They laboured incessantly to elevate the morals, the literature, the taste, passions, genius, intellect and heart of the country to the sublime eminence of a free destiny.

Far the foremost man in urging and encouraging this glorious endeavour was Thomas Davis.

From sources the most extraordinary, and the least known, there welled forth abundant and seductive inspiration.

He struck living fire from inert wayside stones.

To him the meanest rill, the rugged mountain, the barren waste, the rudest fragment of barbaric history, spoke the language of elevation, harmony and hope.