“State of the Irish Protestants,” Dean Davies’s Journal of the Wars of William III, in the Cam- den Society’s series ; Life of James Bonnell, Accountant-General of Ireland under James II, William III, and Queen Anne; Mrs. Delany’s Auto- biography, a charming picture of Dublin Life in the 18th century ; Life and Times of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon; Webb’s Dictionary of Irish Biography, a most useful and accurate pub- lication, which might, however, be much enlarged in a new edition, as many winters noticed by Ware find no place there: Life and Times of Lord Clon- curry, and Amherst’s “[[History of Catholic Emancipation]]” (just published). I may notice, in conclusion, the sad want of local histories amongst us. Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Sligo, Armagh, and Drogheda are the only towns which on the spur of the moment I can recollect as having developed such. I know bookmaking is not a thriving or paying trade, but surely our Young Men’s Societies might well devote their rural leisure to collecting the history of the past w'hile the loeal Press would give it immortality. The country clergy ot both churches have abundant leisure and ample material at hand. They might surely utilise it in such studies. A little has been done in this direction, but not much. Cogan’s Meath, Butler’s Trim, Brady’s Cork, Cloyne, and Ross; Joly on the Old Bridge of Athlone, Histories of Kilmainhara, Kildare, and Down, the names of whose authors I do not just now' recall, show how much might be done. In the ” Meath Parochial Magazine” I have been myself striving to show what could be made of such an historic spot as Athlone. How much more might be done if only men could unite amidst all their differences in the most entrancing of all studies — the study of the past ? George T. Stoke.s. P.S. — I do not think you have noticed Sir Wil- liam Wilde’s learned Appendi.v to the Census Reports of 1851 or 1861 (I forget which) on the plagues which have desolated Ireland- His book on the Boyne and Blackwater are also full of charming Irish history. Lord Dunraven’s work on Irish Architecture and Petrie’s Christian In- scriptions of Ireland are most accurate and im- pcu’tant- REV DR. DELANY, S J. TO THE EDITOR OP THE FREEMAN. University College, St Stephen’s-green, Dublin, March 21, 1886. Dear Sir — I have read with much interest the very suggestive and able paper of ‘‘ Historicus,” and beg to thank you lor your courteous invita- tion to express my opinion regarding the “ Best Hundred Irish Books.” Even were I well v(;rsed in Irish history, which unfortunately I am not, it would take more time than 1 can command to offer any detailed criticism worth reading on so long a list of books, many of which 1 have never read. In reading, as in other things, each person is guided largely by his own tiistes, :rs well as by the special wants of hi.s work in life; and thus it haf)pens that, though I have read, as most ])cople do, a fair quantity of history, 1 must confess, yacc Carlyle and “ Historicus,” that historical works have not held the (ir.st place in my reading. 1 prefei’ llomei and 1 Icmosthcrnes b) Thucy- dides; and Xenophon, Cice.ro, and Virgil to bivy and Tacitus; Dante to Guicciardini; Molieio to RoUin; Shakespeare and Scott to Hume and Ma- caulay. In the same way, though our Irish epic is still unwritten, and much as I admire the excellent work done in Irish history by Mr. Lecky and other writers named by “ Historicus,” I own that I should place Irish poetry and Irish oratory in the first places on my list of Irish books. And this preference is not one of mere literary form. I believe them to be of greater intrinsic importance, even historically. Some one said recently — I forget who — that “ the best histt>rie.s are mostly fiction, whilst the best fictions are mostly histor 3 ^” I do not at all endorse the cynical epigram, and I hold that many of our recent books on Irish history are in the fullest sense historical, and de- serving of all credit; but we have only to recall how the facts that we see from day to day with our own eyes are recorded — say in the pages of the leading journals, by writers who are “all honourable men;” and we shall realise that gifts of imagination and invention may find a scope sometimes in our histories as well as in our novels — indeed, our bookshelves offer us some brilliant examples of the exercise of such gifts upon Irish history in the near and distant past. But, dealing even with writers of undoubted veracity and of great learning and research, and measuring the value of books not by their abstract intrinsic worth in the judgment of highly edu- cated men, but by the broad standard of their potency for good on the minds of a people, and by their influence on the people’s destinies, I believe that the poets and orators of a nation must always take rank before its historians, however accomplished. The songs of a nation do not merely reflect its chaiacter, as history does less vividly — they are one of the most potent forces in moulding it>; and the words of a nation’s orators make at times great epochs in her history, whilst they remain often the best record of these epochs. Apart from this question of rel.ativo precedence, in which very many, no doubt, will agree rather with “ Historicus” and Carlyle, I think the list given is a very good one, and emiuCntly suggestive, i miss from it some names that I expected to find — Colgan, Petrie, Dr Doyle, and some other’s; and, amongst more recent books, Montalembert’s volume of the Irish Monks, Fr Murphy’s ‘‘ Crom- well in Ireland,” Sullivan’s ” New Ireland,” Barry O’Brien’s “Fifty Years of Concession,” O'Connor’s “ Parnell Movement,” and a few others, chiefly poets. But on the other h;^id, “Historicus” mentions many books of which I know nothing, and I am therefore not in a posi- tion to form a comparative judgment of his omission. Thanking you for the very instructive paper, and the discussion provoked by it, believe me yours fafthfully, William Del any, S J.
THE EDITOR OF THE IRISH MONTHLY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMAN.
Dear Sir — “Historicus” used to be Mr. Ver- non Harcourt, but I suppose Sir William Har- court lias given up pseudonyms and journalism.
