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...