In the course of a review of Douglas Hyde’s The Story of Early Gaelic Literature (1895), Frederick York Powell drew attention to the dearth of published texts in the Irish language: Is it too much to hope for the establishment of an Irish Text Society? It should publish in handy, clear-printed form the unpublished texts … Read more
A remarkable period in Ireland’s military history ended when the British army’s five southern Irish regiments were disbanded in 1922.The Royal Irish Regiment and the Connaught Rangers had been raised in Ireland from about 1683 and 1793 respectively, while the Leinster Regiment, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Royal Munster Fusiliers had originated as Canadian … Read more
When the potato crop failed due to blight in 1846 it was obvious, in Ireland at any rate, that a major catastrophe was about to occur. The first failure in 1845 had been partial but it left the country debilitated with reserves run down, while individuals had few possessions left to sell or pawn. Few … Read more
Baron de Coubertin’s idea that athletes world-wide should emulate the games of ancient Greece came to fruition over a century ago. Although the aura and ethos of the games have since been eroded by nationalism, racism, commercialism and international politics, their appeal has continued unabated, giving rise to quadrennial outbursts of global euphoria. Michelle Smith’s … Read more
Among the various terms applied to works of reference, ‘atlas’ has now become the most user-friendly, more companionable than ‘companion’ and certainly less repellent than ‘dictionary’, ‘directory’ or ‘encyclopaedia’. To match its changing semantic context, the typical modern atlas has fewer and simpler maps than its mid-century predecessors; it also has more non-cartographic illustrations, especially … Read more