Legendary fictions of the Irish Celts

1 68 Fictions of the Irish Celts.
panions. The heady liquors soon got into their lorains,
and a period of unconsciousness succeeded the ecstacy,
the head-ache, the turning round of the barrels, and the
"scattered sight" of poor Shemus. He woke up under
the impression of being roughly seized, and shaken, and
dragged up-stairs, and subjected to a disagreeable examination
by the lord of the castle, in his state parlour.
There was much derision and laughter among the whole
company, gentle and simple, on hearing Shemus's explanation
; and as the thing occurred in the dark ages,
the unlucky Leinster-man was sentenced to be hung as
soon as the gallows could be prepared for the occasion.
The poor Hibernian was in the cart proceeding on his
last journey, with a label upon his back, and another on
his breast, announcing him as the remorseless villain who
for the last month had been draining the casks in my
lord's vault everj- night. He was striving to say a prayer,
when he was surprised to hear himself addressed by his
name, and in his native tongue, by an old woman in the
crowd. " Ach, Shemus, alanna ! is it going to die you
are in a strange place, without your cappeen dearg T^
These words infused hope and courage into the victim's
heart. He turned to the lord, and humbly asked leave
to die in his red cap, which he supposed had dropped
from his head in the vault. A servant was sent for the
head-piece, and Shemus felt lively hope warming his
heart while placing it on his head. On the platform he
w'as graciously allowed to address the spectators, which
he proceeded to do in the usual formula composed for
the benefit of flying stationers :— " Good people all, a
warning take by me;" but when he had finished the
line, " My parients rared me tenderly," he unexpectedly
added— " By yarrow and rue," &c. and the disappointed
spectators saw him shoot up obliquely through the air
in the style of a sky-rocket that had missed its aim. It
is said that the lord took the circumstance much to
heart, and never afterwards hung a man for twenty-four
hours after his offence.