Táid gadaiḋniġe na háite seo ag eirgeaḋ go ṁór Fa ċnotaḋa is fa hairbag gan traċt as bhúclaḋa brog Da mairḟeaḋ damsa an iar-uṁaill do ḋeanfuinn díobh cianach Muna mbeiḋ gur ṫagair dia ḋam bheiṫ a gciantaibh fa bhron. Dá mbeiḋ Padruig Lochlainn ma iarla air iar-uṁaill go foil Brian Dubh a chliaṁain na ṫighearna ar ḋuṁach-ṁoir Aoḋ dubh mac Griada ’na choirnel a gCliara Is ann niu bheiḋ mo ṫriallsa go condae Mhaigheo. * * * * * CAMEO-CUTTING.--This art is of great antiquity, and is pursued with most success in Rome, where there are several very eminent artists now living. Cameos are of two descriptions, those cut in stone, or _pietra dura_, and those cut in shell. Of the first, the value depends on the stone, as well as in the excellence of the work. The stones most prized now are the oriental onyx and the sardonyx, the former black and white in parallel layers, the latter cornelian, brown and white; and when stones of four or five layers of distinct shades or colours can be procured, the value is proportionably raised, provided always that the layers be so thin as to be manageable in cutting the cameo so as to make the various parts harmonize. For example, in a head of Minerva, if well wrought out of a stone of four shades, the ground should be dark grey, the face light, the bust and helmet black, and the crest over the helmet brownish or grey. Next to such varieties of shades and layers, those stones are valuable in which two layers occur of black and white of regular breadth. Except on such oriental stones no good artist will now bestow his time; but, till the beginning of this century, less attention was bestowed on materials, so that beautiful middle-age and modern cameos may be found on German agates, whose colours are generally only two shades of grey, or a cream and a milk-white, and these not unfrequently cloudy. The best artist in Rome in _pietra dura_ is the Signor Girometti, who has executed eight cameos of various sizes, from 1½ to 3½ inches in diameter, on picked stones of several layers, the subjects being from the antique. These form a set of specimens, for which he asks £3,000 sterling. A single cameo of good brooch size, and of two colours, costs £22. Portraits in stone by those excellent artists Diez and Saulini may be had for £10. These cameos are all wrought by a lathe with pointed instruments of steel, and by means of diamond dust.