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law-tracts, although not mentioned by Mr. O’Conor, may, perhaps, 
be preserved. But, if they be, still are they not a locked-up trea- 
sure, and the same as lost to the public ? If they be still preserved 
in the library of the present Earl, his Lordship has the power of 
rendering an essential service to the native antiquary, and to the 
lovers of ancient Celtic literature in general, by depositing them in 
the Library of St. Sepulchre, or some other public library, where the 
Irish scholar may have unrestrained permission to read them, and, if 
he should be so inclined, an opportunity of communicating to the 
public a knowledge of their contents. 
VIII. Of Enric, and other modes of punishment prescribed by 
the Irish laws ; of the nature of those laws, and of their influence 
on the habits and morals of the people. 
It has been a practice of long continuance with writers of a 
certain description, from the lying Giraldus Cambrensis down to 
the little less fabulous Doctor Ledwich, to decry the ancient Irish 
laws ; and to complain, that the adoption of them by the English 
colonists caused the most deplorable degeneracy, and that they were 
of so malignant a nature as to entirely brutalize the Irish character, 
and to encourage the perpetuation of crimes the most horrible and 
appalling. It is however worthy of remark, that the persons most 
forward in the condemnation of those laws are generally those who, 
from their total ignorance of the Irish language, (in the Fenzan 
dialect, of which those laws are written) are utterly disqualified from 
delivering any correct opinion on the subject. Gerald Barry, a 
Welshman, better known by the name of Giraldus Cambrensis, 
YOL. XIV. cc 
