THE BALL CONCLUDES. 77 



ing to the number of his acquirements, he practises phar- 

 macy in this wilderness, and for forty years has led a 

 careless, migratory life, tolerated in the hall, and welcomed 

 in the cabin, until increasing years and bodily infirmity 

 confined him to his wild birth-place, where the otter can be 

 trapped without fatigue, and the salmon will yet reward the 

 old man's skill. The Lodge is now Antony's head- quarters, 

 and the remnant of his wandering life will probably be spent 

 with me. 



" But it is not as a hunter and leech that the ancient otter- 

 killer is alone valuable. In his wanderings, he picked up 

 tales and traditions among the wild people he consorted with : 

 his memory is most tenacious, and he narrates strange legends 

 which, in wildness and imagination, rival the romances of the 

 East. In winter, when the snow falls and the fury of the 

 storm is unloosed, Antony is settled in his rude but comfort- 

 able chair, formed of twisted bent. The women of my 

 household listen to his love-stories with affected indifference, 

 but there is always some apology for remaining near the otter- 

 killer. At times, when the old man is summoned after dinner 

 to receive his customary glass, I, if I be ' i' the humour,' listen 

 to his wild legends ; and here, in this mountain-hut, seated in 

 this room, ' mine own great chamber/ while I luxuriate over 

 a bright bog- deal fire, an exquisite cigar, and an admixture of 

 pure hollands with the crystal water that falls from the rock 

 behind us, I listen in voluptuous tranquillity to Antony's 

 romances, as he recites to his attentive auditory in the kitchen 

 his narratives of former times. 



" If the otter-hunter's tales be true, the primitive gentle- 

 women of the Emerald Isle were no vestals ; and the judge 

 of the Consistorial Court, had such then existed, would have 

 had scarcely time to bless himself." 



It was twelve o'clock, and no abatement of revelry was yet 

 manifest among the dancers in the kitchen. The piper's music 

 appeared inexhaustible, and, maugre fatigue and whisky, the 

 company were as fresh and effective as when the ball com- 

 menced. " I must rout them," said my cousin ; " the devils 

 would dance till doomsday." He opened the door, but 

 stopped and beckoned me to approach. I looked out ; the 

 boys and girls had left the floor, the men settling themselves 

 on the colliaghs, empty casks, and turf cleaves,* while the 



* Annlice. baskets. 



