Page:The life and death of the Irish parliament.djvu/7

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THE LIFE AND DEATH

OF

THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.

CHAPTER I.

ORIGIN and Progress of the Parliament of Ireland The Public Buildings of Dublin Rev. James Whitelaw and the Historians of City of Dublin Popular View of the alleged Conquest of Henry II. not correct Antiquity and Fame of Dublin Amusing Portrait of Henry by Giraldus Cambrens is Object of Kings of England, from the first, to establish one Law, one State, one Church " Modus Teriendi Parliamentum " not enforced in Ireland for 140 years.

MR. CHAIRMAN,

It affords me no common satisfaction to address you, Sir, in that chair, not only on the score of respect for your character and from private friendship, but because you prove in your own person what a happy life that of a Member of the Old Irish Parliament must have been. Wit, humour, elo- quence, administered at suitable times and at reasonable inter- vals, operate as medicine for the mind ; the consequent exhilaration of the spirits acts on the bodily health, and secures longevity and vigour. The " mens conscia recti" may be the true cause of the enviable condition of our Chairman