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already referred. I do not write by way of depreciating those who have trod the anxious path of local historical research before the present work was projected and undertaken; but I desire to show that a History of Limerick was an absolute desideratum which ought to be supplied. I have been engaged for some years, not only in collecting and preparing materials for this work, from rare and valuable published authorities, but I have supplied myself with manuscript materials of unquestionable authority-chiefly amongst them the MSS. of Dr. Thomas Arthur, a native of Limerick, the friend of Sir James Ware, the physician of nearly all the eminent Irishmen of his time, and a relative of the illustrious Archbishop Creagh; to which MSS. there appears to have been little or no access before those invaluable materials for the history of Limerick came into my possession, though constituting some of the most ancient written records of many of the most important of local events-some of the most curious and interesting of which have never hitherto seen the light, but all of which I have given. The White Manuscripts, from which Ferrar professed to draw, but much of which, I repeat, he left untouched, I have in my possession at present; and I have also had access to the interesting chartulary and annals of Edmond Sexten, preserved in the British Museum. I should add that some years ago I purchased the valuable Limerick MSS. of John D'Alton, Esq., M.RI.A., from which I have derived most im portant matter. Most of the other authorities I give below. As an instance of the fuller and more accurate details, to which I flatter myself this history will owe some of its advantages over former ones, I may refer to the period of the Sieges, a portion of the history to which Limerick is indebted for its chief celebrity, and visited by the lovers of national independence and military heroism. In treating of this and other parts of the work, I can safely aver I have spared no laborious exertions to acquaint myself both by reading, inquiring, and personal investigation, with all the narratives and traditions which bear upon the subject. On the history of its religious houses, and on the ecclesiastical history generally of Limerick, I have also taken particularly great care, and expended considerable time and labour, constantly referring to original documents, such as the Black Book of Limerick, for the more ancient details, and to original sources of information for the more modern, and setting down nothing for which I had not sufficient authority, although I am not of course so vain as to think I have escaped an occasional error.

In the list of authorities the reader will find, I hope, a sufficient guarantee of my industry as a student, and fidelity as a historian; but it would be ungrateful to omit my acknowledgment for many obligations conferred by kind friends who have consulted the public libraries for me, and lent me their family papers and other useful materials, besides other literary assistance. In the history of the Catholic Bishops after the Reformation, I have to express my thanks for the valuable assistance of the learned antiquarian, Mr. Hanna of Ballykilner, county Down.

The present Lord Gort has most obligingly furnished me with many interesting records, and valuable notes from the Carew MSS., now in the Lambeth Library; and his brother, the Hon. John P. Vereker, late Lord Mayor of Dublin, has supplied me with much available matter from his own interesting collections of papers. For the deeply interesting notes on the

Jesuit Fathers, I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Father Hogan, S.J., a laborious and patient searcher after historical truth in this respect. L. Waldron, Esq., D.L., the late M.P. for the county Tipperary, has afforded me information as to the existence of materials in the British Museum, etc., whilst De Lacy Pierce, Esq., and his nephews, of the Adelphi Chambers, London, have most obligingly contributed various illustrative documents derived from the same source, and from their own historical collections and papers. I have got some notes, too, of much interest, from the Hon. Robert O'Brien, from General Sir Charles R. O'Donnell, and from the late lamented John Windele, Esq., Cork; while in translation, research, revision, and general literary assistance, I have enjoyed the constant, efficient, and friendly aid of Thomas Stanley Tracey, Esq., A.B., ex-Schol. T.C.D., who was conveniently near me.

The reader will find in the Index the fullest references to almost everything in the book besides what is contained in the table of contents, the latter, in general, giving only the chief heads of the subjects in the text. List of principal authorities used in this work:

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Dunraven's (Earl of) Memorials of Adare,
Ferrar's History of Limerick,

Fitzgerald and M'Gregor's Hist. of Limerick.
Frazer's Handbook of Ireland,

French's (Bishop of Ferns) Unkinde Deser-
tor and Bleeding Iphegenia,

Frois-art's Chronicles,

Gordon's Ireland and Rebellion,

Hamilton's Calendar of State Papers,

Hanmer's Chronicles,

Hardiman's History of Galway,

Harleian MSS. in Brit. Mus.

Harris's Hibernica,

Harris's History of Down,
Heylin's History,

Holingshed's Chronicles,

Hoveden's History,

Keating's History of Ireland,

Kilkenny Archæological Society's Journal,

Keogh's Botanologia and Zoologia,

King's State of the Irish Protestants,

King James's Irish Army List,

Lewis's Topographical Dictionary,

Lanigan's Ecclesiastical History,
Liber Hymnorum,

Local Traditions,

Ledwich's Antiquities,

Leland's History of Ireland,

Leyden's Agonia et Victoriæ Martyrum
Franciscorum,

London Gazette, 1650-1-2, etc.,

Lodge's Peerage of Ireland,

Ludlow's Memoirs,

Lynch's Law of Elections in Ireland,

Lynch's Feudal Dignities,

Lynch's Cambrensis Eversus,

Lloyd's Ancient Church Government in Eng

land and Ireland,

Mason's Statistical Survey,

Mason on Irish Parliaments,
Marlborough's Chronicles,

Morrin's Calendary of the Patent and Close
Rolls of Chancery,

MacCurtin's Vindication, etc.,

Memoirs of an Octogenarian (J. Roche, Esq).

M'Dermot's History of Ireland,
Monasticon Hibernicum,

Molyneux's Diary of the Siege,

MS. Annals (unpublished) of County and
City of Limerick,

MSS. collections of the Smyth Papers, etc.
Morrison's Itinerary,

Massingham's Florilegium, etc.,

Macaulay's (Lord) History of England,
Nairne's Stuart State Papers,

O'Heyne's History of the Dominicans,
O'Reilly's History of Ireland,
O'Reilly's Irish Writers,

O'Connor's Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores,
O'Halloran's History of Ireland,

O'Renehan's Collections,

O'Curry's MS. Materials,

Orrery's State Letters,

Ouseley's MS. Corrections and Emendations
of Ferrar,

Petty's Survey of Ireland, Tracts, etc.,
Pacata Hibernia,

Petrie's Round Towers, Tara, etc.,
Parker's (Captain) Memoirs,
Parliamentary Gazeteer of Ireland,
Philopater Irenæus,

Reports of Commissioners of Public Records,
Ireland,

Report of the Great Fishery Trials of Mal-
comson versus O'Dea, etc.

Rutty's Mineral Spas, etc.

Rushworth's Historical Collections,

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Southwell MSS.,

Spenser's View of Ireland,
Strafford's Memoirs,

Sir John Davies's Historical Tracts,
Strafford's Letters,

Stanihurst De Rebus Hibernicis, etc.,
Story's Civil Wars of Ireland,
Stuart's History of Armagh,
Seward's Topographia Hibernica,
Smith's MSS. in the R.I.A.,
State Paper Office Records,
State Papers of Henry VIII,

Tours in Ireland (by several authors),
Vallancey's Irish Collections,

Voltaire's Siecle de Louis XIV., etc.,
Wakefield's Ireland,

Walshe's Remonstrance and Letters,

Ware's Antiquities, Bishops, History, etc.,
White's MSS.,

White's Apologia,

Wynne's History of Ireland,
Wood's Ancient Ireland,
Wright's Ireland, etc.,

Walker's Irish Bards,

Walker's Dress and Armour of the Ancient
Irish,

Warner's History of Irish Rebellion,

Watters's Irish Birds.

Young's Tour,

These, and a great number of others, are the authorities, to which reference has been made, and from which matter has been collated by me. In the Appendices I have added a considerable quantity of matter which was not available until the latest moment; and I contemplate, in the next Edition, to supply such additional facts and historical matter as may be developed by the State Papers, etc., in the course of publication. To unavoidable errors, which I have endeavoured, as far as possible to correct, the reader will, I hope, extend a generous forbearance.

MAURICE LENIHAN.

February 20th, 1866.

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CONTENTS.

II. Reign and achievements of Brian Boroimhe, etc., etc.

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III. Brian and his immediate successors; and the Kings of Thomond, etc.

IV. The Kings of Thomond, continued, etc., etc.

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V. Annals of Thomond.-Monasteries founded by Donald O'Brien, King of
Limerick, etc., etc.

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