OF IRISH POETRY: CONSISTING OF HEROIC POEMS, ODES, ELEGIES, AND TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE; With Notes explanatory and historical; AND THE ORIGINALS IN THE IRISH CHARACTER. TO WHICH IS SUBJOINED AN IRISH TALE. BY MISS BROOKE. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, A MEMOIR OF HER LIFE AND WRITINGS, BY AARON CROSSLY SEYMOUR, ESQ. 66 AUTHOR OF LETTERS TO YOUNG PERSONS," &c. &c. A Oisin, as biñ liñ do sgeala.—Cat Gabra. DUBLIN: PRINTED BY J. CHRISTIE, 17, ROSS-LANE, 1816. TO descend to posterity with honour, and have a name inscribed in the annals of fame, is the earnest desire of multitudes, but the lot comparatively of few. The great mass is soon forgotten, and their memory perishes. An elegant sepulchral monument, though loaded with the praises of the deceased, soon ceases to interest the spectator, and being so common a thing is regarded rather as a proof of the wealth than the virtues of the man. A good and benevolent tenor of conduct will make a person remembered in his circle during the continuance of that generation. Deeds of public virtue and prowess will be objects of national applause for the same space. Extraordinary actions which affect the destinies of a kingdom will give a place in the page of history, and secure a lasting remembrance. Such as have been benefactors, not to their own country alone, but to mankind, by the alleviation of human misery, by putting a stop to a general and long continued course of injustice and oppression, and by the introduction of principles calculated to augment the sum of personal and social felicity, will justly possess a wider extent of fame, be celebrated in every country as the friend of man, and descend from age to age with undiminished praise. By those who have attained the first rank in |