ht home* that day, and, on the
Thursday night after, I, my father, uncle, and several other friends,
went there and made the match. She had sixty guineas, that her
grandfather left her, thirteen head of cattle, two feather- and two
chaff-beds, with sheeting, quilts, and blankets; three pieces of
bleached linen, and a flock of geese of her own rearing--upon the whole,
among ourselves, it wasn't aisy to get such a fortune.

* One-half, at least, of the marriages in a great portion of
Ireland are effected in this manner. They are termed
"runaway matches," and are attended with no disgrace. When
the parents of the girl come to understand that she has
"gone off," they bring her home in a day or two; the friends
of the parties then meet, and the arrangements for the
marriage are made as described in the tale.

"Well, the match was made, and the wedding day appointed; but there was
one thing still to be managed, and that was how to get over _standing_
at mass on Sunday, to make satisfaction for the scandal we gave the
church by running away with one another--but that's all stuff, for who
cares a pin about standing, when three halves of the parish are married
in the same way! The only thing that vexed me was, that it would keep
back the wedding-day. However, her father and my uncle went to the
priest, and spoke to him, trying, of coorse, to get us off it, but
he knew we were fat geese, and was in for giving us a plucking.--Hut,
tut!--he wouldn't hear of it at all, not he; for although he would ride
fifty miles to sarve either of us, he couldn't break the new orders
that he had got only a few days before that from the bishop. No; we must
_stand_*--for it would be setting a bad example to the parish; and if
he would let us pass, how could he punish the rest of his flock, when
they'd be guilty of the same thing?

* Matches made in this manner are discountenanced by the
Roman Catholic clergy, as being liable to abuse; and, for
this reason, the parties, by way of punishment, are
sometimes, but not always, made to stand up at mass for one
or three Sundays; but, as Shane expresses it, the punishment
is so common that it completely loses its effect. To
"stand," in the sense meant here, is this: the priest, when
the whole congregation are on their knees, calls the young
man and woman by name, who stand up and remain under the
gaze of the congregatio