The Irish standard., 1915-08-14
BY Hugh A. Maccartan, in "Freeman's
Journal"


"He was a typical Dubliner." How
often we have heard the phrase en-
ployed to define the impression Great
ed on us by some one of our acquain-
tances, with an air OF triumphant fin
atty. And yet when we submit it
to critical examination it becomes a
little nebulous-darkly illuminative,
no doubt, but wanting in the charity
of strict definition. Most of us are
content to accept the phrase without
comment, because we are vaguely
aware in our minds of a distinctive
psychology in the average Dubliner.
which separates him broadly from the
average Londoner, or indeed, the aver
age Belfastman, Corkman, or Liner
ickman. But the subject is sufficiently
interesting to provoke dupes inquiring
into the nature and elements of this
piece Of psychology which meets us
every day in the person of the "typi-
ical Dubliner." There is only one
person incapable of explaining the
phenomenon to US, and that is the
typical Dubliner himself. No man
can see himself in perspective, for the
very good reason that there is no
definite human perspective outside
himself. He is in the position of a
man in the heart of forest teeming
with wild lnvurioroo of oroopory III
cannot see the forest for the trees.
The only man who can see the forest
as such is the man who surveys it
from some distance, against its back
ground of mountain and sky and sea.
And as we cannot call on the Dubliner
to yield up his secret perhaps an at
tempt at analysis by one who is a lit
tie remote from him, and at the same
time not the least of his admirers,
may at least stimulate thought on
the subject.
A Misunderstanding.
| One fruitful source of misunder-
standing must at the outset be re.
moved-the meaning of the word
typical" used in this connection. All
lrishmen are not typical Irishmen any
more than all Englishmen are typical
Englishmen. It is possible, indeed it
is more than probable, that there are
many natives of Ireland who, from
the point of view of psychology, be-
long to English rather than to Irish
classification. But this does not affect
the truth that Irishmen do possess to
a larger degree than any other people
certain peculiarities of manner, philos-
ophy, and outlook which are the re-
suit of the special conditions-physi.
cal, historical and social-wherein
their lives have been moulded for gen.
erations. There are mean Irishmen
and generous Irishmen, brilliant Irish.
men and dull Irishmen, just as there
are mean, generous brilliant and dull
OF other nationalities. Qualities, in
deed, are cosmopolitan things: it is
the point of view, the way of lookine
at life, which is individual and dis
| tinctive. The Frenchman's view Of
life is gay, audacous, and cynical (ir
normal times, of course); the German
Is grave, conscientious, and, in E
: strangely. material sense, mystical
the Englishman's outlook is cold
measured; the lrishman regards lif,
, with a certain whimsical fatalism, oft
en- expressing itself in laughter i,
: which there linger some hints of hit
3 terness. That is not to say that tn,
irlshman normally exhibits this pecul
> larity. If you wish to see the typica
lrlshman you must not 20 to him a
r MS Duslness-for then he is just lik,
. any other business man-obligine
alert, and enterprising. You must tall
: 10 MN after business hours, when HI
: mas discarded the conventional al
mour OF his profession, and looks GU
on life through the generous smok
clouds of good cigar. A jarvey i
not a typical lrishman when he i
4 driving some English tourists roun,
e the interesting sights of Dublin; he i
: encased in the traditional armour q
= MS calling, and the typical Irishmal
: Will not show himself until, at the en-,
a OF the day, he grows reminiscent witt
a 1ellow-1arvey at the corner of Mel
rion Square. For it is always to b.
i. remembered that a man is most him
), self when he is most unconscious O
+ himself. self-conscious people ar
t nearly always somebody else.
: His Way Of Viewing Life.
n Perhaps we may now presume t
+ analyze more confidently the element
which go to the making of the typ
cal Dubliner." We have to discoye
1 his peculiar way of looking at life
r and to do that We have to meet hin
3 when and where he is least aware o
himself. At the theater Especially
the opera season is on), at the race
course, on Saturday afternoon jaun
to Lucan or the Scalp, around the fes
tive board, with the music of friendl,
voices sounding in his carat al
these places where life forsakes tn,
: conventional formulas and finds itsel
VS1A H.