228 LOUGH DERG. 



" And as parliament is usually dead slow," 

 added the Captain, "it is much to be wished 

 that Paddy, in the meanwhile, would take 

 the affair into his own hands : he is just the 

 boy to do it well." 



" I do not think even Paddy could do 

 much in protecting this lake," said the 

 Parson : " it is so lonely, that a man might 

 fish for a month here without being seen. 

 The whole place looks as if the fairies were 

 its sole inhabitants." 



u I should think that the fairies who 

 belong to this lake must be of the decidedly 

 serious class," said the Captain. 



" It is quite true," said the Parson, " that 

 the legends of every locality take their tone 

 from the character of the scenery, and that 

 in so great a degree, that a person acquainted 

 with the place would always distinguish a 

 true legend from a fabrication. There would 

 be an incongruity in the latter, — a want of 

 character. It would be as if an artist, paint- 

 ing this landscape, thought fit to decorate 

 these islands with elms or beeches. You 

 would see at once, from the character of 

 the scenery, that the thing could not be, — 

 it would be out of character. In nine cases 



