An Irish Cousin; vol. 1/2

by E. Oe. Somerville; Martin Ross

CONTENTS.

[PART I.] AN EXPERIMENT.
[CHAPTER I.]
	PAGE
The “Alaska”	[1]
“In that new world which was the old.”
[CHAPTER II.]
Aunt Jane	[7]
“Sing Hey! when I preside.”
[CHAPTER III.]
My Cousin Willy	[27]
“Willy’s fair and Willy’s rare, And Willy’s wondrous bonny.”
[CHAPTER IV.]
The Master of Durrus	[44]
“My father’s brother; but no more like my father than I to Hercules.”
[CHAPTER V.]
Impressions	[60]
“Groping in the windy stair, Darkness and the breath of space Like loud waters everywhere.”
[CHAPTER VI.]
An Irish Sunday	[70]
“In Islington there was a man, Of whom the world might say, That still a godly race he ran, Whene’er he went to pray.”
[CHAPTER VII.]
Moll	[89]
“Or in the night, imagining some fear, How easy is a bush suppos’d a bear!”
[CHAPTER VIII.]
Schooling	[97]
“Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend, How went he under him?” “This is the prettiest low-born lass——”
[CHAPTER IX.]
“The Turf, the Chase, and the Road”	[114]
“Ford. Old woman! What old woman’s that? . . . . . . . . . . A witch, a quean, an old cozening quean! Have I not forbid her my house?”
[CHAPTER X.]
The Moycullen Hounds	[133]
“On the first day of spring, in the year ’93, The first recreation in this countheree, The King’s counthry gintlemen o’er hills, dales, and rocks, They rode out so gallant in search of a fox.”
[CHAPTER XI.]
Nugent O’Neill	[152]
“He is the toniest aristocrat on the boat.”
[CHAPTER XII.]
A Voyage of Discovery	[165]
“And wouldst thou leave me thus? Say Nay.”
[CHAPTER XIII.]
A Dinner-Party	[177]
“Go, let him have a table by himself! For he does neither affect company, Nor is he fit for’t, indeed.”
[CHAPTER XIV.]
In Society	[199]
“Ah! Then was it all spring weather? Nay, but we were young and together.”
“Society is now one polished horde Formed of two mighty tribes, the Bores and Bored.”
[CHAPTER XV.]
An American Girl	[218]
“She’s always been kind of off-ish and partic’lar for a gal that’s raised in the woods.”
[CHAPTER XVI.]
Ferreting	[239]
“I do perceive here a divided duty.”
[CHAPTER XVII.]
Potato Cakes	[263]
“The tenacious depths of the quicksand, as is usual in such cases, retained their prey.”
[PART II.] THE COST OF IT.
[CHAPTER I.]
Mrs. Jackson-Croly at Home	[280]
“Fate’s a fiddler, life’s a dance.”
“O’Rorke’s noble feast will ne’er be forgot By those who were there, and those who were not.”

AN IRISH COUSIN.

PART I.
AN EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER I.
THE “ALASKA.”

“In that new world which was the old.”

There had been several days of thick, murky weather—dull, uncomplaining days that bore their burden of fog and rain in monotonous endurance. Six of such I had lived through; a passive existence, parcelled out to me by the uncomprehended clanging of bells, and the, to me, still more incomprehensible clatter which, recurring at regular intervals, told that a hungry multitude were plying their knives and forks in the saloon.