The twelve chapters in this volume, delivered as lectures before
public audiences in Dublin, make no pretence to form a full course of
Irish history for any period. Their purpose is to correct and
supplement. For the standpoint taken, no apology is necessary. Neither
apathy nor antipathy can ever bring out the truth of history.
I have been guilty of some inconsistency in my spelling of early Irish
names, writing sometimes earlier, sometimes later forms. In the Index,
I have endeavoured to remedy this defect.
Since these chapters presume the reader's acquaintance with some
general presentation of Irish history, they may be read, for the
pre-Christian period, with Keating's account, for the Christian
period, with any handbook of Irish history in print.