: 1888. ] 291 [Mooney. 
the dead in some ancient battle.* On the hil of Tara, in Meath, is a tall 
pillar stone which marks the graves of the insurgents who fell there in 
1798. The grass above these ‘‘croppies’ graves ’’ is peculiar in being 
green upon one side of the blade and red upon the other, Owing, as the 
people firmly believ, to its springing from the blood of the croppies. 
Near Templeshambo, in Wexford, is an old cemetery concerning which 
a curious legend is given by Kennedy. A monstrous serpent was deso- 
lating the country, but was finally slain by a young champion, who deter- 
mind to show his gratitude by building a church. He prayd for some 
sign to direct him where to build it, and the next day he saw two ducks 
flying through the air, and followd them until they came to Temple- 
shambo. ‘“ There they lighted, the drake on the near side of the stream, 
and the duck on the far one. So he built a monastery on the one side and 
a nunnery on the other, and even when there wasn’t a stick nor 
a stone of either of them left, there was not a woman buried on 
one side, nor a man on the other, till the devil bewitched the people of 
Ballinlugg to bury Blue Cap on the men’s side.’ Blue Cap was the 
nickname for a woman of the imported Palatine settlers. The people re- 
sented this violation of an old custom so much that they raisd the coffin 
at night and set it up against the church door. After two reinterments 
the Palatines buried her on the other side of the stream, and there she 
was allowd to rest.+ 
There ar a number of cures and charms in connection with cemeteries 
and the dead which merit some notice in this connection. The same im- 
portance is attachd to the relics of saints and other holy persons that is 
common all over Europe and the east. The most noted of these was 
probably the Miacail Padruig (Feekhal Forig), or tooth of Saint Patrick, 
which was formerly preservd at the abbey of Cong, in Mayo, and was 
held in great repute in the cure of various diseases. The clay from cer- 
tain venerated graves, as those of Saint Patrick at Down patrick, in Down, 
and of Saint Declan at Ardmore, in Waterford, is also regarded as effica- 
cious in curing disease, and asa protection against fire and evil spirits. 
For this purpose it is kept in houses, and put into medicine or boild with 
milk and drank, and is frequently carried as a safeguard by emigrants 
coming to America. At the ruins of Monasterboice, in Louth, the moss 
from one of the old crosses is held to be a cure for the chin cough (hoop- 
ing cough) when gatherd by sinless hands, for which reason a child is 
generally sent to procure it.t The dead hand—or in some cases a skele- 
ton hand—is in Ireland, as in Britain and on the continent, considered 
invaluable in the cure of disease by stroking in gathering butter in the 
*Mr. and Mrs. 8. C. Hall, Ireland Picturesquely Illustrated, ii, 143, note, n. d., New 
York, R. Worthington, importer, 
+ Patrick Kennedy, Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts, 246 and note 351, London 
1866. 
{ Mr. and Mrs. 8. C. Hall, Ireland Picturesquely Illustrated, ji, 419, note, n. d., New 
York, R. Worthington, importer. 
