EDWARD SYNGE, Bishop of Elphin (1740-62), was a member of perhaps the most famous ecclesiastical dynasty that the Church of Ireland produced in the 17th and 18th centuries. Based on this fascinating collection of his letters to his daughter, his reputation is destined long to survive as this work assumes its rightful place .alongside Delany's letters, Willes's description and Young's tour as one of the major avenues into 18th-century Irish Protestant society.
Elphin was not high in the ecclesiastical pecking order in the 18th century. Like many of his colleagues, Edward Synge had no intention of residing permanently in his diocese, and he was sufficiently wealthy to be able to divide his time between Dublin, where he kept a house and gardens, and Elphin, where he built an episcopal palace. It was an arrangement he enjoyed, though it obliged him (a widower) to leave his sole surviving child, Alicia, who was prone to ill-health, each summer and autumn, while he attended to diocesan and personal affairs in Co Roscommon.
Both father and daughter were devoted to each other and they corresponded closely when they were apart. Alicia was only 13 when their correspondence began, but with the exception of spelling and punctuation (on which he upbraided her obsessively because of his conviction that to write well was "a great accomplishment, in a female particularly") and a number of other matters, Bishop Synge did not conduct himself as if he was dealing with a minor. He compared their relationship when Alicia was 18 to that of a husband and wife, and it is a useful measure of the trust, confidence and openness that characterised their correspondence. It would be premature, however, to draw general conclusions about parent-child relations among the Anglo-Irish elite based on their marvellously empathetic and loving connection - though his advice to her on a myriad of household and personal subjects (friendship, marriage, diet and menstruation, for example) was balanced and appropriate - because it was probably untypical.
What was not untypical were Edward's experiences in building and running houses. The complexities of building in the country are highlighted in fascinating detail by his continuous stream of instructions to Alicia for various retainers to ferry materials. (everything from wainscoting to chamber pots) from Dublin to Elphin.
One of the most compelling problems all members of the Anglo-Irish elite experienced was securing reliable servants. In Tom, his short-sighted manservant who was unable to shave him evenly, and Mrs Heap, his lazy cook, we have two memorable characters of those wham Synge describes, significantly, as his "family". There is a wealth of information on their acquisition and deployment, as there is on gardening, farming and dining, and a host of incidentals on household and personal management such as catching mice, making bread, and dental hygiene.
This is why this book is so compelling and so valuable: its focus is the Synge household in the 1740s and early 1750s. It seldom diverts into political or social issues, which dominate most narratives from this fern. Instead, we are offered an exceptional insight into the quotidian a fascinating perspective on the Anglo-Irish elite at its zenith; and a wonderful opportunity to explore an evolving human relationship in a superbly presented and lovingly edited testament of the pleasure of history.