'
'This,' says I, 'plase your hospitality, may be Paotolus, but the divil
a taste o' the proper sand is in the bottom of it.'
"The wit of this, you see, pleased him, and we got an excellent treat
in his _studium_, or study: for he was determined to give myself another
trial.
"'What's the wickedest line in Virgil?' said he.
"Now I had Virgil at my fingers' ends, so I answered him:
'Flectere si nequeo superos, Aeheronta movebo,'
"'Very good,' said he, 'you have the genius, and will come to somethin'
yet: now tell me the most moral line in Virgil.'
"I answered:
'Discere justitiam moniti et non temnere divos.' *
* He is evidently drawing the long-bow here; this
anecdote has been told before.
"'Depend upon it,' said he, 'you will be a luminary. The morning star
will be but a farthing candle to you; and if you take in the learning as
you do the cheese, in a short time there won't be a man in Munsther
fit to teach you,' and he laughed, for you see he had a tendency to
jocosity.
"He did not give me up here, however, being determined to go deeper wid
me.
"'Can you translate a newspaper into Latin prose?' said he.
"Now the divil a one o' me was just then sure about the prose, so I was
goin' to tell him; but before I had time to speak, he thrust the paper
into my hand, and desired me to thranslate half-a-dozen barbarous
advertisements.
"The first that met me was about a reward offered for a Newfoundland dog
and a terrier, that had been stolen from a fishing-tackle manufacturer,
and then came a list of his shabby merchandise, ending with a
long-winded encomium upon his gunpowder, shot, and double-barrelled
guns.
Pages:
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66