Page:A View of the State of Ireland - 1809.djvu/11

 TO THE

RIGHT HONOURABLE AND HONOURABLE

THE DUBLIN SOCIETY.

MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

THIS first Series of the Ancient Irish Histories is now brought to a conclusion:—great however as its may presume to call their un- dertaking, and National as the public patronage has accounted their labours, the require the precurrence of some great and powerful sanction. For this we certainly would not travel beyond the country whose Annals we are en- deavouring to preserve; but for this neither the rank nor the wealth of Ireland, neither her patriotism, nor her genius, could separately be sufficient; to give effectual aid to an enterprise like ours, those high ad- vantages must be all combined: — nor to one of the many Individuals whose names, on any other occasion, would at once be an honor and a protection, could this Work be properly inscribed — to must the Ancient Histories of Ireland belong. Had any Indi- vidual, however, been selected by us, we must have sought our peculiar Patron in that Society, which enrolls among its Members the concentrated virtue and talent of our country.

To you, therefore, my and , under whose auspices the Arts have been improved, and the Sciences cherished, whose munificence has