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[Frontispiece: CASE OF MOLAISE'S GOSPELS]
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE GAELIC LEAGUE, THE ONLY BODY IN IRELAND WHICH APPEARS TO REALISE THE FACT THAT IRELAND HAS A PAST, HAS A HISTORY, HAS A LITERATURE, AND THE ONLY BODY IN IRELAND WHICH SEEKS TO RENDER THE PRESENT A RATIONAL CONTINUATION OF THE PAST,
THIS ATTEMPT AT A REVIEW OF THAT LITERATURE WHICH DESPITE ITS PRESENT NEGLECTED POSITION THEY FEEL AND KNOW TO BE A TRUE POSSESSION OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE.
_A Chonnradh chaoin, a Chonnradh chóir_, _Rinn obair mhór gan ór gan cabhair_, _Glacaidh an cíos a dlighim daoibh_, _Guidhim, glacaidh go caoimh mo leabhar._
_A cháirde cléibh is iomdha lá_ _D'oibrigheamar go breágh le chéile_, _Gan clampar, agus fós gan éad_, _'S dá mhéad ár dteas', gan puinn di-chéille._
_Chuireabhar súil 'san bhfear bhi dall_, _Thugabhar cluas don fhear bhi bodhar_, _Glacaidh an cíos do bheirim daoibh_, _----Guidhim, glacaidh go caoimh mo leabhar._
The present volume has been styled--in order to make it a companion book to other of Mr. Unwin's publications--a "Literary History of Ireland," but a "Literary History of Irish Ireland" would be a more correct title, for I have abstained altogether from any analysis or even mention of the works of Anglicised Irishmen of the last two centuries. Their books, as those of Farquhar, of Swift, of Goldsmith, of Burke, find, and have always found, their true and natural place in every history of _English_ literature that has been written, whether by Englishmen themselves or by foreigners.
My object in this volume has been to give a general view of the literature produced by the Irish-speaking Irish, and to reproduce by copious examples some of its more salient, or at least more characteristic features.