‘Because you,’ continued the holy man, ‘have violated the sanctity of the place consecrated to God, you and your race shall wander homeless vagabonds, and your devoted heads, as a sign and a warning to future times, shall abide the pelting of every storm, and the severity of every changing season, unprotected by the defence which nature has bestowed upon all men, till your name and race be faded from the land.’ At this wrathful denunciation the terrified man falls prostrate to deprecate the fearful malediction, and awakes with a cry of terror which alarms the listeners. As he proceeds to reveal the terrible vision which his sleeping eyes beheld, the crash of thunder, the flash of lightning, and the sweep of the whirlwind, envelope them. As the day dawns, they are found senseless, at a considerable distance from the spot where they had lain the preceding night to guard the fatal tree. The thorn had likewise disappeared; and, strange to relate, the raven hair which clustered in long ringlets, that any wearer of the ancient _coolin_ might well have envied, no longer adorns their manly heads. The fierce whirlwind, that in mockery of human daring had tossed them, like the stubble of the field, had realized the dream of the sleeper, and borne off their long profuse hair in its vengeful sweep.” Such was the narrative of the last representative of the “Bald Barrys.” I bequeath it to the reader without note or comment. He of course will regard it according to his particular bias--will wonder how an imaginative people will attribute the downfall of families, or the entailment of hereditary disease, to the effect of supernatural intervention; or exclaim, as some very pious and moral men have done, that “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” E. W. [3] Dr Smith, in his History of the County of Cork, thus mentions Colonel Barry:--“The town of Rathcormack also belongs to this gentleman, who is descended from an ancient branch of the Barry family, commonly called M’Adam, who have been seated here 500 years, and formerly sat in parliament; particularly David de Barry of Rathcormack, who sat in the upper house, in a parliament held 30th Edward I., 1302. South of Rathcormack is a fair stone bridge over the _Bride_, upon which is this inscription,--‘The foundation of this bridge was laid June 22, 1734; Colonel Redmund Barry, Jonas Devonshire, and James Barry, gentlemen, being overseers thereof.’” * * * * *