people, than perhaps any other medium at present extant, the 

 printed histories and unpublished annals of the country being in 

 those respects lamentably deficient. This position will appear 

 clearly exemplified by the ancient Irish writings, which I now have 

 the honor of laying before the Academy in their original form, 

 accompanied with close English translations.* 



This collection principally consists of deeds and instruments 

 relating to property, and almost entirely belongs to that part of 

 Ireland, anciently called Tuath-Mumhain, (ThomondJ or North 

 Munster. This great territory, which was formerly under the 

 dominion of the powerful family of O'Brien, extended from the 

 Isles of Aran, on the western coast of the kingdom, to Sliabh- 

 Eibline near Cashel in the present county of Tipperary, thence to 

 Carran-Fearaidh or Cnoc-Aine in the present county of Limerick* 

 and from Leim-na-con or Loopshead to Sliabh-Dala in Ossory. 

 Part of this tract of country was erected into a county, in the year 

 1585, by Sir John Perrott, Lord Deputy of Ireland, and received 

 the name " Clare," in commemoration of the Anglo-Norman Earl,-f- 



* To William Dix, Esq. an eminent Solicitor of this city, I am indebted for many of these 

 documents. William Shaw Mason, Esq., author of the Statistical Survey of Ireland, kindly 

 furnished me with a few from his valuable MS. collection. The remainder were in my own 

 possession. It has been suggested that many of a similar nature might be discovered in the 

 library of Trinity College, Dublin, if carefully explored. 



f By inquisition taken at Castlebank in the County of Clare, on the 23d of August, 1637, 

 it was found, that Edward I. by letters patent dated 26th January, 1275, granted the whole 

 land of Thomond to Thomas De Clare, and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten, wha 

 died thereof seized at Bunratty in 1287; that said land descended to Gilbert De Clare his som 

 and heir, who having died without issue, it descended to Richard De Clare his brother, wh» 

 having died in 1.^17, the land of Tliomond, for want of heirs male of the original grantee, re- 

 verted to the crown ; and that at the time of taking the inquisition the fee and inheritance thereof 

 were vested in King Charles I. — Orig. Jnquis. Rolls Office.— This inquisition was taken by 

 order of Lord Deputy Strafford, in furtherance of his famous impolitic project to dispossess the 

 ancient proprietors of their estates. 



