Until Tudor times, as has been noted, there cannot be said to have been in any strict sense an English policy in Ireland; there was only a scuffle of appetites.

In so far as there was a policy it consisted of sporadic murder for the one half, and for the other of an attempt to prevent all intercourse that might lead to amalgamation between the two peoples.

The Statute of Kilkenny--which is, all things considered, more important than the Kilkenny cats though not so well known in England--made it a capital offence for a settler to marry an Irishwoman or to adopt the Irish language, law, or costume.

The Act no doubt provided a good many ruffians with legal and even ecclesiastical fig-leaves with which to cover their ruffianism, and promoted among the garrison such laudable objects as rape and assassination.

But as a breakwater between the two races it did not fulfil expectation.