LEGEND OF KNOCK-A-THAMPLE. 



it might not have been expected to possess. Indeed, in every- 

 day complaints, its waters were tolerably efficacious ; but, in 

 cases of connubial disappointments, when the nuptial bed had 

 been unfruitful, they proved an absolute specific ; and in pro- 

 viding an heir for an estate, when "hope deferred had made 

 the heart sick/' there was not in the kingdom of Connaught, 

 a blessed well that could hold a candle to that of Knock-a- 

 thample. 



Numerous as the persons were, whom the reputation of the 

 fountain collected from a distance, few returned without expe- 

 riencing relief. Occasionally, a patient appeared, whose virgin 

 career had been a little too protracted, and to whom the 

 rosary, rather than the cradle, was adapted. And so thought 

 St. Catharine though her water was unequalled, yet she 

 had neither time nor inclination to work miracles eternally; 

 consequently, those ancient candidates for the honours of 

 maternity returned precisely as they came : to expend holy 

 water on such antique customers was almost a sinful waste 

 their presumption was unpardonable it was enough to vex a 

 saint, and even put the blessed Patroness of Knock-a-thample 

 in a passion. 



Holy water, like prophecy, appears to be of little value at 

 home, and hence the devotees usually came from some distant 

 province. The soil, indeed, might then have possessed the 

 same anti-Malthusian qualities for which it is so remarkable at 

 the present day. Certainly, the home consumption of Knock- 

 a-thample was on a limited scale and the herdsman and his 

 wife, who then occupied the ruined cottage near the church, 

 cwed their winter comforts to the munificence of the strange 

 pilgrims, who during the summer season resorted in numbers 

 to the well. 



It was late in October, and the pilgrimages were over for 

 the year winter was at hand the heath was withered, and 

 the last flower had fallen from the bog-myrtle the boollies* 



* The Booties, in the mountain districts, are an interesting remnant of 

 antiquity ; and refer evidently to that period when Ireland was in its 

 wild and unsettled state. They a're simply one or more temporary 

 sheilings, or huts, constructed with rude materials, in spots the most 

 convenient for attending to the cattle in the summer and autumn, when 

 they are allowed to depasture on the mountains. 



According to the usual leases granted by the landlord to the tenant in 

 this wild country, villages in the lowlands, or on the coast, have a reserved 



