Sayings of Paddy from Cork.
PART I.
Tom. Good morrow, sir, this is a very cold day.
Teag. Arra, dear honey, yesternight was a very cold morning.
Tom. Well brother traveller of what nation art thou.
Teag. Arra dear shoy I come from my own kingdom
Tom. Why I know that but where is thy kingdom?
Teag. Allelue dear honey, don’t you know Cork in Ireland?
Tom. You fool, Cork is not a kingdom but a city.
Teag. Then dear shoy, I’m sure it’s in a kingdom.
Tom. And what is the reason you have come and left your own 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. [murder?
Tom. What was the matter, was you guilty of
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 piece 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?
Teag. Arra, dear shoy, I told him a parcel of lies,
