us--that is to say, when he rasped the fiddle with a desperate
effort "to overtake the dancers," from whom, in the heat of the
conversation, he had unwittingly lagged behind.

Dancing in Ireland, like everything else connected with the amusement of
the people, is frequently productive of bloodshed. It is not unusual for
crack dancers from opposite parishes, or from distant parts of the same
parish, to meet and dance against each other for victory. But as the
judges in those cases consist of the respective friends or factions of
the champions, their mode of decision may readily be conjectured. Many
a battle is fought in consequence of such challenges, the result usually
being that not he who has the lightest heel, but the hardest head,
generally comes off the conqueror.

While the usual variety of Irish dances--the reel, jig, fling,
three-part-reel, four-part-reel, rowly-powly, country-dance, cotillion,
or cut-along (as the peasantry call it), and minuet, vulgarly minion,
and minionet--were going forward in due rotation, our readers may be
assured that those who were seated around the walls did not permit the
time to pass without improving it. Many an attachment is formed at
such amusements, and many a bitter jealousy is excited: the prude and
coquette, the fop and rustic Lothario, stand out here as prominently
to the eye of him who is acquainted with human nature, as they do in
similar assemblies among the great: perhaps more so, as there is less
art, and a more limited knowledge of intrigue, to conceal their natural
character.

The dance in Ireland usually commences with those who sit next the door,
from whence it goes round with the sun. In this manner it circulates two
or three times, after which the order is generally departed from, and
they dance according as they can. This neglect of the established rule
is also a fertile source of discord; for when two persons rise at the
same time, if there be not room for both, the right of dancing first is
often decided by blows.

At the dance we are describing, however, there was no dissension; every
heart appeared to be not only elated with mirth, but also free from
resentment and jealousy. The din produced by the thumping of vigorous
feet upon the floor, the noise of the fiddle, the chat between Barny and
the little sober knot about him, together with the brisk murmur of the
general conversation, and the expression of delight which sat on every
countenance, had somethin