He would be a gentleman, or, Treasure trove : a romance

Front matter

he would be i

BY j-m.

m.

Chapter I

More than a hundred years have passed since the hero of this atory existed, and the wild and dangerous days of that period were more productive of romance than our tamer and safer times : we premise thus much, to account for some of the surprising adventures recorded in our story, and do not begin with our " hundred years ago," to induce the belief that our tale smacks of antiquarian profundity. By no means — we are not profound nor grand — even our Hero was of very humble origin; and, as far as the chances of his early position are concerned, had not the smallest right to be ever heard of out of the street he was born in, and certainly would have died unchronicled, but for his devouring passion for all that was genteel ; in short — He would he a gentleman.

He was the son of one Denis Corkery, an honest, and humble, though wealthy trader, in the ancient town of Galway, and his wife, Mary, which sweet, poetic name, Denis would vulgarise into " Molly." This son of Denis, however, was christened Edward, in deference to his mother, who thought it more genteel than Denis. But Denis took his revenge, by never calling him anything but Ned.

Ned, however, inherited, in the female line, a desperate hankering after all that belonged to the upper ranks. Even when a child, his very name sounded unpleasantly in his ear ; he would mumble over "Corkery" to himself in disgust, and wish he was called Burke, or Blake, or Fitzgerald, or Maonarnara. As he grew up, he looked wistfully after every well-

■a HE WOULD BE A GENTLEMAN

mounted cavalier who pranced gallantly up the street, and the full-toned rumble of some grand family coach was music to him, while the sharp rattle of a country car was a nuisance. He w ould run to the counter of his father's shop, and listen eagerly to the, more refined accents of a lady or gentleman customer, b ut he showed no desire for that place of business when vulgar ians were carrying on their traffic. These peculiarities of the boy (whose mother died while he was young) were unnoticed by his father, a plain pains-taking man, who, having scrambled his way upward from the lowest class, had the ambition, so general in Ireland, to see his son possess "school knowledge," the want of which he so much regretted, — and, perhaps, overrated, as men do other things of which they are not possessed. Accordingly, ho gave him all the advantages of the best school within his reach, whereby the boy profited so well, that the master soon bragged of his pupil, and the father looked forward to the cultivated mind of his son with a prospective pleasure never to be realised; for all this but stilted the boy more and more above his natural level, fed the mental disease with which he was infected, — in short, to speak antithetically, strengthened his weakness. The more Ned learned, the more he liked gentility ; and when, having learned just enough to make him conceited, he retired finally from school, his father's friends and acquaintances, whom, with a profuse hospitality, the father gathered round him, were looked down upon for their ignorance and vulgarity ; and the more the youth grew, the more repugnance he showed to engage in his father's trading, which could open to him no better company than the punch-drinking community amongst whom he was daily thrown. It may be questioned, how a boy should entertain a dislike to vulgar company, without ever having seen what was superior ; many believing that we can only arrive at conclusions upon this subject by comparison. But the more observant may have had occasion to remark, that, in some minds, there is a natural dislike to everything coarse ; and examples may be seen, even in the same family, of the wide difference often existing between children whose education hat been equal, in their native adaptation to vulgar or refined habits. On a mind open to impressions, the slightest opportunities will suffice to stamp the difference between vulgarity and good breeding. In his father's shop, the boy had observed the contrast between the superior orders of his father's customers, and his father's acquaintances. The stripling, further grown, on the neighbouring race-ground, was not insensible to the difference between the daughter of a farmer on her pillion, and the daughter of a squire on her side-saddle. The more refined accent of the one fell on his ear more graciously than

HE WOtJLD BE A GENTLEMA». 3

the broad brogue of the other ; and what produced a coarse laugh in the country girl awoke but the smile of the lady. Such things will always make their impressions on intelligent minds, let those who like say nay ; for occasional glimpses of refinement may sometimes effect more results in a sensitive shopkeeper, than an academy of punctilio could produce upon an obtuse man of a higher grade. But, be this as it may, such an action was going forward in young Corkery's mind, however it got there, and soon began to produce unhappiness between the father and son ; not that the latter ever openly expressed his feelings, but the former was shrewd enough to see, almost as soon as the other felt, this growing repugnance to the consequences of his station ; and many was the accusation of " Puppy," and " Jackanapes," hurled at poor Ned by the indignant trader, who, occasionally, when moved overmuch, relieved his mind by indulging in sundry curses on the hour that " put it into his head to rear up his own child to be ashamed of the father that bore him." Now this was not fair to the youth, for it was not true, and only aggravated the cause of disunion.

Did the striping wish, in return, he had never been educated? — No. lo whatever trials and troubles one maybe exposed by education, however much it may render the feelings by cultivation more sensitive, and, consequently, more liable to be wounded, I believe none who ever possessed the prize would relinquish it. The utmost the young man ever ventured to retort, was the natural question — if his father could expect that education would not make some difference in him ?

" To be sure, I think it should make a differ. It should make you more knowledgable ; but, instead o' that, it's a fool it made o' you. And it should make you convarsible ; but, instead o' that, it's the devil a word you'll say to anybody, — thinkin' no one good enough to spake to you. And it should make you more 'cute in thrade, by rayson of fractions, and algibera, and the cube root ; and a betther marchant, by rayson of jogriphy, and a knowledge o' foreign parts, and the like o' that ; but it's thinkin', I am, you turn up your nose at a marchant, my young masther; and its po'thry, and pagan hist'hry, and panthenions you have crammed your numskull wid, till there's no room in it for common since, at all, at all. What is it you'd like to do wid yourself, I'd like to know ? I suppose you'd fancy an aisy life, and would like to be put 'prentice to a bishop — eh ? Or, maybe, it's a jintleman all out, you'd like to be? Well becomes you, indeed! — owld Corkery's son a jin'leman, and his owld friends laughin' at him ! "

If the son attempted to slip in an apologetic phrase, as " Indeed, sir !" — or, " Pon my word, father 1 " — he was silenced

* HE WOteD BE A GENTLEMAN.

directly with a "Whisht, whisht, I tell you! — howld your tongue — did'nt I see you lookin' at Miss Macnamara the other day ? Bad luck to you — how dar you lift your eyes to a Macnamara^— the owldest blood in the counthry ? The dirt on her shoes is too good for you, you puppy ! "

" Indeed, sir "

" Whist, I tell yoa ! — shut your face, and give your red rag a holiday — you're too fond o' waggin' it, so you are. The consayted dhrop's in you, I tell you. What am I to do wid you ? Thrade's not good enough for you ! How genteel we are, to be sure ! — your sarvant sir ! I suppose you'll want to turn prodistint next. You'll be of the ginteel religion, I go bail. I wouldn't wonder ! Faith, you'll go to the divil yit, Ned. Oh, wirra ! wirra ! "

The end of these frequent bickerings was, that Ned, to escape from his father's trade, his father's reproaches, and his father's friends, requested permission to go a voyage with the captain of a trading ship whom the old man chanced to know in the course of his business. This was not quite to the taste of either of the parties, — the father disliking it decidedly, the son only looking forward to it as a step to something else. The latter, by reading romantic scraps of sea voyages, got his imagination inflamed with the charms of nautical adventure. The former made a long calculation that a voyage in a trading ship was at least a step towards commerce, and hoped that when his son should be sufficiently tired of " sailoring," as he called it, he might settle down into a mercantile man.

Under these circumstances it was agreed between the parties, that three months should elapse before the decisive step should be taken, after which time, if Ned found he could not settle down to business at once, his father consented to let him try the sea. During these three months, therefore, Ned had more liberty and fewer reproaches than he had ever known in his life, — the father hoping, by such indulgence on his part, to make the shore more agreeable, and the sea less tempting ; and Ned was not slow to take advantage of this leave.

Among other amusements, Ned especially loved horse-racing ; and a forthcoming trial of strength between some of the best horses and most dashing bloods in the country promised rare sport, and set the pleasure-goers on the tip-toe of expectation. At the approaching races, one match beyond all others excited most interest, between two very celebrated horses to be ridden by their owners, both of sporting notoriety, but of very different characters, — the one being rather conceited and standoff in his manners, the other familiar and frank ; the former being satisfied of ids great attraction among the fair sex,— -the latter quite as anxious for, but not quite so sure of, their smues ; Mr. Daly being perfectly certain be had but to ask and have favours, while young Kirwan (or Kierawaun, as the admiring peasants called him) was grateful for as much as was granted. Tliey were both handsome, only that the good looks of the latter were increased by the expression of gay good humour that played on his sportive countenance, while the temper of the former often militated against more than his good looks.

On the day of the race in question the neighbouring town poured forth the sport-loving portion of its inhabitants, and the peasant population were, as usual, in great force on the race ground. As the hour of trial drew near, so did the ponderous carriages-and-four of the gentry, with the gay cavalcade of the rank and younger beauty of the neighbourhood, whose heavy saddles, studded with silver nails and ornamented with gold fringe, marked a distinction in rank which the plainer equestrian appointments of our time do not indicate. Amongst these beauties was the identical Miss Macnamara, to whose pretty face Ned had been accused by his indignant father of lifting his eyes, and may-be Ned was not there in time to catch the first glimpse of the graceful Amazon as she cantered up the course towards the group of carriages and glittering cavalcade that clustered round the winning post.

But ah! — fleeting is the triumph of beauty! — even the triumph achieved over the hearts of despairing burghers. Before Miss Macnamara had arrived, a newer and more commanding telle had displaced her in the heart of the susceptible Ned, who stood transfixed as he gazed on the face of a young and lovely girl whose beauty attracted universal attention, as she took up her place beside a stern-looking man of middle age, whose costume of somewhat heavier cut than that of the gentry surrounding, and bronzed visage, imparted a foreign air to his appearance. A servant, mounted on a stout horse, was in attendance upon them, and many questions passed amongst the assembled throng touching "who they were;" but no one knew. Ned took up the closest position he could maintain near them, and while he feasted his eyes on the unknown beauty, little dreamt of the damage he was doing to his heart all the time. — It was that sort of entrancement which woman alone can achieve, and which tongue or pen cannot tell, and those can only know who have felt ; therefore we shall say nothing about it, but leave it to the imagination or sympathy of the reader to guess or feel how Ned was suddenly enslaved.

A shout disturbed him from his trance ; — it was the appearance of the racers, who paced before the assemblage of the elite as they passed onwards towards the starting post. The usual bustle of the moment prevailed, — the admiration of the horses, the expression of hopes for one, and doubts of another, the excitement of betting, the watchfulness of the start ; and then, as the changes of the race round the plain were perceptible, the intenser interest of the brief struggle, till the last breathless moment of suspense, when the straining steeds, urged to their utmost energies, are seen coming up to the goal — the sod resounds beneath their rapid stroke — the thunder increases — the very earth trembles — they seem to fly ! — they are past ! ! — a shout rends the sky ! ! ! — the race is over.

Brief pleasure ! — not so the pain for those who have lost their money. Such were races then — as they are now — only they were somewhat honester.

That race being over, the most interesting contest of the day was next in succession. The company had not long to wait; — ■ a cheer announced the approach of Air. Daly, who, mounted on a splendid horse and exquisitely dressed, approached the principal group of spectators. He paraded up and down for some time, manifestly pleased to exhibit himself and his horse, and a furtive glance cast into the principal carriages betrayed his desire to know how much he was admired.

While he was thus amusing himself, a thundering shout, mingled with roars of laughter, disturbed his serenity, which was soon overcast oy an expression of the darkest anger as he saw the cause of the cheers and the merriment, which were provoked by the appearance of young Kirwan, cantering up towards the group of rank and beauty on a shaggy little pony without a saddle, while he himself was attired in a coarse frieze jacket, tied round his middle with a straw rope, while on his head, instead of a hunting cap, a peasant's caubeen, with a gad * for hatband, holding a dhudeen,f was rakishly stuck on one side. From under this hat Kirwan's sportive smiles displayed his white teeth, as he rode laughing up and down along the line of carriages, whence answering mirthful recognition was showered upon him, while his rival horseman could not conceal his rage at thus having his trim attire ridiculed as it were ; he approached Kirwan, and said with as much calmness as he could command,

" Do you mean this for a joke or an affront, Mr. Kirwan ?'*

" A joke, to be sure."

" It is a very bad one, then, sir."

" Sure an affront would be worse ?"

" It may be so," said the other, putting spurs to his horse, intending to gallop to the starting post ; but the horse, an ill-tempered animal, instead of obeying this summons as it was " A peeled osier twisted. f Stump of a pipa meant, plunged violently and engaged in an angry struggle with his rider, who finally conquered, however, and rode him to the post.

This was all Kirwan wanted ; — he knew the horse and rider were both ill-tempered, and his grotesque dress was assumed for the purpose of provoking the fury of the animal through the vanity of his master, and thus, with a horse of inferior power, but gentler nature, securing the winning of the race. After making a few jokes with the ladies, who were yet enjoying his absurd costume, he cantered his pony after his angry rival, and, on arriving at the starting post, alighted, and sprang into the saddle of the racer, which was there held in waiting for him. After some false starts, arising from the sulky horse of Mr. Daly, " Whip, spur, and away !" were successfully answered to, and off went the competitors. But the tussle between Daly and his steed were fatal to his hopes. — If there be a time when horse and man should, as the Mexicans imagined, be one animal, it is in the race; if they go not together, they go not at all. — For a time the race was contested, but the temper of Daly's horse, once roused, was irretrievable, and the brute, bolting at the last turn, Kirwan won in a canter.

The shouts of Kierawaun! Kierawaun ! ! were deafening, and Daly made the best of his way to the stables.

Immediately after this race, while Ned was bestowing his attention on the fair unknown, the gentleman with whom she rode addressed some words to her, and afterwards to their attendant, and she at once cantered off the course, followed by the servant, while he of the bronzed visage followed, in an opposite direction, in the wake of the crowd, which, as soon as the heat was over, rapidly cleared the course, and hurried to an adjoining field, where cock-fighting occupied the intervals between the races. The cock-pit was very simple in its construction— no regularly levelled platform for the combatants, nor inclined planes of seats for the spectators. The fairest portion of a pasture ground was taken ior the field of battle — a circle, marked by fresh-cut twigs stuck in the earth, around which gentle and simple crowded and got a sight oj. the sport as best they might, — the gentle mostly mounted, it is true, who thus overtopped their neighbouring pedestrians ; but often, as a late arrival on horseback placed the new comer beyond the point of view, he would dismount, and leaving his horse to the care of some gilly, push amongst the mass of the peasants, who made ready way as his presence declared him to be of the upper class, while, if " the handlers" within the ring caught sight of such a personage, they urged the populace to give place by strong representations of their unworthiness to see the sport before their betters.

" Back out o1 that, Dimpsy, I tell you ! — Is it stoppin' his honour o'Menlough you'd be ?"

Dimpsy made himself as small as possible, and the Blake came forward.

" Cock you up, Shaughnessy, and is it you 'ud see the cockfight afore the quality? — Make way for his honour, Misther Lynch."

Shaughnessy squeezed back, and Mr. Lynch pressed forward, while another handsomely dressed candidate for the front row followed in his wake.

The handlers shouted, " Way for his honour the honourable Misther Daly — hurra ! for Dunsandle !— way I bid ye !"

While such exclamations were ringing on every side, and the crowd swaying too and fro, Ned had obtained a foremost place amidst the bystanders around the ring, and observed, conspicuous amongst the horsemen, him of the foreign aspect.

His attention, however, was more forcibly arrested by the presence of a blind man, who struggled hard to keep a foremost place in the ring, and whose endeavours for such accommodation every one of the peasantry seemed willing to aid, while kindly expressions towards his pitiable state were mingled with merry allusions to the utter uselessness of one deprived of sight occupying a front rank to see the sport. But at the same time that this mingled pity and merriment went forward, there seemed to exist a degree of respect towards the man, quite at variance with pity or jesting, and difficult to account for, but for the leathern pouch at his side, whence some ivory-tipped tubes of box-wood protruded, and showed cause for the affectionate attention of the peasants. — He was a piper; and who, in the Land of Song, would not stand well with the minstrel? — one, ever prized in Ireland, through the most endearing associations, either as the traditional transmitter of ancient bardic effusions at the wake, the mirthful stimulator of nimble feet at the fair, the contributor to love or fun in musical plaint or planxty ; or, perchance, the exciter of sensations darker and more secret, by the outpouring of some significant strain which had hidden meaning in its phrases, and bore hope and triumph in its wild cadence.

All the influence arising from such causes Phaidrig-na-pib* held pre-eminently ; and "Stand fast, Phaidrig," and "I'm with you, Phaidrig," and " Hold by me, Phaidrig," were amongst the ejaculations which greeted the piper, as offers of assistance were

* Patrick of tjie Pipes.

made to him on all sides. The "dark"* man was pitied, though the blind witness of cockfighting might make food for mirth. But though he could not see, he took deep interest in the savage sport, and would bet on the fate of the battles, inquiring only who was the owner of the birds, and what their colours ; on knowing these, his knowledge of the various breeds of the cocks would decide him in backing the combatants, and mostly he was right in his selections.

The ring was now crowded to suffocation, and a movement between the handlers promised a commencement of the encounter, when a fresh commotion in the crowd indicated another struggler from the rear to the front. He was caught sight of by the officials within the ring, and " Room" was called for his honour Misther Bodkin ; but the serried mass seemed too compact to admit of another being. " Arrah, boys, is it keeping out Misther Bodkin you'd be ? '"'

" Faix, and if he was a needle instead of a bodkin, 'twould be hard for him to get in here,'' said Phaidrig.

" Sure, he's like a needle in one respect, any how," returned the handler — "he has an eye in him ; and as you have not, you might give him your place,, and stand behind."

" Sure, if I'm blind, that's a ray son I should have a front place," says Phaidrig, " as a man with eyes has a better chance of seeing."

The crowd paid the good natured tribute of a laugh to Phaidrig's pleasantry upon his own misfortune, and the handler sought another person to displace for his honour Misther Bodkin, who at length got into the front, and the battle began.

The usual hasty offers and acceptances of wagers on the contending birds rang in rapid succession among the mounted gentlemen in the crowd, and those who held the front standingplaces in the circle. It was the first time Ned had ever seen a cockfight, and his attention was distracted for a time between the fierce conflict of the birds and the sounds of triumph or dismay which followed the blows or the falls of either, and the bets which were offered or doubled in consequence; but all these gave place at last to observation of the blind man, whose excitement surpassed that of all others as the fight proceeded, and who appeared by his exclamations to know, as well as those who could see, the vicissitudes of the battle ; his sense of hearing seemed to give him the power of distinguishing between the strokes of the combatants, as an occasional exclamation of " Well done, red cock ! " sufficiently proved ; and the crow of each bird seemed as familiar to his ear as the voice of an acquaintance.

• A phrase applied to the bliuct

The fignt between the first pair of cocks was over, and a fresh pair produced : as they were brought into the ring, one of them challenged, and on hearing his bold clarion-like defiance, Phaidrig's countenance brightened, as he exclaimed, " That's the cock for winning — I know his shout — 'tis the Sarsfield breed."

" That is not the name I give the breed." said a handsome cavalier, of noble appearance, who was mounted on a splendid horse.

"But that is the breed, rny lord," said Phaidrig, nowise daunted by the voice of the nobleman; "sure I know it, egg and bird, for long ago — and what better name could a bowld breed have?"

Phaidrig's answer was relished by the crowd, who evinced their pleasure by a low, chuckling murmur, over which the voice oi the nobleman was heard rather reprovingly to the piper, telling him " his chanter* was too loud."

" Sure the noble Clanrickarde should be the last to turn a deaf ear to the name," retorted Phaidrig, " when one of the fair daughters of De Burgo was wife to the bold Sarsfield."

"Put down the cocks," said Lord Clanrickarde, anxious to terminate the parley.

As the birds were set opposite to each other, the strange cavalier exclaimed, " Five guineas on the black bird."

As the Pretender was known to be often designated in Ireland under the sobriquet of the "black bird," every eye was turned towards the stranger as he uttered the words, and angry glances, as well as those of admiration, were bent on him, — the angry ones openly, from the consciousness that those who gave them were backed by authority, — the others, timidly and furtively, as indicating an unlawful desire.

A stern horseman beside the stranger, in answer to his offered bet, said, " The black cock you mean."

"The black bird !" returned the stranger.

"The cock !" repeated his neighbour.

" A cock is a bird, sir, I believe," the stranger returned, coldly, and then repeated his bet, " Five guineas on the black bird!"

" Done !" said his stern neighbour, more influenced by the spirit of political opposition than cockfighting.

This altercation had so far operated on the handlers, that they paused in their duties, and the battle did not begin until the word "Done" had been uttered; then the birds were let loose, and rushed eagerly on each other.

* The principal pipe of the set.

HE WOULD BE A GENTLEMAN. H

An interest was imparted to the contest, beyond that '"f the mere sport, from the words by which it was preluded ; aiid the spectators saw in the two cocks the champions, as it were, of two parties ; and hopes and fears, almost superstitious, were attached to each stroke of the combatants, whose blows were exchanged fiercely and rapidly, for both the birds were high game. At last the black received a double stroke of his adversary's spurs, which brought him to the ground, and a cheer of triumph rose from the surrounding gentry, as the handlers rushed forward to disengage the birds.

"Two to one on the red!" cried several gentlemen, and another cheer arose on their part, while a breathless silence reigned amid the crowd of peasants, foremost amongst whom Phaidrig-ua-pib bent his head over the ring in the act of eager listening.

" 'Twas only a body blow, you say, " muttered Phaidrig to a neighbour.

" Yes," whispered the other.

"Then, no matter,'' said the piper; "he'll bide his time and hit his match in the head. I know the breed well — they always strike for the head."

The birds were again set in opposition. The black went in boldly, and made a vigorous dash at his enemy.

" Well done ! he's strong yet ! " muttered Phaidrig.

A bold bout now ensued between the birds ; their wings flapped fiercely against each other, and some ugly blows were exchanged, but it was evident that the double stroke the black had received was telling against him ; he bled profusely, and exhibited symptoms of weakness, yet still his courage failed not, and he continued to exchange blows, until another heavy stroke from the red brought him down, and a fresh shout of triumph rose from the gentlemen.

" Behold the fate oi your ' black bird' now, sir !" said he of the stern visage to the stranger.

" A battle is not lost till it is won, sir ! " was the answer.

A dead silence ensued, during which the handlers were counting time, for the victorious red cock, having disengaged himself, was left to tread the field in triumph, while his sable adversary lay drooping on the ground, which was stained with his life-blood.

For a few seconds, the red eyed his stricken foe, and stood as if on guard, in expectation of a fresh attack ; but when he saw his head gradually droop, he seemed at once to understand that so bold an adversary must be beaten, or he would return to the assault, and with an air of conquest he stepped proudly towards him, and tstanding right over hjm, flapped his wingd, and raising his head to its proudest height, he crowed his triumph over his fallen foe.