Ireland in the Stuart Papers. Correspondence and Documents of Irish Interest from the Stuart Papers in the Royal Archives, Windsor Castle, Volume I: 1719-1742, and Volume II: 1743-1765, ed. by Patrick Fagan (review)

BOOK REVIEWS475 And even if it were possible, it's not good teaching.The students need to grow through all those public appearances: reading, discussing, responding, writing at the board, even fulfilling classroom chores—so long as each has his moment and none is preferred.Again,work ahead of time for the teacher, overwhelming the first few times around but almost second nature after a while. A selective, hostile reading could see such a school as a religious tyranny. But a closer look, buttressed by experience, reveals a productive structure in otherwise chaotic lives.All that gravity and all that silence need to be seen in a humming context of respect for the person of each student as a child of God.The early Brothers could not imagine any other way oflooking at it, and teachers are still trying to bring such an environment into lives that are complicated by distractions undreamed of in 1720, but no less damaging to the fundamental purpose oflife. The faith foundation of the Conduct doesn't go without saying, nor is it present in every line, because this is a manual. In the Brother's life, it was a companion to other resources of a more explicitly religious kind, as noted earlier.They didn't make any distinction between the religious life ("chapel") and the apostolate ("class"). Again, an insight at the outset which has withstood many assaults in the three centuries of the enterprise. Brother Patrick Ellis, ES.C. The Catholic University ofAmerica Ireland in the StuartPapers. Correspondence andDocuments ofIrish Interest from the Stuart Papers in the Royal Archives, Windsor Castle.Volume I: 1719-1742, and Volume II: 1743-1765. Edited by Patrick Fagan. (Dublin: Four Courts Press. 1995. Pp. vii, 341;v, 303.) Ireland in the Stuart Papers consists of Patrick Fagan's edition of the Irish items of the 80,000-item collection of the correspondence of the court-in-exile of James Frances Edward Stuart, which the British government acquired after the death of the last of the Stuarts, the Cardinal ofYork, in 1807.The whole collection is now available on microfilm in the British Library Document Center. In his introduction Dr. Fagan notes that as a source of Irish history the Stuart Papers "have been largely neglected by historians" (I, 5), with the exception of those specializing in Catholic Church history. A superficial examination of the correspondence may seem to justify its limited use since much of it deals with the nomination and appointment of the Irish Catholic hierarchy, an area in which James Stuart had major responsibility. However, a closer reading of the correspondence provides valuable insights into several areas of early modern Irish history which have been neglected by historians. One finds, for example, specific information about the Catholic middle class and gentry who remained active during the Age of the Penal Laws. The correspondence reveals the intense rivalry between the regular and the diocesan clergy and the degree to 476BOOK REVIEWS which the latter protested the number of Dominicans and Franciscans appointed to the hierarchy.We get a firsthand knowledge of the Irish Colleges on the continent, especially as they debate the issue ofwhether to accept ordained Irish priests or to restrict membership to young men in the early stages of preparation for the priesthood. The papers reveal, as Fagan puts it,"a hierarchy, in a predominant degree, intensely loyal to James and virulently opposed to any accommodation with the Hanoverian Succession and ready to nip in the bud any movement in that direction " (J, 3).The papers also reveal a Catholic hierarchy who greatly exaggerate the prospects for a Jacobite restoration.A number ofthe letters from Ireland throw light on the workings ofthe Protestant-dominated Irish Parliament, especially when that body was considering anti-Catholic legislation. One of the many letters of Sylvester Lloyd, Bishop of Killaloe, contains a sophisticated analysis of the fall, 1729, session of the Irish Parliament. Referring to that body as "our Parliament" and "that great assembly," he intelligently discusses the Lord Lieutenant's revenue requests. The correspondence reveals that many of the Irish hierarchy found it impossible to survive financially on the revenues oftheir diocese.Thus those aspirants who had...