My host was the chief of one of the fierce factions of county Waterford, and bore many a mark of desperate fray.

I do not remember having met any man, before or since, who felt so acutely the fate of the country.

He procured the best fare he could, and prepared my bed with his own hands.

After I retired to rest, he continued pacing the room for several hours, sometimes sighing deeply, sometimes muttering curses between his clenched teeth, and sometimes suggesting plans which he thought might be even then available and efficient to redeem the past.

These plans were all of a character more or less desperate; but some were exceedingly ingenious.