Irish Jesuit Province

Irish Pedigrees; Or, the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation by John O'HartThe Irish Monthly, Vol. 8, No. 82 (Apr., 1880), pp. 224-225Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20502550 .

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224 New Books

truly beautiful. You have better' opportunities of learning the special kind likely to

take with the bulk of your public, but my experience has led me to think that you

should do your best to- conceal the religious source or aim of your periodical."

Such judicious counsel may be even more useful than the prosaic encouragement included in the lst words of the Bishop's letter: "I send, with great pleasure, my subscription in advance for two copies."

We may here take the liberty of adding that the good and zealous Bishop's remarks apply with much greater force to the support which priests may be expected to give to such a periodical as the Irish Ecole siastical Recard, which has just appeared under the happiest auspices. The fact that it is edited at Maynooth College, which is in many respects the greatest ecclesiastical seminary in the entire Catholic

world, is a guarantee of its stability and efficiency. Being the only magazine in the English language which is addressed exclus ively to the clergy, it will be sustained not only by our priests at home, but by the thousands of English-speaking priests in the United States and in other countries.

M. Irish Pedigrees; or, The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation. By JoHN O'HART, Associate in Arts, Q.U.I. (Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son.)

Ws hope it is not yet too late to bring under our reader's notice Mr. O'Hart's handsome volumes on Irish genealogy. Of the historical value attaching to the long lines of family stems we cannot pre tend to judge; but the warm recommendations of two such compe tent authorities as Father O'Hanlon and Sir Bernard Burke render further criticism superfluous. There are a great many other things,

however, besides family stems in these two volumes-notes historical,

philological, biblical, and scientific, as well as voluminous appendices on a large variety of subjects; and all, both notes and appendices, give evidence of much patient research, and of no small ability in uatilising the materials within the author's reach. Hence, even to those who cannot hope to trace their names back to Heremon or Heber, " Irish Pedigrees "' will afford a great deal of useful and pleasant reading.

Many readers, however, will regret that the author gives us no means by which to distinguish between what may be considered the

genealogy of history and thie genealogy if not of fiction, at least of more or less doubtful history. For even Mr. O'Hart himself must admit that the same species of assent cannot fairly be claimed for the statements that Thomas, Lord O'lagan, is descended from Shane Ban, son of Hugh (d. 1708), and that Her Majesty the Queen is 130th in lineal descent from our common father Adam, through Con of the

Hlundred Battles, Milesius of Spain, and Fenius Farsa. If it were so, we should know very definitely what 'to think of Boucher de Perthes' famous fossil jaw -bone, and the theory of Pliocene man. This, how ever, is a defect wh ich can be easily remedied in a future edition.

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New Books. 225

A more serious blemish is- the assumption of definite knowledge in dealing with the early local history of the East and of Ireland, which is- calculated to lead astray the ignorant and unwary. Japhet and the Scythians, the Fomorians and Nemidians, have their several doings as graphically depicted as - Strongbow and -the Anglo-Saxon invaders. But how can we look for exact accuracy where the guiides to be fol lowed are Rollin's "I Ancient rnstory," and a certain modern " History of Ireland ?" The same remark is, in great part, applicable to many of Mr. O'Hart's philological notes. Following the lead of a good Irishman, but not a great linguist, he seems bent -upo'n connecting intimately the Gaelic -and Hebrew tongues; and the primafacie re semblances which should rouse his suspicions often only serve to deceive him the more. One instance will explain what we mean. In the Second Series, p. 49, we are in:vited to note the affinity between the Irish "Isi8, always expressed to signify ' a female,' and the Hebrew isa, which mea:ns a wo:man." The analogy looks fair enough in the

note; but if the Hebrew word had been correctly written "i schscha," or ' ishsha,"7 and it had been remembered that the uncontracted form is inscha, that the masculine is iseh, and the root anasoh, there could, of course, have been no reason for the comparison.

It is from a desire of seeing Mr. O'Hart's book what it ought to be -fully trustworthy in all it contains-that we have permitted mirselves these few words of criticism. In a future edition we trust to find it quite up to modern notions of accuracy. But even as things stand, we have much reason to be grateful; and we shall look anxiously for the promised continuation of Mr. O'Hart's labours.

IV. [Three Rose8 of the Elect. By MGR. i SEGa. (Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son. 1880.)

WHEN we learn that these "'three roses" are love for the Pope, love for the Blessed Virgin, and love for the Holy Eucharist, we under stand that it is a case for the application of St. Augustine's "non nova

sed nove.' Monsignor de Segur, by the simplicity and unction of his style, lends a certain amount of novelty to themes which happ.i are not novel. This new member of his long series of books compos-e for the poor ancd for the young has gone through twelve editions. The

translation is thoroughly well done by a " Priest of the Ancient Order of Mount Carmel, Whitefriar-street, Dublin."

V. Sketches of the Lives of Dominican Saints. By M. R. (Dublin: M. L. Gill & Son. 1880.)

Ths very tastefill volume carries ouit successfully an excellent idea

grouping together brief, picturesque accounts of all the canonised and

many of the beatified children of the glorious patriarch St. Dominic.

M. K. warns us at the outset that her book "merely consists of simple

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