Charles OMalley, vol 1 | Page 9

silence. Harry looked again around
on every side, wondering where was the hot water, and what had
become of the whiskey bottle, and above all, why the company were so
extremely dull and ungenial. At length, with a half-shake, he roused up
a little, and giving a look of unequivocal contempt on every side, called
out, 'Upon my soul, you're pleasant companions; but I'll give you a
chant to enliven you!' So saying, he cleared his throat with a couple of
short coughs, and struck up, with the voice of a Stentor, the following
verse of a popular ballad:--
'And they nibbled away, both night and day, Like mice in a round of
Glo'ster; Great rogues they were all, both great and small, From Flood
to Leslie Foster. Great rogues all.
Chorus, boys!' If he was not joined by the voices of his friends in the
song, it was probably because such a roar of laughing never was heard
since the walls were roofed over. The whole House rose in a mass, and
my friend Harry was hurried over the benches by the sergeant-at-arms,
and left for three weeks in Newgate to practise his melody."
"All true," said Sir Harry; "and worse luck to them for not liking music.

But come, now, will this do? 'It is our melancholy duty to announce the
death of Godfrey O'Malley, Esq., late member for the county of
Galway, which took place on Friday evening, at Daly's Club-House.
This esteemed gentleman's family--one of the oldest in Ireland, and
among whom it was hereditary not to have any children--'"
Here a burst of laughter from Considine and O'Malley interrupted the
reader, who with the greatest difficulty could be persuaded that he was
again bulling it.
"The devil fly away with it," said he; "I'll never succeed."
"Never mind," said O'Malley, "the first part will do admirably; and let
us now turn our attention to other matters."
A fresh magnum was called for, and over its inspiring contents all the
details of the funeral were planned; and as the clock struck four the
party separated for the night, well satisfied with the result of their
labors.
CHAPTER II.
THE ESCAPE.
When the dissolution of Parliament was announced the following
morning in Dublin, its interest in certain circles was manifestly
increased by the fact that Godfrey O'Malley was at last open to arrest;
for as in olden times certain gifted individuals possessed some happy
immunity against death by fire or sword, so the worthy O'Malley
seemed to enjoy a no less valuable privilege, and for many a year had
passed among the myrmidons of the law as writ-proof. Now, however,
the charm seemed to have yielded; and pretty much with the same
feeling as a storming party may be supposed to experience on the day
that a breach is reported as practicable, did the honest attorneys
retained in the various suits against him rally round each other that
morning in the Four Courts.
Bonds, mortgages, post-obits, promissory notes--in fact, every

imaginable species of invention for raising the O'Malley exchequer for
the preceding thirty years--were handed about on all sides, suggesting
to the mind of an uninterested observer the notion that had the aforesaid
O'Malley been an independent and absolute monarch, instead of merely
being the member for Galway, the kingdom over whose destinies he
had been called to preside would have suffered not a little from a
depreciated currency and an extravagant issue of paper. Be that as it
might, one thing was clear,--the whole estates of the family could not
possibly pay one fourth of the debt; and the only question was one
which occasionally arises at a scanty dinner on a mail-coach road,--who
was to be the lucky individual to carve the joint, where so many were
sure to go off hungry?
It was now a trial of address between these various and highly gifted
gentlemen who should first pounce upon the victim; and when the skill
of their caste is taken into consideration, who will doubt that every
feasible expedient for securing him was resorted to? While writs were
struck against him in Dublin, emissaries were despatched to the various
surrounding counties to procure others in the event of his escape. Ne
exeats were sworn, and water-bailiffs engaged to follow him on the
high seas; and as the great Nassau balloon did not exist in those days,
no imaginable mode of escape appeared possible, and bets were offered
at long odds that within twenty-four hours the late member would be
enjoying his otium cum dignitate in his Majesty's jail of Newgate.
Expectation was at the highest, confidence hourly increasing, success
all but certain, when in the midst of all this high-bounding hope the
dreadful rumor spread that O'Malley was no more. One had seen it just