Second paragraph of third chapter: Martial law was restricted to the south-west to keep Dublin open for those, in Sturgis's jokey phrase, 'as wants to negotiate'. A few on both sides seem to have wanted to. They found a new intermediary in Patrick Joseph Clune, Archbishop of Perth, a man with some experience of the war - he had been visiting his ( Read more... )

Second paragraph of third chapter:One concern faced by the Ryans was penal legislation, which dictated the Inch estate be equally divided between John Ryan’s four sons unless the eldest converted to the Established Church and became the sole heir.6 But Egan was not just concerned with legal interference. ‘I hope’, he added in his letter to Frances ( Read more... )

Second paragraph of third chapter:‘Are you OK?’ Melissa asked in an undertone, reaching over to squeeze my hand.
A rather good novel about young folks in an extended contemporary Dublin middle-class family, who find a mysterious death from ten years ago coming back to haunt them. The somewhat clueless narrator is very well portrayed; as a straight ( Read more... )

Second paragraph of third chapter:A shake of the coif-covered head.
Set in mid-19th century Ireland, an English nurse is sent to investigate the mystery of a child who apparently survives without food, in the immediate aftermath of the Famine. It's pretty obvious to the attentive reader what is really going on from an early stage, but it's a well- ( Read more... )

Third paragraph of The life and adventures of Mrs. Christian Davies, commonly call'd Mother Ross; who, in several campaigns under King William and the late Duke of Marlborough, in the quality of a foot-soldier and dragoon, gave many signal proofs of an unparallell'd courage and personal bravery, taken from her own mouth when a pensioner of Chelsea- ( Read more... )

So, back when I started these ten-day updates in March last year, I had no idea I'd still be at it half a thousand days later. (I did skip the updates between 100 and 220 days in; that was the lull of summer last year.) I will keep at it for now; we're not exactly back to normal yet ( Read more... )

Just a brief note on the day ( Read more... )

Second paragraph of third chapter:The sense of belonging and responsibility experienced by the Department of Finance’s new recruit on his arrival in the north block of Government Buildings on Merrion Street as a junior administrative officer on 1 June 1938 was to remain constant throughout his life. ‘It warmed my heart as a new arrival to find that ( Read more... )

Second cartoon of third chapter (on Brexit):

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Second paragraph of third chapter ("200,000 volunteer soldiers", by Philip Orr):At the beginning of the twentieth century the British Army no longer held the huge proportion of Irishmen that it did in the 1830s when 40% of its men were from this island. However, close to 30,000 Irishmen were in the regular forces by 1914 and another 30,000 were ( Read more... )