mother to her son is directly the opposite-" Do your duty to God and man, but don't be put upon by any one." The genuine worship of aristocracy a bowing down to those who sit in high places-is far more alive at this moment in Ireland than in any other of the sister kingdoms. An Irishman must have something to lean upon his landlordand above all his priest, whereon to repose his spirit-and the door-post, or the handle of his spade, or a ruined wall, against which to lean his body. This is peculiarly the case with Irish servants; first of all, they depind" upon their masters and mistresses not seeing their omissions, keenly perceiving how much they omit themselves; and they also" depind" upon Judy this or Barney the other to steal into the kitchen and help them to get through their work. "How 'ud they ever do it else, and the wages so small, and the times so bad?" The fact of it is, that every regular servant in an Irish gentleman's family has his own peculiar tail, which, if not carefully clipped, will in time, by its manifold turnings and windings, destroy the head of the whole. I know several of what are called "good managers" who become outrageous at the idea of a charwoman entering their well-ordered mansions; what would they say to an Irish servant's tail?

Take an example. An Irish mistress descends to the lower regions at an hour when she is not looked for.

"Thomas," to the butler," what strange boy is that I saw in the pantry?"

"That? Oh, that's Jemmy Lownds, just come in to hould master's coat, while Larry brushes it."

"I mean the lad with red hair; I know James."

Oh, 'tother gorsoon, ma'am; he only stept in to see after Jemmy." Katherine," to the cook, "what business has the weeder to come in and do the kitchen-maid's work, while the kitchen-maid does yours, and you have been looking over the yard wall this hour past?"

"Lord save us, my lady! what will the gentry see afther next? My heart was weak in my body for want of a little fresh air, and I jist stept out to take a mouthful, and see Barney Tooly and Jack Johnson and two or three of the workmen help the groom to catch the mare; and sure we'd never get through the work but for the help now and agin.” I saw two strange caps in the laundry."

"I don't think there's any but Jenny Robins, stept in to do a hand's turn for poor Anty, that's kilt alive with the big heavy washes. Oh, my grief! times are changed when ladies like you think it worth their while to see afther the comers an' goers, and demane themselves with thinking of the bit and the sup!"

I very much fear that the generality of Irish housekeepers do not, as Katherine would say, "demane" themselves in any such way. If they attended more to their domestic concerns, there would be less ruin among the higher classes of Irish society. I am really at a loss to account for the fact, though fact it unquestionably is, that there is a certain carelessness—a want of order-of neatness-of regularity in domestic arrangements, perceptible in almost every Irish house. They appear to me never to think where or how they put their things; their beautiful furniture is seldom half-dusted, and from the ladies' boudoir, where tinsel usurps the place of sterling ornament, down to the kitchen, where one thing is applied to twenty different uses, there is a total absence of Dec.-VOL.. XLII, NO, CLXVIII,

2 G

arrangement. I know many who will be very angry at my saying this, and still more angry with me for printing it; but it is so palpable -observed by every one at all accustomed to England and English habits-that I am assured it is better to tell the truth boldly than to whisper it in corners. My deep and heart-felt praise do I give to the warm, hospitable, and affectionate feelings of my dear countrywomen; they are as full of talent as they are of genuine kindness, but they most deplorably lack the precision-the neatness-the thoughtfulness-which sheds the halo of comfort over an English ménage. Their minds are as informed, their manners more pleasing, yet they often act as if their brains as well as their houses required to be put in seemly order. I do not think they deserve the imputation so often and so severely cast upon them of want of cleanliness; no nation, I do believe, wash so frequently, but their carelessness makes them soil twice what they clean once; aud only those who live amongst them can note the difference. A wellregulated house is always the result of a well-regulated mind, and though Irish servants are very impracticable, still I know they can be managed, for in their own country they are docile, respectful, and not half as quarrelsome as they are here. Imperfections are readily acquired; and the servants who come to England "seeking their fortun" pick up the extravagance and sauciness peculiar to our serving-men and maidens, graft it upon their national pride, and so not unfrequently become epitomes of the bad of both countries.

Irish servants have, generally speaking, one quality which covers a multitude of sins-the strongest possible attachment to their employers. "It isn't for me to see their faults; don't they give me the bit I eat and the rag I wear? and why should I say anything against them? I'll stick up for them while I've breath in my body; for I'm not ungrate ful." The affection of Irish nurses to their foster-children is one of the most powerful and devoted feelings of which human nature is capable; they will follow and serve them through evil report and good report-in poverty and in prosperity-in a foreign land, as well as in their own country; and one instance I well remember, of a poor nurse, who, when she heard her foster child-the younger son of a family that had been both respected and respectable in former timeswas in an English gaol, came over, attended him during his sad and lonely hours of imprisonment; and when he was doomed to an ignominious death, never left his side till he exchanged time for eternity. She talked to him of those he had loved, before his soul and his name became polluted by evil. And it was a holy thing, within the prison walls, to hear that grey-headed woman put up her heart-felt prayers to the Almighty, for the object of such pure affection. When all was over she claimed his body,-waked it, after the fashion of her country; sold all she possessed in the world to give it decent burial; and was herself his monument; for, a few nights after, she was found dead upon his grave! Such a story does not need the embellishment of fiction.

I remember when it first became my duty to engage servants, my heart overflowed with patriotism. I resolved that none but Irish should perform the labours of my household; which, of course, like all young matrons, I determined should be conducted on so liberal and judicious a principle, that the gratitude and affection of my domestics would be an example of the purity and goodness of (Irish) human nature. Of course I began

by expecting too much; and even now I believe I received too little in return. However, now that I have got over all soreness about certain blunders and inattentions, and various and variegated mistakes, I derive much amusement from the remembrance of the oddity and eccentricity of my poor countrywomen. They were curious mixtures of good and evil; active and energetic, when excited by strong motives-indolent and lazy on ordinary occasions. I especially remember a cook, who was over-fond of any libation that bore the semblance of whiskey. In one of her tipsy freaks she had fallen against the kitchen range, and the result was, the loss of an eye. Poor Mary Keegan! this did not prevent her from very frequently seeing double; and her evening salutation was generally as follows: let it be understood that Mary, when addressing you, had sacrificed too liberally to Bacchus to stand quite erect, and her mind was always filled with the idea, that the person who spoke to her was the very person who "knockt" out her eye. Moreover, when tossicated," she had a great desire to assist the housemaid in carrying up water, or coal, or china, or glass; anything, in fact, that was likely to occasion confusion if spilt or destroyed. If she met me in the hall, or on the stairs, down would go whatever she had on the floor, and then folding her hands over her apron, she would make a low, staggering curtsey.

"Good evening to you, mistress dear; I hope you're very good dinner was turned to your liking-ah! don't ye be looking that-away at me, darlint lady-an't I worked to an oil, and faith I can't stand it." "So I perceive, Mary."

"God bless you, ma'am, dear, and mark ye to grace; and now, ma'am, will ye be plased to give me my fine eye that you knockt out

o' my head ?"

Me, Mary, I never knockt out your eye

יי!

"Well a-lannan! it's out any way; an' if it is out, what sinnifies it to Molly Keegan who knockt it out. So ma'am, dear, I'll trouble ye my fine eye!"

for

Poor Molly! she was a faithful, troublesome, affectionate, cross, but clean servant; and used always to declare that she came over to England for the express purpose of teaching the English " dacensy*:

One, however, of the most genuine specimens of Irish style, and Irish display I ever met with, was a certain butler; an old, and, in many respects, a favourite servant of a friend with whom I have spent many happy hours, and whom I recently visited. He rejoiced in the name of Rowland, but he was always called Rory. There was a quaintness, an oddity, and a love of show about the man, which I never saw equalled, even in his own country. Rory was tall and well-looking; exceedingly attached to his mistress, and to his own opinion. Now as his mistress's opinion and his own were usually at variance, there was a perpetual struggle in his mind as to which should overcome the other. Rory's deference for my friend prompted implicit obedience. Rory's self

"No,

One of my other maids had received a hint or two of my propensity for storytelling, and I could never get from her any answer beyond "Yes, mistress," or mistress,"-all my labour to induce her to utter a longer sentence was in vain. At length, somewhat annoyed at her brevity, I insisted on knowing what she meant, and then she did somewhat extend her reply," Arrah, let me alone, mistress; ye know ye are goin' to put me into a book."

esteem led him to try for the exercise of his own free will-it was perpetually Rory versus Rory--and an everlasting war he made of it.

66

Rory," said my friend at breakfast one morning, Rory, these eggs are too much done; and the eggs are always too much done; I wish you would see to it."

"The eggs, madam," (Rory was of the old school, and always called his mistress madam') are well done-boiled, you see, as they ought to be; though, to be sure, if you like them less done, it shall be attended to. You wish them less done, in earnest? Well, there's no disputin' taste, and, if I can, I'll do them less; though, to be sure, it's hard for me, not a morsel of an egg-saucepan in the house-only fishing after them in a big tea-kettle, as the devil (savin' yo'r presence) fished after red-herrings in the Red Sea."

"Rory, is the mule caught?"

"It's asy say caught! Catch her! Ah! madam, if you had followed my advice, and bought a pony instead of a mule to draw your garden-chair, it would have been different! Catch her! Devil catch me, if I can catch her! Wisp her and curry her, feed her and train her! turn her round an' round-turn her head to her tail, and her tail to her head, and what is she after all but a mule! and nothin' but a mule; though, to be sure, if you desire it, madam, I'll catch her-the devil!" -And he did in the end as he was desired, but not without disputing his lady's orders.

Rory was, moreover, a natural dandy: he had a love of neatness and finery, which rendered him a desirable servant in an Irish country-house; and though the greater number of his attentions were lavished on himself, still it is only right to say, that however he might in his proper person be inclined to dispute his mistress's orders, he would compel others to attend to her commands. His pomposity when enforcing her wishes was highly entertaining-one occasion I particularly remember. "Hav'n't I tould ye over and over again," he would say to his unfortunate pantry-boy, "hav'n't I tould ye that ye'r eyes are only given that ye may mind ye'r mistress, and ye'r ears that ye may understand her, and ye'r legs that ye may run for her, and ye'r arms to work for her. What u'd the likes o' you be sent into the world for, but for the con vanience of the gentry? Answer me that."

Why," murmured Jemmy, in reply, "what war you sent into the world for ?"

It appears I was sent into it to be bothered the heart out of me with the likes of you," sighed Rory, "and now that you've cleaned your spoons, and fed the dogs, and drowned the kittens, and biled the eggs, and scoured the knives, I'll trate you to a little divarshun. Come, now, till I tache you ye'r lesson,—we'll sit here opposite the sea, as the tide's out; maybe ye'r tired-boys are tired now a dale sooner than they used to be-faith, there's no boys going now, only all ould knowing craythurs, born at onct. Now, my man, you've been in the read-a me-dasey* these nine months-sce the example I set ye of obedience, to turn myself into a school-master for you, to humour the mistress. Me! but it's no matter. God help us, we're all born but those that are dead."

Reading made easy.

"Now, b-o-a-t; well, what does b-o-a-t spell? What, you can't tell! Why, then look out before you, where the sea do be when it's in, and tell me what you see there?"

"Mud," exclaimed poor Jemmy in delight, thinking that at last he had given the proper reading to 'boat.' James, of course, was rewarded for his learning by a smart blow, and then was ordered to progress from B to C, and spell coat; he uttered every letter distinctly, c-o-a-t, but to pronounce them collectively was another matter. Rory resolved on giving him a fresh hint, and gently touched the sleeve of his coat; but still Jemmy toiled on, letter by letter, c-o-a-t. "Are ye dead-stupid entirely," shouted Rory, giving the garment a tremendous pull. "Oh! oh!" thought James, "I've got it now, any way," and as his grey eyes goggled with delight, he exclaimed "Jacket!"

The termination of these lessons always took place in the breakfastroom; first were heard Jemmy's screams, drawing nearer and nearer, until, when outside the door, they sunk into suppressed sobs; then Rory would enter, lugging in his stupid pupil by the ear.

66 It's sorry I am to complain; but sure 1 am, madam, that every man, woman, and child is born with a genus for something, and this boy's genus is, that he won't learn nothing; I've watched him I've eloquotioned him—I've bate him, to try to drive the larnin' into him-but it's no use; the fact of it is, he's own brother to the mule. You areyou look at his ears! Faith, betwixt him an' the mule my heart's broke entirely-smashed-crushed-I'm not half the man I was-I'm an 'atomy, instead of a Christin, and I'll not stay if I'm to be schoolmaster and mule-catcher any longer. I'd do a dale to sarve you, madam, but betwixt instructing this fellow-and then when t'other was clane curried, he's off into the horse-pond-and troth, I can't stand either one or other of 'em-Madam-unless so be it be your pleasure, ma'am, that I'm a dead butler, instead of a living sarvant;" and then, without waiting for reply, Rory would bow, and stalk out of the room, followed at a respectful distance by poor Jemmy, whose ears had certainly grown to an extraordinary length.

The melange of an Irish kitchen on some of their festival nights would afford abundant subjects for pen and pencil; for both the in-door and out-door amusements of my poor country-folk have a careless and happy joyousness, which the sobered character of the English could never attain.

If I dare venture to give my own opinion upon the great and habitual dissimilarity which exists between the two nations, I would say, that the food consumed in each is so different, either as to quantity and quality, that it must affect the temperament of both body and mind. The Irishman's diet is light and casy of digestion; the Englishman eats frequently and his food is heavy. The Irishman also, when he does drink, drinks whiskey; and the inflammatory effects of ardent spirits are unhappily too well known to need any comment;-the Englishman becomes equally intoxicated, but it is from the effects of porter or beer, producing stupefaction, not exhilaration. All Irish housekeepers know that their servants, however honest in other things, must never be trusted with whiskey; it must be kept under lock and key, if it is not intended to turn the heads of all the domestics,-male domestics I should say, for females of the lower order are not by any means as much addicted in