1 60 Proceedings of the Ro>/ul Irish A cademij. 



the New Testament in type as far as the sixth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. 

 I think it may fairly he taken that this preface was written in 1602, thougli 

 the Aikkess to King James (in English) cannot ha^■e been wi-itten till after 

 his accession in March, 1603 ; but the date " 1602 " on the title-page seems 

 to me to imUcate that the text, with the title-leaf and Preface, was printed off' 

 ready to l.>e issued in that year, but was delayed for some reason, or it is 

 possible that some copies were issued in 1602, and the rest held back. 



Calculating back five years from 1602 brings us to 1597, or, exchnling 

 1602, even to 1596. 



Again, in the same Preface there is a statement that it was " in the new 

 College, near Dublin," that certain pei-sons named " finished the printing in 

 Irish 1)^)6 (at the expense of the pro\'ince of Connaught dui'ing the Presidency 

 of Sir Richard Uingham) up to the sixth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel," as just 

 mentioned, but that the remainder of that Gospel and St. John's Gospel were 

 not then printeil, nor for five yeare afterwards. Now, Sir Richard Bingham 

 was President of Conuauglit down to the end of 1596, so that the printing of 

 the firet portion of the New TesUiment must have been completed at the 

 very least before, or early in, that year ; and as it was done in the College, it 

 was clearly set up by Kearney. I may seem to liave laboured this point 

 too much or unnecessarily ; but in the absence of dated or accurately dated 

 ilocmnonts, it is imix)rtant to collect eveiy atom of intlirect evidence or evidence 

 lioaring in any way on tlic subject, and l>y the total of sucli conjoint references 

 deduce a i-casonalile conclusion, justly acceptable till lx;tter evidence is found. 



The only extant piece of printing by Kearney Ijearing his name is a 

 Pnxilamalion which lie printed for the Irish Government against the Earl of 

 Tyrone. This I'l-oclamaticn is dated 12^A June (1595), and in the imprint 

 KeaiTiey is dcacribeil as " Queen's Printer," and the place of printing was 

 "the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Trinity" (Christ Church). It is a 

 .single sheet, or rather two jwiges attached in one, and it measuies 22 A inches 

 in length by 11 inches in width. It is printed in black letter, except the 

 heading ami the imprint. There are sixty -seven lines, and each hne of print 

 measures 8 inches. This Proclamation was also printed in Irish, accorcUng to 

 the Calendar of State Papers of Ireland. The initial letter that occurs in 

 this Proclamation is quite different from Powell's. 



WilUam Kearney was not a member of the Company of Stationers of 

 Loudon, and what Ijecame of him is not known. The last mention of him is 

 in the year 1597, as already shown. 



The New Testament in Irish was not published in fact till the year 1603, 

 when Kearney's successor, John Francton, was the printer, and his name 

 occui-b in its imprint. Possibly Francton, who printed here in 1600, was an 



