Project Gutenberg's A Reading Book in Irish History, by P. W. Joyce

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Title: A Reading Book in Irish History

Author: P. W. Joyce

Release Date: August 15, 2010 [EBook #33439]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A READING BOOK IN IRISH HISTORY ***

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Transcriber's note:

Some typographical and punctuation errors have been
corrected. A complete list follows the text.

Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been
retained as in the original.

Words italicized in the original are surrounded by
_underscores_.

Words with bold emphasis in the original are surrounded
by =equals signs=.

A READING BOOK
IN
IRISH HISTORY

BY

P. W. JOYCE, LL.D.

_One of the Commissioners for the Publication of
the Ancient Laws of Ireland_

Author of

"A SHORT HISTORY OF IRELAND" "A CHILD'S HISTORY OF IRELAND"
"IRISH NAMES OF PLACES," "OLD CELTIC ROMANCES"
"ANCIENT IRISH MUSIC"
AND OTHER WORKS RELATING TO IRELAND

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY

DUBLIN: M. H. GILL AND SON
1900

[_All rights reserved_]

PREFACE.

As this little book is intended chiefly for children, the language is
very simple. But to make matters still easier, all words and allusions
presenting the smallest difficulty are explained either in footnotes or
in the "Notes and Explanations" at the end.

Advantage has been taken of the descriptions under the several
Illustrations to give a good deal of information on the customs and
usages of the ancient Irish people.

Although the book has been written for children, it will be found, I
hope, sufficiently interesting and instructive for the perusal of older
persons.

The book, as will be seen, contains a mixture of Irish History,
Biography, and Romance; and most of the pieces appear in their present
form now for the first time. A knowledge of the History of the country
is conveyed, partly in special Historical Sketches, partly