ed
application necessary for the purpose of bringing out the really
great intellectual powers with which he was endowed; otherwise, he
would certainly have left to Ireland a large body of literature which
would have been the delight of old and young. But in this volume he
has given at least an indication of what he was capable of doing
towards that end. No one can read these pages without feeling the
charm of a fine and delicate fancy, a rare power of poetic expression,
and a genuinely Irish instinct; without feeling also an intense regret
that the mind and heart from which they proceeded were stilled in
death long before the powers of his genius could have been exhausted.

To myself, as one of the most intimate friends of Edmund Leamy, it is
a melancholy pleasure to have the privilege of writing these few words
of introduction to a volume which, for the purpose of preserving his
memory amongst his countrymen, needs no introduction at all. The
claims of a long friendship, the knowledge of as stainless a life as
has ever been lived, and admiration for moral and intellectual
endowments of the rarest character, render it easy to praise. But I do
not think that I indulge in undue expectation in predicting that the
new audience to which this volume will come will rise from its perusal
with something of the feelings of love, admiration, and regret which
those who knew Edmund Leamy personally will ever cherish in their
hearts.

J. E. REDMOND.

DUBLIN, _June 2nd, 1906_.

NOTE.

When the friends of the late Edmund Leamy were considering ways of
honouring his memory they agreed that one way should be to republish
this little book of Irish fairy tales. They knew that nothing would
have been more grateful to himself, and that, in a manner, it would be
an act of justice to his remarkable gifts. It would introduce a
characteristic specimen of Leamy's work to a race of readers who have
appeared since it was written and who ought to be in a mood more
appreciative of such literature than the mood which prevailed in that
day. For the book has long been out of print. These "Irish Fairy
Tales" were written, and printed on Irish paper, and published through
an Irish publisher--Leamy would not bring out a book in any other
way--before the Celtic renaissance had arrived. This is one of the
facts which make them interesting. Perhaps, as some would tell us,
seventeen years ago was