Considerable attention is given to technical instruction. In all the convent schools the young girls have regular courses in domestic science, and in several trades are taught. The Department of Agriculture and Technical In struction, which now controls this branch of education, has an advisory board of technical instruction. In 1901-02 the course of experi mental science had been adopted in 152 schools with 6,412 science pupils. Throughout the provinces the work is being organized by the councils of county boroughs, urban districts and counties. See GREAT BRITAIN - EDUCATION.
Language and Literature.— The predomi nant in the Irish literature is the heroic, pathetic, love of nature, romance, virtue and through all runs the traditional. Although the Ogham, a system of writing, was introduced into Ireland about 13 centuries before Christ, yet the literary productions were transmitted orally. Hyde says, gThe love of literature of a traditional type, in song, in poem, in saga, was more nearly universal in Ireland than in any other country of Western Europe?" The modern literature of Ireland, or the lit erature produced by Irish writers of the last centuries, has been included under English lit erature because the language used is English. See CELTIC LANGUAGES; CELTIC LITERATURES; GAELIC LITERATURE; IRISH LITERARY REVIVAL; IRISH LITERATURE IN ENGLISH; IRISH SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMEN OF THE MIDDLE AGES.
Music.— See IRISH MUSIC.
Architecture.— Many of the ancient types of architecture extinct in other lands may still be found in Ireland. Their buildings and home life remained practically undisturbed for centuries; no ancient Roman architecture is found on the island. When Christianity was introduced, the change in form of the Druid temple was for several centuries in accordance with the natural development of the people, ex cept the addition of the small cross, the win dows facing the east and the altar. When the building became too small a new one was erected beside it. Some of the existing ancient specimens are a group of stone buildings on Skellig Michael, a rock rising precipitously out of the sea to the height of 700 feet, and about eight miles due west of the nearest headland in the County Kerry. The approach is by a flight of stone steps. Dry rubble masonry forms the walls, and in this group, as in others, the ab sence of the arch shows its ancient origin. It
is oval outside, bee-hive in form, but rectangu lar within. The door has a horizontal lintel, above which is a small cross worked into the stone wall. The six cells in the interior, the common room for prayer (choir), the chapel, all show it was occupied by monks. The doors, with inclined jambs and horizontal lintels, ante date the arch. A wider lintel above, or the double lintel, indicates progression in architec ture, a method of relieving the pressure of the roofs. The roofs of the ancient buildings were of stone. There are many of these ancient ruins, some in a good state of preservation.
Off the coast of Sligo, at Inishmurray, on the Isles of Aran, on islands off the coast of Kerry, and in many places are found buildings of dry rubble masonry. The change shows itself when cement is used and the walls become perpendic ular as at Gallarus, in Kerry, and a further ad vance is shown in Saint Declan's oratory, in Ard more, with square perpendicular towers, or, more properly, supports at the corners. Some of these were erected in the 6th, 7th and 8th cen turies. Saint Colum-Cille's monastery at Kells was built about 807 A.D. In the 'Annals of the Four Masters) mention is made of the church Saint Kevin, founded in about 1108, and which is still in existence, at Glendalough. The Ro manesque style makes its appearance in the 11th century; the earliest example is in Saint Flan nan's, at Killaloe. Brian Boroimhe is said to have built churches at Killaloe, in County Clare. A church built about this time, at Freshford, the ancient Achadh-ur, eight miles northwest of Kilkenny, is still in use. At Clonfert Cathedral, in County Galway, there is a fine example of an Irish Romanesque doorway. This church is said to have been founded by Saint Brendan, "the The inter laced patterns on the piers, the ornamented col umn, are all most beautiful. is says Mr. Brash, "a square inch of any portion of this beautiful doorway without the mark of the sculptor's tool, every bit of the work being finished with the greatest The Cathedral at Ardmore County Waterford, i shows another advance in its decoration; here may be seen The Judgment of Solomon, Adam and Eve, The Magi bringing their gifts, the stable indicated by a cow, etc. Many of the modern cathedrals are most beautiful.