OF THE HISTORY OF IRELAND, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD, TO THE REIGN OF GEORGE I. BY JOHN LAWLESS, Esq. A MEMBER OF THE CATHOLIC BOARD. Historia est temporum testis, lux veritatis, magistra vitæ, CICERO. History is the witness of times past, the light of truth, the DUBLIN: PRINTED BY GRAISBERRY AND CAMPBELL, NC. 10, BACK LANE. TO THE IRISH PEOPLE. THE BOOK, which I now have the honor to present to my countrymen, has been written with the hope that it will contribute, in some degree, to the promotion of that liberal, enlightened, and benevolent feeling, which has been making such rapid strides for the last thirty years of our History. If the author has been guilty of any exaggeration in description, or in commentary, (which he has industriously struggled to avoid) let the Irishman reflect that his errors are on the side of the honor of his country-that his feelings, if too warm, are heated by an anxious desire to vindicate the insulted character of a people who have been eternally the victims of calumny-the prey to every speculator on their fame and their . glory-the devoted sacrifice to insatiable avarice, to dishonourable ambition, and a sanguinary foreign ascendancy. It is hoped that the reader of every class and description, of every persuasion and sect of Christianity, will observe through the pages of this volume of Irish History, that the leading object of its author was the inculcation of that grand and paramount principle of Christianity, which imperatively tells us to respect the religious feelings of every human being-to practise that toleration which each sect is perpetually demanding-and leave to God and to his creature the settlement of those points which are beyond all human controul, and should ever command the veneration of the wise, the liberal, and the enlightened. 1 That the partizan of faction or the partizan of the people-that the advocate of intolerance, as well as the advocate of equal and impartial privilege, will find much to censure, and perhaps little to praise, must be expected by him who pleads the cause of truth with firmness and impartiality. The author has endeavoured to refute the libeller of Ireland, with temperance and decorum. The composer of an abridgment of Irish History can lay but little claim to the merit of invention : his duty is to select with industry and with judgment; to compare his authorities with caution, anxiety, and impartiality; and to put into as small a space as possible the grand and leading features of his History. To such claims, the author will flatter himself he may, without the hazard of contradiction, put in his humble pretensions. If on closing this volume the heart of the reader shall sympathise with the sufferings of Ireland-if he be inclined to shed a single tear over the graves of those illustrious dead who combated, though unsuccessfully, for the liberty, the religion, and the fame of their country-if he be disposed to acknowledge that no country under heaven ever suffered so much from the crimes and the follies of its rulers, the author will congratulate Ireland on the effects of his labours, and will thankfully acknowledge his ample remuneration in the benefits which must flow to his countrymen from the dissemination of such feelings. |