nated near the castle, the chieftain, as in duty bound, requested the
assembled nobles to partake of his hospitality. To this a ready assent was
given, and the chiefs were ushered into the great hall with all becoming
state; and then for the first time did their host discover that one bearing
the forbidden name was among them The banquet was served, and now the
absence of the lady of the castle alone delayed the onslaught on the good
things spread before them. Surprised and half afraid at her absence, her
husband sought her chamber: on entering, he saw her sitting pensively with
her child at the window which overlooked the lake; raising her head as he
approached, he saw she was weeping, and as he advanced towards her with
words of apology for having broken his promise, she sprang through the
window with her child into the lake. The wretched man rushed forward with a
cry of horror: for one moment he saw her gliding over the waters, now
fearfully disturbed, chanting a wild dirge, and then, with a mingled look
of grief and reproach, she disappeared for ever! And the castle and the
lordship, with many a broad acre besides, passed from the Quins, and are
now the property of the O'Briens to this day; and while the rest of the
castle is little better than a heap of ruins, the fatal window still
remains nearly as perfect as when the lady sprang through it, an
irrefragable proof of the truth of the legend in the eyes of the peasantry.

FRANCIS ROBERT DAVIES.

_The Seven Whisperers._--I have been informed by an old and trustworthy
servant that about twenty years ago, as he was walking one clear starlight
night with two other persons, they heard, for the space of several minutes,
high up in the air, beautiful sounds like music, which gradually died away
towards the north. He spoke of it as an occurrence not very uncommon, and
said it was always called "The Seven Whisperers." On inquiry I found the
name well known amongst the poorer classes.

Is it not an electrical phenomenon?

METAOUO.

Essex.

* * * * *

ITALIAN-ENGLISH, GERMAN-ENGLISH, AND THE REFUGEE STYLE.

(Vol. vii., p. 149.)

Every one has admired the odd bits of Italian-English which "N. & Q."
lately published, a true {437} philological curiosity. Such queer medleys
have been the result whenever two opposite idioms have been thrown together
and unskilfully stirred up. Very few foreigners indeed, Sclavonic nations
being excepted, an