HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Trying to decide how to celebrate St. Patrick's Day? How about stopping by the Bullis Room and taking a look at this book about Daniel O'Connell, often referred to as the "The Liberator":

Young Ireland, A Fragment of Irish History, 1840 - 1850

by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy

Published by Cassell, Peter, Galpin & Company, 1880

To give you a little preview of what you'll learn from this Bullis book, here's an excerpt from the first chapter titled "How the Repeal Movement Began."

"In the spring of the year 1840 an event occurred in Ireland charged with 

grave and far-reaching consequences but which, at the time, attracted slight notice,

chiefly of a mocking or contemptuous sort. Daniel O'Connell ... suddenly

invited the Irish nation to unite with him in the formidable task of 

repealing the legislative union between Great Britain and Ireland." (Book 1, page 1)

To tempt you a bit more here are some of the other chapter headings:

"How the Movement Fared in the Beginning and What O'Connell Taught"

"A Bird's Eye View of Irish History"

"The Awakening of the Country. The Menace of the Government. The Answer of the People"

"How O'Connell was Tried"

"How He Was Convicted"

"The Vice-tribunate of John O'Connell"

When you've read through this book, you'll have a much better understanding of why the Irish celebrate their heritage every year.  So please stop by.

IRISH STRUGGLE, IRISH ELOQUENCE, AND THE IRISH BAR

With St. Patrick's Day in mind, this week we browsed the shelves for books with green covers. We found lots of them; too many, in fact, to include in a weekly posting. So then we browsed for books with Irish in the title and found three that we recommend for your reading as you celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

If you're into Ireland's struggle for home rule, The Honorable T.P. O'Connor's Gladstone-Parnell, and the Great Irish Struggle (Chicago, G. L. Howe, c 1886) will give you a complete and thrilling history of Ireland's 19th century political/governmental issues and of the two influential men in that struggle: Charles Stewart Parnell and William Ewart Gladstone.

Or, perhaps you would prefer to read facts and anecdotes about Irish trials. Then Richard Lalor Sheil's two volume set, Sketches of the Irish Bar (New York: W. J. Widdleton, 1861), may be your Irish cup of tea.

But if it's Irish oration that you're after, we suggest you read Irish Eloquence: The Speeches of the Celebrated Irish Orators Philips, Curran, and Grattan: to which is added the powerful appeal of Robert Emmett, at the close of this trial for high treason (Boston: Patrick Donahoe, 1857). The book ends with the latter appeal which was delivered at the Session House, Dublin. (Sadly, in spite of Robert Emmett's eloquence, he was found guilty by the Crown and the execution sentence carried out the following day, September 20, 1803.)

If we haven't convinced you to try one of these works, then we invite you to stop by the Bullis Room next week and let us show you all of the collection's green-covered books. And plan to stay a while and enjoy one of them.