I have travelled all over Ireland, closely as few other men can have done, and have never had my portmanteau robbed or my pocket picked.

At hotels I have seldom locked up my belongings, and my carelessness has never been punished.

I doubt whether as much can be said for English inns.
Irish novels were once popular enough.

But there is a fashion in novels, as there is in colours and petticoats; and now I fear they are drugs in the market.

It is hard to say why a good story should not have a fair chance of success whatever may be its bent; why it should not be reckoned to be good by its own intrinsic merits alone; but such is by no means the case.