This clearly written and meticulously researched book concerns itself with three interrelated strands in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Ireland: the nature and function of Classical hedge schools, the Classical strain in Irish thought in the period and the role played by this strain in the ‘larger story of language interaction in modern Ireland’ (p. 1). Throughout, O'H. uncovers fresh evidence in relation to hedge schools and the frequently unexpected existence of Classical learning among the non-elite. These factors are capably shown to make a significant contribution to the creation of Irish identity and culture. The study presents an integrated and coherent argument, which draws upon a variety of sources, ranging from official reports to Irish poetry and scholarship pertaining to it.
Chapter 1, ‘The Stage is Set’, discusses eighteenth-century conceptions of Irish identity and links between Ireland and the Classical world as manifested in Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn (Basis of Knowledge about Ireland) and Latin monographs on Ireland. Here O'H. offers inter alia an excellent account of Philip O'Sullivan Beare's self-fashioning as a second Ovid in exile, but as one who ‘inverted a stereotype’ (p. 24), whereby Ireland is not the barbaric, alien land of exile. But perhaps the most fascinating section of this chapter is the survey of the ‘Lament for Ireland’ (pp. 31–4) with its intriguing fusion of Latin and Irish versions of three famous prayers. The result is what might be described (although O'H. does not use the term) as linguistic cross-fertilisation and the cultural ramifications afforded by this.
Chapter 2, ‘Books in Their Hands’, provides an overview of the availability of Greek and Latin material texts in eighteenth-century Ireland, offering a detailed itemisation of Library inventories alongside a realistic assessment of the price of Classical texts. O'H. argues for, and demonstrates the affordability of, some such texts even for those of limited means. Thus, for example, a list of books at auction in the Limerick Chronicle and General Advertiser (26 July 1770) includes ‘many classical texts for (relatively) modest sums’ (p. 44). Texts could be smuggled from the continent, sold second-hand, lent or shared. Such discoveries are particularly pertinent in the case of hedge schools, some of which, as O'H. points out (pp. 46–7), evince the study of Homer and Virgil.
Chapter 3, ‘Esteem, Seriousness, and Folly’, turns its attention to manuscripts in eighteenth-century Ireland and to ways in which these both reflected and facilitated the transmission of Classical thought. Here the discussion of elegy and verse encomium (oddly termed ‘Praise poem’ [p. 58 and throughout]) is complemented by a sound analysis of recourse to Classical mythology. At times, however, the argument tends to descend into an accumulated list of largely random examples of any piece that might happen to have praised Classical learning. The best part of this rather haphazard chapter resides in the perceptive comments on the appropriation of Classical texts in, for example, the poetry of John Fleming (pp. 95–7). At times the phraseology tends to be awkwardly repetitive, for example ‘seams of classical material’ (p. 79), ‘seams of classical learning’ (p. 80); ‘it was designed as a riff on the Aeneid’ (p. 95), ‘an extended riff on Aeneid 6’ (p. 97). And while English translations of Latin texts are generally accurate, a comparison of the translation of Maurice Newby's Latin poem Amicus Amico (pp. 93–4) with the Latin original (Appendix B, pp. 209–11) reveals a translational ease that is rather atypical of the book as a whole.
With Chapter 4, ‘Eighteenth-Century Institutional Views’, the argument seems to come back on track with an impressive account of formal reports ‘implicating classical hedge schools’ (p. 99). We learn of instances where the relatively poor aspired to seminary education and of reports on Latin schoolmasters afforded by the State of Popery Survey 1731 (pp. 102–6). Of particular interest is the discussion of an extract from a visitation notebook of the Catholic Archbishop James Butler (pp. 110–13), usefully reproduced as Appendix A (pp. 205–8).
Chapter 5, ‘Narratives of Scholars and Schools’, turns its attention to contemporary travel writers, producing fruitful evidence of learning among the poor. A certain G. Holmes, for instance, noted Kerry peasants of whom ‘many may be met who are good Latin scholars, yet do not speak a word of English’ and proceeded to remark that ‘Greek is also taught in the mountainous parts by some itinerant teachers’ (p. 123). Fascinating too is a dialogue presented by a certain Mr Sheridan (pp. 125–7) in which we read that ‘the very shepherds could speak Latin’ (p. 125).
Chapter 6, ‘The Educational Tide Turns’, contextualises Classical hedge schools and scholars in relation to educational reform in the early nineteenth century. Here O'H. presents an insightful survey of the nature and function of pay schools, some of which taught Greek and Latin, all usefully examined in relation to government data, ‘an essential part of the hedge school story’ (p. 141), for 1824 (pp. 152–3) and the 1835 returns associated with the Second Report of the Commissioners of Public Instruction (pp. 162–5). The argument is corroborated by two excellent appendices (Appendix C [pp. 213–29] and especially Appendix D [pp. 231–86]), which constitute in themselves an invaluable resource for future scholars.
Chapter 7, ‘Genius in the Humbler Walks of Life’, focuses on two generations (the first at the end of the eighteenth century; the second in the nineteenth century) of socially underprivileged individuals who possessed knowledge of the Classics. Here O'H. unearths some hidden gems: Thomas Harney's Irish verse translation of over 900 lines of the first book of Homer's Iliad (pp. 187–8); Nicholas O'Kearney's Irish rendering of sections of Horace's Odes (p. 191). We read too of passages of Greek verse (Anacreon and Homer) inscribed alongside Irish translations (pp. 192–3). The whole admirably encapsulates and epitomises the linguistic interaction at the heart of O'H.’s argument.
In short, this is a clearly articulated and well-argued book. Although it runs the risk of offering a somewhat binary view of the nature of hedge schools on the one hand and of the ‘classical strain’ in Irish thought on the other, it creatively marries the two by demonstrating interrelationships – pedagogical, cultural, linguistic – between attitudes towards the Classics and Irish itself, the latter seen as a language with roots in Classical antiquity. But perhaps the chief merit of this study resides in O'H.’s ability to maximise disparate sources, her careful scrutiny of relevant reports and censuses, and her thorough investigation of the nature and extent of Classical teaching in the period under discussion. As such this work should prove an indispensable resource to those interested in the Classical tradition, in Irish cultural history, in townlands and in the pedagogical methodologies of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Ireland.
