widespread appeal, these professions would have organised as British institutions; but the evidence suggests very strongly that regional identity was far more important than professional association. Very well researched, with plenty of references to engineering, medicine, the Church and architecture, the chapter will be of interest to specialists in economic history and regional identity alike - though in retrospect one has a sense that, while he comprehensively debunks his premise, he has not quite destroyed the theme.
There then follow a series of less useful, but interesting, chapters on aspects of regional identity and commerce. David Eastwood and Boyd Hilton consider the rise of the mercantile class, with the latter arguing that 'During the relatively brief period of the Liberal party's heyday… it might be said without exaggeration that it was actually chic to be provincial'. Robin Eagles then follows this up with an assault on Linda Colley's thesis, showing how English and French elites grew closer in an era which she describes as one of stand-off. The argument, however, suffers from having too many caveats: showing that so-and-so had French servants, then adding that he was reviled for it, does not convince quite as well as the demonstration that officers at war with each other nevertheless holidayed in each other's country.
Commitment to the British regions is one of the factors which should ensure a good reception for this book. Chapters by Prys Morgan (early Victorian Wales), Colin Kidd (Scottish post-Enlightenment identity), and Toby Barnard, Oliver MacDonagh and Theo Hoppen (different aspects of Ireland's identity) are all the more interesting for revealing the ease with which ideas and experiences of one area transplant to others. Morgan's depiction of the Welsh non-conformist's reaction to assimilation  shows, albeit inadvertently, that their mythologising of the past resembled that of Irish Catholics/ nationalists. Kidd's presentation of the lowland Scot of the 1840s, despising Highlanders as a backwards other makes it easier to understand the urban Irish view of Connacht at that time. Perhaps it will also be the case that specialists in English, Scottish and Welsh history will see parallels in the events outlined by the Irish specialists. Toby Barnard's hilarious and at times informative(!) chapter does make the point that 'Hanoverian Ireland varied rather than diverged', and demonstrates that understanding of that era relies on Lecky's disapproving collected anecdotes as much as on any real evidence. He also shows that mercantilism is still under-researched in Ireland, prompting the thought that the industrial North-East has suffered disproportionately in consequence, and draws a link between anti-English feeling and the promotion of Irish goods. One of the longest chapters in the book, it does, however, suffer slightly from a perhaps over-long examination of an exemplar from