‘I am sorry too, Carlo, but I cannot help it. Good-night.’
Le Gautier watched his friend along the moonlit street, a smile upon his face not pleasant to see. ‘Ah, yes,’ he murmured, ‘it is quite impossible. Genevieve is a good little girl, but good little girls are apt to cloy. It is getting dangerous. If Visci should find out, it would be a case of twelve paces and hair-triggers; and I cannot sacrifice myself yet—not even for Genevieve.’
ULSTER PROVINCIALISMS.
The people of Ulster may fairly claim a larger share of public attention than has usually been accorded to them: they have rendered their province prosperous in a country which is a stranger to prosperity; they have established and maintained great industries in a country of decayed trade and ruined commerce. In the colonies, they have risen in a remarkable degree to positions of affluence and authority; and in all the British dominions, Ulstermen are found in the van of commercial and professional life.
The Ulsterman comes of a very mixed descent. Just as the Englishman was originally a compound of Saxon, Norman, and Dane, so in the Ulsterman’s veins flows the blood of Irish, Scotch, and English progenitors. The relative proportion of each element varies much according to locality and religion. On the shores of Antrim and Down, the population is in many places almost as purely Scotch as in Ayrshire or Lanark. In Belfast, Scotch blood predominates; but there was originally a large English element. In Donegal and Fermanagh, the Celtic element is in excess. Everywhere, the Protestant derives more from Scotch and English sources; the Roman Catholic, from Irish.
From the earliest times, there has been a large emigration from Scotland to the opposite Irish shore. During the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. the chief settlements from England took place; and the settlers from both countries gradually pushed back the original Irish inhabitants to the mountains and into the interior. To this day, there is a secluded district in County Antrim, known as the Glens of Antrim, where the Irish language may still be heard, although it has long departed from other portions of the same county. As we travel westward, Irish more frequently meets the ear, and in many parts of Donegal it is the prevailing tongue.
It is not surprising that in a province of such varied lineage, provincialisms should be numerous and curious. To guard against misconception, let it be understood that the educated Ulsterman speaks like educated people elsewhere—namely, with perfect correctness and scarcely appreciable accent. The peculiar words and phrases about to be enumerated are heard almost exclusively among the poorer ranks, or, if employed at all by the educated classes, it is only in jest and with a recognition of their provincial character. The majority of them are of Scotch origin; some are found in colloquial and provincial English; while others are of Hibernian extraction.[1]
As might have been expected, proverbs and proverbial expressions form a large class of these provincialisms. ‘All to the one side, like Clogher,’ is an allusion to a town in County Tyrone where all the houses and shops are on one side of the thoroughfare, the opposite side being a private demesne. ‘That bangs (surpasses) Banagher’ is an allusion to the great fair held at that spot. When the Ulsterman wishes to imply that a certain event is extremely improbable, he says that it will happen at ‘Tibb’s Eve,’ adding the mysterious information that this is ‘neither before nor after Christmas.’ This expression is a curiously exact counterpart of the Latin phrase about the Greek kalends. ‘As blunt as a beetle’ refers to a species of heavy wooden mallet to which Shakspeare alludes. ‘As busy as a nailer,’ ‘As clean as a new pin,’ ‘As crooked as a ram’s horn,’ are common Ulster expressions, which do not call for any explanation. A more mysterious expression is the curious phrase, ‘As grave as a mustard-pot’—used to express preternatural solemnity. People of bilious complexion are often described with more force than elegance as being ‘As yellow as a duck’s foot.’
The Ulsterman has no special repute for gallantry, yet his simile for anything exceptionally simple is, ‘As easy as kiss.’ His favourite phrase when about to impart some very confidential information is, ‘Between you and me and the post.’ A person whose sanity is open to question is often described as ‘Wanting a square of being round’—a curiously inexact expression. A person who gapes with wide-mouthed wonder is said to look ‘like a duck in thunder.’ Similarity of political or religious opinion is expressed in Ulster by saying that two people ‘Dig with the same foot.’ ‘A dead man’s plunge’ is a peculiar Ulster expression; it is applied to the short, sudden, and rather hollow sound made by a smooth flat pebble when it is tossed into the air and falls into water upon its edge.
A large class of provincialisms are made up of asseverative expressions. The Ulsterman often prefaces his remarks by ‘Assay’ (I say) or ‘A’m sayin’’ (I’m saying). ‘May I never stir’ introduces some peculiarly solemn assertion. ‘A month of Sundays,’ and still more strongly, ‘All my born days,’ are emphatic expressions for long periods of time. ‘Dear help your wit’ expresses commiseration for the innocence and simplicity of the person addressed.