no, no, the most ov them fellows were men that wor put in as a gift, maybe a sarjen or a corpral, or maybe a sprig ov a clark, that got on to be a commissary, or a depity, through the interest of some gintleman, or maybe for a vote at an election or so." "That's mighty odd," said Father Dennis, swallowing his punch, "mighty odd, indeed.” "Not more odd nor thrue,” replied Barrey, following the priest's example and emptying his glass, "but we never look'd on them as belonging to the rale army, more than we did the sutlers, or camp followers; but the fellows wor as necessary to the army as the provost marshal for all that, ay, and they rank'd as officers too, an' have their halfpay, and as much too as the brave fellows that had been hard fighting, while they had no trouble but hard feasting." "There, take a drop of punch," said Father Dennis, "wet your whistle, Misther Sullivan; well, I dearly love to hear tales of the army, and all that. If it had been God's will, and my father's pleasure, I should have gone in the army myself." Ay, and well ye would have shooted the army, "Well Sir," replied Barney, draining his glass. its yer reverence would have made the excellent chaplain for a regiment; the very person to command respect in the army; och, if ye had seen our chaplain, jist such another gentleman as yerself, yer rev'rence." "That's over now," said the priest, sighing, "that couldn't be, Barney dear, I don't think they admit Catholic clergymen in the British army." "Barrin,' yer rev'rence, barrin' it being a CathoI know this, lic regiment; in that case it differs. that our chaplain used to go to mass when we were abroad, and no matter how he preached on a Sunday, he would play cards, get drunk at mess, and swear and fight with ever a priest in the country-" 66 The wicked robbers!" exclaimed Father Dennis, taking the short black pipe from his mouth, turning up his eyes and lifting up his hands. " God be merciful to us! Why should we rob the poor in a strange land; and grind them to dust in the mortar of adversity ?-och, och, it was bad work Barney, boy, bad, bad work indeed!" "Pooh! it was nothun' at all to the Spaniards, yer revrence," replied Barney, for they got payment for their cattle an' their corn, an' that, Howld, howld, Barney; oh fie, fie, fie, upon you sirrah, for bemeaning the cloth, no matter what the persuasion!" said Father Dennis, in a corrective tone. "Mark me, Misthur Sullivan, the clargy should ever be held sacred in the eyes the flock, let them do what they will." of "Och! murthur an' owns! but I've made a big hole in my manners now," said Barney to himself, "what's to be done now, I wondher?" The chaplain would never do that thing, Sulli van," said the priest, "and it is very unbecoming of you to advance such a report in my hearing. I'll not believe it Barney, I can't, I wont believe it." "Well the divle a word o'lie it is," replied Barney rather tartly, not relishing the idea of his veracity being doubted, "and may this be my poison if (gulping over the punch he had filled) I beg your pardin, yer reverence, but railly ye wouldn't have me to tell a lie, sure-lye?” The priest shook the ashes out of his short black cutty, changed his position in his chair, and filled the ebony-coloured consumer with the strong Virginia plant, which he sliced down in small shreds with his knife on the corner of the table, then rubbing it in his hands to mellow it, he began puffing away at a most extraordinary rate. Meanwhile Mr. Carrol stirred up the fire, and having looked into the jug, and finding it empty, said "I think, sur, we may replenish the empty vessel." The priest nodded assent, at the same time cautioned the schoolmaster, desiring him to be on his guard against drinking. "Its a great sin to get drunk you know, Mr. Carrol; it is true, my dear sir, that good drink maketh the heart glad, good company should not be too soon parted, and good conversation ought not to be put a stop to. Now here we have excellent and intelligent company, delightful and edifying conversation, and a drop of good punch will do us no harm-in moderation. Therefore, Judy, make the punch, take your seat, and Mr. Sullivan, here, will give us another story.' Barney never was the man to be the first to break up good company; he knew the school- master had plenty to eat and drink, and he was no churl either of the wheat or the barley, and he felt inclined to make a night of it. Moreover, to use his own expression, he knew now "how the pig's snout stood." He could see the priest was the best man in the house at present, even though Mr. Carrol, the master, was there, and to blarney the priest was to secure his own comfort here, and hereafter, therefore he made up his mind to take no notice of the master farther than common civility demanded, and direct all his discourse to his reve rence. "Well then, plaze yer rev'rence," said Barney, "I was tellin' ye ov the many scrymeges and battles we had in Portingale and Spain, an' how many ov our men made loads ov riches over there in no very honest or dacent way. One circumstance I remimber after the fight of Coroona, an' God forgive me, I have oft'n both laughed and cried at it. And sartin it is, savin' yer presence, I did laugh haarty at the time, even in the middle ov danger, though I repinted, and cried for it immediately after." "Good man! good man! may your sins be forgiven in abundance," said the priest, "remimber, I charge you nothing this time, Barney. Now go on--what was this circumstance? tell me." "I thank yer reverence kindly-the same to you, Sur; now we are quits." Barney paused, but the priest took no notice, and Barney proceeded with a very serious countenance. Well, as I was telling ye-och, I often thought it was a judgment from the Almighty, a great moral lesson read by the school-master above, to taich us to refrain from murder, and robbery, an' covetousness, an' plunder, an' assassination in a foreign land as well as at home. Well then, zur, many of the men had enriched themselves by robbing the dead and the dying on the field of slaughter, takin' their watches and rings, and jewels and money, an' the eppalletts from the officers, and putting the poor crathures out of pain by knocking out their brains with the butt or the firelock, or a bullet, or a stone in an owld stockin'. Well, one rascal, belonging to the - regiment, had been so greedy as to fill his canteen, an' his habbersack, an' his pockets, with all manner of riches stolen from the bodies of the dead an' dying- the fellow was loaded like a sutler's mule. Well, a retrate was sounded, an' we made the best ov our way to the beach where the boats wor waitin' to recave us; as we embarked, we wor right under the inemy's guns, who war playin' away upon us from the heights. We wor all getting into the boats as fast as our trotters could carry us; but the fellow with the big load ov watches an' jewels wasn't able to keep up with us, an' loath was he to throw away any part ov his ill-gotten store to lighten his load-so he was pickt up by some ov the flyin' artillery, who placed him on a gun carriage and hurried him forʼard, but so late he was, he could hardly make his way into the last boat. The boat was crowded, an' as he sat down on the gunnle astern, the weight ov the stolen property slued the boat to one side that it had nearly upset with the whole. Well, sur, the boat had hardly put off, and the rowers makin' for the ships, when a ball from the heights hit his knapsack, that was filled with the stolen treasure, with such a force that it upset the fellow as he sat on the edge of the boat; over he went into the sea, and the weight of his iniquity and dishonesty carried him to the bottom as speedily as the ball that struck him." "And down he went, watches an' all?" said the priest. Every fippenny worth," replied Barney. "Wasn't he justly sarv'd, the thieving, murdering villain? God forgive me for speaking ill of the dead," said Father Dennis. "Now, wasn't that a great moral lesson read to us by the Almighty, to prevent all mankind from being guilty of such crimes for the future?" said Barney. "It was a judgment sent on the wicked individual for his wicked crimes, yer rev'rence; it was like Dathan an' Abiram, Sur; or the owld geetleman that was struck dead for keeping up the money of the church, yer rev'rence-it was a wonderful judgment, and a lesson to us sinful crathurs that witnessed it, an' although I laugh'd an' shouted when I saw the fellow knocked over the side of the boat, yet my conscience check'd me after, Sur, an' towld me I shouldn't rejoice at the destruction of sinners, but pray for their repintance." |