s have
an air of distinction foreign to the heavy-browed, black-haired Celt
of the interior. Altogether the picture is well worthy of a master of
colour, with its masses of black and green, relieved by patches of
bright red, standing boldly out against the background of brown moor
and azure sea.

The proceedings are hardly in consonance with the dignity of the
surroundings. Many marchings to and fro occur before the various
deputations are duly ushered to their place near the temporary
hustings erected in front of the chapel. When the meeting--of some two
thousand people at most--has gathered, there is an unlucky fall of
rain, advantage of which is taken by a local "omadhaun," or "softy" as
they call him in Northern England, to mount the stage and make a
speech, which elicits loud shouts of laughter. Taking little heed of
the pelting shower the "omadhaun," who wears a red bandanna like a
shawl, and waves a formidable shillelagh, makes a harangue which, so
far as I can understand it, has neither head nor tail. Delivered with
much violent gesticulation, the speech is evidently to the taste of
the audience, who cheer and applaud more or less ironically. At last
the rain is over, and the serious business of the day commences. The
chair is taken by the parish priest of Tiernaur, whose initial oration
is peculiar in its character. The tone and manner of speaking are
excellent, but alack for the matter! A more wandering, blundering
piece of dreary repetition never bemused an audience. In fairness to
the priest, however, it must be admitted that a Government reporter is
on the platform, and that the presence of that official may perhaps
exercise a blighting influence on the budding flowers of rhetoric. All
that the speaker--a handsome man, with a very fine voice--said,
amounted to a statement, repeated over and over again with slight
variations, that the people of Tiernaur were placed by the Almighty on
the spot intended for them to live upon; that they were between the
mountains and the sea; that all that the landlords could take from
them they had taken; "the wonder was they had not taken the salt sea
itself." This was all the speaker had to say, and he said it over and
over again. He was succeeded by his curate, who insisted with like
iteration on the duty of supporting the people imposed upon the land.
Out of the fatness thereof they should, would, and must be maintained.
Other sources of profit there were, according to th