Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/653

Rh Dublin, 1747. This work was followed by a collection of curious articles, from the manuscripts of Trinity college, which he entitled Hibernica, Dublin, printed in 1747. Harris, about the time of the Pretender's inva sion of Scotland, commenced his Life of King William; the part of this work which relates to the revolutionary war in Ireland, was compiled by him, from above twelve hundred government dispatches and letters, left by Charles Clarke, then secretary at war, to be forwarded afterwards to England. These papers remaining till the council and treasury offices were burned, in 1710, were removed in an undistinguished heap to the auditor-general's office; where they were discovered by Mr. Boyd, the keeper of that office, who communicated the use of them to Harris. The folio volume of King William's Life was printed in Dublin, in 1749.

To his edition of Ware's works, Harris intended to add another folio volume, containing the civil History of Ireland, for completing the series. For this he left seventeen folio volumes of curious manuscripts, including collections made towards the ecclesiastical state of Ireland, by Archbishop King, and Bishop Sterne, which were purchased for 500l. by the Irish parliament, from his widow, and deposited in the archives of the Dublin Society, for the convenience and use of the public.

In 1766, there appeared a publication, said to be a posthumous work of our author, entitled Harris's History of Dublin, compiled from his MSS. by two learned assistants. That production, however, shews neither the perseverance, industry, nor abilities of Ware's editor.

"The nation," says the Abbé McGeoghegan, "are under great obligations to that learned writer (Harris) for the trouble he has taken, and the curious researches he has made, in order to complete Sir James Ware's work; a work which he has so considerably enlarged, and enriched with such a number of articles that have escaped his prototype's notice, that he should be rather esteemed it's author than the editor, which is the title he has so modestly assumed."