PREFATORY NOTE
The following unscientific monograph, a sort of little historical descant, is founded upon all the accurate known literature of the subject, and also largely on the Hardwicke MSS. These, in so far as they relate to Emmet, the writer was first to consult and have copied, last winter, before they were catalogued. But while these sheets were in press, several interesting fragments from the MSS. appeared in the Cornhill Magazine for September, 1903, thus forestalling their present use. This discovery will condone the writer’s innocent claim, made on page 60, of printing the two letters there as unpublished matter.
The portrait is after Brocas’s hurried court-room sketch, made the day before the execution. The original print is in the Joly Collection of the National Library of Ireland. The head is too sharp and narrow, and yet it bears a marked resemblance, far exceeding that of either of the other portraits, to some of Robert Emmet’s collateral descendants. On such good à posteriori evidence it was chosen.
Oxford, Dec. 9, 1903.