clergy have
been most earnest and generous in their efforts to promote the
circulation of the work, it is gratifying to be able to adduce this fact
also in reply to the imputations, even lately cast upon the
ecclesiastics of Ireland, of deficiency in cultivated tastes, and of
utter neglect of literature.

Nor, as a Catholic and a religious, can I fail to express my respectful
gratitude and thankfulness for the warm approbation which the work has
received from so many distinguished prelates. A few of these
approbations will be found at the commencement of the volume--it was
impossible to find space for all. It may be, however, well to observe,
that several of the English Catholic bishops have not been less kind and
earnest in their commendations, though I have not asked their permission
to publish their communications. Some extracts are given from the
reviews, which also are necessarily condensed and limited; and, as the
Most Rev. Dr. Derry has observed, the press has been most favorable in
its criticisms. Even those who differed from the present writer _toto
coelo_, both in religion and politics, have not been less commendatory,
and, in some instances, have shown the writer more than ordinary
courtesy.

Nor should I omit to acknowledge the encouragement which so many
gentlemen, both English and Irish, have given to the work, and the
assistance they have afforded in promoting its circulation. In a
circular, quite recently published in London, and addressed to the
members of a society for the republication of English mediaeval
literature, gentlemen are called on by the secretary, even at the risk,
as he himself admits, of "boring them, by asking them to canvass for
orders, like a bookseller's traveller," to assist in obtaining
additional subscribers to the series, and he requests every subscriber
"to get another at once." I am happy to say that, without such
solicitation on our part, many Irish gentlemen have done us this
kindness, and have obtained not one, but many orders from their friends.
I confidently hope that many more will exert themselves in a similar
manner, for the still wider dissemination of the Second Edition. It is a
time, beyond all others, when Irish history should be thoroughly known
and carefully studied. It is a disgrace to Irishmen not to know their
history perfectly, and this with no mere outline view, but completely
and in detail. It is very much to be regretted that Irish history is not
made a