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
sword and target, and sometimes his piece, being commonly so good
marksmen, as they will come within a score of a great cartele. The
fourth degree is a _gallowglass_, using a kind of poll-axe for
his weapon, strong, robust men, chiefly feeding on beef, pork, and
butter. The fifth degree is to be a horseman, which is the {40}
chiefest, next to the lord and captain. These horsemen, when they
have no stay of their own, gad and range from house to house, and
never dismount till they ride into the hall, and as far as the
tables."
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