“Thirdly—­hem—­I now lave the thing to yourselves.

“But wasn’t I match for Pettier Donovan, that would brake a stone for the marrow *—­Eh?—­(a broad laugh at Pother’s rueful visage.)—­Pettier, you Turk, will your heart never soften—­will you never have dacency, an’ you the only man of your family that’s so?  Sure they say you’re going to be marrid some of these days.  Well, if you get your wife in my parish, I tell you, Pettier, I’ll give you a fleecin’, for don’t think I’ll marry you as chape as I would a poor honest man.  I’ll make you shell out the yallowboys, and ’tis that will go to your heart, you nager you; and then I’ll eat you out of house and home at the Stations.  May the Lord grant us, in the mane time, a dacent appetite, a blessing which I wish you all,------&c.”

* I know not whether this may be considered worthy of a note or not.  I have myself frequently seen and tasted what is appropriately termed by the peasantry “Stone Marrow.”  It is found in the heart of a kind of soft granite, or perhaps I should rather say freestone.  The country people use it medicinally, but I cannot remember what particular disease it is said to cure.  It is a soft, saponaceous substance, not unpleasant to the taste, of a bluish color, and melts in the mouth, like the fat of cold meat, leaving the palate greasy.  How far an investigation into its nature and properties might be useful to the geologist or physician, it is not for me to conjecture.  As the fact appeared to be a curious one, and necessary, moreover, to illustrate the expression used in the text, I thought it not amiss to mention it.  It may be a bonne bouche for the geologists.

At this moment the congregation was once more in convulsions of laughter at the dressing which Peter, whose character was drawn with much truth and humor, received at the hands of the worthy pastor.

Our readers will perceive that there was not a single prejudice, or weakness, or virtue, in the disposition of his auditory, left untouched in this address.  He moved their superstition, their pride of character, their dread of hell and purgatory, their detestation of Yellow Sam, and the remembrance of the injury so wantonly inflicted on M’Evoy’s family; he glanced at the advantage to be derived from the lad’s prayers, the example they should set to Protestants, made a passing hit at tithes; and indulged in the humorous, the pathetic, and the miraculous.  In short, he left no avenue to their hearts untouched; and in the process by which he attempted to accomplish his object he was successful.

There is, in fact, much rude, unpolished eloquence among the Roman Catholic priesthood, and not a little which, if duly cultivated by study and a more liberal education, would deserve to be ranked very high.