190 THE ENTOMOLOGY OF THE ERNE. 



religiously their old title-deeds, and mark 

 from time to time the old boundaries, regu- 

 larly bequeathing or entailing them, just as 

 if they conveyed the actual possession of the 

 different properties. They do this in faith, 

 waiting for the good time that is coming, 

 when every man shall get his own again. 



" This is done among all the families, and 

 all the subdivisions of the great clans ; but 

 on the chief of the Maguires there hung a 

 special fate, by which he lost, and must in- 

 evitably have lost, his title and property. 

 So, also, there is a special prophecy by which 

 the representative of the family must as in- 

 evitably regain it. The thing is certain. 

 All that is obscure is the time, and this will 

 be indicated by the river. 



" I had the story myself from the lips of 

 the Lord of Enniskillen de jure ; who, 

 though in possession of the title-deeds, and 

 ultimately, no doubt, the transmitter of the 

 true succession, was not too proud to serve, 

 in the mean time, as deputy-assistant-helper, 

 or something of that sort, in the stables of 

 the Lord of Enniskillen de facto. I am 

 speaking now of some twenty years ago, when 

 I was a boy ; and what has become of this 



