OF THE

UNION

OF

THE KINGDOMS

OF

GREAT-BRITAIN AND IRELAND;

WITH

AN INTRODUCTORY SURVEY

OF

HIBERNIAN AFFAIRS,

TRACED FROM THE TIMES OF CELTIC COLONISATION.

BY

CHARLES COOTE, LL.D.

Uno se pectore

Condidit, et major conjunctis viribus exit. CLAUD.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,

By S, Hamilton, Falcon-Coutt, Fleet-Street; -

AND SOLD BY G. KEARSLEY, NO. 46, IN THAT STREET.

1802.

22955

25

TO THE MOST NOBLE

THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE.

MY LORD,

YOUR great ancestor, sir William Petty,

was one of the early advisers of a consolidation of the English and Irish parliaments: sensible of its expediency, he recommended it by strong arguments. As, with his fortune and talents, you inherit his predilection for such a measure, a work which traces the progress and relates th completion of the late scheme of union may with obvious propriety be inscribed to your lordship.

Your judgement, on a perusal of this history, may induce you to disallow the pretensions of the author to the praise of literary merit; but your politeness will excuse the freedom of the dedicator. If the performance should be entitled to approbation, your lord