Jottings in Solitary

Michael Davitt’s Jottings in Solitary consists of his drafts on many topics, written while a prisoner in solitary confinement in Portland Convict Prison, 1881-2. The Jottings (Davitt’s title) have not been published before and contain a valuable autobiographical fragment and a frankly annotated list of Irish MPs of the time. Davitt gives his views on many other subjects, including an account of his arrest; his random thoughts on the Irish land war; how Ireland was robbed of her Parliament; on Ireland’s share of the British Constitution as seen in its Government and Parliamentary franchise; and essays on English civilization and on the education of the Irish citizen.