so keep a firm heart. If you have money, as 'tis likely you have, don't
let a single rap of it into the hands of the schoolmaster, although the
first thing he'll do will be to bring you home to his own house, an'
palaver you night an' day, till he succeeds in persuading you to leave
it in his hands for security. You might, if not duly pre-admonished,
surrender it to his solicitations, for--

'Nemo mortalium omnibus horis sapit.'

Michael, what case is mortalium?" added he, suddenly addressing one of
the farmer's sons; "come, now, Michael, where's your brightness? What
case is mortalium?"

The boy was taken by surprise, and for a few minutes could not reply.

"Come man," said the father, "be sharp, spake out bravely, an' don't be
afraid; nor don't be in a hurry aither, we'll wait for you."

"Let him alone--let him alone," said Corcoran; "I'll face the same boy
agin the county for cuteness. If he doesn't expound that, I'll never
consthru a line of Latin, or Greek, or Masoretic, while I'm livin'."

His cunning master knew right well that the boy, who was only confused
at the suddenness of the question, would feel no difficulty in answering
it to his satisfaction. Indeed, it was impossible for him to miss it, as
he was then reading the seventh book of Virgil, and the fourth of Homer.
It is, however, a trick with such masters to put simple questions of
that nature to their pupils, when at the houses of their parents, as
knotty and difficult, and when they are answered, to assume an air of
astonishment at the profound reach of thought displayed by the pupil.