25 



lished a grammar of it in quarto, with a learned preface, which 

 tended considerably to excite the attention of the public to a 

 subject that had long Iain in oblivion. Of this grammar an im- 



Perth ; of the Royal Irish Academy, of the Pliilosophical Society of Philadelphia, of the Dub- 

 lin Society, &c. &c. &c. — He was a valuable contributor to the Antiquarian department of the 

 Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. He died in the summer of 1812, at the age of 85." 

 —History of the United Kingdom, Cork, 1815. 



To the first Edition of his Grammar he prefixed an Irish address, of which the following is a 

 Translation. 



" TO THE LEARNED OF IRELAND. 



'• The ancient language of this country is neglected, and on the decline these two hundred 

 years. The discouragement that every attempt for the revival of the Irish language has met 

 with, is a serious injury to ancient history and antiquities, not only to those of this country, 

 but to those of Europe in general, for there is not extant a language, except that of Ireland 

 alone, in which the roots and Etymologies of many words can be satisfactorily explained. 



" The Irish has been deemed difficult in its attainment and in the printing of it, which 

 caused an apathy in many of the learned to apply themselves to its study. There are, there- 

 fore, many remotely-ancient authentic histories and precious documents of this country buried 

 in oblivion. 



" The motives that induced the author to undertake this work were to revive this excellent 

 and appropriate language, and to adduce undeniable proofs that learning, arts and sciences 

 flourished in this country when the adjacent nations were immersed in ignorance. 



" He does not presume that his undertaking is near being perfect or truly erudite, but con- 

 siders it to contain more of the systematic mode of the Syntax of the Irish language than 

 any other work hitherto written or printed. 



" And through consideration of his being a foreigner, in case that blunders or errors should 

 be discovered therein, he hopes, that they shall be passed over in silence, rather than be cri- 

 ticised and censured in public as faults. 



" Accept, therefore, from a good will, this little present, by which the author does not intend 

 more than to give some knowledge of their ancient mother-tongue to those who are ignorant of 

 it, and to the learned in other languages ; but particularly, to stimulate the literati of Ireland to 

 give a better and more perfect work of this kind." 



The Author. 

 Dublin, Mid-month of spring, 1773. 



VOL. XV. E ' 



