this topic, I come now to one of not less importance
as being connected with the other,--the condition and character of the
peasantry of Ireland.

It maybe necessary, however, before entering upon this topic, to give
my readers some satisfactory assurance that the subject is one which
I ought well to understand, not only from my humble position in early
life, and my uninterrupted intercourse with the people as one of
themselves, until I had reached the age of twenty-two years, but from
the fact of having bestowed upon it my undivided and most earnest
attention ever since I left the dark mountains and green vales of my
native Tyrone, and began to examine human life and manners as a citizen
of the world. As it is admitted, also, that there exists no people whose
character is so anomalous as that of the Irish, and consequently so
difficult to be understood, especially by strangers, it becomes a
still more appropriate duty on my part to give to the public, proofs
sufficiently valid, that I come to a subject of such difficulty with
unusual advantages on my side, and that, consequently, my exhibitions of
Irish peasant life, in its most comprehensive sense, may be relied on
as truthful and authentic. For this purpose, it will be necessary that
I should give a brief sketch of my own youth, early station in society,
and general education, as the son of an honest, humble peasant.

My father, indeed, was a very humble man, but, in consequence of his
unaffected piety and stainless integrity of principle, he was held in
high esteem by all who knew him, no matter what their rank in life might
be. When the state of education in Ireland during his youth and that of
my mother is considered, it will not be a matter of surprise that what
they did receive was very limited. It would be difficult, however, if
not impossible, to find two persons in their lowly station so highly
and singularly gifted. My father possessed a memory not merely great or
surprising, but absolutely astonishing. He could repeat nearly the whole
of the Old and New Testament by heart, and was, besides, a living index
to almost every chapter and verse you might wish to find in it. In all
other respects, too, his memory was equally amazing. My native place
is a spot rife with old legends, tales, traditions, customs, and
superstitions; so that in my early youth, even beyond the walls of
my own humble roof, they met me in every direction. It was at home,
however, and from