Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-07-08
lSOUND In VITUPERATION.
Daniel o. ConneIrs Spat with Mr.
RTnrfarfV

the advocate be displayed. He showed re-
search and perfect mastery of bisprofession,
and be exhibited his own great and innate
qualities.sa - .a,aa .,s -
| Who that ever beheld him on the Nun
ster Circuit, when Re was in the height oi
his fame, but must have admired his prodi-
gious versatility of formidable powers. His
pathos was often admirable; his hnmor
flowed without effort of art. What jokes
he uttered-what sarcasms! How well he
worked his case through, never throwing
away chance, never relaxing his untirin G
| energies.
One of the drollest scenes of Vituperatisn
that O'Conneu ever figured in took pl ce in
the early part Of his life. Not long after be
was called to the bar, his cha acter and pc
culiar talents received rapid recognition
| from all who were eve casually acquaint-
ed with him. His talent for vituperative
language was perceived, and by some he
was, even in those days, considered match
| less as scold. J
There was, however, at that time in Dab
| lin certain woman, Biddy Moriarty, who
had huckster's stall on one of the qnays
nearly opposite the Four Courts. She
was a virsgo of the first order, very able
! with her fists, and still more formidable
I with ber tongue. From one end of Dub
hi TO the other she was notorious for her
| powers of abuse, and even In the provinces
Mrs. Morisrty's language passed into cur
| rency.
The dictionary OF Dublin slang had been
considerably enlarged by Der, and her vol
uble impudence had almost become pro-
verbal Some of O'Connell's friends, how
ever, thought be could beat her in the use
of her own weapons. Of this, howeve', he
himself had some doubts, whsn be had lis
tened once or twice 10 some minor speci
mems of Billingsgate.
1t was mooted once whether the young
Kerry barrister, could encounter her, and
some one Of the company Gn O'Connelrs
preseEce) rather too freely ridiculed the idea
of his beiug able to meet the famous Mad
ame Moriarty.
OiConnel never liked the idea Of being
put down and he professed his readiness to
encounter her, and even backed himself for
the match. Bets were offered, and taken,
and it was decided that the match should
come off at once.
The party adjourned 10 the huckster's
stall, and there VS. the owner herself,
experimenting the sales of her small wares.
A few loungeTs and ragged idlers were
hanging round her sail, for Biddy was
character" and, in her way, was one Of
the sights of Dublin.
O'ConDell was very confident Of success.
He had laid an ingenious plan for over
coming ber, and with all the anxiety of an
ardent experimentalist, waited to put it
into practice. He resolved to open the at
tack. At this time, O'ConneI's Cwn party
and the loungers about the place, formed an
audience quite sufficient to rouse Mrs.
Moriarty, on public provocatiOn, to due
exhibition Of her powers. O'Connell COM
meDced the attack:
"What's the price of this walking stick,
Mrs. Whats-your-nsme"
"Moriarty, sir, is my name, and good
one it is; and what have you got to say
agen il? and cne-snd-sixpence's the price
cf the stick. Troth, it's cheap as dirt-so
l. is"
"One and sixpence for walking stick;
whew! why, you are no better than an i'm
poster, to ask eightpence for what costs you
twopence.
"Twoperc9 your grandmother" replied
Biddy; "do you mean to say i5, cheating
the people l am? ImpOster, indeed"
"Aye, impOster; and its that L call you 10
your teeth" rei0ined O'Connen.
"Come, cut your stick, you cantsnker-
Gus iackanapes."
"Keep a civil tongue in your head, you
old diagonal!' cried O'Connel, calmly.
"Stop your jaw, you pug-nosed badger;
or 6y this and that" cried Mrs. MoriartY,
showing her fists, ''I'll make you go quicker
nur you come"
"Don't be in g passion, my old radius
anger will only wrinkle your beauty"
"By the hokey, if you say another word
of impudsnce, I'll tan your dir y hide, you
has ely common scrup; and sorry I'd be to
sod my fists on your carcass"
"Whew, boys, what passion old Biddy
is in! | protest as I'm agentlemen."
"Jintleman. the likes of you jintlemsD!
Wisha, by gar; that bangs Bansgner. Why,
you potato-faced pippin- -sneezer, when did
the likes of you pick up en- ugh Christian
decency to hide your Kerry brogue?"
"Easy now, easv now" cried O'Connell
with imperturbable good humor, "Don'C
choke yourself with fine language, you Old
whisky y-dripking parallelogram."
"What's that you call me, you murderin'
villain?," roared Mrs. Moriarty, stung
into fury.
81 cali you parallelogrsU," answered
O'Conneli, land a Dublin judge and
jury will say it's no libel to call you
ST."
"Oh, tare-an-ouns On, holy Biddy
that an honest woman like me should be
called q parry bellygrums, you rascally gal
lows bird; you cowardly, sneaking, plate
licking 5laggard!"
"O6, not you, indeed" retorted O'Con-
nell, ''why, l suppose you'll deny that you
keep hyp0thenHse in your house !"
sits lie for you, you dirty robber; l
never had such . thing in my house, you
swindling the'."
"Why, sure sll the neighbors know very
well that you k ep not only hypothenuse,
but that you go out to walk with him every
Sunday, you heartless old heptagon."
"Ob, hear that, ye sain's OF glory! Oh,
there's bad lapguae from fellow that
wants TO pass for jintleman. May the
devil fly away with you, you mincheC from
Munster, and make celery ssuce Of your
rotten limbs, you mealy mouth tub of gar
bage."
"Ab, you can't deny the charge, you mis-
cradle submultiple Of duplicate ratio"
"Go rinse, your mouth in the Liffey, you
tncle, pitchey; after all the ,bad words you
sreak it ought to be filthier than your face,
you dirty chicken of BeeGebub."
"Rinse your own mouth, you wicked
minded old polygon. To the devil pitch
you, you clustering intersection ofa stink
ing super6cies"
"YOu saucy tiDker's apprentice, if you
don't cease your jaw III -"
But here she gasped for breath, unable to
hawk up avy more words, for the last vol
ley of O'Connell had nearly knocked the
wind out of her. s ..-
"Whle / have tongue III abuse you,
you most inimitable pc iphery. Look at
her, boys! there she stands, convicted
perpendicular in petticOats? There's con-
tamnation in her circumference, and she
trembles with guilt down to the extremIties
of her corollaries. An! you've found out,
you rectlinear antecedent, equiaDgular old
bag, IT'S with you the old one will fly
away, you porter-swiping sin1iltude OF the
dissection of a vortex
Overwhelmed with this torrent oi Ian
guage, Mrs. Moriarty was silenced. Catch
ing up saucepan, she was aiming it at
O'CoDnell's head, when be very prudently
made timely retreat.
"You have won the wager, O'Connell-
here's your bet,'' cried the gentleman who
had proposed the contest.
O'ConneIl knew well the use Of sound in
vituperstion, and having to deal with an ig-
y,Orant seOid determined In OvercoTna her