[Old English W. N.]
_Thom's Irish Almanac and Official Directory for 1854._--In the
advertisement prefixed to this valuable compilation, which, according to
the _Quarterly Review_, "contains more information about Ireland than has
been collected in one volume in any country," we may find the following
words:
"All parliamentary and official documents procurable, have been
collected; and their contents, so far as they bore on the state of the
country, carefully abstracted; and where any deficiencies have been
observable, the want has been supplied by applications to private
sources, which, in every instance, have been most satisfactorily
answered. He [Mr. Thom] is also indebted to similar applications to the
ruling authorities of the several religious persuasions _for the
undisputed accuracy of the ecclesiastical department of the Almanac_."
I wish to call attention to the latter words; and in so doing, I assure
you, I feel only a most anxious desire to see some farther improvements
effected by Mr. Thom.
I cannot allow "the undisputed accuracy of the ecclesiastical department,"
inasmuch as I have detected, even on a cursory examination, very many
inaccuracies which a little care would certainly have prevented. For
example, in p. 451. (_Ecclesiastical Directory_, Established Church and
Diocese of Dublin), there are at least five grave mistakes, and four in the
following page. These pages I have taken at random. I could easily point
out other pages equally inaccurate; but I have done enough I think to
prove, that while I willingly accord to the enterprising publisher the full
meed of praise he so well deserves, a little more attention should be paid
in future to the preparation of the ecclesiastical department.