Observations on the Bequest of Henry Flood, Esq. To Trinity College, Dublin: With a Defence of the Ancient History of Ireland. By Sir Lawrence Parsons, Bart

Dublin: Bonham, printer, 1795. 8vo, 187 x 115 mms., pp. [6], 7 - 229 [230 blank], including half-title, handsomely bound in contemporary (or slightly later) straight-grain maroon morocco, gilt borders on covers, gilt spine, all edges gilt. A fine copy. Lawrence Parsons, Second Earl of Rosse (1758–1841) entered the Irish House of Commons in 1782 and became a friend of Henry Flood, the radical patriot. After the death of Flood in 1791, amid much other political activity, he opposed the Union with Britain. "By his will, [Flood] left the bulk of his property, valued at £5000, to Trinity College, Dublin, after his wife's death, for the establishment of a professorship of Irish, for the maintenance of a prize fund for composition, and for the purchase of Irish books and manuscripts. However, the will was challenged by his cousin John Flood of Floodhall, with whom he had argued during his lifetime, and declared invalid on the grounds that John Flood was the legitimate heir, and the lands passed to him" (ODNB). Parsons' work attempted to save the legacy for Trinity College. ESTC T173295 locates numerous copies in these islands; and, in North America, Harvard, Huntington, NYPL, Princeton, Chicago, Kansas, Michigan; Victorian Parliamentary Library.