The Irishman. By an Irishwoman. (Beaton.)—This is an interesting little
shilling volume, intended to explode certain popular fallacies on the subject, and we recommend it to all persons who are disposed to believe that the Irishman is rash, or pugnacious, or revolutionary. The authoress will at all events make them pause to think, and is very likely to bring them round to her opinion, as she has carefully studied the subject, has observed acutely, and places the facts that she has accumu- lated in a very taking way. In opposition to the stage and the novel, she maintains that the Irishman is cautious, as is shown by his hoarding as opposed to investing habits ; good-humoured, for anybody may walk through an Irish crowd ; loyal, inasmuch as he pays an excessive deference to birth and breeding. She says, very correctly, in our opinion, that his faults arise from a want of self-dependence, leading to a want of self-respect, and an inclination to yield to outward influences and circumstances. This accounts at the same time for the twofold phe- nOmsnon that Irishmen make excellent soldiers, and employes, and constitute the nuisance of town life, either in London or New York. At the present moment, when the Irish question is again the topic of the day, we think that the little book which we are noticing is very well timol, and more worthy of attention than many of much greater pre- tension.
Previous page
