they came to Breffny, and they saw smoke from a chimney, and they
surrounded the house and went into it. And what they saw was a skeleton
over the fire roasting, and the people of the house picking flesh off it
with the bits of a hook. And when they saw that, they left them there.
It was a Clare man that burned Connacht so bare; he was worse than
Cromwell, and he made a great slaughter in the house of God at Clonmel.
The people have it against his family yet, and against the whole County
of Clare."


A WORSE THAN CROMWELL

"Cromwell was very bad, but the drink is worse. For a good many that
Cromwell killed should go to heaven, but those that are drunken never
see heaven. And as to drink, a man that takes the first glass is as
quiet and as merry as a pet lamb; and after the second glass he is as
knacky as a monkey; and after the third glass he is as ready for battle
as a lion; and after the fourth glass he is like a swine as he is. 'I am
thirsty' [IRISH: Ta Tart Orm], that was one of our Lord's seven words on
the Cross, where he was dry. And a man far off would have given him
drink; but there was a drunkard at the foot of the Cross, and he
prevented him."


THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM

"That was a great slaughter at Aughrim. St. Ruth wanted to do all
himself, he being a foreigner. He gave no plan of the battle to
Sarsfield, but a written command to stop where he was, and Sarsfield
knew no more than yourself or myself in the evening before it happened.