THE LEGEND OF HOSE ROCHE. 



blisters, and then applied the cuticle which covers a sheep's 

 kidney, and which is very similar in appearance and effect to 

 what we call " gold-beaters' leaf." This application pre- 

 vented the heel from being frayed by the stocking. To the 

 remainder of the foot he rubbed a hot mixture of tallow and 

 whisky ; and his remedy was " the sovereignest thing on 

 earth," for in twelve hours the cure was effected. 



While he operated on my infirm foot, he amused me with 

 one of his interminable stories. He says, by the "mother's 

 side," that I and my cousin are descended from a lady called 

 Rose Roche. When his leech-craft was ended he retired 

 vc to stretch upon the bed." John was too deeply engaged 

 in culinary affairs to favour me with his company, and having 

 no resource besides, I have been obliged to amuse myself 

 by transcribing the legend of Rose Roche, and become thus a 

 chronicler of the otter-killer. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



THE LEGEND OF ROSE ROCHE. 



AT sixteen Rose Roche was the loveliest maid in Ulster. 

 In infancy she was found exposed at the gate of the Ursu- 

 lines, and her beauty and destitution recommended her to 

 the charity of the sisterhood. Educated, accordingly, for a 

 conventual life, she had never passed the boundary of the 

 garden-walls, and accident discovered the existence of beauty, 

 which else had faded unseen and unadmired within those 

 cloisters, to which from childhood it had been devoted. 



Cormac More, lord of Iveagh, was the patron and pro- 

 tector of the community at Balleek. At primes and vespers 

 a mass was celebrated for his soul's weal. His Easter-offering 

 was ten beeves and five casks of Bordeaux wine ; and on the 

 last Christmas vigil he presented six silver candlesticks to the 

 altar of Our Lady. No wonder that this powerful chief was 

 held in high honour by the sisterhood of Saint Ursula. 



One tempestuous night in October, wearied with hunting, 

 and separated from his followers by darkness and the storm, 

 Cormac More found himself beneath the walls of the convent 

 of Balleek. Approaching the gate, he wound his horn 



