ABSTRACT
The sweet Lilly of Bannow! – I shall never forget the morning I first saw her. Her aunt – who does not know her aunt, Mrs. Cassidy? – her aunt is positively the most delightful person in the whole parish. She is now a very old woman, but so "knowing" that she settles all debateable points that arise among good and bad housewives, from Mrs. Connor of the Hill, down to "Polly the Cadger," as to the proper mode of making mead, potato-cakes, and stirabout; and always decides who are the best spinners and knitters in the county; nay, her opinion, given after long deliberation, established the superiority of the barrel, over the hand, churn. There is, however, one disputed matter in the neighbourhood, even to this day. Mrs. Cassidy (it is very extraordinary, but who is without some weakness?) – Mrs. Cassidy will have it that a Quern – an obsolete hand-mill of stone, still patronised by "the ancient Irish" – grinds wheat better than a mill, and produces finer flour; she, therefore, abuses all mills, both of wind and water, and persists in grinding her own corn, as well as in making her own bread. By-the-bye, this very Quern was in great danger some time ago, when an antiquary, who had hunted hill and dale seeking for Danish or Roman relics (I forget which, but it is of little consequence), pounced upon it, declared it was a stone bowl of great antiquity, and that Mrs. Cassidy's maiden name, "Maura O'Brien," carved on it in Irish characters, proved it to have been used, either by Dane or Roman, in some religious ceremony, or Bacchanalian rite, I cannot take it on myself to say which: – but this I know, that the old gendeman was obstinate; had been accustomed to give large sums for ugly things of every description, and thought that Mrs. Cassidy could be induced to yield up her favourite for three guineas. He never was more mistaken in his life; nothing could have tempted Mrs. Cassidy to part with her dear Quern; so he left the neighbourhood, almost heart-broken with disappointment.
