LIFE OF PATRICK H. PEARSE By M. Louis N. le
Roux
M. Louis N. le Roux is an enthusiastic student of modern Irish events and, as he tells us, sixteen years' unbroken inter- course with militant Irish nationalism has made him familiar with the "famous felons" of Easter Week and 'with their contemporaries. His study of Patrick H. Pearse was re- viewed in these columns when it first appeared in French, and we may draw attention to this English -adaptation -which has been revised by the author—Life of Patrick H. Pearse (Talbot Press, Dublin, 10s. 6d.). The translator is Mr. Desmond Ryan, whose own biographical study, The Man called Pearse, covers much of the ground traversed by M. le Rou.s. This later study vividly presents to us the leader of the insurrection as poet, educationist and revolutionary. M. /e Roux is not "wise after the event " ; the lapse of time has not prevented him from recovering the idealistic emotions of a heightened period. He admits frankly that he is 11 hero-worshipper and his work therefore is limited in critical value. The history of the Sinn Fein movement has not yet been written but the tragic political developments and evenU in Ireland during the years succeeding Easter Weel' have damped the ardour. a many, M. le Roux ignores the significance of subsequent reaction and Jiidbonlelacks historical perspective.
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