ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 
were attached to the study of local 
history, and antiquities, to look 
with peculiar attention to every pub- 
lication that appeared to promise 
sources of interesting Irish know- 
ledge hitherto withheld. 
It is not necessary here to dwell . 
on the political reasons which, for 
many centuries, appear to have in- 
fluenced the government of Ircland 
to discourage all discussions tending 
to keep alive distinétions, which, 
from the days of Henry II. it had 
endeavoured, by various plans of very 
different rate in the scale of political 
wisdom, to abolish. This system, 
however, as well as the disastrous 
events which, at different times, dis- 
turbed the internal peace and secu- 
rity of Ireland, all combined with 
other causes, to put down enquiry ; 
and when, at length, more quiet 
times permitted the partial publica- 
tion of extracts from Irish annals, 
enlightened readers felt their under- 
standings insulted by the grossest 
fables, tending to fix upon Irish his- 
tory imputations the most disgrace- 
ful and disgusting. 
Authors of a more modern date, 
937 
unacquainted with the Irish lan- 
guage, and unprovided with original - 
documents, have, under all these 
difficulties, rather’chosen to reje& 
nearly the whole of the materials of 
this description, already before the 
public, than subjeét themselves to 
the questionable task of undertaking 
to winnow the few pure grains from 
the mass of chaff with which they 
were mixed. 
Under these impressions, an Eng- 
lish nobleman, to whom, for many 
years of his life, the investigation of 
every subject relative to the history 
of that part of the United King- 
dom was a matter of duty, and to 
whom it was always matter of anxi- 
ous interest and gratification to de- 
vote his time and study to every 
point conneéied with the true ho- 
nour and national pride of Ireland, 
has given much attention and ex. 
pence to collect, from every quarter 
in both islands, the originals, or 
faithful transcripts, of all the known, 
most ancient documents tending to 
illustrate its history prior to its con- 
nexion with England, and having 
formed an Irish library, perhaps the 
most 
We have made these extracts, less to shelter our subject under the ‘sanction and 
authority of this great man, the ornament and boast of the age in which he lived, 
than, in order to shew their happy coincidence with the present article; the inhe- 
rent value of which will be too justly appreciated by the learned, to need any 
incitement, or cause of interest in it, to be derived from extrinsic sources. 
Any eulogium on Col. (now Lieut. Gen.) Valancey, whose merit in this species . 
of research is already well established, would be foreign to our present purpose ; 
our praise of the ever venerable and truly learned Mr. O’Conor (now, alas! no 
more) would be equally superfluous; sufficient for us to observe, that, in the 
grandson of the latter has been found, the worthy inheritor and able representa- 
tive of the peculiar attainments of his progenitor. 
But however delightful and satisfactory the pursuit of recondite knowledge 
may he to the secluded scholar; sterile and useless to the world would prove the 
labours of the most erudite, when uninvigorated and uncheered by the warm beams 
of munificent patronage: happily, in the present instance, they have not been 
withheld, but have been employed with a generous profusion, in calling forth the 
abilities of doctor O’Conor into light and activity; thereby conferring on Ire- 
land in particular, and the antiquarian and scholar of every clime, the most 
weighty obligation. 
