Amy Prendergast is a committee member of the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society and an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. Amy’s research interests include literary history and associational life, and she is currently working on her first monograph which will look at literary salons in France, Britain and Ireland. Continue reading Member Profiles: Amy Prendergast
Category: ECIS Blog
Culture Night in Dublin 2014
Culture Night 2014 will take place on Friday, 19 September from 5pm-11pm.
There’s always so much to do on Culture Night its hard to get to everything. The solution is Culture Night Tours – let someone else guide you around the city! You can download the full programme here. Some tours are Continue reading Culture Night in Dublin 2014
Best of the Net: Monday, 15 September
It was the Mary Wollstonecraft’s birthday during the week and to celebrate it the History Vault (@historyvault) shared this podcast on twitter by Dr Jenny McAuley looking at the text of Vindication of the Rights of Women.
This week Buzzfeed brought us 35 things to do with all those books… Find it Continue reading Best of the Net: Monday, 15 September
Benjamin Franklin, The Printer
I was in Philadelphia over the summer and I noticed that there are many monuments to Benjamin Franklin in the city. One in particular, located opposite the Masonic Temple at 1 North Broad Street, caught my attention. It was designed by Joseph Brown and, as you can see below, shows Franklin Continue reading Benjamin Franklin, The Printer
Member Profiles: Andrew Carpenter
Andrew Carpenter is a committee member of the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society. He was the founding president of the society and founding editor of the society’s journal, Eighteenth-Century Ireland / Iris an dá chultúr. He is Emeritus Professor of English at University College Dublin. His research interests include Irish poetry in English, 1660-1800, Continue reading Member Profiles: Andrew Carpenter
Best of the Net: Monday, 8 September
‘Romantic Circles’, a refereed scholarly website, has recently published a digital edition of Ann Flaxman, An Uninteresting Detail of a Journey to Rome, available here. It tells the story of a female Grand Tour which commenced in 1787.
If you’d like to know more about personal ads in eighteenth century newspapers, check Continue reading Best of the Net: Monday, 8 September
Beranger Watercolours
The artist Gabriel Beranger was born in Amsterdam in c. 1729. He lived in Ireland from 1750 and remained in the country until his death in 1817. He is noted for his antiquarian sketches and watercolours, and for gathering information on the Yola language, a variety of English once spoken in Continue reading Beranger Watercolours
Member Profiles: Robert Mahony
Robert Mahony has been a member of the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society (intermittently) since 1986. He was Professor of English at the Catholic University of America and is now retired. His research focus is Jonathan Swift.
Favourite archive:
Mainly archives in Dublin or London, sometimes the Library of Congress and the Folger Library, Washington.
A much admired Irish Love Song
Recently, I came across a broadside ballad entitled, What call have you Ned, published in 1805. The image below is from a copy of the broadside held at the The British Museum. As you can see, this copy features a hand-coloured etching.

Can you tell us about #18thC artisan homes?
So, we know our readers are experts on eighteenth-century pubs but can you tell us anything about ‘artisan living’? Here’s a query we received from a Creative Writing MA student…
I’m writing a story about a man from Geneva who settled with other Swiss watchmakers outside Waterford in and around 1783-5. They Continue reading Can you tell us about #18thC artisan homes?
Resources Round-up June/July 2014
Time for another round-up of all of the useful resources, databases, blogs, heritage sites, libraries, archives and websites that have been mentioned on the blog over the last eight weeks. New additions to the list are in bold. Once again, many thanks to everyone who contributed to this list in the Continue reading Resources Round-up June/July 2014
No. 5 Vicars’ Hill – Armagh’s Hidden Gem
I thought I’d add another pin to the ECIS Blog Map this week with a post I’ve been meaning to write since the ECIS Annual Conference in June…
Vicars’ Hill is the name of a row of Georgian houses facing St Patrick’s Cathedral (CoI) in Armagh. This terrace has also been known Continue reading No. 5 Vicars’ Hill – Armagh’s Hidden Gem
Irish Dances Never Before Printed
Anyone interested in Irish music and dance might like to take a look at Forty eight original Irish dances… Book I & 2 (Dublin, 1795). You can download your own copy from the Bibliothèque nationale de France’s Gallica resource. The publisher and music seller, Morris Hime, sold the publication at his Continue reading Irish Dances Never Before Printed
Social Networking
Did you know that the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society has a Facebook page maintained by Clíona Ó Gallchoir?
Clíona writes…
If you have a Facebook account, and you haven’t already come across the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society Facebook page, then make sure to visit and ‘Like’ the page, which currently has a small but select Continue reading Social Networking
New Books: Patrick Walsh, The South Sea Bubble and Ireland: Money, Banking and Investment, 1690-1721
The image on the cover of my new book reproduces the Ten of Clubs from a famous set of playing cards produced in London in the aftermath of the South Sea Bubble, the famous stock market crash of 1720. Each card in the deck depicted a different group of investors in Continue reading New Books: Patrick Walsh, The South Sea Bubble and Ireland: Money, Banking and Investment, 1690-1721
William III’s Chair
On Sunday, 6 July 1690 (o.s.), a thanksgiving was held in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin to celebrate William III’s victory over James II at the Battle of the Boyne (which took place on 1 July 1690 (o.s.) or 12 July 1690 (n.s.), depending on what calendar you prefer).
If you go to Continue reading William III’s Chair
The Progress of an Irishman
This etching by Richard Newton from 1794 shows the ‘Progress of an Irishman’ through his life in fifteen figures. The first figure shows the Irishman on the way to school (eating a potato for breakfast) and the rest of the pictures tell the story of other major events in his life, such Continue reading The Progress of an Irishman
Resources: William Penn’s links to Ireland

This is a picture of William Penn at the age of 22. Penn is well known as an early Quaker and founder of the colony of Pennsylvania, which is named after his father, Sir Admiral William Penn (1621-1670).
This summer, I am going Continue reading Resources: William Penn’s links to Ireland
Announcing the ECIS Blog Map
I mentioned in our first official blog post back in May that I was thinking about starting a map of sites of eighteenth-century interest. Lisa has already written posts on Dr Steeven’s Hospital and the Huguenot cemetery in Dublin so they seemed like a good starting point for the map. I Continue reading Announcing the ECIS Blog Map
Resources: Anne Devlin
A few weeks ago, I went on the Women’s History tour of Glasnevin Cemetery. As expected, much of the focus was on early twentieth century Irish politics, but there was one grave of eighteenth-century interest that caught my attention.
This is a picture of the grave of Anne Devlin, now remembered as Continue reading Resources: Anne Devlin
Conference Snaps
Last weekend I attended the 2014 ECIS Annual Conference in Armagh. As you will see, I managed to take a few slightly blurry pictures on my phone, but thankfully Armagh Public Library got a professional in to take this wonderful group photo (click on it for a closer look).
[caption id=”attachment_2915″ align=”alignnone” Continue reading Conference SnapsMember Profiles: Patrick Walsh
Patrick Walsh is Reviews Editor of Eighteenth-Century Ireland/Iris an dá chultúr and an Irish Research Council CARA Postdoctoral Research Fellow based at the School of History and Archives, UCD. His research looks at Irish economic, social and political history in the long eighteenth century. He is currently writing a book on Continue reading Member Profiles: Patrick Walsh
Resources Round-up May 2014
The blog has been up and running for just over a month now so I thought I’d gather together all of the useful resources, databases, blogs, heritage sites, libraries, archives and websites that have been mentioned so far. The list is pretty impressive already and we’ll keep building on it in Continue reading Resources Round-up May 2014
Member Profiles: Frances Nolan
Frances Nolan is an IRC Doctoral Scholar at University College Dublin. Her research looks at female property rights and the role of women in the Williamite War and confiscation in Ireland. She is also one of the organisers of the 2014 Tudor and Stuart Ireland Conference which will be taking place Continue reading Member Profiles: Frances Nolan
Mapping the Eighteenth-Century Irish State
A post I put up a couple of weeks ago about John Rocque’s 1757 Survey of Dublin turned out to be quite popular, leading me to come to the conclusion that ECIS blog readers really like maps! As such, I thought I’d highlight an ECIS Annual Conference session on three exciting Continue reading Mapping the Eighteenth-Century Irish State
Member Profiles: Joe Lines
Joe Lines is a PhD student at Queen’s University Belfast. His research looks at Irish fiction from 1660-1790. Joe is a member of the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society and will be speaking at the 2014 Annual Conference in Armagh.
Favourite museum, gallery or heritage site:
Shandy Hall, North Yorkshire
Most exciting place or time in Continue reading Member Profiles: Joe Lines
Ten Reasons to go to the 2014 ECIS Annual Conference
Moyra Haslett has been busy organising the 2014 Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society Annual Conference which will take place on 6-8 June 2014 – that’s only two weeks away! It’s going to be a great weekend and here are just a few of the highlights to tempt you to join us all in Continue reading Ten Reasons to go to the 2014 ECIS Annual Conference
Resources: A Modest Proposal

In the publication, Swift recommends a scheme that would prevent children from being ‘a charge upon their parents or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for Continue reading Resources: A Modest Proposal
Member Profiles: Heather McKendry
Heather McKendry is a PhD candidate at McMaster University. Her research interests include Restoration and eighteenth-century literature, prostitute narratives, representations of epidemics and venereal disease, economic history and crime writing. Heather is a new member of the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society and will be speaking at the 2014 Annual Conference in Armagh. Continue reading Member Profiles: Heather McKendry
Resources: Extraordinary Calculous Concretions by Charles Lucas
This image is a ‘sketch in pencil and grey wash of kidney stones extracted from a woman’. It was drawn in 1746 and sent by Charles Lucas, a Dublin apothecary, to Martin Folkes, President of the Royal Society. If you would like to take a closer look, you can download a Continue reading Resources: Extraordinary Calculous Concretions by Charles Lucas