----Al llegar á las puertas de la villa que era cercada, salio
regimiento del pueblo á recebirle, tocáron las campanas, y todos
los vecinos diéron muestras de general alegria, y con mucha pompa
le lleváron á la iglesia mayor á dar gracias a Dios, y luego con
algunas ceremonias le entregaron las llaves del pueblo, y le
admitiéron por Gobernador de la insula.
DON QUIXOTE, tome IV. ch. 45.
TRANSLATION.
When he approached the town gates (for it was walled) the officers
came out to welcome him, the bells rang, and all the inhabitants
made show of a general gladness; and they carried him in great
pomp to the high church, to give God thanks; and shortly after
some ceremonies they delivered him the keys, and admitted him as
Governor of the island.
DON QUIXOTE, book IV. ch. 45.
The Duke of Tyrconnel took his departure, as was observed in the last
chapter, at an early hour; the roads were in excellent order for
travelling, the morning appeared settled and serene, and an enlivening
sun shone forth propitiously on his journey.
The vice-regal carriage had just reached the town of Ballyshannon, when
one of the fine animals (a leader) which drew the vehicle lost a fore
shoe, which caused the cavalcade to stop. This interruption to the
journey afforded an opportunity to the Duke, of which he availed
himself, of visiting the venerable ruins of Ashrow Abbey, which were at
that point of time noble and imposing even in decay. The beautifully
pointed gothic arches, and the gilded ceilings in the vaults of the
cloisters, called forth and attracted the attention and admiration of
His Grace. When the Duke had returned to his inn from the inspection of
these venerable monastic remains, a large party of horsemen were
discerned trotting onward at a round and rapid pace. The Duke was
stationed in a small gallery, or balcony, surmounting the door of the
inn, when a tumultuous congratulatory roar from the equestrians, and
addressed to His Grace, resounded on all sides, and the well-known Irish
welcome of "_Cead millia failtha_," (that is "a hundred thousand hearty
welcomes,") saluted the ducal ear. His Grace took off his hat, which he
most gracefully waved, and graciously bowed. He then addressed them, and
was pleased to say, "My good friends, I feel truly grateful for this
warm burst of loyalty; but I request to ask whither, and in such rapid
haste, ye are all proceeding?
'Go ye in peace, or go ye in war?'
There is surely no fair now going on in these parts of the country;
there is no wake, no saint's patron-day recorded in the calendar; there
is no racing, no hurling-match, no rural sport that I know of; and
therefore I feel at a loss how to account for thus assembling in
numbers, and I must needs doubt whether the motive be justifiable."
The troop of peasants, to the number of twelve or fifteen persons, were
mounted on horseback; most of the horses carried double, in accordance
to an old strange Irish usage, and which custom prevails in many parts
of Ireland even at the point of time in which we now address our
readers. The peasants replied, in respondence to the queries of the
Duke, to this effect: "So may it please your Lordship's noble Reverence,
we are men of the mountains, just going up for a bit to town, to procure
a little law," [i. e. being duly interpreted, means _litigation_.]
"Then," rejoined the Duke, "if such be your intention, my serious and
friendly advice to you all, my good men of the mountains, is simply
this, that you do all at the present immediately return back to your
respective districts, and peaceably retire to your native hills and
homes; avoid law, strife, and litigation; return to the tranquil heights
of the lofty Tyraugh, and there enjoy, undisturbed by the factious or
the turbulent, that peace and tranquillity which is shed around your
happy cottages, beyond the turmoil of the world, and there dwell, and
likewise cultivate the Christian virtues of peace and brotherly love.
Forget and forgive the past; bear and forbear! And if I wore the
sacerdotal garb, I could not in so few words, perhaps, advert more to
the present purpose which has, be it what it may, conjured up some bad
blood, as I have strong reasons to apprehend. This line of conduct, my
countrymen, you must be sensible, it is your bounden duty to pursue;
attend to your farms, cherish your families, and look to yourselves;
obey your magistrates, and attend to your religious duties; and last,
though not least, honour and reverence your noble king. I feel it
incumbent on me to tell you such ought to be your line of conduct, and
to this effect, too, will all your Clergy to a man pronounce to you,
whether parson, priest, or prelate!"
This speech allayed the threatened storm; and as if the wind had
changed to a different point, gently impelling a vessel in a contrary
course, thus suddenly were the litigious intentions of the "men of the
mountains" changed. They thanked his Lordship's "glorious Honour for his
kind condescension, and solemnly protested that they would forego _the
bit of law_ which they had intended, and willingly abide by his
Lordship's most worshipful advice." Reining round their steeds, they
proceeded upon their return home in a trot more rapid even than that in
which they had approached; and giving three loud distinct cheers of
"_Cead millia failtha_," were soon out of sight.
The book of wisdom saith "a soft answer turneth away wrath;" and it is
no less true, that a generous act, or even a kind expression, makes an
indelible impression upon the grateful heart of an Irishman!
While the Duke was engaged in the foregoing expostulation with "the men
of the mountains," the farrier, as he called himself, was meantime
actively employed, in which his tongue was as prompt as his hand was
ready, in performing, as he conceived it, the proud destiny of replacing
the fore shoe on the noble leader, in lieu of that which had been lost;
and thus from his anvil he addressed the Duke's valet: "Och then, plaze
your honour, master Brushwell, may be it isn't I who understands, any
how, in a jiffy to whip on a shoe upon any poor beast in the four
bordering counties; and a great sin and shame in me it would be if I
didn't exart myself for one of the true ould Irish stock? In troth in a
jiffy I will knock off the job, and by J---- it shall be properly well
done! for oh, _naboclish_, sure enough may be Tom Hob isn't the boy,
after all, for quickly knocking off a job for a parson he loves; and in
troth he may say with the ould ballad--
'Tom's heart, like his iron, is hissingly hot,
Though his iron should cool, his heart it shall not!'"
In these remote days the peaceful methods of life, the arts of
agriculture and husbandry, were but imperfectly known; and the practice
of farriery was rudely and ignorantly performed; then veterinary
professors did not exist, [the foregoing incident of the lost horse-shoe
has led to this short digression,] and farriery was clumsily practised,
save, perchance in the forge of some farrier of heavy dragoons. The arts
of war, meanwhile, were but too successfully carried on, while the happy
arts of peace slumbered in the shade, and neglected agriculture sunk
depressed beneath the warlike tone and temper of the times. The sickle
and the ploughshare, the attributes and implements of husbandry, were
destined to be neglected, else otherwise to be transmuted into the spear
and falchion of war.
But we resume our narrative.--The first day and night of the Duke's
departure he dined and slept at the hospitable abode of Castle-Caldwell,
the noble and magnificent mansion of the Baronet of the same name, which
delightful residence derived its name from the owner. The promontories
that raised their peninsular summits above and around the beautiful and
expanded lake of Lough Erne, were all brilliantly illuminated by
bonfires made by the peasantry. The beacon-flame also blazed from the
crowned summit of every surrounding hill and mountain. These bright
testimonies of gladness burst forth to hail the Duke's welcome arrival.
In furtherance of which the furze, fern, heath, and tall sword-grass, on
hill and rock, were all set into one universal conflagration, the
brilliant coruscations of which flashed, flamed, and undulated upon the
expanded waters of Lough Erne; while bonfires were seen to burn and
blaze upon the cloud-crested heights of the Tyraugh mountains.
Meanwhile, in sympathy with the scene, the great promontory of
Ross-a-Goul brightly bore the beacon blaze upon his lofty brow, which
flamed forth and flashed volcano-like above the adjacent woods and
groves, illuminating every islet, rock, and indented shore, and
reflecting its ruddy light in brilliance upon the dark waves of
Ross-Moor, which seemed emulous to flash back their radiance on
Ross-Goul.
The town of Churchill manifested similar demonstrations of joy and
gratulation upon the arrival of the popular viceroy. It is time,
however, to return to the hospitable board of the worthy host, who, with
his noble and distinguished guests, sat down to a magnificent dinner at
the good, early, rational, but now antiquated hour of four o'clock,
which was the healthy custom in these times remote. Among many
surrounding nobles and gentry present at this splendid banquet, we must
not pass by unobserved two notable characters who were seated at the
Baronet's table: the one was the Lord Viscount Glandarah, and the other
was the Rev. Doctor Dismal Drew, L.L.D., a quondam Fellow of Trinity
College, Dublin,[16] and who had been collated to the valuable living of
----, the advowson of which was in the gift of the University of Dublin.
These two worthies formed a remarkable and striking contrast to each
other.
[16] "Anno 1590.--The Monastery of All-Hallows was granted by the
citizens for the site of an university.
"----1591.--Trinity College founded by Queen Elizabeth. Opened
1593. Received a new charter and statutes 1637."--_Annals of the
City of Dublin._
Lord Glandarah, imitating the profitable example of the wise Ulysses,
who
----"Multorum providus urbes
Et mores, hominum inspexit,"
had visited foreign countries and courts, where he had resided during a
very long period, even from his early youth. It was whispered, and it
was also believed, that he was at heart _un bon Catholiquè_. However,
whether the assertion was true or false, certain it is that his Lordship
took his seat in the Irish House of Peers; so that his case was
completely _in foro conscientiæ_, and with which nobody had any right to
intermeddle, it being a matter between him and a higher power than any
court upon earth, temporal or spiritual.
His Lordship was an accomplished and polished nobleman; he had seen,
and with no unobserving eye, the different nations and courts of Europe;
had examined their laws, their governments, and establishments; he had
been so long resident upon the continent, (even from his earliest
years,) that from his foreign intonation of voice, and speaking, as he
did, broken English, he might readily have passed for a German or a
Frenchman. Lord Glandarah was personally known by the Duke of Tyrconnel,
who, upon this interview, heartily shook hands; and the former warmly
congratulated the latter upon his promotion to the viceroyship of
Ireland: "Gad save my soul, _mon très-excellent_ Duke, I am _absolumènt_
delighted; _je suis ravis entirement à vous revoir_. I am _tout_
delighted! _Jamais, jamais si bien heureux! Un verre de vin: à votre
tres bonne santé, et aussi la de votre tres amiable et accomplié Madame
la Duchesse. Nous aurons une petit Cour de Versailes à la Chateau de
Dublin. Sans doute et comme certainement nous verrons! Tres joli, tres
joli! Sir Jacques Colville, j'ai l'honneur de saluër votre santé._"
Lord Glandarah was attired in a court dress of green Genoa velvet,
richly embroidered with gold; and the old aristocratic peer was so
orthodox that even his hunting wig, when he rode on horseback, had _une
petite bourse_ attached to it, and the peruke was surmounted by a small
cocked hat, trimmed with broad gold lace, with an appendant feather; and
these he considered as indispensable appanages of _un gentilhomme comme
il faut_! or, as Horace has expressed it, "_Homo factus ad unguem_"--a
finished gentleman, even to the paring of his nail! Compared with Doctor
Dismal Drew, he was "Hyperion to a satyr." Doctor Drew was in stature
six feet by two, without diminution or subtraction, but awfully
"Measured by cubit, length, and breadth, and height."
The Doctor's head was of a portentous size, which induced his
cotemporaries, while a student in college, to bestow on him the epithet
or sobriquet of "the bull-headed (βοῦς κέφαλος) student;" and
most certain it is, that the exterior exceeded in dimensions every other
head within the precincts of that learned corporation. He was extremely
near-sighted, and always wore either goggles or spectacles made of green
glass, which, as our readers may fairly suspect, did not by any means
add to his personal appearance or attraction, whatever they might have
abducted. He was however, be the truth spoken, an excellent scholar,
philosopher, and moreover this same "learned Theban" was a mathematician
to boot. His manners were unpolished--nay, repulsive. His gait in the
street or drawing-room was so strange and inhuman-like, that it was only
ideally to be compared to the floundering motion of a wounded walrus
standing on its hind legs, then dragging its heavy weight along. At
table the movement of his arms was so exceedingly annoying to his
neighbours that it invariably caused them to keep a most circumspect and
respectful distance. His voice, when he spoke, which was only when he
wanted to be helped to some piquant viand, was harsh and stentorian, and
might not unaptly be compared to the discordant cadence of a cracked
bassoon. He was learned--he abounded in anecdote; and if he chose to be
at the trouble, he could be witty. But no; during dinner, and even when
the cloth was removed, solemn as the grave he sat doggedly pinioned to
his chair, silently sipping drop by drop his Burgundy. He seemed to be
apprehensive that the time he would occupy in conversation would
interfere with the time allotted for the act of deglutition; therefore
he sat taciturn, as if the use of his tongue was inevitably and
irretrievably to destroy the powers of his palate!
Doctor Drew was by no means deficient in dry and sarcastic humour; and
many anecdotes may be still found savoury in the college-courts and
dinner-hall of this quondam queer-fellow of old _alma mater_; however we
will trespass on the reader's attention only with one anecdote:--
Doctor Dismal Drew passing one morning through the college courts, from
the library to his chambers, happened to meet a young student who had
been only a few days matriculated, and such are, in popular parlance in
the university, called _jibs_; the young student had the ill-fortune to
pass this learned Leviathan, without the usual salutation of doffing his
four-cornered cap to his mighty superior:--"Halloo," roared the Doctor,
"come back; hark ye, I say, young master, pray how long, young
gentleman, allow me to ask, have you worn the academic gown?"
"Just eight days, may it so please your Reverence."
"Ay, ay; in sooth, young master, I thought as much, for we all know that
puppies cannot make use of their eyes until they are nine days old!"
When Doctor Dismal Drew had with-drawn from the dinner-room, Lord
Glandarah addressed the Duke of Tyrconnel in an under tone: "Gad save
me, my Lord Duke, _mais cette est un homme austere, outre, et tres
singulier; et, par tout, un bête horriblè_."
"Adonis, you recollect, my Lord, was killed by a _boar_!"
"Excellent, O Duke! and I too should be killed by--the Doctor's
company!--_non, pardonnez moi_ presence, I should say; he be no company!
_en veritè_ two entire days would despatch me. He is _assuremènt
Polyphemus le second, mais avec cette dissemblance par tout que le
monstre il eut un oeil bel excellènt, pendant que, le Docteur ave sans
doubtè deux diaboleùx_ bad eyes!"
"Oh, unquestionably, my Lord! but then he has an intellectual one; and
we must give due credit to Sir James Caldwell for the attention and
kindness which he dispenses to his quondam tutor. It is kind,
considerate, grateful, and honourable, to his feelings."
Sir James Caldwell, for whom the Duke of Tyrconnel entertained a great
regard and affection, from long acquaintance and intercourse, took an
opportunity, previous to the departure of His Grace, of making a strong
and impressive request that the Duke would be pleased to appoint his
worthy and learned friend the Doctor to be one of His Grace's domestic
chaplains.
"Why really, my kind and worthy friend, your request appears to me to
be a matter of greater difficulty than you, Sir James, seem to be aware
of, biassed, no doubt, by your kindness and partiality for the Doctor;
however you must needs acknowledge that there is somewhat _outré_ and
repulsive in the _tout ensemble_ of this extraordinary man; his general
appearance, his manners, his dress, and address, and those unindurable
appendices of green goggles, and his _je ne scai quoi_ impression, which
is better seen than described. However, if it be possible I shall
willingly assent to your request, provided that you, on the part of the
learned Doctor, accede to my capitulations, which I require and demand.
First, I insist upon the total abandonment of those everlasting green
goggles, in which I verily believe he sleeps withal. Secondly, I
resolve, as a _sine qua non_, that the learned Doctor, upon his arrival
in the metropolis, shall employ either a drill sergeant or a _maitre de
danse_, to mollify his movements of legs and arms! You stare in
astonishment, my good Sir James, but marry, I do not mean, in sooth,
that your grave Doctor and L.L.D. should slowly glide down the sober
minuet, or the more solemn paven, with formal features and extended
cassock, _chausse_ the cotillion, or trot down the merry _contredanse_;
no, _mehercule_, by no means, but this exercise I would fain prescribe
merely in order to give a gentlemanly ease and deportment of person. And
thirdly, I must require that the Doctor should purchase a new gown and
cassock; these habiliments having become threadbare in the service of
old Alma. Fourthly, that the Doctor shall, _sine mora_, have constructed
a neat orthodox wig, curled and powdered _a la Louis Quatorze_, &c. &c."
All these sage and precise preliminaries being agreed, ratified, and
concluded upon, by the high contracting parties, the Duke upon the
following morning took a friendly leave, and set off to pursue his
journey to Dublin. He kindly offered the Lord Glandarah a seat in his
carriage, who was likewise destined for Dublin; and which offer was most
thankfully accepted by the noble peer. Having duly paid their respective
devoirs to their hospitable host they departed, much gratified by their
reception at the noble and social mansion of Castle-Caldwell.
The Duke and his noble _compagnon de voyage_ travelled onward without
any accident or occurrence worth narrating, and arrived that day to
dinner at Tarah-Castle, the noble residence of the Lord Tarah. But at
the present day no vestige of this once celebrated castle remains, where
once
"To chiefs and ladies bright
The harp of Tarah swelled!"
Upon this distinguished day the hospitable board was loaded with every
luxury; generous Burgundy and enlivening Champaign flowed around in
bumpers; while it seemed a mooted matter of opinion which was most to be
admired, the generous courtesy and hospitality of the noble proprietor
of the castle, the excellence of his viands and wines, or the "soul of
music" that breathed around!
Moments of convivial joy and harmony, however, soon pass by, and are
forgotten likewise in the advance of time.
The following morning, soon after breakfast was concluded, the Duke of
Tyrconnel bade an affectionate adieu to the Lord of Tarah, and
accompanied by Lord Glandarah, set off in his travelling carriage for
the castle of Dublin. The journey was safely proceeded on to
Dunshauglin, where the Duke's state carriages and horses were in
attendance to convey him to Dublin, accompanied by a squadron of horse.
As he approached the city of Dublin, at the barrier of Barrack-street
the horses were taken from the carriage by the populace, and His Grace
was drawn in triumph to the capital; all the cathedral and church bells
ringing forth a merry peal. His Grace was sworn into his high office,
the patent having been read, before the privy council; at the same
moment three rockets in succession ascended from Birmingham Tower, which
were signals of His Grace having been sworn into his high official
station; and were duly responded to by the salute-battery in His
Majesty's royal chase, or park; and the salute was again returned by the
battery stationed on the south-wall of the Liffey. At night a general
and splendid illumination succeeded, which concluded the rejoicings of
this most memorable day.