But much the greater part was still held by English emigrants under the guarantee of an Act of Parliament.

This act had been in force a quarter of a century; and under it mortgages, settlements, sales, and leases without number had been made.

The old Irish gentry were scattered over the whole world.

Descendants of Milesian chieftains swarmed in all the courts and camps of the Continent.

Those despoiled proprietors who still remained in their native land, brooded gloomily over their losses, pined for the opulence and dignity of which they had been deprived, and cherished wild hopes of another revolution.