INTRODUCTION. IX 



Other agencies by which the complicated social machinery 

 of Ireland is at present conducted, it is interesting 

 to look back to this time, such a little while ago, when the 

 only people of any importance were the landlord, the 

 priest, and (in a lesser degree) the excise officer. The 

 tribal picture presented in the book is definite and 

 complete. Within and around the residence of the 

 landlord was collected a host of dependents and hangers- 

 on, some with duties and some with none, but all 

 apparently with privileges ; all dependent directly 

 on the landlord for shelter, food and drink, game, the 

 produce of lakes, rivers and the sea, and illicitly dis- 

 tilled whiskey. 



It must have been a happy life for them. They lived, 

 as their landlords lived, in a world of perpetual sport ; 

 when there had been a great kill there was a great feast, 

 and when there was a great feast there was a great 

 carouse. The successful running of a smuggled 

 cargo of French brandy was the occasion of jubilation 

 throughout the entire countryside, in which the magis- 

 trate landlord took part. And on the days when the 

 weather was too severe for outdoor sport the turf was 

 piled high on the hearth, fishing-rods and guns were 

 brought out and cleaned, and the whole energies of the 

 tribe given up to the overhaul of sporting apparatus 

 of every kind. 



A social condition existed which certainly would not 

 appeal to the moralist or economist of the present day, 

 but on the whole the people were happy and contented 



