I have been glancing through the pages of a Dublin guidebook, published in 1787, and I am struck by the great changes which have taken place in the suburbs of the metropolis since those days. Rathmines was then "a small and pleasant village . . . extremely rural and sweetly situated in the midst of verdant fields. It is well wooded and watered and enjoys a pure air".
No Dublin citizen would recognise Paradise row as "a most agreeable and pleasant place at the upper end of Dorset street, that has a greater resemblance to a sweet country village than an appurtenance of Dublin".
The compiler was not impressed by the speech of the Fingalians - "a broken English pronounced in a short and guttural manner that is extremely disagreeable to a nice ear".
His description of usquebagh will be new to many. "It is made by putting different kinds of spices into the best French brandy . . . The Czar Peter the Great was so fond of this cordial that he used to say, `of all the wines in the world Irish wine was the best.' The usquebagh made at Drogheda is esteemed the most."
Speaking of hotels, the compiler states: "These have been established in Dublin but a few years, but their utility is, however, universally acknowledged."
The Irish Times, January 23rd, 1931.