THEIR HEIGHT, FORM, AND STRENGTH. 57 



carried on in any part of Christendom during five 

 generations. The raw material out of which a good 

 army may be formed existed in great abundance 

 among the Irish. D'Avaux informed his Govern- 

 ment that they were a remarkably handsome,* tall, 

 find well-made race ; that they were personally brave. 

 After extolling their strength and spirit, he pro- 

 ceeded to explain why it was that, with all their 

 strength and spirit, they were constantly beaten. 

 ' It was vain,' he said, ' to imagine that bodily 

 prowess, animal courage, or patriotic enthusiasm 

 would, in the day of battle, supply the place of dis- 

 cipline.' . . . But the horse were, with some 

 exceptions, excellent. Some regiments had been 

 raised and disciplined equal to any that he had ever 

 seen. One of Lauzun's officers was so unjust as to 

 represent the people of Ireland, not merely as ignor- 

 ant and idle, which they were, but as hopelessly 

 stupid and unfeeling, which they were not. They 

 were insensible to praise or blame, to promises and 

 threats. And yet it was a pity of them : for they 

 were physically ' the finest race of men in the 



* " Les plus beaux hommes qu'on puisse voir. II n'y en a 

 presque point au (lessons de cinq pieds cinq a six pouces (fran- 

 cais). 11s sont tres-bien faits. Jamais troupes n'ont marche 

 cjmmej3elles-ci." D'Avaux. 



tDesgrigny to Louvois, May 27, 1690, quoted byMacaulay, 

 who gives such French passages as, ' ' Les menaces ne les 

 etonnent point. Ce sont les gens du monde les mieux faits." 



