er for a moment entertained the intention of writing such a
history, though I freely confess I have exercised considerable
self-restraint as to the expression of my own opinion when writing some
portions of the present work. You might as well attempt to write an
ecclesiastical history without the slightest reference to different
religious opinions, as attempt to write the history of any nation, and,
above all, of Ireland, without special and distinct reference to the
present and past political opinions of the different sections of which
the nation is composed. Such suggestions are only worthy of those who,
when facts are painful, try to avert the wound they cause by turning on
the framer of the weapon which has driven these facts a little deeper
than usual into their intellectual conception; or of those uneducated,
or low-minded, even if educated persons, who consider that a woman
cannot write a history, and would confine her literary efforts to
sensation novels and childish tales. I am thankful, and I hope I am not
unduly proud, that men of the highest intellectual culture, both in
England and Ireland, on the Continent of Europe, and in America, have
pronounced a very different judgment on the present work, and on the
desire of the writer to raise her countrywomen to higher mental efforts
than are required by the almost exclusive perusal of works of fiction.
If women may excel as painters and sculptors, why may not a woman
attempt to excel as an historian? Men of cultivated intellect, far from
wishing to depreciate such efforts, will be the first to encourage them
with more than ordinary warmth; the opinions of other persons, whatever
may be their position, are of little value.

On the Irish Church question I feel it unnecessary to say more than a
word of congratulation to my countrymen, and of hearty thanks for the
noble conduct of so many Englishmen at this important crisis. Irish
Protestants have been quite as national as Irish Catholics; and now that
the fatal bane of religious dissension has been removed, we may hope
that Irishmen, of all classes and creeds, will work together
harmoniously for the good of their common country: and thus one great
means of Irish prosperity will be opened. The Irish are eminently a
justice-loving people. Let justice once be granted to them, and there is
that in their national character which will make them accept as a boon
what others might accept as a right.

In concluding the Pref