y it is converted into orgies of unholy joy. When
an Irish man or woman of the lower order dies, the straw which composed
the bed, whether it has been contained in a bag to form a mattress, or
simply spread upon the earthen floor, is immediately taken out of the
house, and burned before the cabin door, the family at the same time
setting up the death howl. The ears and eyes of the neighbours being
thus alarmed, they flock to the house of the deceased, and by their
vociferous sympathy excite and at the same time soothe the sorrows of
the family.

It is curious to observe how good and bad are mingled in human
institutions. In countries which were thinly inhabited, this custom
prevented private attempts against the lives of individuals, and formed
a kind of coroner's inquest upon the body which had recently expired,
and burning the straw upon which the sick man lay became a simple
preservative against infection. At night the dead body is waked, that is
to say, all the friends and neighbours of the deceased collect in a barn
or stable, where the corpse is laid upon some boards, or an unhinged
door, supported upon stools, the face exposed, the rest of the
body covered with a white sheet. Round the body are stuck in brass
candlesticks, which have been borrowed perhaps at five miles' distance,
as many candles as the poor person can beg or borrow, observing always
to have an odd number. Pipes and tobacco are first distributed, and
then, according to the ABILITY of the deceased, cakes and ale, and
sometimes whisky, are DEALT to the company--

Deal on, deal on, my merry men all,
Deal on your cakes and your wine,
For whatever is dealt at her funeral to-day
Shall be dealt to-morrow at mine.

After a fit of universal sorrow, and the comfort of a universal dram,
the scandal of the neighbourhood, as in higher circles, occupies the
company. The young lads and lasses romp with one another, and when the
fathers and mothers are at last overcome with sleep and whisky (VINO
ET SOMNO), the youth become more enterprising, and are frequently
successful. It is said that more matches are made at wakes than at
weddings.

GLOSSARY 29. KILT.

--This word frequently occurs in the preceding pages, where it means not
KILLED, but much HURT. In Ireland, not only cowards, but the brave 'die
many times before their death.'--There KILLING IS NO MURDER.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Castle Rackrent, by Maria