LONDON, PRINTED FOR MESS" LONGMAN, HURST,REES & ORME, PATER NOSTER ROW,

AND JAMES CARPENTER,OLD BOND STREET,

MDCCCVII. w

PREFACE.

ON adding one more to the numerous topographical works which are already before the public, some apology might be deemed necessary, were not the following pages descriptive of a part of the united kingdom, which, though confessedly interesting, has hitherto remained very imperfectly known. The lake of Killarney, however, has not wholly escaped notice: in every general account of Ireland its extraordinary beauty has been dwelt on; it has been the theme of the poet; and has afforded subjects for a great variety of engravings. But as language unaided by the pencil is insufficient to convey distinct ideas of visible objects; so the productions of art, unaccompanied by a detailed verbal explanation, can communicate little knowledge of a place, beyond what may be collected from the mere glance of the eye; and accurate even as the representations of particular views may be, they commonly leave the mind ignorant, both of the con

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