Here, Paddy Sparable," he
added, rising up--"here, you nailroad, assume my office, and rule
the establishment till I return; and, mark me, as the son of a nailer,
sirra, I expect that you will rule them with a rod of iron--ha! ha! ha!"
"Ay, but Paddy Pancake's here to-day, sir, an' he's able to welt me; so
that's it's only leathered I'd get, sir, i' you plase."
"But have you no officers? Call in aid, I ordher you. Can't you make
Sam Scaddhan and Phiddher Mackleswig there two policeman get Pancake
down--flatten him--if he prove contumacious during my absence. Pancake,
mark me, obedience is your cue, or, if not, the castigator here is your
alternative; there it is, freshly cut--ripe and ready--and you are not
to be told, at this time o' day, what portion of your corpus will catch
it. Whish-h-h!--silence! I say. How do you do, Mr. Burke? I am proud of
a visit from you, sir; perhaps you would light down and examine a class.
My Greeks are all absent to-day; but I have a beautiful class o' Romans
in the Fourth Book of Virgil--immortal Maro. Do try them, Mr. Hycy; if
they don't do Dido's death in a truly congenial spirit I am no classic.
Of one thing I can assure you, that they ought; for I pledge my
reputation it is not the first time I've made them practice the Irish
cry over it. This, however, was but natural; for it is now well known to
the learned that, if Dido herself was not a fair Hibernian, she at least
spoke excellent Irish.
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