were attached to the study of local history, and antiquities, to look with peculiar attention to every publication that appeared to promise sources of interesting Irish know. ledge hitherto withheld. It is not necessary here to dwell on the political reasons which, for many centuries, appear to have in fluenced the government of Ireland to discourage all discussions tending to keep alive distinctions, which, from the days of Henry II. it had endeavoured, by various plans of very different rate in the scale of political wisdom, to abolish. This system, however, as well as the disastrous events which, at different times, disturbed the internal peace and security of Ireland, all combined with other causes, to put down enquiry; and when, at length, more quiet times permitted the partial publication of extracts from Irish annals, enlightened readers felt their understandings insulted by the grossest fables, tending to fix upon Irish his tory imputations the most disgraceful and disgusting.. Authors of a more modern date, unacquainted. with the Irish language, and unprovided with original documents, have, under all these difficulties, rather chosen to reject nearly the whole of the materials of this description, already before the public, than subject themselves to the questionable task of undertaking to winnow the few pure grains from the mass of chaff with which they were mixed. Under these impressions, an English nobleman, to whom, for many years of his life, the investigation of every subject relative to the history of that part of the United Kingdom was a matter of duty, and to whom it was always matter of anxious interest and gratification to devote his time and study to every point connected with the true ho nour and national pride of Ireland, has given much attention and expence to collect, from every quarter in both islands, the originals, or faithful transcripts, of all the known, most ancient documents tending to illustrate its history prior to its connexion with England, and having formed an Irish library, perhaps the most We have made these extracts, less to shelter our subject under the sanction and authority of this great man, the ornament and boast of the age in which he lived, than, in order to shew their happy coincidence with the present article; the inherent value of which will be too justly appreciated by the learned, to need any incitement, or cause of interest in it, to be derived from extrinsic sources. Any eulogium on Col. (now Lieut. Gen.) Valancey, whose merit in this species of research is already well established, would be foreign to our present purpose; our praise of the ever venerable and truly learned Mr. O'Conor (now, alas! no more) would be equally superfluous; sufficient for us to observe, that, in the grandson of the latter has been found, the worthy inheritor and able representative of the peculiar attainments of his progenitor. But however delightful and satisfactory the pursuit of recondite knowledge may be to the secluded scholar; sterile and useless to the world would prove the labours of the most erudite, when uninvigorated and uncheered by the warm beams of munificent patronage: happily, in the present instance, they have not been withheld, but have been employed with a generous profusion, in calling forth the abilities of doctor O'Conor into light and activity; thereby conferring on Ireland in particular, and the antiquarian and scholar of every clime, the nost, weighty obligation. most complete that exists, he was fortunate enough to find, in the rev. Doctor O'Conor, the grandson of the late Charles O'Conor esq. of Belanagare, in the county of Roscommon, a gentleman qualified, by his superior knowledge of the Irish language, and indefatigable industry, to remove from a great and highspirited people the imputation of being unacquainted with their own annals, at a time when even the Icelanders have published theirs. In publishing the original Irish annals with translations into Latin, Doctor O'Conor may be depended upon as contracting a solemn engagement with the public for the fi delity of his work. In the various notes and dissertations which he has thought necessary for illustrating his originals, his first principle is that ancient history rests on the sole foundation of ancient authority. Rejecting theories which he feels he has no right to impose upon his readers, he endeavours to elucidate his originals by a patient and laborious investigation of ancient facts,, the only guides to truth in historical research, and in questionable points of chronology, he is studious to remove all future occasion of controversy, by establishing leading events on the immutable basis of astronomical calculation. Proceeding on these principles, he hopes that he may have been able to lay the foundation of future inquiries into many points of general and local knowledge, and of a dignified, and genuine erudition, and to save to future historians the labour of constant reference to documents, foreign and domestic, for the accuracy of dates; and if, in some instances, it should be found that dynasties and genca logies, hitherto received, are altered by his labours, let it be remembered that nothing but dishonour can be derived from falshood; that where chronology is erroneous, and generations unfounded are multiplied to fill up fabulous antiquity, any system connected with such a chronology is radically defective; and that, though Doctor O'Conor feels anxious to remove the imputation of imposing on the world an imaginary race of Irish kings, he has been equally careful not to fritter away the authority of any one ancient, genuine written record of antiquity. The documents which he is about to of fer will, on the contrary, contribute to render more interesting several traditions and monuments hitherto of dubious date, which will hereby be placed beyond the reach of controversy. The principal annals which will compose this work are 1. The Annals of Cluan, to the year 1088, better known by the name of their writer, Tigernack, who died in the course of that year. These annals Doctor O'Conor has decyphered, and transcribed from the ancient Bodleian MS. Rawclinson, No. 488, deposited in that magnificent collection from the library of sir J. Ware. 2. The Annals of Ulster, to the year 1131, decyphered and transcribed from the MS. deposited likewise from sir J. Ware's library in the Bodleian, and carefully collated, with two others, brought from Ireland, by the earl of Clarendon, and now extant in the library of the British Muscum. 3. The Annals of Innisfallen, decyphered and transcribed from the original autograph, written in 1318, and and deposited from sir James Ware's library in the Bodleian. 4. The Annals of Boyle, decyphered and transcribed from the MS. in the Cotton library, Titus A. XXV. 5. The Annals of Donnegal, commonly called of the IV. Masters; the first volume of which, in the original autograph, is in the marquis of Buckingham's library, at Stowe, and the second in that of Trinity college, Dublin, but of which a faithfal copy, transcribed by the late Charles O'Conor esq. is likewise in the Stowe library. 6. Certain metrical and other ancient compositions, written on vellum, in Irish language and characters, some of which precede the age of Tigernach, being quoted by him, and belong to the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th ages, forming a chain of traditional history, to the days of Tigernach. Of these, some very ancient copies, of various dates, are extant in the Bodleian, and others in the Stowe library. Of all these several annals, it has been found necessary to offer to the public a critical examination of their chronology, and of various matters connected with them; but, far from obtruding his own opinions as a standard to others, Doctor O'Conor considers himself only as a labourer, who employs himself in clearing away heaps of rubbish, and in offering materials for the employment of the learned of Europe, and particularly of Ireland, of whom there are many whose talents would do honour to any country, and whose attainments would do ample justice to works even more difficult than those which are here offered to their consideration. He professes that he does not undertake, in any instance, to justify or to defend any national pre 3 judice, nor would it become him to attempt to amuse where he could not convince. The subject he has undertaken is so severe, that the reader is relieved from any appre hension of being seduced by ingenuity of conjecture, or plausibility of declamation. Doctor O'Conor gives the originals as he finds them, with all their imperfections, whatever they may be, on their heads ;— but those imperfections will be found not to affect the historical part, and he trusts that, as faithful chronicles of events anterior to the 12th century, the Irish annals will be esteemed, if not more, certainly not less, interesting than those of the northern nations of Europe, which are unquestionably of a later period. It has been deemed expedient to priut them in their original diale, and to add fac similes of each, for the sake of preserving a language which, in its various idioms throughout these islands, viz. Irish, Erse, Welch, Cornish, necessarily loses ground every hour. In the arrangement of this work, Doctor O'Conor has endeavoured to pursue the system adopted by bishop Gibson, in the compilation of the Saxon Chronicle. On the same plan he offers a Topographical chart and dictionary, which, he trusts, will materially assist local researches of every sort that may arise out of the study of his originals. It is impossible to close this subject without dwelling with a national pride of the purest and most justifiable description, on the distinguished superiority and pre-eminence which the British islands claim over all other nations of Europe, since the decline of the Roman empire, in the mass, and in the quality of their early chronicles, as well as in the learning, diligence, and application with with which our ablest writers, of It is therefore to be hoped that the every succeeding age, have studied, and preserved these, and every other branch of antiquity, illustrative of the history, laws, and customs of our ancestors. From these sources, our ablest statesmen, our wisest lawyers, our writers the most distinguished in every branch of constitutional or literary pursuit, have drawn their purest and amplest supplies; and though the language of the ancient chronicles was obscure, the style confused, and harsh, and many of the facts uninteresting, from change of time and manners,yet the public has long since acknowledged its debt of gratitude to those invaluable characters who edited and illustrated them for general use. Yet the greater part of our early chronicles, and all those which have been given to the public as the foundation of the northern foreign histories, by Saxo Grammaticus, Snorro, Torffæus, Adam of Bremen, and Nestor, their first writers, are long subsequent, in point of time, to Cennfaelad, Flann mac Lonan, Malmura of Othna, Flann of Bute, Coeman, and other Irish writers who preceded Tigernach, and whose metrical fragments and lists of kings, exist in the Irish language and characters, and in ancient vellum MSS. now preserved in the library at Stowe. Some time must necessarily elapse before this great national work can be completed. Of the transcripts and Latin translations of the five first articles, part is already in the press, and much progress has been made in decyphering, translating, and collating several of the documents that are classed under the 6th. period is not very distant, when Doctor O'Conor will be able to look for the reward of his labours, in the gratification of having contributed to that general mass of national information, which, for succeeding centuries has been one of the most interesting and proudest ornaments of the British empire. History of the British Expedition to Egypt, &c. By Sir Robert Wilson. HAVING, in our preceding Vol.* already given an elaborate review of this justly celebrated work, it is not here our object to make any farther remark thereon, or even draw from it an additional extract. Our motive for offering any additional matter, on a subject sufficiently discussed, originates in our desire of preserving, with some degree of propriety, in a repository not unworthy of the high reputation of this gallant officer, a letter of his upon a most important subject, arising out of the publication in question, and which we have already contributed our feeble efforts to commemorate. Sir R. Wilson's publication produced a very striking effect both on the political and moral world: he was the firt writer "who entered the stupendous crimes of Bonaparte in Egypt, upon the records of his country, and thus rendered an essential benefit to mankind, by shewing, in its proper light, the Gallic idol, that all nations were called upon to bow down to and worship." To the uncontroverted, because uncontrovertible, statement Annual Register for 1802, page 855. .made made by our author of the atrocities of the massacre of the Turks at Jaffa, and the poisoning of the wounded soldiery in the hospitals, had the French minister at the court of London the hardihood to attribute the mission of Sebastiani, notwithstand ing the glaring fact of the report of the latter having been actually pub. lished before Sir Robert Wilson's book had appeared! Although farther confutation of this impudent falshood was unnecessary, yet, as the veracity of our author was likewise attacked in the "official correspondence," he thought it proper to make the following remarks on the French statement, to secure the publicity of which, and its perusal on the continent of Europe, he addressed to the editor of the Courier de Londres; and which without farther preface or comment, we shall lay before our readers. SIR, In the official correspondence lately published, there appears some remarks which the French ambassa dor was instructed to make on my History of the Expedition to Egypt, and of which I feel called upon to take notice, not in personal controversy with general Andreossy, for, conscious of the superior virtue of my cause, I find myself neither aggrieved nor irritated by the language he has used; but that the public may not attribute my silence to a desire of evading further discussion, and thus the shallow mode of contradic. tion, adopted by the chief consul, acquire an unmerited consideration. The ambassador observes, "That a colonel in the English army has published a work in England filled with the most atrocious and disgust ing calumnies against the French army and its general. The lies it contains bave been contradicted by the reception which colonel Sebastiani experienced. The publicity of his report was at once a refutation and reparation which the French army had a right to expect." But surely a new signification must have been attached in France to the word calumny, when such a term is applied to my account of the conduct of the French troops in Egypt, and the consequent disposition of the inhabitants towards him! Independent, however, of the proofs to be adduced in corroboration of my statement, Europe may justly appreciate the probable truth of what I have written when she recollects the unparalleled sufferings endured by the unoffending countries into which, during the last war, a French army penetrated, and she will at least hesitate to believe that the same armies should voluntarily ameliorate their conduct in a country more remote, where the atrocities they might commit would be less liable to publicity, and that this extraordinary change should be in favour of a people whose principles and resistance might have excited the resentment of more generous invaders. I will not enter into an unnecessary detail of numerous facts which I could urge; but I appeal to the honour of every British officer employed in Egypt, whether those observations are not sacredly true, which describe the French as being hateful to the inhabitants of that country, which represent them as having merited that hatred from the ruin and devastation with which their progress through it has been marked; and I am ready, if there be one who refuses to sanction this relation, to resign for ever every pretension |