Excerpt from The Cabinet of Irish Literature, Vol. 1: Selections From the Works of the Chief Poet, Orators, and Prose Writers of Ireland, With Biographical Sketches and Literary Notices

But it is not the ancient literature or the elder generations of Irish litte'rateurs that alone have been neglected by the Irish people. There are few Irishmen, I venture to think, who have any conception of the number of well-known literary names which belong to Ireland. Accustomed to read and hear of many writers as belonging to English literature, we are liable to forget their connection with Ireland, and thus many eminent authors pass for being English who were born on Irish soil.

Apart, however, from this consideration, the want has long been felt for a work in which the prose, the poetry, and the oratory of great Irishmen might be found in a collected and accessible form. Such a book is primarily necessary for the purpose of enabling the literary history of Ireland to be traced in a systematic manner, and not the literary history only, but also the historical and social development of the people. In Ireland, as in other countries, literature is the mirror wherein the movements of each epoch are re¿ected, and the study of literature is the study of the country and the people. Most Irishmen, more over, have felt the desire for a. Work in which they could readily find access to the gems of literary effort which rest in their memory, and would be gladly seen again.

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