t there's a great dale to be said for Mat
Purcel. To be sure he skrewed the last fardin' out of uz, but where was
there ever a tithe-procthor that didn't do the same thing? An' sure if
he tuck as much as he could from huz, an' gev as little as he could to
the parson, wasn't it all so much the betther? Wasn't it weakenin' their
fat church and fattening our weak on'?--where's the honest Catholic
could say a word aginst that? To be sure, we all know that, by his
knowledge of farmin', and all the ins and outs of our little tillage,
he contrived, one way or other, to take about the fifth of our little
produce; but then if he did, didn't he say it was all by way of
friendship an' indulgence to us? Sure didn't himself tell us that only
he pitied us an' felt for us, he'd a' been ten times harsher than he
was, an' so he would, be coorse, an' 'tis thankful we have a right to
be, an' not grumblin' at all at all.

"I hould half a dozen could an' miserable acres, an' about three weeks
ago, he tuck about one-fourth of the whole produce, owin' to citations
to the bishop's coorts, an' a long string o' costs jined to the tithe
itself--bad luck to it!--an' didn't he prove to me that he let me
off for a song, an' was the best-hearted procthor that ever strewed a
defaulther? Well, an' isn't every small farmer, that doesn't wish to go
law, or isn't able to right himself, as well off as I am--glory be to
God! I declare, thin, I don't see why we should be angry wid so kind an'
merciful a man.

"Thin, again, it made a man religious, an' was aiquil to goin' to one's
duty, to go to ax time or indulgence from his sons. It isn't a clear
case that you'd get the indulgence, but it is a clear case that you wor
sure to get a horsewhippin'. Now, you know a horse-whippin' 'ud make a
man repint goin' to him, an' when a man's in a repintin' state, he may
as well repint for whatever sins he has committed, while his hand's in.

"Altogether, thin, my lard an' gintlemin o' the jury, I think it's clear
that Purcel an' his sons is a great benefit to the counthry about us,
an' that they ought to be acquitted, especially as it's likely that they
have more processes to sarve, more auctions to hould an' may be, more
widow's sons to take on the hands of their poor strugglin' motherss
the crathurs, that's badly able to support them; and anyhow, nobody can
blame a man'll that opens the gates of heaven for his fellow creature's
sowl, and sends him there.

"I hope,