24 JULY 1875, Page 24

of Ireland to the Close of the Twelfth Century. By

R. B. Brash, archi- tect. (W. B. Kelly, Dublin.) The interest of this book is, of course, mainly artistic and antiquarian, but it throws a light also on history, "The native Irish," we read in one passage which certainly needs attention, "were by no means the religious, obedient, devoted sons of the Church that modern apouters have delighted to represent them. The hard, naked truth of our native annals records that they were as ready to rob a church or a monastery, or to kill a priest, as were the Danes and Saxons who landed on our shores as open enemies."