The history of the county of Dublin, Ireland

It has been the silent patriotism of my life, "even from my boyish days," to collect such evidences as time bad spared of Ireland's history and antiquities, the achievements of her families, the associations of her scenery, and the literary reminiscences that clung around her ruins; a portion of these acquisitions had a serviceable affinity to my profession, and all were endeared by affording to me such intellectual attachments to my country, as it would be my object to transfuse into others. The result of my earnest research has been such an accumulation of materials, as extends through nearly one hundred volumes of manuscript; and furnishes, perhaps, the most complete references extant for credible information on these subjects. To stamp some of my collections with the immortality of print, was ever a proud and flattering hope; to connect the publication with one district of "the emerald isle," was yet more alluring. Every spot of the scenery, and every monument of the antiquities, of England and Scotland, have had their annalists and illustrators; but Ireland was suffered still to remain, the Cinderella of the empire in her beauty and her obscurity.

 

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Dublin, the metropolitan county of Ireland, is bounded on the south by the county Wicklow; on the west by that of Kildare, on the north by Meath; and on the east by the Irish Sea. It extends from north to south thirty English miles, from east to west about eighteen, and contains, according to the survey and valuation return of 1824, 147,884 Irish acres, i.e. 237,741 acres in English admeasurement, exclusive of the city, and the liberties of Donore and St. Sepulchre's thereto annexed.