In fact, Paddy has oaths rising gradually from the lying ludicrous to the superstitious solemn, each of which finely illustrates the nature of the subject to which it is applied.  When he swears “By the contints o’ Moll Kelly’s Primer,” or “By the piper that played afore Moses,” you are, perhaps, as strongly inclined to believe him as when he draws upon a more serious oath; that is, you almost regret the thing is not the gospel that Paddy asserts it to be.  In the former sense, the humorous narrative which calls forth the laughable burlesque of “By the piper o’ Moses,” is usually the richest lie in the whole range of fiction.

Paddy is, in his ejaculatory, as well as in all his other mock oaths, a kind, of smuggler in morality, imposing as often as he can upon his own conscience, and upon those who exercise spiritual authority over him.  Perhaps more of his oaths are blood-stained than would be found among the inhabitants of all Christendom put together.

Paddy’s oaths in his amours are generally rich specimens of humorous knavery and cunning.  It occasionally happens—­but for the honor of our virtuous countrywomen, we say but rarely—­that by the honey of his flattering and delusive tongue, he succeeds in placing some unsuspecting girl’s reputation in rather a hazardous predicament.  When the priest comes to investigate the affair, and to cause him to make compensation to the innocent creature who suffered by his blandishments, it is almost uniformly ascertained that, in order to satisfy her scruples as to the honesty of his promises, he had sworn marriage to her on a book of ballads!!!  In other cases blank books have been used for the same purpose.

If, however, you wish to pin Paddy up in a corner, get him a Relic, a Catholic prayer-book, or a Douay Bible to swear upon.  Here is where the fox—­notwithstanding all his turnings and windings upon heretic Bibles, books, or ballads, or mock oaths—­is caught at last.  The strongest principle in him is superstition.  It may be found as the prime mover in his best and worst actions.  An atrocious man, who is superstitious, will perform many good and charitable actions, with a hope that their merit in the sight of God may cancel the guilt of his crimes.  On the other hand, a good man, who is superstitiously the slave of his religious opinions, will lend himself to those illegal combinations, whose object is, by keeping ready a system of organized opposition to an heretical government, to fulfil, if a political crisis should render it practicable, the absurd prophecies of Pastorini and Columbkil.  Although the prophecies of the former would appear to be out of date to a rational reader, yet Paddy, who can see farther into prophecy than any rational reader, honestly believes that Pastorini has left for those who are superstitiously given, sufficient range of expectation in several parts of his work.

We might enumerate many other oaths in frequent use among the peasantry; but as our object is not to detail them at full length, we trust that those already specified may be considered sufficient to enable our readers to get a fuller insight into their character, and their moral influence upon the people.