"...an irritable, overhearing magistrate, a greedy landlord and an unprincipled father.... He was a stern, hard, cruel man, with no sympathy for any one and was actuated by the most superlative contempt for the poor, from whom he drew his whole income. He was a clever clearheaded, avaricious man; and he knew that the only means of keeping the poor in their present utterly helpless and dependent state, was to deny them education, and to oppose every scheme for their improvement and welfare." - The Macdermots of Ballycloran