DEATH OF THE OTTER-KILLER. 337 



the master and his company. I have seen the corpse 

 when carefully arranged ; when the collapsing features 

 were artificially moulded, to imitate a tranquillity that 

 had been foreign to the last event. But here was a 

 study for a painter. The old man's face was puckered 

 into the same conscious smile with which I have heard 

 him terminate his happiest otter-hunt, or some mountain 

 exploit of my kinsman, which appeared to him equally 

 dear ; his long hair, released from the band with which 

 he usually confined it, wantoned in silvery ringlets across 

 his neck and shoulders : all else was in wonted form ; 

 only that the number of candles round the bier might 

 have been called extravagant, and the plate of snuff^ 

 upon the bosom of the corpse was heaped with a munifi- 

 cence that would stamp the obsequies as splendid. 



Everybody has heard an Irish wake described, and there 

 is no dissimilarity among a hundred, only that, accord- 

 ing to the opulence of the family, and the quantity of 

 funeral refreshments, the mirth and jollity of the 

 mourners is invariably proportionate. That the master's 

 ancient retainers should be nobly waked was fully 

 expected by the country, and certainly they were not 

 disappointed. Whisky in quantities passing all under- 

 standing, tobacco in all its preparations, were fear- 

 fully consumed on this important ceremony ; and during 

 the two days and nights which the otter- killer was above 

 ground, the barn, spacious as it was, proved unequal 

 to accommodate the hundreds who flocked from a 

 distance of even twenty miles to have ** a last look at 

 ould Antony." 



When the evening fell on which the corpse was to be 

 carried to its resting-place, a scene of great novelty and 

 great interest ensued. From the insulated situation 



z 



