Beyond the Pale, from The Statutes of Kilkenny

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And if any English, or Irish living amongst the English, use the Irish language amongst themselves, contrary to this ordinance, and thereof be attainted, his lands and tenements, if he have any, shall be seized into the hands of his immediate lord; until he shall come to one of the places of our lord the king, and find sufficient surety to adopt and use the English language, and then he shall have restitution of his said lands, by writ issued out of said places. In case that such person shall not have lands or tenements, his body shall be taken by any of the officers of our lord the king, and committed to the next gaol, there to remain until he, or some other in his name, shall find surety in the manner aforesaid.

And that no Englishman who shall have the value of one hundred pounds of land or of rent by the year, shall ride otherwise than on a saddle in the English fashion; and he that shall do to the contrary, and shall be thereof attainted, his horse shall be forfeited to our lord the king, and his body shall be committed to prison, until he pay a fine according to the king’s pleasure for the contempt aforesaid.

from The Statutes of Kilkenny 1366

abridged

Abridged from ‘A Statute of the Fortieth Year of King Edward III’ (1843) by James Hardiman (1782–1855), also known as Séamus Ó hArgadáin, a librarian at Queen’s College, Galway.

Précis

The Statutes stipulated than any man of property caught speaking Irish would see his lands confiscated until he had guaranteed his reformation, in English, before a court; lesser men would spend time in gaol. Any man of substance who rode Irish-style would forfeit his horse altogether, and be gaoled until he could satisfy the magistrates in the same manner.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Précis

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