Lady
Clonbrony had assured him that, the last time she had been at the
drawing-room at the Castle, a lady, whom she afterwards found to be a
grocer's wife, had turned angrily when her ladyship had accidentally
trodden on her train, and had exclaimed with a strong brogue, 'I'll
thank you, ma'am, for the rest of my tail.'
Sir James Brooke, to whom Lord Colambre, without GIVING UP HIS
AUTHORITY, mentioned the fact, declared that he had no doubt the thing
had happened precisely as it was stated; but that this was one of the
extraordinary cases which ought not to pass into a general rule--that it
was a slight instance of that influence of temporary causes, from which
no conclusions, as to national manners, should be drawn.
'I happened,' continued Sir James, 'to be quartered in Dublin soon after
the Union took place; and I remember the great but transient change that
appeared. From the removal of both Houses of Parliament, most of the
nobility, and many of the principal families among the Irish commoners,
either hurried in high hopes to London, or retired disgusted and in
despair to their houses in the country. Immediately, in Dublin, commerce
rose into the vacated seats of rank; wealth rose into the place of
birth.
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