Produced by Bruce Albrecht and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: Andy Icing Champagne] The Collected Writings of SAMUEL LOVER TREASURE TROVE EDITION In Ten Volumes Volume Three THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF SAMUEL LOVER HANDY ANDY A Tale of Irish Life IN TWO VOLUMES--VOLUME ONE BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY _MDCCCCIII_ Copyright, 1901, by Little, Brown, & Co. UNIVERSITY PRESS JOHN WILSON AND SON CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. ADDRESS I have been accused in certain quarters, of giving flattering portraits of my countrymen. Against this charge I may plead that, being a portrait-painter by profession, the habit of taking the best view of my subject, so long prevalent in my eye, has gone deeper, and influenced my mind:--and if to paint one's country in its gracious aspect has been a weakness, at least, to use the words of an illustrious compatriot, "--the failing leans to virtue's side." I am disinclined, however, to believe myself an offender in this particular. That I love my country dearly I acknowledge, and I am sure every Englishman will respect me the more for loving _mine_, when he is, with justice, proud of _his_--but I repeat my disbelief that I overrate my own. The present volume, I hope, will disarm any cavil from old quarters on the score of national prejudice. The hero is a blundering fellow whom no English or other gentleman would like to have in his service; but still he has some redeeming natural traits: he is not made either a brute or a villain; yet his "twelve months' character," given in the successive numbers of this volume, would not get him a place upon advertisement either in "The Times" or "The Chronicle." So far am I clear of the charge of national prejudice as regards the hero of the following pages. In the subordinate personages, the reader will see two "Squires" of different types--good and bad; there are such in all countries. And, as a tale cannot get on without villains, I have given some touches of villainy, quite sufficient to prove my belief in Irish villains, though I do not wish it to be believed that the Irish are _all villains_. I confess I have attempted a slight sketch, in one of the persons represented, of a gentleman and a patriot;--and I conceive there is a strong relationship between the two. He loves the land that bore him--and so did most of the great spirits recorded in history. His own mental cultivation, while it yields him personal enjoyment, teaches him not to treat with contumely inferior men. Though he has courage to protect his honour, he is not deficient in conscience to feel for the consequences; and when opportunity offers the means of _amende_, it is embraced. In a word, I wish it to be believed that, while there are knaves, and fools, and villains in Ireland,--as in other parts of the world,--honest, intelligent, and noble spirits are there also.