"In the autumn of 1825, some private affairs called me into the sister
kingdom; and as I did not travel, like Polyphemus, with my eye out,
I gathered a few samples of Irish character, amongst which was the
following incident:--
"I was standing one morning at the window of 'mine Inn,' when my
attention was attracted by a scene that took place beneath. The Belfast
coach was standing at the door, and on the roof, in front, sat a
solitary outside passenger, a fine young fellow, in the uniform of the
Connaught Rangers. Below, by the front wheel, stood an old woman,
seemingly his mother, a young man, and a younger woman, sister or
sweetheart; and they were all earnestly entreating the young soldier to
descend from his seat on the coach.
"'Come down wid ye, Thady'--the speaker was the old woman--'come down
now to your ould mother; sure it's flog ye they will, and strip the
flesh off the bones I giv ye. Come down, Thady, darlin!'
"'It's honour, mother,' was the short reply of the soldier; and with
clenched hands and set teeth, he took a stiffer posture on the coach.
"'Thady, come down--come down, ye fool of the world--come along down wid
ye!' The tone of the present appeal was more impatient and peremptory
than the last; and the answer was more promptly and sternly pronounced:
'It's honour, brother!' and the body of the speaker rose more rigidly
erect than ever on the roof.
"'O Thady, come down! sure it's me, your own Kathleen, that bids ye!
Come down, or ye'll break the heart of me, Thady, jewel; come down
then!' The poor girl wrung her hands as she said it, and cast a look
upward that had a visible effect on the muscles of the soldier's
countenance. There was more tenderness in his tone, but it conveyed the
same resolution as before.
"'It's honour, honour bright, Kathleen!' and, as if to defend himself
from another glance, he fixed his look steadfastly in front, while the
renewed entreaties burst from all three in chorus, with the same answer.
"'Come down, Thady, honey!--Thady, ye fool, come down!--O Thady, come
down to me!'
"'It's honour, mother!--It's honour, brother!--Honour bright, my own
Kathleen!'
"Although the poor fellow was a private, this appeal was so public, that
I did not hesitate to go down and inquire into the particulars of the
distress. It appeared that he had been home, on furlough, to visit his
family,--and having exceeded, as he thought, the term of his leave, he
was going to rejoin his regiment, and to undergo the penalty of his
neglect. I asked him when the furlough expired?
"'The first of March, your honour--bad luck to it of all the black days
in the world--and here it is, come sudden on me, like a shot!'
"'The first of March!--why, my good fellow, you have a day to spare
then--the first of March will not be here till to-morrow. It is Leap
Year, and February has twenty-nine days.'
"The soldier was thunder-struck.--'Twenty-nine days is it?--you're
sartin of that same! Oh, mother, mother!--the devil fly away wid yere
ould almanack--a base cratur of a book, to be deceaven one, afther
living so long in the family of us!'
"His first impulse was to cut a caper on the roof of the coach, and
throw up his cap with a loud hurrah! His second was to throw himself
into the arms of his Kathleen; and the third was to wring my hand off in
acknowledgment.
"'It's a happy man I am, your honour, for my word's saved, and all by
your honour's manes. Long life to your honour for the same! May ye live
a long hundred--and lape-years every one of them.'"