56 THE IRISH PEOPLE. 



the city of Gal way, wrote : " The most malignant 

 calumniator of the Irish never denied their fame in 

 war ; to produce more arguments in defence of their 

 martial fame would be only holding up a candle to 

 show the mid-day sun. So invincible were the Irish 

 down even to our own day, that, as John Wadding 

 writes in his History of Ireland, in all the victories 

 won by the Irish, their success was solely attribut- 

 able, under God, to their own soldiers'; and all the 

 victories of the English were due to the revolt of 

 some of the Irish, and to Irish auxiliaries of the 

 English." 



42. About the year 1672, the successful under- 

 taker, Sir William Petty, wrote of the Irishmen : 

 " For their shape, colour, stature, and complexion, I 

 see nothing inferior to any other people, nor any 

 enormous predominance of any humour." 



43. In 1690, D'Avaux and Desgrigny, two French- 

 men, testify to the fine physical form of the Irish. 

 Lord Macaulay says: "The (Irish) army which 

 Tyrconnell had formed was, in proportion to the 

 population from which it was taken, the largest that 

 Europe had ever seen. It was the fashion both in 

 England and on the Continent to ascribe these de- 

 feats and disgraces to the pusillanimity of the Irish 

 race. That this was a great error is sufficiently 

 proved by the history of every war which has been 



