Page:Modern literature (1804 Volume 1).djvu/219

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her a great beauty; but how the devil should she with such a father and mother?" Our hero endeavoured to change this discourse, and at last succeeded; and O'Rourke happening to sit down near old Mr. Wentbridge, asked him whether he had not e'er a barrel of good ale among his other tithe pigs. A jug was produced, which gave him perfect satisfaction. At supper Mr. O'Rourke unfolded the purposes of his journey; he proposed, he said, to take the estates into his own possession; he would act very generous. The whole property was not more than three thousand five hundred a year; he would content himself with the three thousand, and allow, as he expressed himself, the five hundred to the proprietor during life. The rest of the company, considering this modest proposition as the effect of intoxication, suffered it to pass without remark. The