that old liquor, though able to make a cat speak, can make a man dumb.'

"The little man then said some queer kind of words, out of which Billy could make no meaning; but he contrived to say them after him for all that; and in they both went through the key-hole of the door, and through one key-hole after another, until they got into the winecellar, which was well stored with all kinds of wine.

"The little man fell to drinking as hard as he could, and Billy, nowise disliking the example, did the same. • The best of masters are you, surely,' said Billy to him; no matter who is the next; and well pleased will I be with your service if you continue to give me plenty to drink.'

"I have made no bargain with you,' said the little man, and will make none; but up and follow me.' Away they went, through key-hole after key-hole; and each mounting upon the rush which he left at the hall door, scampered off, kicking the clouds before them like snowballs, as soon as the words, Borram, Borram, Borram,' had passed their lips.

"When they came back to the Fortfield, the little man dismissed Billy, bidding him to be there the next night at the same hour. Thus did they go on, night after night, shaping their course one night here, and another night there -sometimes north, and sometimes east, and sometimes south, until there was not a gentleman's wine-cellar in all Ireland they had not visited, and could tell the flavour of every wine in it as wellay, better than the butler himself.

"One night when Billy Mac Daniel met the little man as usual in the Fortfield, and was going to the bog to fetch the horses for their journey, his master said to him, Billy, I shall want another horse to-night, for may-be we may bring back more company with us than we take.' So Billy, who now knew better than to question any order given to him by his master, brought a third rush, much wondering who it might be that would travel back in their company, and whether he was about to have a fellow-servant. If I have,' thought Billy,' he shall go and fetch the horses from the bog every night; for I don't see why I am not, every inch of me, as good a gentleman as my master.'

"Well, away they went, Billy leading the third horse, and never stopped until they came to a snug farmer's house in the county Limerick, close under the old castle of Carrigogunniel, that was built, they say, by the great Brian Boru.

"And what will Darby Riley say to that?' said Billy.

"Silence!' said the little man, putting on a mighty severe look: I did not bring you here with me to ask questions;' and without holding further argument, he began saying the queer words, which had the power of passing him through the key-hole as free as air, and which Billy thought himself mighty clever to be able to say after him.

"In they both went; and for the better viewing the company, the little man perched himself up as nimbly as a cocksparrow upon one of the big beams which went across the house over all their heads, and Billy did the same upon another facing him; but not being much accustomed to roosting in such a place, his legs hung down as untidy as may be, and it was quite clear he had not taken pattern after the way in which the little man bad bundled himself up together. If the little man had been a tailor all his life, he could not have sat more contentedly upon his haunches.

"There they were, both master and man, looking down upon the fun that was going forward-and under them were the priest and piper-and the father of Darby Riley, and Darby's two brothers and his uncle's son-and there were both the father and the mother of Bridget Rooney, and proud enough the old couple were that night of their daughter, as good right they had-and her four sisters with bran new ribbons in their caps, and her three brothers all looking as clean and as clever

and bright; but although it was as fine a night as heart could wish for, he felt pinched with the cold. By my word,' chattered Billy, a drop of good liquor would be no bad thing to keep a man's soul from freezing in him; and I wish I had a full measure of the best.'

"Never wish it twice, Billy,' said a little man in a three-cornered hat, bound all about with gold lace, and with great silver buckles in his shoes, so big that it was a wonder how he could carry them; and he held out a glass as big as himself, filled with as good liquor as ever eye looked on or lip tasted.

"Success, my little fellow,' said Billy Mac Daniel, nothing daunted, though well he knew the little man to belong to the good people; here's your health, any way, and thank you kindly; no matter who pays for the drink;' and he took the glass and drained it to the very bottom, without ever taking a second breath to it.

"Success,' said the little man; and you're heartily welcome, Billy; but don't think to cheat me as you have done others,-out with your purse and pay me like a gentleman.'

"Is it I pay you?' said Billy: 'could I not just take you up and put you in my pocket as easily as a blackberry?'

"Billy Mac Daniel,' said the little man, getting very angry, you shall be my servant for seven years and a day, and that is the way I will be paid; so make ready to follow me.'

"When Billy heard this, he began to be very sorry for having used such bold words towards the little man; and he felt himself, yet could not tell how, obliged to follow the little man the livelong night about the country, up and down, and over hedge and ditch, and through bog and brake, without any rest.

"When morning began to dawn, the little man turned round to him and said, You may now go home, Billy, but, on your peril, don't fail to meet me in the Fort-field to-night; or if you do, it may be the worse for you in the long run. If I find you a good servant, you will find me an indulgent master.'

"Home went Billy Mac Daniel; and though he was tired and weary enough, never a wink of sleep could he get for thinking of the little man; but he was afraid not to do his bidding, so he got up in the evening, and away he went to the Fort-field. He was not long there before the little man came towards him and said, Billy, I want to go a long journey to-night; so saddle one of my horses, and you may saddle another for

yourself, as you are to go along with me, and may be tired after your walk last night.'

"Billy thought this very considerate of his master, and thanked him accordingly: But,' said he, if I may be so bold, sir, I would ask which is the way to your stable, for never a thing do I see but the Fort here, and the old thorn-tree in the corner of the field, and the stream running at the bottom of the hill, with the bit of bog over against us.'

"Ask no questions, Billy,' said the little man, but go over to that bit of bog, and bring me two of the strongest rushes you can find.'

“Billy did accordingly, wondering what the little man would be at; and he picked out two of the stoutest rushes he could find, with a little bunch of brown blossom stuck at the side of each, and brought them back to his master.

"Get up, Billy,' said the little man, taking one of the rushes from him, and striding across it.

"Where shall I get up, please your honour?' said Billy.

"Why, upon horseback, like me, to be sure,' said the little man.

"Is it after making a fool of me you'd be,' said Billy, bidding me get ahorseback upon that bit of a rush? Maybe you want to persuade me that the rush I pulled but a while ago out of the bog over there is a horse?'

"Up! up! and no words,' said the little man, looking very angry; 'the best horse you ever rode was but a fool to it.' So Billy, thinking all this was in joke, and fearing to vex his master, straddled across the rush: Borram! Borram! Borram!' cried the little man three times (which, in English, means to become great,) and Billy did the same after him presently the rushes swelled up into fine horses, and away they went full speed; but Billy, who had put the rush between his legs, without much minding how he did it, found himself sitting on horseback the wrong way, which was rather awkward, with his face to the horse's tail; and so quickly had his horse started off with him, that he had no power to turn round, and there was therefore nothing for it but to hold on by the tail.

that old liquor, though able to make a cat speak, can make a man dumb.'

"The little man then said some queer kind of words, out of which Billy could make no meaning; but he contrived to say them after him for all that; and in they both went through the key-hole of the door, and through one key-hole after another, until they got into the winecellar, which was well stored with all kinds of wine.

"The little man fell to drinking as hard as he could, and Billy, nowise disliking the example, did the same. • The best of masters are you, surely,' said Billy to him; no matter who is the next; and well pleased will I be with your service if you continue to give me plenty to drink."

"I have made no bargain with you,' said the little man, and will make none; but up and follow me.' Away they went, through key-hole after key-hole; and each mounting upon the rush which he left at the hall door, scampered off, kicking the clouds before them like snowballs, as soon as the words, Borram, Borram, Borram,' had passed their lips.

"When they came back to the Fortfield, the little man dismissed Billy, bidding him to be there the next night at the same hour. Thus did they go on, night after night, shaping their course one night here, and another night there -sometimes north, and sometimes east, and sometimes south, until there was not a gentleman's wine-cellar in all Ireland they had not visited, and could tell the flavour of every wine in it as wellay, better than the butler himself.

"One night when Billy Mac Daniel met the little man as usual in the Fortfield, and was going to the bog to fetch the horses for their journey, his master said to him,' Billy, I shall want another horse to-night, for may-be we may bring back more company with us than we take.' So Billy, who now knew better than to question any order given to him by his master, brought a third rush, much wondering who it might be that would travel back in their company, and whether he was about to have a fellow-servant. If I have,' thought Billy,' he shall go and fetch the horses from the bog every night; for I don't see why I am not, every inch of me, as good a gentleman as my master.'

"Well, away they went, Billy leading the third horse, and never stopped until they came to a snug farmer's house in the county Limerick, close under the old castle of Carrigogunniel, that was built, they say, by the great Brian Boru.

"God bless us, sir,' said Billy,' will you?'

"Don't say these words again, Billy,' said the little man, or you will be my ruin for ever. Now, Billy, as I will be a thousand years in the world to-morrow, I think it is full time for me to get married.'

"I think so too, without any kind of doubt at all,' said Billy, if ever you mean to marry.'

"And to that purpose,' said the little man, have I come all the way to Carrigogunniel; for in this house, this very night, is young Darby Riley going to be married to Bridget Rooney; and as she is a tall and comely girl, and has come of decent people, I think of marrying her myself, and taking her off with

me.

"And what will Darby Riley say to that?' said Billy.

"Silence!' said the little man, putting on a mighty severe look: I did not bring you here with me to ask questions;' and without holding further argument, he began saying the queer words, which had the power of passing him through the key-hole as free as air, and which Billy thought himself mighty clever to be able to say after him.

"In they both went; and for the better viewing the company, the little man perched himself up as nimbly as a cocksparrow upon one of the big beams which went across the house over all their heads, and Billy did the same upon another facing him; but not being much accustomed to roosting in such a place, his legs hung down as untidy as may be, and it was quite clear he had not taken pattern after the way in which the little man bad bundled himself up together. If the little man had been a tailor all his life, he could not have sat more contentedly upon his haunches.

"There they were, both master and man, looking down upon the fun that was going forward—and under them were the priest and piper-and the father of Darby Riley, and Darby's two brothers and his uncle's son-and there were both the father and the mother of Bridget Rooney, and proud enough the old couple were that night of their daughter, as good right they had-and her four sisters with bran new ribbons in their caps, and her three brothers all looking as clean and as clever

course to grammatical quiddities, may possibly be explained the name of Charon, the grim ferryman that poets write of," which, if it be of Greek origin, signifies 'the rejoicing and why Lucus, the gloomy and appalling grove, should be derived from luceo, to shine with light; other instances will immediately occur to the scholar, as Maleventum changed to Beneventum ; ποιος άξενος, the sea unfriendly to strangers to rolos suevos, the friendly, &c. We see it in more modern days in the alteration of the Cape of Storms' into the Cape of Good Hope.' In one of the Waverley novels, Sir Walter Scott, if Sir Walter it be, mentions that the Highlanders call the gallows, by which so many of their countrymen suffered, the kind gallows, and address it with uncovered head. Sir Walter cannot ac

dictments for witchcraft, and they continued late in the 17th century, they are uniformly called " the gude neichboris."

Our little author has been very candid in acknowledging his obligations to others. We must tell him, therefore, against his next edition, (for we think the book will run to another,) that the Legend of Knockgrafton, p. 23, in which the hump is taken from one Miss Edgeworth, as Mr Croker reman, and put on another, is Italian. marks, claims for the Irish Legend the merit of giving the hint to Parnell, (an Irishman,) for his pretty poem of Britain's Isle and Arthur's Days; and it may be the case, but it was already in print. The scene of the Italian story

This last sentence is not exactly accurate. The Highlanders do not address the gallows generally by this endearing title, but simply the gallows of Creiff. It is hard to say why they call it kind; but we are not quite sure of its being intended for propitiation, as Mr Croker explains it; for the usual salutation is, "Och! ye're tae kind callows o' Creiff! God pless us, and God tamn you;" at least such is the version of the salute which we have heard. If wrong, we are ready to submit to any correction. But Mr Croker might have added, in illustration of his general position, that even the law of Scotland itself has not ventured to offend the fairies; for in the very in

same as the Irish, with the addition of one comic and fairy-like circumstance. They saw off the hump of the involuntary intruder with a saw of butter, without putting him to any pain. It may be found, we think, in one of Redi's Letters.

We hope Mr Croker is not done story-telling; but that he will give us, not exactly as he says himself, p. 137, "two thick quartos, properly printed in a rivulet of print running down a meadow of margin, for Mr John Murray, of Albemarle-street," but a regular annual duodecimo, for the same great bookseller of the Western World, until he be himself claimed by the fairies, and carried away mounted on a bulrush.

It was long since well remarked, that we can be hardly said to have a new story in the world. All the new tales, says Chaucer, were in his time come out of the old books. And the farther we trace back into the East, the more remote does the origin of our most trivial and popular legends appear to be.

It is impossible for the readers of the Odyssey not to be struck by the similarity which many of the adventures of Ulysses bear to those of Sinbad the Sailor. There have been many hypo

theses framed to account for this fact. I admit that it is possible that the teller of the Arabian story may have read Homer, or received his "speciosa miracula" at second hand, but it is not very probable. My theory is, that the Greek in Ionia, and the Arab in Bagdad, drew on a common source, the origin of which it would perhaps be difficult to trace. A slight acquaintance with the stores of Sanscrit knowledge makes me think that it is to that literature that we are to look for the germ of many of our fictions.