958 
most complete that exists, he was 
fortunate enough to find, in the rey. 
Doétor O'Conor, the grandson of 
the late Charles O’Conor esq. of 
Belanagare, in the county of Ros- 
common, a gentleman qualified, by 
his superior knowledge of the Lrish 
language, and indefatigable industry, 
to remove from a great and high- 
spirited people the imputation of 
being unacquainted with their own 
annals, at a time when even the Ice- 
landers have published theirs. 
In publishing the original Irish 
annals with translations into Latin, 
Doctor O’Conor may be depended 
upon as contraéting a solemn ecn- 
gagement with the public for the fi- 
delity of his work. In the various 
notes and dissertations which he 
has thought necessary for illustrat- 
ing his originals, his first principle is 
that ancient history rests on the 
sole foundation of ancient authority. 
Rejecting theories which he feels he 
has no right to impose upon his 
readers, he endeavours to elucidate 
his originals by a patient and labori- 
ous investigation of ancient facts, 
the only guides to truth in historical 
research, and in questionable points 
of chronology, he is studious to re- 
move all future occasion of contro- 
versy, by establishing leading events 
on the immutable basis of astrono- 
mical calculation. Proceeding on 
these principles, he hopes that he 
may have been able to lay the foun- 
dation of future inquiries into many 
points of general and local know- 
ledge, and of a dignified, and genuine 
erudition, and to save to future his- 
torians the labour of constant refer- 
ence to documents, foreign and do- 
mestic, for the accuracy of dates ; 
and if, in some instances, it should 
he found that dynasties and genea- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1803. 
logies, hitherto received, are altered 
by his labours, let it be remembered 
that nothing but dishonour can be 
derived from falshood; that where 
chronology is erroneous, and gene- 
rations unfounded are multiplied to 
fill up fabulous antiquity, any system 
conneéted with such a chronology is 
radically defeétive ; and that, though 
Doétor O’Conor feels anxious to re- 
move the imputation of imposing on 
the world an imaginary race of 
Irish kings, he has been equally 
careful not to fritter away the au- 
thority of any one ancient, genuine 
written record of antiquity. The 
documents which he is about to of- 
fer will, on the contrary, contribute 
to render more interesting several 
traditions and monuments hitherto 
of dubious date, which will hereby 
be placed beyond the reach of con- 
troversy. 
The principal annals which will 
compose this work are 
1. The Annals of Cluan, to the 
year 1088, better known by the 
name of their writer, Tigernach, 
who died in the course of that year. 
These annals Doétor O’Conor has 
decyphered, and transcribed from 
the ancient Bodleian MS. Rawlin- 
son, No. 488, deposited in that 
magnificent colleétion from the li- 
brary of sir J. Ware. 
2. The Annuals of Ulster, to the 
‘year 1131, decyphered and tran- 
scribed from the MS. deposited like- 
wise from sir J. Ware’s library in 
the Bodleian, and carefully collated, 
with two others, brought from Ire- 
Jand, by the earl of Clarendon, and 
now extant in the library of the 
British Museum. 
3. The Annals of Innisfallen, de- 
cyphered and transcribed fram the 
original autograph, written in 1318, 
and 
