With the following extracts from the translation of an elegy written by Pierse Ferriter, the Irish poet soldier, who fought bravely in the Cromwellian wars, I must now terminate these references to the Banshee in poetry: "When I heard lamentations And sad, warning cries From the Banshees of many Broad districts arise. Aina from her closely hid Nest did awake The woman of wailing From Gur's voicy lake; From Glen Fogradh of words Came a mournful whine, And all Kerry's Banshees Wept the lost Geraldine.[14] The Banshees of Youghal And of stately Mo-geely Were joined in their grief By wide Imokilly. Carah Mona in gloom Of deep sorrow appears, And all Kinalmeaky's Absorbed into tears. * * * * The Banshee of Dunquin In sweet song did implore To the spirit that watches O'er dark Dun-an-oir, And Ennismare's maid By the dark, gloomy wave With her clear voice did mourn The fall of the brave. On stormy Slieve Mish Spread the cry far and wide, From steeply Finnaleun The wild eagle replied. 'Mong the Reeks, like the Thunder peal's echoing rout, It burst--and deep moaning Bright Brandon gives out, Oh Chief! whose example On soft-minded youth Like the signet impressed Honour, glory, and truth. The youth who once grieved If unnoticed passed by, Now deplore thee in silence With sorrow-dimmed eye, O! woman of tears, Who, with musical hands, From your bright golden hair Hath combed out the long bands, Let those golden strings loose, Speak your thoughts--let your mind Fling abroad its full light, Like a torch to the wind." In fiction no writer has, I think, dealt more freely with the subject of the Banshee than Thomas Crofton Croker, the translator of the abovementioned elegy. In his "Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland," he gives the most inimitable accounts of it; and for the benefit of those of my readers who are unacquainted with his works, as well as for the purpose of presenting the Banshee as seen by such an unrivalled portrayer of Irish ghost and fairy lore, I will give a brief résumé of two of his stories.