The Word on the Street
home | background | illustrations | distribution | highlights | search & browse | resources | contact us

Broadside entitled 'A Curious and Diverting Dialogue'

Transcription

A CURIOUS AND DIVERTING
DIALOGUE,

That took place betwixt two Irishmen in the Cowgate, last night, about the Dinner to be given to EARL GREY on Monday first.

Teague. ? Good morra, Pat, what sort of a harvest have you had?

Pat. ? Troth, very poorly, Teague, shure an? sartain I?m most as badly aff as when I left beyont, an? shure you know yourself times is but so so this while back, any how its rather betther than murtherin? ourselves for aitpence a day, as we had to do beyont, an?, God knows it?s not much that?s made aff the hank o? yarn.

Teague. ? Well, upon my shoul, they all think that Irishmen knows nothin?, and that there?s no mechanicks wid us at all at all, but they?re wrong for once; for tho? I say?t that should n?t say?t, I?m as good a mechanick as any in the town o? Aidinborro, for by the great toe of the holy St. Patrick, I can mix morthar, carry a hod, dig turf, or wheel bricks wid ever a boy in the town.

Pat. ? You may spake about mechanicks or what you like, but I can tell you that the people of Aidinborro has a great respect for me, an? they all knew when I was comin? to the town, bekase the children always keeps running after me, calling, ?When did you come over Pat?? ? And, Teague, about your cleverness, I?ll put you before ever a one in the whole town, and if it was goin? to that, you can box a little too, bekase I mind the right good basting you gave your father, about a mile from Tandaragee.

Teague. ? You may say that wid your own ugly mug, I didn?t miss him that day an? hit the wall: but, Pat, did you hear any thing of that great parade an? faist that?s going to take place in Aidinborro some of these days for Aril Grey an? the rest of the boys?

Pat. ? Troth, I just heard a whispering about it a bit ago; it?s but right they should give Aril Grey a dinner, when he past their Reform Bill. I believe Aril Grey?s the next man in Parliament to O?Connell. Isn?t O?Connell to be the head man at the dinner?

Teague. ? Faith in shoul! I don?t think O?Connell?s to be there at all, at all.

Pat. ? Isn?t he, by my shoul? Man dear, shure they couldn?t do without him. Shure wasn?t him, and nobody else, that passed the dirty bastard of a Reform Bill, an? not Aril Grey?

Teague. ? I don?t know how it is, but I?m sartain O?Connell?s not to be there, good or bad.

Pat. ? Don?t make a gommagh o? yourself, shure he must be there to spake. Bad luck to them, they?ve no right to any dinner at all. It would fit them better they would give us something to carry us over the dubb, than give it to Aril Grey.

Teague. ? You?re parfectly right: they ought just to strip them mother naked, an? sen? them home without a stitch o? clo?es, skulking all the way wid their hands in their trousers pockets. I don?t see any right they?ve to give Aril Grey any thing ? shure he?ll never be a man lek O?Connell.

Pat. ? Lek O?Connell! By the kneed breeches o? the holy St Patrick, never while there?s a hole in his a?e. Bad luck to Aril Grey, say I, and all the Greys about them, to say that he couldn?t do a bit jab, such as passing the ?Reform Bill,? without comin down all the way from London to get his bags stuffed for it. Devil drive it thro? him like dogs hunting sheep, but he has a purty stomach.

Teague. ? That?s it, Pat, you can?t say too much agin the dirty bast. By the god o? war, (an? that?s Moses) he wouldn?t take the Tythe aff o? ould Ireland for fear he wouldn?t get his rotten bags filled well enough. But wait a minit ? if O?Connell doesn?t put his toe in Aril Grey?s f?t-hole, when he meets him in Parlament, it?ll be quare to me.

Pat. ? May the curse o? the Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops and the Priests, (not forgetting O?Connell) be upon him, the ugly tief. He?ll be comin over to ould Ireland in a day or two, but in God spare me, I?ll be there before him; an? the w?e?s pup, I?ll throw a somerset thro? his ribs, an? make a thoroughfare for O?Connell an? the Irish Parlament. Bad luck to him, he ought to get his a?e kicked with every tenth foot.

[Printed for John Neil.

previous pageprevious          
Probable date published: 1832   shelfmark: L.C.Fol.74(259)
Broadside entitled 'A Curious and Diverting Dialogue'
View larger image

NLS home page   |   Digital gallery   |   Credits

National Library of Scotland © 2004

National Library of Scotland