The character and doings of Mr. Plunkett, the landowner's agent, and the condition of country-side life in Ireland as described in this book, give a very fair picture of what happened when that country was passing through one of its often recurring periods of trouble between the landowners and the peasant classes.

The author contrives very skilfully to show both sides of the question which has led to Ireland's troubles, and leaves the reader with the impression, which is doubtless a true one, that sympathetic acquaintance with the people on the part of the agents and landowners, and greater and fuller knowledge of their aims on the part of the peasant farming classes, would have prevented many distressing outbreaks such as are related in this story.

C. W.