fosterer, if he gives four cows, receives likewise four, and has,
while the child continues with him, grass for eight without rent,
with half the calves, and all the milk, for which he pays only four
cows, when he dismisses his _dalt_, for that is the name for a
fostered child.--_Johnson's Journey_.

* * * * *




THE IRISH PEOPLE.


Holinshed, speaking of the Irish, observes:--"Greedy of praise they
be, and fearful of dishonour; and to this end they esteem their
poets, who write Irish learnedly, and pen their sonnets heroical,
for the which they are bountifully rewarded; if not, they send out
libels in dispraise, whereof the lords and gentlemen stand in great
awe. They love tenderly their foster children, and bequeath to them
a child's fortune, whereby they nourish sure friendship,--so
beneficent every way, that commonly 500 cows and better are given in
reward to win a nobleman's child to foster; they love and trust
their foster children more than their own. Proud they are of long
crisped bushes of hair, which they term _libs_. They observe
divers degrees, according to which each man is regarded. The basest
sort among them are little young wasps, called _daltins_: these
are lacqueys, and are serviceable to the grooms, or horseboys, who
are a degree above the daltins. The third degree is the
_kaerne_, which is an ordinary soldier, using for weapon his