Irish Impressions
The Face and Mind of Ireland. By Arland Ussher. (Gollancz. 9s. 6d.) GLANCING backwards, Mr. Ussher confesses that the Ireland he knew in his boyhood was almost too good—or too bad—to be true. In his preliminary pages he sketches for us a small social world of stage- Irishry, which was good-natured in its own peculiar way, but over- shadowed by the menace of Home Rule. As a schoolboys home on holidays from England, he was constantly addressed as " Your Honour," and shopkeepers assured him, over their counters, that he was " as welcome as the flowers in May." On the slightest provoca- tion, the " Quality " drove incredible distances in gigs and barouchei to drink tea with each other, and every male seemed to be a captain, a major or a colonel. His grandfather took him for walks over the family estate:— One day we passed a mound of stones in the midst of a stinking morass. " There used to be a large family living there," he said reminiscently ; "your poor Aunt Henrietta used to hold her nose whenever she passed by the door. They were savages." "Well, what became of them? " I asked. "There was some delicacy in the family," he said, " and they all died." It may be explained that a "delicacy" is an Irish euphemism for th:
dreaded tuberculosis.
Gradually Mr. Ussher discovered his own country for himself, ani even became a profiCient scholar in Gaelic and a fine poet-translator. But he did not revolt from one complacency to another despite th increasing patriotic fervour bf the times. Not without satiric intent, be translated a lengthy Rabelaisian poem by a Gaelic poet of the eighteenth century. The original work, entitled " The Midnight Court," was surprisingly popular during the time of the Penal Age, 'though it dealt with the dangerous theme of religious celibacy. Apart from this early poetic escapade; Mr. Ussher is mainly interested in philosophy and has written two volumes of essays entitled Postscript on Existentialism and The Twilight of the Ideas. His present book, however, consists of highly personal impressions and he adopts what ,he calls " the continually shifting viewpoint." On highly controversial subjects he writes with a detachment and ironical humour which is a welcome change from the acerbity of politics. His rapid com- mentary on Irish events during the last thirty years, from the Rebellion of 1916 to the recognition of the Republic, is unusual in its attempt to judge all sides with fairness. But his dislike for factual detail will be found irritating by those who are not completely 'satisfied with stimulating impressions. He tells us, for example, that Mr. De Valera escaped execution after the Easter Week Rising, " perhaps on account of his youth." It is, of course, well known that Mr. De Valera was born in America and was, therefore, an American citizen.
National characteristics are always tempting to a speculative mind and Mr Ussher's shifting viewpoint enables him to indulge in this limited form of amusement with wit and brilliance. Here will be found acute comment and provocative half-truths. Mr. Ussher assures us, for instance, of the sexual coldness of the Irish race and quotes triumphantly from mediaeval poems and the sagas to prove an historic case. He has ignored, however, a whole tradition of seduc- tive folk poetry and, in particular, the " Love Songs of Connaught," those tragic and passionate lyrics which inspired Synge, Yeats and the other poets of the literary revival. Mr. Ussher's dislike of modern industrial civilisation is understandable, but at times he is inclined to take refuge in vague and self-alarming phrases, as when he speaks of modern anarchy and lack of standards. In his abhorrence of English mass holiday-making, he gives us a moving picture of St. Patrick's purgatory at Lough Derg. "Here every season many thousands of pilgrims, of both sexes and of every class and trade, crawl and stumble on bare and bleeding knees up steep, slippery places." The sceptical reader might point out that bare- legged trippers frequently scramble over seaside rocks without loss of blood. Contrast Mr. Ussher's description with the angry satire of a younger Irish poet, Mr. Denis Devlin : -
The poor in spirit on their rosaryrounds,
The jobbers with their whiskey-angered eyes, The pink bank clerks, the tip-hat papal counts, • With mullioned Europe shattered, this Northwest, Rude-sainted isle would pray it whole again.
Comparison between these two versions would suggest that Mr. Ussher, for all his detachment, prsfaci the romantic point of view. He says little about Ulster and he dallies with the idea that Ireland may have some spiritual message for the future. But as he evinces zio evidence, the suggestion may be merely ironical and a comment on national vanity. Those who are prepared to accept Mr. Ussher's summary methods will enjoy his Irish wit and ironic air of
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