A perusal of Beranger's Antique Buildings of Ireland produces not so much a feeling of commendation - though such may derive from a reading of Peter Harbison's text - as one of loss and sadness that so many of the buildings drawn and described herein no longer exist.
Beranger, of French Huguenot stock, did the drawings in the second half of the 18th century. Of the 100 castles, churches and abbeys reproduced in this beautiful volume, at least 27 have disappeared and of many others only shattered ruins remain. But then many of the buildings drawn by Beranger were already ruins in his time - yet beautiful ruins, it should be said. Rose Macaulay would have found vicarious solace in this worthwhile and timely record.