PREFACE. THE present volume is an attempt to lay before the reader an outline of the leading features of the history of Ireland down to the time when that country ceased to be a separate kingdom. Since the union of the two Parliaments, Irish history has become inextricably blended with the history of Great Britain; and any attempt to relate it would entail a task of far greater magnitude, and one beyond the scope of a popular work. The author can take no credit for original research. The principal materials of which use has been made are the very numerous historical works bearing on the subject, written from very diverse points of view; the published State papers; the published correspondence of eminent statesmen; and the statutes of the realm. Wherever passages appear between inverted commas the quotations come from the three latter sources. |