Story of an Irish Sept. By N. C. Maenamara. (Dent
and Co.) —This is the story of an Irish clan, of a family that has lived upon its own land for upwards of fifteen hundred years, and constitutes a proof, if more were wanted, that the Irish Celts differ so essen- tially from the English race in character and mode of life that laws admirably adapted to the English are mostly unsuited to the Irish. Starting from this principle the author, who writes with considerable knowledge of Irish grievances and Irish require- ments, points out many means of union without coercion, and of land tenure without landlord harshness. The sept in question are the Macnamaras of Clare, descendants of the Celtic Cas, who possessed himself of the lands between the rivers Fergus and Shannon. Though many of the clan were driven from ..he country by Oliver Cromwell in 1659, the remainder cling to their homes in spite of troubles and confiscations, and have continued up to the present day that love of the soil which characterised their ances- tors. In a day of changes such as the times we live in, the story of such loyal affection and attachment to ancestral holdings is deserving of any reader's interest, and Mr. Macnamara's book has the additional merit of being graphic and thorough.
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