Page:The Waning of the Middle Ages (1924).djvu/373



Sir John Ross, the distinguished Irish judge, has lived through an eventful period of history, during which he has met many of those who played a memorable part in public affairs. The judicial system which was carried on within the walls of the Four Courts in Dublin vanished with the destruction of that beautiful and noble building in 1922, and it seemed fitting that some one should essay a portrayal of the personalities and surroundings of a Bench and so famous in their day, and inter alia rescue from oblivion scenes and stories of their times. This Sir John has done with the happiest results, and there are few of the well-known men of his day who do not figure in his pages. But the book is by no means confined to legal luminaries or to striking incidents in Civil and Criminal Trials. The author sat as a Member of Parliament for years, and though he eschews politics as such, he has many good stories of election times and of life in the House. The leaders of Irish Society, both men and women, were well known to him, and he