Ancient Music of Ireland (1840) Bunting published The Ancient Music of Ireland in three volumes. The first volume, published in 1796, contained 66 tunes which he had notated at the Belfast Harp Festival. The second volume was published in 1809. In 1840, Bunting issued his third collection of The Ancient Music of Ireland, complete with 151 tunes. "A Dissertation on the Irish Harp and Harpers, Including an Account of the Old Melodies of Ireland" of about ninety pages is also included. With this final volume Bunting hoped to promote the antiquity not only of the Irish music he had collected, but also of the Irish harp. He also wished to provide "the remaining airs of the collection arranged in true harp style." The Preface The Preface to this third volume allowed Bunting to state his opinions on modern usage of the ancient tunes, as well as rehash the event ("the great meeting of the Harpers at Belfast, in the year 1792"), which had been his starting point in the music collecting field. This document begins with the author's defence of the value of studying Irish music of antiquity. Bunting claims that music passes through the ages unchanged, making it therefore just as good an indicator of the culture of the ancients as the study of "civil and military antiquities". This music of the ancients originated in the educated bard class of Harpers who travelled between the houses of the Irish gentlemen, performing, teaching, and composing to please their current patron. According to Bunting, because the words that accompanied melodies changed from county to county, they were unreliable and had been left out for the most part from his collection. Next, Bunting discusses the 1792 Harpers Festival. The Belfast Festival attracted eleven Harpers in total, ten from Ireland and one from Wales. Bunting was contracted to notate the tunes played at this festival in an effort to preserve the ancient tradition, which was seen to be quickly fading. Gaining inspiration from his contact with the Harpers, especially Denis Hempson (Donnchadh Ó Hámsaigh) and Arthur O'Neill, Bunting visited counties Londonderry, Tyrone and the province of Connacht in an effort to continue collecting ancient airs from "the country people" and to learn from Hempson whatever he could about the harp. After dismissing three earlier attempts at publication of ancient tunes (Burke Thumoth in 1720, "Neill of Christ Churchyard, soon after," and "Carolan's son"