Nick Maxwell

Sir,—Archibald Hamilton Rowan could very well have read the select writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone, including his diary, as they were first published as his Life in Washington in the early summer of 1826, and not 1831 as is stated by Fergus Whelan (HI 24.1, Jan./Feb. 2016, ‘The seditious library of Archibald Hamilton Rowan’). Furthermore, … Read more

Sir,—When examining problems facing the National Library and Museum (HI 23.3, May/June 2015, Platform) it never occurred to me, or to those with whom I spoke, that culchies were to blame. All is revealed, however, in Felix M. Larkin’s Platform piece (HI 24.1, Jan./Feb. 2016). The Museum and Library, as ‘institutions of the Pale’, are, … Read more

Sir,—Following Dennis Kennedy’s advice in his response to my letter (HI 24.1, Jan./Feb. 2016), I have re-read his ‘Casting a cold eye on 1916’ article in ‘a calmer state of mind’ and arrived at the conclusion that perhaps he might at least allow that the 1916 Rising was one small step for the Irish, one … Read more

Sir,—I thoroughly enjoyed Samuel Kinirons’s article (HI 24.1, Jan./Feb. 2016) wherein he traced the footsteps of Richard II in the south-east in 1394 during his campaign against Art McMurrough. I was intrigued by the unsolved mystery as to the actual location of the place called ‘Laveroc’ in near-contemporaneous records, where Art and his wife were … Read more