§ MR. BIGGARasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether there is on the list of books sold by the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland to the teachers and pupils of their schools a work entitled "Easy Lessons in English Grammar, by Lionel Edwardes;" whether Lionel Edwardes is a real or an assumed name; and, whether the junior secretary to the Board, John E. Sheridan, Esq., has had any share in the preparation or publication of the book in question?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, the work referred to is on the list of books sanctioned, but not published, by the Commissioners of National Education. The author is Mr. Sheridan, one of the Secretaries to the Board, who published the book under an assumed name, lest there should be any appearance of his superiors having been influenced in favour of the book by the fact of his official connection with the Department. So closely was the incognito preserved during the last six years that the authorship of the book was not known by those in authority in the Department until the notice of this Question appeared on the Paper.