and on his fingers rings of gold so large that an ordinary man might
creep through them. The spot was so exactly described that two persons
actually went in quest of the garden treasure. After they had dug for
some time, they discovered two thin pieces of gold, circular, and more
than two inches in diameter. But when they renewed their excavations
on the following morning they found nothing more. The song of the
harper has been identified as "Moiva Borb," and the lines which
suggested the remarkable discovery have been translated thus:

In earth, beside the loud cascade,
The son of Sora's king we laid;
And on each finger placed a ring
Of gold, by mandate of our king.

The loud cascade was the well-known waterfall at Ballyshannon, known
as "The Salmon Leap" now.

[Illustration: THERE CAME IN AN OLD IRISH HARPER AND SANG AN
ANCIENT SONG TO HIS HARP.]

It was also a common occurrence for a miser to hide away his hoards
underground, and before he had an opportunity of making known their
whereabouts he died, without his heirs being put in the necessary
possession of the information regarding that part of the earth wherein
he had kept secreted his wealth. At different times, in old houses
have been discovered misers' hoards, and which, but for some accident,
would have remained buried in their forgotten resting-place. This
will frequently account for money being found in the most eccentric
nooks, an illustration of which happened a few years ago in Paris,
when a miser died, leaving behind him, as was supposed, money to the
value of sixty pounds. After some months had passed by, the claimant
to the property made his appearance, and, on the miser's apartments
being thoroughly searched, no small astonishment was caused by the
discovery of the large sum of thirty-two thousand pounds. It may be
noted that in former years our forefathers were extremely fond of
hiding away their money for safety, making use of the chimney, or the
wainscot or skirting-board. There it frequently remained; and such
depositories of the family wealth were occasionally, from death and
other causes, completely forgotten. In one of Hogarth's well-known
pictures, the young spendthrift, who has just come into his
inheritance, is being measured by a fashionable tailor, when, from
behind the panels which the builders are ripping down, is seen falling
a perfect shower of golden money.

There can be no doubt that there is many an old hous