"Previous to my attending Cambridge," says Henry Angelo, in his
Reminiscences, "one of my scholars (whom I had taught at Westminster
School,) at Trinity College, engaged an Irish fencing-master, named
Fitzpatrick," more remarkable for his native humour than science,
and when he had taken too much of the _cratur_, "was amusing to the
collegians, who had engaged him merely to keep up their exercise."
One day, during a bout, some wag placed a bottle of his favourite
"mountain dew" (whisky) on the chimney-piece, which proved so
attractive, "that as his sips increased, so did the numerous hits he
received, till the first so far prevailed, aided by exertion and the
heat of the weather, that he lay, _tandem_, to all appearance dead."
To keep the fun up, he was stripped and laid out like a corpse, with
a shroud on, a coffin close to him, and four candles placed on each
side, ready to light on his recovery. This _jeu de plaisanterie_ might
have been serious; "however, Master _Push_-carte took care not to push
himself again into the same place."
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