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HE Members of the Irish Archæological Society are presented, in this volume, with the Macaria Excidium, an account of the War of the Revolution in Ireland from 1688 to 1691, by Colonel Charles O'Kelly. The Colonel's work, being the only narrative of that contest known to exist from pen of an Irish Officer on the side of King James II., and being, so far, calculated to throw light on an interesting portion of our history from the precise quarter whence it was most needed, had engaged the attention of the Society, from the period of its formation. At the first General Meeting of the Society, No. 202, Great Brunswick-street, Dublin, May 3rd, 1841, the Report from the Provisional Council, read by the Secretary, the Rev. James Henthorn Todd, announced the Irish Colonel's work, as the "third tract," intended for publication; and to be "edited by George Petrie, Esq., from a manuscript which had recently been added to the collection of Trinity College."

This design was soon after relinquished, in consequence of the appearance, the same year, of an edition of the Macario Excidium, by

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Thomas

Thomas Crofton Croker, Esq., among the Transactions of the London Camden Society, in the volume entitled, "Narratives illustrative of the Contests in Ireland in 1641 and 1690." There was not, in fact, any such difference, between the MS. used by Mr. Croker, and the Trinity College MS., as would have justified the expense of printing the latter, after the publication of the former.

In the course, however, of 1842, the attention of the Irish Archæological Society was again directed to the Macaria Excidium, by the discovery of the MS. containing the Latin version, which is printed, along with the English, in this volume. This Latin copy was then in the possession of the Rev. James Scott, R. C. C. of Carrickmacross, and since of Clones, County Monaghan, by whom it was first submitted to the Editor. According to the testimony of that gentleman, this MS. had formed part of a collection of books belonging to Dr. Daniel O'Reilly, who made his collegiate studies partly at Antwerp, partly at Douay; was ordained Priest in 1728; was President, for several years, of the Irish College at Antwerp; and ultimately Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher, from about 1748 to 1776. The Latin copy was transmitted from him to another Dr. O'Reilly, also a President of the Irish College at Antwerp, as well as Bishop of Clogher; then to the Rev. Hugh O'Reilly, likewise President of that College, and some years since R. C. Parish Priest of Carrickmacross; from him it devolved to his niece, and from her to the Rev. James Scott. Mr. Scott, in a letter addressed in 1842 to the writer of these lines, having made known the general nature of the Latin MS., and obligingly forwarding it to him for inspection, he, perceiving how much more matter it contained than the MS. printed by the London Camden Society, submitted the discovery thus made to the Rev. J. H. Todd. Dr. Todd brought the subject before the Council of the Irish Archæological Society,

Society, of which body the late lamented Professor Mac Cullagh, of Trinity College, was at that time an active member. With that honourable zeal, on this, as on other occasions, for the preservation of national remains of art or literature, which too many of far larger means, (and those unearned,) would neither have the spirit to feel, nor the generosity to imitate, Dr. Mac Cullagh, unwilling that a document, connected with the illustration of the history of the country, should be transferred elsewhere, purchased the Latin MS., in order that, after publication by the Irish Archæological Society, the original might be deposited in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy".

In October, 1842, the Rev. J. H. Todd, Secretary to the Society, addressed a letter to the writer of these lines on the subject of the Latin copy thus discovered, in which communication he observed: "The Council have desired me to return you thanks for the interest you take in the welfare of the Society, and to ask of you the further favour of undertaking to edit the book for us."

This request was acceded to; and the Latin MS., under an impression, at the time, of its being the original of Colonel O'Kelly's work, was transmitted to Denis Henry Kelly, Esq, of Castle Kelly, (the descendant of Lieutenant-Colonel John Kelly, brother to Colonel Charles, the author,) for the purpose of being translated by him into English. In 1843, the whole was translated, and transcribed for the press, by that gentleman. The copy thus made was placed for annotation in the hands of the Editor in 1844, and the "Notes and Illustrations" were finished by him, and deposited with the Secretary, the Rev. J. H. Todd, in December, 1846. Subsequently, however, to the

The Academy is likewise indebted to the liberality of the Professor for the beautiful Cross of Cong, made in the

reign of Turlough More O'Conor, father of Roderic, the last Milesian Monarch of Ireland.

the completion of the translation into English by Mr. Kelly, that gentleman, having learned that a MS. of the Macaria Excidium was in the possession of his kinsman and friend, Count O'Kelly Farrell, in France, it was then determined not to put the work to press, till all the known copies of it should be consulted and compared. Mr. Kelly therefore obtained from the Count his MS., accompanied by a short memoir of Colonel Charles O'Kelly, which has been made use of in that written for this volume. It now appeared, from a collation of the Count's MS. with the others at the disposal of the Society, that there was not sufficient reason for considering the Latin as the original of the work, and therefore an arrangement in printing it, different from what was first intended, was adopted, with the consent, and even at the suggestion, of Mr. Kelly. According to this arrangement, that portion only of Mr. Kelly's task has been retained which contains the translation of the outline of Irish and British history, prefixed, in the Latin, to the immediate subject of the Macaria Excidium, or is a version of some circumstances in the subsequent portion of the Latin, which seemed fit to be introduced into the English text. To preserve a due distinction between that text, and the additional matter so introduced, such matter has been enclosed in brackets.

The English text of the Macaria Excidium, or of Colonel O'Kelly's history properly speaking, and which begins at paragraph 31, page 32, of this edition, has been selected by the Editor, with the aid of the Rev. J. H. Todd, from four MSS. in that language.

I. A neatly-copied MS. belonging to the Library of Trinity College, half-bound as an octavo volume, and marked, on an engraved plate, inside the cover, as "Ex BIBLIOTHECA Michaelis Ignatii Dugan. 17-"; what were the remaining figures not being certainly legible, but