or later be recognized as faithful delineations of Irish life. In
this confidence the event justified him; for not only were his volumes
stamped with an immediate popularity at home, where they could be best
appreciated, but awarded a very gratifying position in the literature
of the day by the unanimous and not less generous verdict of the English
and Scotch critics.

Thus it was that the publication of two unpretending volumes, written by
a peasant's son, established an important and gratifying fact--that
our native country, if without a literature at the time, was at least
capable of appreciating, and willing to foster the humble exertions
of such as endeavored to create one. Nor was this all; for so far as
resident authors were concerned, it was now clearly established that
an Irish writer could be successful at home without the necessity of
appearing under the name and sanction of the great London or Edinburgh
booksellers.

The rapid sale and success of the first series encouraged the author to
bring out a second, which he did, but with a different bookseller. The
spirit of publishing was now beginning to extend, and the talent of the
country to put itself in motion. The popularity of the second effort
surpassed that of the first, and the author had the gratification of
knowing that the generosity of public feeling and opinion accorded him
a still higher position than before, as did the critics of the day,
without a dissentient voice. Still, as in the case of his first effort,
he saw with honest pride that his own country and his countrymen placed
the highest value upon his works, because they best understood them.

About this time the literary taste of the metropolis began to feel the
first symptoms of life. As yet, however, they were very faint. Two or
three periodicals were attempted, and though of very considerable merit,
and conducted by able men, none of them, I believe, reached a year's
growth. The "Dublin Literary Gazette," the "National Magazine," the
"Dublin Monthly Magazine," and the "Dublin University Review," all
perished in their infancy--not, however, because they were unworthy of
success, but because Ireland was not then what she is now fast becoming,
a reading, and consequently a thinking, country. To every one of these
the author contributed, and he has the satisfaction of being able to say
that there has been no publication projected purely for the advancement
of literature in his own country,