er, a fat little monk with
spectacles, began the following ditty, in which all the rest joined,
with every energy of voice and manner:--

I

'When St. Patrick our order created,
And called us the Monks of the Screw,
Good rules he revealed to our abbot
To guide us in what we should do.

II

'But first he replenished his fountain
With liquor the best in the sky,
And he swore by the word of his saintship
That fountain should never run dry.

III

'My children, be chaste, till you 're tempted;
While sober, be wise and discreet;
And humble your bodies with fasting
Whene'er you 've nothing to eat.

IV

'Then be not a glass in the convent,
Except on a festival, found;
And this rule to enforce, I ordain it
A festival all the year round.'

A hip, hip, hurrah! that made the very saint totter on his legs, shook
the room; and once more the reverend fathers reseated themselves to
resume their labours.

Again the conversation flowed cm in its broader channel; and scarcely
was the laughter caused by one anecdote at an end when another
succeeded, the strangest feature of all this being that he who related
the story was, in almost every instance, less the source of amusement
to the party than they who, listening to the recital, threw a hundred
varied lights upon it, making even the tamest imaginable adventure the
origin of innumerable ludicrous situations and absurd fancies. Besides
all this, there were characteristic differences in the powers of
the party, which deprived the display of any trace or appearance of
sameness: the epigrammatic terseness and nicety of Curran; the jovial
good-humour and mellow raciness of Lawrence Parsons; the happy facility
of converting all before him into a pun or a repartee, so eminently
possessed by Toler; and, perhaps more striking than all, the caustic
irony and piercing sarcasm of Plunket's wit--relieved and displayed one
another, each man's talent having only so much of rivalry as to excite
opposition and give interest to the combat, yet never by any accident
originating a particle of animosity, or even eliciting a shade of
passing irritation.

With what pleasure could I continue to recount the stories, the songs,
the sayings, I listened to! With what satisfaction do I yet look back
upon that brilliant scene, nearly all the actors in which have since
risen to high rank and eminenc