the mainland to it by a little wading; and often, Sir, ungodly people used to bring over to the pilgrims, liquor and other things, that used to spoil their devotions and interrupt their fasts; but now he must be a good swimmer who could get to our present holy place."-Now I suspect that the real reason of the change was, that pilgrims, as he said, could wade to the old purgatory, and so smuggling themselves through the necessary stations, unperceived by, and without payment to the friars, get a pardon for their sin—thus cheating the Devil and the priest at the same time.

We at length landed; and I was not sorry, after giving my old Charon some silver, to get rid of him; and with my light, merry, and communicable guide to return towards Petigo. To beguile our mountain road, I asked the boy why the lake was called Lough Derg?—derg signifies red in Irish : the water has no red colour, but is as clear as that of any other mountain lake-perhaps it is called red from the quantity of red bog.

"Oh, indeed, Sir;" and mind here, reader, I pray you, that my memory does not serve me to give the following story exactly in the boy's words, "that is not the reason I have heard the old people give: formerly, I hear say, it was called Lough Fin or Fin M'Coul's Lough, but afterwards it was called Lough Derg, or the Red Lough; and the reason of that, as I have heard, is, that once upon a time, long ago, there was an old wicked witch of a woman, who had a great big giant of a son; and the whole of their evil days they spent in contriving how much mischief they could do in Ireland. The witch was knowledgable in all the bad herbs in the country, and her whole delight was to boil all these herbs in a pot, and brew poison, in which the son used to dip the points of his arrows; and every man or beast that he touched with one of these, surely died. Now this old witch went by an Irish name which signified the Hag with the Finger; for she had but one finger on each hand; but that finger, was withal so long, and so pliable, that

it could execute all the bad plans which her evil mind contrived. Now Niul, King of Ireland was at his wits' end to know how he should get rid of this pest of an old woman; and he consulted wise men of those days, who were called Druids; and they said that none but the Fions could destroy her; and they could only do it by shooting her with a silver arrow. Whereupon King Niul sent for Fin M'Coul, and commanded him to rid the realm of Ireland of the Hag with the Finger; and you may be sure that Fin M'Coul, who was ever loyal and loved his country, did not refuse to hunt the Hag: so taking with him Oisin his son, and Gal M'Morni, and Cuneen Miul, he went in search of the bad woman. Now, so it is, that in East Munster, there is a green hill on which there is not an herb or flower, good or bad, bitter or sour, sweet or stinking, growing in all Ireland, that does not also grow on that little hill; and there the Hag with the Finger was a culling of simples; and she always carried the silver pot, in which she boiled her poison. Now just as

she was in the midst of this bad work up came Fin and his heroes, and surprised the mother and son; and Gal M'Morni, who was formost, let fly his arrow at the wicked ones; but it missed its aim, and only upset the pot and spilt the poison; and then it was that throwing the old mother over his shoulders, the giant made off as hard as possible through the bogs and woods; but just as she lay dangling at his back, Fin M'Coul let fly a silver arrow which pierced her heart, and her bad soul flew off to hell, its proper place. But the stupid giant, (for giants, they say, are always heavy-headed,) perceived not that his mother was struck; and so onwards he went, never looking behind him, going as fast as ogres do, until he came to the mountains of Donegal; and there stopping to take rest, and looking behind him, he found nothing remaining of his mother, but her spindle shanks, her back bone and arms, not forgetting the long finger-all the rest worn and torn away while passing, as he did, with a strong man's speed, through

woods and bushes and brakes. So finding nothing remaining but an anatomy of his old mother, here he threw her down, on one of these hills, and away he went where he never was heard of more; and I hope he may never come back. Now it came to pass not many years after, as the Fions were hunting along these wilds of Donegal, in pursuit of a broadhorned deer, (one of those whose bones and antlers are found at the bottom of our bogs,) the party consisting of the same Fin M'Coul, Oisin, Gal M‘Morni, and Cuneen Miul, came to the very hill and very spot, over yonder lake, where the giant boy cast down his mother's bones; and Oisin the poet, as he passed these relics of mortality, began to moralize, as he saw bleaching under sun and shower, what man must come to.-Thus as the Fions were musing, a little red-haired, long-chinned, hump-backed dwarf passed by; and drawing near to the hunting party, standing as they were around the skeleton; the dwarf with great civility accosted them, and said, "Gentlemen and valiant Irishmen, for such