The
ordinary business of his life, however, was riding about the country,
and especially into the town of Ballymacan and home again. He was also a
regular attendant in all the neighboring fairs; and we may safely assert
that no race in the province ever came off without him.
On the second day after his interview with Teddy Phats and the Hogans,
he was riding past the post-office, when he heard the window tapped,
and, on approaching, a letter was handed out to him, which on opening he
found to contain the following communication:--
"Worthy Mr. Hyacinthus--
"A friend unknown to you, but not altogether so to fame, and one.
whom no display of the subtlest ingenuity on behalf of your acute and
sagacious intellect could ever decypher through the medium of this
epistle, begs to convey to you a valuable portion of anonymous
information. When he says that he is not unknown to fame, the assertion,
as far as it goes, is pregnant wid veracity. Mark that I say, as far
as it goes, by which is meant the assertion as well as the fame of your
friend, the inditer of this significant epistle. Forty-eight square
miles of good sound fame your not inerudite correspondent can
conscientiously lay claim to; and although there is, with regret I admit
it, a considerable portion of the square superficies alluded to, waste
and uncultivated moor, yet I can say, wid that racy touch of genial and
expressive pride which distinguishes men of letters in general, that the
other portions of this fine district are inhabited by a multitudinity
of population in the highest degree creditable to the prolific powers
of the climate.
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