existence of any particular creed or party.

W. Carleton.

Dublin.




NED M'KEOWN.

Ned M'Keown's house stood exactly in an angle, formed by the cross-roads
of Kilrudden. It was a long, whitewashed building, well thatched and
furnished with the usual appurtenances of yard and offices. Like most
Irish houses of the better sort, it had two doors, one opening into a
garden that sloped down from the rear in a southern direction. The barn
was a continuation of the dwelling-house, and might be distinguished
from it by a darker shade of color, being only rough-cast. It was
situated on a small eminence, but, with respect to the general locality
of the country, in a delightful vale, which runs up, for twelve or
fourteen miles, between two ranges of dark, well-defined mountains, that
give to the interjacent country the form of a low inverted arch.
This valley, which altogether, allowing for the occasional breaks and
intersections of hill-ranges, extends upwards of thirty miles in length,
is the celebrated valley of the "Black Pig," so well known in the
politico-traditional history of Ireland, and the legends connected with
the famous Beal Dearg.*

* The following extract, taken from a sketch by the author
called "The Irish Prophecy-man," contains a very appropriate