Preface and Chapter I
Early days - A royal visit to Ireland in 1821: Grattan's witticism - A maid for a dog - A
disciple of Isaak Walton as preceptor - Sheridan Le Fanu's youthful verses and relaxations
- A parrot at prayers; and a monkey with the parrot. |
Chapter II
Lord Edward Fitzgerald's dagger - United Irishmen: the Apologia of John Sheares - Doctor
Dobbin's kind deeds - The story of the Ilchester oak - An outlaw sportsman: his narrow
escape and sad ending. |
Chapter III
Faction fights: the Reaskawallahs and Coffeys - Paternal chastisement - A doctor in livery
- I bear the Olive branch - Battles of the buryings - Dead men's shoes - Fairy Doctors:
their patient spoils a coachman's toggery - Superstitions about birds. |
Chapter IV
Good will of the peasantry before 1831 - A valentine - A justice's bulls - A curious sight
indeed - Farms to grow fat on - Some cooks- "What the Dean wears on his legs" -
Blood-thirsty gratitude - Old servants and their theories |
Chapter V
The tithe war of 1831: the troops come to our village - A marked man - "Push on; they
are going to kill ye!" - Not his brother's keeper - Boycotting in the thirties - None
so dead as he looked - Lord Cloncurry's manifesto - A fulfilled prophecy. |
Chapter VI
The pleasures of coaching - I enter at Trinity College, Dublin - A miser Fellow: Anecdotes
about - Whately, Archbishop of Dublin, and his legs - The vocative of cat - Charles
Lever's retort - Courteous to the Bishop. |
Chapter VII
The "Charleys"' life was not a pleasant one - Paddy O'Neill and his rhymes -
"With my rigatooria" - Too far west to wash - On the coast at Kilkee - "
Phaudrig Crohoore" - The Dublin Magazine. |
Chapter VIII
Peasant life after the famine of 1847 - An aged goose - Superstitions and Irish
peculiarities - The worship of Baal - The Blarney stone - The wren boys - The direful
"Wurrum "- A remedy for the chin cough, and doctors' remedies. |
Chapter IX
Mitchelstown remembered - A Night on the Galtees - The weird horse - Killing, or murder? -
The ballad of "Shamus O'Brien" - A letter from Samuel Lover. |
Chapter X
A determined duel - I act the peasant, and am selected for the police force - Death of my
sister - Sketch of my brother's life - Dan O'Connell's "Illustrious Kinsman "- A
murderous Grand Jury - A sad reflection. |
Chapter XI
The power of the people - Sergeant Murphy; his London manners - Pat Costello's humour - I
meet Thackeray - Paddy Blake's echo - Dan O'Connell's imagination - Sir James O'Connell's
anecdotes - He is prayed for by his herd |
Chapter XII
A proselytizing clergyman - Some examples of religious intolerance - An inverse repentance
- The true faith - The railway mania - Famine of 1846 - Mrs. Norton solves a difficulty -
The old Beefsteak Club - A pleasant dinner-party. |
Chapter XIII
Smith O'Brien's rebellion - Louis Philippe's interview with the Queen, as seen by the Boy
Jones - Plain fare and pleasant - Married by mistake - A time for everything - A pagan
altar-piece - Drawing the long-bow - Proof against cross-examination - Fooling the English
- Larceny, or trespass? |
Chapter XIV
Anthony Trollope: his night encounter - A race for life on an engine - Railway adventures
- I become Commissioner of Public Works - Some Irish repartees and ready car-drivers -
Rail against road - No cause for uneasiness |
Chapter XV
Tory Island: its king, customs, and captive - William Dargan: his career and achievements
- Agricultural and Industrial experiments - Bianconi, the carman - Sheridan Knowles: his
absence of mind - Absent-minded gentlemen - Legal complications - Judges and barristers -
Lord Norbury. |
Chapter XVI
Irish bulls - Sayings of Sir Boyle Roche - Plutarch's Lives - A Grand Jury's decision -
Clerical anecdotes and biblical difficulties - A harmless lunatic - Dangerous recruits
-Tom Burke - Some memorials to the Board of Works |
Chapter XVII
Shooting and fishing - Good snipe grounds - Killarney and Powerscourt - My fishing record
- Playing a rock - Salmon flies - Salmon and trout - Grattan's favourites - Hooking a bird
- Fishing anecdotes - Lord Spencer's adventure. |
Chapter XVIII
Illicit stills - Getting a reward - Poteen -- Past and present -Dress and dwellings -
Marriage and language - Material improvement since 1850 |
Chapter XIX
The science of hypnotism - Early experiments and lessons - A drink of cider - I convert
Isaac Butt - All wrong - A dangerous power |
Chapter XX
Catholic emancipation, 1829 - The tithe war of 1832 - The great famine of 1846 - The
Fenian agitation of 1865 - France against England - Land-hunger - Crime and combination -
Last words |
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