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"I do not wish to go

"My Lord," said Thady, with Joyce, but if it please you, let him go home, and I will go with Mary, after a week, to the priest of Knock Magha; and if Joyce then proves, that she is his wife, I hope that gentleman will not deny his own letter, that she is dead."

"Silence, you foolish man," said the Bishop; go from me, I will hear you no longer."

Next day Mary took her travelling apparel on her back, in order to go to Connaught; and their neighbours made this arrangement between them, that both the doors of the house should be set open, that Joyce should stand without, seven steps from the street door, and Thady in the garden, seven steps from the back-door, that she should take her choice and abide by it thenceforward.

The child was sleeping in the cradle; and as Mary was about to depart, she went to the child to take leave of it, and shed a tear. She went then, until she was without the door, when she heard the child cry after her presently she returned, and remained, without murmuring or uneasiness, with Thady Hughes till her death,

G. Mr. Smyth that is a pleasant and entertaining story that you have told us. But did you hear whether the clergy believed the oath of the man, that he saw the same woman married?

S. I am convinced that Father Bryan did not believe it; for, in cross-examining the young man, he confessed," that he never saw her before the night on which she was married; but he was certain it was she, as she acknowledged to him, the preceding evening, that she was the same woman.

Father Bryan asked, "if he had ever heard that Joyce had courted any other woman about that place?" He replied, "that he had heard that Joyce courted a girl at Kiltartan—had never seen her

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sean ariam i, aċd go raib se deimin naċar pòs se isi; gur imtig si as an àit sin, agus go raib siad 'g a rad go mbfeidir go raib si torraċ, oir nior fill air ais ariam."

Dubairt an tatair Brian, " gurb' i an cailin sin, o ċill Tartain, a tainic cum Tadg o Haod; agus gur cum si an sgeul sin, a folač a naire.”

Acd do saoil Tadg, a gcomnuig, agus go leor eile, gurb' i bi pòsda aig an Seoigeac, agus go raib si ann sna bruiginib,

himself,

himself, but was certain he was not married to her -that she had left that place, and it was said that she was probably pregnant, for she never returned again."

Father Bryan asserted, "that this was the girl from Kiltartan, who came to Thady Hughes; and that she had invented that story to hide her shame.'

However, Thady and many others always thought that she had been married to Joyce, and that she was in the fairy castles. (18.)

NOTES

NOTES

ON THE PRECEDING DIALOGUE.

(1.) Such buildings are common in every part of Ireland. The ancient towers are probably of much greater antiquity than the castles. They are of a circular form, of small diameter, and very considerable height. It is conjectured that they may have served for watch towers. From the circumstance of churches being usually built, near them, some persons conceive that they have been used in place of belfries, since the introduction of Christianity into Ireland.

(2.) The raths are large circular motes, upon the tops of hills; some raised to a very great height. They are in general so situated that a correspondence, by signals, could be expeditiously circulated from one to another, throughout the country. They are commonly called Danish forts, from an idea that they were stations occupied by the Danes, during their plundering possession of Ireland, about the eighth century. But they are probably of much greater antiquity, even prior to the common use of stone buildings, although they might have been used by the Danes, as above mentioned.

It is impossible to ascertain the era in which the caves were constructed; but from the circumstance of many of them being formed, by stones regularly projecting over each other, instead of arches, it is evident they must be of the remotest antiquity. Nor is it less certain that the use of letters was known, when the caves were constructed; as numerous inscriptions, such as that hereafter mentioned, are found in them, but in characters that cannot now be understood.

(3) These upright stones are placed upon hills, in some places alone, in others there are circles of them, inclosing a small plain. They probably served as places for worship in the times of paganism; as also for juridical assemblies, in which the Brehons presided.

The carns are immense heaps of small stones, evidently collected as monuments, and generally on or near the spot where some considerable person died or is interred. Even at the present day it is looked upon by the vulgar, as an act of pious remembrance, to collect such a carn, where any person has been killed by accident.

The cromleacs are huge single stones, some of thirty tons weight, placed in a sloping position, upon the points

of

of three upright stones.

1

It is almost inconceivable by

what power such huge masses were lifted from the surface to an elevation in some cases of nearly four feet. They appear to have been used as altars by the Druids; and, from carns being collected around, and over some of them, it is probable that some distinguished personages have been interred beneath them.

(4.) This is near Annadorn, in the county Down. It was not known that there was any cromleac under this carn, until it was accidentally discovered by a man who was feeding cows beside it. The cromleac is broad and long, but not so thick as some others: it appears remarkably well adapted for the purpose of an altar. is entirely surrounded by a number of upright stones, which were also covered by the carn.

It

(5.) This was one of the towers mentioned, note (1.) It stood beside the ancient abbey at that place, but has lately been removed, and the abbey at the same time repaired.

(6.) The superstitious veneration for old, solitary thorns, which is very general among the vulgar, proceeds from an idea that they are the haunts of fairies, who are provoked at their being destroyed, and will either maim the person who cuts the thorns, kill his cattle, or, in some other way, injure his substance.

(7.) The fairies are generally represented as pigmies, and are said to be seen dancing like a number of children..

(8.) Places supposed to be frequented by the fairies are called gentle, as are likewise several herbs, which are said to be under their influence: and, in collecting which, a number of superstitious rites are observed. Although the belief in the existence of these playful sprites is still far from being erased from the minds of the vulgar; yet the want of modern instances of their appearance obliges the accounts of them to be placed in times past, when they cannot be so easily contradicted.

(9.) Knock-na-feadalea literally means the Whistling Hill; and the place got this name from reports that the music of the fairies had been often heard to proceed from it.

(10.) This night, the last of October, is observed, with many superstitious ceremonies, both in Ireland and Scotland. It is supposed to be one on which aerial sprites are peculiarly active.

(11.) This day being observed as a fast, and nothing eaten from breakfast till night; it is customary to look

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