Conclusion

Abstract

This conclusion draws together the major strands that have been addressed in the book and emphasises the historical interchanges and interconnections that were facilitated in nineteenth-century Europe through translation. It highlights the presence of the foreign in national interactions and the importance of the transnational dimension in Ireland. Translation is presented as a pivotal tool of transfer and transmission which helped to loosen the bond of British and Irish exclusivity and enabled wider European interactions.

We’ve met with glees “from the Chinese!” translations “from the Persian;”

Sanscrit we’ve had, from Hydrabad, Sir William Jones’s version.

We’ve also seen (in a magazine) nice jawbreakers “from Schiller;”

And “tales” by folks, who gives us “jokes,” omitting “from Joe Miller”

Of plain broad Scotch a neat hotch-potch Hogg sends us from the Highlands;

There are songs too “from the Hindù” and “from the Sandwich Islands.”

’Tis deemed most wise to patronise Munchäusen, Goëthe, Ossian;

To make a stand for “fatherland” or some other land of Goshen.

– (Mahony 1836, 237)