in his hand; on this
he cast his joke, saying, 'What would my poor father say to me if he was
to pop out of the grave, and see me now? I remember when I was a little
boy, the first bumper of claret he gave me after dinner, how he praised
me for carrying it so steady to my mouth. Here's my thanks to him--a
bumper toast.' Then he fell to singing the favourite song he learned
from his father--for the last time, poor gentleman--he sung it that
night as loud and as hearty as ever, with a chorus:

He that goes to bed, and goes to bed sober,
Falls as the leaves do, falls as the leaves do, and dies in
October;
'But he that goes to bed, and goes to bed mellow,
Lives as he ought to do, lives as he ought to do, and dies an
honest fellow.

Sir Patrick died that night: just as the company rose to drink his
health with three cheers, he fell down in a sort of fit, and was carried
off; they sat it out, and were surprised, on inquiry in the morning, to
find that it was all over with poor Sir Patrick. Never did any gentleman
live and die more beloved in the country by rich and poor. His funeral
was such a one as was never known before or since in the county! All
the gentlemen in the three counties were at it; far and near, how they
flocked! my great-grandfather said, that to see all the women, even in
their red cloaks, you would have taken them for the army drawn out. Then
such a fine whillaluh! [See GLOSSARY 3] you might have heard it to the
farthest end of the county, and happy the man who could get but a sight
of the hearse! But who'd have thought it? Just as all was going on
right, through his own town they were passing, when the body was seized
for debt--a rescue was apprehended from the mob; but the heir, who
attended the funeral, was against that, for fear of consequences, seeing
that those villains who came to serve acted under the disguise of the
law: so, to be sure, the law must take its course, and little gain had
the creditors for their pains. First and foremost, they had the curses
of the country: and Sir Murtagh Rackrent, the new heir, in the next
place, on account of this affront to the body, refused to pay a shilling
of the debts, in which he was countenanced by all the best gentlemen of
property, and others of his acquaintance; Sir Murtagh alleging in all
companies that he all along meant to pay his father's debts of honour,
but the moment the law was taken of him, there was an end of hon