Sassenach came, and signs on it,
The devil an acre have we.

The least of us then were all earls,
And jewels we wore without name;
We drank punch out of rubies and pearls,--
Mr. Petrie can tell you the same.
But except some turf mould and potatoes,
There's nothing our own we can call;
And the English,--bad luck to them!--hate us,
Because we've more fun than them all!

My grand-aunt was niece to Saint Kevin,
That's the reason my name's Mickey Free!
Priest's nieces,--but sure he's in heaven,
And his failins is nothin' to me.
And we still might get on without doctors,
If they'd let the ould Island alone;
And if purple-men, priests, and tithe-proctors
Were crammed down the great gun of Athlone.

[Illustration: MR. FREE'S SONG.]

As Mike's melody proceeded, the major's thorough bass waxed beautifully
less,--now and then, it's true, roused by some momentary strain, it swelled
upwards in full chorus, but gradually these passing flights grew rarer, and
finally all ceased, save a long, low, droning sound, like the expiring sigh
of a wearied bagpipe. His fingers still continued mechanically to beat time
upon the table, and still his head nodded sympathetically to the music;
his eyelids closed in sleep; and as the last verse concluded, a full-drawn
snore announced that Monsoon, if not in the land of dreams, was at least in
a happy oblivion of all terrestrial concerns, and caring as little for the
woes of green Erin and the altered fortunes of the Free family as any Saxon
that ever oppressed them.

There he sat, the finished decanter and empty goblet testifying that his
labors had only ceased from the pressure of necessity; but the broken,
half-uttered words that fell from his lips evinced that he reposed on the
last bottle of the series.

"Oh, thin, he's a fine ould gentleman!" said Mike, after a pause of some
minutes, during which he had been contemplating the major with all the
critical acumen Chantrey or Canova would have bestowed upon an antique
statue,--"a fine ould gentleman, every inch of him; and it's the master
would like to have him up at the Castle."

"Quite true, Mike; but let us not forget the road. Look to the cattle, and
be ready to start within an hour."

When he left the room for this purpose I endeavored to shake the major into
momentary consciousness ere we parted.

"Major, Major," said I, "time is up. I must