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devil, the world, and Bob Pentland." The latter, however,
was a very sore thorn in his side, and drove him from place
to place, and from one haunt to another, until he began to de-
spair of being able any longer to outwit him, or to find within
the parish any spot at all suitable for distillation with which
Pentland was not acquainted. In this state stood matters
between them, when George fortunately discovered at the hip
of Altnaveenan hill the natural grotto we have just sketched
so briefly. Now, George was a man, as we have already
hinted, of great fertility of resources; but there existed in the
same parish another distiller who outstripped him in that far-
sighted cunning which is so necessary in misleading or cir-
cumventing such a sharp-scented old hound as Pentland.
This was little Mickey M'Quade, a short-necked squat little
fellow with bow legs, who might be said rather to creep in his
motion than to walk. George and Mickey were intimate
friends, independently of their joint antipathy against the
gauger, and, truth to tell, much of the mortification and many
of the defeats which Pentland experienced at George's hands,
were, sub rosa, to be attributed to Mickey. George was a dis-
tiller from none of the motives which generally actuate others
of that class. He was in truth an analytic philosopher-a na-
tural chemist never out of some new experiment-and we have
reason to think might have been the Kane or Faraday or
Dalton of his day, had he only received a scientific education.
Not so honest Mickey, who never troubled his head about an
experiment, but only thought of making a good running, and
defeating the gauger. The first thing of course that George
did, was to consult Mickey, and both accordingly took a walk
up to the scene of their future operations. On examining it,
and fully perceiving its advantages, it might well be said that
the look of exultation and triumph which passed between them
was not unworthy of their respective characters.
"This will do," said George. Eh-don't you think we'll
put our finger in Pentland's eye yet?" Mickey spat sagaci-
ously over his beard, and after a second glance gave one grave
grin which spoke volumes. "It'll do," said he; "but there's
one point to be got over that maybe you didn't think of; an'
you know that half a blink, half a point, is enough for Pent-
land."

"What is it?"

66

"What do you intend to do with the smoke when the fire's lit? There'll be no keepin' that down. Let but Pentland see as much smoke risin' as would come out of an ould woman's dudeen, an' he'd have us."

George started, and it was clear by the vexation and disappointment which were visible on his brow that unless this untoward circumstance could be managed, their whole plan was deranged, and the cave of no value.

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"I know that," replied Mickey; "an' a rousin' smoke we'll have, for fraid a little puff wouldn't do us. Come, now, an' I'll show you."

They both ascended to the top, where Mickey had closed all the open fissures of the roof with the exception of that which was directly over the fire of the still. This was at best not more than six inches in breadth and about twelve long. Over it he placed a piece of strong plate iron perforated with holes, and on this he had a fire of turf, beside which sat a little boy who acted as a vidette. The thing was simple but effective. Clamps of turf were at every side of them, and the boy was instructed, if the gauger, whom he well knew, ever appeared, to heap on fresh fuel, so as to increase the smoke in such a manner as to induce him to suppose that all he saw of it proceeded merely from the fire before him. In fact, the smoke from the cave below was so completely identified with and lost in that which was emitted from the fire above, that no human being could penetrate the mystery, if not made previously acquainted with it. The writer of this saw it during the hottest process of distillation, and failed to make the discovery, although told that the still-house was within a circle of three hundred yards, the point he stood on being considered the centre. On more than one occasion has he absconded from home, and spent a whole night in the place, seized with that indescribable fascination which such a scene holds forth to youngsters, as well as from his irrepressible anxiety to hear the old stories and legends with the recital of which they generally pass the night.

In this way, well provided against the gauger-indeed much better than our readers are yet aware of, as they shall understand by and bye-did George, Mickey, and their friends, proceed for the greater part of a winter without a single visit from Pentland. Several successful runnings had come off, which had of course turned out highly profitable, and they were just now preparing to commence their last, not only for the season, but the last they should ever work together, as George was making preparations to go early in the spring to America. Even this running was going on to their satisfaction, and the singlings had been thrown again into the still, from the worm of which projected the strong medicinal firstshot as the doubling commenced-this last term meaning the spirit in its pure and finished state. On this occasion the two worthies were more than ordinarily anxious, and certainly doubled their usual precautions against a surprise, for they knew that Pentland's visits resembled the pounces of a hawk or the springs of a tiger more than any thing else to which they could compare them. In this they were not disappointed. When the doubling was about half finished, he made his appearance, attended by a strong party of reluctant soldiers for indeed it is due to the military to state that they never took delight in harassing the country people at the

"What's to be done?" he inquired of his cooler companion. "If we can't get over this, we may bid good bye to it.' "Never mind," said Mickey; "I'll manage it, and do Pent-command of a keg-hunter, as they generally nicknamed the land still." "Ay, but how?"

"It's no matter. Let us not lose a minute in settin' to work. Lave the other thing to me; an' if I don't account for the smoke without discoverin' the entrance to the still, I'll give you lave to crop the ears off my head."

George knew the cool but steady self-confidence for which Mickey was remarkable, and accordingly, without any further interrogatory, they both proceeded to follow up their plan of operations.

In those times when distillation might be truly considered as almost universal, it was customary for farmers to build their out-houses with secret chambers and other requisite partitions necessary for carrying it on. Several of them had private stores built between false walls, the entrance to which was only known to a few, and many of them had what were called Malt-steeps sunk in hidden recesses and hollow gables, for the purpose of steeping the barley, and afterwards of turning and airing it, until it was sufficiently hard to be kilndried and ground. From the mill it was usually conveyed to the still-house upon what were termed Slipes, a kind of car that was made without wheels, in order the more easily to pass through morasses and bogs which no wheeled vehicle could encounter.

In the course of a month or so, George and Mickey, aided by their friends, had all the apparatus of keeve, hogshead, &c, together with still head and worm, set up and in full work.

"And now, Mickey," inquired his companion, "how will you manage about the smoke? for you know that the two worst informers against a private distiller, barrin' a stag, is a smoke by day an' a fire by night."

gauger. It had been arranged that the vidette at the iron plate
should whistle a particular tune the moment that the gauger
or a red-coat, or in fact any person whom he did not know,
should appear. Accordingly, about eight o'clock in the morn-
ing they heard the little fellow in his highest key whistling up
that well-known and very significant old Irish air called "Go
to the devil an' shake yourself"--which in this case was ap-
plied to the gauger in any thing but an allegorical sense.
"Be the pins," which was George's usual oath, "be the
pins, Mickey, it's over with us-Pentland's here, for there's
the sign."

Mickey paused for a moment and listened very gravely; then squirting out a tobacco spittle, "Take it aisy," said he; "I have half a dozen fires about the hills, any one as like this as your right hand is to your left. I didn't spare trouble, for I knew that if we'd get over this day, we'd be out of his power."

"Well, my good lad," said Pentland, addressing the vidette, "what's this fire for?"

"What is it for, is it?"

66

Yes; if you don't let me know instantly, I'll blow your brains out, and get you hanged and transported afterwards." This he said with a thundering voice, cocking a large horse pistol at the same time.

"Why, sir," said the boy, "it's watchin' a still I am; but be the hole o' my coat if you tell upon me, it's broilin' upon these coals I'll be soon."

"Where is the still then? An' the still-house, where is it?" "Oh, begorra, as to where the still or still-house is, they wouldn't tell me that."

"Why, sirra, didn't you say this moment you were watch-cess; but the first discoverer of it was undoubtedly Mickey ing a still ?"

"I meant, sir," replied the lad with a face that spoke of pure idiocy, "that it was the gauger I was watchin', an' I was to whistle upon my fingers to let the boy at that fire on the hill there above know that he was comin'."

"Who told you to do so?"

"Little George, sir, an' Mickey M'Quade."

66

Ay, ay, right enough there, my lad-two of the most notorious schemers unhanged they are both. But now, like a good boy, tell me the truth, an' I'll give you the price of a pair of shoes. Do you know where the still or still-house is ? Because if you do, an' won't tell me, here are the soldiers at hand to make a prisoner of you; an' if they do, all the world can't prevent you from being hanged, drawn, and quartered." "Oh, bad cess may seize the morsel o' me knows that; but if you'll give me the money, sir, I'll tell you who can bring you to it, for he tould me yestherday mornin' that he knew, an' offered to bring me there last night, if I'd steal him a bottle that my mother keeps the holy water in at home, tal he'd put whisky in it."

"Well, my lad, who is this boy?"

66 Do know
you Harry Neil, or Mankind, sir?"

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I do, my good boy.'

M'Quade, although the honour of the discovery is attributed
to his friend George Steen. The matter, however, did not
actually end here, for in a few days afterwards some mali-
cious wag-in other words, George himself had correct infor-
mation sent to Pentland touching the locality of the cavern and
the secret of its entrance. On this occasion the latter brought
a larger military party than usual along with him, but it was
only to make him feel that he stood in a position if possible
more ridiculous than the first. He found indeed the marks of
recent distillation in the place, but nothing else. Every ves-
sel and implement connected with the process had been re-
moved, with the exception of one bottle of whisky, to which
was attached by a bit of twine the following friendly note:-
"MR PENTLAND, SIR-Take this bottle home and drink
your own health. You can't do less. It was distilled under
your nose the first day you came to look for us, and bottled
for you while you were speaking to the little boy that made
a hare of you. Being distilled then under your nose, let it be
drunk in the same place, and don't forget while doing so to
drink the health of
G. S."

The incident went abroad like wildfire, and was known everywhere. Indeed for a long time it was the standing topic of the parish; and so sharply was it felt by Pentland that did you see little George Steen?"—a question to which he was never known to give a civil reply.

"Well, it's a son of his, sir; an' look, sir: do you see the he could never keep his temper if asked, "Mr Pentland, when smoke farthest up to the right, sir?"

To the right? Yes.'

"Well, 'tis there, sir, that Darby Neil is watchin'; and he says he knows."

How long have you been watching here?" "This is only the third day, sir, for me; but the rest, them boys above, has been here a good while."

Have you seen nobody stirring about the hills since you came ?"

"Only once, sir, yesterday, I seen two men having an empty sack or two, runnin' across the hill there above."

At this moment the military came up, for he had himself run forward in advance of them, and he repeated the substance of his conversation with our friend the vidette. Upon examining the stolidity of his countenance, in which there certainly was a woful deficiency of meaning, they agreed among themselves that his appearance justified the truth of the story which he told the gauger, and upon being still further interrogated, they were confirmed that none but a stupid lout like himself would entrust to his keeping any secret worth knowing. They now separated themselves into as many detached parties as there were fires burning on the hills about them, the gauger himself resolving to make for that which Darby Neil had in his keeping, for he could not help thinking that the vidette's story was too natural to be false. They were just in the act of separating themselves to pursue their different routes, when the lad said,

“Look, sir! look, sir! bad scran be from me but there's a still any way. Sure I often seen a still: that's jist like the one that Philip Hogan the tinker mended in George Steen's barn."

66

Hollo, boys," exclaimed Pentland, stoop! stoop! they are coming this way, and don't see us: no, hang them, no! they have discovered us now, and are off towards Mossfield. By Jove this will be a bitter trick if they succeed; confound them, they are bent for Ballagh, which is my own property; and may be hanged if we do not intercept them; but it is I myself who will have to pay the fine."

ever.

The pursuit instantly commenced with a speed and vigour equal to the ingenuity of this singular act of retaliation on the gauger. Pentland himself being long-winded from much practice in this way, and being further stimulated by the prospective loss which he dreaded, made as beautiful a run of it as any man of his years could do. It was all in vain, howHe merely got far enough to see the still head and worm heaved across the march ditch into his own property, and to reflect after seeing it that he was certain to have the double consolation of being made a standing joke of for life, and of paying heavily for the jest out of his own pocket. In the mean time, he was bound of course to seize the still, and report the caption; and as he himself farmed the townland in question, the fine was levied to the last shilling, upon the very natural principle that if he had been sufficiently active and vigilant, no man would have attempted to set up a still so convenient to his own residence and property.

THE GLOBE OF THE EARTH.

WE were surprised very much some time ago at considering how much of the surface of the globe is covered by the waters of the lakes and oceans, and took the opportunity then of adverting to the importance of water in the general economy of nature. When, however, we pass to the consideration of the magnitude of the earth itself, the relative proportion of water appears to be much less considerable.

Although there are many places in the great Atlantic and Pacific Oceans where the depth of water is very great, yet it has been deduced from principles that are not liable to much error, that the general or average depth does not exceed three miles. It may appear very strange that we can assert any thing positive about the depth of water in those seas, that are to the lines used for sounding quite unfathomable; but it is effected very simply. Every person has seen a wave advancing along the level surface of a canal, and by observing with a watch, it could easily be found to move more quickly at some times than at others. The deeper any part of the canal is, the more rapidly does the wave move along; and partly by experiment, and partly by reasoning, the connection between the depth of the water and velocity of the wave has been discovered. Now, the tide which comes to Dublin every twelve hours is produced by the influence of the sun and moon on the vast body of water in the Southern Pacific Ocean; and the great wave there formed turns round Cape Horn, and passes up the Atlantic Ocean, to arrive at the coasts of Europe and North America. The time occupied by this great wave in passing from one end to the other of the Atlantie can thus be known, and, precisely as in a canal, the depth of water thus calculated.

The circumference of the earth at its widest part is about 25,000, and its diameter 8000 miles. Hence the sheet of water which constitutes the ocean forms but 3-4000ths of its thickness, or nearly the same proportion as if we took an eighteen inch globe, and having spilled water on its surface, allowed all the excess of water to drain off. The remaining wetness would represent pretty nearly the condition of the waters of the ocean on the surface of the earth. By this means we can form, though obscurely, to our minds, an idea of the great magnitude of the earth itself. This magnitude renders also very inconsiderable those inequalities on the surface of the earth A true which constitute our highest ridges of mountains. model of Mont Blanc, the highest of European mountains, if constructed on the eighteen inch globe before referred to, would be unfelt by a finger drawn along its surface, and it would be only some of the highest peaks of the Andes and Himalayah that could be distinctly felt. Where man also employs his most gigantic energies and greatest efforts of skill to pe netrate below the surface, forming mines by which the supThis manœuvre of keeping in reserve an old or second set plies of coal, of iron, of copper, and other minerals, have been of apparatus, for the purpose of acting the lapwing and mis- obtained from the earliest times, the cavities that he makes can leading the gauger, was afterwards often practised with suc-only be compared with the trace given by the point of a pin

that had lightly touched the globe, and which would require a favourable incidence of light to see.

The earth is therefore almost perfectly a smooth and solid ball. It is, however, almost certain that it was not always solid. It is, on the contrary, almost certain that at a period far exceeding in remoteness any time of which mere human indications can be found, the globe of the earth was one mass of liquid matter, heated to a degree exceeding our most intense fires, and wherein were melted all together the various elements which have since arranged themselves into their present forms. From having been thus liquid, the earth, which, revolving on its axis, produces by the side it turns to the sun the alternating day and night, has bulged out where the rotation of the surface is most rapid, at the equator, and has become flattened at the extremities of its axis, at the poles, just as a thin hoop which we spin round becomes compressed. The amount of this flattening is however very small. The equatorial diameter of the earth being accurately 7925, and the polar diameter being 7898, the compression is 27 miles. To account for the existence of this compression, the earth must have been originally liquid, for otherwise the rotation on its axis could not have generated this regular form. If it had been solid when it began to revolve, it should either have retained its original form, or it should have broken in pieces; but certainly unless it had been liquid, it could not have arrived at the exact degree of flattening which its velocity of rotation should have produced in a liquid mass.

in the lowest part of the mine, and hence the elevation of temperature was 25 degrees. Observations elsewhere vary between these limits; but the general result is, that the rise is one degree for about every fifty feet, as above stated. When we consider the great magnitude of the earth, and observe the rapidity with which the increase of temperature occurs, it will strike every person that we in reality inhabit a mere pellicle or skin, which has formed by cooling upon the surface, whilst all the internal mass of our globe may still be in the same state of igneous fusion and tumultuous action of elements, from which its present mineral constitution on the surface has resulted. For although it has cooled so far that at the surface all traces of its central fires have disappeared, yet at a mile and a half below the surface the temperature is such as should boil water: at a depth of five miles, lead would melt. Thirty miles below the surface, cast iron, and all those rocks which are generally the product of volcanoes in action, as trap and basalt, would fuse; and hence we may consider those terrific phenomena which have so frequently desolated some of the most beautiful districts of the earth, as being minute apertures or cracks in the thin coating of our planet, and giving vent from time to time to some small portions of the internal fires which work beneath.

Additional evidence of the existence of this central heat may be derived from the peculiarity of springs. Those springs which carry off and are supplied with water from the surface, change their temperature with the season, being in winter cold, but in summer warm. Others, deriving their waters from a deeper layer of soil, as from the stratum of constant heat, are always the same, and, possessing the mean temperature of the place, feel warm in winter and cold in summer. springs exist in every country, and are very useful in ascertaining the mean temperature, for in place of watching a thermometer for a year, and taking averages, it is only necessary to select with proper caution such a deeply supplied spring, and by observing the temperature of its waters, the mean temperature of the place is found.

Such

A certain quantity of the water which is absorbed by the descend, in fact, until at 1 miles it is boiled and driven up again to find some outlet as a spring. In rising up, however, it is for the most part cooled; but having charged itself with various saline and metallic bodies, under the most favourable circumstances of high temperature and pressure, it issues as a hot mineral spring or spa. On getting into the air, it generally abandons a great part of what it had dissolved, and forms in many cases enormous depositions of solid rock.

The intensely heated and liquid earth, revolving in the cold and empty spaces of the planetary system, gradually must have lost its excess of heat. Cooling most rapidly at the surface, it there solidified, and generated the first rocks. The loss of heat still going on, the solidification proceeded to a greater and greater depth, and should ultimately have reduced the earth to the same temperature as the empty space among the stars. The temperature of space has been calculated to be almost the same as that in the winter at Melville Island, in northernmost America, that is, 56 deg. below zero, or as far below the freezing point of water as the temperature of the hottest water that the hand can bear is above it. The earth is, how-ground after rain must penetrate to a great depth, must ever, not allowed to cool to that degree. It receives from the sun by radiation a quantity of heat which counteracts its tendency to cool, and hence the mean temperature of the surface of the earth has remained the same from the earliest historical epochs. In fact, at the surface we can find no trace of that original and internal great heat, the temperature of the surface of the earth being regulated altogether by the effect of the sun's rays; but if we dig down to a moderate depth, about 45 feet, the influence of the sun becomes insensible. Within that space also we can detect a very curious and important arrangement of the heat. It is not that the whole surface becomes warmed in summer and cold in winter, but the heat which is received from the sun in one summer travels by conduction beneath the surface, and is succeeded by the heat of the next summer, an intervening and cooler layer corresponding to the winter time, so that at a depth of 20 feet we may detect the heat which had fallen upon the surface four or five years before, this space of 45 feet being formed of numerous layers like the coatings of an onion, one for each year, until becoming less and less distinct, according as the depth increases, they join together in forming the layer of invariable temperature in which all the effect of the sun's heat is lost.

A company in Paris have formed the idea of using the water thus heated by the powers below, for the purposes of public baths. The neighbourhood of Paris is peculiarly fitted for what are termed Artesian wells, in which the water often rises considerably above the surface of the ground. Under the auspices of this company, a well has been sunk already to the depth of 1600 feet, and water obtained at 77 degrees; but to obtain natural hot water at a temperature of 100 degrees, which would be required for bathing purposes, an additional depth of probably as much more will be required. It is said the projectors are not now sanguine of its pecuniary success.

If we dig down still farther, the earth, though having lost life do men rise to eminence who have not undergone a long THE SECRET OF SUCCESS IN LIFE.-In no department of the heating power of the sun, becomes sensibly warmer. The and diligent preparation; for whatever be the difference in the greater the depth to which we descend, the higher is the tem- mental power of individuals, it is the cultivation of the mind perature found to be. Thus, where deep sinkings have been made for mines or wells, the air or water at the bottom is alone that leads to distinction. John Hunter was as remarkfound to be much higher in temperature than at the invariable for his industry as for his talents, of which his museum ble layer which gives the mean temperature of the place. This observation was first made in the case of the deep mines in Cornwall, and, although for some time ascribed to the presence of the workmen and the burning lamps, has since been verified by observations in all parts of Europe, and such agreement found, that the law connecting the temperature with the depth has been at least approximately determined. It is found, counting from the invariable layer, that the temperature increases about one degree of Fahrenheit's scale for every fifty feet in depth. Thus, a well having been sunk at Rudersdorff to a depth of 630 feet, the water at the bottom was found to be 67 degrees, while the mean temperature was 50 degrees. In a coal mine at Newcastle, which reaches to a depth of 1584 feet, the mean temperature of the surface being 48 degrees, the thermometer was found to stand at 73 degrees

alone forms a most extraordinary proof; and if we look around and contemplate the history of those men whose talents and acquirements we must esteem, we find that their superiority of knowledge has been the result of great labour and diligence. It is an ill-founded notion to say that merit in the long-run is neglected. It is sometimes joined to circumstances that may have a little influence in counteracting it, as an unfortunate manner and temper; but generally it meets with its due reward. The world are not fools-every person of merit has the best chance of success; and who would be ambitious of public approbation, if it had not the power of discriminating?-Physic and Physicians.

Printed and Published every Saturday by GUNN and CAMERON, at the Office of the General Advertiser, No. 6, Church Lane, College Green, Dublin; and sold by all Booksellers.

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IT is a curious circumstance, that while among the most humble and illiterate, as well as among the high and educated classes of society in Ireland, a certain degree of interest and respect is usually felt for the ecclesiastical and military remains of past ages, those of a purely useful character, as ancient bridges for example, excite no corresponding sentiments, and are destroyed without causing the slightest feeling of regret in the minds of any portion of society. Strange, however, as this may appear, the fact is undeniable, as the recent destruction of Thomond Bridge at Limerick, and the intended destruction of other ancient bridges on that noble river and elsewhere, sufficiently testify; and in a few years more there will, in all probability, scarcely remain in the country a single example of monuments of this class. Yet it cannot be said that such memorials of the progress of civilization in past ages are without their hallowing associations, or that their moss-stained and ivy-mantled arches are less pleasing to the lover of the picturesque than those of the ruined castle, church, or abbey. Who that has ever seen the ancient bridge of Limerick, with its fifteen arches, exhibiting every variety of form, its horizontal line contrasting so

admirably with the upright forms of the adjacent objects, and calling up in the mind recollections of the finest landscapes of Claude-who, we say, that has enjoyed this pleasure of a refined taste, but will bear testimony to the truth of our assertion, and regret the circumstances which have given birth to it? Who, in like manner, that has ever seen the ancient bridge which forms the embellishment of our present number, but would deeply lament its destruction? Yet such was the fate to which it was doomed, but a few years since, by a county grand jury, and from which it only escaped through the influence of the worthy proprietor of St Woolstan's, Richard Cane, Esq., who, in a spirit equally honourable to his taste and his nationality, declared that sooner than permit so interesting a monument of antiquity to be destroyed, he would build a new bridge at his own expense. Alas! that we have not amongst us a greater number of gentlemen of his taste, wealth, and spirit!

Despite of its contradictory name, New Bridge is the oldest bridge now remaining on the beautiful Liffey, and, with the exception of the ancient Bridge of Dublin, which was taken down and rebuilt some years since, is probably the first

bridge of stone ever erected on it. From Pembridge's Annals, as published by the Father of British antiquaries, William Camden, we learn that this bridge was erected in the year 1308, by John le Decer, the Mayor of Dublin in that year, at his own expense. So that by a curious and not uninteresting coincidence, it owes its erection to one worthy and patriotic citizen of Dublin, and its preservation, after a lapse of more than five hundred years, to another.

New Bridge is situated in the barony of North Salt, about one Irish mile south-west of the town of Leixlip. It consists of four arches, some of which are semicircular and others pointed; and, like most ancient bridges, it is high and extremely narrow. Mantled with luxuriant ivy, and enriched with the varied and mellow tints of so many centuries, it is in itself an object of great picturesque beauty; but these attractions are greatly enhanced by the quiet yet romantic features of the scenery immediately about it-particularly the woods and the ruins of the venerable Abbey of St Woolstan, of which we shall give some account in a future number. P.

ANCIENT IRISH LITERATURE.
NUMBER III.

FOR Our third specimen of the literature of our ancestors we have selected an example of what may be called the fireside stories, in vogue from a very ancient period till the last century. These stories are for the most part only personal traditions, and as they are not found in any vellum manuscripts which have descended to us, it might be concluded that they are of very modern date. Such conclusion, however, would be erroneous: there is no doubt that in their groundwork at least they are of an antiquity of several centuries, although modified in their language and allusions in conformity with the changes in manners and customs of succeeding times. The personages who figure in them are always either historical, or belonging to the ancient mythology of Ireland, and they are well worthy of preservation, for the light which they reflect on the habits of thought, as well as the manners and customs of bygone times.

enterprise, and that to the end of your life, and the close of your days, you will not be able to accomplish your purpose; because from the beginning of ages until now, no man ever heard of a hero or ever saw a champion coming with any such mighty design to Ireland, who did not find his match in that same country."

But Ironbones replied: "I make but very little account of your speech, Conán," said he: "for if all the Fenian heroes who have died within the last seven years were now in the world, and were joined by those who are now living, I would visit all of them with the sorrow of death and show all of them the shortness of life in one day; nevertheless I will make your warriors a more peaceable proposal. I challenge you then, O warriors, to find me a man among you who can vanquish me in running, in fighting, or in wrestling; if you can do this, I shall give you no further trouble, but return to my own country without loitering here any longer."

"And pray," inquired Finn, "which of those three manly exercises that you have named will it please you to select for the first trial of prowess?"

To this Ironbones answered, "If you can find for me any one champion of your number who can run faster than I can, I will give you no further annoyance, but depart at once to my own country."

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"It so happens," said Finn, "that our Man of Swiftness, Keelte Mac Ronan, is not here at present to try his powers of running with you; and as he is not, it were better, O hero, that you should sojourn here a season with the Fenians, that you and they may mutually make and appreciate each other's acquaintance by means of conversation and amusements, as is our wont." In the meanwhile I will repair to Tara of the Kings in quest of Keelte Mac Ronan; and if I have not the good fortune to find him there, I shall certainly meet with him at Ceis-Corann of the Fenii, from whence I shall without delay bring him hither to meet you."

To this Ironbones agreed, saying that he was well satisfied with what Finn proposed; and thereupon Finn proceeded on his way towards Tara of the Kings, in search of Keelte. Now, it fell out that as he journeyed along he missed his way, so that he came to a dense, wide, and gloomy wood, divided in the midst by a broad and miry road or pathway. Before BODACH AN CHOTA-LACHTNA, OR THE CLOWN he had advanced more than a very little distance on this road,

WITH THE GREY COAT,

A FENIAN TALE.

On a certain day a fair and a gathering were held at Bineadar, by the seven ordinary and seven extraordinary battalions of the Fenians of Erinn. In the course of the day, on casting a look over the broad expanse of the sea, they beheld a large, smoothsided, and proud-looking ship ploughing the waves from the east, and approaching them under full sail. When the capacious vessel touched the shore and lowered her sails, the Fenians of Erinn counted upon seeing a host of men disembark from her; and great was their surprise when one warrior, and no more, came out of the ship and landed on the beach. He was a hero of the largest make of body, the strongest of champions, and the finest of the human race; and in this wise was the kingly warrior equipped :-an impenetrable helmet of polished steel encased his ample and beautiful head; a deep-furrowed, thick-backed, sharp-edged sword hung at his left side; and a purple bossed shield was slung over his shoulder. Such were his chief accoutrements; and armed in this fashion and manner did the stranger come into the presence of Finn Mac Coole and the Fenians of Erinn.

It was then that Finn, the King of the Fenians, addressed the heroic champion, and questioned him, saying, "From what quarter of the globe hast thou come unto us, O goodly youth? or from which of the noble or ignoble races of the universe art thou sprung? Who art thou?"

"I am," answered the stranger," Ironbones, the son of the King of Thessaly; and so far as I have travelled on this globe, since the day that I left my own land, I have laid every country, peninsula, and island, under contribution to my sword and my arm: this I have done even to the present hour; and my desire is to obtain the crown and tribute of this country in like manner: for if I obtain them not, I purpose to bring slaughter of men and deficiency of heroes and youthful warriors on the seven ordinary and seven extraordinary battalions of the Fenian host. Such, O king, is the object of my visit to this country, and such is my design in landing here.' Hereupon uprose Conan the Bald, and said, "Of a truth, my friend, it seems to me that you have come upon a foolish

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perceived coming directly towards him an ugly, detestable looking giant, who wore a grey frize coat, the skirts of which reached down to the calves of his legs, and were bespattered with yellow mud to the depth of a hero's hand; so that every step he made, the lower part of that coat struck with such violence against his legs as to produce a sound that could be distinctly heard a full mile of ground off. Each of the two legs that sustained the unwieldy carcase of this horrible hideous monster was like the mast of a great ship, and each of the two shoes that were under his shapeless, horny, longnailed hoofs, resembled a roomy long-sided boat; and every time that he lifted his foot, and at every step that he walked, he splashed up from each shoe a good barrelful of mire and water on the lower part of his body. Finn gazed in amazement at the colossal man, for he had never before seen any one so big and bulky; yet he would have passed onward and continued his route, but the giant stopped and accosted him, and Finn was under the necessity of stopping also, and exchanging a few words with the giant.

The giant began in this manner:-"What, ho! Finn Mac Coole," said he, "what desire for travelling is this that has seized on you, and how far do you mean to go upon this journey?"

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Oh," said Finn, "as to that, my trouble and anxiety are so great that I cannot describe them to you now, and indeed small is the use," added he, "it would be of to me to attempt doing so; and I think it would be better for you to let me go on my way without asking any more questions of me."

But the giant was not so easily put off." O Finn," said he, " you may keep your secret if you like, but all the loss and the misfortune attending your silence will be your own; and when you think well upon that, maybe you would not boggle any longer about disclosing to me the nature of your errand."

So Finn, seeing the huge size of the giant, and thinking it advisable not to provoke him, began to tell him all that had taken place among the Fenians of Erinn so short a time before. "You must know," said he, that at the meridian hour of this very day the great Ironbones, the son of the King of Thessaly, landed at the harbour of Bineadar, with

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