nguage which,
as an English scholar says, "has been blossoming there unseen, like a
hidden garland of roses; and whenever the wind has blown from the west,
English poetry has felt the vague perfume of it."

Chapter XVIII. Limavady love-letters.

'As beautiful Kitty one morning was tripping
With a pitcher of milk from the fair of Coleraine,
When she saw me she stumbled, the pitcher it tumbled,
And all the sweet buttermilk watered the plain.'
Anonymous.

We wanted to cross to Rathlin Island, which is 'like an Irish stockinge,
the toe of which pointeth to the main lande.' That would bring Francesca
six miles nearer to Scotland and her Scottish lover; and we wished to
see the castle of Robert the Bruce, where, according to the legend, he
learned his lesson from the 'six times baffled spider.' We delayed too
long, however, and the Sea of Moyle looked as bleak and stormy as it did
to the children of Lir. We had no mind to be swallowed up in Brecain's
Caldron, where the grandson of Niall and the Nine Hostages sank with
his fifty curraghs, so we took a day of golf at the Ballycastle links.
Salemina, who is a neophyte, found a forlorn lady driving and putting
about by herself, and they made a match just to increase the interest of
the game. There was but one boy in evidence, and the versatile Benella
offered to caddie for them, leaving the more experienced gossoon to
Francesca and me. The Irish caddie does not, on the whole, perhaps
manifest so keen an interest in the fine points of the game as his
Scottish brother. He is somewhat languid in his search for a ball, and
will occasionally, when serving amiable ladies, sit under a tree in the
sun and speculate as to its whereabouts. As for staying by you while
you 'hole out' on your last green, he has no possible interest in that
proceeding, and is off and away, giving his perfunctory and half-hearted
polish to your clubs while you are passing through this thrilling
crisis. Salemina, wishing to know what was considered a good score by
local players on these links, asked our young friend 'what they got
round in, here,' and was answered, 'They tries to go round in as few as
possible, ma'am, but they mostly takes more!' We all came together again
at luncheon, and Salemina returned flushed with victory. She had made
the nine hole course in one hundred and sixty, and had beaten her
adversary five up and four to play