Half hours with Irish authors

Preface

N the following extracts from the works of the ablest and best known Irish novelists of the present century, we have endeavored, while giving variety to the selections, to afford the reader an insight into the many-sided character of the people in the several sections of Ireland. Each of the writers put under contribution thoroughly understood the peculiarities, idiosyncrasies, modes of thought, and forms of expression of his countrymen, but mainly so far as he had studied them in his own particular district or province. Hence the Munster peasant of Griffin, and the northern cottier of Carleton, are as different from each other, and from the Leinster wag sketched by Lover, and the rollicking Connaught soldier of Charles Lever, as if they did not belong to the same age and nation ; yet ail are drawn true to nature, and, locally, with the greatest fidelity.

The numerous works of these authors have

4 Preface.

long since been republished, and are still extensively read in this country, and we trust that our present volume, while affording Half-Hours' amusement to the public, will further stimulate the popular desire for a more intimate acquaintance with their larger and highly elaborate productions.

New York, October, 1872.