Standish O'grady - Selected Essays and Passages #225613

At school and in t.c.d. I was an industrious lad and worked through the curriculums with abundant energy and some success; yet in the curriculums never read one word about Irish history and legend, nor ever heard one word about these things from my pastors and masters. When I was 23 years Of age, had anyone told me — as later on a Professor Of the Dublin University actually did — that Brian Boromh was a mythical character, I would have believed him. I knew absolutely nothing about our past, not through my own fault, for 1 was willing enough to learn anything set before me, but owing to the stupid educational system Of the country. I knew Sir Samuel Ferguson and was often his guest, but knew him only as a kind, courteous and hospitable gentleman; no one ever told me that he was a great Irish poet.