Page:The best hundred Irish books.djvu/10

, and every Irish student should regard the perusal of his lectures on the "MSS Materials of Irish History," and his "Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish" as a patriotic duty.

Dr Todd's "Life of St Patrick" is a work which cannot be omitted from any list of books dealing with the early periods of Irish history. Of the general histories of Ireland, all are far below the scientific standard of the age. The best, upon the whole, however, are Leland's from the Protestant, and Plowden's from the Catholic side. Neither ought the Abbe M‘Geoghegan's important work to be forgotten, nor Gordon's valuable history. "The Annals of the Four Masters" must be mentioned as the great source from which important materials for Irish history are derived, and may be faced by students for whom Guicciardini and the galleys have no fears. In truth no general history of Ireland worthy of being placed among the productions of Lingard, Hume, Green, or Burton has yet been written.

Pending its appearance, and, indeed, at all times. Sir John Davies' masterpiece, "A Discovery of the True Causes why Ireland was never Subdued," Hallam's profound chapter on Ireland in his Constitutional History, and Thierry's excellent chapter on the Irish in his "Norman Conquest," ought to be familiar to all Irish students. In connection with these works Mr. Monck Mason's learned "Essay on the Antiquity and Constitution of Parliaments in Ireland" should be studied.

On this subject of general histories or reviews I cannot avoid mentioning a most admirable little book written a few years ago — Mr. Walpole's "Kingdom of Ireland." Of course Mr. Walpole's work does not pretend to be a production of original research. The author read most of the books on the subject of Irish history, boiled down their contents, and has given us a narrative conceived in a spirit of fairness and written in an excellent style. I have no hesitation in saying that every student of Irish history cannot make a better beginning than with this valuable little book. Those whoso minds have been saturated with Mr. Froude's "English in Ireland" ought to take up Sir C. Gavan Duffy's brilliant "Bird's-Eye View of Irish History." This powerful sketch is, of course, written essentially from an Irish point of view, as Mr. Froude's work is written, not so much, perhaps, from an English, as from an Irish-Orange point of view. Sir Gavan Duffy has supplied the public with an admirable antidote to the poisonous production of the great English historian. Everyone who has suffered from Mr. Froude ought to take it. A reference to Sir C. Gavan Duffy at once suggests Thomas Davis, whose essay on "the History of Ireland" should be as familiar as household words to every Irishman. M‘Gee's "History of Ireland" is an eminently readable book; and Mitchel's brilliant work on the same subject is as admirable a specimen of pure and vigorous Saxon English as may be found in the language. Passing from general histories or reviews to special periods, no book can be named dealing with the period from the Anglo-Norman settlement to the Tudor era which can be described as of the best, always excepting Davis's book before mentioned. Coming to the Tudor Era, the best book certainly is Mr. Froude's "History of England," the Irish chapters of which are excellent in every respect. It is needless to add that they are conceived in a very different spirit to 'the brilliant libel to which reference has been already made. With respect to this period, and indeed, generally, the Irish portions of Ranke's "History of England," and Green's "History of the English People," ought to be carefully studied. Spenser's "View of the State of Ireland" is, and deserves to be, a familiar work. Dr. Brewer's "Introduction to the Carew Calender of State Papers" is invaluable, and all those who wish to learn something of the Plantation of Ulster and other subjects appertaining to the time should pefuse its interesting and instructive pages. Carew's "Pacata Hibernia" is important as a contemporary record. Coming down the stream of history, the first work which next occurs to me is Carte's "Life of Ormonde"—a book of the greatest value. Clogy's "Life of Bedell" ought to be read by everyone who wishes to learn something of the career of a very beautiful character, and at the same time desires to be in a position to refute the statement of Mr. Froude, that the Irish are a race of sanguinary bigots. The standard book on the "Cromwellian Settlement" is, of course, Mr. Prendergast's important work of that name. Omitting the