Excerpt from Irish Life and Character The face of Ireland, as seen in these pages, is always puckered with a smile. I think I have shown that the world-wide reputation for humour, conscious and unconscious, which the Irish people enjoy is well founded. But I should be dis appointed if the book were regarded simply as a collection of droll stories. I hope it will lead to a better understanding by other nationalities of the characteristics of the Irish race; to a wider recognition and appreciation of their many good qualities, to a kindlier tolerance of their faults and follies, which are mainly due to the chequered history of the race, - to the wayward circumstances of their unhappy past. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.