only for their valor in war, but for their purity of life. It was not till I had faithfully explored the interior and southern coast, that the early history of this people had been much studied; as my object then, was to see them as they are found in the nineteenth century, without investigating particularly their age or pedigree. In my later excursions facts so startled and convinced me that their pretensions to former prosperity and greatness were not fabulous, that I regretted for my supineness on the subject; for I found by well authenticated history, that the common saying among the peasantry that Ireland was once "a land of saints," was founded in more truth than her enemies or even friends are ready to acknowledge; and the belief is quite confirmed in my mind, that when searching for truth concerning a nation "scattered and peeled," as the Irish have been, the true ore can better be found in the unpolished rubbish, in the traditions of a rude nation, retained from age to age, than among the polished gems of polite literature, written to please rather than instruct, and to pull down rather than build up.
It has never been my lot to meet with a straight-forward, impartial, real matter-of-fact work, written on that devoted country, till since the famine commenced. It has been suggested that an Irishman could not write an impartial book on his country, and an Englishman or Scotchman would not.
The last three years have abundantly proved, that there are many Englishmen, who can not only feel, but act for that poor despised island, who would rejoice
