I ". -I 



prevailed on to lay afide their mutual enmity, and unite 

 in the purfuit of fpeculative fcience. The conne£lion 

 of this kingdom with England, inftead of teaching 

 Ireland the many valuable acquifitions of Englifli in- 

 duftry, tended rather to entice away its men of genius 

 to a country in which, as learning was more fafhionable, 

 its profeiTors might be certain of enjoying more at eafe 

 the advantages of rational communication, and of re- 

 ceiving more ample encouragement. Its natural fitua- 

 tion, remote from the line of immediate intercourfe be- 

 tween any two more civilized nations, removed it alfo 

 from all acquaintance with foreign improvement : and 

 its want of political importance banifhed from it all 

 thofe whofe wealth and ambition might have introduced 

 pra6lical fcience, afforded a liberal patronage to ingenuity, 

 and raifed their country to dignity, to opulence and to 

 reputation. 



Such are the feveral caufes which fatally confpired 

 to detain this kingdom for a feries of years in a ftate of 

 comparative ignorance and inferiority, to countera6l its 

 natural advantages, and to derogate from its national 

 character : and to thefe it is owing, that while its fons 

 became illuflrious abroad for enterprize and for ability, 

 their country fhould yet have remained negleded, and 

 its inhabitants poor, inadive and unenlightened. But 

 the influence of many of thefe caufes time has in a 



confiderable 



