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PREFACE.
Those who are quick to read between the lines will imagine that they have in this story an ingenious satire upon the Grand Old Man, and his attempt to effect the separation of England and Ireland. I do not think Halek had Mr. Gladstone in mind when he wrote it, because he died some ten years before that great statesman’s last conversion, perversion, new departure, or whatever you choose to call it. But truth is eternal, and fits all cases.
The Translator.
