myself under great obligations to you, Murtagh; it was you who instructed me in the language of Oilein nan Naomha, which has been the foundation of all my acquisitions in philology; without you, I should not have been what I am—­Lavengro! which signifies a philologist.  Here is the money, Murtagh,” said I, putting my hand into my pocket, and taking out five pounds, “much good may it do you.”  He took the money, stared at it, and then at me—­“And you mane to give me this, Shorsha?” “It is no longer mine to give,” said I; “it is yours.”  “And you give it me for the gratitude you bear me?” “Yes, " said I, “and for Dungarvon times of old.”  “Well, Shorsha,” said he, “you are a broth of a boy, and I’ll take your benefaction—­five pounds! och, Jasus!” He then put the money in his pocket, and springing up, waved his hat three times, uttering some old Irish cry; then, sitting down, he took my hand, and said, “Sure, Shorsha, I’ll be going thither; and when I get there, it is turning over another leaf I will be; I have learnt a thing or two abroad; I will become a priest; that’s the trade, Shorsha! and I will cry out for repale; that’s the cry, Shorsha! and I’ll be a fool no longer.”  “And what will you do with your table?” said I. “’Faith, I’ll be taking it with me, Shorsha; and when I gets to Ireland, I’ll get it mended, and I will keep it in the house which I shall have; and when I looks upon it, I will be thinking of all I have undergone.”  “You had better leave it behind you,” said I; “if you take it with you, you will, perhaps, take up the thimble trade again before you get to Ireland, and lose the money I am after giving you.”  “No fear of that, Shorsha; never will I play on that table again, Shorsha, till I get it mended, which shall not be till I am a priest, and have a house in which to place it.”

Murtagh and I then went into the town, where we had some refreshment together, and then parted on our several ways.  I heard nothing of him for nearly a quarter of a century, when a person who knew him well, coming from Ireland, and staying at my humble house, told me a great deal about him.  He reached Ireland in safety, soon reconciled himself with his Church, and was ordained a priest; in the priestly office he acquitted himself in a way very satisfactory, upon the whole, to his superiors, having, as he frequently said, learned wisdom abroad.  The Popish Church never fails to turn to account any particular gift which its servants may possess; and discovering soon that Murtagh was endowed with considerable manual dexterity—­proof of which he frequently gave at cards, and at a singular game which he occasionally played at thimbles—­it selected him as a very fit person to play the part of exorcist; and accordingly he travelled through a great part of Ireland, casting out devils from people possessed, which he afterwards exhibited, sometimes in the shape of rabbits, and occasionally birds and fishes.  There is a holy island in a lake in Ireland, to which the people