PREFACE. very As I have undertaken to give an account of the Irish Writers of the Seventeenth Century, a few words on the historic character of that period will assist the reader's understanding, and save me many side-glances from the subject, in the progress of the work. In War, in Science, in Theology, in the Arts, it was a century of conflict, discussion, and advancement. In Politics it beheld wonders and signs. It beheld the rise and fall of the Stuarts -it saw the subjugation of Spain-it saw the Bourbons rise to overlook Europe like another Alp it saw Holland emerge from the deep, huge and slow, and pregnant of the parent element. It saw Ireland alternately depressed and exalted, retained at last in the vile Feudalism constituted of political disunion and sectarian warfare. These great material occurrences fomented the minds of nations, and produced great births out of dark chaos and noisy change. The century opened while Philosophy was still in swaddling clothes, pleased with the juggle of the alchymist and the dreams of the star |