THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF MAYO.
The History of the County of Mayo. By Hubert Thomas Knox. (Hodges, Figgis, and Co., Dublin. 12s. 6d.)—In early Irish history Mayo makes but little appearance, and that little is implicit rather than explicit. The more prominent facts belong to the domain of ecclesiastical affairs, and these, Mr. Knox tells us, he has passed over lightly, having dealt with them elsewhere. We have, however, a summary of occurrences, and a copious supply of genealogies, by help of which the student may disentangle from a somewhat confused mass the part played by Mayo personages. In the thirteenth century information becomes more copious, and Mr. Knox does his best to reduce it to an orderly narrative. We must own that when he is describing, as in chap. 12, the develop- ment of the county he is more interesting than when he gives the somewhat dreary story of the quarrels of tribes and chiefs, with the stranger looking on, ready to seize his opportunity. Now and then some personage or family with definite qualities whom we can in a measure realise comes to the front. Such are the MacWilliams, the Bourkes, and the Binghains. (The Mac- Williams offer a curious parallel to the Roman Caesars. The word became a synonym for chief ruler.) Mr. Knox has given us a very learned work, of which we are able to make but a very inadequate appreciation.
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