These essays explore what it meant to be a Protestant living in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Ireland. These Protestants are shown responding to an environment, sometimes hostile, but also full of potential. Often, they behaved ruthlessly and quirkily, eager to secure prosperity and security for themselves and their kindred. However, more unexpected aspects of their lives, with their pleasures, are recovered. The studies, by looking closely at their experiences, question many of the clich s regarding the Irish Protestant ascendancy.