retail conversations, with all the minute prolixity of a gossip in a
country town.

The author of the following Memoirs has upon these grounds fair claims
to the public favour and attention; he was an illiterate old steward,
whose partiality to _the family_, in which he was bred and born, must
be obvious to the reader. He tells the history of the Rackrent family
in his vernacular idiom, and in the full confidence that Sir Patrick,
Sir Murtagh, Sir Kit, and Sir Condy Rackrent's affairs will be as
interesting to all the world as they were to himself. Those who were
acquainted with the manners of a certain class of the gentry of Ireland
some years ago, will want no evidence of the truth of honest Thady's
narrative: to those who are totally unacquainted with Ireland, the
following Memoirs will perhaps be scarcely intelligible, or probably
they may appear perfectly incredible. For the information of the
_ignorant_ English reader, a few notes have been subjoined by the
editor, and he had it once in contemplation to translate the language
of Thady into plain English; but Thady's idiom is incapable of
translation, and, besides, the authenticity of his story would have
been more exposed to doubt if it were not told in his own
characteristic manner. Several years ago he related to the editor the
history of the Rackrent family, and it was with some difficulty that he
was persuaded to have it committed to writing; however, his feelings
for "_the honour of the family_," as he expressed himself, prevailed
over his habitual laziness, and he at length completed the narrative
which is now aid before the public.

The editor hopes his readers will observe that these are "tales of other
times:" that the manners depicted in the following pages are not those
of the present age: the race of the Rackrents has long since been