Mooney. J 266 [Oct. 19, 
land with all its wants wel provided for, altho in modern Europe it has 
come to be regarded only as a fitting tribute of respect to the departed. 
As soon as an ilness assumes a serious character the priest is sent for to 
hear the sick person’s confession and help him arrange his affairs, after 
which the dying man awaits the end with composure and resignation. 
There is a general desire that death, when it comes, may occur upon 
Friday, the day on which Christ died, and in the west the prayer is for 
Bés Aoine, guide Saturn agus ad‘lacad: Domnac.* «A Friday death, a 
Saturday prayer and a Sunday funeral.’? When it is evident that death is 
near at hand the priest is again calld in to administer to the dying man 
the last sacraments of the church. The blessed candles, which hav been 
consecrated in the church on some previous Candlemas day, ar then 
lighted in the room and the friends recite the prayers for the dying. In 
Kerry and other parts of the west twelv small wax tapers which hav been 
thus blest, and corresponding to the number of the apostles, ar fixd up- 
right around the edge ofa plate and past from hand to hand ina circle from 
right to left around the head of the dying man, by relativs standing near, 
who recite during the while the following prayer: @uét'im Peadar, guid’ - 
im Pol, guidtim Muir’ oig: agus a Mac, guid‘im a dé easpal déag, gan tu d'ul 
ann eug gan a g-cead,t ‘‘Timplore Peter, implore Paul, I implore the 
Virgin Mary and her Son, I implore the twelv apostles, that you may not 
enter death without their permission.’’ When death comes, after reciting 
this prayer, it is thought to be in accordance with the wil of God and the 
saints. In the western islands twelv lighted rushes ar placed around the 
bed of the dying man.{ A similar practice probably prevaild formerly 
in the east, according to the statement of a woman of the County Meath. 
Her father past away so quietly that it was several minutes before the fact 
of his death was discoverd, when his wife, who was alone with the chil- 
dren, lighted a taper and held it between his claspd hands while she 
recited the prayers for the dying. This was fifty years ago, when Gaelic 
was stil the language of the district. The dying person takes “three 
breaths of life ’’ just before expiring, and a man always falls asleep at the 
approach of death, while a woman remains awake. Along the coast we 
find also the old belief that life goes out with the ebbing tide. 
When the dying man seems to suffer great agouy it is thought to be 
due to the presence of chicken feathers in hig bed, and his friends wil 
sometimes lift him up and place him upon the floor to réliev him. Some 
persons go so far as to say that feathers of any kind wil caus the sick one 
to “die hard.’’ It is possible that there may be some physiologic reason 
for this belief, as the senses of the sick ar frequently alive to odors and 
atmospheric influences imperceptible to those around them. 
* Pronounced in Connemara, somewhat incorrectly, Baws Ena, gwiva Sddrn ogus tel- 
akhawn Dhonakh. 
+ Pronounced in Kerry, Gweeim Pddhar, gweeim Poel, gweeim Mwir’ oeg égus a Moe, 
gweeim a dhaw awspal jaeg, gun thu ghul an yaeg gun a gadh, 
} Lady Wilde, Ancient Legends of Ireland, i, 224, London, 1887. 
