14 NOVEMBER 1868, Page 22

An Illustrated history of Ireland. (Longmans.)—Of all works, a history

of Ireland would most seem to require in the writer a calm and critical mind. Nowhere are the fires more thinly covered, the ashes more treacherous. The early chapters of this work do not impress us with a high idea of the author's qualifications for his task. He thinks it highly probably that Ireland was colonized before the Flood, and that the burden of disproof lies upon those who would deny it. It is a bur- den that we are not inclined to take upon ourselves; we would only remark that, if it be so, the remedy which some cynical Englishman proposed for the island's troubles—that it should be submerged for twenty-four hours—has been tried, and apparently without effect. The post-diluvial settlement of Erin he is inclined to attribute to certain Phosnician settlers who originally dwelt on the shore of the Red Sea, and who were expelled from their habitations by the grand- son of the Pharaoh who was there crowned, because they had sup- plied the Israelites with provisions. Seriously, and it is obviously difficult to be serious with a gentleman who writes in this style, we cannot think that this book will serve any useful purpose. It is throughout a pas- sionate invective against English dealings with Ireland. It is unhappily true that for such an invective there is only too much matter at hand. But it may well be doubted whether Ireland, had she been left to herself, or had she fallen into the hands of any other conquerors, would have been happier. One of the earliest authentic statements about Irish history is that Agricola, the Roman conqueror of Britain, entertained a native prince, regulutn quendam dontestica seditione pulsum. The writer of this book regrets that the name of tho traitor has not been preserved. It would have been only one out of many. Domestic feud has been at least as fertile a source of Irish misery as foreign oppression. Englishmen are quite ready to confess, and, we hope, to redress, their share of the wrong. In this temper lie the great elements of hope for the future, but it will not be fostered by such productions as the present.