The flag on the Castle of Dublin was embroidered with the words, "Now or never: now and for ever:" and those words resounded through the whole island, [148] Never in modern Europe has there been such a rising up of a whole people.

The habits of the Celtic peasant were such that he made no sacrifice in quitting his potatoe ground for the camp.

He loved excitement and adventure.

He feared work far more than danger.
His national and religious feelings had, during three years, been exasperated by the constant application of stimulants.

At every fair and market he had heard that a good time was at hand, that the tyrants who spoke Saxon and lived in slated houses were about to be swept away, and that the land would again belong to its own children.