Tom. And what is the reason you have come and left your own dear country?
Teag. Arra dear honey, by shaint Patrick, they have got such comical laws in our country, that they will put a man to death in perfect health; so to be free and plain with you, neighbour, I was obliged to come away, for I did not choose to stay among such a people that can hang a poor man when they please, if he either steals, robs, or kills a man.
Tom. Ay, but I take you to be more of an honest man, than to steal, rob, or kill a man.
Teag. Honest, I am perfectly honest, when I was but a child, my mother would have trusted me with a house full of mill-stones.
Tom. What was the matter, was you guilty of nothing?
Teag. Arra, dear honey, I did harm to nobody, but fancied an old gentleman’s gun, and afterwards made it my own.
Tom. Very well boy, and did you keep it so?
Teag. Keep it, I would have kept it with all my heart while I lived, death itself could not have parted us, but the old rogue, the gentleman, being a justice of peace himself, had me tried for the rights of it, and how I came by it, and so took it again.
Tom. And how did you clear yourself without punishment?