Fourth Article.
Having in the last article spoken of the origin of surnames in Ireland,
and of the popular errors now prevailing respecting them, I shall next
proceed to notice certain epithets, sobriquets, &c., by which the Irish
chieftains and others of inferior rank were distinguished.
Besides the surnames, or hereditary family names, which the Irish people
assumed from their ancestors, it appears from the authentic annals that
most, if not all, of their chieftains had attached to their Christian
names, and sometimes to their surnames, certain cognomens by which
they were distinguished from each other. These cognomens, or, as they
may in many instances be called, sobriquets, were given them from some
perfection or imperfection of the body, or some disposition or quality
of the mind, from the place of birth, or the place of fosterage, and
very frequently from the place of their deaths. Of the greater number of
these cognomens, the pedigree of the regal family of O’Neill furnishes
examples, as Niall Roe, _i. e._ Niall the Red, who flourished about the
year 1225, so called from his having red hair; Hugh Toinlease (a name
which requires no explanation), who died in 1230; Niall More, _i. e._
Niall the Great, who died in 1397; Con Bacach, _i. e._ Con the Lame, who
was created Earl of Tyrone in 1542. Among the same family we meet Henry
Avrey, _i. e._ Henry the Contentious, Shane an Dimais, _i. e._ John the
Proud. Of the cognomens derived from the places in which and the families
by whom they were fostered, the pedigree of the same family affords
several instances, as Turlogh Luineach, so called from his having been
fostered by O’Luney, chief of Munterluney in Tyrone; Niall Conallach, so
called from his having been fostered by O’Donnell, chief of Tirconnell;
Shane Donnellach, so called from his having been fostered by O’Donnelly
(An Four Masters, 1531 and 1567); and Felim Devlinach, so called from
his foster-father O’Devlin, chief of Munter-Devlin, near Lough Neagh,
in the present county of Londonderry. Various examples of cognomens
given to chieftains from the place or territory in which they were
fostered, are to be met with in other families, as, in that of O’Brien,
Donogh Cair-breach, who was so called from his having been fostered by
O’Donovan, chief of Carbery Aeva, the ancient name of the plains of the
county of Limerick. In the regal family of Mac Murrough of Leinster,
Donnell Cavanagh was so called from having been fostered by the Coarb
of St Cavan, at Kilcavan, near Gorey, in Hy-Dea, in the present county
of Wexford. This cognomen of Donnell has been adopted for the last two
centuries as a surname by his descendants, a thing very unusual among
Irish families. In the family of Mac Donnell of Scotland, John Cahanach
was so called from his having been fostered by O’Cahan or O’Kane, in the
present county of Londonderry.
In the pedigrees of other families, various instances are on record of
cognomens having been applied by posterity to chieftains from the place
of their deaths; in the family of O’Neill, for example, Brian Chatha an
Duin, or “of the battle of Down,” was so called by posterity from his
having been killed in a battle fought at Downpatrick in the year 1260;
in the family of O’Brien, Conor na Siudaine, from the wood of Suidain in
Burren, in which he was killed in the year 1267; and in the family of Mac
Carthy, the celebrated Fineen Reanna Roin, from his having been killed
at the castle of Rinn Roin in the year 1261, after a brilliant career of
victory over the English.
On this subject of cognomens and sobriquets among the Irish, Sir Henry
Piers wrote as follows in the year 1682, in a description of the county
of Westmeath, written in the form of a letter to Anthony Lord Bishop of
Meath, and published in the first volume of Vallancey’s Collectanea:--
“Every Irish surname or family name hath either O or Mac prefixed,
concerning which I have found some make this observation, but I dare
not undertake that it shall hold universally true, that such as have O
prefixed were of old superior lords or princes, as O’Neal, O’Donnell,
O’Melaghlin, &c., and such as have Mac were only great men, viz,
lords, thanes, as Mac Gennis, Mac Loghlin, Mac Doncho, &c. But however
this observation [may] hold, it is certain they take much liberty,
and seem to do it with delight, in giving of nicknames; and if a man
have any imperfection or evil habit, he shall be sure to hear of it
in the nickname. Thus, if he be blind, lame, squint-eyed, grey-eyed,
be a stammerer in speech, be left-handed, to be sure he shall have
one of these added to his name; so also from his colour of hair, as
black, red, yellow, brown, &c.; and from his age, as young, old; or
from what he addicts himself to, or much delights in, as in draining,
building, fencing, or the like; so that no man whatever can escape a
nickname who lives among them, or converseth with them; and sometimes so
libidinous are they in this kind of raillery, they will give nicknames
_per antiphrasim_, or contrariety of speech. Thus a man of excellent
parts, and beloved of all men, shall be called _grana_, that is, naughty
or fit to be complained of; if a man have a beautiful countenance or
lovely eyes, they will call him Cueegh, that is, squint-eyed; if a
great housekeeper, he shall be called Ackerisagh, that is greedy.”
(_Collectanea_, vol. I. p. 113.)
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when the Irish families
increased, and their territories were divided into two and three parts
among rival chieftains of the same family, each of the chieftains adopted
some addition to the family surname for the sake of distinction. Thus,
among the O’Conors of Connaught we find O’Conor Don, _i. e._ O’Conor the
brown-haired, and O’Conor Roe, or the red-haired. This distinction was
first made in the year 1384, when Torlogh Don and Torlogh Roe, who had
been for some time in emulation for the chieftainship of the territory
of Shilmurry, agreed to have it divided equally between them; on which
occasion the former was to be called O’Conor Don, and the latter O’Conor
Roe. (See Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Charles O’Conor). It is
now supposed by many of the Irish that the epithet Don postfixed to the
name of the chief of the O’Conors is a Spanish title! while those who
are acquainted with the history of the name think that he should reject
it as being a useless sobriquet, and more particularly now, as there is
no O’Conor Roe from whom he needs to be distinguished. It is true that
the O’Conor Don might now very lawfully be called the O’Conor, as there
is no O’Conor Roe or O’Conor Sligo, at least none who take the name; but
as he had borne it before O’Conor Roe disappeared, we would not advise
it to be rejected for another generation, as we think that an O’Conor
Roe will in the meantime make his appearance, for we are acquainted with
an individual of that name who knows his pedigree well, but is not
sufficiently wealthy to put himself forward as an Irish chieftain.
In the same province we find the Mac Dermots of Moylurg divided into
three distinct families the head of whom was, _par excellence_, styled
the Mac Dermot, and the other two who were tributary to him called, the
one Mac Dermot Roe, _i. e._ the Red, and the other Mac Dermot Gall,
or the Anglicised. In Thomond we find the Mac Namaras split into two
distinct families, distinguished by the names of Mac Namara Fin, _i. e._
the Fair, and Mac Namara Reagh, or the Swarthy. In Desmond the family
of Mac Carthy split into three powerful branches, known by the names of
Mac Carthy More or the Great, Mac Carthy Reagh or the Swarthy, and Mac
Carthy Muscryagh, _i. e._ of Muskerry. Beauford asserts with his usual
confidence that Mac Carthy Reagh signifies Mac Carthy the King, but this
is utterly fallacious, for the epithet, which is anglicised Reagh, is
written _riach_ and _riabhach_, in the original annals of Inisfallen and
of the Four Masters, and translated _fuscus_ by Philip O’Sullivan Beare
(who knew the import of it far better than Beauford) in his History of
the Irish Catholics published at Lisbon in 1621. The O’Sullivans split
into the families of O’Sullivan More and O’Sullivan Beare; the O’Donovans
into those of O’Donovan More, O’Donovan Locha Crot, and O’Hea O’Donovan;
the O’Kennedys of Ormond into those of O’Kennedy Finn, O’Kennedy Roe, and
O’Kennedy Don; the O’Farrells of Annally into those of O’Farrell Bane,
_i. e._ the White, and O’Farrell Boy, or the Yellow, &c., &c.
The foregoing notices are sufficient to show the nature of the surnames
in use among the ancient Scotic or Milesian Irish families. It will
be now expected that I should say a few words on the effect which the
Anglo-Norman invasion and the introduction of English laws, language,
and names, have had in changing or modifying them, and on the other hand
the influence which the Irish may have had in changing or modifying the
English names.
After the murder, in 1333, of William de Burgo, third Earl of Ulster
of that name, and the lessening of the English power which resulted
from it, many if not all of the distinguished Anglo-Norman families
located in Connaught and Munster became hibernicised--_Hibernis ipsis
Hiberniores_--spoke the Irish language, and assumed surnames in imitation
of the Irish by prefixing Mac (but never O in any instance) to the
Christian names of their ancestors. Thus the De Burgos in Connaught took
the name of Mac William from their ancestor William de Burgo, and were
divided into two great branches, called Mac William Oughter and Mac
William Eighter, _i. e._ Mac William Upper and Mac William Lower, the
former located in the county of Galway, and the latter in that of Mayo;
and from these sprang many offshoots who took other surnames from their
respective ancestors, as the Mac Davids of Glinsk, the Mac Philbins of
Dun Mugdord in Mayo, the Mac Shoneens, now Jennings, and the Mac Gibbons,
now Fitzgibbons. The Berminghams of Dunmore and Athenry in Connaught,
and of Offaly in Leinster, took the name of Mac Feoiris, from Pierce,
the son of Meyler Bermingham, who was one of the principal heads of that
family in Ireland. The head of the Stauntons in Carra took the name of
Mac Aveely. The chief of the Barretts of Tirawley took the name of Mac
Wattin, and a minor branch of the same family, located in the territory
of the Two Backs, lying between Lough Con and the river Moy, assumed that
of Mac Andrew, while the Barretts of Munster took the now very plebeian
name of Mac Phaudeen, from an ancestor called Paudeen, or Little Patrick.
The De Exeters of Gallen, in Connaught, assumed the surname of Mac Jordan
from Jordan De Exeter, the founder of that family; and the Nangles of the
same neighbourhood took that of Mac Costello. Of the Kildare and Desmond
branches of the Fitzgeralds there were two Mac Thomases, one in Leinster,
and the other in the Desies, in the now county of Waterford, in Munster.
A branch of the Butlers took the name of Mac Pierce, and the Poers, or
Powers, that of Mac Shere. The Freynes of Ossory took the name of Mac
Rinki, and the Barrys that of Mac Adam. In the present county of Kilkenny
were located two families, originally of great distinction, who took
the strange name of Gaul, which then signified Englishman, though at an
earlier period it had been a term applied by the Irish to all foreigners;
the one was Stapleton, who was located at Gaulstown, in the parish of
Kilcolumb, barony of Ida, and county of Kilkenny; the other a branch of
the Burkes, who obtained extensive estates in that part of Ireland, and
dwelt at Gaulstown, in the barony of Igrine. The writer, who is the sixth
in descent from the last head of this family, has many of his family
deeds, in which he styles himself sometimes Galle and sometimes Galle
alias Borke; on his tomb, however, in his family chapel at Gaulskill, he
is called Walterus De Burgo without the addition of Galle, and is there
said to be descended from the Red Earl of Ulster. His descendants now
all retain the name of Gaul, as do those of his neighbour Stapleton. The
Fitzsimons, in Westmeath, took the name of Mac Ruddery, and the Wesleys
that of Mac Falrene, &c. &c.
Edmund Spenser, secretary to the Lord Arthur Grey (deputy of Ireland
under Queen Elizabeth in the year 1580), attempted to prove that many
distinguished families then bearing Irish surnames, and accounted of
Irish origin, were really English. This, however, is undoubtedly false,
and is a mere invention of the creative fancy of that great poet and
politician: but as it has been received as truth by Sir Charles Coote
and other English writers, we shall show how Spenser deceived himself or
was deceived on this point. He instances the following families: 1, The
Mac Mahons of Oriel in Ulster, who, as he states on the authority of the
report of some Irishmen, came first to Ireland with Robert de Vere, Earl
of Oxford, under the name of Fitz-Ursula: 2, The Mac Mahons of the South:
3, The Mac Sweenys of Munster: 4, The Mac Sheehys of Munster: 5, The
O’Brins or O’Byrnes of Leinster: 6, The O’Tooles of the same province:
7, The Cavanaghs: 8, The Mac Namaras of Thomond. But he gives no proof
for his assertions but the report of some Irishmen, corroborated by
etymological speculations of his own; and as the report of some unnamed
persons can have no weight with us when in direct contradiction of the
authentic annals of the country, I shall slightly glance at some of
the most important of his etymological evidences, and then give my own
proofs of the contrary. To prove that the Mac Mahons of Oriel are the
Fitz-Ursulas, he says that _Mahon_ signifies _bear_ in Irish, and hence
that Mac Mahon is a translation of Fitz-Ursula; but granting that _Mahon_
does mean a _bear_, it does not follow that Mac Mahon is a translation of
Fitz-Ursula. But we have stronger reasons to urge than to prove that this
is a _non sequitur_, for we have the testimony of the authentic pedigree
of the Mac Mahons of Oriel, and of the annals of Ulster, that the Mac
Mahons had been located in Oriel and had borne that name long before
the English invasion. The Mac Mahons and Mac Namaras of the south are a
branch of the Dal-Cais, a great tribe located in Thomond, whose history
is as certain from the ninth century as that of any people in Europe.
The Mac Sweenys and Mac Sheehys of Munster are of Irish origin, but
their ancestors removed to Scotland in the tenth century, or beginning
of the eleventh, and some of their descendants returned to Ireland in
the beginning of the fourteenth century, and were hereditary leaders of
Gallowglasses to many Irish chieftains. To prove that the Byrnes, Tooles,
and Cavanaghs, are of British origin, he has recourse also to etymology,
which is a great lever in the hand of a historical charlatan, and says,
in the first place, that _Brin_ in the Welsh language means woody, and
that hence the O’Brins or O’Byrnes must be of Welsh origin. But admitting
that _Brin_ does in the Welsh language mean woody, what has that to do
with O’Brain, the original Irish name of O’Byrne, especially when it can
be proved that that surname was called after Bran, king of Leinster, who
was usually styled Bran Duv, _i. e._ the Black Raven, from the colour of
his hair, and his thirst for prey. Secondly, to prove that O’Toole is a
Welsh name, he says that _tol_ means hilly in the Welsh language! and so
does _tol_ in Irish bear this meaning. But what, I would ask, has that to
do with O’Tuathail, or descendants of Tuathal, the son of Ugaire, from
whom this family have taken their surname? The name Tuathal, signifying
_the lordly_, has no more to do with _tol_, a hill, than it has with the
English word _tool_, to which it has been anglicised for the last two
centuries. Thirdly, to prove that the name Cavanagh is of Welsh origin,
he asserts that Kaevan in Welsh signifies _strong_ in English. This may
be true; but what has the signification of the Welsh word Kaevan to do
with the name of the Mac Murroghs of Leinster, who assumed the cognomen
of Cavanagh from Donnell Cavanagh, the son of Dermot Mac Murrogh, who had
himself received this name from his having been fostered at Kilcavan in
the north-east of the present county of Wexford? _Spectatum admissi risum
teneatis amici?_
These errors of Spenser have been already exposed by Dr Jeffry Keating, a
man of learning and undoubted honesty, but of great simplicity, which is
characteristic of the age in which he lived, also by Gratianus Lucius,
and by the learned Roderic O’Flaherty, who has devoted a chapter of his
Ogygia to prove that Spenser, though a distinguished poet, can have no
claim to credit as a historian. Spenser’s purpose in fabricating this
story about the Mac Mahons was to hold them up as objects of hatred
to the Irish and English people, as being descended from the murderer
of Thomas à Becket. He never succeeded, however, in convincing Ever
Mac Cooley, or any other of the rebels of the Farney, that they were
descended from the Beares of England! Spenser also asserts that _it was
said_ that most of the surnames ending in _an_, though then considered
Irish, were in reality English, such as Hernan, Shinan, Mungan, &c. I
do not, however, believe a word of this latter assertion of the great
English poet, but conclude, with the simple and honest Keating, that, “as
being a poet, he gave himself, as was usual with the profession, licence
to revel in poetic fictions, which he dressed in flowery language to
decoy his reader.” For we know that there is not a single instance on
record of any Anglo-Norman family having taken any Irish names except
such as they formed from the names or titles of their own ancestors by
prefixing Mac, which they considered equivalent to the Norman Fitz, as
Mac Maurice, Mac Gibbon, Mac Gerald, Mac William, which are equivalent
to Fitz-Maurice, Fitz-Gibbon, Fitz-Gerald, Fitz-William. In this manner,
however, the great Anglo-Norman families of the south and west of
Ireland, who were after all more French and Irish than they were English
(their ancestors having dwelt scarcely a century in England), nearly all
hibernicised their names. It seems rather curious that Spenser has not
furnished any list of those Anglo-Norman families who really hibernicised
their names, while he was so minute in naming those who were not English,
but whom he wished to make appear as such, in order to be enabled to
censure them the more harshly for their treasons and rebellions. He
contents himself by stating that there were great English families in
Ireland who, he regretted to say, had become Irish in name and feeling.
The manner in which he states this fact is worthy of consideration, and I
shall therefore insert his very words here as they appear in the Dublin
edition:--“Other great houses there bee of the English in Ireland, which
thorough licentious conversing with the Irish or marrying or fostering
with them, or lacke of meet nurture [_i. e._ education or rearing],
or such other unhappy occasions, have degendred from their auncient
dignities, and are now growne ‘_as Irish as O’Hanlon’s breech_,’ as the
proverbe there is.”
Sir Henry Piers of Tristernagh, in the county of Westmeath, complains of
the same custom among the families of English descent, in about a century
after Spenser’s period.
“In the next place, I rank the degeneracy of many English families as
a great hindrance of the reducing this people to civility, occasioned
not only by fostering, that is, having their children nursed and bred
during their tender years by the Irish, but much more by marriages
with them, by means whereof our English in too many great families
became in a few generations one both in manners and interest with the
Irish, insomuch as many of them have not doubted [_i. e._ hesitated]
to assume even Irish names and appellations: instances whereof are but
too many even to this day: thus a Bermingham is called by them Mac
Yoris, Fitz-Simmons, Mac Kuddery [_recte_ Mac-Ruddery], Wesley [_i. e._
Wellesley], Mac Falrene, &c., and from men thus metamorphosed what could
be expected?”--_Collectanea_, vol. I. p. 105.
On the other hand, the Irish families who lived within the English
pale and in its vicinity gradually conformed to the English customs,
and assumed English surnames; and their doing so was deemed to be of
such political importance that it was thought worthy the consideration
of parliament: accordingly it was enacted by the statute of 5 Edward
IV (1465), that every Irishman dwelling within the English pale, then
comprising the counties of Dublin, Meath, Louth, and Kildare, should take
an English surname. This act is so curious as illustrating the history of
Irish family names, that it demands insertion in this place.
“An act, that the Irish men dwelling in the counties of Dublin, Myeth,
Uriell, and Kildare, shall goe apparelled like English men, and weare
theire beards after the English maner, sweare allegeance, and take
English surname.”--_Rot. Parl. ca. 16._
“At the request of the Commons it is ordeyned and established by
authority of the said parliament, that every Irish man that dwells
betwixt or amongst Englishmen in the county of Dublin, Myeth, Uriell,
and Kildare, shall goe like to one Englishman in apparell, and shaveing
off his beard above the mouth, and shal be within one yeare sworne the
liege man of the king in the hands of the lieutenant or deputy, or such
as he will assigne to receive this oath for the multitude that is to be
sworne, and shall take to him an English surname of one towne, as Sutton,
Chester, Trym, Skryne, Corke, Kinsale; or colour, as white, blacke,
browne; or arte or science, as smith or carpenter; or office, as cooke,
butler; and that he and his issue shall use this name under payne of
forfeyting of his goods yearely till the premises be done, to be levied
two times by the yeare to the king’s warres, according to the discretion
of the lieutenant of the king or his deputy.”--5 _Edward_ IV. cap. 3.
“In obedience to this law,” observes Harris, in his additions to Ware,
“the Shanachs took the name of Foxes, the Mac Gabhans of Smiths, Geals of
Whites, the Branachs of Walshes, and many others; the said words being
only literal translations from the Irish into the English language.”
Harris, however, I may remark, is very much mistaken when he supposes
that the Branachs (Breaṫnaiġ, _i. e._ _Britones_) of the English pale in
Ireland are an Irish family, or that any ancient Irish family had borne
that name before the Anglo-Norman and Welsh families settled in Ireland
towards the latter end of the twelfth century; and he is also wrong in
assuming that the Irish word for _Geal_, white, was by itself ever used
as the name of any family in Ireland. In the other two instances he is
correct; for the head of the O’Caharnys of Teffia, who was usually styled
the Shinnagh, translated his name into Fox, and the Mac-an-Gowans and
O’Gowans translated their name into Smith.
The importance thus attached by this act to the bearing of an English
surname soon induced many of the less distinguished Irish families of the
English pale and its vicinity to translate or disguise their Irish names,
so as to make them appear English ones, as Mac Intire to Carpenter,
Mac Spallane to Spenser, Mac Cogry to L’Estrange, &c.; but the more
distinguished families of the pale and its vicinity, as Mac Murrogh,
O’Brennan, O’Kayly, and others, retained with pride their original Irish
names unaltered; for while they could look back with pride on a long line
of ancestors, they could not bear the idea of being considered as the
descendants of tradesmen and petty artizans, a feeling which prevails at
the present day, and will prevail for ever; for though a man has himself
sunk into poverty, he still feels a pride in believing that he is of
respectable origin. It is certain, however, that the translation and
assimilation of Irish surnames to English ones was carried to a great
extent in the vicinity of Dublin and throughout Leinster; and hence it
may at this day be safely concluded that many families bearing English
surnames throughout the English pale are undoubtedly of Milesian or
Danish origin.
It appears, however that this statute had not the intended effect; for,
about a century after its having passed, we find Spenser recommending a
renewal of it, inasmuch as the Irish had then become as Irish as ever.
His words on this point are highly interesting, as throwing great light
on the history of Irish surnames towards the close of the sixteenth
century, and we shall therefore lay them before the reader:--
“Moreover, for the better breaking of these heads _and_ [of?] septs which
(I told you) was one of the greatest strengthes of the Irish, methinkes
it should be very well to renewe that ould statute which was made in the
reigne of Edward the Fourth in Ireland, by which it was commanded, that
whereas all men used to be called by the name of their septs, according
to the severall nations, and had no surnames at all, that from henceforth
each one should take upon himself a severall surname, either of his trade
and faculty, or of some quality of his body or minde, or of the place
where he dwels, so as every one should be distinguished from the other,
or from the most part, whereby they shall not only not depend upon the
head of their sept, as now they do, but also in time learne quite to
forget his [their] Irish nation. And herewithal would I also wish all the
O’s and the Mac’s which the heads of septs have taken to their names,
to be utterly forbidden and extinguished. For, that the same being an
ordinance (as some say) first made by O’Brien for the strengthening of
the Irish, the abrogating thereof will as much enfeeble them.”
Towards the close of the next century we find Sir Henry Piers of
Tristernagh, in his account of the county of Westmeath, rejoicing that
the less distinguished Irish families were beginning to take English
surnames:--
“These, I suppose, may be reckoned among the causes of the slow progress
this nation hath made towards civility and accommodation to our English
laws and customs; yet these notwithstanding, this people, especially
in this and the adjoining counties, are in our days become more polite
and civil [civilized] than in former ages, and some very forward to
accommodate themselves to the English modes, particularly in their habit,
language, and surnames, which _by all manner of ways they strive to make
English or English like_; this I speak _of the inferior rank of them_.
Thus you have Mac Gowan surname himself Smith; Mac Killy, Cock; Mac
Spallane, Spenser; Mac Kegry, L’Estrange, &c., herein making small amends
for our degenerate English before spoken of.”
But I have exceeded the space which the Journal allows for this article,
and I must defer the remainder to a future number, promising the reader
that I shall make every effort to bring the subject of Irish surnames to
a conclusion in two additional articles.
* * * * *
ARISTOCRATIC TRAVELLING.--Mr Theobald was at that instant speaking to
Lord Bolsover. “Listen,” said the Earl of Rochdale to Arlington, “and
you will hear some of the uses and advantages of travel.” Arlington
accordingly directed his attention to the speakers. “I will just tell
you what I did,” said Mr Theobald. “Brussels, Frankfort, Berlin, Vienna,
Munich, Milan, Naples, and Paris, and all that in two months. No man
has ever done it in less.” “That’s a fast thing; but I think I could
have done it,” said Lord Bolsover, “with a good courier. I had a fellow
once who could ride a hundred miles a-day for a fortnight.” “I came from
Vienna to Calais,” said young Leighton, “in less time than the government
courier. No other Englishman ever did that.” “Hem! I am not sure of
that,” said Lord Bolsover. “But I’ll just tell you what I have done: from
Rome to Naples in nineteen hours; a fact, upon my honour; and from Naples
to Paris in six days.” “Partly by sea?” interrogated Leighton. “No! all
by land,” replied Lord Bolsover, with a look of proud satisfaction.
“I’ll just tell you what I did,” Mr Leighton chimed in again, “and I
think it is a good plan--it shows what one _can_ do. I went straight on
end, as fast as I could, to what was to be the end of my journey. This
was Sicily. So straight away I went there at the devil’s own rate, and
never stopped anywhere by the way; changed horses at Rome and all those
places, and landed in safety in----I forget exactly how long from the
time of starting, but I have got it down to an odd minute. As for the
places I left behind, I saw them all on my way back, except the Rhine,
and I steamed down that in the night-time.” “I have travelled a good deal
by night,” said Theobald. “With a _dormeuse_ and travelling lamp I think
it is pleasant, and a good plan of getting on.” “And you can honestly
say, I suppose,” said Denbigh, “that you have slept successfully through
as much fine country as any man living?” “Oh, I did see the country,”
replied Theobald, “that is, all that was worth seeing. My courier knew
all about that, and used to stop and waken me whenever we came to
anything remarkable. Gad! I have reason to remember it, too, for I caught
an infernal bad cold one night when I turned out by lamp-light to look
at a waterfall. I never looked at another.” There was a pause in the
conversation, and the group moved onwards to another room.--_Arlington, a
Tale, by the Hon. Mr Lister._
* * * * *
Truth will never be palatable to those who are determined not to
relinquish error, but can never give offence to the honest and
well-meaning; for the plain-dealing remonstrances of a friend differ as
widely from the rancour of an enemy as the friendly probe of a physician
from the dagger of an assassin.--_E. W. Montague._
* * * * *
PARENTAL DUTIES.--Bring thy children up in learning and obedience, yet
without outward austerity. Praise them openly, reprehend them secretly.
Give them good countenance and convenient maintenance, otherwise thy
life will seem their bondage, and what portion thou shalt leave them at
thy death they will thank death for it, and not thee. And I am persuaded
that the foolish cockering of some parents, and the overstern carriage
of others, cause more men and women to take ill courses than their own
vicious inclinations. Marry thy daughters in time, lest they marry
themselves; and train not up thy sons in the wars, for he that sets up
his rest to live by that profession can hardly be an honest man or a good
Christian; besides, it is a science no longer in request than use, for
soldiers in peace are like chimneys in summer.--_Lord Burleigh’s Maxims._