THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF IRELAND. By R. A. S. Macalister. (Methuen.
16s.)—Professor Macalister, a scholar, a patriot, and an uncommonly competent and, vivacious writer, has produced an excellent account of Irish antiquities from the Stone Age to the ,Norman Conquest. His wide
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experien in archaeological research elsewhere, and notably in Palestine, enables him to relate early Ireland to the rest of Europe and to dismiss many of the fanciful _theories that delude the mere local antiquary. Ireland in the Bronze Age was important, he maintains, because she had gold to trade for the tin that she did not possess. Her pre-Celtic people were conquered in the Iron Age, several centuries before Christ, by Celtic invaders. The Irish legends -refer to both- the conquered and the 'conquerors ; thus, the author maintains, the early Irish literature embodying these legends goes back to a remoter stage of civilization than any other. The development of a written record—in Oghams—is clearly described. After the conversion of Ireland a Christian art
was developed, and the chapters on this subject are admirable. Professor Macalistei never fears controversy, and we are not surprised to find him claiming the Lindisfarne Gospels as Irish and not Northumbrian. It is at least doubtful whether Ireland had any monopoly of interlacing ornament ; there was no lack of it on the Continent and in Southern England. The account of the stone towers and of the sub- terranean storehouses or refuges-another one of which was found the other day-is noteworthy. But we must be content to commend the book most heartily to all who are seriously interested in archaeology. It is well illustrated.
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