which humanity might be justly proud, do the
lower orders of the Irish possess, if raised and cultivated by an
enlightened education! Pardon me, gentle reader, for this momentary
ebullition; I grant I am a little dark now. I assure you, however, the
tear of enthusiastic admiration is warm on my eye-lids, when I remember
the flitches of bacon, the sacks of potatoes, the bags of meal, the
miscowns of butter, and the dishes of eggs--not omitting crate after
crate of turf which came in such rapid succession to Mat Kavanagh,
during the first week on which he opened his school. Ay, and many a
bottle of stout poteen, when

"The eye of the gauger saw it not,"

was, with a sly, good-humored wink, handed over to Mat, or Nancy, no
matter which, from under the comfortable drab jock, with velvet-covered
collar, erect about the honest, ruddy face of a warm, smiling farmer,
or even the tattered frieze of a poor laborer--anxious to secure
the attention of the "masther" to his little "Shoneen," whom, in the
extravagance of his ambition, he destined to "wear the robes as a
clargy." Let no man say, I repeat, that the Irish are not fond of
education.

In the course of a month Mat's school was full to the door posts, for,
in fact, he had the parish to himself--many attending from a distance
of three, four, and five miles. His merits, however, were believed to
be great, and his character for learning stood high, though unjustly
so: for a more superficial, and at the same time, a more presuming
dunce never existed; but his character alone could secure him a good
attendance; he, therefore, belied the unfavorable prejudices against
the Findramore folk, which had gone abroad, and was a proof, in his own
person, that the reason of the former schoolmasters' miscarriage lay in
the belief of their incapacity which existed among the people. But Mat
was one of those showy, shallow fellows, who did not lack for assurance.

The first step a hedge schoolmaster took, on establishing himself in
a school, was to write out, in his best copperplate hand, a flaming
advertisement, detailing, at full length, the several branches he
professed himself capable of teaching. I have seen many of these--as who
that is acquainted with Ireland has not?--and, beyond all doubt, if
the persons that issued them were acquainted with the various
heads recapitulated, they must have been buried in the most profound
obscurity, as no man but a walking Encyclopaedia--an admirab