The trial scene near the end of the book is well done; Trollope excelled in trial scenes, particularly in _Orley Farm_ and _Phineas Redux_. When he introduces Mr. Allewinde, he shows us his frustration in attempting to examine Pat Brady, a reluctant witness whose literal responses remind today's reader of "Who's on First?" The most successful comic interlude is that of the duel between Jonas Brown and Counsellor Webb, two of the three magistrates who hear the case of Thady Macdermot and differ on the question of his guilt. When he receives a response to his challenge, Mr. Brown's two sons comfort him by telling him not to worry about his legs because Webb will fire high. "The shoulder's the spot," unless he takes him on the head--"which wouldn't be so pleasant," and he'd rather take his chances with a chap that fired low. The other brother disagrees. "The low shot's the death-shot. Why, man, if you did catch a ball in the head, you'd get over it--if it was in the mouth, or cheek, or neck, or anywhere but the temple; but your body's all over tender bits. May heaven always keep lead out of my bowels--I'd sooner have it in my brains." As luck would have it, Brown catches a ball in the seat of his pants, causing a bloody and inconvenient wound about an eighth of an inch deep. This is the closest thing to a happy ending in the book. This reviewer's recommendation: Read the review. Skip the book. THE IRISH AS OTHERS SEE THEM THE KELLYS AND THE O'KELLYS If you live in an age of political incorrectness, you may as well take advantage of it. So Anthony Trollope might have told himself, had he enjoyed the advantage of looking into the future to our present age of political correctness. _The Kellys and the O'Kellys_ would not survive the scrutiny of present standards. "Faix, I b'lieve his chief failing at present's fur sthrong dhrink!" Transcription of the Irish forms of speech warns the present day reader to be wary; this is something that may be unfair to the Irish. Uncle Remus fell victim to such concerns and disappeared from view in 1986 when Disney removed _Song of the South_ from circulation, and the glimpses of the subservient blacks that we have in older films indicate that those who use language in a distinctive way can be vulnerable to being presented in a demeaning fashion. Of course these were not the concerns of a fledgling nineteenth century English writer who had spent five years in Ireland with the postal service. One would suspect that the intended target audience resided in England, not in Ireland. (This, his second novel, did not sell well anywhere.) Features of Irish life are described to inform the reading public in England, and those who did read it were surely entertained as well. The description of an Irish kitchen is accompanied, in the Folio Edition, by a full-page pen-and-ink drawing which features a pig, two chickens, and two ragged old men sitting on the floor, all of whom are described in detail.