as their badge, and it figured only the other day on the banner which,
for the first time since the days of Shane the Proud, was flown from the
battlements of their ancient stronghold, Ardglass Castle, now in the
possession of Mr F. J. Bigger.

A very similar story to that of the O'Neill is told of an O'Donnell,
who, with a similar motive, namely, to acquire territory, on arriving
within sight of Spain, cut off his hand and hurled it on the shore, and,
like the O'Neills, the O'Donnells from that time have adopted the hand
as their badge.

_The Seventh Son_

It was formerly believed that a seventh son could cure diseases, and
that a seventh son of a seventh son, with no female born in between,
could cure the king's evil. Indeed, seven was universally regarded as a
psychic number, and according to astrologers the greatest events in a
person's life, and his nearest approach to death without actually
incurring it, would be every seven years. The grand climacterics are
sixty-three and eighty-four, and the most critical periods of a
person's life occur when they are sixty-three and eighty-four years of
age.

_Birthmarks_

Some families have a heritage of peculiar markings on the skin. The only
birthmark of this description which I am acquainted with is "The
Historic Baldearg," or red spot that has periodically appeared on the
skins of members of the O'Donnell clan. Its origin is dubious, but I
imagine it must go back pretty nearly to the time of the great Niall. In
the days when Ireland was in a chronic state of rebellion, it was said
that it would never shake off the yoke of its cruel English oppressors
till its forces united under the leadership of an O'Donnell with the
Baldearg. An O'Donnell with the Baldearg turned up in 1690, in the
person of Hugh Baldearg O'Donnell, son of John O'Donnell, an officer in
the Spanish Army, and descendant of the Calvagh O'Donnell of Tyrconnell,
who had been created Earl of Wexford by Queen Elizabeth. But the Irish,
as has ever been the case, would not unite, and despite the aid given
him by Talbot (who had succeeded the O'Donnells in the Earldom of
Tyrconnell), he met with but little success, and returning to Spain,
died there with the rank of Major-General in 1704.

References to the Baldearg may be seen in various of the Memoirs of the
O'Donnells in the libraries of the British Museum, Madrid, Dublin, and
elsewhere.

_Nature's Devil Signals_

I have already alluded to t