Part 14 (1/2)

O holy Spirit! thou whom my dear lover Has taught me to adore and think most merciful, Wing with thy lightning's speed my flying feet!

[_Music. Exit PRINCESS._

SCENE III. _Near Jamestown._

_Enter LARRY, and KATE as a page._

LARRY. Nine s.h.i.+ps, five hundred men, and a lord governor! Och! St.

Patrick's blessing be upon them; they'll make this land flow with b.u.t.termilk like green Erin. What say you, master page, isn't this a nice neat patch to plant potatoes--I mean, to plant a nation in?

KATE. There's but one better.

LARRY. And which might that be?

KATE. E'en little green Erin that you spoke of.

LARRY. And were you ever--och, give me your fist--were you ever in Ireland?

KATE. It's there I was born--

LARRY. I saw its bloom on your cheek.

KATE. And bred.

LARRY. I saw it in your manners.

KATE. Oh, your servant, sir. [_Bows._] And there, too, I fell in love.

LARRY. And, by the powers, so did I; and if a man don't fall into one of the beautiful bogs that Cupid has digged there, faith he may stand without tumbling, though he runs over all the world beside. Och, the creatures, I can see them now--

KATE. Such sparkling eyes--

LARRY. Rosy cheeks--

KATE. Pouting lips--

LARRY. Tinder hearts! Och, sweet Ireland!

KATE. Aye, it was there that I fixed my affections after all my wanderings.

_Song._--KATE.

Young Edward, through many a distant place, Had wandering pa.s.s'd, a thoughtless ranger; And, cheer'd by a smile from beauty's face, Had laugh'd at the frowning face of danger.

Fearless Ned, Careless Ned, Never with foreign dames was a stranger; And huff, Bluff, He laugh'd at the frowning face of danger.

But journeying on to his native place, Through Ballinamone pa.s.s'd the stranger; Where, fix'd by the charms of Katy's face, He swore he'd no longer be a ranger, Pretty Kate, Witty Kate, Vow'd that no time could ever change her; And kiss, Bliss-- O, she hugg'd to her heart the welcome stranger.

LARRY. How's that? Ballinamone, Kate, did you say, Kate?