Sylvester O’Halloran (1728-1807)


Life
[pseud. “Miso-Dolos”; sometimes called “the Irish Livy”]; b. Limerick, 31 Dec. 1728; ed. Paris and Leyden, practised as ophtalmic surgeon in Limerick from 1749, where he was largely instrumental in founding the Limerick Infirmary; issued A New Treatise on the Glaucoma or Cataract (Dublin 1750); specialised in head wounds; contrib. letter to Dublin Magazine, Jan. 1763 [see note], disputing Scottish origin of MacPherson’s Ossian; Insula Sacra (1770), a plea for the preservation of Irish annals, printed in Limerick; published An Introduction to the Study of the History and Antiquities of Ireland (1772), followed by Ierne Defended (1774), being a ‘candid refutation’ of Thomas Leland’s History (1773); also A General History of Ireland to close of the 12th century (1774); elected Hon. Member of the College of Surgeons of Ireland, 1786, having proposed its foundation, 1784; d. 11 Aug. 1809, in Limerick.
 
in his writings O’Halloran contested the view of the early Irish as barbarians and traced their letters and custom of reverence for learned men to pre-Roman civilisation, treating St. Patrick (his ‘Magonius’) as a newly-made patrician for purposes of his mission amongst the Irish nobility and defending the Celtic Christianity as possibly Asiatic in origin; he particularly disparaged the Bull Lauditur as a political forgery given that the Irish church had surrendered primacy to the Pope before it was spoken of; noted for his French manner of dress, he inspired the character bearing the name of Count O’Halloran in Maria Edgeworth’s The Absentee (1812) - a ‘the tall thin doctor in his quaint French dress with his goldheaded cane, beautiful Parisian wig and cocked hat’ - and is frequently cited in the footnotes of The Wild Irish Girl (1806) by Sydney Owenson [afterwards Lady Morgan]. RR ODNB DIB RAF FDA OCIL

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Works
Historical studies
  • [as pseud. ‘Miso-Dolos’] “The poems of Ossine, the son of Fionne Mac Comhal, reclaimed”, in Dublin Magazine (Jan. 1763), pp.21-22.
  • Insula Sacra, or the General Utilities Arising from some Permanent Foundation, for the Preservation of our Antient Annals demonstrated, And the Means pointed out. By Mr. O’Halloran (M.DCC.LXX. [1770]),
  • [2], 35, [1]pp. [microfilm CT Research Publications, Inc., 1983].
  • An Introduction to the Study of the History and Antiquities of Ireland, in which the assertions of Mr Hume and Other Writers are Occasionally Considered. Illustrated with copper-plates. Also two appendixes: containing 1. Animadversions on an introduction to the history of G. Britain and Ireland, by J. Macpherson, Esq. 2. Observations on the memoirs of Great-Britain and Ireland, by Sir John Dalrymple. By Sylvester O Halloran. (Dublin/London 1772) [pls.; see details]; Do. [electronic edn.] (Mich.: Cengage Gale 2009).
  • Ierne defended: or, A Candid Refutation of Such Passages in the Rev. Dr. Leland’s, and the Rev. Mr. Whitaker’s works, as seem to affect the authenticity and validity of antient Irish history: In a letter to the antiquarian society. By Mr. O’Halloran. author of An introduction to Irish history (Dublin: Printed for the author, by Thomas Ewing 1774), 36pp.; Do. [electronic edn.] (Mich.: Cengage Gale, 2009) [ESTC T204840].
  • A General History of Ireland, from the Earliest Accounts to the close of the Twelfth Century, collected from the most authentic records. [...], 2 vols. (London: A. Hamilton [for the author] MDCCLXXVIII [1778]), 4° [see details].
  • An Introduction to and an History of Ireland, 3 vols. (Dublin: printed by H. Fitzpatrick 1803, c.1820]), ill. [engravings of Irish mythology & history; church buildings].
Correspondence
  • J. B. Lyons, ed., The Letters of Sylvester O’Halloran [off-print from North Munster Antiquarian Journal, Vol. IX, No. 1 (1962), pp.169-81; Do., No. 2 (1963), pp.25-50.
Medical texts
  • A New Treatise on the Glaucoma, or Cataract / by Silvester O’Halloran (Dublin: Printed by S. Powell 1750), [12], xxxiv, [4], 115, [4]pp., ill. [2 folding pls.; 22 cm.].
  • A Critical Analysis of the New Operation for a Cataract: By Mr. O’Halloran, of Limerick, Surgeon and Man-Midwife - Author of a New Treatise on the Cataract (Dublin: printed by S. Powell, for the author, M,DCC,LV. [1755]), [8], 39, [1]pp., 8° [Do., microfilm edn., Woodbridge, CT Research Publications, Inc. 1986].
  • A Concise and Impartial Account of the Advantages Arising to the Public: from the general use of a new method of amputation. By Mr. O’Halloran, ... (Dublin: printed by S. Powell MDCCLXIII [1763]), [4], 15, [1]pp.
  • A Complete Treatise on Gangrene and Sphacelus with a new method of amputation (Dublin: Dublin: P. Wilson; London: printed for Paul Vaillant 1765), [12], xl, 289, [3]pp., 8° [of which pp.272-90 are misnumbered 271-89]; Do. [electronic edn.] (Mich: Thomson Gale 2003).
  • A New Treatise on the Different Disorders Arising from External Injuries of the Head: illustrated by eighty-five (selected from above fifteen hundred) practical cases. By Mr. O’Halloran, M.R.I.A. Honorary Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, In Ireland; and of the Physico Chirurgical Society, and Surgeon to the County of Limerick Hospital (London: printed by G. G. & J. Robinson 1793), [2], 8, 335, [1], ivpp., 8°.

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Bibliographical details
An Introduction to the Study of the History and Antiquities of Ireland, in which the assertions of Mr Hume and other writers are [..] consider[’]d [...] with copper-plates. Also two appendixes - viz., 1] Animadversions on the Introduction to the History of Great Britain and Ireland, by J. Macpherson Esq. 2] Observations on the Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland, by Sir John Dalrymple [...] (London: Printed for J. Murray, No. 32, Fleet-Street, M.DCC.LXXII. [1772]), [8], xx, [2], 384pp., ill., 4°. (See Catalogue of Henry Bradshaw Collection of Irish Books [Cambridge Library] (Cambridge UP 1916) & COPAC. [Available at Internet Archive - online; accessed 20.07.2024.]

A General History of Ireland, from the earliest accounts to the close of the twelfth century, collected from the most authentic records. / In which new / and interesting lights are thrown on the remote histories of other Nations as well as of both BRITAINS / By Mr. O’Halloran, author of an Introduction to the History and antiquities of Ireland. In two volumes. [2 vols.] (London: printed for the author by A. Hamilton [and sold by G. Robinson; J. Murray; J. Robson; Dublin: Mess. Faulkner, Hoey, and Wilson MDCCLXXVIII [1778]), 4°; Do. [electronic edn. from BL copy] ( Mich.: Thomson Gale 2003). [Available at Internet Archive - Vol. I [online]; Vol. II [online].

Available at Internet Archive  
An Introduction to the Study of the ... Antiquieties [&c.] (1772) Internet Archive - online
A General History of Ireland [... &c.] (1778), Vol. I

Internet Archive - online

A General History of Ireland [... &c.] (1778), Vol. II Internet Archive - online
See also at RICORSO—  
O’Halloran, General History of Ireland (1778) - Preliminary
html pdf doc

VOL. I: xv, liii, 307+16pp. Index (unpag.)]. T.p. Dedicatory letter to Rt. Hon. Morough O’Bryen, Earl-Baron of Inchyquin, pp.[iii]-viii. Subscribers list, pp.[ix-xv]. A Preliminary Discourse, pp.[i]-liii, signed Limerick Jan. 12, 1778. To the Reader [‘Though the last chapter of this history contains the ancient names of territories and lands in an alphabetical order, and by what families possessed, which may serve as a reference to the reader in the most instances, in the course of this work; yet for his greater ease, the following expressions, which often occur are here explained. Clana-Baoisgne, the knights of Leinster .. Clana-Deaghadh, the knights of Munster [...] &c. - citing Clan Morni (Conaught [sic]), Curiathe na Craobh (Ulster), Dal-Ceas, Dal-Riada .. Eoghanacts, Heberians, Heremonians, Irians, Ithians, Leath Cuin, Leath Mogha, and Milesians - ‘the name by which the ancient Irish are generally distinguished from those of later periods, In the native Irish they are called Clana-Miledh, or the posterity of the Hero. His real name was Gollamh, but, as a mark of pre-eminence, he was mostly called Miledh-Espaine, or the Hero of Spain; hence Milesians. He was the father to Heber and Heremon, who conquered Ireland in the year of the world (according to the Hebrews) 2736.’ (p.lvi.

Ded. to the Right Honourable Morough O’Bryen, Earl and Baron of Inchyquin, and Lord Lieutenant ... of the County of Clare: ‘No nation paid greater attention to its history and antiquities than the ancient Irish, The care of letters was a particular object of state attention; and the laws and ordinances respecting history, philosophy [arch. font. philofophy], and poetry, became a part of the studies of our monarchs. The numerous univerſities of the kingdom were founded on such liberal principles that, not only the natives but strangers from different parts of Europe, were received into them, and supplied with all the necessaries of life, and even with books, gratis. The Venerable Bede, an exceptional authority for these facts ... But the protection they vouchsafed to the sciences, did not diminiſh their love for arms. [...].

“Why an history, in itself so curious and instructive—which throws new lights on history and chronology in general, and (what makes it still more valuable) which is the only one, of all the nations of Europe, that has been transmitted to us pure and uninterrupted, from the remotest antiquity to this day— why, I say, it should be, not only greatly neglected, but grossly misrepresented in modern times, is not to my purpose to enquire. It is sufficient, my Lord, that, animated. with the love of truth, and of my country, I have laboured to render that juſtice to our ancestors which had been ſo long denied them, and to lay open to public view theſe annals, which seemed [vi] to have been destined to dust and oblivion!” (pp.[iii]-iv.)

VOL. II has no table of contents and recommences directly at Book VII, Chap. I [contents]: ‘Laoghaire elected emperor - successfuly invades Britain - attacks the Lagenians; is defeated and taken prisoner - released on conditions he refuses to observe - new settlements of the Heberians in Leinster [...]’. 1-406pp.; Index, pp. [417-34; end].

BOOK XII: Chap. I [‘No national advantages made of the late great victory [i.e., Clontarf]’], p.273pp. BOOK XIII: Chap. I [‘Landing of the Welsh adventurers’], p.338ff. Chap. II [‘Henry receives the submission of Strongbow’], p.350ff. Chap. III [‘Synod of Cashell - the bulls of Adrian and Alexander - complained of by Irish writers and supposed spurious [..] the letter of O’Ruark, for stile, llanguage, and sentiment, infinitely superior to what is contained in those bulls’], p.360pp. Chap. IV [on relations between Henry II and Roderick O’Conor; peace of Windsor and the ‘insincerity of the English writers’ regarding the introduction of English laws in Ireland],374pp. Chap. V [‘Containing an alphabetical list of ancient Irish territories, and by what Milesian families possessed both before and after the invasion of Henry II’], pp.385-402. Chap. VI, the last in the volume, treats of: ‘Objections to the authenticity of Milesian pedigrees answered - All descended from three sons of Milesius, and from his uncle Ith - - different septs of the same family [... &c.] (p.403.) [Available at Internet Archive online; see short extract - online].

Index of works available at Internet Archive with inks supplied by Clare County Library

A General History of Ireland, from the earliest accounts to the close of the twelfth century, collected from the most authentic records, In which new and interesting lights are thrown on the remote histories of other nations as well as of both Britains ... in two volumes
Contributors: by Mr. O’Halloran
Published in 1778, Printed for the author, by A. Hamilton (London) - Vol. II.
Pagination: 2 vols.
Available at Internet Archive

Copy held in Univ. of Michigan Library

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Criticism
Russell K. Alspach, Irish Poetry from the English Invasion to 1798 (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania UP [1943] 1959), pp.98-102; John F. Wrynn, S. J. ‘Silverster O’Halloran, 1728-1807, in Irish Literary Supplement 3, 2 (Fall 1984), p.59. [See also Irish Book Lover, 32.]

 

Commentary
T. C. Croker, Historical Songs of Ireland (London: Printed for the Percy Society by C. Richards 1841): Croker writes: ‘O’Halloran, who would excite our sympathy on behalf of “those unhappy freebooters, called Rapparees,” states that “they were too numerous to be employed in the [Irish] army, and tiheir miseries often obliged them to prey alike upon friend and foe; at length some of the most daring of them formed themselves into independent companies, whose subsistence chiefly arose from depredations committed on the enemy.”’ (Croker, op. cit., p.24, n.)

Earlier in the same note, Croker writes: ‘The word Rapparee is explained by O’Reilly, as “a litigious, bullying fellow.”’. He goes on to quote McKenzie’s Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry (1690): ‘“Not only the men, [...] but the women and boys too, began to furnish themselves with skeans and half pikes; it being the great business of the Irish smiths in the country to make this sort of arms for them. These were afterwards called Rapparees, a sort of Irish vultures that follow their armies to prey on their spoil.” Dean Story observes of the Rapparees, that they were “very prejudicial to our [William’s] army, as well by killing our men privately, as stealing our horses and intercepting our provisions. But after all,” he I adds, “lest the next age may not be of the same humour with this, and the name of Rapparee may possibly be thought a finer thing than it really is, I do assure you that, in my style, they can never be reputed other than tones, robbers, and bogtrotters.” (Croker, idem.)

George A. Little, Dublin Before the Vikings (1957), remarks that O’Halloran, speaking of events which took place in the second century in his History of Ireland, writes of Dublin of the east-west esker/road in ancient Ireland: ‘[Slighe Mór or Eiscir Riada] was a deep trench cut, and high walls made, strengthened from place to place with redoubts, which were to be protected by 9,000 men [...]’ (Introduction to an History of Ireland, [Dublin:] Fitzpatrick, 4 Capel St. 1803, Vol. II, p.237.) Little also quotes O’Halloran on the Irish name of Dublin ‘even in those days we find it called Atha-Cliath-Dubhlini’ (Ibid., Vol. II, p.238).

Sydney Owenson [afterwards Lady Morgan], The Wild Irish Girl (1806)
‘Mr O’Halloran, with a great deal of spirit and ingenuity, endeavours to prove, that the German knighthood (the earliest we read of in chivalry) was of Irish origin: with what success, we leave it to the impartial reader to judge. It is, however, certain, that the German Ritter, or knight, bears a very close analogy to the Irish riddaire. In 1395, Richard II in his tour through Ireland, offered to knight the four provincial Kings who came to receive him in Dublin. But they excused themselves, as having received that honour from their parents at seven years old - that being the age in which the Kings of Ireland knighted their eldest sons. — See Froissart.’ (Footnote to Letter XII.)
 
Note that Owenson named her heroine in O’Donnell: A National Tale (1806) Charlotte O’Halloran, presumably in honour of Charlotte Brooke and Sylvester O’Halloran.

Patrick Rafroidi, Irish Literature in English, The Romantic Period, 1789-1850 (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe 1980), Vol. I; In Essay on Irish Bulls, the Edgeworths express surprise at the indignation of certain Irish historians, like O’Halloran, at the phrases by Voltaire in Le Siecle de Louis XIV, as follows, “Il y a des nations dont l’une semble faite pour d’être soumise a l’autre [... &c]’ [for the Edgeworth’s response, see supra.] [12]. ALSO Rafroidi, 1980, Vol. II, Medical man and archaeologist; Insula Sacra (Limerick 1770); An Introduction to the Study of the History and Antiquities of Ireland (Dublin: Ewing 1772); Ierne Defended (Ewing 1774) 64p.; A General History of Ireland (London 1778); ‘An Introductory discourse to the Poem of “Conloch”, in ‘Reliques of Irish Poetry’ [in assoc. with Charlotte Brooke] (1789).

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Joseph Th. Leerssen, Mere Irish & Fior-Ghael: Studies in the Idea of Irish Nationality, Its Development and Literary Expression Prior To The Nineteenth Century (Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub. Co. 1986), writes: Sylvester O’Halloran contributed a letter to the Dublin Magazine, signed ‘Miso-Dolos’, in Jan 1763 (p.21-22), headed ‘The poems of Ossine, the son of Fionne Mac Comhal, reclaimed’, asserting patriotically that ‘the esteem which mankind conceives in general, is always proportion to the figure they have made in arts and arms’, impugning the Dempsterian embezzlement, and praising ‘our great primate Usher [Ussher] who, though not of Irish descent, yet thought the glory of his country worth contending for, and adverting harshly to ‘the Caledonian plagiary’ [401]. Sylvester O’Halloran reacted to Leland’s History with his Ierne defended, with the subtitle, ‘a Candid Refutation of such passages in the Rev Dr. Leland’s and the Rev Mr Whitaker’s Works, as seem to affect the Authenticity and Validity of Antient Irish History’ [404]. Sylvester O’Halloran was the harbinger of the younger generation whose antiquarianism [as distinct from O’Connor’s] was overtly national. He had learned Irish as a boy from Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill, as he tells in An Introduction to the Study of the History and Antiquities of Ireland, In which the assertions of Mr Hume and other writers are occasionally considered (London/Dublin 1772) (p.162). [Leerssen, 406]; It opens, ‘Having a natural reverence for the dignity and antiquity of my native country, strengthened by education, and confirmed by an intimate knowledge of its history, I could not, without the greatest pain and indignation, behold […]almost all the writers of England and Scotland (and from them of other parts of Europe) representing the Irish nation as the most brutal and savage of mankind, destitute of arts, letters and legislation [… &c.’; see further as cited by Liam de Paor, infra.] (Cont.)

Joseph Th. Leerssen, Mere Irish & Fior-Ghael: Studies in the Idea of Irish Nationality, Its Development and Literary Expression Prior To The Nineteenth Century (1986)- cont.: O’Halloran attacks the calumnies of Cambrensis, but also the more modern ones of Macpherson and Hume (pp.282ff, 337ff), doing so from an Irish rather than a specifically Gaelic standpoint. In his General History of Ireland (1778), he examines the pre-English record of high civilisation. [...] O’Halloran’s works present a confluence of the Gaelic and Anglo-Irish traditions of antiquarianism, and seem more concerned with the vindication of Ireland’s national reputation than with the elucidation of past history. [Leerssen, 415-16] [Page refs. to Joseph Leerssen, Mere Irish & Fíor Ghael, 1986; the same cited in J[oep] Th. Leerssen, ‘Antiquarian Research: Patriotism to Nationalism’, Cyril J. Byrne and Margaret Harry, eds., Talamh an Eisc: Canadian and Irish Essays [Irish Studies St. Mary’s Coll.] (Halifax (Can.): Nimbus Publ. Co.), pp.71-83; p.77.] Robert E. Ward and Catherine Ward, eds., Letters of Charles O’Conor of Belanagare (1988), letters to Dr. Sylvester O’Halloran, 25 Jan. 1769, and following dates; O’Conor gives him an account of the ‘first British Colonies (Fir Bolg and Tuatha Dé Danann) who planted Ireland’, and of the ‘Spanish colony’ that succeeded them (p.222); further approves ‘the plan of study you have chalked out for yourselves in your vacant hours [since] A knowledge of the principle religous doctrines of our Celtic ancestors would be the best clue to a knowledge of their politics and manners.’ (p.223).

E. G. Stanley, ‘“Taoiseach”, “Chief, Leader”’, in Notes & Queries, 240, 42 (Sept. 1995), pp.178-79, contest[s] Burchfield Supplement to OED, 1988, which cites no earlier usage of the word Taoiseach than 1938, and notes its occurrence in Edward Lhuyd’s Glossography, Pt. 2, Focloir Gaoidheilge-Shagsanach, An Irish-English Dictionary, in his Arch. Britannica (Oxford 1707), which lists ‘Taoiseach, or General’; see also Sylvester O’Halloran, A General History of Ireland [ ...] to the close of the 12th Century (London: printed for the author by A Hamilton, sold by W. Robinson and John Murray in London, and Messrs. Faulkner, Hoey, and Wilson in Dublin, 1778, II; pp.163-64, as follows, ‘Every district in the land, in which an Irish Taoiseach or Lord resided, was obliged to entertain a Danish chief to whom he was able to submit and from whom he [would] receive orders for the government of his people for these/last would receive no commands but directly from their own chiefs’; also ibid., 354-5.

Elizabeth Butler Cullingford, ‘British Romans and Irish Carthaginians: Anticolonial Metaphor in Heaney, Friel and McGuinness’, PMLA (March 1996), pp.222-36, remarks that W. J. McCormack (ed., Maria Edgeworth, The Absentee), notes that Edgeworth had read the travels of Anachrasis fabricated by Jean-Jacques Barthélemy (1788), in which the virtuous Scythian anthropologist observes the customs of his decadent Greek neighbours. In The Absentee, Colambre ‘discovers an eagle, a white mouse, and a bowl of goldfish at the home of the Irish antiquarian Count O’Halloran. The count, who connects his menagerie with certain mysterious gifts that the Scythians sent to Darius, tells the obnoxious Englishwoman Lady Dashfort, “[A] mouse, a bird, and a fish, are, you know, tribute from earth, air, and water, to the conqueror”. With conscious irony, he modifies Herodotus’s account. To accompany the animals, the Scythian also sent five arrows, and Darius fled Scythia because be was persuaded that the gifts were not tributes [...] but warnings that, unless the Persians could fly [... &c.; ref., Her. 327-28]; the reference to Herodotus is lost on Lady Dashfort [...] Lord Colambre, however, caps Count O’Halloran’s Greek allusion with the Shakespearean exclamation, “But from no barbarous Scythian!”. The Educated and courtly count, “Scythian” because he is Irish, is nevertheless no barbarian. Resisting the idea of the Irish as virile savages, Edgeworth figures Ireland in her gentle and cultivated heroine, the patriotically named Grace Nugent.’ (Cullingford, p.225.)

Katie Trumpener, Bardic Nationalism: The Romantic Novel and the British Empire (Princeton UP 1997): ‘[...] nationalist antiquaries read the English appropriation of bardic poetry not so much as an expression of cultural crisis as a repetition of the cultural subjugation of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, a restaging of the scene of Babylonian captivity, in which the exiled and imprisoned bards were ordered to sing for their new masters. The conquest of Ireland, argues Sylvester O’Halloran in 1771, fundamentally reshaped the English relationship to Irish history and to their own culture. As long as England had no aspirations to rule Ireland, English writers had only praise for Ireland’s artistic and learned traditions. Yet “the moment a fatal connection arose between the two people we find the tables turned, and every crime that human malice can invent, or human frailty imagine, imputed to them.” [An Introduction, p.ii]. Down to the present day, English detachment and disdain toward Ireland conceals a will to domination, motivated both by envy at the cultural vitality of the conquered and by a deep fear of England’s own innate inferiority.’ (p.7.) [Cont.]

Katie Trumpener (Bardic Nationalism, 1997) - cont.: ‘O’Halloran goes so far as to argue that although Ireland is a legally and religiously segregated society, and although the division of rights and privileges rests primarily on ethnic identification, the actual course of the Irish occupation, which saw considerable intermarriage between occupying and occupied groups, makes apparently immutable ethnic divisions no more than a legal fiction.’ (Introduction to the Study of the Histories, p.i; Trumpener, op. cit., p.300 [Intro., p.25, n.62.])

Katie Trumpener (Bardic Nationalism, 1997) - cont.: ‘For late-eighteenth-century nationalists, the insistence on the contemporary cultural forms of educated Western Europeans as the natural telos of all societies amounts to a justification for imperialism. O’Halloran [...] traced this tactic back to the Elizabethan conquest of Ireland; to justify their military activities, he argued, the English ideologues launched an official campaign to vilify Ireland, portraying it as primitive and uncivilized. Believing in the inevitability of historical progress, Enlightenment historical narratives assign coexisting cultural forms to exemplify different moments in a “historical” hierarchy: “advanced” forms of culture serve as models for the present, and more “primitive” forms will necessarily be doomed to extinction. Nationalist historical narratives, in contrast, posit the noninevitability and undesirability of radical cultural transformation, stressing instead the organic accretion of cultural practices, institutions, and forms over many epochs. Even where external forces succeed in disrupting the coherence of a national culture, and where an imperial culture is imposed in its place, the lasting force of national memory will ensure that its victory does not endure. Thus where Enlightenment histories stress the necessary discontinuities of culture, nationalist histories stress the survival of cultural memory from one epoch to the next.’ (p.29.) [For longer extracts, see RICORSO Library, “Criticism > International Critics”, via index or direct.)

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Quotations

My native country: ‘Having a natural reverence for the dignity and antiquity of my native country, strengthened by education, and confirmed by an intimate knowledge of its history, I could not, without the greatest pain and indignation, behold on the one hand, almost all the writers of England and Scotland (and from them of other parts of Europe) representing the Irish nationa as the most brutal and savage of mankind, destitute of arts, letters and legislation; and on the other hand the extreme passiveness and insensibility of the present race of Irish: instances of inattention to their own honour, unexampled in any other civilised nation.’ (Introduction to [...] the History and Antiquities of Ireland, 1772, p.i; quoted in Joep Leerssen, Mere Irish and Fhíor Ghael, 1986; also in Liam de Paor, ‘Tom Moore and Modern Ireland’, in Landscapes with Figures, Dublin: Four Courts 1998, p.77 - as given under Moore, Commentary, supra.)
[See further quotation from the Introduction to Irish History under John Lynch - where the origins of the expression "more irish than the Irish themselves" is discussed - infra. ]

§

A General History of Ireland (1778)

See full-text copy of “A Preliminary Discourse”; in A General History of Ireland (London [priv.] 1778), pp. - in RICORSO Library > Irish Classics - via index or as attached.

Fergus raises an army against Conchubar ‘in which some or the most intrepid knights of Ireland went volunteers. In the relation of this famous invasion, yet preserved, called Tani-bho-Cuailgne, or the Spoils of Cattle at Cualgne, in the county of Lowth, we are entertained with the order of the march of the troops. They were led on by Fergus: the queen of Connaught seated in an open chariot, with her Asion, or crown of gold, on her head, followed; her retinue were placed in four chariots more, so disposed, at the sides and rear, that the dust and foam of the cavalry should not stain her royal robes [...]. But though these troops could not force the Ulster army to a general engagement, nor yet gain their end, which was the dethronement of Connor, yet they miserably wasted the country, and brought back with them an immense booty, in cattle and other rich effects, notwithstanding the utmost efforts of the Ultonians, though headed by the renowned Conall, and all the champions of Craobh-Ruadh.’ (A General History of Ireland, I, 1778, pp.178-79; quoted in Russell K. Alspach, Irish Poetry from the English Invasion to 1798, Penn. UP 1959, pp.99-100.)

The Sons of Uisneach”: ‘The beautiful Deirdre, daughter to Feidhlim, the son of Doill, who was the first minister to the king of Ulster, was educated in the palace of Emania; and amongst the numbers of illustrious youth, companions of the Craobh-Ruadh, who attended the court, were the three sons of Uisneach, whose names were Naois, Ainle, and Ardan. We may judge of the personal accomplishments of the first of them who loved, and was beloved by Deirdre, by the strong terms in which she expressed them. Attended by her confidant on a snowy day, she beheld a butcher at a distance killing a calf, and some time after, a raven come to feed on the blood. The whole woman absorbed in love, turns to her governess; “Behold,” says she, “the whiteness of that snow, such is the skin of my hero! his cheeks are more blooming than the blood scattered round it; and his hair is smoother and blacker than the feathers of the raven that feeds on it!” Metaphors inexpressibly bold and strong! After such declaration, we may judge it did not require much importunity to prevail upon her to elope with her paramour.’ (O’Halloran, General History, Vol. I, [Chap. VIII] pp.181-82; Alspach, op. cit., pp.100-01.) [Available at Internet Archive - online.]

Battle of Gabhra (Destruction of the Fianna): ‘We have yet extant a relation of this battle, supposed to have been related by Oisin, the father of Osgur, to St. Patrick; but it were absurd to suppose that he, who was advanced in years at the battle of Gabhra, should be alive near a century and an half after [...] Yet as it preserves the names and actions of the principal heroes on both sides in this most bloody battle, it merits attention.’ (ibid, p.280; Alspach, pp.101-02.)

Colloquy of Ancients: ‘The dialogue between St. Patrick and Oisin, still preserved, in which a minute relation is given of the bloody battle of Gabhra, and of the heroes that fell on both sides is another proof of this. The author asserted that he was Oisin, the eldest son of the famous Fion Mac Cumhal; though this battle was fought A.C. 296, at which time Oisin must have been advanced in years. (General History, Vol. II, p.6; Alspach, op. cit., p.102.)

Cuchulainn quits: ‘The affairs of his country calling him [Cuchulainn] home, he left the lady [Aoife] pregnant’ (General History, 1778; quoted in preface to ‘Conloch’, in Charlotte Brooke, Reliques of Irish Poetry, 1787, pp.7; cited in Alspach, 1959, p.113.) Further: ‘Whilst we admire the style and spirit with which this work is wrote, we are a good deal distressed at the superstition and credulity, which must then have prevailed’ (ibid., 180; Alspach, op. cit., p.100.)

The English and the Danes - compared from destruction of Irish records
Whatever outrages were committed by the Danes, whatever injuries they had done to letters, were soon remedied by the attention and munificence of the immortal Brian Boirimhe, and by subsequent princes. To explore the true cause of the destruction, of our annals, and the shameful neglect of our history, we must look nearer home. From the first landing of Henry II. the English adopted a shameful policy, which was steadily pursued for many centuries. They laboured to represent the Irish nation, to all Europe, as almost barbarous and savage race of mortals; and, at the same time, they left nothing unattempted to get possession of as many of their records as they could, which they [xlix] either destroyed or conveyed to Britain. From age to age quantities of vellum MSS. were sent out of the kingdom: they still lie scattered in their different public libraries; but no attempt has been ever made to inform the public of their contents! In the reign of Elizabeth, of James I. of Charles I. and II. and even to the Revolution, hereditary antiquarians, poets, lawyers, and physicians, were every were to be found well versed in their different professions, and highly capable of translating into Latin the works in their different departments; yet no measure was taken to further these good ends! On the contrary, to write in favour of Ireland, or Irish affairs, was deemed a proof of enmity to Britain; and this is the reason that all the works which were published in her favour during that period, were printed in foreign countries. Yet it evidently appears, that the early history and antiquities of Britain, can only be satisfactorily explained, by recurring to the history and antiquities of Ireland. I have in a former work taken uncommon pains* to elucidate this matter, and I flatter myself that the present one will prove to demonstration, how deeply interested British antiquarians and historians are in the preservation of what remain of our scattered annals. In what lights they will consider my laborious researches I am [xlx] only to conjecture; but I think, that I may with some confidence affirm, that few have taken more trouble, and no one has heen more successful in investigating the early history and antiquities of Britain than I.
A General History of Ireland, London 1778, Vol. I, Preliminary Discourse, p.xlviii; *refers to his own Introduction to Irish History, 1772, p.ii, chap. 8.

National glory: ‘But where, alas, is this thirst for national glory? when a subject of such importance is permitted to a pen like mine! Why does not some son of Ajax in genius step forward, and boldly throw his gauntlet to Prejudice, the avowed and approved champion of his country’s lovely muse?’ (General History, q.p.; quoted by Charlotte Brooke, in Reliques of Ancient Irish Poetry, 1789, p.iv; cited in Michael Cronin, ‘Digging Up the Past’, Translating Ireland: Tranlsations, Languages, Cultures, Cork UP 1996, p.99.)

Ireland’s provinces [cuigí/fifths]: ‘Meath, formed into a fifth province by Tuathal, in the second century, for the better support of the monarchy, and which was called, “The mensal territory of the monarchs of Ireland” comprehended the present counties of East and West Meath, the counties of Kildare and Dublin, with other adjoining territories; The posterity of Cobhthaigh became here a numerous and powerful race. We may judge of their consequence by Eochaidh Fionn, brother to the monarch Con, being able to raise twenty-one thousand fighting men to assist the Lagenians, though himself but a prince in Meath, and pofsessed of but a small territory. But how great and popular soever they were, the present race of Meathians draw their pedigrees from the four sons of Niall the Grand, settled here in the fourth century, but who were lineally descended from the same stock’ (A General History of Ireland, London: A. Hamilton 1778, Vol. II, p.414; available online.)

On the Battle of Clontarf

“At the head of 30,000 men highly appointed, Brien marched into Leinster, about the beginning of April 1014, {117} in three divisions, and was joined by Malachie, King of Meath. He encamped, as he had done the year before, near Kilmainham. And, after both armies viewing each other for some time, it was agreed on to determine the fate of Ireland by a general battle on the plains of Clontarf. Early on the 23rd of April, being Good-Friday, the Danes appeared formed in three separate bodies for battle, and by their dispositions Brien regulated his own. The auxiliaries from Sweden and Denmark, consisting of 12,000 men, among whom 2000 were heavy armed, commanded by Brodar and Airgiodal, formed the right division. The left, of nearly an equal: number, commanded by Sitric, com. posed of the Danes of Ireland and their associates, and the centre composed of the flower of Leinster, under the direction of Maol-Mordha, who acted as general in chief, formed the enemy’s disposition of battle. It was judged that, by placing the troops in this manner, under their own leaders, it would raise a spirit of generous emulation among them, and that they would vie with each other in feats of bravery. The right wing of the imperial army was composed of the household troops, filled up by the prime nobility of Munster. The invincible tribe of Dalgais, with all the princes of Brien’s blood, were also of this division, and, Malachie with the forces of Meath.

This was to be commanded. by Morrogh, and Sitric, Prince of Ulster. In. the left wing, commanded by the King of Connaught, all the Conacian troops were placed; but, as it did not form so extended a line as the enemy’s, several detachments were added to it. The troops of South Munster, under their different chiefs, with those of the Deasies, formed the central division: Brien rode through the ranks with his crucifix in one hand, and his drawn sword in the other. He exhorted them as they passed along to “do their duty as christians and soldiers in the cause of religion and their country. He reminded them of all the distresses their ancestors were reduced to by the perfidious and sanguinary Danes, strangers: to religion and humanity. That these, {118} their successors, waited impatiently to renew the same scenes of devastation and cruelty, and by way of anticipation (says he) they have fixed on the very day on which Christ was crucified to destroy the country of his greatest votaries: But that God, whose cause you are to fight, will be present with you, and deliver his enemies into your hands.” So saying, he proceeded towards the centre to lead his troops to action, but the chiefs of the army with one voice requested he would retire from the field of battle on account of his extreme age, and leave to the gallant Morrogh the chief command.

At eight in the morning the signal for slaughter was given. The Dalgais with the whole right wing marched to attack, sword in hand, the Danes commanded by Brodar and Airgiodal: but an uncommon act of cowardice or treachery had like to have destroyed the whole army, for, at this very critical moment, Malachie with his Meathians retired suddenly from the field of battle, leaving the rest of this body exposed to a far greater number of enemies. But Morrogh, with great presence of mind, called out to his brave Dalgais, “that this was the time to distinguish themselves, as they alone would have the unrivalled glory of cutting off that formidable body of the enemy.” And now, while close engaged with battle-axe, sword, and dagger on the right, the left, under the command of the King of Connaught, hasten to engage the Danes of Leinster and their insular levies, whilst the troops of South Munster attack the apostate Maol-Mordha and his degenerate Lagenians. Never was greater animosity, perseverance, and intrepidity displayed in any battle than this, as every thing depended on open force and courage. The situation of the ground admitted of no ambuscade, and none were used. They fought man to man, and breast to breast, and the victors in one rank fell victims in the next! The officers and generals performed prodigies of valour. Morrogh, his son Turlogh, his brethren and kinsmen, flew from place to place, and every where left the sanguinary traces of their {119} courage and their fortitude. The fortitude displayed by Morrogh determined Carolus and Conmaol, two Danes of distinction, to attack in conjunction this prince, and both fell by his sword, It was observed, that he, with other chiefs, had retired from the battle more than once, and after each return seemed to be possessed of redoubled force, It was to slake their thirst and cool their hands, swelled with the use of the sword and battle-axe, in an adjoining brook, over which a small guard was placed, and this the Danes soon destroyed. On rejoining his troops the last time, Sitric-Mac-Lodair, with a body of Danes, was making a fresh attack on the Dalgais—him Morrogh singled out, and with a blow of his battle-axe divided his body in two through his armour!

The other Irish commanders in like manner distinguished them; selves, though their exploits are not so particularly narrated; and it would seem, from the number of prime nobility that fell on both sides, that, besides its being a general battle, the chiefs on each side every where singled out each other to single combat. The courage of the Irish was not to be subdued. Till near four o’clock in the afternoon did the issue of the day remain doubtful, and then it was that they made so general an attack upon the enemy that its force was not to be resisted. Destitute of leaders, and of course of order, the Danes gave way on every side. Morrogh, at this time, through the uncommon use and exertion of the sword -arm, had both his hand and arm so swelled and pained as to be unable to lift them up. In this condition he was assailed sword in hand, by Henry, a Danish prince; but Morrogh, closing in upon him, seized him with the left hand, shook him out of his coat of .mail, and prostrating him, pierced his body with his sword by. forcing its pummel on his breast, and pressing the weight of his body on it. In this dying situation of Henry, he nevertheless seized the dagger which hung .by Morrogh’s side, and with it -gave him, at the same instant, a mortal wound. The Dane {120} expired on the spot, but Morrogh lived till next morning, employing the intermediate time in acts of piety and devotion; in making, says my manuscript, a general confession, receiving the eucharist, and dying as a hero and a christian should die.

The confusion became general through the Danish army, and they fled on every side. Corcoran, one of the monarch’s aides-de-camp, seeing the standard of Morrogh struck, for this notified the fall of the chief, and in the, general déroute unable to distinguish friend from foe, concluded that the imperial army was defeated. He hastily entered the tent of Brien, who was on his knees before a crucifix, and requested he would immediately mount his horse and escape, for all was lost. “Do you,” said the hero, “and my other attendants fly. It was to conquer or die I came here, and my enemies shall not boast the killing of me by inglorious wounds.” So saying, he seized his sword and battle-axe, his constant companions in war, and resolutely waited the event. In the general confusion, Brodar and a few of his followers entered the royal tent. He was armed from head to foot, and yet the gallant old chief pierced his body through his coat of mail! two more of his attendants met the same fate, and Brien received his death by a fourth.

The intrepid Sitric, Prince of Ulster, the faithful companion of Brien in all his wars, was witness to the death of Morrogh, and revenged it by that of Plait, a Danish knight of great intrepidity, and by others of less note. Eagerly pursuing Brodar and his party, he saw them enter the tent of Brien, and cut to pieces the remains of them. But when he beheld the aged monarch extended on the ground his grief was extreme. He threw himself. on the dead body, the many wounds he had received in the battle burst forth afresh—he refused every assistance, and expired in the arms of his friend and faithful ally.

Thus fell the immortal Brien, one of the most uniformly perfect characters that history can produce. In twenty {121} five different rencontres, and twenty-nine pitched battles, did he engage his Danish and other enemies, and victory always attended his standard! But if he was terrible to his enemies in the field, he was mild and merciful to them in the cabinet, and, during his whole reign, a single act of cruelty or injustice cannot be laid to his charge.

O’Halloran, History of Ireland (1778), Vol. 2, pp.261-66, 167 & 268; quoted in Richard Ryan, Biographia Hibernica: A Biographical Dictionary of the Worthies of Ireland [...], Vol. I (1819), pp.116-20 [here reparagraphed]. Note that Ryan omits some paragraphs after ‘faithful ally’ at the top of p.266 and resumes the quotation with ‘Thus fell ...’ at three-quarters length of p.167 before concluding with a single sentence (‘If he was terrible to his enemies in the field, he was mild and merciful to them in the cabinet ...) from mid-p.268 - all without marking the omissions with ellipses.

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References
Dictionary of National Biography also lists Sir Joseph O’Halloran (1763-1843), son of Sylvester, and CB for services in Nepalese campaigns, 1815-16; commanded Bengal infantry; knighted in England on return in 1835, and GCB 1841.

Richard Ryan, Biographia Hibernica: Irish Worthies (1821), Vol. II, p.456 [via index, or as attached.]

Patrick Rafroidi, Irish Literature in English, The Romantic Period, 1789-1850 (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe 1980), Vol. I; Sylvester O’Halloran, one of the founders of the Gaelic Soc., in 1806. His Introduction to the Study of the History and Antiquities of Ireland (1772) motivated by desire to defend Irish heritage and refute Macpherson. His A General History (1778), was to be a revelation to Standish James O’Grady, and it was from the latter’s History of Ireland (187-90) that the 20th c. Renaissance drew their historical inspiration. [161]

R. F. Foster, Modern Ireland (London: Allen Lane 1988): b. Limerick, ed. Paris and Leyden; fnd. the Infirmary, 1760; wrote Insula Sacra (1770), a plea for the preservation of Irish annals; Ierne Defended (1774), on validity of ancient Irish history, and General History of Ireland to the close of the 12th c. (1774); Hon. member R. Coll. Surg., 1786. (p.252.)

Seamus Deane, gen. ed., The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing (Derry: Field Day 1991), Vol. 1, has references at pp.1043, 1054, 1058n, 1016n, but no extracts or bibliography; see FDA, Vol. 2, p.836, where W. J McCormack discusses the assimilation of his identity to form - with Charlotte Brooke - the character Charlotte O’Halloran in Lady M.organ’s O’Donnel (1814), as well as Maxwell’s Fortunes of Hector O’Halloran (1842), in which it still functions as ‘a touchstone of dignity’ [McCormack].

Library of Herbert Bell (Belfast), holds Sylvester O’Halloran, An Introduction to the Study of the History and Antiquities of Ireland (London 1772).

Hyland Books (Cat. 214) lists [O’Halloran,] The History of Ireland, with [William Dolby,] [a] History of Ireland from [1171] to the present, compiled from the most approved writers by Wm. Dolby, aided by a committee of Admirers of Irish History (NY ?1850), 338pp., 480pp. [£42].

Belfast Public Library holds Antiquities of Ireland (1772); History of Ireland, 3 vols. (1819).

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Notes
Dublin Society: O’Conor was invited to become a corresponding member of the Select Committee (founded 1772 [precursor of RIA]) of the Dublin Society, as was Sylvester O’Halloran and Carpenter, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, under the presidency of Sir Lucius O’Brien.

Dublin Magazine?: It is probable that the magazine referred to as receiving a contribution from O’Halloran [supra] was the organ of the Dublin Society of 1772. Other journals of that title incl.: The Dublin Magazine or General Repertory of Philosophy, Belles-Lettres, and Miscellaneous Information, - of which Vol. 2 appeared in 1820 (rep. by Forgotten Books 2019, 532pp.; [see Amazon - online].) A journal of the same name - i.e., Dublin Magazine, A Quarterly Review of Literature, Science and Art - was edited by Seamus O’Sullivan [q.v.] in two series during 1923-25; 1926-58 and another of the title was launched by Brendan Barrington [q.v.] in 2000.

Maria Edgeworth: The Anglo-Irish novelist made O’Halloran her model for the Catholic antiquarian gentleman of the same name in The Absentee (1812).

Standish James O’Grady: O’Grady was led to interest in Irish literature by O’Halloran’s An Introduction to the Study of History and Antiquities of Ireland [FDA; but cf. O’Curry’s Manners and Customs, 1873, err. DIB]; his discovery of Irish history and literature (he chanced upon Sylvester O’Halloran’s an Introduction to the Study of History and Antiquities of Ireland) led to his lifelong enthusiasm [FDA]

Kith & Kin? - See Sylvester O’Halloran, Surgical Scientific Meeting [transactions of an event in March 1996, Limerick] (Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2003).

Name-sake (1): Patrick Kavanagh names a character ‘Count O’Halloran’ in “The Paddiad” (Coll. Poems, p.90ff.), being a man who attends mass weekly but cares for nothing but money.

Name-sake (2): The Rev. W. O’Halloran was author of Early Irish History and Antiquities, and the History of West Cork (1916), an overview of the history of Ireland from its earliest inhabitants to the Battle of Clontarf with descriptions of various antiquities including cromlechs, pillar stones, raths, ogham monuments, &c. and also an account of West Cork from the Battle of Kinsale to the French arrival at Bantry Bay with information on the main families of the area. See digital text at LIbraryIreland [online; accessed 20.10.2010.]

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