Wellwellwell - now HERE we have a recruiting sergeant!! But were'nt these ladies protected or their 'contracts' insured at all? It seems to have been quite easy for the lads to escape later: simply "being unwilling to cross the raging sea" was enough in this case. Mind you, wasn't as little as touching a coin considered a legally binding enlisting?

Then, I'm pretty convinced that I hear Maire Brennan sing (on Clannad's Fuaim) "... four crowns upon the table ...". (btw, how does that sum relate to the fivers and sovereigns mentioned, any traces of inflation, perhaps???:)

AKS