is so dear. The Most Rev. Dr.
Purcell, Archbishop of Cincinnati, has pronounced the work to be the
only Irish history worthy of the name. John Mitchel has proclaimed, in
the _Irish Citizen_, that a woman has accomplished what men have failed
to do; and Alderman Ternan, at a banquet in New Fork, has uttered the
same verdict, and declares that there, at least, no other history can
compete with ours, although Moore and D'Arcy Magee have preceded us in
their efforts to promote the knowledge of what Ireland has been, and the
hope of what Ireland may yet become.

M.F.C.
ST. CLARE'S CONTENT, KENMARK, CO. KERRY,
May 8th, 1868.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] The Rev. U. Burke, of St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, has a note on
this subject, in a work which he is at this moment passing through the
press, and which he kindly permits me to publish. He says: "This book
[the "Illustrated History of Ireland"] ought to be in the hands of every
young student and of every young Irish maiden attending the convent
schools. Oh, for ten thousand Irish ladies knowing the history of
Ireland! How few know anything of it! The present volume, by Sister
Francis Clare, is an atoning sacrifice for this sin of neglect."

I am aware that the price of the "Illustrated History of Ireland," even
in its present form, although it is offered at a sacrifice which no
bookseller would make, is an obstacle to its extensive use as a school
history. We purpose, however, before long, to publish a history for the
use of schools, at a very low price, and yet of a size to admit of
sufficient expansion for the purpose. Our countrymen must, however,
remember that only a very large number of orders can enable the work to
be published as cheaply as it should be. It would save immense trouble
and expense, if priests, managers of schools, and the heads of colleges,
would send orders for a certain number of copies at once. If every
priest, convent, and college, ordered twelve copies for their schools,
the work could be put in hands immediately.

PREFACE

TO THE FIRST EDITION.

The history of the different races who form an integral portion of the
British Empire, should be one of the most carefully cultivated studies
of every member of that nation. To be ignorant of our own history, is a
disgrace; to be ignorant of the history of those whom we govern, is an
injustice. We can neither govern ourselves nor others without a thorough
knowledge of peculiarities of disposition which