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ADVERTISEMENT.

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For the information of some readers, it may be
necessary to state, that the language spoken by the
Presbyterians of Ulster, the class of Irishmen to which
the character, with whose adventures the following
tale commences, belonged, is, with some slight shades
of difference, the same as that of the Lowlands of
Scotland. Those acquainted with the latter, will
easily perceive, that any difference which exists between
the two dialects, lies more in the turn of the
expression, than in the pronunciation of the words,
although even in this last respect, there is an occasional
variation.

But it is not in their speech alone, that the Presbyterians
of Ulster display their affinity to their Scottish
ancestors. Their manners, feelings, views of propriety,
habits of industry, and their religious rites
and opinions, are similar, or differ only in as slight a
degree as their dialects. These circumstances render
them a distinct people from the inhabitants of the
other provinces of the Island, who are chiefly Catholics,
accustomed to speak the vernacular language,
and are emphatically called the native Irish. It has
been almost entirely, from among the latter, that any
picture of the Irish character, that has yet been given
in works of fancy, has been taken. But, however
rare the attempt to paint the manners of the Ulster
peasantry may be, in this work, fidelity to truth and
nature, required it; for the character who here represents
them is any thing but fictitious; and it is hoped
that as he represents a class of mankind, which, at
this day, forms a very large portion of the population
of the British Islands, being scarcely less numerous
than the whole of the inhabitants of Scotland, his
humble story, interwoven as it is with that of more
important personages, will not be found uninstructive
nor uninteresting.

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A WORD TO THE READER.

[figure description] Preface iii.[end figure description]

MY FRIEND,

There is nothing easier than to write a
preface to a work of which one knows the
contents. It is not, therefore, the difficulty
of doing it, that prevents me from giving
you one to the following history;—it is,
because I know that prefaces to such works
are seldom or never read; and I am unwilling
to write what would run such a manifest
hazard of being treated with neglect.

I offer this as an apology for not prefixing
to this book, according to custom, half a
dozen pages of useless matter, like a
clumsy, ostentatious vestibule to a house
that would be more easily entered without
one.

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While we are together, my friend, I shall
take the opportunity of whispering in your
ear, that the best way to become interested,
as I am extremely desirous you should,
in the following tale, is to believe every
word of it to be true. Permit me also, before
we part, to satisfy a little harmless curiosity,
which, if you do become so interested,
you will naturally feel to know who
I am, to inform you, under the stipulation
of profound secrecy, that I am by profession
a book-worm, and by name,