In the meantime the poor man was breaking down
rapidly; so much so, that his appearance generally excited pity, if not
sorrow, among his neighbors. His character became simpler every day, and
his intellect evidently more exhausted. The inoffensive humor, for which
he had been noted, was also completely on the wane; his eye waxed dim,
his step feeble, but the benevolence of his heart never failed him. Many
acts of his private generosity are well known, and still remembered with
gratitude.
In proportion as the strength of his mind and constitution diminished,
so did his capacity for bearing liquor. When he first bound himself
by the oath not to exceed the long dozen, such was his vigor, that the
effects of thirteen tumblers could scarcely be perceived on him. This
state of health, however, did not last. As he wore away, the influence
of so much liquor was becoming stronger, until at length he found that
it was more than he could bear, that he frequently confounded the
names of the men, and the number of tumblers mentioned in the oath, and
sometimes took in, in his route, persons and places not to be found in
it at all. This grieved him, and he resolved to wait upon O'Flaherty
for the purpose of having some means devised of guiding him during his
potations.
"Masther," said he, "we must thry an' make this oath somethin' plainer.
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