“Dull, even at times ungrammatical, from a perusal of its pages we do get a very clear idea of the terrible extent to which legal chicanery was used by English officials to enrich themselves and their friends during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.”—Irish Times.
“For a full account one should read that epic of chicanery, Mr. Healy’s ‘Stolen Waters’.”—The New Witness.
“Mr. Healy has thrown some new light on an obscure and devious by-path of Irish history.... The book is not pleasant reading, but it illuminates the manner in which the English aristocracy has ‘governed’ Ireland.”—Evening Post (New York).
“A book which, founded though it is upon official records, will challenge for rascality the most daring flights of fiction.... The story is quite as thrilling as anything could be.... One of the most readable books of our time.—Sydney Freeman’s Journal.
“A monument to the extraordinary industry of Mr. Healy, and the time and labour expended in the compilation.... Whether his law is good or bad, affects not in the least the interest of his book, which is full of fascinating details of Irish History.”—Irish Law Times.
“We hope that it will be read, because the roots of many persistent troubles in Ireland will never be understood until it is realised that the cruelties committed under Elizabeth were accompanied—and to a great degree followed in the next reign—by very clever and systematic frauds upon the old inhabitants.”—Saturday Review.
“The intrigues of past times, which are full of incident and romance, written in such a way, make it a book to read carefully, especially if one wants to understand the difficulties of Irish history.”—Scottish Historical Review.
“An interesting historical study which has its amusing sides.”—New York Sun.
“The author gives his authorities for every charge he brings.... The hammer-like blows with which he clinches his statements are wearying to a reader not as much absorbed as himself. But those who have the patience to keep up with his argument ... will get many new lights on the Tudor and Stuart period of Irish history. Especially clear is the story of how the O’Neills were driven from Ulster.”—American Historical Review.
“This masterly volume of 500 pages ... sheds a luminous light on the uses of legal machinery in the robbery of the Irish people. Mr. Healy has the knowledge and ability to enrich his argument with a vast amount of incidental information.”—America.