Ireland in Fiction

Henry-Ruffin, Mrs. M. E.

— THE NORTH STAR. Pp. 356. (Boston: Little, Brown). $1.50 net. Six good Ill. by Wilbur D. Hamilton. [1904]. 1908.

Scene: Norway and Ireland. The story of how Olaf Trygvesson, the exiled king of Norway, returned as a Christian champion, and overthrew his pagan rival. The wild brutal paganism of the time is depicted with realism. There is an interesting account of a great gathering in Dublin, and a sketch of Olaf’s life in exile amid his Irish hosts. There is also a love interest. Mrs. Henry-Ruffin is the only daughter of the late Thomas Henry, of Mobile, Alabama.

HENTY, G. A. Born 1832, in Cambridgeshire. He spent some time in Belfast in his capacity of Purveyor to the Forces. D. 1902. One of the greatest, perhaps quite the greatest, of writers for boys. His eighty-six or more published stories deal with almost all countries and every period of history. All his stories are sane and healthy and told in the manner that boys love. Their historical side is carefully worked out.

— FRIENDS THOUGH DIVIDED. (Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton). 3s. 6d. Excellent coloured Illustr. Attractive binding and general get-up. (N.Y.: Burt). 1.00. [1883]. New eds.

A fine boys’ adventure-story of the Civil War. Scene: mainly Great Britain, but at end shifts to Ireland for the Siege of Drogheda, which is well described. Good account of Cromwell, the two Charles, Argyll. Sympathies of writer clearly royalist. Ireland represented to be in state of semi-barbarism. Juvenile.

— ORANGE AND GREEN. (Blackie). 5s. Handsome binding; eight Illustr. by Gordon Browne. (N.Y.: Burt). 1.00. [1887]. 1907.

Adventures of two boys (one a Protestant, the other a Catholic) in the Williamite Wars. Battles of Boyne, Aughrim, sieges of Athlone, Cork, and Limerick, described. Impartial. Williamite excesses condemned. Sarsfield’s action after Limerick severely dealt with.

— IN THE IRISH BRIGADE. Pp. 384. (Blackie). 6s. Twelve excellent illustr. by Chas. M. Sheldon. (N.Y.: Scribner). 1.50. 1901.

Adventures of Desmond Kennedy, officer of the Irish Brigade, in the service of France, during the War of the Spanish Succession—chiefly in Flanders and Spain. The facts are based on O’Callaghan’s History of the Irish Brigade and Boyer’s Annals of the Reign of Queen Anne. No Irish Nationalist could quarrel with the views expressed in the Author’s Preface.

HEYGATE, W. E.

— WILD SCENES AMONG THE CELTS. Pp. 114. (Parker). 6d. 1859.

One of a series “Tales for Young Men and Women” (Church of England). This volume contains the two following tales:—

The Penitent.—How Shossag, a prince of S. Leinster, was accessory to his brother’s murder. How punishment overtook him, and how he ended his life as a penitent at the feet of St. Piran of Cornwall. Period c. 410 A.D.

The Fugitive.—A story of crime, and its punishment in the person of a Pictish chief. St. Columba has a prominent place in the story. Of him a sympathetic and appreciative picture is drawn. Scene: Scottish mainland, Iona, and N. Connaught, c. 590-597. This Author has written a dozen other historical stories. See NIELD. The two above noted are quite suitable for Catholic children.

HICKEY, Rev. P.

— INNISFAIL. Pp. 284. (Gill). 3s. 6d. [1906]. (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.75. Third ed. 1907.

Life-story of a young priest from early youth to departure for Australia, largely told in letters from college, with verse interspersed. Sketches of life in Tipperary (fox-hunt, school scenes, &c.).

HINKSON, H. A. Born in Dublin, 1865. Married Katharine Tynan, 1893 (q.v.). Ed. Dublin High School, T.C.D., and in Germany. Called to the English Bar, 1902. Until the last few years he has resided in England. He now lives in Claremorris, Co. Mayo, for which county he is R.M.

— GOLDEN LADS AND GIRLS. Pp. 312. (Downey). 1895.

A love story of the upper middle classes. Pictures of western (Galway) county family life, and of student life in Trinity, both strongly reminiscent of Lever. Good portraits of Irish types, the country doctor, the unpopular agent, the reforming landlord (English and a convert to Catholicism); the Protestant country clergyman, &c. This latter portrait is rather satirical. The tone on the whole is nationalist and Catholic.

— FATHER ALPHONSUS. Pp. 282. (Unwin). 1898.

The life-story of two young seminarians. One of these, finding he has no vocation, leaves before ordination, and has no reason to repent the step. The other, ignoring uneasy feelings that trouble may come of it later, becomes a priest. Afterwards he meets with a certain lady, a recent convert from Protestantism. A mutual attachment springs up, and eventually they are married. The circumstances, as arranged by the novelist, are so strange as almost to seem to palliate this sin, were it not for his omission of one factor, viz., that particular form of divine help towards the doing of duty which Catholics call the gratia status. The erring priest ends his life in a Carthusian monastery. The tone throughout is almost faultless from a Catholic standpoint. Indeed, though there are several passionate scenes, rendering the book unfitted for certain readers, the moral tone is high. Some of the characteristics of Irish social life are admirably portrayed.

— UP FOR THE GREEN. Pp. 327. (Lawrence & Bullen). 6s. 1898.

“For several of the incidents related in this story, the Author is indebted to the narrative of Samuel Riley, a yeoman [Quaker] of Cork, who was captured by the rebels, while on his way to Dublin, in September, 1798.” This worthy man discovers the rebels to be very different from what he had taken them to be. A healthy, breezy tale with more adventure than history. Standpoint: thoroughly national. There is quiet humour in the quaintly told narrative of the Quaker. Castlereagh, Major Sirr, Grattan, Lord Enniskillen figure in the story.

— WHEN LOVE IS KIND. Pp. 320. (Long). 1898.

A wholesome Irish love-story of the present day. The hero, Rupert Standish, is a soldier and a soldier’s son. The story brings out the comradeship which may exist between father and son. The page-boy, Peter, with his gruesome tales, is a curious study. There are many passages descriptive of scenes and incidents in Ireland.

— THE KING’S DEPUTY. Pp. 236. (Lawrence & Bullen). 6s. (Chicago: M’Clurg). 1.25. 1899.

Period: the days of Grattan’s Parliament, of which a vivid picture is drawn, and of the viceroyalty of the Duke of Rutland. The interest is divided between a love story and the story of a plot of the Protestant aristocracy to establish an independent Irish Republic on the Venetian model. Grattan, Curran, Napper Tandy, Sir John Parnell, Sir Boyle Roche, Father Arthur O’Leary, &c., are introduced. Descriptions (historically accurate) of the Hell-Fire Club and the Funny Club.

— SIR PHELIM’S TREASURE. Pp. 255. (S.P.C.K.) 1s. 6d. Illustr. W. S. Stacey. n.d. (1901).

A boy’s adventure-story of search for treasure. No “moral” or lesson. Good description of Crusoe-life on a little island off the Irish coast. Pleasant style; no tediousness nor dullness.

— THE POINT OF HONOUR. (Lawrence & Bullen). 6s. (Chicago: M’Clurg). 1.50. 1901.

“Stories about the quarrelsome, bottle-loving, duelling gentry of the eighteenth century.”—(Baker).

— SILK AND STEEL. Pp. 336. (Chatto & Windus). 6s. Picture cover. 1902.

Adventures of an Irish soldier of fortune at the Court of Charles I., in the Netherlands, and in Ireland. Brisk and picturesque in style. Sketch of Owen Roe and description of Benburb. The hero is Daniel O’Neill, a nephew of Owen Roe. Full of historical incidents and personages, e.g., the Earl of Essex, Father Boethius Egan, Lord Antrim. Point of view: national.

— FAN FITZGERALD. Pp. 340. (Chatto & Windus). 6s. 1902.

Young Dick Burke, brought up in England, feels the call of the Celt, and returns to his inherited estates with intent to be a model landlord. We are told in a lively and amusing style how he succeeds or fails. The Author is nationalist, but by no means a bitter partisan.

— THE WINE OF LOVE. 1904.

Deals mainly with the upper classes in the West of Ireland. Abuses of landlordism not spared. Picture of horse-dealing, fox-hunting, and card-playing lives. Also picture of typically good landlords. Standpoint on the whole national and even Catholic. Style: breezy and vigorous. Good knowledge shown of inner lives and feelings of all classes.

— THE SPLENDID KNIGHT. Pp. 262. (Sealy, Bryers). Illustr. by Lawson Wood. 1905.

Adventures of an Irish boy in Sir Walter Raleigh’s expedition up the Orinoco. A brisk and entertaining narrative.

— GOLDEN MORN. Pp. 303. (Cassell). Frontisp. 1907.

Tells the strange adventures in Ireland, London, and France of Captain O’Grady. At Leopardstown Races his mare breaks her neck, just at the finish; the Captain loses a fortune, and is fain to depart on his travels—but “all is well that ends well,” and it is so with Captain O’Grady.

— O’GRADY OF TRINITY. (Lawrence & Bullen). 6s. Re-issued by C. H. White at 6d. 1909.

Fun, frolic, and love in a student’s career. A gay and wholesome novel. Sympathetic picture of Trinity College life. Highly praised by Lionel Johnston.

— THE CONSIDINE LUCK. Pp. 300. (Swift). 6s. 1912.

It was popularly believed that the estate could not pass from Considine hands. Sir Hugh C. dies, and lo! the estate is found to be mortgaged to Mr. Smith, of London. Mr. Smith arrives, and brings with him his English notions which he proceeds to carry out to the disgust of the locality. He refuses all attempts to buy him out, but the Considine luck comes to the rescue, and the estate falls once more into the hands of a Considine. Pleasant, light style.

HOARE, Mrs.

— SHAMROCK LEAVES; or, Tales and Sketches of Ireland. Pp. 237. (M’Glashan). 1851.

If one could abstract from the bits of gossipy anecdote intended as links to the principal stories, this book consists of several studies, touching and true to the reality, of the lives of the poor, and in particular of their sufferings during and after the Famine years. Written with much sympathy for the lowly, and a vivid sense of actuality. Most of the tales have a moral, but it does not spoil the story.

HOBHOUSE, Violet. Born 1864. Eldest daughter of Edmund McNeill, D.L., of Craigdunn, Co. Antrim. Married Rev. Walter Hobhouse, second son of Bishop Hobhouse. She was devoted to Irish traditions, folklore, &c., and could speak Irish, but was a keen Unionist, and in 1887 and the following years spoke much against Home Rule on English platforms. After her death in 1902 a small volume of poems, serious and deeply religious, Speculum Animae was printed for private circulation.

— AN UNKNOWN QUANTITY. Pp. 382. (Downey). 6s. 1898.

— WARP AND WEFT. (Skeffington). 3s. 6d. 1899.

“A conscientious rendering of homely aspects of life in Co. Antrim.”—(Baker).

HOCKING, Rev. Joseph.

— ROSALEEN O’HARA. Pp. 352. (Hodder & Stoughton). 3s. 6d. and 1s. Two illustr. 1913.

A product of the Home Rule controversy. The Author is a noted anti-Catholic writer, but he is also a Liberal, and desirous of defending Liberalism from the charge of seeking to establish Rome Rule in Ireland. Home Rule, so reads the story, would mean Rome Rule for some years, but would ultimately lead to the emancipation of the Irish from the thralldom of priestcraft and dogma. The story tells of Denis who unexpectedly discovers that he is heir to an Irish estate, and neighbour of Elenore Tyrone, whom he had seen and loved. A quarrel and the attractions of the beautiful “Fenian,” Rosaleen, separate the two for a time. The Author clearly knows little or nothing of Ireland, but he would like to be benevolent in tone to “dear old beautiful Erin.” By the same Author: Follow the Gleam, The Wilderness, The Jesuit, The Scarlet Woman, and some thirty other novels.

HOEY, Mrs. Cashel, née Sarah Johnston. Born at Bushy Park, Co. Dublin, 1830. Wife of the well-known Irish journalist, John Cashel Hoey (d. 1892). Has published more than twenty-seven volumes, e.g., The Question of Cain (1882), The Lover’s Creed, No Sign (1876), The Queen’s Token, A Stern Chase, &c., &c. She became a Catholic in 1858. D. 1908.

HOLLAND, Denis. A well-known Irish journalist. Born in Cork about 1826. He founded The Irishman, 1858. See Pigot’s Recollections of an Irish Journalist, and D. J. O’Donoghue’s Poets of Ireland.

— DONAL DUN O’BYRNE: A Tale of the Rising in Wexford in 1798. Pp. 224. (Gill). 1s. n.d.

The story of the rising (including Oulart, Tubberneering, Gorey, and Ross, and the guerilla warfare after Vinegar Hill) from an insurgent’s point of view. The book is full of scenes of blood, and breathes a spirit of vengeance. The narrative is not remarkable. Some of the scenes border on indelicacy.

— ULICK O’DONNELL: an Irish Peasant’s Progress. 1860.

A romantic and pleasant story. Adventures in Liverpool and elsewhere in England of a clever peasant lad from Newry. He wins his way by his sterling qualities, and returns prosperous to his native Co. Down. Author tries to bring out contrasting characteristics of English and Irish.

HOLT, Emily S.

— UNDER ONE SCEPTRE; or, Mortimer’s Mission. (Shaw). 3s. 6d. 1884.

Career of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March and Ulster (1374-98) in Monmouthshire, Ireland, and London. He was lieutenant of Ulster, Connaught, and Meath. Richard II. declared him heir to the throne, but later grew jealous of his popularity. He was slain at Kells in battle with Art McMurrough Kavanagh. Juvenile.

HOPKINS, Tighe. Born 1856. Son of Rev. W. R. Hopkins, Vicar of Moulton, Cheshire. Besides the work mentioned here this Author ed. Carleton’s Traits and Stories in the “Red Letter Library,” and wrote Kilmainham Memories, several novels, and various other works. Resides at Herne Bay. Has written many other novels:—For Freedom, The Silent Gate, Tozer’s, ’Twixt Love and Duty, &c.

— THE NUGENTS OF CARRICONNA. Three Vols., afterwards one Vol. (Ward & Downey). 1890.

Main theme: an old impoverished family suddenly enriched by Australian legacy. Interwoven there is an interesting love-story. Anthony Nugent, eccentric, of astronomical tastes, has on his housetop a telescope which plays a prominent part in the story. Brogue well done. The dramatic interest centred in an Inspector of Police, a type probably very rare in Irish fiction.

HOPPER, Nora; Mrs. W. H. Chesson.

— BALLADS IN PROSE. Pp. 186. (Lane). 5s. Beautifully bound and printed. 1894.

Strange, wayward tales of far-off pagan days in which one moves as in a mist of dreams. Soaked with Gaelic fairy and legendary lore. The prose pieces, all very short, are interspersed with little poems, that are slight and frail as wreaths of vapour. Some of the stories are symbolical. They are told in simple and graceful prose.

HUDSON, Frank. This Author, after many years’ work for Dublin periodicals, went to London early in the ’eighties. He wrote a few Irish sporting novels of a light and humorous kind.

— THE ORIGIN OF PLUM PUDDING, and other Irish Fairy Tales. Illustr. by Gordon Browne. 1888.

Only one of these five stories is genuinely Irish—“Shaun Murray’s Challenge,” the scene of which is Dalkey. The title-story tells how a drunken man one evening threw his sack of groceries into a pot on the fire, and in the morning found a plum-pudding.

— THE LAST HURDLE: a Story of Sporting and Courting. Pp. 304. (Ward & Downey). 1888.

Life in an Irish county family of the old stock, with sympathy for the poor around them. Good idea of refined Irish country life and its easy-going ways. A story full of sport, gaiety, and dramatic incidents, turning mainly on the winning of the heroine by the hero in spite of the plots of the rival. Good and bad landlords are contrasted. An eviction scene is described, with full sympathy for the victims. Shamus-the-Trout, a poacher, is a very picturesque figure.

— RUNNING DOUBLE: a Story of Stage and Stable. Two Vols. (Ward & Downey). 1890.

Scene: varies between England, Dublin, and “Ennisbeg.” There are remarks on Irish life, scenery, and customs, but the chief interest is sporting—fishing, racing, betting. The stage part is in England. There is very little plot. All ends in a double wedding.

HUGHES, Mrs. Kate Duval.

— THE FAIR MAID OF CONNAUGHT: and other Tales for Catholic Youth. Pp. 178. (N.Y.: Kenedy and Benziger). 1.25, 0.60, 0.30. 1889.

HULL, Eleanor. Born in Ireland of a Co. Down family. Daughter of Prof. Edward Hull, the eminent geologist, long Director of the Geological Survey of Ireland. Ed. at Alexandra Coll., Dublin, and in Brussels. Has written much—chiefly on Irish literature, folk-lore, and history—for various periodicals. Is the Author of eight important books on Irish subjects:—Pagan Ireland, Early Christian Ireland, A Text-Book of Irish [Gaelic] Literature, The Poem-Book of the Gael. Has for many years studied Old Irish under the best professors, and it is her chief pleasure and interest. Founded in 1899 the Irish Texts Society, and has been its Hon. Secretary ever since. Is President of Irish Literary Society in London.

— THE CUCHULLIN SAGA IN IRISH LITERATURE. Pp. lxxx. + 316. (Nutt). 1898.

A collection of fourteen stories relating to Cuchulin, translated from the Irish by various scholars (Meyer, O’Curry, Stokes, Windisch, O’Grady, Duvan, &c.). A more valuable work, says Fiona MacLeod (in substance), for students of Gaelic legend and literature than the more recent works by Lady Gregory. The book is not cast in an artistic mould. It merely contains the rude materials from which epic and lyric inspiration may be drawn. Important and valuable Introduction deals with literary qualities of the Saga, its historical aspects and its mythology. Map of Ireland to illustrate Cuchulin Saga. Appendix contains chart of Cuchulin Saga. Notes pp. 289-297.

— CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER. Pp. 279. (Harrap). 5s. net. Illustr. in colour by Stephen Reid. [1909].

Intended for young, but not very young readers. Told in modern language, free from Gaelicisms, archaisms, and difficult names. The story is continuous, not told in detached episodes. The style, though without the strange wild grandeur of Standish O’Grady, is on the whole beautiful. The story itself is full of the spirit of heroism and chivalry. It is selected and adapted from many sources (indicated in Appendix), and the epic narrative is not mixed with puerile or absurd episodes. Some of the illustrations are excellent, others tend, perhaps, too much to quaintness.

HUME, Martin.

— TRUE STORIES OF THE PAST. Pp. xi. + 226. (Eveleigh Nash). 5s. net. 1911.

Ed. with introd. by R. B. Cunningham Grahame. Eight stories from History. i. “How Rizzio was Avenged;” ii. “A Rebellious Love-match;” iii. “Prince and Pastry Cook;” iv. “The Revenge of John Hawkins;” v. “The Scapegoat;” vi. “Sir Walter [Raleigh]’s Homecoming;” vii. “Cloth of Gold and Frieze.” Some of these treat of the amours of great personages. Their standpoint is, of course, English and Protestant. viii. “The Last Stand of the O’Sullivans” is told with much spirit, and with sympathy for the Irish cause. It does not include the famous retreat of the O’Sullivans.

HUNGERFORD, Mrs. Born 1855. Daughter of Canon Hamilton, Rector of Ross, Co. Cork. Ed. in Ireland. Her early home was St. Brenda’s, Co. Cork. Wrote upwards of forty-six novels dealing with the more frivolous aspects of modern society. They had a great vogue in their day. The most popular of all was, perhaps, Molly Bawn (1878). Most of her books appeared Anon. Her plots are poor and conventional, but she possessed the faculty of reproducing faithfully the tone of contemporary society. She died at Bandon 1897.—(D.N.B.).

— MOLLY BAWN. (Smith, Elder). 6s. and 2s. (Boston: Caldwell). 0.75. [1878].

“A love tale of a tender, but frivolous and petulant Irish girl, who flirts and arouses her lover’s jealousy, and who offends against the conventions in all innocence. A gay and witty story spiced with slang, and touched with pathos.”—(Baker).

— A LITTLE IRISH GIRL; and other Stories. (London: Whitefriars Libr.). 1891.

— THE O’CONNORS OF BALLYNAHINCH. Pp. 261. (Heinemann). 1s. 6d. 1896.

A domestic story of love and marriage in the Author’s lightest vein. The characters belong chiefly to the landlord class, a local carman being the only peasant introduced. There is no expression of political views. The scene is laid in Cork.

— NORA CREINA. Pp. 328. (Chatto & Windus). 1903.

A love-story from start to finish, without pretence of the study of character. The story of how Norah is won from dislike to love is pleasantly told. No politics. Peasants hardly mentioned. Scene not specified.

HUNT, B.

— FOLK TALES OF BREFFNY. Pp. viii. + 197. (Macmillan). 3s. 6d. 1913.

Breffny, i.e., Cavan and Leitrim. Many of these stories—there are twenty-six of them, all very short—“were told by an old man, who said he had more and better learning nor the scholars,” and are a curious mixture of literary language, and a very peculiar and picturesque peasant dialect. They are somewhat off the ordinary lines of folk-lore stories, and are told in a quaint drily-humorous vein.

HYDE, Dr. Douglas, LL.D., D.Litt.; “An Craobhin Aoibhinn.” Son of late Rev. Arthur Hyde, Frenchpark, Co. Roscommon. Ed. T.C.D. Has been President of the Gaelic League since its foundation in 1893. Is Professor of Modern Irish in the National University of Ireland.

— BESIDE THE FIRE. Gaelic Folk-stories. Collected, ed. (Irish text facing English), and trans. by D. H. With Introd., Notes on Irish text, and Notes on tales, by Ed. and Alfred Nutt. Pp. lviii. + 204. (Nutt). 7s. 6d. 1891.

Extremely interesting and valuable Preface (50 pages) by the Author, in which he reviews what had been hitherto done for Irish folk-lore, remarks on the genesis of the folk-tale, its affinities with the Scotch folk-tale, and tells us where and from whom and in what circumstances he got his stories, ending by some explanations of the style of his translations. The preface is followed by some critical remarks on it by Alfred Nutt. The English of the translations is that of the peasants. This is the first really scientific treatment of Irish folk-lore.

— THE ADVENTURES OF THE LAD OF THE FERULE.

— THE ADVENTURES OF THE CHILDREN OF THE KING OF NORWAY. (Irish Texts Society). 1899.

Two Irish romantic tales of the 16th and 17th centuries, ed. and transl. for the first time with introd., notes, and glossary. The “Lad” is a mysterious being who appears to Murough, son of Brian Boru, and carrying home for him the spoils of a miraculous hunting, demands as reward a certain ferule that lies at the bottom of a lake. Murough slays a serpent, and delivers the land of the Ever Young, which lies at the bottom of the lake. The second is a long story of enchantment and marvellous adventures.—(Baker, 2).

— An Sgéalaidhe Gaedhealach: Connaught Folk Tales. Three Parts. With French Trans. by Georges Dottin. (Rennes). Parts 1 and 2, 10s.; Part 3, 2s. 1901.

— LEGENDS OF SAINTS AND SINNERS. Pp. xiv. + 295. (Talbot Press: Every Irishman’s Library). 2s. 6d. 1915.

Forty-six stories described by the Author as Christian folk-lore, all translated for the first time from the Irish, and for the most part gathered from the lips of the people by the Author himself, who has been gathering folklore for twenty-five years. Each tale is preceded by a preface giving all the details of its collection, origin, character, &c., that are of interest to the folk-lorist as well as to the general reader. The tales are compared with similar tales occurring in foreign countries.

INGELOW, Jean. 1820-1897.

— OFF THE SKELLIGS. Three Vols. (Keegan Paul. Boston: Roberts). [1872]. Second ed., c. 1881.

Has no other connection with Ireland than the episode of the picking up near the Skellig Island, off Waterville, Co. Kerry, of a boat’s crew that had escaped from a burning ship.

IRVINE, Alexander. B. in town of Antrim of very poor parents. Was a newsboy in Antrim, a coal-miner in Glasgow, a Marine. Began again at the bottom in N.Y. 1888, and went through extraordinary experiences. Is a Socialist. Lives in Peekskill, N.Y. See his autobiography From the Bottom Up. (Heinemann). 1910.

— MY LADY OF THE CHIMNEY CORNER. Pp. 224. (Nash). 3s. 6d. net. Eight eds. in three or four months. 1914.

Sub-t.:—“A story of love and poverty in Irish peasant life.” The central figure—almost the only figure in the book—is Anna Gilmore, a poor woman living in Pogue’s Entry, in the town of Antrim. Brought up as a pious Catholic by Catholic parents, she marries a Protestant against their wish. Henceforth she has renounced Catholicism, having chosen, as she says, love instead of religion. To show that her choice was of the better part seems to be the purpose of the Author. The book is a lovingly-drawn portrait, with slight incidents, and the many wise sayings of Anna as traits. There is a strong evangelical religious atmosphere throughout. The story is largely in dialect. It is laid in Famine times; yet there are several mention of Fenians, which seems to spell Catholic. The book would be better understood by a reading of the Author’s autobiography, From the Bottom Up.

IRVINE, G. Marshall, B.A., M.B.

— THE LION’S WHELP. Pp. 406. (Simpkin). 6s. 1910.

Introd. (by J. Campbell, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.S., LL.D. (Hon. Causa)) says, “In writing The Lion’s Whelp Dr. Irvine has set before himself two main objects. He desires to inculcate on the medical profession the necessity which exists for the education of the public in all that pertains to the maintenance of health... and he wishes to impress upon the public all that is summed up in the time-worn adage—‘Prevention is better than cure.’” Incidentally, the book is also a satire against professional make-believe. Scene varies between Belfast, the North of England, and Denver City, U.S.A. The hero, Dan Nevin, starts his career as a doctor, with high ideals—too high, as he discovers, for real life. The story is concerned with his love-affair and various other adventures. A fine plot, well worked out, with several striking characters. Moral tone high. Religion scarcely touched upon. There are interesting descriptions of Co. Down scenery and of life in Queen’s College, Belfast. The Author is a doctor, practising in Co. Armagh.

IRWIN, Madge.

— THE DIAMOND MOUNTAIN; or, Flowers of Fairyland. (Dundalk: The Dundalgan Press). 1s. Illustr. by A. Donnelly. 1908. Cover in white and gold.

IRWIN, Thomas Caulfield. 1823-1892. Is better known as a poet than as a prose-writer. Yet he wrote one hundred and thirty tales of various length, essays on many subjects, and an historical romance “From Cæsar to Christ.” He was of unsound mind for a number of years before his death.

— WINTER AND SUMMER STORIES AND SLIDES OF FANCY’S LANTERN. Pp. 252. Close print. (Gill). 1879.

Contents: 1. “Old Christmas Hall;” 2. “The First Ring”; 3. “An Irish Fairy Sketch”; 4. “The Miser’s Cottage”; 5. “By Moonlight”; 6. “By Gaslight”; 7. “A Visit to a Great Artist”; 8. “Falstaff’s Wake”; 9. “A Scene in Macbeth’s Castle”; 10. “Julio”; 11. “A Death”; 12. “Visions of an Old Voyage from Rome to Asia”; 13. “The Shores of Greece”; 14. “Theocritus”; 15. “A Glimpse of Arcadia”; 16. “A Ballad of Old Dublin” (verse); 17. “Corney McClusky” (verse); 18. “Ethel Maccara”; 19. “Pausias and Glycera”; 20. “Manon and her Spirit Lover”; 21. “An Ancient Aryan Legend”; 22. “A Florentine Fortune”; 23. “Insielle’s Dimple and Fan.”

Miscellaneous sketches and stories. Several are literary jeux-desprit (e.g., 8, 9, 10). Others slight studies of curious little aspects of life, rather imaginary than real. For the most part, however, they are peculiar, weird tales, several touching the preternatural, but not morbid. The prose is poetic, imaginative, and of high literary qualities—at times comparable with those of de Quincey, e.g., in No. 4, p. 72, sq. Here and there are exquisite pen-pictures. Several of the tales have Irish settings. No. 4 has curious pictures of old Dublin, c. 1770.

JACOBS, Joseph.

— CELTIC FAIRY TALES. Pp. xvi. + 274. (Nutt). 6s. Complete edition. [1891]. Third, 1902.

Eight full-page plates and numerous illustrations in the text by J. D. Batten. The pictures are exquisite, and could scarcely be more appropriate. Interesting and valuable Notes and References at end, about 30 pages, giving the source of each tale and parallels. The tales are drawn mainly from previous printed collections. The twenty-six tales include some Scotch and Welsh. Some are hero-tales, as “Deirdre,” and “The Children of Lir”; some folk-tales; some drolls, i.e., comic anecdotes of feats of stupidity or cunning. There are practically no fairy-tales properly so called. The tales are admirably selected, and are told in simple, straightforward language.

— MORE CELTIC FAIRY TALES. Pp. xvi. + 234. (Nutt). 6s. Complete edition.

All that has been said of the first series can be applied to the second, which is in every way worthy of its predecessor. Twenty stories. The two volumes may fairly be said to constitute the most representative and attractive collection of Celtic tales ever issued.

— CELTIC FAIRY TALES. By Joseph Jacobs and J. D. Batten. (Nutt). 3s. 6d.

— MORE CELTIC FAIRY TALES. By the same Authors. (Nutt). 3s. 6d.

The above are children’s editions of these well-known books. The text is practically the same as in the complete edition, but there are two or three illustrations omitted, as well as the Introduction and Notes. The tales are well known to be admirably suited to children.

N.B.—The same writers have edited English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, Indian Fairy Tales, and The Book of Wonder Voyages, which includes the voyage of Maelduin.

“JAMES, Andrew”; James Andrew Strahan, LL.D., a Belfast man, Prof. of Jurisprudence in the Queen’s Univ. there.

— NINETY-EIGHT AND SIXTY YEARS AFTER. (Blackwood). 3s. 6d. 1911.

In two parts. Part I. (four short stories) is told in dialect (correctly rendered) by an old schoolmaster, and relates incidents of the rebellion in Presbyterian Ulster, in which the narrator’s father had played a part on the loyalist side. Shows thorough understanding of the political and social conditions of the time, and is written in evident sympathy with the rebels, though with no blind partisanship. Part II. (four chapters of a longer story) introduces the supernatural, ghosts of ’98 returning to influence events sixty years after. A book of much power and truth.

JARROLD, Ernest.

— MICKEY FINN IDYLLS. Pp. 281. (N.Y.: Harper). 1899. Introd. by Charles A. Dana (N.Y. Sun).

Reprinted from the Sunday Sun, Leslie’s Weekly, &c. Micky is a youngster of 9 or 10, born of Irish parents, settled at Coney Island, where the scene of the idylls is laid. A good deal of humour and some pathos. A goat figures largely in the sketches.

— MICKY FINN’S NEW IRISH YARNS. N.Y. 1902.

JAY, Harriett. A sister-in-law and adopted daughter of the late Robert Buchanan, Scottish poet and novelist. She lived for some years in Mayo, and the result of her observations was two good novels. She wrote also Madge Dunraven, and some other novels.

— THE QUEEN OF CONNAUGHT. (Chatto & Windus). Picture boards. 2s. n.d. (1875).

How an Englishman, John Bermingham, fell in love with and married the descendant of an old western family. How he tried, but failed, to reform with English ideas the Connaught peasantry. Told with considerable power and insight. Note especially the description of a police hunt over the mountains in the snow. Has been dramatised.

— THE DARK COLLEEN. Three Vols. (Bentley). 1876.

Scene: an island off the W. coast. Morna Dunroon finds a French sailor, survivor of a shipwreck. She afterwards marries him, but he abandons her and goes back to France. She follows him, and passes through strange adventures, but he is still false to her. Nemesis follows in the end. Father Moy is a fine portrait of a priest. The dialect and the scenery are both true to the reality, the description of the storm at the close is particularly well done.

— THE PRIEST’S BLESSING; or, Poor Patrick’s progress from this world to a better. Pp. 308. (F. V. White). Two eds. 1881.

A most objectionable book from a Catholic point of view. Very hostile picture of priesthood of Ireland who keep the people in “bovine ignorance.” The two specimens that appear in the story are villains of the worst type. One is 25, and has been seven years a priest! He drinks heavily, and works miracles. By another a respectable peasant is incited to murder. The views of politics can only be described as “Orange.”

— MY CONNAUGHT COUSINS. Three Vols. (F. V. White). 1883.

Jack Kenmare goes to his uncle’s place in Connaught, and has a pleasant time in company with his cousins. He becomes engaged to one of them, who writes stories. Several of these are given. An excellent moral tale, and a glimpse of happy Irish life in a country house. The political point of view is not Nationalist: neither is it hostile to Ireland.

JEBB, Horsley.

— SPORT ON IRISH BOGS. Pp. 192. (Everett). 1s. Paper. 1910.

Farcical Irish stories by a Londoner who occasionally shoots and fishes in Ireland. Peasants made grotesque, but Author has no hostile intentions. Nondescript dialect. “A Home in Calery” is quite different, and makes very pleasant reading. “Sister Eugenia” is an agreeable, melodramatic story.

JESSOP, George H. B. in Ireland; ed. at Trinity. Went to U.S.A., 1873. Edited Judge (1884), and contributed to other humorous papers. Wrote some very successful plays. He died in 1915 at Hampstead. Another of his novels is The Emergency Men, a novel in which he pictures the land troubles in Ireland from the anti-popular point of view.

— GERALD FRENCH’S FRIENDS. Pp. 240. (Longmans). Well illustr. 1889.

Six stories reprinted from the Century Magazine, 1888. Gerald, a spendthrift son of good family, takes to journalism, and goes to San Francisco. There he meets various types of his fellow-countrymen, and the stories are about these. “All the incidents related in this book are based on fact, and several of them are mere transcripts from actual life.... The purpose is to depict a few of the most characteristic types of the native Celt of the original stock, as yet unmixed in blood, but modified by new surroundings and a different civilization.” An excellent work, and perhaps the Author’s best.

— WHERE THE SHAMROCK GROWS. (Murray & Evenden). 3s. 6d. 1911.

A rather commonplace story. The characters are mostly of the squireen class, notably the drunken Mat O’Hara. There are two love stories, both having happy conclusions, to which the racehorse Liscarrick largely contributes. “The paper is poor and the binding tawdry.”—(I.B.L.) “The writer has only put on record that part of his experience which can be reconciled with conceptions derived from Lever.”—(Irish Times).

— DESMOND O’CONNOR. Pp. 320. (Long). 6s. 1914.

The “Wild Geese” in Flanders. Desmond is the “Lion of the Irish Brigade.” A love story that moves through camps and courts, siege, battle, adventure, misunderstanding, to a happy ending, under the aegis of the Grand Monarque. Told with spirit and verve.

JOHNSTON, Miss.

— ELLEN: A Tale of Ireland. Pp. 139. 16mo. (London). 1843.

A curious and rather meaningless little story. Ellen O’Rorick, daughter of a drunken tavern keeper, of Leixlip, goes to England, and mixes in high society. Forgotten and looked down upon by her childhood’s friend, whom she loves, she marries in succession two elderly, rich men, and then settles in Ireland to a life of philanthropy, having meanwhile become a Protestant. A good deal of moralising.

JOHNSTON, M. L.

— MAVOURNEEN; or, The Children of the Storm. Pp. 233. (Walter Scott). 1904.

Kitty O’Neill on her way to her aunt at Lostwin, in England, is saved from a wreck by Ralph Whitteridge, of that place. Kitty grows up, and has several suitors, but meets Ralph again, and marries him in spite of the aunt who wishes her to marry Edward, the Squire. Some of the action takes place at Malhay, in the S. of Ireland, Kitty’s native place. Kitty dies, and Ralph takes to drink, but is rescued by a former rival, and on the voyage out to S. Africa proves his sterling worth, but is drowned in a storm along with his little boy, Curly. Author’s knowledge of Ireland very slight. Brogue poor. No anti-Catholic bias.

JOHNSTON, William, of Ballykilbeg, 1829-1902. Was in his day one of the most strenuous opponents of Home Rule, a leader of Orangemen, and Unionist M.P. for Belfast during many years. His novels reflect his political opinions.

— NIGHTSHADE. (Belfast: Aicken). 2s. Portrait. [c. 1870]. Many editions; the last c. 1902.

The hero, Charles Annandale, a young Ulster landlord and an Oxfordman, returns to Ireland in the thick of the agrarian agitation. His agent is shot by Ribbonmen, who had been previously absolved by the priest. He is an unsuccessful candidate for Parliament. The election is well described, the Author probably drawing on his experiences at Downpatrick in 1857. Among the characters is Rev. Mr. Werd (Dr. Drew, of Belfast). The sister of Charles’s betrothed is entrapped by a Jesuit, who poses as her guardian, and immured in a Paris convent, but is released after a lawsuit. There is much denunciation of “prowling Jesuits,” “Liberal Protestants,” and “Puseyite Traitors.”

— UNDER WHICH KING. Pp. 308. (Tinsley). 1873.

A plain historical narrative, with little plot, and no character drawing of the various events of 1688-91—Derry, the Boyne, &c. Very strong Williamite bias.

JONES, T. Mason.

— OLD TRINITY: a Tale of real life. Three Vols. 1867.

Period, c. 1850. Scene: T.C.D., Ossory, and Co. Limerick. Career, told by himself of a brilliant young Trinity man, including a love story. A fine piece of narrative. But the chief source of interest, perhaps, is the account of the land troubles of the day, as the very sympathetic picture of the sufferings of the peasantry during and after the Famine years. It includes portraits, drawn with feeling and admiration, of an Ossory P.P., and of a dissenting minister. There are pointed criticisms of educational methods and a study, none too favourable, of life in T.C.D. The Author ran The Tribune in Dublin in the fifties, and was afterwards well-known in England as a lecturer of the Reform League.

JOYCE, James A. B. of Galway parentage about thirty years ago. Was a student of Clongowes Wood College and of University Coll., Dublin. Published some years ago a small book of verse that has been much admired, entitled Chamber Music. Is at present in Trieste.

— DUBLINERS. Pp. 278. (Grant, Richards). 3s. 6d. 1914.

Seventeen genre studies in the form of stories picturing life among the Dublin lower-middle and lower classes, but from one aspect only, viz., the dark and squalid aspect. This is depicted with almost brutal realism, and though there is an occasional gleam of humour, on the whole we move, as we read, in the midst of painful scenes of vice and poverty. His characters seem to interest the author in so far as they are wrecks or failures in one way or another. He writes as one who knows his subject well.

JOYCE, Patrick Weston, M.A., LL.D. 1827-1914. B. at Ballyorgan, Co. Limerick. Ed. at private schools; graduated at T.C.D. In 1845 he entered the service of the Commissioners of National Education. He rose to be principal of the Marlborough Street Training Schools, Dublin. Elected M.R.I.A., 1863; President of Royal Society of Antiquaries. Wrote several histories of Ireland, of one of which 86,000 copies were sold. Publ. works on Irish place-names, Irish music, a grammar of the Irish language, a social history of Ancient Ireland, &c., &c. D. Jan., 1914. He was writing practically up to the day of his death.

— OLD CELTIC ROMANCES. Pp. xx. + 474. (Longmans). [1879]. Third ed., revised and enlarged. 1907.

Thirteen tales, selected and translated from the manuscripts of Trinity College and of the Royal Irish Academy. Some had been already published, but in a form inaccessible to the public, and in literal translations made chiefly for linguistic purposes. The author justly claims that this is “the first collection of the old Gaelic prose romances that has ever been published in fair English translation.”—(Pref.). The translations are, as the Author says, in “simple, plain, homely English.” He has made little or no attempt to invest them with the glamour of poetry. The text is preceded by some particulars concerning these tales and their origin, and followed by notes and a list of proper names. The tales are: “The Fates of the Children of Lir, Tuireann and Usnach”; “The Voyages of Mailduin and of the Sons of O’Corra”; “The Pursuit of the Gilla Dacker and of Dermat and Grania”; “Connla of the Golden Hair”; “Oisin in Tir-na-nOge,” &c. “I would bring out,” said Dr. Richard Garnett, Librarian of the British Museum “Joyce’s Irish Romances in the cheapest possible form and place them in the hands of every boy and girl in the country.”

JOYCE, Robert Dwyer. Brother of the preceding. B. Glenosheen, Co. Limerick, 1830. Graduated in Queen’s Coll., Cork. Went to U.S.A. in 1866, where he was very successful as a doctor. Returned to Ireland, 1883, and died the same year. He is perhaps better known as a poet than as a prose writer.

— LEGENDS OF THE WARS IN IRELAND. Pp. 352. (Boston: Campbell). 1868.

Thirteen historical and semi-historical legends, told by a thoroughly good story-teller, with plenty of colour and exciting incident and without clogging erudition. “A Batch of Legends” includes the story of the monks of Kilmacluth and the wonderful bird, a story of love in the ’45 (Culloden, &c.), a legend about Murrough of the Burnings, c. 1663, how Patrick saved the life of his servant Duan, Black Hugh Condon’s vengeance on the English, c. 1601; and another, “The Master of Lisfinry,” the takings and retakings of Youghal during the Desmond rebellion, story of a lost child found. “The Fair Maid of Killarney”—the taking of Ross Castle by Ludlow during Cromwellian wars. “An Eye for an Eye”—knightly combats during the Bruce invasion, 1315. “The Rose of Drimnagh”—abduction of Eleanora de Barneval of Drimnagh (near Inchicore) by the O’Byrnes. “The House of Lisbloom,” a legend of Sarsfield and the Rapparees, an exciting story. “The Whitethorn Tree,” a strange tale of Rapparees and Puritans, abductions and rescues and fights. “The First and Last Lords of Fermoy,” 1216 and 1660 (the faithless Charles II.) “The Little Battle of Bottle Hill” is another Rapparee story. “The Bridal Ring,” a story of Cahir Castle. “Rosaleen; or, the White Lady of Barna”—end of 18th century.

P.S.—Some of these Legends were publ. without the name of the Author in cheap paper ed. by Cameron & Ferguson, of Glasgow, under title, Galloping O’Hogan, and other tales, n.d.

— IRISH FIRESIDE TALES. Pp. 376. (Boston). 1871.

Sixteen stories, some historical (or pseudo-historical), some legendary, some serious, some comic. The scenes are laid in various parts of Ireland, and at various periods. Told in very pleasant if somewhat old-fashioned style. Contents—“The Geraldine and his Bride Fair Ellen”; “The Pearl Necklace” (a love story of Kilmallock); “The Building of Mourne” (Cork—Legend); “A Little Bit of Sport” (four comic stories); “Madeline’s Vow” (modern); “The Golden Butterfly” (Co. Clare); “Creevan, the Brown Haired”; “Mun Carberry and the Phooka”; “a story of Dublin life in the days of Queen Ann,” &c. Very little dialect.

JUBAINVILLE, H. d’Arbois de.

— TÁIN BO CUALNGE. ENLÈVEMENT DU TAUREAU DIVIN ET DES VACHES DE COOLEY. Pp. 190. (Paris: Champion). En livraisons. 1907-9.

“La plus ancienne épopée de l’Europe occidentale traduite par H. d’A. de J., Membre de l’Institut, Prof. au College de France, avec la collaboration de MM. Alexandre Smirnoff et Eugène Bibart.”

KAVANAGH, Rev. M.

— SHEMUS DHU; the Black Pedlar of Galway. (Duffy). 2s. [London: 1867]. Very many editions. Still in print. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60.

Life in and about Galway during Penal times. The peasantry are portrayed as well as the citizens and the upper classes. The plot is somewhat rambling, yet the book is interesting. In Allibone this is said to be by Maurice Dennis Kavanagh, LL.D., called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, 1866.

KEARY, Miss Annie. B. at Bilton Rectory, nr. Wetherby, Yorkshire, 1825. Her father, a Galway man, was rector of the parish. She wrote many novels, Early Egyptian History, The Nations Around, Heroes of Asgard, &c. She had very little personal knowledge of Ireland. D. 1879.—(D.N.B.). See Memoir of Annie Keary, by her sister, 1882.

— CASTLE DALY: The Story of an Irish House thirty years ago. Pp. 576. (Macmillan). 3s. 6d. [1875]; often reprinted. Fourth ed., 1889. (Philadelphia: Porter). 1.00.

Period: the Famine years and Smith O’Brien rising. The sufferings of the people sympathetically described. The Young Ireland movement dwelt on both from an English and an Irish standpoint. All through the book constant contrast between English and Irish characters, showing their incompatibility, and on the whole the superiority of the English; yet the book shows sympathies with Home Rule, to which one of the chief characters is converted. There are some descriptions of scenery in Connemara.

KEEGAN, John.

— LEGENDS AND POEMS. Pp. 552. (Sealy, Bryers). 3s. 6d. 1907.

Memoir of Author by D. J. O’Donoghue, pp. v.-xxxiii. He was a self-educated Midlands peasant, who lived in the first half of the last century. This miscellany consists of (a) Six tales of the Rockites, the brutal doings of a secret society that flourished about 1830; (b) Legends and tales of the peasantry of Queen’s County and North Munster; (c) Pp. 289-446, “Gleanings in the Green Isle,” a series of letters written in 1846 to Dolman’s, a London Catholic magazine, which deals with Irish country life, and are interspersed with stories; (d) Pp. 493-552, Poems.

KEIGHTLEY, Sir Samuel R. B. Belfast, 1859. Son of S. Keightley, of Bangor, Co. Down. Ed. Queen’s Coll., Belfast. Contested Antrim as Indep. Unionist (1903), and S. Derry as Liberal (1910). Member of Senate of Queen’s Univ. Resides in Lisburn, Co. Antrim. Other works:—A King’s Daughter, The Cavaliers, Heronford, &c.

— THE CRIMSON SIGN. Pp. 189. (Hutchinson). 6s., and 6d. (N.Y.: Harper). 1.50. [1894].

Adventures of a Mr. Gervase Orme, “sometime lieutenant in Mountjoy’s (Williamite) regiment of foot,” previous to and during the siege of Derry. The story is told with great verve, and is full of romantic and exciting adventure. There is little or no discussion of politics, and no bitter partisan feeling.

— THE LAST RECRUIT OF CLARE’S. (Hutchinson). (N.Y.: Harper). 1.50. [1897]. 1908.

A stirring and exciting story of the Irish Brigade in Jacobite days, told in bold, dashing style. Strong pro-Jacobite feeling. Part of the story takes place at Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, the rest on the Continent—Tournay, Fontenoy, &c. Madame de Pompadour is one of the historical personages.

— THE PIKEMEN. Pp. viii + 311. Well illustrated. (Hutchinson). 6s. 1903.

The supposed “narrative of Rev. Patrick Stirling, M.A., of Drenton, Sangamon Co., Ill., U.S.A., formerly of Ardkeen, Co. Down,” telling his experiences in the Ards of Down (district between Strangford Lough and the sea) during the rising. Presbyterian-Nationalist bias. Strong character study. Faithful descriptions of scenery. The study of the Government spy is especially noteworthy.

— A BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK. Pp. 319. (Long). 1906.

A swaggering young bravo—a faint imitation of Barry Lyndon—tells his adventures in Dublin and on the Continent in the days of the drinking, gambling, out-at-elbows squireens (end of eighteenth century). The hero is thus described:—“I should like to have seen the man who at cards, drinking punch, riding or selling a horse, deludhering a woman, or winging his man had any advantage of Rody Blake” (p. 12). A facetious, swashbuckler tone is adopted throughout.

— RODY BLAKE.

The preceding book seems to have been publ. also under this title, or possibly this is a sequel, but I failed to come across it, in spite of much research.

KELLY, Eleanor F. Resides in Dublin. She is a constant contributor to Catholic periodicals here and in the States.

— BLIND MAUREEN; and other Stories. Pp. 160. (Washbourne). 2s. n.d. (1913).

Ten short stories reprinted from The Catholic Fireside, and other Catholic magazines. High moral tone, characterisation good, dialogue (often in dialect) natural. St. Antony plays a prominent part. “The Fate of the Priest Hunter” is a tale of 18th century persecution in Ireland.

— OUR LADY INTERCEDES. Pp. 210. (Washbourne). 2s. 6d. 1913.

Twelve stories, several of which are Irish, devoted to showing the care of the Blessed Virgin for those who invoke her. One relates to Cromwellian times, but for the most part the stories relate to the present time.

— THE THREE REQUESTS; and other Stories. Pp. 192. (Duffy). 3s. 6d. 1914.

Twelve little stories, Irish in subject. The interest of the story is always quite subordinate to the religious and moral interest. The tales deal with answers to prayer (two of them are about prayers to St. Antony), the evils of emigration, and of proselytism, the reward of charity, &c., one is a ghost-story. They are told with great simplicity.

KELLY, Peter Burrowes. 1811-1883. B. Stradbally, Queen’s Co. Took an active part in politics, and was a noted speaker. Died in Dublin.

— THE MANOR OF GLENMORE; or, The Irish Peasant. Three Vols. (London: Ed. Bull). 1839.

Scene: Stradbally, in the Queen’s County. Most of the personages of the tale and many of its incidents are real. The country is very well described; the book has many interesting incidents; peasant life is pictured with knowledge and sympathy. The last year of the agitation for Catholic Emancipation is the period dealt with. The famous Clare election is described, and there is a character sketch of Dr. Doyle (“J.K.L.”). It criticised strongly the Protestant ascendancy and landlord party, dwells upon the doings of Orangemen and of Whiteboys, and the attempts to reconcile the two factions.

KELLY, William Patrick. B. 1848. Son of John Kelly, of Mount Brandon, Graigue, Co. Kilkenny. Ed. Clongowes Wood College and R.M.A. Woolwich. Late R. Artillery. Lives in Harrogate. Has written seven or eight other stories, chiefly semi-historical adventure stories.

— SCHOOLBOYS THREE. Pp. 320. (Routledge). 3s. 6d. Eight illustr. (good). [1895]. Several new eds.

A story of school-boy life at Clongowes Wood College in the early ’sixties, told in a pleasant and picturesque style, and, almost all through, with frank fidelity to reality. It is full of lively incident. Was highly praised by the leading literary reviews.

[KEMBLE, Ann]; “Ann of Swansea.”

— GERALD FITZGERALD; an Irish Tale. Five Vols (!). (London: Newman). 1831.

Gerald, whose Catholic wife has deserted him, lives in an old half-ruined family castle, near Armagh. The book is an interminable (1698 pp.) series of petty scandals and flirtations, gossip, and matchmaking among the titled persons living in “Doneraile Castle,” and “Lisburn Abbey.” The insipid affairs of an out-of-date beau monde. This Author also wrote Uncle Peregrine’s Heiress, Conviction, Guilty or not Guilty, and many other stories.

KENNEDY, Patrick; “Harry Whitney.” Born in Co. Wexford, 1801. In 1823 he removed to Dublin, and for the greater part of his life he kept a bookshop in Anglesea Street. His sketches of Irish rural life as he had known it are told with spirit, and with a kind of photographic literalness and exactness. They are very free from anything objectionable. Dr. Douglas Hyde, speaking of his folk-lore, says that “many of his stories appear to be the detritus of genuine Gaelic folk-stories filtered through an English idiom and much impaired and stunted in the process. He appears, however, not to have adulterated them very much.” In the Pref. to Evenings in the Duffrey he says (and the remarks apply to his other books), “On all other points [viz., than the matrimonial fortunes of his hero and heroine] there is not a fictitious character, nor incident in the mere narrative, nor legend related, nor ballad sung, which was not current in the country half a century since. The fireside discussions were really held, and the extraordinary fishing and hunting adventures detailed, as here set down.” He died in 1873.

— LEGENDS OF MOUNT LEINSTER. Pp. 283. 16mo. (Dublin). 1855.

Title of a miscellany published under pseudonym of “Harry Whitney.” Contains: “Three Months in Kildare Place,” “Bantry and Duffrey Traditions,” “The Library in Patrick Street”; in all nine sketches, four of which are stories supposed to be told at fireside of Wexford farm-house. Careful picture of manners and customs. No. 1 is a story of the time of Brian, c. 1001 A.D. 3. A love-tale of the days of Sarsfield. 6. Penal days, a hunted priest.

— FICTIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 1859.

— LEGENDARY FICTIONS OF THE IRISH CELTS. (Macmillan). [1866]. Several eds. since.

Over 100 stories, given, for the most part, “as they were received from the story-tellers with whom our youth was familiar.” They are derived from the English-speaking peasantry of County Wexford. They include “Household Stories” (wild and wonderful adventures), “Legends of the Good People” or fairies, witchcraft, sorcery, ghosts and fetches, Ossianic, &c., legends, and “Legends of the Celtic Saints.” All these are in this book published for the first time. All through there is an interesting running comment, introductory and connective. The book is hardly suitable for children.

— THE BANKS OF THE BORO. Pp. 362. (M’Glashan & Gill). 2s. [1867]. New ed., 1875, &c.

Into the tissue of a pleasant and touching story of quiet country life in North-west Wexford the Author has woven a collection of tales, ballads, and legends, some of which are of high merit. They contain a wealth of information on local customs and traditions. Incidentally, Irish peasant character is truthfully painted in all its phases—grave, gay, humorous, and grotesque. The moral standard is very high throughout. There are many vivid descriptions of scenery. The whole is told in a simple, pleasant, genial style. The Author tells us that the chief incidents, circumstances, and fireside conferences mentioned in the book really occurred.

— EVENINGS IN THE DUFFREY. Pp. 396. (M’Glashan & Gill). 2s. 1869.

A kind of sequel to the Banks of the Boro. The adventures of the hero, Edward O’Brien, are continued, the story being, as before, interspersed with legends and ballads. It has the same good qualities as the earlier book, the tone being again thoroughly healthy.

— THE FIRESIDE STORIES OF IRELAND. Pp. 162. 32mo. (M’Glashan & Gill). 1s. 6d. 1870.

“A good book” (Douglas Hyde in Beside the Fire). Fifty tales, chiefly fairy and folk-lore, but of very varied types, full of local colour and interest. Many of them are of the kind found in the folk-tales of all nations, but have an unmistakably Irish (not stage-Irish) savour. Moreover, they are told with vivacity, quaintness, and sly humour. A good selection, suitable for readers of any age or class.

— THE BARDIC STORIES OF IRELAND. Pp. 227. (M’Glashan & Gill). 2s. [1871].

Fifty-eight stories, founded, some on pagan myth, others on historical traditions of great families. All were originally found in poetic form, and many of them retain much of their poetic qualities. Many are told with a singular humorous naïveté. In all the language is simple but very adequate and dignified. They are free from anything that would make them unsuitable for the young.

— THE BOOK OF MODERN IRISH ANECDOTES. Pp. 192. 12mo. New ed. (Gill). 6d. Has passed through several editions and is still in print. 1913.

“Has no higher ambition than that of agreeably occupying a leisure hour.”—(Pref.). “It has entered into the present writer’s purpose to draw the attention of his readers to the principal events in the history of his country since the Revolution of 1691.”—(Pref.). Anecdotes of Swift, Sheridan, Curran, Moore, O’Connell, &c. Stories of duelling, gaming, hunting, shooting, acting, electioneering, drinking. Taken from such Authors as R. R. Madden, W. J. Fitzpatrick, Sir John Gilbert, Sir Jonah Barrington, Hon. Edward Walsh, &c., &c. Free from coarseness, and practically free from the Stage-Irishman. In the new ed. there are about 200 proverbs transl. from the Irish and an Index.

KENNEDY, Rev. John J.

— CARRIGMORE; or, Light and Shade in West Kerry. Pp. 128. (Office of Chronicle: Wangaratta). 1909.

KENNY, Mrs. Stacpoole. D. of J. R. Dunne, of Ennistymon, Co. Clare, and wife of T. H. Kenny, of Limerick, near which city she resides.

— JACQUETTA. Pp. 227. (Washbourne). 2s. 6d. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.75. 1910.

Scene: Kilrush, Co. Clare, and London. The story of an Irish-Australian girl who comes to live in Ireland with her uncle, Dr. Desmond. She had contracted an unhappy marriage, but believed her husband dead. The story tells how she finds him, and the fate that overtakes him. There is also the love-story of Dr. Desmond. In the end all is well with uncle and niece.

— LOVE IS LIFE. Pp. 317. (Greening). 6s. 1910.

The heroine, Iseult Dymphna Macnamara, whose mother was French, lives at the Court of Louis XIV. at the time when James II. held his exiled Court at St. Germain. She loves the son of Sarsfield, but is forced by circumstances into a loveless marriage with a noble and chivalrous Frenchman, St. Amand, whom the king had chosen for her. St. Amand goes off to the wars (Steenkirk and Landen), and meantime the king pursues Iseult with amorous attentions. To avoid them she flies to Ireland. Here we get a glimpse of the Penal days in Co. Clare. All comes right when Iseult comes to love her husband. Brightly and entertainingly told.

— CARROW OF CARROWDUFF. Pp. 331. (Greening). 6s. 1911.

Scene: West County (obviously Clare). The hero, son of an unpopular landlord, whose cattle have been houghed and otherwise maimed, goes, in spite of warnings, to a wake among the tenantry. This wake is described as a scene of savagery. On his return he is “shot at” and wounded, and there comes to nurse him a young nun with whom, before her entrance into religious life, he had fallen in love. It turns out that she had entered the convent in a moment of pique. The hero accordingly proposes, and they are married by the death-bed of his father, who has fallen a victim to the League.

— THE KING’S KISS. Pp. 288. (Digby, Long). 6s. 1912.

A kind of sequel to Love is Life. How Iseult, who tells the story, buys the life of her cousin Harry Macnamara by a kiss given to Louis XIV. This, though innocent on her part, was the beginning of her troubles. Her enraged husband rides post-haste to Versailles to tell Louis what he thinks of him. St. Armand disappears, and Iseult almost dies of fever; but through a whole series of plots and court intrigues and exciting adventures things right themselves at last. James II., the Duchess of Tyrconnell, and many other historical persons play a part in the romance.

— OUR OWN COUNTRY. Pp. 142. (Duffy). 2s. 1913.

Sequel to Carrow of Carrowduff, with same personages. Several interwoven love stories—in particular that of an English Protestant gentleman (converted in the course of the tale) with Mrs. Monsel, a widow, mother-in-law to Corona Carrow, who tells part of the story. The dénouement has a deep religious interest, which indeed is the chief interest of the whole book.

— DAFFODIL’S LOVE AFFAIRS. Pp. 320. (Holden & Hardingham). 6s. 1913.

A story of life among gentlefolk. Scene: near Carlingford and in London. D.’s mother, of a good but impoverished family, has five daughters on her hands, and the way in which these are married off, partly owing to her matchmaking exertions, forms the burden of the story. For the most part it is a light and vivacious story of social life and flirtations, but an element of tragedy is introduced in one of the subsidiary love-stories, that of D.’s sister Kit, who was thus punished for a flirtation carried on with Sir Dermot de Courcy while his wife was still alive.

— MARY: A Romance of West County. Pp. 273. (Washbourne). 2s. 6d. 1915.

On leaving her convent school in Dublin, Mary goes home to realise for the first time that her father not only cares little for her but dislikes her (her birth had cost her mother’s life). But in the long run she wins his love. There is a double love story—her own and that of her madcap, slangy, tomboy cousin Benigna. The Author is persistently vivacious and sprightly (calling in slang to her assistance) in a way that might irritate. There is no repose or quiet beauty about the style.

KENNY, Louise.

— THE RED-HAIRED WOMAN: Her Autobiography. Pp. 400. (Murray). 6s. 1905.

The interest centres in an old county family of Thomond, the O’Currys. Characters typical of various conditions of life in Ireland: an unpopular, police-protected landlord, a landowner with an encumbered estate, an upstart usurer, faithful retainers, evicted tenants, etc. (N.I.R., Dec., 1905).

KENNY, M. L.

— THE FORTUNES OF MAURICE CRONIN. Three Vols. (Tinsley). 1875.

A very long novel with a very complicated plot and without a trace of brightness or of humour. The plot turns chiefly on a case of mistaken identity. Maurice returns from soldiering in India to find that he is really heir to the estates of the Grace family, and can marry Mary Grace, his cousin, whom his putative mother had thought to be his sister. No national interest. Date 184-. Places such as Deverell’s Chase, Desmond’s Tower, Rathcroghan, are mentioned.

KERR, Eliza.

— SLIEVE BLOOM. Pp. 153. (Wesleyan Conference Office). Three illustr. 1881.

A little non-controversial Methodist story for young people. Tells (in the present tense throughout) how May and Willie lived a very poor life with their maternal grandmother, but by the coming of their father’s mother were raised to better circumstances. Nice descriptions of Mountmellick, the Bog of Allen, and Slieve Bloom.

— KILKEE. Pp. 193. (Wesleyan Methodist School Union). Third ed. 1885.

A moral and religious (but not controversial) tale. Adventures of two boys near the Pollock Hole Rocks, Kilkee, the scenery around which is well described. On all occasions the boys quote Scripture texts, and the piety of the personages concerned is constantly insisted on.

— KEENA KARMODY, &c.: A Tale. Pp. 192. (Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School Union). 1887.

Also The Golden City, Hazel Haldene, and four or five others.

KETTLE, Rosa Mackenzie.

— ROSE, SHAMROCK, AND THISTLE. Pp. 286. (Fisher, Unwin). 6s. 1893.

“A Story of two Border Towers.” Rhoda Carysfort, an Irish girl, comes to live with her English cousins, and eventually marries a Scotch laird. Except for the heroine’s nationality there is nothing Irish about the story, though the Author’s sympathies are with Ireland. The tone is very “respectable” and somewhat prim. It seems intended as a book of instruction for girls.

KICKHAM, Charles J. B. Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary, 1828. Began early to write for nationalist papers—The Nation, The Celt, The Irishman, The Irish People. Most of his contributions were verse, but to The Shamrock he contributed his chief novels. He threw himself into the Fenian movement, was arrested along with John O’Leary, and sentenced to fourteen years’ penal servitude. His health never recovered from this period of prison. He died in 1882 at Blackrock, near Dublin. See the short Life by J. J. Healy, publ. 1915 by Messrs. Duffy. Besides the novels mentioned below, Kickham wrote the following short stories:—“Poor Mary Maher” (a sad tale of ’98); “Never Give Up,” “Annie O’Brien,” “Joe Lonergan’s Trip to the Lower Regions” (Irish life in the fifties, dealing largely with land troubles); “White Humphrey of the Grange: A Glimpse of Tipperary fifty years ago”; “Elsie Dhuv” (a story of ’98, full of incident, much of it humorous). These tales have been collected for publication in the near future by Mr. William Murphy, of Blackrock. K. knew thoroughly and loved intensely his own place and people. He had wonderful powers of observation and a great fund of quiet humour.

— SALLY CAVANAGH. (Duffy). 2s. [1869]. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.75. New ed. 1902.

Kickham’s first story. Contains in germ all the great qualities of Knocknagow. We feel all through that it is the work of a man of warm, tender, homely heart—a man born and bred one of the people about whom he writes. It is a simple and natural tale of love among the small farmer class. Sally Cavanagh’s tragedy is due to the combined evils of landlordism and emigration. Some of the saddest aspects of the latter are dwelt upon. The book is quite free from declamation and moralizing, the events being left to tell their own sad tale. Perhaps the noblest characters in the book are the Protestant Mr. and Mrs. Hazlitt. There is no trace of religious bigotry. There are touches of humour, too—for example, the love affairs of Mr. Mooney and the inimitable scene between Shawn Gow and his wife.

— KNOCKNAGOW. Pp. 628. (Duffy). 3s. 6d. [1879]. Upwards of 14 eds. since. (N.Y.: Benziger). 1.25.

One of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all Irish novels. Yet it is not so much a novel as a series of pictures of life in a Tipperary village. We are introduced to every one of its inhabitants, and learn to love them nearly all before the end. Everything in the book had been not only seen from without but lived by the Author. It is full of exquisite little humorous and pathetic traits. The description of the details of peasant life is quite photographic in fidelity, yet not wearisome. There is the closest observation of human nature and of individual peculiarities. It is realism of the best kind. The incidents related and some of the discussions throw much light on the Land Question. The Author does not, however, lecture or rant on the subject. Occasionally there are tracts of middle-class conversation that would, I believe, be dull for most readers.

— FOR THE OLD LAND. Pp. 384. (Gill). 2s. [1886]. New ed. 1914. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.75.

Main theme: the fortunes and the sufferings of an Irish family of small farmers under the old land system. The peasant’s love of home and the bitter sadness of emigration are brought out in the unfolding of the tale. All through there runs a love-tale told with the Author’s usual restraint, simplicity, and delicate analysis of motive. There is a humorous element, too, amusing bailiffs and policemen furnishing much of it. Constable Sproule driving home the pigs is capitally done. Rody Flynn is a grand old character, evidently sketched from life.

— THE PIG-DRIVING PEELERS.

Appears in one of the “Knickerbocker Nuggets,” entitled “Representative Irish Tales.” Compiled, with Introd. and notes by W. B. Yeats. (N.Y.: Putnam). Two Vols. n.d.

KING, Richard Ashe; “Basil,” “Desmond O’Brien.” The Author is (1914) Staff Extension Lecturer of Oxford and London Universities. Has contributed a good deal to the Cornhill and to the Pall Mall Gazette, and is reviewer for Truth. Has written, besides the books noticed here, Love the Debt, A Drawn Game, A Coquette’s Conquest, and many others. Also a life of Swift. B. Co. Clare. Ed. at Ennis Coll. and T.C.D. He gave up in the eighties his living in the Church of England and began contributing to Freeman’s Journal, Truth, &c. “He is,” says W. P. Ryan in his The Irish Literary Revival, “intensely Celtic, but too candid to overlook the Celt’s failings.” For some time in the eighties he lived in Blackrock, Co. Dublin. See Mrs. Hinkson’s Reminiscences of Twenty-five Years, pp. 282-3.

— THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. Pp. 299. (Chatto & Windus). 2s. 6d. 1886.

A story of the course of true love, in which the lovers are long kept apart by many untoward happenings. The writer’s sympathies and the characters of his story are Protestant, yet there is no hostility to Catholics, and one of the pleasantest characters in the book is Father Mac. One of the minor incidents of the story is connected with the Fenian conspiracy. The chief interest of the book lies, perhaps, in the drawing of the lesser characters. In his delineation of all the English personages the Author is unsparingly caustic. The book is brightly written; the conversation particularly good; there is a vein of sarcasm throughout, and plenty of incident. The author evidently sympathises with Irish grievances, and is proud of his country.

— BELL BARRY. (Chatto). 2s. 1891.

“An exciting story, laid in I., then in Liverpool, and in part aboard a liner. The Irish servants and other minor characters... provide a good deal of humorous talk.”—(Baker).

— A GERALDINE. Two Vols. 1893. (Ward & Downey).

A story of almost contemporary life, largely concerned with land troubles in Ireland. The heroine, a very attractive character and a woman of great resourcefulness, is the daughter of a rack-renting squireen, and is a contrast to the remainder of the family, which is weak, idle, and selfish. Other unpleasant characters are a villainous attorney and a bigoted and pedantic clergyman. Some of the duties which the R.I.C. have to perform are severely commented upon. The Author takes the popular side. The incidents are related with spirit and humour.

KING, Toler.

— ROSE O’CONNOR: A Story of the Day. Pp. 173. (Chicago: Sumner). Second ed. 1881.

Rose O’C. and Tim Brady love each other. Tim has to go to America. Meanwhile the famine years come in Ireland. Rose’s family is reduced to extremities, and she is compelled to promise marriage to Tim’s rival in order to save it. But Tim returns in the nick of time. Locality not indicated. Purpose, to contrast the tyranny of landlordism with the refinement and gentleness of the Irish peasantry. The tone is Catholic, but not aggressively so.

KINGSTON, W. H. G.

— PETER THE WHALER. Pp. 252. (Blackie: Library of Famous Books). 1s. Full size. Cloth. One Illustr. At present in print.

Peter associates with low company in his Irish home and gets into such scrapes that he has to be sent to sea. The rest is a fine series of adventures such as boys love. Here and there a good moral lesson is slipped in, not too obtrusively. K. was a great writer for boys. Allibone enumerates 161 of his works.

KNOWLES, Richard Brinsley. 1820-1882. B. Glasgow. Son of the dramatist, James Sheridan Knowles, a Cork man who ended as a Baptist preacher. Was at first a barrister, but took up journalism as a profession. In 1849 he became a Catholic. In 1853 sq. ed. of Illustrated London Magazine. Glencoonoge originally appeared as a serial in the Month.

— GLENCOONOGE. Three Vols. (Blackwood). 1891.

Three threads of romance skilfully intertwined, the chief of which is the love story of an English girl of gentle birth and a splendid young Irish peasant. The scene is an inn in a valley somewhere on the South-west coast. The valley as described bears a strong resemblance to Glengarriff. The story is eminently sane and natural, reading like a record of real events. It is full of human interest, and is written in a style unaffected yet charmingly literary. There are some good portraits—the Protestant Rector, the lovable Father John, Conn Houlahan, the hero, Old Mr. Jardine, the O’Doherty. The description of an Irish Sunday is one of the most beautiful in fiction. The book shows understanding sympathy for Irish characteristics and ideals.

[KNOX, Rev. J. Spencer]; “An Irish Clergyman.”

— PASTORAL ANNALS. Pp. 397. (London: Seeley). [1840]. Second ed., 1841.

Contents:—“The Sick Parish,” “The First Death,” “The Sermon,” “The Warning,” “The Private Still,” “The Pluralist,” “The Inn,” “The School,” “Ribbonism” (a very unfavourable picture of bailiffs, process-servers. Very fair towards Catholics); “The Night,” “The Starving Family,” “The Birth,” “The Soup Shop” (Famine of 1817), “Death by Starvation,” “The Confessional” (a plea for private confession), “Family Worship,” “Tithe Setting,” “Lough Derg” (facetious in tone. Lough D. pilgrimage = “a scene of mockery and dissoluteness”). A series of studies—for the most part careful and sympathetic—of peasant life as seen by a liberal-minded and kindly Protestant Rector. The part of Ireland dealt with would appear to be Donegal.

“LAFFAN, May,” see HARTLEY.

LALOR, Desmond.

— LOUGHBAR. Pp. 252. (Stockwell). 6s. 1914.

Adventures, not of a very remarkable kind, of a young doctor in the W. of Ireland, locality indefinite. He is presented with a practice, and a furnished house. There is a ghost, but he is not a real one, and rather commonplace. The whole thing is very couleur de rose, everybody being nicely married off, and the descriptions do not give the impression of things seen.

LANE, Elinor Macartney.

— KATRINE. (Harper). 6s. 1909.

“An Irish-American love-story with scenes of planters’ life in South Carolina. The Authoress has a keen appreciation of the psychology of the Irish character, and in her portrayal of Dermott MacDermott and Katrine Dulany, she successfully indicates the lights and shades of that puzzling combination of mysticism and practicality.”—(Irish Times).

LANGBRIDGE, Rev. Frederick. Rector of St. John’s, Limerick. Chaplain district asylum. B. Birmingham, 1849. Ed. there, and at Oxford. D.Litt., T.C.D., 1907. Has publ. many volumes of poetry, and some plays.—(Who’s Who).

— MISS HONORIA. Pp. 216. (Warne: Tavistock Library). 1894.

Sub-t.: “A tale of a remote corner of Ireland,” viz., “Carrowkeel,” a seaside village. Miss Honoria, a woman of 32, full of piety and zeal, the prop of the parish, has never known love till she meets Sebert, to whom she becomes engaged, Sebert writes beautiful letters from London. Miss H. goes there to find Sebert making love to her niece “Daisy.” H. stands aside, and S. marries Daisy. They return to Ireland, where S. makes love to a poor girl. She is drowned. H. dies, and S. becomes an East End missionary. There is much sentiment. Some pretty descriptions of scenery, and some good minor characters—“Kevin Kennedy” and “Corney the Post.”

— THE CALLING OF THE WEIR. Pp. 304. (Large print). (Digby, Long). 1902.

A love story of Protestant middle classes. Scene: near the Shannon Weir and Falls of Donass, Co. Limerick. Two girls become engaged to two men rather through force of circumstances than for love. Problem: are the circumstances such as to justify Mary in marrying the man she does not love. In a strange way it comes about that each girl marries the other’s fiancé, and finds happiness. Not without improbabilities, but lively and piquant in style. Irish flavour and humour provided by Mrs. Mack, the housekeeper, and Constable Keogh. By same Author: The Dreams of Dania, Love has no Pity, &c.

— MACK THE MISER. Pp. 125. (Elliott Stock). 1907.

A tale of middle class Protestant life in Limerick, turning on the vindication of the supposed miser’s character by a young girl. The tendency of the book is moral and religious.

LANGBRIDGE, Rosamond. Dau. of preceding. B. Glenalla, Donegal. Brought up and ed. privately in Limerick. Has contributed short stories and articles to the Manchester Guardian and to other periodicals. Her attitude towards Ireland has been expressed in a fine passage worthy to be quoted. “Nationalist by sympathy and inclination, but not by contact or association, and belonging to no particular party or clique she [the Author] believes in Ireland as the Land of Spiritual Happiness; as the Land which has kept itself innocent, religious, and vividly individualistic, in face of the wave of undistinguishable sameness which is engulfing all national idiosyncrasy, and tends towards becoming the Esperanto of the soul. Ireland she believes in as the Child-Soul amongst nations, not to be deceived or bought, but perceiving and desiring with incorruptible ingenuousness those things which alone make individual, as well as national life worth while: Faith and Freedom before Subordination and Sophistication, and the Traffic of the Heart to the Traffic of the Mart.” Their necessary brevity must give to the following notes an impression of want of sympathy. They scarcely do full justice to all the qualities of the books.

— THE FLAME AND FLOOD. Pp. xii. + 339. (Fisher, Unwin; First Novel Library). 1903.

A love-story. The lovers marry other people not for love. It is only the presence of a child that prevents the heroine from leaving her husband for her lover. There are accordingly curious situations, but nothing positively immoral in the tone. The story is well constructed. Scene: partly in Ireland, partly in England.

— THE THIRD EXPERIMENT. Pp. 300. (Fisher, Unwin). 1904.

The scene is laid amid very low class society in an Irish town. The interest centres in a young girl who is reared on charity, but finally marries a fairly respectable tradesman. The personages of the story seem to be Protestants, but religion is scarcely touched on. The brogue is very thick, but the stage Irishman humour is absent. There is a persistent attempt to study types and characters.

— AMBUSH OF YOUNG DAYS. Pp. vii. + 344. (Duckworth). 1906.

The scene is laid in a temperance hotel. The central character is a young girl, daughter of proprietor, who is given to telling out the truth in a most unnecessary and inconvenient manner. The lodgers come prominently into the story, and the heroine ends by marrying one of them.

— THE STARS BEYOND. Pp. vii. + 375. (Nash). 1907.

A problem novel dealing with an ill-assorted marriage—the wife’s name (symbolic) is “Vérité,” the husband’s “Virtue”; hence the clash. Religion enters largely into the book. Types of Irish Protestant clergy. The writer’s sympathy seems to waver between Catholicism and Protestantism, but the heroine rejects both. The servants’ talk in conventional brogue.

— IMPERIAL RICHENDA. Pp. 313. (Alston Rivers). 6s. 1908.

Scene: a small watering-place near Dublin. A fantastic comedy, somewhat vulgar in places, but on the whole amusing, abounding as it does in bright dialogue, and in absurdly comical situations. Some shrewd strokes of satire are aimed at Dublin Society, and there are piquant sayings on other subjects. The central figure is a young lady who takes a situation as waitress in a small hotel. Her character is so equivocal that the book cannot be recommended for general reading.

LARMINIE, William. B. 1849, in Co. Mayo. D. at Bray, 1900. Was many years in the Civil Service. He is better known as a poet, Author of Glanlua and Fand, than as a folk-lorist.

— WEST IRISH FOLK-TALES AND ROMANCES. Pp. xxvi. + 258. (Elliot Stock). 3s. 6d. 1898.

Taken down, by the editor, between 1884 and 1898, word for word in Irish from peasants in Galway (Renvyle), Mayo (Achill), and Donegal (Glencolumbkille and Malinmore), and translated literally. Interesting introduction on the origin and sources of folk-lore. At the end are some remarks on phonetics, which do not show a deep knowledge of the Irish system of orthography, and specimens of the tales in Irish written phonetically. The book is primarily for folk-lorists and some naturalistic expressions render it unsuitable reading for the young. There are eighteen stories in all.

N.B.—The Author tells us (introduction) that besides the tales in this book, he has in his possession many others not yet published. This collection, a large one, is preserved in safety, but still awaits publication.

“LAUDERDALE, E. M.”; Mrs. Moore.

— TIVOLI. Pp. 278. (Cork: Guy). 1886.

A family story (landlord class) laid first at Deer Park, near Cork, afterwards in England, whither the family retires to be out of the Land League agitation. This last is referred to with evident aversion. The interest turns largely on a mystery of identity. The Author knows the Cork district well, and describes localities accurately. Her sympathies are clearly not nationalist. The religious attitude is one of tolerance.

LAWLESS, Hon. Emily. B. in Ireland, 1845. Eldest d. of Lord Cloncurry. Came to know the W. of Ireland through her associations with the home of her mother’s family. Her mother was a Miss Kirwan, of Castle Hackett, Co. Galway. See Miss Lawless’s Traits and Confidences for some memories of her childhood. She went a good deal among the people in her natural history excursions. She had wide knowledge of Irish history, as her volume on Ireland in the History of the Nations Series bears witness. She wrote several books besides those here noted. D. 1913. For a good article on her see Nineteenth Century, July, 1914.

— HURRISH. Pp. 342. (Methuen). [1886]. 1902.

Scene: a wild and poverty-stricken district in Clare. A view of the bad days of the ’eighties by one to whom the Land League stands for “lawlessness and crime.” The people are depicted as half-savage. The story is a gloomy one, full of assassinations and the other dark doings of the Land League. The picture it gives of an Irish mother will jar harshly on the feelings of most Irishmen. The Irish dialect is all but a caricature. Yet the story met with an immediate and extraordinary success. In a vol. publ. by Mr. Gladstone in 1892, Special Aspects of the Irish Question, he says of Hurrish, “She has made present to her readers, not as an abstract proposition, but as a living reality, the estrangement of the people of Ireland from the law.... As to the why of this alienation, also, she has her answer (p. 309 of first ed.), ‘The old long-repented sin of the stronger country was the culprit.’ She thinks there was a sin, a deep sin, and (so I construe her) an inveterate sin, but a sin now purged by repentance.”

— WITH ESSEX IN IRELAND. Pp. 298. (Methuen). 6s. [1890]. New ed., 1902.

A narrative of Essex’s Irish expedition, 1599, purporting to be related by his private secretary. Pictures Elizabethan barbarity in warfare. It has a strange element of the uncanny and supernatural. Hints at the spell that Ireland casts over her conquerors. Written in quaint Elizabethan English which never lapses into modernness.

— GRANIA: the Story of an Island. (Smith, Elder). 3s. 6d., and 2s. 6d. [1892].

A sympathetic picture of life in the Aran Islands, where existence is a struggle against the elements. There are typical characters, such as Honor, the saintly and patient, with her eyes on the life beyond, and Grania, young and impetuous, and longing for joy as she battles with the endless privations of her stern lot, and the lover, Irish alike in his goodness and in his vices. The success of this book exceeded even that of Hurrish. Swinburne thought it “just one of the most exquisite and perfect works of genius in the language” (in a letter).

— MAELCHO. Pp. 418. (Methuen). 1s. (N.Y.: Appleton). 1.50. [1895]. 1905.

Gloomy picture of misery and devastation during the Desmond rebellion. An English boy escaping from a night attack finds refuge in a Connemara glen among the native Irish (O’Flaherties), hideous wretches of savage appearance and uncouth tongue. Then comes a confused account of the melodramatic struggles of Fitzmaurice and his wild followers against the English, noble, steady, and civilized. There is a vague impression throughout of an Irish race without ideals or religion, inevitably losing ground, moved by no impulse but love of strife and cringing superstition. But the cruelties of the English at the time are not in any way slurred over.

— TRAITS AND CONFIDENCES. Pp. 272. (Methuen) 6s. 1897.

A volume of stories and sketches, founded for the most part on fact. Some are autobiographical episodes of childhood. There is an incident of ’98, an incident of the Land War, and two episodes of Irish history, the story of Geroit Mor, Earl of Kildare, and that of Art Macmurrough, told in vivid, romantic style without political bias. Again, there are extremely interesting “memories” of the Famine of 1846-7. On pages 142-150 is a remarkable description of Connemara. The story-telling is full of vivacity and picturesqueness, reminding one of French storytellers, such as Daudet. The book is filled from first to last with Ireland.

— THE BOOK OF GILLY. Pp. 285. (Smith, Elder). Four illustr. by Leslie Brooke. 1906.

Scene: a small island in Kenmare Bay. Gilly is an eight-year-old boy sent to Inishbeg for a few months by his father, Lord Magillicuddy, who is in India. The book makes a marvellous pen-picture of life and scenery in this remote corner of Ireland.

LAWLESS, Emily, and Shan F. BULLOCK.

— THE RACE OF CASTLEBAR. Pp. 364. (Murray). 6s. 1914.

The story of Humbert’s invasion of Ireland in 1798, as seen by the narrator, an Englishman named Bunbury, fresh come to Ireland. B. is represented as an honest, unprejudiced, if somewhat phlegmatic personage. The historic events are presented with great vividness and vigour. The Authors aim at painstaking objectivity. On the one side the sufferings of the Catholics and the harsh treatment of the rebels are painted in strong colours. The portraits both of the rebel leaders and of the Orangemen are far from flattering. The narrative is largely based on that written at the time by Dr. Stock, the excellent Protestant Bishop of Killala. Bunbury is made to spend some weeks at his palace.

LEAHY, A. H. B. in Kerry in 1857. Is a Fellow of Pembroke Coll., Cambridge.

— THE COURTSHIP OF FERB. Square 16mo. Pp. xxix. + 100. (Nutt). 2s. Two illustr. by Caroline Watts. 1902.

Vol. I. of Irish Saga Library. Elegantly produced in every way. An English version of Professor Windisch’s German translation of an old Irish romance from the Book of Leinster (twelfth century). The verse of the original is translated here into English verse, the prose into prose. “In the verse-translations endeavour has been made to add nothing to a literal rendering except scansion and rhyme.”—(Pref.). The tale itself is a kind of preface to the great Tàin. It is not of very striking merit, but is told in simple, dignified language. The translation reads very well. A literal translation of all the poetry is given at the end.

— ANCIENT HEROIC ROMANCES OF IRELAND. Two Vols. Small 4to. Vol. I., pp. xxv. + 197. Vol. II. pp. ix. + 161. (Nutt). 8s. net. 1905.

Contents: Vol. I. “The Courtship of Etain”; “MacDatho’s Boar”; “The Death of the Sons of Usnach” (Leinster Version); “The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn”; “The Combat at the Ford” (Leinster Version). Vol. II. “The Courtship of Fraech”; “The Cattle Spoil of Flidias”; “The Cattle Spoil of Dartaid”; “The Cattle Spoil of Regamon.” The Preface deals with Irish Saga literature in general and in particular with the sagas here translated. Each piece is preceded by a special Introduction dealing with its sources and character. At the end of Vol. I. (pp. 163-197) are copious notes explaining difficulties and giving literal translations. At the end of Vol. II. is a portion of the Text of “The Courtship of Etain,” with interlinear translation. Elsewhere the Text is not inserted. The book is “an attempt to give to English readers some of the oldest romances, in English literary forms, that seem to correspond to the literary forms which were used in Irish to produce the same effect.”—(Pref.). The translation is partly in prose, partly in verse. The former is dignified and fully worthy of the subject, literal and yet in literary English. The verse does not seem to us to reach as high a level. It is very varied as to metre, yet the poetic spirit seems to be wanting.

N.B.—The theme of “The Courtship of Etain,” though not coarse or prurient, is such as to render it unfit for the young.

LEAHY, Walter T.

— COLUMBANUS THE CELT. Pp. 455. (Philadelphia: Kilner). $1.50. 1913.

The eventful career of the great St. Columbanus (d. 615) in the form of fiction. Father Leahy bases his story on the narrative of Jonas, a monk of Bobbio, who wrote the founder’s life about the middle of the seventh century. But some of the incidents (notably the incipient love story) are unhistorical. The Author does little to reproduce the colour and “atmosphere” of these distant times. He even falls into somewhat glaring anachronisms. Yet much is done to make the story interesting.

LEAMY, Edmund. B. Waterford, 1848, and educated there. Was for many years in Parliament as M.P. for Waterford and afterwards for Kildare. Was a kindly man and a delightful story-teller, beloved of children. He died in 1904.

— IRISH FAIRY TALES. Pp. xix. + 155. [1889]. New ed. (Gill). 2s. 6d. With Introd. by Mr. John E. Redmond, M.P., and Note by T. P. G. Delightful Illustr. by George Fagan. Cr. 8vo. Handsome art linen binding. 1906. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.90.

Sources of inspiration: O’Curry and Joyce. Child audience aimed at throughout. Hence naïveté in style. At times there is a simple, sweet beauty of language, and some passages, especially in the last tale, of true prose poetry. Some useful notes at end.

— THE FAIRY MINSTREL OF GLENMALURE. Pp. 48. 4to. (Duffy). 1s. Cover design and many very pretty illustrations by C. A. Mills.

Adventures of Irish children in an Irish fairyland of giants and little old men and little old women. Told in refined and graceful style, quite free from brogue, for very little children, with here and there an unobtrusive moral.

— BY THE BARROW RIVER, and Other Stories. Pp. 281. (Sealy, Bryers). 3s. 6d. Portrait. 1907.

Twenty dramatic, exciting stories, including several good ghost stories, tales of the exploits of the Irish Brigade, of early Ireland, of tragedy, and of comedy. By a capital story-teller. The book would make an excellent present or prize.

— GOLDEN SPEARS, and other Fairy Tales. (N.Y.: Fitzgerald). Cover design in colours by Corinne Turner. 1911.

This is simply a new American ed. of Irish Fairy Tales.

LEE, Aubrey.

— A GENTLEMAN’S WIFE. Pp. 328. (Edinburgh: Morton). 6s. 1904.

Part I. tells how a peasant girl is, after a week’s acquaintance, enticed from her home by a man who, it transpires, is already married. In Part II. their daughter, adopted by a saintly English clergyman, learns her parentage on the morrow of her engagement. She releases her betrothed; but a year afterwards marries a charming elderly baronet (the “gentleman” of the story). The first part is rather coarse. The book is witty, the plot well worked out, some of the characters most amusing; the end unexpected. By the same Author: John Darker.

LEFANU, J. Sheridan. B. in Dublin, 1814. Ed. T.C.D. Contributed largely to Dubl. Univ. Magazine, of which he became ed. and owner, as well as of the Dublin Evening Packet and Evening Mail. D. 1873. His chief power was in describing scenes of a mysterious or grotesque character, and in the manipulation of the weird and the supernatural.

This Author also wrote Uncle Silas, In a Glass Darkly, The Tenants of Malory, Willing to Die, The Rose and Key, The Evil Guest, The Room in the Dragon Volant, A Chronicle of Golden Friars, Checkmate, The Watcher, Wylder’s Hand, All in the Dark, Guy Deverel, Wyvern Mystery, &c. Nearly all published by Downey & Co. Messrs. Duffy publ. a set of eight of his novels at 3s. 6d. each.

— THE COCK AND ANCHOR: A Tale of Old Dublin. Pp. 358. (Duffy). 3s. 6d. [1845]. 1909.

A dreadful story of the conspiracy of a number of preternaturally wicked and inhuman villains to ruin a young spendthrift baronet, and to compel his sister to marry one of themselves. The threads of the story are woven with considerable skill. The tale, a gloomy one throughout, reaches its climax in a scene of intense and concentrated excitement. The time is the Viceroyalty of the Earl of Wharton, the story ending in 1710, but, except for the incidental introduction in one scene of Addison, Swift, and the Viceroy himself, the events or personages of the time are not touched upon. There are some slight pictures of the life of the people of the period, but of Ireland there is nothing unless it be the talk of some comic Irish servants.

— THE FORTUNES OF COL. TORLOGH O’BRIEN. Pp. 342. (Routledge). 3s. 6d. Twenty-two Plates by Phiz. [Anon.: 1847]. Several other eds. 1904.

Reckoned among the three or four best Irish historical novels. Main theme: the efforts of the hero, an officer in the Jacobite army, to regain possession of his estates in Tipperary, which are held by the Williamite, Sir Hugh Willoughby, whose daughter O’Brien loves. There are many minor plots and subordinate issues, among them the unscrupulous and nearly successful conspiracy against Sir Hugh. The history is not the main interest, but there is an account of the causes of Jacobite downfall, descriptions of James’s Court at Dublin, and a fine description of Aughrim. There are excellent pictures of scenery, and some skilful though roughly drawn character sketches. The action closes shortly after the Treaty of Limerick.

— THE HOUSE BY THE CHURCHYARD. (Duffy). 3s. 6d. [1863].

“A sensational story with a mystery plot based on a murder. Black Dillon, a sinister and ingenious ruffian, is a grim figure of melodramatic stamp. The setting gives scenes of social life in a colony of officers and their families near Dublin.”—(Baker, 2).—Chapelizod.

— THE PURCELL PAPERS. Three Vols. (Bentley). 1880.

Short stories collected and ed. by Mr. A. P. Graves, with short memoir of the Author prefixed. For the most part they are either rollicking comic stories, told in broad brogue, or tales of mystery and terror in the vein of this Author’s longer novels. Examples of the former are:—“Billy Malowney’s taste of love and glory” and “The Quare Gander.” These are not meant as “stage-Irish” ridicule, but as pure fun. Examples of the latter type:—“Passages in the Secret History of an Irish Countess” and “A Chapter in the history of a Tyrone family.” There are also pure adventure stories, such as:—“An Adventure of Hardress Fitzgerald, a Royalist Captain.” All are admirably told. All but one are of Irish interest. They were originally contributed to the Dublin Univ. Magazine.

LENIHAN, D. M.

— THE RED SPY: A Story of Land League Days. Pp. 236. (Duffy). 3s. 6d. n.d. (in print).

Appears to be largely autobiographical. A story of Land League days, full of incident. The interest chiefly turns on the interplay of plot and counterplot, in which the various parties—the moonlighters, the Castle, and Parnell’s followers—figure. The centre of all the plots is McGowan, the “Red Spy,” a secret service agent of the Castle. The scene shifts from America to Ireland—Dublin, Kildare, the Kerry border (good description), Lisdoonvarna. Types well studied—the genial landlord Col. O’Hara; the sporting squire Sir Thady Monroe; the weak-minded oppressor Sir Richard A—; the American journalist, &c. The “Red Spy” in real life was “Red Jim” McDermott.

LEPPER, J. H.

— CAPTAIN HARRY. (Sealy, Bryers). 6d. 1908.

“Tale of Parliamentary Wars, introducing the principal characters who took part on the Royalist and the Parliamentary sides.”

— FRANK MAXWELL. (Sealy, Bryers). 6d. Paper.

Adventures of an Irish Puritan planter’s son, who by an unlucky series of accidents finds himself on the royalist and Irish side just before the rebellion of 1641. The central incident of the story is the journey of one Hugh O’Donnell to Glasgow, where he meets Charles secretly, and is returning as Viceroy when he is wrecked, and Frank Maxwell along with him, on the coast of Antrim. The Irish are, on the whole, represented as rather bloodthirsty and barbaric, especially “Hugh O’Donnell.” A good “adventure” book.

LESTER, Edward.

— THE SIEGE OF BODIKE: A Prophecy of Ireland’s Future. Pp. 140. (London: Heywood). 1886.

A political skit written from a strongly Tory standpoint, in which the Author tells us how he would deal with the Irish question. The time is 188-, yet an imaginary Fenian rebellion is described. Kilkenny falls into the hands of the enemy, and a bomb is dropped from a balloon on Bodike, a village in Kilkenny. The whole is wildly improbable, but it is probably meant to be so.

LETTS, W. M. A granddaughter of Alexander Ferrier, Esq., of Knockmaroon Park, Co. Dublin, where she spent many summers. She resides in Blackrock, Co. Dublin. Ed. at St. Anne’s, Abbots Bromley, and Alexandra College, Dublin. Has written Diana Dethroned, Christina’s Son, The Rough Way (Wells, Gardner), short Irish stories for children in the Month and other periodicals. She is coming to be very well known as a poet, and has written some plays for the Abbey Theatre.

— THE MIGHTY ARMY. Pp. 128. (Wells, Gardner). 5s. net. Ill. by Stephen Reid. 1912.

Stories from the lives of saints, including St. Columba.

LEVER, Charles. Born (1806) in Dublin, of English parentage; graduated at T.C.D. Wrote much for the National Magazine, the D.U. Magazine, Blackwood’s, the Cornhill, &c. Consul in Spezzia, 1858, and at Trieste, 1867. Here he died in 1872. Is by far the greatest of that group of writers who, by education and sympathies, are identified with the English element in Ireland. He was untouched by the Gaelic spirit, was a Tory in politics, and a Protestant. “His imagination,” says Mr. Krans, “did not enable him to see with the eyes of the Catholic gentry or the peasantry. He knew only one class of peasants well—servants and retainers, and he only knew them on the side they turned out to their masters. Most of his peasants are more than half stage-Irishmen.” He had no sympathy with the religious aspirations of Catholics, and his pictures of their religious life are sometimes offensive. These are his limitations. On the other hand, his books are invariably clean and fresh, free from vulgarity, morbidness, and mere sensationalism. His first four books overflow with animal spirits, reckless gaiety, and fun. It has been well remarked by his biographer, W. J. Fitzpatrick, that his genius was much more French than English. After Hinton he is more serious, more attentive to plot-weaving, and to careful character-drawing. His books give a wonderful series of pictures of Irish life from the days of Grattan’s Parliament to the Famine of 1846. Many of these pictures, though true to certain aspects of Irish life, create a false impression by directing the eye almost exclusively to what is grotesque and whimsical. Lever’s portrait gallery is one of the finest in fiction. It includes the dashing young soldiers of the earlier books; the comic characters, an endless series; diplomatists, doctors, lawyers, politicians, usurers, valetudinarians, aristocrats, typical Irish squires, adventurers, braggarts, spendthrifts, nearly all definite and convincing. See Art, in Blackwood, Apr., 1862, and in Dubl. Rev., 1872, Vol. 70, p. 379. Also Edmund Downey’s book, Charles Lever: his Life and Letters. Many of Lever’s novels were originally published in shilling monthly parts, with two illustrations by “Phiz” (Hablot K. Browne), and had as great a vogue as those of Dickens. There have been many editions since by Routledge (3s. 6d.) and Chapman & Hall (2s.), with and without illustrations, but the finest ever issued is:—

— COMPLETE NOVELS. Edited by the Novelist’s Daughter. Thirty-seven Vols. (Downey). Publ. £19 18s. Cloth. 1897-9.

The only complete and uniform ed. of Lever. Contains all the original steel engravings and etchings by “Phiz” and Cruikshank, and many ill. by Luke Fildes and other artists. Ed. and annotated by means of unpublished memoranda found among Author’s papers. Lever’s prefaces are printed, and bibliographical notes appended to each story.

— HARRY LORREQUER. Pp. 380. (N.Y.: Dutton). 1.00. [1839].

The first of Lever’s rollicking military novels. The hero is a dashing young English officer, who comes to Cork with his regiment, and there passes through what the Author calls “a mass of incongruous adventures. Such was our life in Cork, dining, drinking, riding steeplechases, pigeon-shooting, and tandem-driving.” The book abounds in humorous incidents, and is packed with good stories and anecdotes. All sorts of Irish characters are introduced. There are sketches of Catholic clerical life in a vein of burlesque. The latter part of the story takes the reader to the Continent (various parts of France and Germany), where we meet Arthur O’Leary, afterwards made the hero of another story. Mr. Baker describes the book well as “very Irish in the stagey sense, very unreal.”

— CHARLES O’MALLEY. Pp. 632, close print. (N.Y.: Putnam). 1.00. [1841].

From electioneering, hunting, and duelling with the Galway country gentry, the scene changes to Trinity, where the hero goes in for roistering, larking, and general fast living with the wildest scamps in town. Then he gets a commission in the dragoons, and goes to the Peninsula (p. 147). There he goes through the whole campaign, and ends by viewing Waterloo from the French camp. Throughout, the narrative is enlivened by the raciest and spiciest stories. The native Irish, where they appear, are drawn in broad caricature. “Major Monsoon” was the portrait of a real personage, and so was the tomboy Miss “Baby Blake.” “Mickey Free” is the best known of Lever’s farcical Irish characters.

— JACK HINTON. Pp. 402. (Boston: Little, Brown). 5.00. [1843].

Adventures of a young English officer who arrives in Ireland during the Viceroyalty of the Duke of Grafton. The hero’s Irish experiences include steeplechasing, fox-hunting, “high life” in Dublin, a glimpse of society life in the Castle, love, duelling, and murder. But Lever wrote the book to show how Irish character and Irish ways differed wholly from English, and he represents Hinton as constantly having his prejudiced English eyes opened with a vengeance. This novel contains some of Lever’s most famous characters: Corny Delaney, Hinton’s body servant; Mr. and Mrs. Paul Rooney, parvenu leaders of Dublin society; Father Tom Loftus, Lever’s idea of the jolly Irish priest; Bob Mahon, the devil-may-care impecunious Irish gentleman; most of all Tipperary Joe. “For these,” says the Author (Pref.,) “I had not to call upon imagination.” Tipperary Joe was a real personage. For the last 100 pages the scene shifts to Spain, France, and Italy. Throughout, event succeeds event at reckless speed. There are some scenes of Connaught life, and a fine description of a meeting of “The Monks of the Screw.”

— TOM BURKE OF “OURS.” Pp. 660. (N.Y.: Dutton). [1844].

The early scenes (150 pp.) of Tom’s life (told throughout in the first person) take place in Ireland. Lever tells us (Pref.) that he tried to make Tom intensely Irish before launching him into French life. Tom enlists, but in consequence of a quarrel with a fatal ending has to fly the country. He goes to France, then under the First Consul, and joins the army. Military, civil, and political life at Paris is described with wonderful vividness and knowledge. These form a background to the exciting and dramatic adventures and love affairs of the hero. Then there is the Austerlitz campaign fully described; then life at Paris in 1806. Then the campaign of Jena. Finally, we have a description of the last campaign that ended with the abdication at Fontainebleau. The portrait of Napoleon is lifelike and convincing. Lever throws himself thoroughly into his French scenes. A pathetic episode is the love of Minette, the Vivandière, for Tom, and her heroic death at the Bridge of Montereau. Darby the Blast is a character of the class of Mickey Free and Tipperary Joe, yet quite distinct and original. The scene near the close where Darby is in the witness-box is a companion picture to Sam Weller in court, and is one of the best things of its kind in fiction.

— ARTHUR O’LEARY. Pp. 435. (N.Y.: Dutton). 1.00. [1844].

Rather a collection of stories of adventure than a novel. Lever has worked into it many of his own experiences in Canada, and also at Göttingen. There is a good deal about Student life in Germany. Many stories (of the Napoleonic wars chiefly) are told by the various characters all through the book. Some contemporary critics thought this the best of Lever’s books.

— ST. PATRICK’S EVE. Pp. 203. (Chapman & Hall). illustr. by “Phiz.” (N.Y.: Harper). [1845].

A short and somewhat gloomy tale of a period that Lever knew well—the pestilence of 1832. Scene: borders of Lough Corrib. The life described is that of the small farmer and the peasant struggling to make ends meet. Faction-fighting is dealt with in the opening of the tale, and the relations between landlord and agent and tenantry, at the period, are described with insight. “When I wrote it, I desired to inculcate the truth that prosperity has as many duties as adversity has sorrows.” It is far the most national of Lever’s stories, and there is a depth of feeling and of sympathy in it that would surprise those acquainted only with Charles O’Malley and Harry Lorrequer.

— THE O’DONOGHUE. Pp. 369. (Routledge). [1845].

Scene: Glenflesk (between Macroom and Bantry) and Killarney. Period: from just before to just after the French expedition to Bantry. The O’Donoghue, poor and proud, is intended as a type of the decaying Catholic gentry of ancient lineage, living in a feudal, half-barbaric splendour, beset by creditors and bailiffs whom fear of the retainer’s blunderbuss alone kept at a distance. Mark O’Donoghue, proud, gloomy, passionate, filled with hatred of the English invader, wears a frieze coat like the peasants, sells horses, hunts and fishes for a livelihood. He joins the United Irishmen, who are represented as making an ignoble traffic of conspiracy, and takes part in Hoche’s attempted invasion. Other characters are: Kate O’Donoghue, educated abroad; Lanty Lawler, horse-dealer, who supplies plenty of humour; in particular Sir Marmaduke Travers, a well-meaning but self-sufficient Englishman, who, knowing nothing of Ireland, makes ludicrous attempts to better his tenants’ condition. “I was not sorry to show,” says Lever (Pref.), “that any real and effective good to Ireland must have its base in the confidence of the people.” For this book Lever was bitterly accused of Repeal tendencies.

— THE MARTINS OF CRO’ MARTIN. Pp. 625. (N.Y.: Harper). 1856. [1847].

Scene: chiefly Connemara; the novel opening with a fine picture of the old-time splendours of Ballynahinch Castle, the seat of the “Martins.” For awhile the scene shifts to Paris during the Revolution of 1830. The story illustrates the practical working of the Emancipation Act. Martin is a type of the ease-loving Irish landlord, “shirking the cares of his estates, with an immense self-esteem, narrow, obstinate, weak, without ideas, and with a boundless faith in his own dignity, elegance, and divine right to rule his tenants” (Krans). Rejected by his tenantry at an election he quits the country in disgust, leaving them to the mercies of a Scotch agent. Lever pictures vividly the sufferings of the people both from this evil and from the cholera, drawing for the latter upon his own experiences when ministering to cholera patients in Clare. He says of the people that “no words of his could do justice to the splendid heroism they showed each other in misfortune.” Mary Martin is one of Lever’s most admirable heroines. There is a fine study, also, of a young man of the people, son of a small shopkeeper in Oughterard, who, by his sterling worth, raises himself to the highest positions.

— THE KNIGHT OF GWYNNE. (Philadelphia: Peterson). 1847.

A close study, based on considerable knowledge, of the ways and means adopted by the English Government to destroy the Irish Parliament. Castlereagh figures in no flattering fashion. Con Heffernan is a type of his unscrupulous tools. The Knight himself is an engaging portrait of a lovable old Irish gentleman, frank, high-spirited, courteous, chivalrous. At first placed in ideal circumstances for the display of all his best qualities, he shows himself no less noble in meeting adversity. Other notable characters are Bagenal Daly (a portrait of Beauchamp Bagenal), the villainous attorney Hickman, and Mr. Dempsey, the story-telling innkeeper. In describing the coasts of Antrim and Derry and the country about Castlebar and Westport, Lever draws upon his own experiences.

— ROLAND CASHEL. Pp. 612. [1850]. (N.Y.: Harper). 1849.

Opens with wonderfully vivid and picturesque description of life in the Republic of Columbia. A harum-scarum young Irish soldier of fortune almost promises marriage to the daughter of a Columbian adventurer. Then he learns he is heir to a large property in Ireland, and he immediately returns there. In Dublin the daughters of his lawyer, Mr. Kennyfeck, and others try to capture the young heir, but instead he falls in love with a penniless girl. Then there are exciting and romantic adventures. The villain, Tom Linton, with the intention of ruining Roland, introduces him to fast society, nearly implicates him with the young wife of Lord Kilgoff; the Columbian adventurer turns up to claim him; he is charged with murder; but eventually all is well. Lady Kilgoff is an admirably drawn character, as also is the Dean of Drumcondra, a portrait of Archbishop Whately. In the last chapter there is a passage which seems to show how Lever realized that the anglicized society of the Pale is far from being the true Ireland. Incidentally, too, the evils of landlordism are touched upon.

— THE DALTONS; or, Three Roads in Life. Pp. 700. (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.50. [1852].

The longest and most elaborate of Lever’s novels. Subject: the careers of Peter Dalton, an absentee Irish landlord—needy, feckless, selfish, Micawberish—and his children, on the Continent in Germany, Austria, and Italy. Some of the leading characters are involved in the Austro-Italian campaign of 1848, and in the Tuscan Revolution. There is a study—a flattering one—to Austrian military life, and lively, amusing pictures of Anglo-Italian life in Florence. A noteworthy character is the Irish Abbé d’Esmonde, who towards the close of the book takes part in some dramatic incidents during a visit to Ireland, undertaken in the cause of the Church. There is in the book a good deal about “priest-craft.”

— MAURICE TIERNAY. (N.Y.: Harper). 1.00. [1852].

Adventures of a young Jacobite exile in many lands, 1793-1809. Opens with vivid description of “The Terror.” Later Maurice joins the Army of the Rhine, and then Humbert’s expedition to Ireland. The latter is fully related, and also the capture and death of Wolfe Tone. After some adventures in America, the hero returns to Europe, and is in Genoa during its siege by the Austrians. Taken prisoner by the latter, he escapes and joins Napoleon, of whose Austrian campaign a brilliant description is given. Napoleon and some of his great marshals loom large in the story, and the military life of the period on the Continent is described. But perhaps the best part of the book is the account of Humbert’s invasion of Ireland.

— CON CREGAN. Pp. 496. (Philadelphia: Peterson). [1854].

Lever describes his hero as the “Irish Gil Blas.” Born on the borders of Meath, Cregan goes to Dublin, where he has some exciting experiences, ending in his being carried off in the yacht of an eccentric baronet. He is wrecked on an island off the coast of North America. Here he meets a runaway negro slave, Menelaus Crick, one of the most striking characters in the book. There follow experiences (tragic and comic) in Quebec, and afterwards in Texas and Mexico, life in which is described with remarkable vividness and wealth of colour. At last Cregan returns to Ireland, and marries a Spanish lady whom he had met in Mexico.

— SIR JASPER CAREW. Pp. 490. (N.Y.: Harper). [1855].

The early part (152 pages) deals with the career of the hero’s father, a wealthy Irish gentleman of Cromwellian stock, who has estates and copper and lead mines in Wicklow. He goes to Paris, allies himself by a secret marriage with the party of the Duke of Orleans, then returns to Ireland, where he kills a Castle official in a duel, receiving himself a mortal wound. His widow is deprived of the property, and left in poverty. She retires to Mayo, with her son, Jaspar. In this part there are elaborate pictures of politics in the early days of the Irish Parliament, and of the wild, extravagant social life of the period. Jasper goes to France, is involved in revolutionary plots, is sent to London as secret agent, and there has interviews with Pitt and Fox. Finally he returns to Ireland to claim his birthright. The story is told in the first person, and Lever intended the narrative to reveal the intimate character of the teller. The book is crammed with adventure. It was a favourite with the Author.

— THE FORTUNES OF GLENCORE. Pp. 395. (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.50. [1857].

Intended (see Pref.) as an experiment to bear out (or the contrary) his conviction that “any skill I possess lies in the delineation of character and the unravelment of that tangled skein that makes up human motives.” The scene at first is in a castle on the shores of the Killaries, between Mayo and Galway; afterwards it is on the Continent. Lord Glencore is a passionate, proud, soured man, misanthropical and suffering from disease. A scandal connected with his wife has filled him with hatred and bitterness. He determines to disown his son, who, after a terrible scene, runs away from home. The book is largely taken up with the adventures in Italy and elsewhere of Sir Horace Upton, a distinguished diplomatist and a valetudinarian, together with the doings and sayings of his follower, Billy Traynor, formerly poor scholar, hedge-schoolmaster, fiddler, journalist, now unqualified medical practitioner—a strange character drawn from a real personage. Many of the characters are cosmopolitan political intriguers. In the end Lady Glencore’s innocence is established.

— DAVENPORT DUNN. (Philadelphia: Peterson). 1859.

The astonishing histories of two adventurers. Dunn is an ambitious, clever man who by shady means lifts himself into a high position as a financier and launches into immense financial schemes. This character was drawn from John Sadlier, Junior Lord of the Treasury, who was the associate of Judge Keogh in “The Pope’s Brass Band,” (so-called) and closed an extraordinary career by committing suicide on Hampstead Heath. Grog David, a blackleg, rivals Dunn in another sphere, his sporting cheats being as vast as the other’s financial swindles. Davis’ high-hearted daughter, Lizzie, is a finely-drawn character.

— ONE OF THEM. Pp. 420. (N.Y.: Harper). 0.50. (1861).

Scene varies between Florence and the North of Ireland, many of the incidents described being real experiences of his own gone through in each of these places. Lever having been asked which of his novels he deemed best suited for the stage, replied that if a sensation drama were required, he thought One of Them a good subject. Deals largely with the adventures on the Continent of a queer type of Irish M.P.; but its outstanding character is Quackinboss, a droll specimen of Yankee.

— BARRINGTON. (N.Y.: Pratt). 0.50. [1862].

A novel of social and domestic life in the middle classes. Scene: a queer little inn, “the Fisherman’s Home,” on the banks of the Nore, Co. Kilkenny. Here the Barringtons live. Among the striking characters are the fire-eating Major M’Cormack; Dr. Dill, an excellent study of a country medical man, and his lively daughter, Polly. The interest largely turns on the disgrace and subsequent vindication of Barrington’s son, George. In this Lever portrays his own son and his career.

— A DAY’S RIDE. Pp. 396. (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.50. [1863].

The whimsical adventures of Algernon Sydney Potts, only son of a Dublin apothecary. An extravaganza in the vein of Don Quixote, and quite unlike Lever’s other works. Potts’s experiences begin in Ireland, but most of them take place on the Continent.

— THE DODD FAMILY ABROAD. Pp. 565. (N.Y.: Pratt). 0.50. [1863-65.]

Humorous adventures on the Continent of an Anglo-Irish family filled with preposterously false ideas about the manners and customs of the countries they visit. Told in a series of letters in which the chief personages are made the unconscious exponents of their own characters, follies, and foibles, each character being so contrived as to evoke in the most humorous form the peculiarities of all the others. There are many acute reflections on Irish life, especially in the letters of Kenny Dodd to his friend in Bruff (Co. Limerick). Kenny Dodd is a careful and thoughtful character-study. The Author considered Kate Dodd to be the true type of Irishwoman. Biddy Cobb, servant of the Dodds, is one of Lever’s most humorous women characters. Lever held that he had never written anything equal to “The Dodds.”

— LUTTRELL OF ARRAN. (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.50. [1865].

Opens in Innishmore, Aran Islands, off the coast of Galway. Luttrell, a proud, morbid man of broken fortunes arrives there with his wife, the daughter of an Aran peasant. The latter dies, leaving an only son, Harry. Shortly afterwards Sir Gervais Vyner, a wealthy Englishman, calls at the island in his yacht, and renews acquaintance with Luttrell. Vyner then goes to Donegal, where he meets with and adopts a beautiful peasant girl. The interest turns largely on the success of Vyner’s experiment in making a fine lady out of the girl. She is one of Lever’s most charming heroines. After many vicissitudes she comes to Innishmore. Here she meets Harry, who had returned from an adventurous career at sea, and they are married. Tom O’Rorke, who keeps an inn in a wild part of Donegal, provides a good deal of the humour. His inveterate hatred of everything English, his wit and his audacity (not always commendable), mark him out for special mention. There is also an amusing American skipper.

— TONY BUTLER. (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.50. [1865].

Scene: partly in North of Ireland, partly on the Continent. Tony gets a post in the diplomatic service, and has many adventures, strange, humorous, or stirring. Diplomatic life (Lever was a British Consul abroad for most of his days) is described with a cunning hand. Some of Tony’s experiences take place during the Garibaldian war. The most striking figure in the book is Major M’Caskey, the noisy, swaggering, impudent soldier of fortune. Skeff Damer, the young diplomat, is also interesting, and Dolly Stewart is a most pleasing study.

— SIR BROOKE FOSBROOKE. [1866]. (Routledge, &c.). 3s. 6d. (N.Y.: Harper). 0.50.

“Reproduces much of the humour and frolic of his earlier tales, the mess-room scene in the officers’ quarters at Dublin, with which the drama opens, recalling the sprightly comedy of Harry Lorrequer. The vigorous story that follows contains much more serious characterization and portraiture of real life than the earlier books.”—(Baker).

— THE BRAMLEIGHS OF BISHOP’S FOLLY. (N.Y.: Harper). 0.50. [1868].

Scene of first portion: North of Ireland, near Coleraine, Co. Londonderry; afterwards Italy. Deals with the experiences of a rich English banker and his family, who come to Ireland, but the central figure is the selfish old peer, Viscount Culduff, a neighbouring landowner, on whose estate coal is found. Much of the novel deals with the exploiting of the Culduff mine. Tom Cutbill, a bluff, vulgar, humorous engineer, who comes to work this mine, provides most of the fun, which is scattered through the story. All the characters are vividly drawn, among others that of a young Irish Protestant clergyman, the only one that appears prominently in Lever’s pages. The mystery that runs through the book is kept veiled with great cleverness to the very end. Finally, the book is packed with witty epigrammatic talk.

— LORD KILGOBBIN. (N.Y.: Harper). 1.00. [1872].

Lever’s last novel. It pictures social and political conditions in Ireland about 1865, the days of the Fenians. The book is marked by almost nationalist sympathies, one of the finest characters being Daniel Donogan, Fenian Head-Centre and Trinity College student, who while “on his keeping” is elected M.P. for King’s County. Matthew Kearney, styled locally Lord Kilgobbin, is a shrewd, good-natured, old-fashioned type of broken-down Catholic gentility, living in an old castle in King’s County. His daughter Kate, is a high-spirited, clever, and amiable girl, but the real heroine is the brilliant Nina Kostalergi, of mixed parentage (the mother Irish, the father a Greek prince and adventurer), who bewitches in turn Fenians, soldiers, politicians, and Viceregal officials. A remarkable creation is Joe Atlee, a kind of Bohemian student of Trinity, cynical, indolent, but miraculously clever and versatile. It teems with witty talk and dramatic situations. Throughout there is food for thought about the affairs of Ireland. Has been illustr. by Luke Fildes (Macmillan). 3s. 6d.

— GERALD FITZGERALD. (N.Y.: Harper). 0.40. [First ed. in book form, 1899].

The hero is a legitimate son of the Young Pretender, offspring of a secret marriage with an Irish lady. Recounts his surprising adventures and his relations with Mirabeau (whose death is powerfully described), the poet Alfieri, Madame Roland, the Pretender himself, whose court at Rome is described, &c., &c. There is little humour, the book being a sober historical or quasi-historical romance. There are some passages offensive to Catholic feeling.

Lever also wrote:—A Rent in a Cloud; That Boy of Norcott’s; Paul Goslett’s Confessions; Nuts and Nutcrackers, 1845; Tales of the Trains, 1845; Horace Templeton, 1848; Cornelius O’Dowd, 1873.

LIPSETT, Caldwell.

— WHERE THE ATLANTIC MEETS THE LAND. Pp. 268. (Lane). 3s. 6d. net. 1896.

Sixteen stories, many of them artistically constructed, and told with literary grace and finish. The Irish character is viewed from an unsympathetic and, at times, hostile standpoint. Only a few of the stories deal with the peasants or have any special bearing on Irish life. Two or three deal with seduction in rather a light manner.

LIPSETT, E. R.

— DIDY. Pp. 301. (Duckworth). 6s. $1.30. Eight full-page Illustr. by Joseph Damon. 1912.

Published in U.S.A. by the John Lane Co., N.Y., under the title of The House of a Thousand Welcomes (price 1.50), this being the name of a boarding house in New York opened by Mr. and Mrs. Dunleary and their daughter Didy, who have emigrated from Cork. The story is chiefly concerned with the lodgers in this house—the eccentric Dr. O’Dowd, a journalist, and the son of a big landlord in Ireland—all of whom fall in love with Didy. The last named is successful, and he makes the journalist, a Protestant named Healy (the remainder of the personages are Catholics), editor of the principal Irish Unionist paper, which he owns, in order “to make it a message of peace to all Ireland.” The author avoids religious or political bias, and tells a merry, good-humoured story.

“LISTADO, J. T.”

— MAURICE RHYNHART. Two Vols. (Chapman & Hall). 1871.

“Or, A few passages in the life of an Irish rebel.” The hero, descended from a Williamite soldier, “in every respect the very model of a respectable young Protestant,” is a clerk in Selskar (Wexford) and in love with Miss Rowan, socially much above him. An ardent young Irelander, he joins the local branch and works might and main for the movement. Soon he is “on his keeping,” but escapes to London. There he marries Miss Rowan. After many hardships they go to Australia, where he rises to be Premier and is knighted. Returns, and is made M.P. for Selskar. Reminds one of the career of Sir C. Gavan Duffy. Splendidly told, the interest never flagging. Protestant dissenting tea-parties hit off cleverly. The whole atmosphere of the critical summer of ’48 is reproduced with vividness and fidelity. Dialogue good and characterisation life-like.

LOCHHEAD, A.

— SPRIGS OF SHILLELAH. Pp. 158. (Dundee: Leng). 1907. 6d.

Sixteen humorous sketches, “founded on fact—more or less,” reprinted from the People’s Friend.

LOGAN, J.

— THE McCLUSKY TWINS. Pp. 112. (Drane). 1912. 1s.

A tale of twin tomboys, who provide gossip for an Ulster countryside. Dialect well handled.—(I.B.L.).

LOUGH, Desmond.

— THE BLACK WING. (“Ireland’s Own” Library). 6d. n.d. (1914).

A story of secret societies and of revenge. Scene: Kerry and Corsica. Unconvincing, but unobjectionable.

— RED RAPPAREE. Pp. 179. (“Ireland’s Own” Library). 6d. n.d.

Thrilling adventures and hairbreadth escapes of Cahir Ronayne, who has taken to the road in revenge for his father’s execution. A fair lady is involved, also a dissolute lord, and there are plenty of plots and counter plots, duels and combats.

LOUGHNAN, Edmond Brenan.

— THE FOSTER SISTERS. Three Vols. (Tinsley). 1871.

Opens in Sligo, near Lough Arrow. Largely concerned with an intricate family history and mysteries of identity. Scene soon shifts to Paris, where many of the personages have gone and where most of the action takes place. The chief interest is a very melodramatic murder in the secret room of the Chat Noir, and the subsequent tracing of the crime to the murderer, a typical stage villain. The story is pretty well told, but the conversations are most artificial.

LOVER, Samuel. B. in Dublin, 1797. Was not only a novelist but a musician, a painter, and a song-writer (he wrote some 300 songs, and composed the music for most of them). He ed. the Dublin National Magazine and the Saturday Magazine. D. 1868. See “Lives” by J. A. Symington and Bayle Bernard. “Lover,” says Mr. D. J. O’Donoghue, “is first and last an Irish humourist.” Readers should bear this fact in mind. His humour is of the gay, careless, rollicking type. He is sometimes coarse, but never merely dull. He does not caricature the Irish character, for his sympathies were strongly Irish; but wrote to amuse his readers, not to depict Irish life. He was often accused by his friends of exaggerating the virtues of his countrymen, and it may be admitted that he sometimes did so. “The chief defect of his novels,” says Maurice Francis Egan, q.v., “is that they were written with an eye on what the English reader would expect the Irish characters to do.”

— RORY O’MORE. Pp. 452. (Constable). 3s. 6d. [1837]. (N.Y.: Dutton). 1.00. 1897.

Introduction and notes by D. J. O’Donoghue, who considers this to be Lover’s best long story. A tale of adventure in 1798, with a slight historical background. National in sentiment, without being unfairly biased. Contains some of Lover’s best humour, especially the endless drollery and whimsicalities of the hero, Rory. Some of the types are very true to life. There are passages of genuine pathos. Tries to prove that the more heinous atrocities in ’98 were due to a few desperadoes.

— HANDY ANDY. Pp. 460. (Constable). 3s. 6d. Portrait of Lover. [1842]. 1898. Critical Introd. and Notes by D. J. O’Donoghue. (N.Y.: Dutton). 1.00.

A series of side-splitting misadventures of a comic, blundering Irishman. Does not pretend to be a picture of real Irish life, yet, though exaggerated, it is not without truth. Besides Andy’s adventures there are scenes from the life of the harum-scarum gentry, uproarious dinners, a contested election, practical jokes. The characters include peasants, duellists, hedge-priests, hedge-schoolmasters, beggars, and poteen distillers. There is a good deal of vulgarity.

— TREASURE TROVE; or, He Would be a Gentleman. Pp. 469. (Constable). 3s. 6d. [1844]. Many since. (Boston: Little, Brown). 1.00. 1899.

Critical introduction by D. J. O’Donoghue. Adventures of a somewhat stagey hero, Ned Corkery, with the Irish Brigade in the service of France and of the Young Pretender. Fontenoy, and the ’45 in Scotland, are introduced. The novel, says the editor, can only be called pseudo-historical. The writer had but imperfectly mastered the history, and treats it unconvincingly. The humour is below the author’s usual standard, but the interest is well sustained. It is coarse and vulgar in parts.

— LEGENDS AND STORIES OF IRELAND. Two Vols. Pp. xix. + 240, and xvi + 274. (Constable). 3s. 6d. each. [1832 and 1834; many editions since]. 1899. (N.Y.: Sadlier). 1.50.

Introductions by the Author and by the editor, D. J. O’Donoghue. A miscellany consisting chiefly of humorous stories with regular plots. It contains also some old legends told in comic vein, yarns told by guides and boatmen, and several serious stories. There is nothing to offend Catholic feeling. There is a most sympathetic sketch of a priest and a story about the secret of the confessional that any Catholic might have written. The peasantry are seen only from outside, though the author mixed much among them. They are not caricatured, though chiefly comic types are selected. There is plenty of brogue, faithfully rendered on the whole. The first volume contains a humorous essay on Street Ballads, with specimens. Lover is at his best in uproariously laughable stories such us “The Gridiron” and “Paddy the Sport.”

— FURTHER STORIES OF IRELAND. Pp. 220. (Constable). 3s. 6d. 1899. Critical and biographical introduction (pp. xxviii.) by D. J. O’Donoghue.

Chiefly very short, humorous sketches. Some are stories written around various national proverbs.

— IRISH HEIRS: A Novel. Pp. 173. (N.Y.: Dick & Fitzgerald). Illustr. 187-.

Mentioned in catal. of N. Y. Library. Treasure Trove bore on original title-page the announcement that it was “the first of a series of accounts of Irish Heirs.”

LOVER and CROKER.

— LEGENDS AND TALES OF IRELAND. Pp. 436. (Simpkin, Marshall, &c.). n.d. Now in print.

Contains:—Lover’s Legends and Tales of Ireland (twenty-four in all), and Croker’s Fairy Legends of the South of Ireland. “Croker and Lover,” says W. B. Yeats, “full of the ideas of harum-scarum Irish gentility, saw everything humourized. The impulse of the Irish literature of their time came from a class that did not—mainly for political reasons—take the people seriously, and imagined the country as a humorist’s Arcadia; its passion, its gloom, its tragedy they knew nothing of. What they did was not wholly false; they merely magnified an irresponsible type, found oftenest among boatmen, carmen, and gentlemen’s servants, into the type of a whole nation, and created the Stage-Irishman.”—(Introd. to Fairy and Folk-tales of the Irish Peasantry).

LOWRY, Frank M.

— THE DUBLIN STATUES “AT HOME”: A New Year’s Tale. 4to. (Sealy, Bryers). Illustr. with Seven Cartoons. 1912.

LOWRY, Mary.

— THE ENCHANTED PORTAL. Pp. 142. (Sealy, Bryers). 6d. Paper. c. 1910.

Scene: Antrim coast, whose scenery is vividly pictured. A novel of romance, intrigue, and adventure, pleasant and healthy in tone, but fanciful and somewhat unreal.

Author has also written The Clans of Ireland, Old Irish Laws and Customs, and The Story of Belfast.

“LYALL, Edna”; Ada Ellen Bayley. Was born and educated at Brighton, and resided there and at Eastbourne. Her first story, Won by Waiting, appeared in 1879. Titles of eighteen of her books are to be found in Mudie’s List.

— DOREEN. Pp. 490. (Longmans). Various prices from 6d. to 6s. [1894]. 1902.

Doreen, daughter of an old ’48 man and Fenian, and herself an ardent Nationalist, is a professional singer, but helps the Home Rule cause by her singing. The chief interest is a love story, but in the background there is the national struggle and a vivid picture is drawn of the feelings of those engaged on both sides. The author is on the nationalist side, and the most striking figure in the book is Donal Moore, a Nationalist member. The first ed. was dedicated to Gladstone.

LYNAM, Col. William F. Belonged to the 5th Royal Lancashire Militia. Lived at Churchtown Ho., Dundrum, 1863-87, and then at Clontarf till his death in 1894. He was a Catholic and a man of much piety. He lived a very retired life.

— MICK McQUAID.

Magazine stories that have never been published in a volume do not come within the scope of this work. But I think an exception must be made in this case. The serial or series of serials centering in the character of Mick McQuaid has made a record in literature. It began in the pages of the Shamrock on Jan. 19th, 1867. With short interruptions it has been running ever since in the pages of that periodical, and is running still, though the Author died in 1894. The following are some of the series that appeared:—1. “M. McQ.’s Conversion,” 1867; 2. “M. McQ., the Evangeliser,” 1868-9; 3. “M. McQ. Under Agent,” 52 chapters, 1869-70; 4. “M. McQ., M.D.,” 28 ch., 1872; 5. “M. McQ., M.P.,” 51 ch., 1872-3; 6. “M. McQ., Solicitor,” 43 ch., 1873-4; 7. “M. McQ.’s Spa,” 91 ch., 1876-8; 8. “M. McQ., Alderman,” 61 ch., 1879-80; 9. “M. McQ., Moneylender,” 47 ch., 1880-1; 10. “M. McQ., Gombeen Man,” 48 ch., 1881-2; 11. “M. McQ.’s Story,” 1884; 12. “M. McQ., Workhouse Master,” 1885; 13. “M. McQ., Sub-Sheriff,” pt. 1, 47 ch., 1888-9; 14. “M. McQ., Sub-Sheriff,” pt. 2, 1889; 15. “M. McQ., Stockbroker,” 61 ch., 1889-90; 16. “M. McQ., Removable,” 1890.

The Author himself tired of Mick McQuaid, and tried to put other creations in the field:—“Dan Donovan,” “Corney Cluskey,” “Japhet Screw,” “Sir Timothy Mulligan,” and so on. But after a few chapters the readers invariably demanded “Mick” again, and, if the Author had not new adventures ready, he had to reproduce the already published adventures. More than once editors tried to drop the series, but the circulation which was 60,000 fell at once, and “Mick” had to appear again. Apart from their issue in the Shamrock many of “Mick’s” adventures were reproduced in penny numbers, and sold far and wide. After the Author’s death the editors simply reproduced the series over again. Harry Furniss began his artistic career by illustrating Mick McQuaid. Besides Mick McQ. another humorous series, Darby Darken, P.L.G., ran in the Irish Emerald.

LYNCH, E. M.

— KILBOYLAN BANK; or, Every Man his own Banker. Pp. 240. (Kegan Paul). 3s. 6d. 1896.

Father O’Callaghan returning from Italy greatly impressed by what he has seen of the Raffeisen Banking System at work, tries to start a similar system in Kilboylan. The book is the story of his efforts, difficulties, and final success. The local types—landlord, strong farmer, miller, publican, schoolmaster, “pote,” and “chaney merchant” are cleverly hit off, and their conversation rings true. The book is primarily a lesson in economics, but the characters are well brought out, and a little love-story runs through the whole. Miss Lynch also wrote for Sir Charles Gavan Duffy’s “New Irish Library” a story adapted from the French—A Parish Providence. It was intended to teach certain economic lessons to Irishmen.

LYNCH, Hannah. B. in Dublin. Lived much in Spain, in Greece, and in France, publishing various articles and books about them, notably a book on Toledo and French Life in Town and Country. Among her novels are Prince of the Glades, Dr. Vermont’s Fantasy, Daughters of Men, Jimmy Blake, Clare Monroe. She was associated with Miss Anna Parnell in the Ladies’ Land League in the eighties. When United Ireland was suppressed she carried the type to Paris, and the paper was issued there. Mrs. Hinkson says of her,6 “She was one of the few people I have known who eat, drink, and dream books, and not many can have given to literature a more passionate delight and devotion.”

— THROUGH TROUBLED WATERS. Pp. 460. (Ward, Lock). 1885.

Scene: chiefly Carantrila House, Dunmore (“Cardene”) near Tuam, Co. Galway. Opens with an impending lawsuit about the inheritance of “Cardene.” It is settled by Mrs. St. Leger giving it up to her brother-in-law for a large sum. Henceforth she plots to get it back for her son. In later years he comes on a visit to the place. He falls in love with Nora Dillon, but carries on an innocent flirtation with a peasant girl. He is accused of seduction, the real culprit being Nora’s brother, and denounced from the altar. This latter scene is well done. But the truth comes out, and all is well with Hartley and Nora. The portrait drawn of one of the two priests introduced is rather satirical, but the tone is Catholic throughout.

— AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CHILD. Publ. Anon. Pp. 306. (Blackwood). 6s. 1899.

Clearly genuine autobiography. Begins in little village in Kildare, but at five or six the child is taken to Dublin. Story of an unhappy childhood, for she was treated with great harshness by sisters and mother. Had some friends, however, among them an old gentleman, who believed himself to be Hamlet and O’Donovan Rossa, then a young lad. (See p. 609 in Blackwood’s Magazine, vol. 164, where the story appeared serially). Her unhappiness was continued at the convent school, near Birmingham, where she was educated. Everything is set down, including a flogging she received and an account of her first confession. A very curious book, very well written.

LYON, Capt. E. D. Late 68th Durham Light Infantry.

— IRELAND’S DREAM: a Romance of the Future. Two Vols. (Sonnenschein). 1888.

A forecast of Ireland under Home Rule. Contains much about relations of Orangemen and Catholics, the National League, secret societies, emigration, and so on. Represents an Ireland hopelessly “gone to the dogs”—no security for life or property, murder rife, prosperity gone, &c. Written in flippant style, betraying bitter contempt for Irish nationalism.

LYSAGHT, Mrs.

— REX SINGLETON; or, The Pathway of Life. (Wells, Gardner). 2s. Illustr. Third ed., c. 1911.

Thoroughly a boy’s book, full of the adventures and pranks of an Irish boy.—(Publ.).

LYSAGHT, Sidney Royse. Eldest son of T. R. Lysaght, of Mintinna, Co. Cork. Has published three volumes of verse between 1886 and 1911. Lives in Somerset.

— HER MAJESTY’S REBELS. Pp. 488. (Macmillan). 6s. 1907.

In a prefatory note the Author tells us that though the career of his hero resembles that of Charles Stewart Parnell, Connor Desmond is not intended as a portrait of Parnell. “There is an historical basis for the structure of the story—not for the persons.” A political novel, written mainly about the course of national life in Ireland, 1875-1891. The central figure most obviously reproduces the career and even the personal characteristics of Parnell, who is well and even sympathetically portrayed. The writer’s view-point is free, on the whole, from party bias. He is convinced that a Royal residence in Ireland would be a sure antidote to seditious tendencies. There is a strong love interest. The Author depicts many scenes of Irish life among various classes. The hero is “involved in flagitious relations with several women.”—(Baker, 2).

LYTTLE, Wesley Guard; “Robin.” Born, 1844, at Newtownards, Co. Down. Was successively a junior reporter, a school teacher, a lecturer on Dr. Corry’s Irish Diorama, a teacher of shorthand, an accountant, an editor. Started, in 1880, The North Down and Bangor Gazette, a strong Liberal and Home Rule paper. Afterwards owned and edited The North Down Herald. Died 1896.

— ROBIN’S READINGS. Eight Vols.

Series of humorous stories, poems, and sketches in the dialect of a Co. Down farmer, of which he had a thorough mastery. Some verse as well as prose. The Author gave several thousand recitals in various parts of the three kingdoms. The success of the above books was immediate and remarkable. They have enjoyed great popularity ever since. The character of these readings may be seen from the following titles:—V. I. “Adventures of Paddy McQuillan”—“a simple country fellow”—“his trip tae Glesco”—“his courtships”—“his wee Paddy”—“his twins”—“his tay perty.” V. II. “The adventures of Robin Gordon”—“Peggy and how I courted her”—“Wee Wully”—“the fechtin’ dugs”—“Robin on the ice”—“dipplemassy.” V. III. “Life in Ballycuddy, Co. Down”—“my brither Wully”—“kirk music”—“the General Assembly of 1879” (exciting scenes, Robin’s oration)—“the royal visit to Ireland”—“the Ballycuddy Meinister”—“wee Paddy’s bumps,” &c., &c.

— SONS OF THE SOD: a Tale of County Down. (Bangor). 1s. Paper. 1886.

A racy story dealing with the peasantry of North Down which the Author knew well, and could depict admirably. The tale gives a picture of their merry-makings, courtships, humours, joys, and sorrows—wakes, weddings, evictions, &c., &c.

— BETSY GRAY. Pp. 116. (Bangor). 1s. 3d. [1888]. New ed. (Belfast: Carswell). Revised by F. J. Bigger. 1913.

Betsy Gray, the heroine (founded on a real personage) takes part in the rebellion, and fights at Ballynahinch. A story of thrilling interest. Relates events that preceded rebellion, dwelling much on the atrocities of the yeomanry, then describes in full the chief incidents of the rebellion. Introduces Wm. Steele Dickson, William Orr, H. Joy McCracken, Henry Munro, and Mick Maginn—the informer. “The Author has gone over every inch of the ground, and has hunted up old documents and old traditions indefatigably.” In entire sympathy with rebels. There is a good deal of local dialect, and much local colour.

— THE SMUGGLERS OF STRANGFORD LOUGH.

“A melodramatic romance of an old-fashioned type, founded on facts. What with murder, robbery, abduction, smuggling, secret societies, and underground caverns, the reader is carried breathlessly along from start to finish. The local dialect is well conveyed.”—(I.B.L.). The headquarters of the smugglers was Killinchy, and the period of the story the end of the eighteenth century.

— DAFT EDDIE. Pp. 162. (Belfast: Carswell). 6d. 1914.

A re-issue of The Smugglers of Strangford Lough.

MACALISTER, R. A. Stewart, M.A., F.S.A. B. Dublin, 1870. At present Professor of Irish Archæology in the National University. Author of a series of learned works on Palestine exploration, the Philistines, Ecclesiastical Vestments, Irish Epigraphy and Archæology, &c.

— TWO IRISH ARTHURIAN ROMANCES. Pp. ix. + 207. (Nutt, for Irish Texts Society). 10s. 6d. net. 1908.

Text and transl. on opposite pages. Contains two stories:—The Story of the Crop-eared Dog and The Story of Eagle-Boy. They are of the Wonder-voyage type. Arthur plays a secondary part. “The dreamland of gruagachs and monstrous nightmare shapes is here as typically a creation of Irish fancy as in any of the stories of the Finn cycle.”... “Eagle-Boy is a striking story, displaying... no small constructive ingenuity and literary feeling.”—(Introd.).

M’ANALLY, D. R., Jr.

— IRISH WONDERS. Pp. 218. (Ward, Lock). Illustr. (pen and ink), H. R. Heaton. 1888.

“The ghosts, giants, pookas, demons, leprechawns, banshees, fairies, witches, widows, old maids, and other marvels of the Emerald Isle. Popular tales as told by the people. Collected during a recent lengthy visit, in the course of which every county in the Island was traversed from end to end.”—(Title-page and Pref.). Very broad brogue. Somewhat “Stage-Irish” in tone.

“MACARTHUR, Alexander”; Mrs. Nicchia, née Lily MacArthur. At present residing in New York.

— IRISH REBELS. Pp. 219. (Digby, Long). 3s. 6d. n.d. (1893).

“O’Donoghue,” the hero, a young Catholic T.C.D. student, is deputed by the secret societies to shoot a landlord. He escapes at the time, and has a successful career at the bar, in parliament, and also in love, for he marries the girl of his choice, a daughter of “Judge Kavanagh,” a bitter Orangeman. But years afterwards his crime becomes known to some of his friends, and the discovery kills his wife. The Author is entirely favourable to the national cause. Parnell is mentioned several times. The central figure is not O’D., but “Lowry,” a remarkable portrait, probably drawn from life.

M’AULIFFE, E. F.

— GRACE O’DONNELL: A Tale of the 18th Cent. Pp. 220. (Cork: Guy & Co.). 1891.

Ireland in Penal times, middle of 18th century (Fontenoy, 1745, is introduced). Period fairly well illustrated—sufferings of Catholics, tithe-proctors, hedge-schools, etc. Scene varies between Galway, Madrid, London, Dublin, and Paris. The characters all belong to the better class, and the tone of the story may be described as “genteel”: there is nothing specially national about it. Author wishes to show “how many claims each [Catholic and Protestant] has on the other for love and admiration.” Some poems are included.

MACCABE, William Bernard. B. in Dublin, 1801. Was a journalist for the greater part of his life, first in Dublin, then for fifteen years in London, and again in Dublin from 1852-57. Wrote many Catholic works. Died at Donnybrook, 1891.

— AGNES ARNOLD. Three Vols. (Lond.: Newby). 1861.

A well constructed plot, with many fine dramatic scenes and much truthful character drawing. Shows the courses by which the people were driven into rebellion in 1798. The Author tells us that much of the materials were gleaned from his conversations in his boyhood with Wm. Putnam MacCabe, one of the insurgent leaders. Scene: Wexford.

M’CALL, Patrick J. B. in Dublin, 1861, and ed. at Catholic University School, Leeson Street. Much better known as a poet by his Irish Noinins, Songs of Erin, Irish Fireside Songs, and Pulse of the Bards than as a prose writer. Resides in Patrick Street, Dublin.

— FENIAN NIGHTS’ ENTERTAINMENTS. Pp. 132. (Dublin: T. G. O’Donoghue). [1895].

Twelve evenings of story-telling at a Wexford fireside. The stories are mostly Ossianic legends, but there are a few fairy tales. They purport to be told by a farmer with all the arts of the shanachie—the quaintness, the directness, the pithy sayings, the delightful digressions, and the gay humour. They are, of course, in dialect.

M’CALLUM, Hugh and John. Ed. an original collection of the poems of Ossian, Orrann, Ullin, and other bards who flourished in the same age. (Montrose). 1816.

M’CARTHY, Justin. B. in Cork, 1830, and ed. there. Began there his literary career of over sixty years. In 1853 he went to Liverpool, and thence to London in 1860. From that time till his death in 1912 he lived almost exclusively in England. But he never lost touch with Ireland. For many years he was a Nationalist M.P., and from 1890-96 was Chairman of the Party. His works number over forty, many of them dealing with Ireland—novels, history, biography, reminiscences, &c.

— A FAIR SAXON. Pp. 386. (Chatto & Windus). 3s. 6d. [1873]; several since. New ed. about 1907.

Main theme: the love of an English girl for Maurice FitzHugh Tyrone, an Irish M.P., famous in the House as a clever and insuppressible opponent of the Government. Much of the story (a complicated one) is concerned with the efforts of another lover of the Fair Saxon to supplant Tyrone, and also to get him to violate the conditions of a legacy. The latter are (1) that Tyrone shall not marry before forty; (2) that he shall not join the Fenians; (3) that he shall not fight a duel. His efforts meet with a wonderful succession of alternate success and failure. Incidentally we have glimpses of Fenian plotting, the Fenian movement being portrayed with little sympathy. The characters are nearly all insipid or vicious worldlings, drawn in a satirical and sometimes cynical vein. Such is Mrs. Lorn, the rich American widow, of fast life. The heroine, and to a certain extent the hero, are exceptions. The precocious young American, Theodore, is one of the best things in the book.

— MAURICE TYRONE. (Benziger). 0.75. The American ed. of A Fair Saxon.

— MONONIA. Pp. 383. (Chatto & Windus). 6s. [1901]. New edition, 1902.

Scene: a large Munster town, presumably Cork. Time: the attempted rising in 1848. The chief interest is the unfolding in action of the various characters. Some of these are strikingly and distinctively portrayed. The treatment of the love element is original, the course of true love being smooth from the start. Here and there are pleasant bits of description. The standpoint is Catholic and nationalist, but without anti-English feeling, several of the principal and most admirable characters being English. A happy love story runs through the book.

M’CARTHY, Justin Huntley. S. of preceding. B. 1860. Ed. University College School, London. Began writing 1881. Nationalist M.P. 1884-1892, during which period he was an ardent politician. Publ. England under Gladstone (1884), and in the same year a successful play, “The Candidate.” Then followed Hours with Great Irishmen, Ireland since the Union, The Case for Home Rule, &c., and a number of books, poems, tales, &c., on Oriental subjects. His knowledge of our myth and legend has been described as comprehensive and exhaustive. He has publ. many other novels and plays and volumes of verse. But of late years the theatrical world has claimed him wholly.

— LILY LASS. Pp. 150. (Chatto & Windus). 1s. 6d. 1889.

Picture from nationalist point of view of Young Ireland movement, especially in Cork. Full of sensational incidents, told with much verve.

— THE ILLUSTRIOUS O’HAGAN. (Hurst & Blackett). 1905. (N.Y.: Harper). 1.50, &c.

Melodramatic adventures of two cosmopolitan adventurers of Irish origin, in various parts of Europe and, in particular, among the courts of the petty German princes, where very fast living prevails. The picture we are given of these latter is frank enough. The colouring is brilliant, the style bright and swift. Copyrighted for the stage.

— THE O’FLYNN. Pp. 352. (Hurst & Blackett). 1s. (N.Y.: Harper). 1.50. 1910.

O’Flynn is a swashbucklering, swaggering soldier of fortune, who has seen service in the Austrian army. The story tells of the varying fortunes of O’F. and of Lord Sedgemouth in their rivalry for the hand of the Lady Benedetta Mountmichael. Both suitors are in the service of King James, and the scene varies between Dublin Castle and Knockmore, a castle “in the heart of the Wicklow hills.” Full of more or less burlesque plots and stratagems and surprises. Written in a pleasant but reckless and rattling style. Smacks strongly of the stage throughout, indeed it was originally a successful play before appearing in book form. Incidents not historical. Not for young people.

— THE FAIR IRISH MAID. Pp. 344. (Mills & Boon). 6s. (N.Y.: Harper). 1.30. 1911.

Ireland a few years after the Union; but not political. Mr. McC., in his usual vein of gay romanticism, takes his beautiful maiden from Kerry to London, where in the modish days of the Dandies she is for a time the reigning toast. But she is true to her Kerry lover, whom she finds in London lost and ruined, and whom she rescues and enables to produce his Irish play. Other characters are Lord Cloyne, the Irish ascendancy landlord, Mr. Rubie, the English M.P. who has come to visit and improve Ireland, and an antiquary who wants to buy a round tower and provides many amusing situations.—(Press notices).

M’CARTHY, Michael J. F. B. Midleton, Co. Cork. Ed. Vincentian Coll., Cork; Midleton College, Cork; T.C.D. After the appearance of Five Years in Ireland in 1901, “has written and spoken against the power exercised by the Roman Catholic Church in politics and in education. Started and conducted Christian Defence Effort in opposition to Home Rule, 1911-14.” Author of Priests and People in Ireland, Rome in Ireland, &c.—(Who’s Who).

— GALLOWGLASS. Pp. 540. (Simpkin, Marshall). 6s. 1904.

Purports to portray the social and political life of various classes in a typical South of Ireland town (“Gallowglass”). Written in a vein of bitter satire. Peasant, shopkeeper, politician, and especially priest, are held up to unmeasured scorn. Aspersions are cast upon Catholic teachings and practices. Eviction scenes, the workings of a secret society, political meetings, a scene in Parliament, serve the writer for his purpose in various ways.

M’CHESNEY, Dora.

— KATHLEEN CLARE. Pp. 286. (Blackwood). Six Illustr. by J. A. Shearman. 1895.

Story of Wentworth, Earl of Strafford’s Viceroyalty in Ireland, told in form of diary purporting to be written by a kinswoman of Strafford’s, who sees him in his home life and acquires extraordinary love and reverence for him. The tale of his execution is pathetically told. Quaint Elizabethan English. Pretty Elizabethan love-songs interspersed.

M’CLINTOCK, Letitia.

— A BOYCOTTED HOUSEHOLD. Pp. 319. (Smith, Elder). 1881.

Period, c. 1880. Mr. Hamilton is a model as a man and landlord. His family is in very reduced circumstances owing to “No-Rent Campaign.” Then we have various incidents of the land war—threatening letters, burning of hay, and finally the eldest son is brutally murdered by tenants on whom favours had been heaped. The beautiful home life, sympathetic love affairs, &c., of the Hamiltons are dwelt upon as pointing the contrast with the wickedness of the League and the meaningless ingratitude of the peasantry. Sympathies of Author wholly with landlords. The Hamilton boys were all educated at Rugby, and the general outlook of the family is English. Scene: King’s Co. and Donegal alternately.

M’CLINTOCK, Major H. S.

— RANDOM STORIES; chiefly Irish. Pp. 147. (Belfast: Marcus Ward). Illustr. n.d. c. 1885.

A collection of unobjectionable smoke-room yarns, more or less original, and more or less humorous. Illustr. somewhat crude.

M’CRAITH, L. M. Mrs. L. M. M’Craith Blakeney, of Loughloher, Cahir, Co. Tipperary. B. 1870. Ed. in Ireland and at Cheltenham. Has written also The Suir from its Source to the Sea, The Romance of Irish Heroines, The Romance of Irish Heroes, &c. In these and other writings her aim has been to popularise Irish local history and antiquities in the hopes of fostering a love of country, especially in the young.

— A GREEN TREE. Pp. 221. (Sealy, Bryers). 3s. 6d. 1908.

A pleasant family story with a sympathetically, though somewhat dimly-sketched, Irish background. All through there is the contrast between English and Irish ideals. One or two peculiar Irish types are well drawn.

MACDERMOTT, S.

— LEIGH OF LARA: a Novel of Co. Wicklow. (Gill?). 1s. 6d.

A slight but pleasant tale, told in straightforward manner, without character-study, scene-painting, problems, or politics. Deals with the false and misunderstood position of a man who has been entrusted with the charge of his sister-in-law, while his brother is abroad “on his keeping,” and the complications that arise from this position.

MACDERMOTT, W. R.

— FOUGHILOTRA: A Forbye Story. Pp. 326. (Sealy, Bryers). c. 1906.

Sub-t.:—A memorial of the Ulster handloom weavers. A sociological study, in form of novel, of the history and development of a family. Scene: shore of Lough Neagh. Time: present day, though the family history goes back two hundred years. The forceful and pungent dialect in which it is written is quite natural and true to life. An unusual and noteworthy book—interesting alike for its plot, its clever character-study and the thoughtfulness that pervades it. Has considerable humour, and nothing in the least objectionable. This author also has published, under the pen name of “A. P. O’Gara,” The Green Republic.

MACDONAGH, Michael. B. Limerick, 1862. Ed. Christian Bros.’ Schools. At twenty-two joined the staff of Freeman’s Journal. From 1894 to the present has been on staff of Times, and he lives in London. His father, Michael O’Doherty MacDonagh, was a Donegal man, a printer and poet. Has been writing about Ireland all his life in an immense variety of periodicals, and has published about a dozen books, many of them relating to Parliament, of great historic value.

— IRISH LIFE AND CHARACTER. Pp. 382. (Hodder & Stoughton). 6s. Many editions, the 5th being in 1905.

Object: “To give a clear, full, and faithful picture of Irish life and character, illustrated by anecdotes and by my own experience during a twelve years’ connexion with Irish journalism.” “I have admitted into my collection only anecdotes that are truly genuine, really humorous, and certainly characteristic of the Irish people.” “The face of Ireland as seen in these pages is always puckered with a smile.”—(Pref.). May be described as anecdotes, chiefly comic, classified and accompanied by a running commentary. Chapters: The Old Irish Squire; Duelling; Faction Fighting; Some Delusions about Ireland (e.g., “Stage-Irishman”); Bulls; In the Law Courts; “Agin the Government”; Irish Repartee and Sarcasm; Love-making in Ireland (its matter-of-factness, &c.); Humours of Politics In and Out of Parliament; The Ulster Irishman; The Jarvey; The Beggar; Sunniness of Irish Life, &c. It is to be observed that the laugh is often against the Irish throughout, and perhaps our national failings are rather more prominent here than our national virtues, the serious side of Irish life being scarcely touched on at all.

M’DONNELL, Randal William. B. in Dublin, 1870. Son of Randal M’Donnell, Q.C. Ed. Armagh Royal School. B.A., T.C.D. Was for a time assistant librarian in Marsh’s Library, and now a L.G.B. inspector. Has published also three volumes of verse.

— KATHLEEN MAVOURNEEN. Pp. 270. (Sealy, Bryers). 2s. Frontisp. 1898.

Pictures first the causes and events that led to the rebellion, Tone’s visit to America, his schemes, the French invasion. Then vivid description of the outbreak in Wicklow, the fight at Tubberneering, the battle of New Ross, the capture and death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald.

— WHEN CROMWELL CAME TO DROGHEDA. Pp. 147. (Gill). 2s. 6d. Map of Drogheda and map of Ireland in time of Cromwell. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.90. 1906.

“Edited from the record of Clarence Stranger,” an officer in the army of Owen Roe O’Neill. Covers principal events from Cromwell’s landing to the Plantation, including defence of Clonmel.

— MY SWORD FOR PATRICK SARSFIELD. Pp. 201. (Gill). 3s. 6d. 1907.

Adventures of Phelim O’Hara (character well drawn), a colonel in Sarsfield’s horse, who witnesses siege of Derry, battle of the Boyne, two sieges of Limerick. Much history, varied by startling adventures.

— ARDNAREE. Pp. 227. (Gill). 1911.

“The story of an English girl in Connaught, told by herself.” Mainly a record of social life (tea-parties, military balls, &c.), with a good deal of fairly mild love-making. The ’98 insurrection (landing of French at Killala, &c.) forms a kind of background but is little spoken of. The Author hits off cleverly enough the outlook and language of a narrator such as the heroine.

MACDOUGALL, Rev. J.

— CRAIGNISH TALES, collected by. Notes on the War Dress of the Celts by Lord A. Campbell. Pp. xvi. + 98. (Nutt). 5s. 20 plates. 1889.

— FOLK AND HERO TALES. Pp. xxx. + 311. Demy 8vo. (Nutt). 7s. 6d. net. Three Illustr. by E. Griset. 1891.

Introduction by A. Nutt deals with aims of study of folk-lore, and various theories of the origin of this latter, and the value of Celtic folk-lore.

Ten tales collected in district of Duror (Argyllshire) between Summer of 1889 and Spring of 1890, obtained from a labouring man named Cameron, who had them in his boyhood from Donald MacPhie and others. As folk-lore they are thoroughly reliable and genuine, the Gaelic text given after each story being written at the narrator’s dictation with painstaking accuracy. The stories are typical folk-tales—a string of marvellous adventures of some hero with giants and enchanted castles and witches, &c., &c.—often grotesque and extravagant and devoid of moral or other significance beyond the mere narrative.... Free from coarseness. Finn is the hero in several of these tales. Good Index. 50 pp. of Notes, devoted chiefly to variant versions of the tales, explanations of terms and comparisons with other tales.

M’DOWELL, Lalla.

— THE EARL OF EFFINGHAM. Pp. 280. (Tinsley). 1877.

Time: the forties, in Ballyquin, Co. Galway. It is a kind of appeal in story form to the Irish landlords to stay at home and “right Ireland’s wrongs.” The good points in the Irish character are well brought out, the brogue is well reproduced, and there is much humour. There are some glimpses of Dublin society. The bias is somewhat Protestant.

“MACEIRE, Fergus.”

— THE SONS OF EIRE. Three vols. (Lond.: Newby). 1872.

Author styles himself “The last of the Sons of Eire,” an old broken-down Irish family living in Hampshire (Vol. II. brings them back to Ireland). A long autobiography, with a multitude of rather trifling incidents, much conversation, and a good deal of moralising. The portrait of the writer’s mother is interesting and curious. The Author seems Catholic and Irish in sympathies. In the end the teller marries the betrothed of his brother Brian, the real hero, who has been killed in a skating accident.

MACGILL, Patrick. “The Navvy Poet.” B. Glenties, Co. Donegal, 1891. Ed. at National school until he was twelve. At fourteen began to write verse for the Derry Journal. Soon after set out for Greenock with 10s. in his pocket. “Since then I have done all sorts of things, digging, draining, farming, and navvying.” In 1912 was a plate-layer on the Caledonian Railway.—(I.B.L., III., p. 71). His poems are Songs of a Navvy, Gleanings from a Navvy’s Scrap Book, and Songs of the Dead End. Is now a soldier in the London Irish Rifles, and has written a good account of military life in The Amateur Army. A series of sketches from the firing line, entitled The Red Horizon, is in preparation.

— CHILDREN OF THE DEAD END. Pp. 305. (Herbert Jenkins). 6s. 1914.

“Most of my story is autobiographical.”—(Foreword). It opens in the Glenties with a faithful picture of the people and their hard life. The scene then shifts to Scotland and depicts the toils and temptations that beset the men, and especially the girls, in their sordid and insanitary surroundings. The hero goes on tramp with “Moleskin Joe,” a philosophic vagabond, finely described; and the shifts they are put to and the scenes they come through all bear the mark of truth, as does the wild life led by the navvies at Kinlochleven. The description of these scenes in a London newspaper led to his employment on the press. The hero’s love for Norah Ryan is purely and touchingly delineated, and, save for one unhappy gibe at the P.P., the book is unobjectionable.

— THE RAT PIT. Pp. 308. (Jenkins). 1915.

The story of Norah Ryan, the heroine of The Children of the Dead End, from her childhood in Western Donegal to her death, a woman of the streets, in a Glasgow slum. A heartrending story from start to finish, with scarcely a gleam of cheer. The Author has exceptional powers of observation and gifts of description, and the book is extraordinarily realistic. But the realism and the sombreness being exclusive, the effect is exaggerated even to falseness. Farley McKeown is impossibly villainous, the picture of the wake revolting because undiscerning, Norah’s innocence overdrawn. Yet on the whole the Author’s claim that it is a transcript from life, life seen and lived by him, is doubtless well sustained. There are several needless sneers at the priests, e.g., p. 286, which is wantonly unpleasant. The Author is not prurient, but he describes plainly and vividly scenes in Glasgow brothels. Good picture of the conditions of life of the Irish migratory labourers.

[M’GOVERN, Rev. J. B.]; “J. B. S.” Of St. Stephen’s Rectory, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester. An enthusiast for Irish archæology and a frequent contributor on his favourite subject to N. & Q., Cork Archaeol. Journal, the Antiquary, &c.

— IMELDA, or Retribution: a Romance of Kilkee. (Tinsley). 7s. 6d. 1883.

Scene: varies between Kilkee and Meenahela on the one hand and Italy on the other. The story is concerned with the faithlessness of Imelda Lestrange, an Irish girl, to her affianced Florentine lover, Gasper Bicchieri, whom she had met at Kilkee, and the Nemesis that befalls her in the faithlessness of her new lover—and husband—Monckton, who deserts her for his cousin, Teresa Dempsey. Most of this happens at Kilkee. The end is tragedy. Forty years later Gasper returns to Kilkee to brood in the scene of the catastrophe of his life. There is little or no characterisation or study of motive. The story opens in 1829.

M’HENRY, James, M.D. B. Larne, Co. Antrim, 1785. Ed. Dublin and Glasgow. Lived 1817-1842 in U.S.A. From 1842 till his death in 1845 he was U.S. consul at Derry. Publ. several volumes of verse (Mr. O’Donoghue enumerates nine) and several novels besides those mentioned below.

— THE INSURGENT CHIEF. Pp. 128, very close print. (Gill). Bound up with HEARTS OF STEEL. n.d.

Adventures of a young loyalist during the rebellion in the North, pleasantly told, but with improbabilities and a good deal of the deus ex machina. Gives the very best description of the scenes in Belfast and Larne leading up to the Battle of Antrim and the consequent defeat of the “United men,” many of whom were personally known to the Author. The leaders are referred to by name, and the heroic death of Willy Neilson pathetically described. The famous rebel ballad of “Blaris Moor” is put into the mouth of a ballad singer in Belfast, and the northern dialect is excellently rendered.

The original title of this was O’Halloran; or, The Insurgent Chief, [1824], Philadelphia, three vols., and in same year London, one vol. Republ. frequently in Glasgow (Cameron & Ferguson) and Belfast (Henderson).

— THE HEARTS OF STEEL. (Gill). 6d. [1825]. Still in print.

A story full of sensational adventure. There is a good deal about the Oak Boys and Steel Boys, Ulster Protestant secret societies which indulged in agrarian outrages as a protest against various abuses. The writer praises the Presbyterian religion somewhat at the expense of the Catholic. Some of the incidents related are rather coarse. Includes legends of Carrickfergus, also a good deal of verse.

MACHRAY, Robert. B. 1857. Formerly Prof. of Ecclesiastical History in St. John’s University College, Manitoba. War editor, Daily Mail, 1904-05. Between 1898 and 1914 has publ. a dozen novels, besides other works.

— GRACE O’MALLEY, Princess and Pirate. Pp. viii. + 338. (Cassell). 6s. 1898.

Purporting to be “Told by Ruari Macdonald, Redshank and Rebel, The same set forth in the Tongue of the English.” Scene: various points on the west coast from Achill to Limerick. To a dual love story—of Grace (= Grania Waile) and Richard Burke, Ruari (the hero) and Eva, Grace’s foster-sister—are added many stirring descriptions of sea-fights and escapes, sieges and hostings. Historical personages, such as Sir Nicholas Malbie, the Earl of Desmond, and Stephen Lynch of Galway, are introduced. The moral tone is entirely good. The point of view is Grace O’Malley’s.

M’ILROY, Archibald. B. Ballyclare, Co. Antrim, 1860. Entered first the banking and then the insurance business. Took part in public life in his native county and in Co. Down. For the last three years of his life, which was ended in the Lusitania disaster, 1915, he lived in Canada.

— THE AULD MEETIN’ HOOSE GREEN. Pp. 260. (Belfast: M’Caw, Stevenson & Orr). 1898.

Stories of the Co. Antrim peasantry. Time: thirty or forty years ago. Imitative of the “Kailyard” school in England. An intimate picture of Ulster Presbyterianism and its ways of thought. Has both humour and pathos. Is offensive to no creed or class. Ulster-Scot dialect true to life. Titles of some of the stories:—“Two Little Green Graves,” “At Jesus’ Feet,” “The Old Precentor Crosses the Bar.”

— WHEN LINT WAS IN THE BELL. (Unwin). 1898.

— BY LONE CRAIG LINNIE BURN. Pp. 153. (Unwin). 1900.

“Two series of local stories of the Scoto-Irish folk of Ulster, the chat of village gossips, character-sketches of doctor, minister, agent, and inn-keeper: quaint blends of Scottish and Irish traits. Most of the tales of idyllic kind.”—(Baker). The reviewer in the Irish Monthly says of the second of the above: “It is a wonderfully realistic picture of various grades of social life in a little country town in the North... giving amusing glimpses of the working of practical Presbyterian theology in the rustic middle class.... Leaves on the reader a very remarkable impression of truthfulness and reality.” In this second novel there is some humour and a good deal of pathos. The same remarks apply here as to The Auld Meetin’ Hoose Green.

— A BANKER’S LOVE STORY. Pp. 247. (Fisher Unwin). 1901.

The story opens in “the Union Bank, Spindleton” (the Ulster Bank, Belfast), the various types of bank directors and clerks being cleverly described—the mischief-making Blake, the jolly Harry Burke, &c. The scene shifts to “Craig Linnie” (Ballyclare), where George Dixon’s love story begins. He is transferred to Ballinasloe (good description of the big fair). Through no fault of his own he comes under a cloud, but eventually matters clear up and all ends happily. The Author knows his Ulster types thoroughly.

— THE HUMOUR OF DRUID’S ISLAND. Pp. 127. (Hodges, Figgis; and Mullan, Belfast). 2s. 6d. 1902.

Scene: “Druid’s Island” is Islandmagee, Co. Antrim. A series of very short anecdotes told to one another by the Presbyterian country people, in their peculiar Scoto-Irish dialect, and full of the dry, “pawky” humour of the North. Gives glimpses of the manners and life of the place.

MACINNES, Rev. D.

— FOLK AND HERO TALES. Collected, ed. (in Gaelic), and trans. by; with a Study on the Development of the Ossianic or Finn Saga, and copious Notes by Alfred Nutt. Pp. xxiv. + 497. (Nutt). 15s. net. Portrait of Campbell of Islay and two Illustr. by E. Griset. 1890.

Gaelic and English throughout on opposite pages. The tales were taken down at intervals during 1881-2, chiefly from the dictation of A. MacTavish, a shoemaker of seventy-four, a native of Mull. The tales are typical folk-tales, full of giants, monsters, and other mythic and magic beings. They are often quaint, imaginative and picturesque, but abound in extravagance and absurdity. In Mr. Nutt’s notes (pp. 443 to end) he studies chiefly—(1) What relation, if any, obtains between the folk-tales current in Scotland and the older Gaelic literature; (2) what traces of early Celtic belief and customs do these tales reveal. They are very elaborate and scholarly. Good Index.

M’INTOSH, Sophie. Born at Kinsale, where she resided for many years, until her marriage with Rev. H. M’Intosh, of Methodist College, Belfast. In her sketches she describes faithfully and vividly the people of her native town.—(Irish Lit.).

— THE LAST FORWARD, and Other Stories. Pp. 152. (Brimley Johnson). Five Illustr. by Jack B. Yeats. 1902.

Ten Irish school and football stories, with plenty of schoolboy language and slang, told in lively, stirring style, never dull.

McKAY, J. G.

— THE WIZARD’S GILLIE; or, Gille A’Bhuidseir and Other Tales. Ed. and transl. by J. G. McKay. (St. Catherine’s Press). 3s. 6d. 1915.

A selection from the MS. collection of the tales gathered by the late J. F. Campbell, of Islay (q.v.), and preserved in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh. The Gaelic and the translation are given on opposite pages. Some of the titles are “Donald Caol Cameron,” “The Carpenter MacPheigh,” “The Sept of the Three Score Fools.”

MACKAY, William.

— PRO PATRIA: the Autobiography of a Conspirator. Two Vols. (Remington). 1883.

The narrator, Ptolemy Daly, is a weak, conceited youth, given to hysterics and poetry. Full of visions of Robert Emmet, he joins the staff of “The Sunburst,” the organ of an insurrectionary movement led by Phil Gallagher, a fine character, evidently modelled on T. C. Luby. At the critical moment Daly plays the traitor and decamps to England. Isaac Butt and John Rea are introduced, under thinly disguised names. Scene: Dublin and Wicklow. Written in ironical vein: Daly’s only “Speech from the Dock” was on a charge of drunk and disorderly. The Author was one of three brothers, all well-known London journalists. He was born in Belfast in 1846. Wrote also A Popular Idol and Beside Still Waters.

MACKENZIE, Donald A.

— FINN AND HIS WARRIOR BAND; or, Tales of Old Alban. Pp. 248. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. 1910.

Stories, arranged in a connected series, of the Fenian cycle, adapted for children from twelve to fourteen or thereabouts. Told in picturesque language, but perfectly simple and direct. For the most part folklore, full of magic and wonder, nine-headed giants and fire-breathing dogs. But here and there the antique hero-tale appears, as in the Battle of Gavra and the death of Dermaid. Localities mostly Scotch. The illustrations (6 coloured, 34 in black and white) are charming in every way. Picture cover.

MACKENZIE, R. Shelton.

— BITS OF BLARNEY. (N.Y.: Redfield). [1854]. (N.Y.: Alden). 1884.

“A series of Irish stories and legends collected from the peasantry,” familiar to the Author in youth (see pref.). It is a volume of miscellanies. Includes three stories of Blarney Castle told in serio-comic manner by a schoolmaster; some local legends of Finn McCool, &c.; eccentric characters (the bard O’Kelly, Father Prout, Irish dancing masters, Charley Crofts, Buck English); Irish publicists; sketches of Grattan and O’Connell (the former enthusiastic, the latter not wholly favourable—O’C. “the greatest professor of Blarney these latter days have seen or heard”). He speaks of O’C. from personal knowledge. On the whole thoroughly nationalist in tone. The Author, b. in Co. Limerick, 1809, educated Cork and Fermoy, was a journalist in London, afterwards in New York, and wrote or edited many valuable works, historical and biographical. D. 1880.

M’KEON, J. F.

— ORMOND IDYLLS. Pp. 144. (Nutt). 1s. Paper. 1901.

Scene: Co. Kilkenny. Eight little sketches of peasant life, pathetic and sad. In one a glimpse is given with knowledge and sympathy of the work of a country priest.

M’LENNAN, William.

— SPANISH JOHN. Pp. 270. (Harper). 6s. Eighteen v. g. Illustr. by F. de Myrbach. 1898.

Adventures of Col. John McDonnell from the Highlands, when a lieutenant in the regiment Irlandia, in the service of the K. of Spain, operating in Italy (1744-6). At the Scots College in Rome, whither he had been sent to be made a priest, he had met a young student, a Mr. O’Rourke. This latter, now a chaplain in the Irish Brigade, saves McD.’s life on the field of Villetri. Subsequently the two are sent by the Duke of York to Scotland on a mission to Prince Charlie. They find that all is lost. Characters admirably drawn, notably the humorous, warm-hearted, heroic Father O’Rourke.

“MACLEOD, Fiona”; William Sharp. B. Paisley, 1856. Ed. Glasgow Univ. Spent his boyhood in the West Highlands and Islands and became imbued with love for things Celtic. Even as late as 1899 it was positively stated that, in spite of conjectures to the contrary, William Sharp and Fiona MacLeod were not the same person, and Mrs. Hinkson says in her Twenty-five Years’ Reminiscences that she is not yet convinced that they were.

— THE LAUGHTER OF PETERKIN. Pp. 288. (Constable). Four Drawings by S. Rollenson. 1897.

“A re-telling of old tales of the Celtic Wonder-World. Contains: ‘The Laughter of Peterkin’; ‘the Four White Swans (Sons of Lir)’; ’the Fate of the Sons of Tuireann’; ‘Darthool and the Sons of Usnach.’” Told in language of great beauty and simplicity.

— SPIRITUAL TALES. (Edinb.: Geddes). 1897.

— TRAGIC ROMANCES. (Edinb.: Geddes). 1897.

— BARBARIC TALES. (Edinb.: Geddes). 1897.

— THE DOMINION OF DREAMS. (Constable). 1899.

— THE SIN-EATER, and Other Tales. (Constable). 1899.

— THE WASHER OF THE FORD, and Other Tales. (Constable). 1899.

— The collected works written under the above pen-name (between 1894 and 1905). Ed. by his widow, and publ. by Heinemann in seven Vols., 5s. net each. Three Vols. have appeared, viz.:—I. Pharais; The Mountain Lovers. II. The Sin Eater; The Washer of the Ford (April). Pp. 450. III. The Dominion of Dreams; Under the Dark Star (April). Pp. 438. The following are announced:—IV. The Divine Adventure; Iona, &c. V. The Winged Destiny. VI. The Silence of Amor; Where the Forest Murmurs. VII. Poems and Dramas.

Some titles of the stories in these three vols.:—“Morag of the Glen,” “The Dan-nan-Ron,” “The Sin-Eater,” “The Flight of the Culdees,” “The Harping of Cravetheen,” “Silk o’ the Kine,” “Cathal of the Woods,” “St. Bride of the Isles,” “The Awakening of Angus Ogue,” “Three Marvels of Iona,” &c.

These books of Fiona Macleod’s are, for the most part, shadowy, elusive dream-poems in prose, wrought into a form of beauty from fragments of old Gaelic tales heard in the Western isles (where the Author lived for years) from fishermen and crofters. They are full of the magic of words subtly woven, of vague mystery, and of nature—wind and sea and sky. He strives to infuse into his stories the sadder and more mystic aspects of the Gaelic spirit, as he conceives it. “I have not striven to depict the blither Irish Celt.” But many of his stories are simply Irish legends, e.g., The Harping of Cravetheen. The Author thus describes his work: “In certain sections are tales of the old Gaelic and Celtic Scandinavian life and mythology; in others there is a blending of paganism and Christianity; in others again are tales of the dreaming imagination having their base in old mythology, or in a kindred mythopæic source.... Many of these tales are of the grey wandering wave of the West, and through each goes the wind of the Gaelic spirit which turns to the dim enchantment of dreams.” On the other hand, some of these stories deal with life in modern Gaelic Scotland, e.g., The Mountain Lovers, which, however poetically told, is after all a tale of seduction. The Winged Destiny, amid much matter of a different nature, contains several tales of Gaelic inspiration.

MACLEOD and THOMSON.

— SONGS AND TALES OF ST. COLUMBA AND HIS AGE. By Fiona Macleod and J. Arthur Thomson. Third edition. Large paper 4to. (Edinb.: Patrick Geddes). 6d. nett.

M’MAHON, Ella. Dau. of late Rev. J. H. MacMahon, Chaplain to the Lord-Lieutenant. Ed.: home. Has written much for various magazines and periodicals, and particularly on historical and archæological subjects. Has publ. about seventeen novels. Now resides in Chelsea.—(Who’s Who).

— FANCY O’BRIEN. (Chapman & Hall). 6s. 1909.

A tragedy of city life centering in the betrayal and desertion of Bridgie Doyle by Fancy O’Brien. Full of human interest, careful and skilful study of character and motive. Catholic in sympathy. “In its minor details the book is true to life, photographic in its realism.” The story is of high dramatic and literary excellence. In the account of the Easter Monday excursion to Bray “the story of Bridgie’s undoing is told with a rare combination of poetry, force, and restraint.”—(N.I.R., Aug., 1909).

— THE JOB. Pp. 383. (Nisbet). 6s. 1914.

Sir Thady, a Cromwellian-Irish baronet, grows interested in his Irish surroundings on his estate of Ballymaclashin. He ceases to haunt the Bath Club, Piccadilly, and takes to starting carpet factories (The Job). Many of the incidents are furnished by the difficulties that beset the task owing to the amateurish innocence of the baronet and the stupidity of his local helpers. And besides there are the love affairs of Sir Thady and the English Miss Devereux. The point of view is Anglo-Irish, the “mere” Irish being regarded de haut en bas as rather impossible, thriftless, poor people, in short, as a problem to be dealt with philanthropically. The style is easy and pleasant.

MACMANUS, Miss L. Holds a distinct place among Irish authors of to-day as being one of the very few writers of Irish historical fiction who write from a thoroughly national standpoint. Her books are straightforward, stirring tales, enthusiastically Irish, free from tedious disquisitions, but based on considerable historical research. She is a worker in the ranks of the Gaelic League, and in her Co. Mayo (Kiltimagh) home does much for the cause of Irish Ireland. She is interested in folklore, and some of the tales she has collected have recently been publ. in the Folklore Journal. Some of her stories in the Dublin weeklies deal in the weird and the mysterious. The following have been publ. by The Educational Co. of Ireland as penny pamphlets:—In the High King’s Camp, A Battle Champion, Felim the Harper, The Prince of Breffny’s Son, How Enda went to the Iceland, The Leathern Cloaks. She has publ. two serials in Sinn Fein: The Professor in Erin and One Generation Passeth.

— THE SILK OF THE KINE. Pp. 282. (Fisher Unwin). 3s. 6d. (N.Y.: Harper). 1.00. 1896.

Scene: chiefly Connaught and south-west Ulster during the Parliamentary Wars. The heroine is a daughter of the Maguire of Fermanagh. Her capture by the Roundheads, her rescue from the man-hunters by a Parliamentarian officer, her condemnation to slavery in St. Kitt’s, and her escape, are told in vivid and thrilling style. It is a story for young readers especially.

— LALLY OF THE BRIGADE. (Duffy). 2s. 1s. (Boston: Page). 25c. 1899.

Adventures, during the War of the Spanish Succession, of a Colonel of the Brigade, who, after many thrilling experiences, distinguishes himself at Cremona, and marries a girl whom he had met during the war under romantic circumstances. The tale is lively and interesting, and makes one realize somewhat of the intrigues and dangers of war.... Young readers may derive a great deal of amusement and instruction from the book.—(N.I.R.). Lally is a young captain in the regiment of Dillon. “James III.,” Louis XIV., Prince Eugène, Marshall Villeroy, and General O’Mahony all appear in the story.

— NESSA. Pp. 147. (Sealy, Bryers). 2s. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60. n.d. (1904).

A tale of the Cromwellian Plantation, characterized by a simple unpretentious style and considerable power of description, both of character and scenery.—(Press notices). The little book was highly praised by the Academy and by the Irish Times. It is, of course, strongly national in sentiment. Scene: an old castle near Lough Conn, Co. Mayo.

— IN SARSFIELD’S DAYS. Pp. 306. (Gill). Illustr. 1907.

“A Passage from the Memoirs of Brigadier Niall MacGuinness of Iveagh, sometime captain in Sarsfield’s Horse.” Scene: Limerick during Siege. Includes account of Sarsfield’s Ride and of the repulse of William’s assault. The plot hinges on the disappearance of Balldearg O’Donnell’s cross, which Iveagh is suspected of having stolen. The central figure is perhaps the wayward and imperious Ethna Ni Briain. The story moves rapidly, unencumbered by descriptions or digressions. The scenes are vivid and dramatic. The Author’s play, “O’Donnell’s Cross,” is founded on this novel. Publ. in U.S.A. (N.Y.: Buckles), 1.50, under title The Wager.

— NUALA. Pp. 322. (Browne & Nolan). 3s. 6d. Four Illustr. by Oswald Cunningham. 1908.

Tells how the only child, aged fifteen, of the head of the O’Donnells, then in the service of the Austrian Government, is entrusted by her father just before his death with the mission of obtaining the Cathach, or battle-book of the O’Donnells, from the monks at Louvain. On the way she passes through exciting adventures, being captured by some of Napoleon’s soldiers. Gen. Hoche figures in the story. Juvenile.

MACMANUS, Seumas. B. Mountcharles, Co. Donegal, 1870. Son of a peasant farmer. Was for some years a National School teacher, but subsequently turned entirely to journalism. Has written for most of the Irish papers and magazines and for many English and American periodicals. Is well known in the States, where he frequently goes on lecturing tours.

— SHUILERS FROM HEATHY HILLS. Pp. 102. (Mountcharles: G. Kirke). 1893.

The Author’s earliest poems and three prose sketches:—“Micky Maguire” (the last of the hedge schoolmasters), “How you bathe at Bundoran,” and “A Trip with Phil M’Goldrick.”

— THE LEADIN’ ROAD TO DONEGAL. Pp. 246. (Digby, Long). 3s. 6d. (N.Y.: Pratt). 2.00. [1896]. Second ed., 1908; others since.

Twelve short stories of the Donegal peasantry, full of very genuine, if somewhat broad, humour and drollery. They are not meant as pictures of peasant life. The dialect is exaggerated for humorous purposes, and at times the fun goes perilously near “Stage-Irishism.” But they are never coarse or vulgar.

— ’TWAS IN DHROLL DONEGAL. (Gill). 1s. Third ed., 1897.

Eight tales dealing with the humorous side of the home-life of Donegal peasants. A few, however, are folk-tales of the Jack the Giant-killer type. Told with verve and piquancy and with unflagging humour, but the skill in story-telling is naturally not as developed in this as in the Author’s later work, drawing a good deal upon humorous padding to aid the intrinsic humour of the incidents.

— THE BEND OF THE ROAD. (Gill, Duffy). 2s., 3s. (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.75. [1897].

This is a sequel to A Lad of the O’Friels,7 but consists of detached sketches, and is not told in the first person. Most of the sketches are humorous, notably “Father Dan and Fiddlers Four”; but there is pathos, too, as in “The Widow’s Mary,” a scene at a wake before an eviction. The Introduction is an admirable summing up of the peculiarities, emotions, and vicissitudes of life in an out-of-the-way Donegal countryside.

— THE HUMOURS OF DONEGAL. (Unwin). (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.50. [1898].

Seven stories admirably told, and full of the richest and most rollicking humour. In the first only, viz., “When Barney’s Thrunk Comes Home,” is there a touch of the pathetic. It would be hard to beat “Shan Martin’s Ghost,” and “Why Tómas Dubh Walked,” and “How Paddy M’Garrity did not get to be Gauger.” “One St. Patrick’s Day” gives the humorous side of Orange and Green rivalry.

— THROUGH THE TURF SMOKE. (Fisher Unwin). 2s. (N.Y.: Doubleday. Toronto: Morang). 2.00. [1899]. 1901.

Simple tales of the Donegal peasantry. There is both pathos and humour—the former deep, and at times poignant; the latter always rich and often farcical. The Author writes with all the vividness of one who has lived all he writes about. He has full command of every device of the story-teller, yet never allows his personality to show except, as it should, through the medium of the actors.

— IN CHIMNEY CORNERS. Pp. 281. (N.Y.: Harper). Illustr. by Pamela Colman Smith. 1899.

“Subtle, merry tales of Irish Folk-lore.”—(Pref.). The stories are very similar in kind to the same Author’s Donegal Fairy Tales. There is the same quaint, humorous, peasant language, the same extravagances and impossibilities. The illustrations are very numerous. They are very brightly coloured, but for the most part extremely bizarre.

— THE BEWITCHED FIDDLE, and Other Irish Tales. Pp. ix. + 240. (N.Y.: Doubleday and McClure). 1900.

Ten short stories, humorous for the most part, but one, “The Cadger Boy’s Last Journey,” moving and pathetic. They are an exact reproduction in dialect and phraseology of stories actually heard by the Author at Donegal firesides, and the fidelity of the reproduction is perfect.

— DONEGAL FAIRY STORIES. Pp. 255. (Isbister). 1902. (N.Y.: McClure).

Dedication in Irish and English. Thirty-four full-page pen and ink drawings, signed “Verbeek.” These latter are quaint and amusingly grotesque. The stories are folk-tales, told just as the peasantry tell them, without brogue, but with all the repetitions, humorous extravagances and naïveté of the folk-tale. They are just the thing for children, and are quite free from coarseness and vulgarity.

— THE RED POACHER. (N.Y.: Funk & Wagnalls). 0.75. 1903.

— A LAD OF THE O’FRIELS. Pp. 318. (Gill; Duffy). 2s., 2s. 6d., 3s. (N.Y.: Pratt). 2.00. [1903]. Third ed., 1906.

In this book one actually seems to have been living among the childlike and quaint yet deep-natured, true, and altogether lovable little circle of Knocknagar, and to have shared its joys and sorrows. Every character described stands out altogether distinct, old Toal a’Gallagher the sententious; his wife, Susie of the sharp tongue; their son, Toal the “Vagabone,” with his wild pranks; the grandiloquent “Masther,” and all the rest. Through it all runs the simple love story of Dinny O’Friel and Nuala Gildea, companions from childhood. The book is full of deep, but quiet and restrained, feeling. The description of the pilgrimage to Lough Derg has much beauty.

— DOCTOR KILGANNON. (Gill). 1s. (Wrapper). Well illustr. 1907.

A string of loosely-connected after-dinner stories chiefly about comic duelling and electioneering. Told with pleasant drollery.

— YOURSELF AND THE NEIGHBOURS. Pp. 304. (N.Y.: Devin Adair Co.). Five Illustr. by T. Fogarty. 1914.

A picture by one who has lived it of the life of the Donegal peasant—not their outward life merely, but their most intimate thoughts and beliefs, hopes and joys, their whole outlook on things. The Author is discerning and sympathetic in a high degree. “Yourself and Herself” gives a Donegal man’s life story from “the barefoot time” through love and marriage to “evening’s quiet end.” Some of the remaining stories show the Author’s humour at its best—the Homeric struggles of the “priest’s boy” with the New Curate and the Tartar of a postmistress, the “come home Yankee,” and so on.

M’NALLY, Mrs.8

— ECCENTRICITY. Three Vols. (over 1,000 pp.). (Dubl.: Cumming). 1820.

An endless series of love affairs between charming ladies and wealthy gentlemen, all of the upper classes, very proper, very stilted, and dull. The eccentricity is on the part of an old soldier who is a misanthrope and a hermit, but resolves to return to normal life and renew acquaintance with his daughter. He descends upon the friend’s family in which he has left her, carries off another by mistake, &c. The plot never really moves on.

M’NALLY, Louisa.

— THE PIRATE’S FORT. Pp. 210. (Hodges & Smith). 1854.

The fort is Dunalong, on Inisherkin, in Baltimore Bay, a stronghold of the O’Driscoll’s towards close of 16th cent. English ship captured. O’D.’s natural son, a ferocious pirate, falls in love with captain’s daughter. She is true to her English officer. The beautiful daughter of O’D. saves her from his fury. Vengeance of the English—destruction of the fort—double wedding of the two fair maids to two English officers. A prominent rôle is assigned to money-grabbing, idle, besotted Franciscan friar.

MACNAMARA, Lewis.

— BLIND LARRY: Irish Idylls. (Jarrold). 3s. 6d. 1897.

“Artless records of life among the very poor in West of Ireland, the fruit of kindly observation, and, obviously, essays in the Thrums style. Larry is a poor blind fiddler, whose one joy in life is his son, and he turns out a reproach to his father. “Katty’s Wedding” is a very Irish bit of farce, and “Mulligan’s Revenge” expresses the vindictive passions of the Celt, an episode of jealousy and crime, alleviated at the close by repentance and reconciliation.”—(Baker).

MACNAMARA, Rachel Swete.

— SPINNERS IN SILENCE. Pp. 317. (Blackwood). 6s. 1911.

Fingal and Lutie are lovers somewhere in the wilds of Ireland. Enter an Interloper (a danseuse of doubtful reputation), who falls genuinely in love with F., and tries to win him. She fails, and exit. The atmosphere is very ideal and the language, especially the conversations, somewhat high-flown. Author writes well, and is clearly sympathetic to Ireland. The housekeeper cousin of “county family” status, with her genteel notions, is well sketched.

M’NULTY, Edward. B. 1856, Randalstown, Co. Antrim. Ed. in the Incorporated Society’s School, Aungier St., Dublin, where he was a schoolmate and intimate of G. B. Shaw. Contributes to various periodicals—Irish Society, The Occult Review, &c., and has written a play, “The Lord Mayor,” for the Abbey Theatre. Satirizes Irish failings, but is proud of being an Irishman himself. Resides in Ranelagh, Dublin.

— MISTHER O’RYAN. Pp. 271. (Arnold). 3s. 6d. 1894.

A priest, squat, red-faced, whiskey-loving, unspeakably vulgar, and a ruffian to whom he is disgracefully related, organize a branch of the “Lague,” and boycott a farmer who will not join. The latter’s daughter dies tragically in consequence. The typical “pesint” is introduced as cringeing, priest-ridden, and wholly degraded. Impossible brogue throughout.

— SON OF A PEASANT. Pp. 342. (Arnold). 1897.

A great advance on Misther O’Ryan, q.v. A tragic-comedy of life among lower middle class people in a small provincial town. The “son of a peasant” is Clarence Maguire, an obscure young schoolmaster, who in the end comes in for great wealth and all but wins the daughter of Sir Herbert O’Hara, an impoverished gentleman. A sub-plot is furnished by the love affairs of Constable Kerrigan and his determined efforts after promotion. The plot affords the Author scope for many genuinely humorous scenes, especially those in the Flanagan family, which are admirably done, and for the clever portrayal of some of the meaner aspects of human nature—class pride, servility, the worship of the moneyed man, time serving, &c. The plot largely turns on an absurd superstition about changelings. This leads to the hideous tragedy of the close. The book is marred by a travesty of the brogue. Otherwise it is not anti-national.

— MAUREEN. Pp. 343. (Arnold). 6s. 1904.

Of the same type as Misther O’Ryan. One of the priests introduced trades with a miraculous statue on the superstition of the people; the other is a sleek, smooth fop, thoroughly and heartlessly vicious. There is little else besides this in the book.

— MRS. MULLIGAN’S MILLIONS. (Hurst & Blackett). 6s. 1908.

A broad farce, with Irish people (of the worst stage-Irish type) as actors, and a small, vulgar Irish town for scene. Mrs. Mulligan is a very low species of tramp. She is supposed suddenly to come in for a fortune, and her relations tumble over one another in efforts to gain her favour—until the bubble bursts. There is much caricature of Irish traits and manners. Local journalism is specially ridiculed.—(News cuttings).

M’SPARRAN, Archibald.

— THE LEGEND OF M’DONNELL AND THE NORMAN DE BORGOS. Pp. 213, close print. 16mo. (Gill). 1s. [Belfast, 1829]. Still in print.

Writer (1795-1850?) was a school-master in Derry, who emigrated to America in 1830, where he published Tales and Stories of the Alleghenys and The Hermit of the Rocky Mountains. A tale of the struggles between O’Neills, O’Donnells, O’Cahans, M’Quillans, M’Donnells, and other Ulster septs. Scene: northern portions of Antrim, Derry, and Donegal. The work of a half-educated man. A rambling story marked by frequent lapses from literary good taste and numerous grammatical mistakes. The peasantry talk in broad modern brogue, full of “arrah,” “musha,” “tare-an-ouns,” &c. Shows a considerable though undigested knowledge of Irish history and topography. The book had considerable vogue both here and in U.S.A.

MACSWEENEY, Rev. Patrick M., M.A. One of the most erudite of Irish priests. Was Chancellor’s Gold Medallist in the Royal University. Was afterwards Professor of Mod. Lit. in Holy Cross College, Clonliffe. Is at present editor of the Irish Ecclesiastical Record.

— THE MARTIAL CAREER OF CONGHAL CLÁIRINGHNEACH. Pp. lxvii. + 225. (Nutt, for Irish Texts Society). 1904.

Ed. for the first time with all the apparatus of scholarship—critical study of the Tale or Saga, literary study of the text, grammatical study, notes, glossary, and index. The story belongs to the pre-Cuchulainn stage of the Red Branch Cycle. Conghal is supposed to have reigned from 177 to 162 B.C.

MACWALTER, J. G., F.R.S.L., &c.

— TALES OF IRELAND AND THE IRISH. Pp. 224. (Farquhar Shaw). 1854.

Wrote also The Irish Reformation Movement, 1852; Modern Mystery, 1854, &c. The object of these three stories is to point out the wickedness and the evil influence, especially in Ireland, of the Catholic Church. In “Betty Bryan’s Fortune,” Thady becomes a Protestant, and all goes well with him: the sign of the Cross is called a charm; and there is a description of Beltaine superstitions. In “The Terry Alt,” a girl is seized just after marriage and immured in a convent for life: the conspirators are a monk, a priest, and “Blackboys.”

MADDEN, M. S.

— THE FITZGERALD FAMILY. (R.T.S.). 2s. Three cold. ill. by Victor Prout. 1910.

The family is left very poor on death of father, a C. of I. clergyman. Rich and vulgar relations adopt Barry and Moya, the former of whom becomes an unbearable bounder, the latter a heartless flirt. The rest of the family remains very poor, very good, and rather dull. There is an occasional mention of Irish peasants and the Irish language. Apart from this, the persons, their doings, and the atmosphere are wholly un-Irish. The story has a moral purpose that is good and not too obtrusive.

MAGENNIS, Peter. A retired National School teacher. B. near Derrygonnelly, Co. Fermanagh, in 1817, the son of a farmer. D. 1910, aged 93, at his birth-place.

— THE RIBBON INFORMER: a Tale of Lough Erne. Pp. 158. (London). 1874.

An unskilfully constructed, rambling narrative, interspersed with indifferent verse. The Author says in his Preface: “This novel is founded on fact, almost every incident in it actually occurred, and many of them within the recollection of the writer. It contains local traditions and legendary lore. It treats of highway robbery, illicit distilling, rural manners, party feeling, and a rather disorganized state of society.”

— TULLY CASTLE: a Tale of 1641. Pp. 266. (Enniskillen: Trimble). 1877.

A very crude, rambling tale, bringing in a few incidents of the Confederate War and several historic characters, but mainly taken up with private love affairs, abductions, &c. No character study and no real portrayal of the times. Occasional vulgarity. Scene: chiefly the shores of Lough Erne.

MAGINN, J. D.

— FITZGERALD, THE FENIAN. Two Vols. Pp. 576. (Chapman & Hall). 1889.

Deals with Fenian and Land League movements. The Author is unacquainted with the history and organization of Fenianism. The land agitation he represents as forced upon an unwilling peasantry by a kind of murder-club in America. Scene: mainly Co. Sligo. Parnell and Biggar are brought in under assumed names, and are broadly caricatured. The portrayal of Butt is truer to reality and less marred by bias. The Author is uninformed and, on the whole, uncomprehending: hence some absurd statements about things Irish, some objectionable (but evidently unintentionally so) references to the Catholic Church, and a quite impossible Irish brogue. But he is on the whole not unfriendly to Ireland.

MAGINN, William. B. Cork, 1793. Ed. T.C.D. Began early to write for the magazines (Blackwood’s, &c.), chiefly parodies and other jeux d’esprit. Went to London, 1823, where, in 1830, he established Fraser’s Magazine, which with Carlyle, Thackeray, Maclise, Prout as contributors, for some years was at the head of English periodical literature. He fell more and more into habits of drunkenness, and engaged in disreputable journalism. Writing to the end, he died in 1842. Thackeray drew a portrait of him as Captain Shandon in Pendennis. Many memoirs of him have been written. His “Bob Burke’s Duel with Ensign Brady” is said to be the raciest Irish story ever written.

— MISCELLANIES: Prose and Verse. (London). [First collection, 1840]. Selections ed. by “R. W. Montagu.” 1885. (N.Y.: Scribner). 9.60.

Contains “Bob Burke’s Duel,” “The Story without a Tail,” and other Irish stories, published in magazines between 1823 and 1842. These stories are told mostly in a vein of broad comedy. Their characters are roysterers and swaggerers. Maginn was a man of brilliant gifts. The fantastic humour and wild gaiety of his stories give them an original flavour. Maginn was a high Tory and an Orangeman.—(Krans). Dr. Mackenzie edited, in 1857, The Miscellanies of William Maginn (5 vols.), published in America. Contents:—Vols. I. and II. “The O’Doherty Papers.” III. “The Shakespeare Papers.” IV. “Homeric Ballads.” V. “The Fraserian Papers,” with a life of the Author.

MAHONY, Martin Francis; “Matthew Stradling.” B., Co. Cork, 1831. D. 1885. Was a nephew of “Father Prout.” Also wrote Cheap John’s Auction.

— THE IRISH BAR SINISTER. Pp. 136. London. 1872.

“New ed. in four chapters.” The original was publ. by Gill, Dublin, 1871. Really a pamphlet showing up the place-hunting whiggery that prevailed in the Irish Bar at that time, and giving a picture of Irish politics after the Fenian insurrection, and at the outset of the Home Rule movement.

— THE MISADVENTURES OF MR. CATLYNE, Q.C. An Autobiography. Two Vols. (Tinsley). 1873.

Elaborates the idea of the above-mentioned work. Depicts, under assumed names, well-known Irish lawyers of the day. Intrigues of the candidate for a small Irish borough, and his difficulty in placating all parties well described. This originally appeared in Fraser’s Magazine. There is little plot, and no romantic interest.

— JERPOINT. An ungarnished Story of the Time. Three Vols. (Chapman & Hall). 1875.

A satirical study of parvenus, snobs, and various curious types, very cleverly characterised. The story is chiefly concerned with the Courtneys, risen from the publichouse to county-family importance. P. 49 sq. gives an excellent picture of a meet, with a study of the personages present. Full of close observation and excellent descriptions. Among the best portraits are those of the Hanlon family, always shabby and out-at-elbows, yet ever struggling with fortune. We are not told the situation of “the Cathedral City of Jerpoint on the Sea.”

MALONE, Molly. A Dublin lady, married to a Mr. Riordan, living in Carlow.

— THE GOLDEN LAD. 16mo. (C.T.S. of Ireland: Iona Series). 1s. 1910.

A study of Dublin slum-children, told with humour, insight, and sympathy, by one who thoroughly knows their ways. The dialect is faithfully rendered.

MANNERS, T. Hartley.

— PEG O’ MY HEART. Pp. 320. (Hodder & Stoughton). 1913.

“Novelized” from a popular play. Peg is daughter of an Irish agitator of the eighties who goes to America in the troubled times. On the death of Peg’s mother her father returns to Ireland, and lives there for many years, till bright prospects call him back to America. But the main part of the action is taken up with Peg’s visit of a month to her English relations in Scarborough. The Author rather overdraws the contrast between English and Irish types. There is much clever dialogue. Ends with passing of second reading of Home Rule Bill, and the glorification of the one-time agitator.

MANNIX, Mary E.

— MICHAEL O’DONNELL; or, The Fortunes of a Little Emigrant. (Boston: Flynn). 0.60. [1900]. In print, 1910.

“Michael, an honest, industrious youngster, not too good to use his fists when attacked by other boys, comes to the U.S., and steps into an excellent situation after three months of walking across the Continent. By a series of innocent misunderstandings, combined with hostile malice, he is made to appear guilty of theft; but the truth is soon manifest.... Told with much animation and liveliness.”—(American Eccles. Rev.) Juvenile.

— PILGRIM FROM IRELAND. (Boston: Flynn). 0.36. In print, 1910.

MAPOTHER, Mary J.

— THE DONALDS: an Irish Story (Gill). 6s. c. 1879.

Not in British Museum Library.

MARSH, Mrs.

— THE NEVILLES OF GARRETSTOWN. Three Vols. (Saunders & Otley). 1860.

The main plot is a somewhat slight story of a lost heir returning to claim his inheritance, which had been usurped by an intruder. But the chief interest lies in the numerous side incidents and digressions which are designed to portray various phases of the life of the times. Opens and closes at Clonmel, but the scene shifts to Dublin, Bantry, Paris, and other places. Introduces Jacobite conspiracies, street-rioting, hedge schools, city entertainments, political discussions, the working of the Penal laws, and historical personages, such as Primate Stone, Thurot, Prince Charles Edward, Archbishop Dillon, and many others. Is more or less on the side of the English colony, but is not unfair to any party. Has little or no character study, and not much human interest, but abounds in incident.

MARTIN, Miss H. L.

— CANVASSING. (Duffy). Still in print. (N.Y.: Kenedy). [1832].

Published as one of the O’Hara’s tales. An elaborate tale of matchmaking and marriage among the upper classes, written with a moral purpose. Incidentally there is a good picture of an election contest in the first quarter of the nineteenth century.

MARTINEAU, Harriet.

— IRELAND: a Tale. Pp. 136. (London: Fox). 1832.

Appeared in a series of illustrations of political economy. Written in the cause of the Irish poor, aiming to show “how long a series of evils may befal individuals in a society conducted like that of Ireland, and by what a repetition of grievances its members are driven into disaffection and violence.” Shows three sources of evils—thriftlessness in tenants, rapacity in landlords, misplaced benevolence.

MASON, Miss.

— KATE GEARY; or, Irish Life in London. (London: Dolman). 1853.

“A Tale of 1849.” “The specific object of this work is to exemplify the various ways in which the poor are placed at a disadvantage, and the misery and, almost of necessity, the crime that ensue from their present crowded condition.” “Miss M. describes the life of one who might be called a Sister of Charity living in the world.... She tells us she has witnessed the incidents of her tale, which are described with vivacity.... The Author has entangled her heroine in a love affair, which, in itself, is very frigid and tedious.”—(D.R.).

MASON, A. E. W.

— CLEMENTINA. (Methuen). 2s. Eight illustr. by Bernard Partridge. [1901]. Second ed., 1903. (Nelson). New ed., 7d. 1911.

The story of the romantic escape in 1720 of the Princess Clementina Sobieski from Austria, and how she was conducted to Rome to be married to the Pretender by the Chevalier Charles Wogan, member of an Anglo-Irish family of Clongowes Wood, in the County Kildare. Some glimpses of the Irish Brigade. A lively narrative. Mr. Baker calls it “a particularly close imitation of Dumas.”

— THE FOUR FEATHERS. Pp. 338. (Smith, Elder). 6s. (Nelson). 7d. [1903]. 1912.

Scene varies between London, Devonshire, the Soudan, and Donegal (Ramelton and Glenalla), the scenery of which latter is finely described. The theme is original and striking. The hero, an English soldier, is all his life haunted by the fear of showing “the white feather” at a critical moment. He resigns his commission rather than risk in a campaign his reputation for courage. This action brings on him the dreaded imputation of cowardice. How he redeems his honour is finely told. A delicate soul-study. The heroic self-sacrifice of Jack Durance still further raises the moral worth of the book.

MASON JONES, see JONES.

MATHEW, Frank. A grand-nephew of Father Mathew, the Apostle of Temperance. B. 1865; ed. Beaumont, King’s College School, and London University. The writer of the Preface to the New Ed. of the Cabinet of Irish Literature says: “A good many people of excellent judgment look upon Mr. Mathew as the Irish novelist we have been so long awaiting.... He does not write merely from the point of view of a sympathetic outsider. He has the true Celtic temperament, with the advantage of education, inherited and otherwise, over the peasants of genius who have so long represented the Irish spirit.” Wrote also Father Mathew, his Life and Times, One Queen Triumphant, The Royal Sisters, &c. Resides in London.

— AT THE RISING OF THE MOON. Pp. 240. (M’Clure). 3s. 6d. Twenty-seven good Illustr. (N.Y.: M’Clure). 1.50. 1893.

Twenty tales (memories of the old days, says the Author), picturing many phases of peasant life on the West coast: incidents of the moonlighting days, faction fights, the joke of the potheen-makers, the attachment of priests and people, the hardships of the poor, the days of sorrow, the love of home and country. Told with sympathy in simple but literary style. Dialogue clever and full of bright snatches of Celtic humour.

— THE WOOD OF THE BRAMBLES. (Lane). 6s. 1896.

Gives a grotesque picture, intended for vivid realism, of the rebellion. The rebels are comic savages, their leaders (the priests included) little better than buffoons. It is a burlesque ’98. It is well, however, to add the following estimate from the prefatory essay to the new edition of The Cabinet of Irish Literature: “A born critic here and there will find out that Mr. Frank Mathew’s Wood of the Brambles is as full of wit, wisdom, observation, and knowledge as genius can make it; but to the ordinary reader it is deliberately and offensively topsy-turvy, and there’s an end of it.”

— THE SPANISH WINE. Pp. 180. (Lane). 3s. 6d. 1898.

A tale of Dunluce Castle, Co. Antrim, in the days when the MacDonnells from Scotland were Lords of Antrim, and Perrott was Elizabeth’s deputy. The story is told in form of reminiscence, the actual movement of the plot occupying only a few hours. Little attempt at description of scenes or times. The Author’s sympathies are with the MacDonnells, who were on the English side at the time. The book has been greatly admired, especially for the vividness of its historical atmosphere and its poetic and romantic glamour.

— LOVE OF COMRADES. (Lane). 3s. 6d. 1900.

“Ultra romantic. The sprightly daughter of a Wicklow squire, bosom friend of Lord Strafford (then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland), goes on a perilous journey disguised as a gallant, with a message of life or death to Strafford at Dublin.”—(Baker, 2).

MATURIN, Charles Robert. 1782-1824. Born in Dublin, and educated at Trinity College. Was a clergyman of the Church of Ireland, and all his life the sworn enemy of Catholicism and of Presbyterianism, both of which, especially the latter, he treats unsparingly in some of his books. Besides his novels he wrote tragedies, such as “Bertram,” and bloodcurdling melodramas, such as “Fredolpho.” In his way of life he was somewhat of an oddity—the madness of genius, his admirers said—and this is reflected in his works. “His romances attracted Scott and Byron, and many critics have given them great though qualified praise. Bombastic extravagance of language, tangled plots, and impossible incidents characterize them all. A remarkable eloquence in descriptions of turbulent passion is his strong point.” Besides the novels mentioned below, he wrote Melmoth, the Wanderer, generally considered his masterpiece, and “The Albigenses, his last and best (1824), which was pronounced by Blackwood to be ‘four volumes of vigour, extravagance, absurdity, and splendour’” (compiled from Krans and Read). It should be noted that this writer sometimes violates good morals by indecency. Mr. N. Idman, of Lotsgotan, Helsingfors, Finland, is at present engaged on a study of M. which he intends to publish. The 1892 ed. of Melmoth contains an introductory memoir of M., a bibliography, and a criticism of each of his works.

— THE WILD IRISH BOY. Three Vols. 12mo. (London). [1808]. 1814, 1839.

Republ. in “The Romancists’ and Novelists’ Library,” two vols. (Clements), 1839. The original ed. was anon.—by the Author of “Montorio” [i.e., “Dennis Jasper Murphy”]. Intended as an exposition of the unhappy condition of Ireland and as a picture of the life and manners of the time. The former is soon lost sight of, but the latter is well carried out. The hero is a strong Nationalist who works wholly for Ireland’s cause. Apart from this graver purpose, interest is sustained by a succession of exciting incidents and by good character drawing. There is little plot, a great deal of sentiment, and a great many disreputable intrigues, without, however, objectionable details. The scene varies between Dublin and the W. of Ireland—life in the family of a Protestant landowner and in that of a Catholic feudal chief. Period, c. 1806-8. The society depicted is that of the aristocratic classes. Author’s standpoint full of sympathy and even admiration for Ireland, strongly Protestant (Ch. of I.) and anti-“Roman.”

— LE JEUNE IRLANDAIS. Four Vols. (Paris). 1828.

Traduction per Madame la Comtesse de Molé.

— THE MILESIAN CHIEF. Four Vols. 12mo. (London). 1812.

“Was generally well received by the critics. Even Talfourd, who had been rather hard on his first novel (The Fatal Revenge), said of this: ‘There is a bleak and misty grandeur about it which, in spite of all its glaring defects, sustains for it an abiding place in the soul.’”—(C. A. Read). Deals with the “prehistoric” Milesian invasion. Gustave Planche in his critique on M. says of this book, “C’est un livre où étincellent ça et là des pages magnifiques.”

— CONNAL OU LES MILESIENS. Traduit de l’anglais par Madame la Comtesse [de Molé]. Four tom. (Paris). 1828.

— WOMEN; or, Pour et Contre. Three Vols. [1818].

Young de Courcy rescues Eva, who had been carried off to be made a Catholic of by a fanatical grandmother, and he falls in love. This brings him into Calvinistic Methodist circles in Dublin. These the Author describes minutely and with satire. The Methodist gloom and coldness drive the hero to the company of a brilliant actress (really Zaira, Eva’s mother). He is long torn between the two, but finally goes to Paris with Zaira. There he deserts her for another. There is a fine description of Z.’s despair. Eva dies of decline, and de Courcy, repentant, soon follows. “A moral and interesting tale.” “The full praise both of invention and of execution must be allowed to Mr. M.’s sketch of Eva.” As regards Methodism, Mr. M. “has used the scalpel, not, we think, unfairly but with professional rigour and dexterity.”—(From a review by Sir Walter Scott in the Edinb. Rev., xxx., 234).

— EVA; ou, Amour et Religion. Traduit de l’anglais sur la 2e éd. par M. 4 tom. (Paris). 1818.

MATURIN, Edward. Son of the preceding.

— THE IRISH CHIEFTAIN; or, The Isles of Life and Death. Pp. 316, v. close print. 16mo. (Glasgow: Griffin). 1848.

A wild story, in which historical names (O’Ruarc of Breffny, Dermod MacMurrough, Strongbow, Eva, Devorgilla) are given to the personages, but which has no foundation in history. The incidents are supposed to take place some short time after the Norman invasion, but the book bristles with anachronisms. It is a series of thrilling adventures, fighting, revenge, murders, hairbreadth escapes, and so forth. Highly melodramatic, sentimental, and extravagant.

— BIANCA: a Tale of Erin and Italy. Two Vols. 660 pp. (N.Y.: Harper). 1852.

An outlandish sort of story, full of murders, perhaps a dozen, if not more. Nearly all the characters have some terrible secret connected with their past; hardly any of them are legitimate children. A duel between two brothers, and banshees, and mysterious ladies with dark prophesyings, etc., and all the fee-faw-fum of the times when all this was popular.

MAXWELL, W. Hamilton. 1792-1850. He was a clergyman of the Church of Ireland, with a parish at Ballagh, in the wilds of Connaught, but was largely relieved of pastoral duties by the absence of a flock. He divided his leisure between field sports of all kinds and the writing of books. Wild Sports of the West, Stories of Waterloo, and The Bivouac were the most successful of these; they are still much read. He tells a story capitally, with verve and spirit, and his situations are as exciting as those of any modern novelist. Maxwell was the first writer of military novels: he is the forerunner and even the inspirer of Lever. Mr. Baker describes his Stories of Waterloo as “A farrago of Irish stories, sensational, with a dash of Hibernian character and local colouring.” This book is still to be had (Routledge, 2s.), and a new ed. publ. by The Talbot Press, Dublin (Every Irishman’s Library), and ed. by Lord Dunraven, has recently (Sept., 1915) appeared of his Wild Sports.

— O’HARA. Two Vols. (Andrews). [1825].

A Protestant landowner casts in his lot with the United Irishmen. The Government attaints him of treason; he is tried by a jury of drunken bigots, and hanged as a traitor. His son, the hero of the tale, then throws himself heart and soul into the rebellion. The interest centres in the accounts of the fighting in the North. The hero is a leader at the battle of Antrim. Some light is thrown on the nature of the friction between the Catholic and the Protestant commanders, which constantly threatens the disruption of the rebel forces.—(Krans). Publ. anon.

— THE DARK LADY OF DOONA. [1836]. Also (Smith, Elder) 1837. Pp. 306. (Belfast) 1846. (Lond.) 1854. (Warne). 6d. 1891.

“A weak historical novel, in Scott’s manner, which attempts a picture of sixteenth-century life.”—(Krans). The heroine is Grace O’Malley. The story opens in 1601, but there is a retrospective portion going back to tell the early life of the heroine. A tale of love and wild vengeance. In the story figure the heir of the Geraldines (who marries Grace’s granddaughter), Hugh O’Neill, and Sir Richard Bingham. Grace joins the latter against O’Neill. Well written on the whole.

— LA DAME NOIRE DE DOONA. Roman historique traduit par Pâquis. Two tom. (Paris). 1834(!).

— ADVENTURES OF CAPT. BLAKE; or, My Life. (Routledge). 6d. [Bentley, 1835]. 1838. Third ed., 1882.

Really two practically independent stories, that of Major Blake and that of his son, the Captain. The former is far the more interesting, giving a good account of Gen. Humbert’s invasion and of the manners of the peasantry at the time (especially their open-hearted hospitality and kindliness), and some nice descriptions of Connaught scenery. But for an absurd scene of confession in a courthouse no religious bias is displayed. The remaining two volumes are a rambling series of miscellaneous adventures in Portugal, Paris, and London, consisting largely of amorous episodes not edifying, to say the least, and told in a facetious and somewhat vulgar strain.

— THE ADVENTURES OF HECTOR O’HALLORAN AND HIS MAN, MARK ANTONY O’TOOLE. (Warne). 6d. Paper. (N.Y.: Pratt). 0.30. [1842]. n.d. (recently reprinted).

The hero is the son of a landlord and ex-soldier living in the South of Ireland. Beginning with an attack on the castle by local malcontents, Hector and his man pass through a series of adventures (some of which are described with considerable “go”), first in Dublin, then in London, and finally in the Peninsular War under Wellington. Most of the incidents take place amid the lowest society, and some of them are distinctly coarse. There is no character-drawing and little or no attempt to picture the life of the period. The military experiences in Spain form, perhaps, the best part of the book. There is no sympathy for Ireland, and there are some gibes at Catholicism.

— THE ADVENTURES OF CAPT. O’SULLIVAN. Three Vols. (Colburn). [1848]. 1855.

“Or adventures civil, military, and matrimonial of a gentleman on half-pay.” Some of these take place near “Ballysallagh,” in Connaught, where the hero is stationed, his duties being mainly to keep down the Ribbonmen and to hunt for illicit stills. Attitude towards the former somewhat bloodthirsty. The two chief houses belong to the priest and the tithe-proctor, the task of the latter being described as the grinding of money “out of the wretched serfs.” Little plot, long and tedious conversations.

— ERIN GO BRAGH; or, Irish Life Pictures. Two Vols. (Bentley). Portrait. 1859.

A posthumous collection of short stories originally contributed to Bentley’s Miscellany and other magazines. Written in the light, rollicking, high-spirited vein characteristic of Maxwell. Many of them are recollections of actual experience. Prefaced by biographical sketch by Dr. Maginn.

— LUCK IS EVERYTHING; or, The Adventures of Brian O’Linn. Pp. 440. (Routledge). (N.Y.: Pratt). 3.00. 1860.

An infant, child of a dying mother who had been abducted, is landed on Innisturk. He is adopted by the head man there, grows up, goes to England, and after many exciting adventures, love episodes, and hair-breadth escapes, finds out his own origin and succeeds to ancestral estates. Originally appeared as serial (with illustrations on steel by John Leech) under the title of Brian O’Linn in Bentley’s Miscellany.

MAYNE, Thomas Ekenhead. Son of a well-known bookseller of Belfast, was fast earning for himself a considerable literary reputation, but died at 32, 1899.

— THE HEART O’ THE PEAT: Irish Fireside and Wayside Sketches. Pp. 214. (Belfast: W. Erskine Mayne). 1s. Paper. 1899.

“These are all Irish stories, written on the spot, with a faithfulness that can be felt in every line. There is no attempt at meretricious workmanship, no maudlin sentimentality, no mock heroics. They are simple tales, simply told; but occasionally the restraint, which is everywhere discernible, is relaxed for a moment, and the fire of the poet glows in half a dozen lines, as a landscape or a sea-piece is enthusiastically drawn, or some incident touches the gentle human heart of the writer.”—(James H. Cousins, in Sinn Fein).

“MEADE, L. T.”; Elizabeth Thomasina Toulmin Smith. She was a daughter of Rev. R. T. Meade, of Nohoval, Co. Cork. She was b. at Bandon. She lived in England from 1874 till her death in 1915. Mudie’s catalogue enumerates 185 of her novels, many of which were stories for school girls. Of these novels several, no doubt, besides those here mentioned, relate to Ireland.

— THE O’DONNELLS OF INCHFAWN. (Hatchards). 6s. 1887.

— THE WILD IRISH GIRL. Pp. 444. (Chambers). 6s. Eight coloured Illustr. by the well-known Punch artist, Lewis Baumer. 1910.

Warm-hearted, impulsive Patricia has been allowed to run wild at her own sweet will in Ireland. She is brought to London, finds the conventional restraints of society too narrow for her, and as a consequence gets into many amusing and harmless scrapes, and out of them again.—(Press Notices).

— DESBOROUGH’S WIFE. Pp. 319. (Digby, Long). 6s. One Illustr. 1911.

Scene: near Tralee, in Kerry. Patrick D. contracts a runaway marriage with a beautiful peasant girl. He falls heavily in debt, finds that his mother, on whom he had relied, is even more heavily involved, and that the only way out is a marriage with a rich heiress. Patrick basely yields, and the poor wife consents to “disappear,” but in a strange way, connected with a certain “silent room” in the D. mansion, whose secret we shall not divulge, things right themselves at last. Peter Maloney, Patrick’s faithful foster-brother, is curiously similar to Griffin’s Danny Mann. The moral tone is high.

— PEGGY FROM KERRY. Pp. 330. (Chambers). 6s. Pretty cover and eight coloured Illustr. by Miss A. Anderson. 1912.

Peggy is the daughter of a poor Irish peasant and of an officer. She is now an orphan, but has been adopted by an English friend of her father’s and sent to an English boarding school. The story is made up of plots and petty jealousies amongst the schoolgirls. Peggy, though much ridiculed for her dreadful brogue, triumphs over her special enemy and the latter’s followers and ends by being popular and happy.

— KITTY O’DONOVAN. Pp. 330. (Chambers). 5s. Six good coloured Illustr. by J. Finnemore. 1912.

Doings in a select English boarding school, where the pretty heroine from Kerry comes scatheless through the spiteful plots of her jealous rivals, and is crowned Queen of the May. There is a pretty description of Kerry scenery, but most of the action takes place outside of Ireland.

— THE PASSION OF KATHLEEN DUVEEN. Pp. 284. (Stanley Paul). 6s. 1913.

“A tale of the novelette class about a young Irishman forced into crime and faithlessness to his young wife by his family’s need of money.”—[Times Lit. Suppl.]. Another “Colleen Bawn” story. Brilliant young officer marries penniless girl. Financial straits. Murder; and nemesis.

— AT THE BACK OF THE WORLD. (Hurst & Blackett). 6s. n.d.

Scene: “Arranmore,” on the sea coast of Cork. Sheila O’Connor is long sundered from her lover by the suspicion, shared by herself, that he is the murderer of her father, the Squire. Whether they are ever united again we leave the reader to discover. There are many scenes that show us the life of the peasantry, in particular their religious customs. The book seems free from bias, and the brogue is not exaggerated.

[MEANY, Mary L.].

— CONFESSORS OF CONNAUGHT; or, The Tenants of a Lord Bishop. Pp. viii. + 319. (Philadelphia: Cunningham). [1864]. n.d. (still in print).

Hardly a story: rather a relation of real incidents in which the names are thinly disguised. Turns chiefly on the proselytising efforts of Lord Plunkett, Protestant Archb. of Tuam, resulting in the Partry evictions. Archb. MacHale, Father Patrick Lavelle, Mgr. Dupanloup, and J. F. Maguire play parts in the tale. Written with strong Catholic bias, but among the chief characters are a Protestant minister and his wife, who are represented as estimable in every way. Style lively, and at times humorous. Dialogue good and natural. The Author is a great admirer of William Smith O’Brien. She has also publ. Grace Morton; or, The Inheritance. A Catholic Tale.

MEANY, Stephen Joseph. B. nr. Ennis, Co. Clare, 1825. A noted journalist, first in his native Clare, then in Dublin. In 1848 he was imprisoned for some months. Then he went to Liverpool, where he founded the first English Catholic paper outside London—The Lancashire Free Press. Went to U.S.A., 1860. Returned to England, and was arrested on a charge of Fenianism, 1867, and sentenced to 15 years. D. N.Y., 1888. His “Life” has been written by John Augustus O’Shea.

— THE TERRY ALT: a Tale of 1831. Three Vols. 1841.

The “Terry Alts” was a name adopted by the secret agrarian agitators in Munster, previously known as “Whiteboys.” Not in British Museum Library.

[MEIKLE, James.]

— KILLINCHY; or, The Days of Livingston. Pp. 156. 12mo. (Belfast: McComb). 1839.

Description of Presbyterian life in Ulster immediately after the Scottish Plantation, with biographical details concerning Rev. John Livingston, a Scot from Kilsyth, who was minister of Killinchy, Co. Down, from 1630-5. Story element slight. The Author was a schoolmaster in the district.

MELVILLE, Theodore.

— THE IRISH CHIEFTAIN AND HIS FAMILY. Four Vols. Pp. 910. (London: Lane, Newman). 1809.

The chieftain is The O’Donoghue of Killarney, dispossessed for loyalty to the Stuarts. His family, that of Lord Roskerrin, a Williamite, rewarded with an estate, and an exiled Venetian are the dramatis personæ. Scene: chiefly Killarney. Period, only vaguely indicated, 18th century. Conrad O’D. the hero, falls in love with the daughter of the hated Lord R. There are kidnappings and highly sensational adventures of all kinds, told in a romantic manner, among others how Conrad helps to reinstate the exiled Venetian grandee. Author’s sympathies thoroughly on the Irish side, but does not seem unfair to the English. He wrote also The White Knight, The Benevolent Monk, &c. Good descriptions of Killarney.

MEREDITH, George. B. Portsmouth, 1828. He had, as he used to boast, both Welsh (from his father) and Irish blood (from his mother) in his veins. Ed. chiefly in Germany. The writer of his life in the Encyclopedia Brittanica says of him, “In Meredith went the writer who had raised the creative art of the novel, as a vehicle of character and constructive philosophy, to its highest point.... The estimate of his genius formed by “an honourable minority,” who would place him in the highest rank of all, by Shakespeare, has yet to be confirmed by the wider suffrage of posterity.” He died in 1909.

— CELT AND SAXON. Pp. 300. (Constable). 6s. 1910.

Left unfinished, like Dickens’s Edwin Drood. The plot has hardly begun to work out. The chief interest lies in the purpose which was—the author tells us—to contrast English, as typified in John Bull, to the description of whose characteristics a whole chapter is devoted, with Celtic character and ideals. This purpose is manifest throughout the book. There is a set of Irish and a set of English characters, and within these two sets are types differing widely from one another. One of the most pronounced types of Irishman is married to a lady of peculiarly English characteristics, and the resulting ménage affords the author scope for much dry humour. A romantic episode is just beginning to develop. The highly-wrought Meredithian style is as distinctive as in his former books, and there are stray glimpses of the Meredithian philosophy.

“MERRY, Andrew”; Mrs. Mildred H. G. Darby, née Gordon-Dill. B. 1869, in Sussex, d. of a North of Irelander, a cousin of Sir Samuel Dill, and of an English mother. Ed. at home. Married in 1889 J. C. Darby, Esq., D.L. Her writings are noted for their impartial standpoint as regards Irish questions, and for their virile style. Never in the criticisms of her literary work has it been suggested that the pen-name hid a woman.

— THE GREEN COUNTRY. Pp. viii. + 378. (Grant, Richards). 1902.

Little studies, humorous or pathetic, of the Irish people of to-day. Both the landlord class and the peasantry, Catholics as well as Protestants, figure in the tale. The Author makes (c.f. Pref.) her characters responsible for the views they express. She applies herself with insight and sympathy and without bias to a careful presentation of various aspects of the national character, its shadows no less than its lights. But there is no preaching. The story entitled “The love of God or Men” is full of true religious feeling.

— PADDY RISKY; or, Irish Realities of To-day. Pp. 367. (Grant, Richards). 1903.

Seven stories dealing with aspects of Irish life from the landlord and Unionist point of view, yet tone not anti-Irish, nor unjust to any class. The spirit is that of Davis’ “Celt and Saxon,” quoted at outset:—

“What matter that at different times
Your fathers won this sod?
In fortune and in name we’re bound
By stronger links than steel,” &c.

One story shows the hardship of compulsory sale of grass lands. Another deals (delicately) with seduction in peasant life. Most of the characters in the stories are peasants of the Midlands. Charming descriptions of Irish scenery.

— THE HUNGER: Being Realities of the Famine Years in Ireland, 1845-1848. Pp. 436. (Melrose). 6s. 1910.

This is, in the form of fiction, a narrative of happenings in one district, with a plot and personal drama and talk proper to the novel, and all of these show the gifts of a practised and able novelist; but “every incident,” the writer assures us, “is fact, not fiction.” His matter is mainly derived from oral statements, helped and verified from books, records, and trustworthy private sources; and in an introduction Mr. Merry deals with the causes and characteristics of the famine, the horrors of which were such that even many of the incidents here selected had to be modified in their details to become publishable.—(Times Lit. Suppl.).

MEYER, Kuno. B. Hamburg, 1858. Ed. Hamburg and Leipzig. Lecturer in Teutonic Languages at Univ. Coll., Liverpool, 1884; Professor, 1895. Founded the Zeitschrift fur Celtische Philologie, 1895, and, along with Whitley Stokes, the Archiv. fur Celtische Lexicographie, 1898; founded the School of Irish Learning in Dublin, 1903; Prof. of Celtic in Univ. of Berlin since 1911. Has publ. a long series of most valuable works on Celtic-Irish subjects.

— THE VISION OF MACCONGLINNE: a Twelfth Century Irish Wonder-Tale. (Nutt). 7s. 6d. net. 1892.

“Transl. by K. Meyer, literary introd. by W. Woolner. A primitive tale combining two elements—satire of the Abbot and Monks of Cork, and the vision of the Lake of Milk, which reveals to the gleeman MacConglinne how King Cathal may be delivered from the demon of gluttony that has been the bane of his land. Full of extravagance and comic fancy.”—(Baker, 2).

— THE VOYAGE OF BRAN, SON OF FERBAL, TO THE LAND OF THE LIVING. An old Irish saga, now first edited, with translation. Notes and Glossary by Kuno Meyer. With an Essay upon the Irish Vision of the Happy Otherworld, and the Celtic Doctrine of Rebirth by Alfred Nutt. [Grimm Library, Vols. 4 and 6].

Vol. I. “The Happy Otherworld.” Pp. xviii. + 331. 1895.

Vol. II. “The Celtic Doctrine of Rebirth.” Pp. xii. + 352. 1897. (Nutt). 10s. 6d. each.

— LIADAIN AND CUIRITHIR. (Nutt). 1s. 6d. 1902.

An Irish love-story of the ninth century, partly in prose, partly in verse. Old Irish text and English translation. Introduction by Editor. Interesting chiefly to the student of Old Irish and the folk-lorist.

MILLIGAN, Alice and W. H.

— SONS OF THE SEA KINGS. Pp. 404. (Gill). 6s. Ten illustr. by J. Carey. 1914.

Based on the Scandinavian sagas—the Burnt Njal, Snorri Sturleson’s Saga of Olaf, Tryggvesons, the Heimskringla, &c. Iceland is the centre of these sagas, but Ireland looms in the background, for the hero, Kiartain, comes of famous Irish-Danish stock. The Authors have vividly realised and vividly pictured these far times (end of 10th century). The tone and “atmosphere” of the sagas has been preserved with great fidelity, and the tale, told in language of much dignity and beauty, is of high dramatic force and interest. Miss Milligan is well known as poetess, journalist, and lecturer on Irish subjects. Resides in Bangor, Co. Down.

[MILLINGEN, John Gideon]. B. Westminster, 1782. Son of a Dutch merchant. Served as Surgeon in Peninsular War under Wellington, 1809-1814. Wrote many plays, a history of duelling, and other works. D. 1862. (Boase).

— ADVENTURES OF AN IRISH GENTLEMAN. Three Vols. (Colburn & Bentley). 1830.

A very unpleasant book. Only the opening and closing scenes are in Ireland (neighbourhood of Bantry Bay, Skibbereen, and Tralee), the interval being filled by adventures in Portugal (where the Inquisition is held up to obloquy), and in Paris (where Freemasonry is praised and convents vilified). These adventures are, for the most part, more or less scandalous “love” affairs. At the outset there is a good deal about Irish disaffection and lawlessness. The Author seizes every occasion to drag in the confessional, the Pope, &c., and to inveigh against them.

MONTGOMERY, J. W.

— MERVYN GRAY; or, Life in the R.I.C. (Edinburgh: Cameron & Ferguson). 1s. c. 1875.

The Author was a native of Virginia, Co. Cavan. He was a zealous antiquary, and wrote on antiquarian subjects. Published, besides the above, two volumes of verse and one of prose sketches. D. Bangor, Co. Down, 1911.

MOORE, F. Frankfort. B. in Limerick, 1855, but brought up and ed. in Belfast. Began to write at 16. For sixteen years worked on staff of Belfast News-Letter. See his Journalist’s Note Book, 1894. All this time he was turning out at least one book a year. In 1893 he scored a great success with his I Forbid the Banns. Since then his output has been very large. He resides at Lewes.

— THE JESSAMY BRIDE. (Hutchinson). 6s. (N.Y.: Fenno). 50c. 1897.

The story of the last years and death of Goldsmith, told with all the Author’s well-known verve. Full of dialogue, witty and lively, yet not merely flashy, in which Johnson, Burke, Garrick, and other wits and worthies of the day take part. The central theme is Goldsmith’s attachment to the beautiful Mary Horneck, called the Jessamy Bride. There is much true pathos in the story, and not a word that could offend susceptibilities.

— CASTLE OMERAGH. (Constable). 2s. 6d. (N.Y.: Appleton). 1.50. 1903.

Scene: the West of Ireland (Co. Clare) during Cromwell’s invasion. The central figures are the Fawcetts, a Protestant planter family, whose sympathies have become Irish. The eldest son is an officer in the army of O’Neill. The second, the hero, is literary and unwarlike, and inclined to Quakerism. A Jesuit friend of the family figures prominently in the story, and is presented in a very favourable light. The Drogheda massacre and Cromwell’s repulse at Clonmel are included.

— THE ORIGINAL WOMAN. Pp. 343. (Hutchinson). 1904.

Thesis: whatever culture may have done for the modern woman, she reverts to the instincts of the original woman in the crisis of a life-decision. Scene: first, country house in Galway. The heroine is a typical modern girl of the best kind. The hero, who is also the villain, is a singularly attractive personality, the complicated workings of whose mind the Author delights to analyse. Later the scene changes to Martinique. Here an element of the supernatural and uncanny enters the story. The style is witty, the character-drawing very clever.

— CAPTAIN LATYMER. (Cassell). 6s. Also 6d. ed. 1908.

A sequel to Castle Omeragh. The eldest Fawcett is condemned by Cromwell to the West Indies, but escapes along with the daughter of Hugh O’Neill, nephew of Owen Roe. There are exciting adventures. The book, as does Castle Omeragh, gives a faithful picture of the times.

— THE ULSTERMAN: a Story of To-day. Pp. 323. (Hutchinson). 6s. 1914.

A very candid, plainspoken, and judicious picture of life in North-East Ulster. Pictures what the Times Lit. Suppl. calls “the unsympathetic materialism, the drab ugliness of a life which finds its chief recreation in religious strife, and much of its consolation in strong drink.” But dwells upon the sterling good qualities that go to counterbalance these others. Opens in a mid-Antrim town on the eve of “the 12th.” Story of a bigoted Ulster mill-owner whose sons eventually marry into Catholic families of a lower class. Not political.

— THE LADY OF THE REEF. Pp. 348. (Hutchinson). 6s. 1915.

A young English artist in Paris suddenly inherits a property in North Co. Down, and arrives to find himself in a puzzling environment. Cleverly sketched characters are introduced—MacGowan, the pushful attorney, the excellent parson Gilliland, and the dipsomaniac captain. Then there is a wreck, a rescue, and enter the “Lady of the Reef.” The sequel tells whether she accepts the artist or not.—(I.B.L. and T. Lit. Suppl.).

MOORE, George. A distinguished poet, novelist, dramatist, and art critic. Was born in Ireland, 1857, of a Catholic family of Co. Mayo, many of whose members were distinguished nationalists. He has produced some twenty books. Much of Mr. Moore’s education has been acquired in France, with the result that, as Dr. William Barry says, “he is excessively, provokingly un-English.” At the same time he has little but scorn for things Irish. He has, as he tells us in Confessions of a Young Man, abandoned the Catholic Church. He may be said to be at war with all prevailing types of religion and current codes of morality. His books bear abundant evidence of the fact. Many of them treat of most unsavoury topics, and that with naturalistic freedom and absence of reserve. They were consequently excluded from lending libraries such as Mudie’s and Smith’s. Many critics rank Mr. Moore very high as a psychologist and as a critic. An interesting article on him will be found in G. K. Chesterton’s Heretics. His non-Irish stories include Evelyn Innes, Sister Theresa, Esther Waters, A Mummer’s Wife, Celibates, Vain Fortune, A Mere Accident, &c. Within the last two or three years he has published at intervals three vols. of reminiscences entitled Ave, Salve, Vale, in which no privacies are respected and which in other respects resemble his novels.

— A DRAMA IN MUSLIN. Pp. 329. (Vizetelly). 1886.

Period: just before and just after the Phœnix Park murders. Some attention is given to Land League tyranny before, and coercion after. The interest centres in a party of girls educated at a convent school at St. Leonard’s, and their subsequent adventures in Irish society looking for husbands, and all eventually going to the bad, with two exceptions. Of these latter, one is a mad missionary and a Protestant, who becomes a Catholic and a nun, the other is a free-thinker and an authoress, a combination which the Author considers natural. For the Irish peasant the Author has only disgust. The picture of a Mass in an Irish chapel (pp. 70-72) would be offensive and painful to a Catholic. Re-issued as Muslin, 1915.

— THE UNTILLED FIELD. (Unwin). 6s. (Philadelphia: Lippincott). 1.50. [1903]. New ed. (Heinemann). 1914.

A series of unconnected sketches of Irish country life, most of which deal with relations between priests and people—evil effects of religion on the latter, banishing joy, producing superstition, killing art. In some of the stories priests are depicted favourably. In the first the subject of the nude in artist’s models is treated with complete frankness. Another contains warnings against emigration. Some of the sketches are exquisite; most of them, religious bias apart, true to life. Has been transl. into Irish under title An t-Ur Gort by P. O’Sullivan.

— THE LAKE. Pp. 340. (Heinemann). 6s. 1905. (N.Y.: Appleton). 1.50.

“A vague and inchoate novel with some passionate and delightful descriptions of Nature. The theme, very indecisively worked out, is that of a young priest’s rebellion against celibacy, stimulated by the attractions of a girl whom he drove from the parish because she had gone wrong.”—(Baker). Scene: Connaught and Kilronan Abbey. The story seems meant to uphold the purely Hedonistic view of life.

MOORE, Sidney O.

— THE FAMILY OF GLENCARRA: a Tale of the Irish Rebellion. Pp. 154. (Bath). Six illustr. of little value. n.d. (1858).

Ninety-eight (Humbert’s Invasion) seen from the standpoint of the “Irish Society” (a proselytising organisation). The book is intended to set forth “the ignorance and degradation peculiar to the Romish districts of Ireland,” and tells how Aileen who was engaged to one of the rebels (a murderer) is converted, and endeavours to convert others, with varying success. The book is full of calumnies against, and grotesque misrepresentations of, the Catholic Church. It closes with an appeal to the “Daughters of England” for funds for the Irish Society.

MORAN, D. P. Editor since its inception of the Leader (Dublin). A Waterford man.

— TOM O’KELLY. Pp. 232. (Duffy). 3s. 6d. 1905.

An ugly picture of lower middle class life in a small Irish provincial town. It depicts the vulgarity and shoneenism of this class, its drunkenness, its efforts to imitate the well-to-do Protestant better classes, &c., &c. Unsparing ridicule is showered upon Nationalist politics and politicians. The unpleasantness of the picture is somewhat relieved by the doings of Tom O’Kelly and the juvenile Ballytowners. Very slight plot.

MORAN, J. J.

— THE DUNFERRY RISIN’. (Digby, Long). 1894.

A study of the Fenian movement. The Evening Sun of London devoted a two-column review to the book, written by an old participator in the Fenian movement (we understand that the writer was the late J. F. X. O’Brien, M.P.), in which the story was described as one of the most vivid pictures of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and their movement that had yet been written.

— IRISH STEW. (Digby, Long). 1895.

A collection of humorous stories. “Jack Arnold’s Tour,” the longest story, may be taken as typical. It relates the comical adventures of an English visitor at Bundoran. The stories are remarkable for their spirited and racy dialogue.

— STORIES OF THE IRISH REBELLION. (Aberdeen: Moran). 1s. 6d.

Short stories, noteworthy for vividness and dramatic power (for example, the story of Leonie Guiscard and Teeling). Humour and pathos alternate. Neither is overdone.—(Publ.).

— TWO LITTLE GIRLS IN GREEN. (Aberdeen: Moran). 6s. 1898.

Land League story—extreme popular point of view; gives vivid idea of feelings of people during hottest years of the agitation. Introduces amiable Englishman who sees justice done for his tenants. Clear and pleasant style.—(Irish Monthly).

— IRISH DROLLERIES. (Drane). 3s. 6d. 1909.

Ten comic stories such as “Pat Mulligan’s Love-making,” a bashful young man “proposing” by proxy; “Miss Mullan’s Mistake,” story of an elderly spinster who answers a matrimonial advertisement with amusing results. Others are: “Torsney’s Ghost,” “O’Hagan’s Golden Weddin’,” “Tim Mannion the Hero,” “The Wake at Mrs. Doyle’s,” and so on.—(Press Notice). “Mr. Moran has done much good work as a publisher of Irish books in Aberdeen. In his humorous sketches of Irish life he has ever striven to eschew the ‘Stage-Irishman’ type of vulgar comicality. He writes much for various papers. Besides the books noted here, he has published A Deformed Idol, &c.”

MORGAN, Lady. She was the daughter of a poor Dublin actor, named Owenson, and was born in 1777. Her self-reliance, gaiety, and accomplishments won her a prominent place in the literary and social life of Dublin. She married Sir T. C. Morgan, physician to the Lord Lieutenant. She protests energetically in her books against the religious and political grievances of Ireland. “Her books are a sign of the growth of a broader spirit of Irish nationality and reflect the growing interest in Irish history and antiquities.”—(Krans). She is said to have published more than seventy volumes. Her satires of the higher social life of Dublin are spirited and readable even to-day, but their tone is often sharp and bad-tempered. She caught well the outward drolleries of the lower classes: postillions, innkeepers, Dublin porters, &c.; but she seldom looks beneath the surface. It has been well said that her novels are “thoroughly Irish in matter, in character, in their dry humour, and cutting sarcasm; no less than in their vehemence and impetuosity of feeling.” Twenty-two of her works are mentioned by Allibone. She died in 1859.

— ST. CLAIR; or, the Heiress of Desmond. [1803]. 1807, 1812.

“St. Clair, in sentiment and situation a weak imitation of Werter, introduces an Irish antiquary, who discourses upon local legends and traditions, ancient Irish MSS., and Celtic history, poetry, and music.”—(Krans). Aims at upsetting the notion of the possibility of platonic love between the sexes without any approach to real attachment. Into the description of places and scenes the Authoress worked much of her Connaught experience.

— ST. CLAIR EN OLIVIA... MET PLATEN. Dutch trans. by F. van Teutem. (Amsterdam). 1816.

— THE WILD IRISH GIRL. [1806]. (N.Y.: Haverty). 1.50. (Routledge). n.d. 6d.

A love story of almost gushing sentiment. The scene is the barony of Tirerragh, in Sligo (where the book was actually written). Here the “Prince” of Inismore, though fallen on evil days, still keeps up all the old customs of the chieftains, his ancestors. He wears the old dress, uses the old salutations, has his harper and his shanachie, &c. His daughter, Glorvina, is the almost ethereal heroine. The personages of the book frequently converse about ancient Irish history, legend, music, ornaments, weapons, and costumes. There is much acute political discussion and argument in the book. It is fervently on the side of Irish nationality. “Father John” is a fine character modelled on the then Dean of Sligo. It contains many other portraits drawn from real life. Its success at the time was enormous. In two years it passed through seven editions.—(Fitzpatrick, Krans, &c.).

— O’DONNEL. Pp. 288. (Downey). 2s. 6d. [1814]. 1895.

The central figure of this tale is a scion of the O’Donnells of Tyrconnell, proud, courteous, travelled, who has fought in the armies of Austria and of France, and finally that of England. He is a type of the old Catholic nobility, and his story is made to illustrate the working of the Penal laws. Nearly all the personages of the story are people of fashion, mostly titled. There is much elaborate character-study, and not a little social satire. The native Irish of the lower orders appear in the person of M’Rory alone, a humorous faithful old retainer, whose conversation is full of bulls. Lady Singleton, the meddling, showy, flippantly talkative woman of fashion, and Mr. Dexter, the obsequious, a West Briton of those days, are well drawn. The main purpose of the book, says the Author, was to exhibit Catholic disabilities. There are interesting descriptions of scenery along the Antrim coast and in Donegal. As fiction it is slow reading, yet Sir Walter Scott speaks highly of it.

— FLORENCE MACARTHY. (N.Y.: Sadlier). 1.50. 1816.

Combines, as so many of Lady Morgan’s books do, political satire with a romantic love tale. A kidnapped heir asserts his claim to a peerage and estates and unwittingly woos the romantic Florence, to whom he had been betrothed in his youth. Mr. Fitzpatrick calls the book “an exceedingly interesting and erudite novel,” and tells us how, before attempting it, she had “saturated her memory with a large amount of reading which bore upon the subject of it.” The character of Counsellor Con Crawley constitutes a bitter attack on Lady Morgan’s unscrupulous enemy, John Wilson Croker. The half-mad schoolmaster, Terence Oge O’Leary, is a curious type.

— THE O’BRIENS AND O’FLAHERTYS. Three eds. in one year. [1827]. (N.Y.: Haverty).

May be said to have for its object Catholic Emancipation, yet the author was no admirer of O’Connell, and in this book keen strokes of satire are aimed at the Jesuits, and even at the Pope. Mr. Fitzpatrick says that “though professedly a fiction it is really a work of some historical importance, and may be safely consulted in many of the details by statistic or historic writers.” He tells us also that it “contains a few coarse expressions; and, in common with its predecessors, exhibits a somewhat inconsistent love for republicanism and aristocracy.” The novel is the story of a young patriot who, expelled from Trinity College along with Robert Emmet and others, becomes a volunteer and a United Irishman, and is admitted to the councils of Tone, Napper Tandy, Rowan, and the rest. After ’98 (which is not described in detail) he goes to France, where he rises to be a General, and marries the heroine. The book depicts with vividness and fidelity the manners of the time (hence the occasional coarseness). There are lively descriptions of Castle society in the days of the Duke of Rutland. Lord Walter Fitzgerald was the original of “Lord Walter Fitzwalter.”

— LES O’BRIEN ET LES O’FLAHERTY OU L’IRLANDE EN 1793 is the title of a French translation of the preceding by J. Cohen. Three Vols. (Paris: C. Gosselin). 1828.

— DRAMATIC SCENES FROM REAL LIFE. Two Vols. (Saunder’s & Otley). [1833].

Contains a piece entitled “Mount Sackville.” “It possesses a great deal of her peculiar power, has much truth, and much good feeling, alloyed with some angry prejudice. There are some scenes inimitable for their racy humour, and the characters of Gallagher, the orange-agent, his ally the housekeeper, and Father Phil, are worthy the hand that sketched M’Rory and the Crawley family.... The Whiteboy scenes, though forcibly drawn, are perhaps too melodramatic. Shows much bitterness against the Repealers.”—(Dubl. Rev.).

MORIARTY, Denis Ignatius. Ed. by.

— THE WIFE HUNTER AND FLORA DOUGLAS. Three Vols.[9] (Bentley). 1838.

Prefatory notice signed by “John O’Brien Grant,” of Kilnaflesk, the teller of the story. K. is “situated in a remote corner of the kingdom,” near Bandon (vol. II., p. 186); it is an old rambling family mansion, dating from 1713. We are introduced to a set of hard-drinking, Orange squireens. The hero, refused by his nurse’s daughter Mary, has a “go” at a rich heiress, merely to better himself. He also, in company with Morrough O’Driscoll, a “restless, blustering, dexterous, successful, ambitious, amusing and farcical genius,” throws himself into politics. Then there are a number of burlesque electioneering scenes. Duly elected, the hero goes to Dublin, meets Charlemont, &c., in high society. Hero marries Mary after all; then, on her death, rescues an heiress and marries her.... A third matrimonial venture is unsuccessful. There is no seriousness in the book.

MORRIS, E. O’Connor.

— KILLEEN: a Study of Girlhood. Pp. 348. (Elliot Stock). 1895.

Scene: “Killeen Castle,” Queen’s County. The plot turns on misunderstandings that keep lovers apart. The characters are of the Anglo-Irish and English upper classes. The book is religious and moral in tone, the standpoint Protestant. Peasant character sympathetically treated.

— CLARE NUGENT. Pp. 324. (Digby, Long). 1902.

A rather sentimental tale of an Irish girl who goes to work in England, in order to retrieve the fallen fortunes of the family. This a particularly successful marriage enables her to do, and all ends most ideally. An ordinary plot, somewhat long drawn out. One or two charming descriptions of Irish scenery.

— FINOLA. Pp. 304. (Digby, Long). 6s. 1910.

Scene: chiefly Dublin at the present day. Murrough O’Brien is to get a great inheritance on condition of marrying Finola de Burgh. He gives his consent. Then he is ordered off to S. Africa. On his return he falls in love with a certain Kathleen Burke, and is resolved to lose his inheritance for her sake. The situation has been planned by the romantic Lady Mary Eustace. Her plans nearly turn out in an unforeseen way. The interest then settles on the identity of Kathleen Burke. Several of the characters are well sketched. Notably, Eleanor Butler, a sharp and amusing spinster.

MORRIS, W. O’Connor. B. 1824 at Kilkenny. Son of B. Morris, Rector of Rincurran, near Kinsale. Ed. in England. Became a County Court Judge. He devoted himself largely to politics; was a Liberal Unionist, strongly opposed to Home Rule, and especially to the land agitation. Was himself a good landlord, and an estimable man. D. 1904. See his reminiscences, Memories and Thoughts of a Life.

— MEMOIRS OF GERALD O’CONNOR. Pp. 311. (Digby, Long). 1903.

Reminiscences (told in the first person) of one Gerald O’Connor, an ancestor of the Author. “Compiled partly from old documents and papers in my possession, partly from reminiscences handed down from father to son during five generations, and partly from my own researches.”—(Pref.). But the Author has freely filled in gaps in the authentic records and supplied colouring, though there is practically no dialogue. O’Connor served in the Williamite Wars, 1689-91, emigrated to France with Sarsfield, and joined the staff of Marshal Villars. Was in all the great battles of the War of the Spanish Succession. The Author describes effects on Ireland of conquest and confiscation from point of view of O’Connor, but admits in Preface that he himself looks at modern Ireland from the landlord’s standpoint.

MULHOLLAND, Clara. Is a sister of Lady Gilbert. Was born in Belfast, but left it at an early age, and was educated at convents in England and Belgium. The style of her stories is simple and bright, their tone thoroughly wholesome. Even when there is nothing directly about religion, they breathe an atmosphere of Catholicism. All of them can safely and with profit be given to the young. Many of them are specially meant for young readers. Some of her non-Irish stories are The Miser of Kingscourt, A Striking Contrast.

— PERCY’S REVENGE. (Gill). 1887.

Irish and Catholic.

— LITTLE MERRY FACE AND HIS CROWN OF CONTENT. (Burns & Oates). 1889.

Stories for children. Irish and Catholic.

— LITTLE SNOWDROP AND OTHER STORIES. Pp. 192. (Washbourne). 2s. 6d. Illustr. 1889.

The scene of the principal story, a great favourite with children, is laid in Killiney, near Dublin. It tells of a child kidnapped by gypsies.

— THE LITTLE BOGTROTTERS. Pp. 188. (Belfast: Ward; Baltimore, U.S.A.: John Murphy). Illustr. n.d.

The child heroine actually loves her prospective step-mother, and is delighted at the approaching marriage. During the honeymoon Elise visits her cousins the Sullivans in Ireland—a pleasant houseful of harum-scarum boys and girls, with whom Elsie has many adventures. “Father John” is a fine type of Irish priest.

— DIMPLING’S SUCCESS. Pp. 150. (N.Y.: Benziger). n.d.

Reminds one of Little Lord Fauntleroy, but Dimpling O’Connor not only wins her stern old grandfather’s heart, but wins him to the Catholic Church. There are plenty of adventures and a good deal of piety, not of the goody-goody description.

— KATHLEEN MAVOURNEEN. Pp. 143. (Baltimore: Murphy). 1890.

A cruel Donegal landlord fearing that his son is becoming attached to Kathleen Burke, daughter of a poor tenant of one of his farms, evicts Mrs. Burke. This blow kills her. Kathleen goes as a governess to London, and there the lovers meet again. But the hero has seen the error of his father’s ways, and goes into Parliament. In the end he and his father too become Catholics, and all ends well. For young people.

— LINDA’S MISFORTUNES, AND LITTLE BRIAN’S TRIP TO DUBLIN. (Gill). (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.70 net. [c. 1892]. Still in print.

Two stories, the first and longer not being concerned with Ireland. The second is a delightful little children’s story.

— IN A ROUNDABOUT WAY. Pp. 224. (Washbourne). 2s. 6d. 1908.

Main theme: a plot to defraud an orphan girl of inherited property, which in a strange manner fails, and all is well again. Scene: first, London, then Donegal, of the scenery of which the Author gives vivid descriptions. The life of the peasants and their relations with their priests are depicted with sympathy and feeling.

— TERENCE O’NEILL’S HEIRESS. Pp. 358. (Browne & Nolan). 3s. 6d. Illustr. by C. A. Mills. (N.Y.: Benziger). 1.35. 1909.

A pleasant story of a young girl left an unprovided orphan, who is cared for by generous relatives, whom in their hour of need she strives to repay. Suspected of a theft, she is vindicated only after much sorrow and heart-burning. The heroine is a noble and beautiful character. Refined and sensitive, loving music and art, she is obliged to take service as a governess in an English family. There she meets the great trial of her life, but also the final crown of her happiness.

— SWEET DOREEN. (Washbourne). 3s. 6d. 1915.

Poverty and misery in Ballygorst have reached a climax. At the suggestion of the Agent, Father Ryan goes to Dublin to get the Landlord to do something. The latter is respectful, but will do nothing. Just as Father Ryan is going the Landlord’s daughter and her American friend Laura come in. They will go to Ballygorst, and Papa is persuaded to be of the party. The story tells how they came, met “Sweet Doreen” and her brothers and sister, and met with many adventures, pleasant and unpleasant, in the effort to do good.

MULHOLLAND, Rosa; Lady Gilbert. Born in Belfast, about 1855. She spent some years in a remote mountainous part of the West of Ireland. Of the rest of her life most has been passed in Ireland, where she still lives. In her early literary life she received much help and encouragement from Dickens, who highly valued her work. She has written much poetry of high literary quality and “marked by a thought and diction peculiar to herself.”—(Irish Lit.). Her novels are intensely Catholic, though without anti-Protestant feeling, and intensely national. But their most striking quality is a literary style of singular purity and grace, and a quiet beauty very different from the flash and rattle of much recent writing. She has publ. several vols. of verse. Among her non-Irish novels may be mentioned The Late Miss Hollingford, The Squire’s Granddaughter, The Haunted Organist. Lady Gilbert has also written many children’s stories full of originality and playful fancy.

— DUNMARA. By “Ruth Murray.” Three Vols. (Smith, Elder). 1864.

Wrecked on the coast Ellen, of mysterious antecedents, is taken into the family of Mr. Aungier, or Dunmara Castle, in the West. Strange household—the half-witted Miss Rowena, the dark, vindictive Miss Elswitha, with unpleasant family history in the background. A will is discovered making Ellen heiress of Dunmara, but revealing to her that she is the daughter of a man formerly slain by Mr. Aungier, who had asked her in marriage. This long keeps the two apart, but they are married in the end. Little Irish colour. Written in somewhat strained style and at times over-emotional.

— HESTER’S HISTORY. Pp. 237. (Chapman & Hall). 1869.

Pastoral life in the Glens of Antrim at the time of the Union, the main theme being a love story. Humour and tragedy alternate. Incidents of the rebellion of ’98, including an attack on a castle in the Glens by the English soldiery. Some historical characters are introduced. During part of the action the scene shifts to London. The story was written at the request of Charles Dickens, and he thought highly of it.

— ELDERGOWAN; and Other Tales (three). (Marcus Ward). Illustr. 1874.

“Eldergowan” is a very careful and clever study of a girl’s varying moods. “It is an excellent example of artistic work and perfect in its way.” “Mrs. Archie” is a comedy in which the chief actors are the antiquated family of the MacArthurs, dwelling in the glens of Antrim. The third story, “Little Peg O’Shaughnessy” is written in a lively style, with plenty of interest of a healthy “real” kind.—(I.M.).

— THE WILD BIRDS OF KILLEEVY. Pp. 311. (Burns & Oates). (N.Y.: Benziger). 1.10. [1883].

An exquisite little tale, not of the realistic sort, but sweet and ideal. Kevin and Fanchea are little peasant playmates together in Killeevy. Kevin is dull at his books, but full of the love of nature. Fanchea is a fairy with a bird-like voice. One day she is stolen by gipsies, then by strange fortune gets into the upper stratum of society. Kevin goes out into the world to look for her. He gets education and becomes a poet. After long years they meet again and all is well. Killeevy is an Irish-speaking district where the people treasure religiously their Irish MSS. Here and there there are pen-pictures of much beauty. It is not of course a mere children’s book. It has been well said of the book: “It is our own world after all, seen through the crystal of pure language, artistic sense, and joyous perception of natural beauty.”

— THE WALKING TREES; and Other Tales. Pp. 256. (Gill). 1885.

Contains “The Girl from under the Lake,” an Irish fairy tale, occupying about one-third of the book. It is charmingly told.

— MARCELLA GRACE: an Irish Novel. (Kegan, Paul). 6s. 1886.

A story with an elaborate plot, full of dramatic incident. Incidentally the evils of landlordism and Fenianism are dwelt upon, the former in the picture drawn of the hovels, the starved land, and the meek misery of the people—and here the author is at her best. The minor characters are clearly and sympathetically drawn, evidently from life. There is much sadness and even tragedy in the story. The Phœnix Park Murders are touched upon.

— A FAIR EMIGRANT. Pp. 370. (Kegan, Paul). 2s., &c. [1889]. New ed., 1896, &c.

Period: about the ’seventies. Scene: at first in America (farming life), then in Ireland, north coast of Antrim. A love story. The heroine, one of those whom all must love, is an only daughter, whose mission in life is to clear her dead father’s reputation. Full of romantic incident. There is a picture of the landlord class of the time, and there are many good things about the vexed economic and social questions of the day. The book has the Author’s usual grace of diction, sincerity of thought, and fine descriptions of scenery. It was very highly praised in Irish, English, and Scotch literary journals.

— NANNO. Pp. 287. (Grant Richards). 3s. 6d. 1899.

A rural love-story. Scene: Dublin and Youghal and Ardmore. The heroine is a girl born in the workhouse, who is saved from its dangerous and degrading atmosphere, and raised, by true affection and by living among good country people, to high moral feeling and purpose and to the heights of self-sacrifice. The most realistic and the strongest of Lady Gilbert’s works. Esteemed by the literary critics and by herself to be the best of her novels. It is based on facts, and it occasioned the reform of certain abuses in workhouses.

— ONORA. Pp. 354. (Grant Richards). 1900.

A story of country life in Waterford in the days of the Land League. Eviction scenes. Life in Land League huts on the Ponsonby Estate. Has a strong emotional interest, with much study of the family affections and of the interplay of character. Many touches of humour. Highly praised in English literary reviews. Incidentally there are glimpses of Mount Melleray and of the scenery on the Blackwater. The sterling goodness of obscure people is rendered with womanly sympathy. Interwoven with the main story is that of Norah’s little lame poet brother Deelan, a pathetic episode. Also folk-tales and ballads.

— TERRY. Pp. 112. (Blackie). Thirteen good illustr. by E. A. Cabitt. 1902.

Scene: West of Ireland. A story for children, about a girl and boy of an adventurous turn, relating their doings while living with their grandmother and their nurse, their parents being away in Africa.

— THE TRAGEDY OF CHRIS: The Story of a Dublin Flower-Girl. (Sands). [1903]. Second ed., 2s. 6d. 1914.

Sheelia, the little workhouse girl, is boarded out with Mary Ellen Brady, and lives a happy life with her in her cottage in the fold of the hills. But Mary Ellen dies, and Sheelia, to escape dependence on the worthless cousins of her dead “Mammy,” runs away to Dublin. Here she is friendless and penniless till she becomes a flower-girl under the tutorship of Chris. Tragedy comes when Chris disappears (she had been decoyed away to London and made a “white slave”), and Sheelia makes it her life work to find her again. She does so, but in the saddest circumstances. The pitiful story is told with perfect delicacy. Scene: Dublin, various other parts of Ireland, and London.

— THE STORY OF ELLEN. Pp. 434. (Burns & Oates). 5s. 1907.

This is a reprint of an earlier story entitled Dunmara (Smith, Elder), q.v.

— OUR SISTER MAISIE. Pp. 383. (Blackie). 6s. Illustr. by G. Demain Hammond, R.I. 1907.

Maisie, aged eighteen, comes from Rome to take charge of a whole family of step-brothers and sisters. She owns an island off the West coast. The family goes there. The children, after many vicissitudes, turn out clever, develope special aptitudes, and put these to use in helping the poor islanders in various ways. There is a pretty love-story towards the close.

— COUSIN SARA. Pp. 399. (Blackie). 6s. Eight fine illustr. by Frances Ewan. 1908.

An ideal love-story woven into a strong plot. There is tragedy and humour with touches of heroism. High ideals are set forth. The scene varies between the North of Ireland, Italy, and London. The central idea of the story is this: Sara’s father, a retired soldier, has a talent for the invention of machinery. One of his inventions is stolen, and then patented by one whom he had trusted. Then Sara shows her true worth.

— A GIRL’S IDEAL. Pp. 399. (Blackie). Bound in solid gift-book style; cover attractive though not in perfect taste; many illustr. 1908.

Tells how an Irish-American girl comes to Ireland to spend a huge fortune to the greatest advantage of her country. There is also a love interest. Incidentally there is a description of the Dublin Horse Show; a number of folklore tales are told by Duncie, and there are good descriptions of Connaught scenery. The book is rather crowded with somewhat characterless personages, and there are improbabilities not a few.

— THE GIRLS OF BANSHEE CASTLE. Pp. 384. (Blackie). 3s. 6d. Illustr. by John Bacon. n.d.

Three girls, brought up in poverty by a governess in London, migrate to Galway to occupy the castle, pending the discovery of the missing heir. The latter turns up, but is not what he was thought to be, and there are complications. The girls hear a great deal of folk-lore and legend from the servants and from the peasantry.

— CYNTHIA’S BONNET SHOP. (Blackie). 5s. Eight illustr. by G. Demain Hammond, R.I.

“Cynthia, daughter of an impoverished Connaught family, wants to support a delicate mother. She and her star-struck sister go to London, where Cynthia opens a bonnet shop. How they find new interests in life is told with mingled humour and pathos.”—(Publ.).

— GIANNETTA: A Girl’s Story of Herself. (Blackie). 3s. Six full-page illustr. by Lockhart Bogle.

“The story of a changeling who is suddenly transferred to the position of a rich English heiress. She develops into a good and accomplished woman, and has gained too much love and devotion to be a sufferer by the surrender of her estates.”—(Publ.).

— THE RETURN OF MARY O’MURROUGH. Pp. 282. (Sands). 2s. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.75. [1908]. Cheap ed., 1915.

Illustrated by twelve exceptionally good photos of Irish scenery and types. Scene: near Killarney. The girl comes back from the States to find her lover in jail, into which he had been thrown owing to the perjury and treachery of some of the police. We shall not reveal the sequel. The story is told with a simplicity and restraint which render the pathos all the more telling. It is faithful to reality, deeply Catholic, and wholly on the side of the peasantry, of whose situation under iniquitous laws a picture is drawn which can only be described as exasperating.

— THE WICKED WOODS. Pp. 373. (Burns & Oates). New ed. 1909.

The hero is a scion of a family in which a curse, uttered against one of its founders by poor peasants whom he had dispossessed, had worked ruin for many generations. He is wholly unlike his ancestors, yet he, too, in a strange and tragic manner, falls under the influence of the curse—for a time. The story tells how he escapes from the terrible trial. Incidentally the best qualities of the peasantry are beautifully shown forth, especially the charity of the poor to one another.

— THE O’SHAUGHNESSY GIRLS. Pp. 383. (Blackie). 6s. Eight pleasant half-tone ill. by G. Demain Hammond. (N.Y.: Benziger). 1.50. 1910.

Scene: partly in London, partly by the Blackwater, in Munster, where live Lady Sibyl O’Shaughnessy and her two unmarried daughters. Of these latter, Lavender lives at home, takes an interest in things Gaelic, and has fireside ceilidhes. The other, Bell, runs away and goes on the stage. The search for Bell and the discovery of the identity of a mysterious boy on the O’S. farm constitute the main incidents of a delightful story. There is a love interest. The moral of the whole (not too obtrusive) is “Do the work that’s nearest, though it’s dull at times.”

— FATHER TIM. Pp. 314 (large print). (Sands). 2s. 6d. net. One coloured illustr. (Benziger). 0.90. 1910. Still in print.

Father T. is a zealous curate, first in a Dublin mountain parish, afterwards in a parish among the Dublin slums. The interest centres in his influence and work among upper and lower classes alike. The story tells, too, of the varying fortunes of other people that come into his life. Harrowing pictures are drawn of the Dublin slums. Written with the Author’s habitual literary charm. The plot is slight, but the incidents follow one another rapidly and the interest does not flag.

— FAIR NOREEN: the Story of a Girl of Character. (Blackie). 6s. Illustr. by G. Demain Hammond. (N.Y.: Benziger). 1.50. 1911.

— TWIN SISTERS: An Irish Tale. Pp. 392. (Blackie). 6s. 1912.

— NORAH OF WATERFORD. Pp. 251. (Sands). 3s. 6d. 1915.

A republication of Onora.

MURPHY, Con. T.

— THE MILLER OF GLANMIRE: an Irish Story. Pp. 227. (Chicago: Baker). Illustr. 1895.

MURPHY, James. B. Glynn, Co. Carlow, 1839. Ed. locally. He entered the teaching profession, and was for some years Principal of the Public Schools at Bray, Co. Wicklow, being appointed in 1860. He was successively Town Clerk of Bray and Prof. of Mathematics in Cath. Univ. and in Blackrock Coll. He resides in Kingstown. He has written more than twenty-five novels, eleven of which have been published. Others he hopes to publish in the near future.

— THE HAUNTED CHURCH. (Lond.: Spencer Blackett). 4 eds.

The story of a treasure buried by buccaneers in an old graveyard near Dublin, telling how the chief characters of the tale, after many exciting adventures in Peru at the time of the revolution there, eventually find the treasure and also the heir to the earldom of Glenholme.

— THE SHAN VAN VOCHT: a Tale of ’98. Pp. 347. (Gill). 2s. 6d. n.d. [1883]. Several since.

A melodramatic story, full of hairbreadth escapes, related with a good deal of dash, and at times of power. Tells of Tone’s negotiations in Paris leading to the various attempted French invasions of Ireland, with a detailed and vivid account of that in which Admiral Bompart was defeated in Lough Swilly and Tone himself captured, also details of the latter’s trial and execution.

— THE FORGE OF CLOHOGUE. Pp. 332. (Sealy, Bryers, and Gill). [1885]. 5th ed., 1912.

The story opens on Christmas Eve, 1797, and ends with the battle of Ross, including very stirring descriptions of the battle there and at Oulart. As is usual with this Author, the plot is somewhat loose, there are improbabilities, and the love interest is of a stereotyped kind; yet the reader is carried along by the quick succession of exciting incident. Of course the standpoint is national. A good idea is given of the state of the country at the time.

— THE HOUSE IN THE RATH. Pp. 291. (Sealy, Bryers). 2s. [1886]. Fifth ed., 1909.

Has the usual qualities of this Author’s stories: plenty of exciting and dramatic incident, and stirring descriptions—among the latter the battle of Camperdown. Deals with Wolfe Tone’s efforts to obtain aid from France for the United Irishmen and with the plans of the latter at home. Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Oliver Bond appear. There are pictures, too, of the atrocities of the yeomanry. Interwoven with these events there is a romance of private life centering in the cleverly drawn characters of Teague, the Fiddler, and Kate Hatchman. As usual, the Author makes much use of “the long arm of coincidence.”

— CONVICT No. 25; or, The Clearances of Westmeath. Pp. 324. (Duffy). 3s. 6d. [1886]. Fifth ed., 1913.

Depicts landlordism in its worst days and at its worst—about forty or fifty years ago. A complicated and somewhat melodramatic plot in which probability is a good deal strained. A slight love story runs through the book.

— THE FORTUNES OF MAURICE O’DONNELL. 1887, and two others since.

— HUGH ROACH, THE RIBBONMAN. (Duffy). 1s. [c. 1887]. Fourth ed., 1909.

One of the most popular of the author’s stories. The leading incidents are founded on occurrences of the time. Full of thrilling and dramatic situations and historical pictures.—(Freeman).

— LUKE TALBOT. Pp. 278. (Sealy, Bryers). 1s. 1890. Sixth ed. in preparation.

A sensational story, filled, without any interval of dullness, with exciting adventures—sea battles, wrecks, hairbreadth escapes, fighting under Wellington in Spain, &c., &c. The main theme is a murder committed by a wicked land agent in Ireland—Malcolm M’Nab—and of which Luke is suspected on strong circumstantial evidence. All through the book, until just the end, M’Nab is on top, but right finally triumphs. There is no attempt at character drawing and very little probability.

— THE FLIGHT FROM THE CLIFFS. Pp. 266. (Duffy). 1911.

Author’s avowed intention—to present Irish and Catholic view of the Confederation War. With the political and military events of the time in mingled the romance of Walter Butler (the hero), who is on the Confederate side, and the daughter of Inchiquin. Owen Roe and Father Luke Wadding are prominent in the tale. Careful description of Benburb. Scene laid in many parts of Ireland (Dublin, Wicklow, Cork, Donegal, &c.), and in Spain and Rome. Full of exciting adventures, battles, sieges, &c. Illustr. very numerous. They are crude, but serve to enliven the narrative.

— LAYS AND LEGENDS OF IRELAND. (Duffy). 1912.

Twelve in prose and five in verse. Includes two of Author’s best short stories—“Maureen’s Sorrow” and “At Noon by the Ravine,” as well as several of his best known ballads.

— THE INSIDE PASSENGER. (Duffy). 1913.

The mail coach from Limerick is overtaken by a snow-storm near the old castle of Bullock, near Dalkey, and held up by a snowdrift. Passengers have to get out and shelter in the castle. To while away the time they tell stories each more weird and wonderful than the preceding, and all referring indirectly to the Inside Passenger. Towards morning the I. P., the coachman, and the six brass-bound boxes are found to have disappeared. The story tells what befell on the head of this and how the mystery was finally solved.

MURPHY, Nicholas P. D. 1914. Ed. Clongowes Wood College. Was a member of the English Bar.

— A CORNER IN BALLYBEG. Pp. 256. (Long). 6s. 1902.

A collection of short, humorous sketches of life in a midland village in Ireland at the present day. The dialect is well done. The book is not written in a spirit of caricature.

MURRAY, John Fisher. B. Belfast, 1811. Ed. there and T.C.D. Wrote much for Irish and English periodicals, including the Nation and the United Irishman. D. Dublin, 1865.

— THE VICEROY. Three Vols. (Lond.). 1841.

Deals with Dublin official life, satirizing it unmercifully. First appeared in Blackwood’s Magazine. The Author was born in Belfast in 1811; died 1865. Wrote for the Nation, the United Irishman (1848), the Dublin University Magazine, &c. Graduated M.A. in T.C.D., 1832.

NAUGHTON, William.

— THE PRIEST’S BOY: a Story of Irish Rural Life. (Dublin: Hunter). 1s. 1914.

NEVILLE, Elizabeth O’Reilly.

— FATHER TOM OF CONNEMARA. (N.Y.: Rand, McNally Co.). $1.50. Illustr. [1902]. 1903.

Rural life in W. of Ireland.

NEVILLE, Ralph.

— LLOYD PENNANT: a Tale of the West. Two Vols. (Chapman & Hall). 1864.

First ran as a serial in “Duffy’s Hibernian Magazine,” 1863. Well-written and exciting melodrama, with a good plot, but very quiet and plain in style. The hero, who bears an assumed name, and is really heir of an old Anglo-Irish family, joins the British navy. He is unjustly accused of disloyalty and intimacy with Lord Edward Fitzgerald. But all ends well, including his love affair with Kate Blake, daughter of a family that plays a principal part in the story. The Humbert invasion is touched upon, especially the Castlebar “Races.” There is a good deal about the ways of gombeen men and middlemen in the West. Sympathies national. Wrote also The Squire’s Heir, 1881.

NEWCOMEN, George.

— A LEFT-HANDED SWORDSMAN: a Romance of the Eighteenth Century. Pp. 239. (Smithers). 6s. 1900.

The life and doings of Cicely Grattan and of her adopted son Victor La Roche, a noble and generous youth, brave and skilled in sword-play—examples respectively of womanly virtue and manly character. The interest centres chiefly in Cicely’s wrecked love affairs and in Victor’s successful ones. Abundance of incident sustains the interest throughout, and the book gives a fairly good picture of society in the Dublin of the day, with not a little reference to its loose morals.

NEWTON, W. Douglas.

— THE NORTH AFIRE. Pp. 204. (Methuen). 2s. 1914.

Sub-t.: “A non-political story of Ulster’s war.” By a Catholic Conservative.

NOBLE, Mrs. Nicholas; [Madge Irwin].

— DRUIDEAN THE MYSTIC, and Other Irish Stories. Pp. 93. Sq. 12mo. (Dundalk: W. Tempest). 1s. 6d. 1913.

Three little stories, only the last of which has a definite plot, and a poem. They deal with peasant life. They are told in a dialect which is not very sure of itself nor very true to reality. The nine little illustrations by J. E. Corr and the excellent printing and general get-up make the book very dainty.

NOBLE, E.

— AN IRISH DECADE. Pp. 110. (Digby, Long). n.d. (1891).

Three stories:—1. “The O’Donol (sic) Rent,” 1879-80; 2. “Rosie,” 1885; 3. “By Kerry Moonlight,” 1889. 1. How a thriftless young farmer went in for anti-rent agitation and brought ruin on himself and his young wife. 2. Story of a resisted eviction ending in tragedy. 3. The “moonlighter” phase of the land war. All three stories are written to show the wickedness and the uncalled for nature of the land agitation. They are nicely written and constitute a clever piece of special pleading. In 2, the priest is represented as “heartily sympathetic with the Cause but utterly unsympathetic with gratuitous demonstrations of mass violence.”

O’BRIEN, Charlotte Grace. B. 1845. A dau. of William Smith O’Brien, the Young Ireland leader who in 1848 was condemned to death for high treason, a sentence afterwards commuted to transportation. Lived nearly all her life in Co. Limerick. Worked strenuously on behalf of Irish emigrants. Took active part in Nationalist politics and in the Gaelic League. Became a Catholic towards the end of her life. D. 1905. See Charlotte Grace O’Brien, Selections from her Writings and Correspondence, with a memoir by Stephen Gwynn [her nephew]. (Maunsel). 1909.

— DOMINICK’S TRIALS: an Irish Story. Pp. 120. (Gall & Inglis). n.d. (1870).

A little tract in story form, telling how Dominick was converted by his Bible, lost his job as farmer’s scarecrow, converts his sister Judy, and is sent with her to a Protestant orphanage in England, after which “they never lost an opportunity of turning any poor benighted Roman Catholic to the light of God’s truth.”

— LIGHT AND SHADE. Two Vols. Pp. 287, 256. (Kegan, Paul). 1878.

A tale of the Fenian rising by the daughter of William Smith O’Brien. A double love story runs through the book. The descriptions of the scenery of the Shannon and neighbouring districts are derived from livelong observations. Tone pure and healthy, dialect perfect. Of this story Stephen Gwynn says: “Violent, even melodramatic, in incident, it lacks the power of characterisation, but it has many passages of beauty.... She worked largely upon material gathered from the lips of men who had been actors in the Fenian rising.”

O’BRIEN, Dillon. B. 1817, at Kilmore, Co. Roscommon. Ed. at St. Stanislaus Coll., Tullabeg. Went to U.S.A. and settled in St. Paul, Minn. Wrote a good deal of verse and several novels of Irish-American life. D. 1882. His serial Dead Broke, in the Irish Monthly of 1882, is a good example of his pleasant, gay manner of telling a story.

— THE DALYS OF DALYSTOWN. (U.S.A., St. Paul). 1866.

— FRANK BLAKE. (U.S.A., St. Paul). 1876.

O’BRIEN, FitzJames.

— THE POEMS AND STORIES OF FITZJAMES O’BRIEN. Pp. lxii. + 485. (Boston: Osgood). 1881.

Coll. and ed., with sketch of Author, by W. Winter. FitzJames O’Brien was one of the most distinguished of Irish-American writers. B. Limerick, 1838. Ed. T.C.D. D. 1862. He is a master of the weird and eerie, after the manner of Lefanu (q.v.) and Poe. His prose works are little if at all concerned with Ireland.

— THE DIAMOND LENS, and Other Stories. (Lond.). 1887.

Sketch of Author prefixed. Contains no Irish stories.

O’BRIEN, Hon. Georgina. Eldest dau. of the late Lord O’Brien of Kilfenora, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.

— THE HEART OF THE PEASANT, and Other Stories. Pp. 277. (Sisley). 6s. 1908.

Twelve stories of various types. Some have a slight meaning behind the mere tale. Four or five do not concern Ireland, and several others do not touch peasant life. The tone is on the whole sympathetic towards the external aspects of Catholicism. The stories do not deal in politics or in problems. They are chiefly little aspects of life and feeling. The last and longest is a very modern story of the love affair of Rev. Mark Dibbs and a certain Lady Glynn.

— A TWENTIETH CENTURY HERO. Pp. 308. (Maunsel). 6s. 1913.

The scene and most of the characters of this story are English. Some Irish interest, however, is afforded by Mr. and Mrs. Flanagan, the latter bright, thrifty, busy; the former of the happy-go-lucky type, content to let his wife do the bread-winning.

O’BRIEN, Morrough.

— THE LEAGUE OF THE RING and TORN APART. (Ireland’s Own Library). 6d. n.d. (1914).

Exciting stories of mysteries unravelled by the great Irish detective, Dermod O’Donovan. Villainy is defeated and couples are happily married. Quite healthy in tone, but very sensational. The scene is Belfast and neighbourhood.

O’BRIEN, Mgr. Richard Baptist; “Father Baptist.” B. at Carrick-on-Suir, 1809. D. 1885. A distinguished priest, who was Dean of Limerick. Was well-known in religious and philanthropic works. He wrote poems for the Nation under the pen-name of “Baptist.”

— AILEY MOORE. Pp. 311. (Duffy). 3s. 6d. [1856]. Fifth ed. n.d. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60.

Period: the years before and after ’48. Plot pleasant, but main interest abundance of side incidents, character studies and details of Irish life, introduced chiefly to picture the evils of misgovernment prevailing at the time. The style is agreeable, though there are rather lengthy moralizings. It was advertised by Dolman as “showing how Eviction, Murder, and such like pastimes are managed and Justice administered in Ireland.”

— JACK HAZLITT, A.M. Pp. 380. (Duffy). Third ed. n.d. Still in print. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60. [1875].

The Preface tells us that Jack Hazlitt, whose fortunes are followed in this book, was a real person known to the Author, and that many of the adventures recorded are true. Scene: first, banks of Shannon (King’s County or Westmeath), then America. Story of sensational kind, but with many moral lessons, often verging on homilies, directed chiefly against free-thought and undenominational education.

— THE D’ALTONS OF CRAG. Pp. 283. (Duffy). 2s. 1882. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60. [1882].

A tale laid in a time of helplessness and hopelessness, in which the Author gives “many illustrations of the beautiful and devoted love that has ever bound together the people and the priests of Ireland.”—(Pref.). The Author tells us that every one of the main incidents is based on fact, and that many of the characters are portraits of real persons. The story is told with great vigour, and is full of diversified incident of no humdrum or commonplace character.—(Irish Monthly).

O’BRIEN, William. B. Mallow, Co. Cork, 1852. Ed. Cloyne diocesan seminary and Queen’s Coll., Cork. Early engaged in journalism. He long edited United Ireland, to which he contributed much prose and verse. He is one of the best known and most remarkable of modern Irish politicians. He has been prosecuted nine times for political offences, and spent more than two years in prison, where When We Were Boys was written. Has been Member of Parliament, except for short intervals, since 1883.

— WHEN WE WERE BOYS. Pp. 550. (Longmans). 6s. 1890. Frequently republished.

One of the most remarkable of Irish novels. A tale of Ireland in Fenian times. Scene: Glengarriff, Co. Cork. A very brilliant book, sparkling with epigram and metaphor. Full of criticism, argument, thought and dream about Ireland. The story itself is strong in romantic and human interest. The characterization is full of life and reality, yet many of the characters are types. In the course of the tale many aspects of Irish life, among all classes, pass in review. There are many touches of satire. Over all the characters and scenes the author’s exuberant imagination has cast a glare as of the footlights, making them stand out in vivid colours and clear outlines. Yet there is little or no distortion or misrepresentation. The Author’s sympathies are strongly nationalist and Catholic, yet national failings are not blinked, and some of the portraits of priests are distinctly satirical. The central interest, perhaps, is the romantic excitement, enthusiasm, and exaltation of an impending rising.

— A QUEEN OF MEN. Pp. 321. (Unwin). [1898]. Third ed., 1899. There is a cheap ed. in paper covers.

Scene: Galway City, Clare Island, and the opposite coast, just before the great War of the Earls. A very highly-coloured romance, full of flashy and dramatic sensation, told with an exuberance of language that sometimes exceeds, but at times is very effective. Some of the descriptive pieces are quite above the common and attain remarkable vividness. The book was written in the midst of the scenes described. An effective device to secure colour is the frequent interjection of Gaelic phrases phonetically spelt. The heroine of the tale is the famous Gránia Ni Mháille, who appears not only as dauntless sea-queen of the O’Malleys, but above all in her womanly character. Fitzwilliam, Bingham, and Perrott also appear, the last as a hero. Though many of the incidents are quite fictitious and few happened exactly as narrated, yet some of those which might seem most incredible to anyone unacquainted with the State Papers could be paralleled by real happenings. Some of the incidents narrated are: the Composition of Connaught, the disgrace of Perrott, the wrecking of the Armada on the Connaught coast, Gránia’s visit to Elizabeth. With Gránia’s love story is entwined another, that of Cahal O’Malley and Nuala O’Donnell.

O’BRIEN, Mrs. W. Wife of preceding; née Sophie, dau. of Herman Raffalovich, of Paris. She is a convert to Catholicism, and a thoroughly naturalised Irishwoman for many years past. She has written also a book of reminiscences, Under Croagh Patrick. I have also seen mentioned as by her a book entitled Amidst Mayo Bogs.

— ROSETTE: a Tale of Dublin and Paris. Pp. 266. (Burns & Oates). 1907.

Diary of Rosette, only child of a Parisian bourgeois family. Deals chiefly with the life of this family in Paris, and afterwards in Dublin. There is no sensationalism. Rosette’s religious development is thoughtfully worked out, and there is good character-drawing (e.g., Rosette’s artistically inclined mother and the old servant, Mélanie). The point of view is, of course, distinctly feminine. The style is pretty and graceful.

O’BYRNE, Dermot.

— CHILDREN OF THE HILLS. Pp. 148. (Maunsel). 2s. 6d. n.d. [1913].

Seven stories reprinted from The Irish Review and Orpheus (an art periodical). They belong to the literary movement associated with the Abbey Theatre. They have the weird imaginativeness and the flavour of the occult and uncanny of Yeats’s prose stories, together with the vivid word-painting of “Fiona McLeod.” The Author delights in the portrayal of primitive and savage passions on the one hand, and on the other in the suggestion of the wild landscapes, rock-strewn and mist-shrouded, of Western Donegal (e.g., Glencolumbcille, in “Ancient Dominions”). These stories of pure fancy are strangely interwoven with settings of extreme realism—drunken tinkers, peasants, &c. Only here and there have we remarks like the following (p. 123):—“But those who are intimate with the soul of the Gaelic peasant know that the God of the Christian is only one amongst a Pantheon of hidden dominations lovely and terrible, though the priest at the altar may thunder anathemas from a fettered intelligence,” &c. The reviewer in the Times Lit. Suppl. pointed out the real defect of these stories—they are wanting in heart.

O’BYRNE, D.

— THE SISTERS AND GREEN MAGIC. Pp. 76. (Daniel). 2s. 6d. net. 1912.

O’BYRNE, M. L.

— THE PALE AND THE SEPTS. Two Vols. (Gill). [1876].

The design is to illustrate, in all its cruelty, treachery, greed, and unscrupulousness, the steady advance of the English settlement. Yet by no means all the English are painted as villains. We are shown the forces of government at work at home in the Castle. Careful portraits of Archbishop Loftus and the old Earl of Kildare. Descriptions of battle of Glenmalure, Hungerford’s massacre at Baltinglass, the capture and recapture of Glenchree, &c., &c. Fine description of scenery, e.g., Gougane Barra. The religious persecutions are vividly portrayed. Highly praised by the Athenæum. The original sub-title was “Or, The Baron of Belgard and the Chiefs of Glenmalure. A Romance of the 16th Century, by Emelobie de Celtis.”

— LEIXLIP CASTLE. Pp. 649. (Gill). [1883]. Others since.

Period: years 1690 sqq. Deals with battle of Boyne, flight of James II., sieges of Limerick and Athlone, the battle of Aughrim—all fully and vividly described. Standpoint: strongly national and Catholic. Gives pleasant insight into the private lives of some Catholic families at the time and their difficulties with Protestant neighbours. Narrative somewhat tedious and slow-moving.

— ILL-WON PEERAGES; or, An Unhallowed Union. Pp. 716. (Gill). 1884.

At the outset of this book we are introduced in a series of pictures to the homes of representative people of various parties, and long, imaginary political conversations between the prominent men of the time are given. Then there is a full account of the rebellion from the battle of Kilcullen to Vinegar Hill. Practically every noteworthy personage of the time is described in private and in public life. The romantic interest is entirely subservient to the historical, yet there is plenty of adventure. The bias is ultra-nationalist. The style, and especially the descriptions, were highly praised by a reviewer in the Tablet.

— ART MACMURROUGH O’KAVANAGH. Pp. 706. (Gill). [1885].

A full account of the life and exploits of Art MacMurrough, with many adventures of fictitious characters, and much description of the manners and life of the times within and without the Pale. In the conversations the Author attempts to reproduce the spoken English of the time, with a lamentable result. They are full of yclept, eftsoons, by my halidom, marry, &c., &c., so as to be unintelligible at times. The speech of the Irish characters is nearly as full of Gaelic expressions. “Many of the events narrated in this story are supplied from tradition,” says the Author. But she has been at much pains to utilize undoubtedly authentic sources. The style, on the whole, is pleasant.

— THE COURT OF RATH CROGHAN. Pp. 465. (Gill). 2s. 6d. 1887.

The story of the Norman Invasion of Ireland, together with the series of events that led to it, and the consequences that followed, the central idea being that it was the treachery and disunion of her own princes that wrought the ruin of Ireland. All the chief men connected with the events narrated play prominent parts in the story. St. Laurence O’Toole is finely drawn. The last Ard Righ, Roderick, is shown weak and unfit to rule in perilous times. Strongbow is a leading character; his death is vividly described. Art MacMurrough is, of course, the villain. The style is somewhat highflown and often loaded with antiquated phrases and latinized expressions. Yet the story, apart from its historical value, which is considerable, has a strong interest of its own.

— LORD ROCHE’S DAUGHTERS OF FERMOY. Pp. 344. (Sealy, Bryers). (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.50. 1892.

In the course of this romance the whole history of the Wars of the Confederation of Kilkenny and of the Cromwellian Invasion is related. The story is described by the Author as “a very encyclopædia of tragedies.” The Author is strongly on the side of Owen Roe O’Neill as against the Confederate Catholics of the Pale, and, of course, the Puritans. A fine series of adventures and of historical pictures, but spoiled by frequent lapses from literary good taste.

O’BYRNE, W. Lorcan. B. in Dublin, 1845. Son of Christopher O’Byrne, of Ballinacor, Co. Wicklow. Delighted from earliest youth in Irish lore of all kinds. Held a position in the Education Office during the greater part of his life. D. 1913. His books, though popular in style, were the result of much patient research.

— A LAND OF HEROES. Pp. 224. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. Well illustr. by J. H. Bacon. (N.Y.: Scribners). 1.25. 1899.

“Intended to reach the level of children.” Very interesting Introduction. The book is a series of Irish hero tales from various cycles, including the best-known (Sons of Tuirean, Lir, Usnach, &c.), and the Romance of the early kings very much as in Miss Hull’s Pagan Ireland. The book contains a larger number of tales than any other except the most expensive. The bare story is told without any attempt to work up the materials into poetic or dramatic form.

— KINGS AND VIKINGS. Pp. 240. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. Six illustr. by Paul Hardy. n.d. (1900). (N.Y.: Scribners). 1.25.

Drawn from published translations of Gaelic MSS., e.g., Standish H. O’Grady’s Silva Gadelica; Dr. Todd’s edition of the Wars of the Gael and Gall; Dr. O’Donovan’s Battle of Magh Rath, &c. Contents: stories of early Christian times, chiefly from the lives of St. Patrick, St. Brigid, St. Columbkille, and St. Brendan; the trial of the Bards; the battles of Dunbolg, Moira, &c.; stories of the Danish invasions and in particular of Brian Borumha. Full of good information, but not strong in narrative interest.

— CHILDREN OF KINGS. Pp. 240. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. Illustr. by Paul Hardy. 1904.

“The aim of this book is to present tales from Three Cycles of Romance, viz., the Cuchulain, the Ossianic, and the Arthurian, interwoven after the manner of a Celtic design” (Introduction). The chief characters of the three cycles appear in various stories (there are thirty-one in all). A truly wonderful knowledge of the period embraced by these tales is displayed in the book, but the glamour of romance and the magic of words are wanting.

— THE KNIGHT OF THE CAVE; or, The Quest of the Pallium. Pp. 248. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. Six illustr. by Paul Hardy. 1906.

A thin thread of narrative connecting much interesting and valuable information about historical events and about the life of the people at the period. The hero passes from England, then laid waste by the wars of Stephen’s reign, to Ireland, where we are shown in great detail the civil and ecclesiastical life of the day. Thence he accompanies St. Malachi to Clairvaux on a visit to St. Bernard. Then he visits Italy—Tivoli, Horace’s Sabine Farm, and Rome, whose antiquities are described at length. Finally, he returns to Ireland, whose state is again dwelt upon. The narrative is relieved by exciting adventures and by stories told incidentally. The Author’s erudition is extensive and accurate. The title refers to St. Patrick’s Purgatory, Lough Derg.

— THE FALCON KING. Pp. 240. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. Six illustr. by Paul Hardy. Picture Cover. 1907.

“A series of historical episodes (beginning in Wales, 1146), vignettes of contemporary life, and stories from Celtic and Icelandic sagas and Norman French chansons de geste, illustrating events, manners, and religion.... Shows Henry II. and his barons engaged in the conquest of Ireland, and gives a good account of Dermot MacMurrough, and also of life in Dublin.”—(Baker, 2).

[O’CONNELL, Mrs. K. E.], of Leenane, Co. Galway; “Aroon.”

— NOREEN DHAS. Pp. 62. (Sealy, Bryers). 1s. 1902.

A pretty love-story of Connemara (the Killaries). The Author is for the language movement, and strongly opposed to the bargain marriages of the West.

— WHITE HEATHER. Pp. 62. (Sealy, Bryers). 1s. 1903.

Three tales of Connemara. The first is a graceful little fairy story, the third a story of faithful love.

O’CONNOR, Barry.

— TURF-FIRE STORIES, and Fairy Tales of Ireland. Pp. 405. (N.Y.: Kenedy). 0.63. Illustr. with woodcuts. 1890.

“The greater number of the following sketches are original; the others have been transcribed, and in most cases materially altered, from the musty pages of some ‘Quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore.’” (Pref.) Most of the stories are comic. The persons and incidents are mostly drawn from peasant life. Most of them are capitally told. A few are somewhat journalistic and hurriedly written. There is no caricaturing nor “Stage Irishism.” Some are legends of places, others typical fairy or folk tales. There are a large number of woodcuts, which, however, have no connection with the letter-press.

[O’CONNOR, Joseph K.]; “Heblon.”

— STUDIES IN BLUE. (Sealy, Bryers). 2s. Illustr. by C. A. Mills. n.d. (c. 1903).

Sketches, true to life, and cleverly told, of the most disreputable side of Dublin slum-life, as seen, chiefly, in the Police Courts. Amusing, but at times verging on vulgarity.

O’DONNELL, Lucy.

— ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL. Pp. 86. (Dublin: Curry). 1855.

The fortunes of the house of Desmond in the 16th century, and chiefly those of Lord James Fitzgerald (son of the great Earl) who became a Protestant, and was therefore rejected by his people and retired to England. The story opens with a Protestant service in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1581. It contains interesting allusions to Glendalough, Dublin, and Adare. Author’s viewpoint Protestant.

O’DONOGHUE, —.

— THE PRINCE OF KILLARNEY. (London).

O’DONOVAN, Gerald.

— FATHER RALPH. Pp. 494. (Macmillan). 6s. Six impressions within a few months. 1914.

An anti-clerical and modernist novel by an Author with inside knowledge of the Catholic Church in Ireland. It is the story of a young priest from his birth until we take leave of him (défroqué) on board a ship leaving Ireland. In the course of the narrative there is presented a general view of Irish life as seen from the standpoint of such writers as M. J. F. M’Carthy, W. P. O’Ryan, and “Pat,” but clerical life is depicted with far more minute knowledge than by any of these. Sensational features such as the amours of priests, nuns, &c., are avoided, though much innuendo is indulged in. All the estimable characters in the book are represented as either Modernists, or else voteens and people who avoid thinking on serious problems. The Bishop, Father Molloy, and Ralph’s mother, as depicted by the Author, are revolting in the extreme. Except in rare instances all the outward details of Irish life are true to reality, but seen with jaundiced eyes. It may fairly be said that there is scarcely a page of this book that does not appeal in one form or another to non-Catholic prejudice.

— WAITING. Pp. 387. (Macmillan). 6s. 1914.

Maurice Blake is a young National Schoolmaster, an ideal teacher, an enthusiast for Irish Ireland and for industrial revival. He falls foul of Father Mahon, the P.P., who is made as odious as possible. Maurice cannot get a dispensation to marry Alice Barton, a Protestant, and is compelled to marry her in a registry office. Maurice is selected as candidate by his constituency but, through the agency of Fr. Mahon, is set aside in favour of a worthless drunkard, and a mission is preached by “Seraphists.” Ch. XXIII., describing this mission, is most offensive and vulgar. Minor characters are Driscoll, the former Master; Breslin, editor and free-thinker; Fr. Malone, a lovable character; Dr. Hannigan with his “diffident, humble manner covering the pride of Lucifer”; Fr. Cafferley, fond of tea parties in publicans’ back parlours, &c. The Church Times says of the book, “It is much more angry and malevolent than its predecessor,” and the Times Lit. Suppl., in an article obviously written by a non-Catholic, “It is a bitter and, if true, a deadly attack on the priesthood, and an almost rancorous indictment of the practice and influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.”

O’DONOVAN, Michael.

— MR. MULDOON. Pp. 328. (Greening). 6s.

Scene: Dublin and suburbs. A book for an idle hour, recounting the whimsical adventures of the hero and his experiments with professions of all kinds. Humour broad, but not vulgar.

O’DONOVAN ROSSA, see ROSSA.

O’FLANAGAN, James Roderick, B.L., M.R.I.A.

— BRYAN O’REGAN. 1866.

The Author was b. at Fermoy in 1814, and wrote some important works on Irish biography and topography, such as The Blackwater in Munster; The History of Dundalk (with John Dalton); Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland; The Munster Circuit; The Irish Bar. Founded the Fermoy Journal, and published his autobiography, An Octogenarian Literary Life, Cork, 1896.

— CAPTAIN O’SHAUGHNESSY’S SPORTING CAREER. Two Vols. 1872.

— GENTLE BLOOD.

A novel founded on the remarkable Yelverton Marriage Case at Killowen, Co. Down, mentioned in the Author’s Autobiography.

[O’FLANAGAN, T.]; “Samoth.”

— NED M’COOL AND HIS FOSTER BROTHER. Pp. 281. (Derry: printed at Offices of Derry Journal). 1871.

Sub-t., “An Irish tale founded on facts.” The Author was a native of Castlefin, Co. Donegal. He wrote also Strabane and Lifford, The Consequences of a Refusal, &c.

OGLE, Thomas Acres.

— THE IRISH MILITIA OFFICER. Pp. 314. 12mo. (Dublin: no name of publ.). 1873.

“The tale embraces the services of the old Wexford Regiment from 1810 to its disbandment in 1816, and is a true picture of the rollicking and free life of that half-disciplined soldiery.” (Pref.). Full of stories, good, bad, and indifferent, told with considerable spirit. One chapter goes back to ’98, and gives some interesting personal reminiscences. There are a good many love affairs. The Author is a firm loyalist, and something of an Orangeman, but displays little bias. The scene is laid in various parts of Ireland.

O’GRADY, Standish. B. 1846, at Castletown Berehaven, on Bantry Bay, Co. Cork, of which his father was rector. Ed. at home and in Tipperary, and at T.C.D. Was called to the Bar, but his main occupations have been literary. Besides the works here mentioned he has written much on literary, political, and economic subjects, and is one of the most distinguished of living Irish writers.

— HISTORY OF IRELAND. The Heroic Period.10 Two Vols. Pp. xxii. + 267 + 348. (Sampson, Low). 1878.

Described by the Author (Pref.) as “the reduction to its artistic elements of the whole of that heroic history taken together, viewing it always in the light shed by modern archæologians, frequently using the actual language of the bards, and as much as possible their style and general character of expression.”... “Through the loose chaotic mass... I have endeavoured to trace the mental and physical personality of the heroes and heroines, and to discover the true order of events.” The chapter headings read like those of a novel—“Only a Name,” “Perfidy,” “In Vain,” “Swift Succour.” Vol. I. deals with the Fianna, Cuchulain, the Cattle-raid of Cuailgne. Vol. II. is entirely taken up (all but the first 88 pp.) with the Cuchulain cycle. The above work is carefully to be distinguished from the Author’s History of Ireland, Critical and Philosophical. Vol. I. (all publ.) pp. 468 (Sampson, Low), 1881. In the Pref. to this latter he says, “The books already published by me on this subject are portions of a work in which I propose to tell the History of Ireland through the medium of tales, epic or romantic.”

— RED HUGH’S CAPTIVITY. 1889.

An early ed. of The Flight of the Eagle, q.v.

— FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS. Pp. 182. Size, 4 × 6½. (Unwin, Children’s Library). Illustr. by J. B. Yeats. 1892.

Delightful tales of the heroic age of the Fianna told in poetic but very simple language. Will appeal not to children only but to all. Part IV., “The Coming of Finn,” is particularly fine. “Most of these tales are, I think, quite new.”—(Preface).

— THE BOG OF STARS. Pp. 179. (Fisher Unwin, New Irish Library). 2s. 1893.

Stories and pictures, nine in number, of Ireland in the days of Elizabeth “not so much founded on fact as in fact true.”—(Pref.). (1) How a drummer-boy saved Clan Ranal from destruction by the Deputy; (2) A sketch of Philip O’Sullivan, historian, soldier, and poet; (3) The destruction of the O’Falveys by Mac an Earla of the Clan M’Carthy; (4) The vengeance of the O’Hagans on Phelim O’Neill; (5) A sketch of Sir Richard Bingham, the infamous but mighty Captain of Connaught; (6) How the English surprised by treachery Rory Og O’More and his people; (7) The story of Brian of the Ramparts O’Rourke; (8) Don Juan del Aquila, the heroic defender of Kinsale; (9) Detailed and vivid description of the battle of the Curlew Mountains from the Irish point of view. These have all the great qualities of the Flight of the Eagle, and indicate the same views of history—the selfishness and frequent savagery of some of the Irish chieftains, their hatred of one another, their constant readiness to submit to the Queen’s grace when it suited—all this is brought out. Yet the Author is on the side of Ireland: he dwells on what is heroic in our history, he paints the Elizabethan deputies and their subordinates in dark colours.

— COMING OF CUCHULAINN. Pp. 160. (Methuen). Six good illustrations by D. Murray Smith. 1894.

The story of the hero’s boyhood told in epic language, full of antique colour and simile, and rising at times to wild grandeur. The great shadows of ancient De Danaan gods are never far from the mortal heroes who figure in the saga.

— THE GATES OF THE NORTH. New ed. Pp. 151. (Sealy, Bryers). 3s. 6d. 1908.

A sequel to the preceding, telling the heroic tale of how Cuchulainn held the fords of Ulster alone against the hosts of Maeve. It is even fuller than is the first book of the myth and lore of the primitive Gael. There is a very interesting introduction by the Author.

— LOST ON DHU CORRIG. Pp. 284. (Cassell). Nine good illustr. 1894.

Strange adventures among the caves and cliffs of the west coast, with a touch of the uncanny, and some interesting and curious things about seals.

— THE CHAIN OF GOLD. Pp. 304. (Fisher Unwin). Sixteen good illustr. Nice cover. 1895.

A story of adventure on the wild west coast of Ireland. Curious and original plot, with an element of the supernatural.

— ULRICK THE READY. New ed. (Sealy, Bryers). 3s. 6d. [1896]. 1908.

Period: last years of Elizabeth’s reign. Scene: the country of O’Sullivan Beare, the south-west corner of Cork. Weaves the battle of Kinsale and the siege of Dunboy into the story of the young O’Sullivan, Ulrick. Full of vividly presented details of the public and private life of the time, and of novel and suggestive presentments of its political and social ideals. These it brings home to the reader as no history could do. Yet the story is not neglected. Standpoint: impartial, on the whole.

— IN THE WAKE OF KING JAMES. Pp. 242. (Dent). 4s. 6d. 1896.

A wild and nightmare-like tale. Scene: a lonely castle on the west coast inhabited by a gang of Jacobite desperadoes. Contains no historical incidents.

— FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE. Pp. 298. (Sealy, Bryers). 3s. 6d. [Lawrence & Bullen, 1897]. New ed., 1908. (N.Y.: Benziger). 1.10.

The historical episode of the kidnapping of Hugh Roe O’Donnell and his escape from Dublin Castle evoked in a narrative of extraordinary dramatic power and vividness. The Author has breathed a spirit into the dry bones of innumerable contemporary documents and State Papers, so that the men of Elizabethan Ireland seem to live and move before us. The effect is greatly strengthened by the vigour and rush of the style, which reminds one of that of Carlyle in his French Revolution. The Author has peculiar and decided views about Elizabethan Irish politics. “The authorities for the story,” he tells us in his Preface, “are the Annals of the Four Masters, the Historia Hiberniæ of Don Philip O’Sullivan Beare, O’Clery’s Life of Hugh Roe, and the Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, from 1587 forward.”

O’GRADY, Standish Hayes. B. 1832, Co. Limerick. Was a fluent Irish speaker, and his knowledge of the language and of Irish traditions was, according to those who knew him, unrivalled. Evidence of this will be found in his Catalogue of the Irish MSS. in the British Museum, never finished, but, as far as it goes, a mine of Gaelic lore. Was one of the founders of the Ossianic Society. D. 16th October, 1915.

— SILVA GADELICA. Two Vols. Demy 8vo. (Williams & Norgate). 1892.

Vol. I., pp. 416, contains Irish text (Roman letters); Vol. II., pp. xxxii. + 604, contains Preface, Translation, and Notes. Thirty-one tales and other pieces, all taken from ancient MSS., such as the Book of Leinster, the Leabhar Breac, &c. Fifteen are from MSS. in the British Museum. Out of the thirty-one, only six or seven had been published before. Ranged under four heads—(I.) Hagiology, or Stories of early Irish saints; (II.) Legend, historical or romantic; (III.) Ossianic lore; (IV.) Fiction, some of which is humorous. The Irish text is presented in a difficult and archaic dialect, much as if, says a critic, Robinson Crusoe and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle were to be printed in the dialect of Chaucer. The Author in his Preface discusses and describes his sources most minutely. Forty years of study intervened between the Author’s previous publication, Diarmaid and Grainne, for the Ossianic Society (1853), and this. The English of his translation, though sometimes affected, is vigorous, rich, varied, often picturesque and on the whole thoroughly worthy of the subject. Twenty-eight pages of notes and corrections. Indexes: A, of personal and tribal names; B, of place-names.

O’HANLON, Canon John; “Lageniensis.” B. Stradbally, 1821. From 1842-1857 he was in U.S.A., where he was ordained. He published eighteen important works dealing with Irish history, archæology, and especially hagiography, his great Lives of the Irish Saints, nine vols. of which appeared, being a lasting monument to his research. He died in 1905.

— IRISH FOLK-LORE: Traditions and Superstitions of the Country: with Humorous Tales. (Cameron & Ferguson). Pp. viii. + 312. 2s. 1870.

A miscellany containing folk-lore proper, studies in popular superstition viewed as remnants of paganism, historical episodes, tales, &c., gathered from ancient MSS., with a great store of antiquarian and historical information about all periods of our annals and very many parts of Ireland. Much of all this is drawn from rare and not easily accessible sources. Contains chapters on Druidism, Legendary Voyages, Dungal the Recluse. A type of the humorous stories is the capital “Mr. Patrick O’Byrne in the Devil’s Glen.” The book is intended for the general public rather than for folklorists. It is pleasant and chatty in style. The source of the stories is not, as a rule, indicated by the Author.

— THE BURIED LADY: a Legend of Kilronan. (Dublin). 1877.

— IRISH LOCAL LEGENDS. Pp. 133. (Duffy). 1s. First publ. 1896; still in print.

A collection of thirty stories picked up by the Author during holidays in various parts of Ireland, and “received, mostly, from accidental and familiar intercourse with the peasantry.”—(Pref.). The place with which the legend is connected is indicated in each case. The legends are of a very miscellaneous nature, local incidents, fairy stories, ghost stories, old hero stories, &c. A considerable number of counties are represented by one or more stories.

O h-ANNRACHAIN, Michea. B. New Ross, Co. Wexford. Ed. Christian Bros.’ Schools and Collegiate Academy, Carlow. Has written a good deal for the press. Is an ardent worker in the Language Movement.

— A SWORDSMAN OF THE BRIGADE. Pp. 231. (Sands). 3s. 6d. 1914.

A fine stirring adventure story of the doings of one of the “Wild Geese” in Sheldon’s division of the Irish Brigade in the service of France. Scene: Flanders, Bavaria, Italy, and Dublin. c. 1703. Told in a breezy way and thoroughly Irish in spirit.

O’HARE, Hardress.

— CONQUERED AT LAST: from Records of Dhu Hall and its Inmates. A Novel. Three Vols. 1874.

O’HIGGINS, Brian; “Brian na Banban.” B. Kilskyre (Cill Scire), Co. Meath, 1882; ed. there. Came to Dublin about twelve years ago and threw himself into the work of the Gaelic League, for which he became a travelling teacher (múinteoir taistil) in Cavan and Meath. Has publ. two books in Irish. Has for years past been a frequent contributor to the Catholic and Irish press at home and in America and Australia. His songs are popular at Irish-Ireland concerts all over the country.

— BY A HEARTH IN EIRINN. (Gill), 1s. 1908.

The gay and humorous side of the language movement seen from a League point of view—the Seonín, the Feis, the Gaelic Christmas hearth. One sketch gives a glimpse of the early years of John Boyle O’Reilly.

— GLIMPSES OF GLEN-NA-MONA. Pp. 115. (Duffy). 6d. Paper. 1908.

Sketches of peasant life in a remote glen (place not indicated). Almost wholly taken up with the sadness and the miseries of emigration. Simple, pathetic, and religious.

— FUN O’ THE FORGE. (Dublin: Whelan). 1915.

A collection of humorous stories.

O’Kane, Rev. W. M. B. 1872, at Millisle, Co. Down. Son of Capt. Francis O’Kane, of Weymouth and Millisle. Ed. Royal Academical Institution, Belfast, and at Queen’s Coll., Belfast; B.A. and LL.B., R.U.I. Was Curate in Banbridge and Belfast and is at Present Incumbent of Ashbourne, Derbyshire. Author of The King’s Luck and Guppy Guyson.

— WITH POISON AND SWORD. Pp. 402. (Mills & Boon). 6s. 1910.

Love story and adventures in 1561 or thereabouts of Cormac O’Hagan, follower and friend of Shane O’Neill, his escape from the Tower, his rescue of Marjorie Drayton, his share in the battle of Armagh where Shane defeats the Deputy, his going with Shane to visit Elizabeth, and many sensational adventures in consequence. He finally gives up Ireland altogether, settles in England, and he and his descendants ever after are good Englishmen. One of the chief characters is the ever resourceful Dickie Toogood.

O’KEARNEY, Nicholas. Trans.

— THE STORY OF CONN-EDA; or, The Golden Apples of Loch Erne, from the Irish. Pp. 17. (London: J. R. Smith). 1855.

Reprinted from the Proceedings of the “Cambrian Archæological Association.”

O’KEEFFE, Christopher M.

— THE KNIGHTS OF THE PALE. Pp. viii. + 263. (Glasgow: Cameron & Ferguson). 1857 and 1870.

Sub-title, “Ireland 400 Years Ago.” First appeared in The Celt. The Author was sentenced about 1866 to penal servitude for Fenianism, was released about 1877, went to U.S.A., and died in Brooklyn about 1889. Wrote also a Life of O’Connell in two vols. “The object of the story is to give the impression which a prolonged study of Irish antiquities has produced on the Author’s mind.”—(Pref.). Interspersed with the narrative are several pieces of verse, some original, some translated by the Author from the Gaelic. The period is the middle of the 15th century.

O’KELLY, Seumas.

— BY THE STREAM OF KILMEEN. (Sealy, Bryers). 6d. Paper. c. 1910.

Ten short sketches of the little tragedies and comedies of the lives of the humbler classes. They are simple, true, and sincere. The scene is Clare or Galway.

O’KENNEDY, Father Richard. P.P. of Fedamore, Co. Limerick.

— COTTAGE LIFE IN IRELAND.

“Father O’Kennedy was born in 1850, was educated in Limerick and in Maynooth. Has been for a long time contributor to various Irish and American magazines, notably the Irish Monthly. He knows his people intimately, and knows how to interest us in the simple pains and pleasures of the poor.... His style is charming. He has an eye for the simplicities of life.”—(Irish Lit.). His stories and sketches are known and appreciated in the U.S. even more than at home in Ireland.

O’LEARY, C.

— THE IRISH WIDOW’S SON; or, The Pikemen of ’98. (Boston). 1869.

Wrote also The Last Rosary (Boston), 1869.

O’MAHONY, Nora Tynan. A sister of Katharine Tynan, q.v. Dau. of the late Andrew C. Tynan, of Whitehall, Clondalkin, Co. Dublin. Married John O’Mahony (d. 1904), a brilliant Irish barrister. She has written much for Irish and American periodicals and has just published a vol. of poems which has been highly praised. Her work is simple, gentle, with many touches of beauty. The atmosphere is always Irish and Catholic.

— UNA’S ENTERPRISE. Pp. 241. (Gill). Neat binding. 1907.

Struggles of a young girl of good social position to maintain her widowed mother and little brother and sister. She eventually does this by means of poultry farming, of which much is said. There is little distinctively Irish in the story. The style is graceful and pleasing.

— MRS. DESMOND’S FOSTER CHILD. (Browne & Nolan). 1s. 6d. 1912.

O’MEARA, Graves.

— OWEN DONOVAN, Fenian. (Sealy, Bryers). 6d. Paper. 1909.

Adventures of a Fenian in England, and of his lady-love, a prima donna at Covent Garden. Plenty of sensation, of a crude and improbable type. A “time-slayer,” as the Author calls it.

O’MEARA, Kathleen; “Grace Ramsay.” B. Dublin, 1839. Dau. of Dennis O’Meara, of Tipperary, and granddaughter of Barry O’M., Napoleon’s surgeon. She went with her parents to Paris at an early age, and it is doubtful whether she afterwards visited her native land. D. N. B. enumerates fifteen of her works, six of which were novels. D. 1888.

— THE BATTLE OF CONNEMARA. (Washbourne). 1878.

A story of priests and people in Connaught in the days of the Soupers by an Author distinguished in other fields of literature. The scene is laid partly in Paris. Noteworthy characters are Mr. Ringwood, an English convert clergyman, and Father Fallon, an Irish country priest. The plot turns mainly on the conversion of an English lady who had married an Irishman and settled in Connaught. Controversy is avoided.

O’MULLANE, M. J., M.A. B. 1889 in Sligo. Gained an honours diploma in education in the National University. Is Principal of the National Examining Institute of Ireland, Professor of Mod. Languages in Christian Schools, Westland Row, and of Irish in Spiddal Summer Irish College, Galway. He has contributed serials on Irish historical subjects to Our Boys. He has done much to spread among the people knowledge of and interest in the heroic period of early Gaelic Ireland by means of his excellent penny C.T.S.I. pamphlets, soon, we hope, to be given a more permanent form. The following are the titles:—

Craobh Ruadh; or, the Red Branch Knights. Two parts. 1910.

This is partly a serious study of the subject, partly a retelling of the old sagas.

The Tuatha de Danaan; or, the Children of Dana. Two parts.

Links with the Past. Containing “Lug-na-Gall” (a legend of 1642), “Green are the Distant Hills,” “The Origin of Lough Gill,” “Melcha,” “The Wooing of Eithne.”

The Coming of the Children of Miledh.

Finn MacCoole.

Biroge of the Mountain, and Other Tales, viz.:—“The Recovery of the Táin Bo Cuailgne,” “The First Water-Mill in Ireland,” “The Wooing of Moriath,”—all tales of early Ireland.

The Return of the Red Hand. A story of Dunamase, fortress of the O’Moores in the year 1200.

These nine pamphlets are very well but not pretentiously written. They are written with good knowledge of the period referred to, but are not overloaded with archæology. In footnotes the pronunciation of the Gaelic names is given phonetically. The first eight of these booklets, together with Fr. Skelly’s Cuchulainn of Muirthemne (q.v.) form an excellent introduction to Ireland’s Heroic Period and to our saga literature.

O’NEILL, John.

— HANDRAHAN, the Irish Fairy Man; and Legends of Carrick[-on-Suir]. Edited by Mrs. S. C. Hall and publ. 1854. (London: Tweedie). Pp. 187.

The Author was born in Waterford, 1777. Lived the last years of his chequered life in poverty in London. Published several volumes of verse, chiefly on Temperance subjects, and a drama entitled Alva. D. c. 1860. The above is a very good and original story. Handrahan is a kind of herb-doctor skilled in potions and in charms against the fairies.

— MARY OF AVONMORE; or, The Foundling of the Beach. Three Vols.

N.B.—This is not in the British Museum Library or elsewhere that I know of, but is given a prominent mention in all his biographies.

“O’NEILL, Moira,” Mrs. Skrine, née Nesta Higginson. Author of the well-known Songs of the Glens of Antrim. Her home was long in Cushendun, Co. Antrim. She has also published An Easter Vacation, 1893. The scene laid in an English watering place. A frequent contributor to Blackwood’s Magazine.

— THE ELF ERRANT. Pp. 109. (A. H. Bullen). Seven illustr. by W. E. F. Britten. New ed., 1902.

An excursion into Fairyland. A fanciful tale, told in exquisite and simple language, with elves and fairies for characters. All through there is a subtle comparison, which only the grown and thoughtful children will notice, of English and Irish character. This latter by no means interferes with the interest of the book for children, but makes it well worth reading by the grown-ups.

Republished, Christmas, 1909, by Sidgwick & Jackson. 3s. 6d.

O’REILLY, Gertrude M.

— JUST STORIES. Pp. 233. (N.Y.: Devin-Adair Co.). $1.00. 1915.

The Author came to America from Ireland in 1907. Agnes Repplier says of the book: “These Irish stories are as good as good can be; gay, sad, amusing, pathetic, human. I like the stories themselves; I like the way they are told. They don’t suggest ‘plot,’ but bits of real life.” In the Pref. the Author says: “Thoughts go back to the long restful days beside Galway Bay, to the still evenings in the Cork hills.... These little stories are the fruit of these moments of retrospection.” There is much dialect, well reproduced.

“O’REILLY, Private Myles,” see HALPINE.

ORPEN, Mrs.

— CORRAGEEN IN ’98. (Methuen). 6s. (N.Y.: New Amsterdam Book Co.). Pp. 325. 1.50. 1898.

“Written with sympathy for the loyalists. A realistic description of the more horrible features.”—(Baker).

O’RYAN, Julia and Edmund.

— IN RE GARLAND. (Richardson). 1873.

Time: after Famine of 1846, when the Encumbered Estates Court was in full swing. Cleverly written, and showing intimate knowledge of Munster ways of speech and thought among the farming and lower classes. Good taste and strong faith in the people and in the people’s faith are everywhere discernible. The writers eschew all moralizing and also all description of scenery.—(Irish Monthly).

O’RYAN, W. P.; “Kevin Kennedy.” B. near Templemore, Co. Tipperary, 1867. Lived for several years in London, where he took an active share in the activities of the Southwark Irish Literary Club and the Irish Literary Society: he has written a history of their beginnings. Was editor of The Peasant and of its successors, The Irish Peasant and The Irish Nation. In these he mingled anti-clericalism with much excellent writing strongly national in tone. The Plough and the Cross is largely autobiographical. Publ. 1912, The Pope’s Green Island.

— THE PLOUGH AND THE CROSS. Pp. 378. (The Irish Nation). 1s. 1910.

A story, how much of which is fact we do not learn, woven round certain real events of recent date, and in particular the stopping of a paper of which the Author was editor. Many of the characters may be recognised as portraits of real personages, among others the Author himself, Mr. T. P. O’Connor, Geo. Moore, Mr. James McCann, Mr. Edward Martyn, and Mr. Sweetman. The book is largely taken up with conversations in which the Author gives expression to his peculiar views on many subjects. Many of these belong to the class of ideas known collectively to Catholics as Modernism. Throughout the book there is constant criticism of the Irish clergy, much of this criticism being put into the mouths of “progressive” priests. The personages and the series of events dealt with are highly idealized. Distinctly well written, but somewhat “exalté” in style. Scene: Dublin and the Boyne Valley.

See RYAN, W. P.

O’SHAUGHNESSY, Tom.

— TERENCE O’DOWD; or, Romanism To-day. Pp. 350. (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication). n.d.

“An Irish story founded on facts.” Scene near Mt. Nephin and the Deel, Co. Mayo. A long diatribe against the Catholic Church, representing it in the most odious light, in order, says the Introd., to warn Protestants that it is the same monstrously wicked system as ever. Ignorance, squalour, rudeness, and brutality are the terms constantly used to describe the Irish peasantry. The tone is often facetious and sarcastic. The peasants, including “Father McNavigan,” speak an extraordinary jargon. Appendices give extracts from Kirwan’s letter to Bishop Hughes.

O’SHEA, James.

— FELIX O’FLANAGAN, an Irish-American. Pp. 206. (Cork: Flynn). 1902.

The story of an Irish peasant lad, first in Ireland as clerk in a shop and commercial traveller in a small way, then in America as labourer, soldier, and business man. Good picture of farming and provincial town life in Ireland of the day. Point of view Catholic and strongly nationalist. The book almost a sermon against drink and emigration. Style and handling of plot somewhat immature.

O’SHEA, John Augustus; “The Irish Bohemian.” 1840-1905. B. Nenagh. Ed. Catholic Univ. Went to London, 1859. Was war correspondent and writer on The Standard for twenty-five years. Was a man of extraordinary versatility—journalist, writer on continental politics, lecturer, dramatist, Irish politician. He was a member of the Southwark Irish Literary Club, 1885, sqq. Mr. W. P. Ryan speaks of him as drawing upon his own experiences of “merry and dashing life” in Tipperary for his stories—“Conal O’Rafferty” and others. See his Leaves from the Life of a Special Correspondent and Random Recollections.

— MILITARY MOSAICS: a Set of Tales, &c. Pp. viii. + 303. (Allen). 1888.

[O’SULLIVAN, Rev. P. P.]; “An Ulster Clergyman.”

— THE DOWNFALL OF GRABBUM. Pp. 148. (Belfast: Carswell). 6d. Illustr. 1913.

A political skit on the then situation in Ulster. Grabbum = the English Garrison in Ireland; Drudge, his devoted dupe = Orangeism. Farmer John Bull sends Grabbum over to Pat to help him, and is amazed at the result. The moral is the beneficial effects (including an Anglo-American alliance) of Home Rule. Irish public men—F. J. Bigger, Sir Roger Casement, Douglas Hyde, &c., are introduced under thin disguises. The tone is, of course, light and facetious.

OUTRAM, Mary Frances.

— BRANAN THE PICT. Pp. 356. (R.T.S.). 2s. 6d. Coloured frontisp. 1913.

“An exceedingly well-written tale of the times of St. Columba, based on the ‘life’ by Adamnan. The hero and his associates are fictitious, but the setting of the story is worked out with remarkable care.”—(C.B.N.). In the Van of the Vikings is by the same Author.

“PARLEY, Peter,” see GOODRICH.

[PARNELL, William, M.P.]. Wrote also An Historical Apology for the Irish Catholics (1807). He was knight of the shire for Wicklow and brother of Lord Congleton. He died 1821. (See Moore’s Memoirs, vii., 109). Charles Stewart Parnell came of the same family.

— MAURICE AND BERGHETTA; or, the Priest of Rahery. Pp. xxiv. + 213. (Boston and London). [1819]. Second ed., 1825.

“Dedicated to the Catholic priesthood of Ireland.” “The character of Maurice is drawn from a person who not many years ago was a ploughman. The Author’s object is not to write a novel but to place his observations on the manners of the Irish peasantry in a less formal shape than that of a regular dissertation.”—(Introd.). Related by Father O’Brien. The love of Maurice O’Neal for Berghetta Tual, their marriage and subsequent fortunes, misfortunes, and romantic adventures, till they rise to be grandees of Spain. The coincidences are rather far-fetched and improbable and the characters not very real. Many moral lessons are inculcated.

[PATRICK, Mrs. F. C.].

— THE IRISH HEIRESS. (London). 18—.

PAUL, Major Norris.

— MOONLIGHT BY THE SHANNON SHORE. Pp. 312. (Jarrold). [1888].

An anti-Land League novel, describing the terrorism of that organisation and the sufferings it entailed. The plot is the love-story of John Seebright, an Englishman, for the Irish Eveline Wellwood, who is persecuted by the League. Devoid of humour and almost of romance. The dialect is well handled, and the writer clearly knew well his Limerick and Clare. But the tone of the book is on the whole bitter and somewhat narrow-minded.

— EVELINE WELLWOOD. (Jarrold). 1892.

This is simply another ed. of Moonlight by the Shannon Shore.

PECK, Mrs. F.

— THE LIFE AND ACTS OF THE RENOWNED AND CHIVALROUS EDMUND OF ERIN, commonly called Emun ac Knuck or Ned of the Hills, &c. Two Vols. Pp. 345, 300. (Dublin: Tegg). Other eds., 1841. Ten good illustr. by B. Clayton.

Sub-title: “An Irish Historical Romance of the Seventh Century founded on facts and blended with a brief and pithy epitome of the origin, antiquity, and history of Ireland.” An extraordinary and rather eccentric production, written in a strain of exaggerated enthusiasm for Ireland. The facts are supposed to be taken mainly “from some very ancient documents found amongst the papers of the late Dr. Andrews, Provost of T.C.D.,” whose grandniece the Author was. To the novel she appends “a Circular Letter,” relating her matrimonial differences with her husband, Capt. P. She also wrote Tales for the British People, and became a Catholic.

PELHAM, Gordon.

— SHEILA DONOVAN, a Priest’s Love-Story. Pp. 295. (Lynwood). 1911.

“Stephen Glynn loves Sheila D., and there is never the smallest reason why he should not marry her. Both are represented as sweet and good, and he is a clergyman. After their sin Stephen’s whole mind is set on religious atonement: he joins a religious order, leaving Sheila to struggle on alone with her child. He breaks his vows, and all is apparently to end happily when, acting under a misapprehension, he drowns himself.”—(T. Lit. Suppl.)

PENDER, Mrs. M. T., née O’Doherty. B. Co. Antrim. Ed. at home, at Ballyrobin National School and Convent of Mercy, Crumlin Road, Belfast. Has contributed much prose and verse to various Irish periodicals.

— THE GREEN COCKADE. Pp. 380, close print. (Sealy, Bryers). 3s. 6d.

A love story, the scene of which is laid in Ulster during the rebellion. Full of romantic adventures. Historical characters introduced: Lord Edward Putnam M’Cabe, and especially Henry Joy M’Cracken. Battle of Antrim described, but remainder of incidents almost entirely fictitious. No attempt at impartiality. The Government side is painted in the darkest colours.

— THE LAST OF THE IRISH CHIEFS.11

A sensational romance of the time of Sir Cahir O’Doherty’s rising and the governorship of Paulett in Derry. c. 1608.

PENROSE, Mrs. H. H., née Lewis. B. Kinsale. Ed. at Rochelle School, Cork. Took honours in T.C.D. in German and English Literature. In addition to her novels she has written innumerable stories for the magazines, e.g., Temple Bar and the Windsor. Resides in Surrey. Besides the novels mentioned below, As Dust in the Balance and An Unequal Yoke are partly concerned with Ireland.

— DENIS TRENCH. Pp. 432. (Alston Rivers). 6s. 1911.

Denis and his sister on their mother’s death are left in doubt about the character and identity of their father, whom they had seen only in their infancy, and who, as a matter of fact, had left his wife in order to become a Roman Catholic priest. This priest acts as a kind of providence to his two children, and reveals himself only on his death bed. The Authoress seems quite unacquainted with Catholic practice, but does not depict it in a hostile spirit. The scene is partly in Ireland, but the only trace of Irish interest is an occasional reference to a mysterious quality in the Celtic blood of the hero and heroine, and the character of the poor girl Stella Delaney, whom Denis marries.

— A FAERY LAND FORLORN. Pp. 312. (Alston Rivers). 6s. 1912.

Life among better-class Protestant folk in a little seaside town in the S. of Ireland. The main interest is furnished by the sad love story of Evelyn Eyre. Mr. Eyre, gentle and bookloving, and Capt. Donovan, given to drink and a tyrant in his family, are neighbours and close friends till a misunderstanding brings estrangement and leads to a tragedy, resulting in the separation—for ever, as it proves—of Evelyn and her lover Terence Donovan. The story is wholesome and human and free from religious or other bias. Aunt Kitty, a lovable old maid, provides an element of humour.

— BURNT FLAX. Pp. 319. (Mills & Boon). 6s. 1914.

The Land League agitation from landlord standpoint. Excellent but over-firm landlord, hired agitator, attempt on landlord’s life. The rent-payers are brutally murdered by leaguers, who are represented as drunken and credulous. There is some good character drawing: Tinsy O’Halloran the half-witted boy, is original: Father O’Riordan is represented as a good sensible priest. The brogue is travestied.

[PERCIVAL, Mrs. Margaret].

— THE IRISH DOVE; or, Faults on Both Sides. Pp. 206. (Dublin: Robertson). 1849.

By the Author of Rosa, the Work Girl. Helen Wilson, whose mother was Irish, inherits an estate in Kerry. After years of residence in India and then in England, she comes to live in Ireland, grows to love the people, and spends what is left of her failing life in teaching the natives the New Testament in Irish. The interest of the book lies in its picture of and apology for, the attempt made (chiefly by “The Irish Society”) in the first half of the 19th century to convert the Irish to Protestantism through the medium of the Irish language. The witness it gives to the bitterly anti-Irish feeling prevailing in England at the time is interesting. The peasantry is represented as debased and priest-ridden, but their condition is ascribed in part to English hostility and to absenteeism.

PETREL, Fulmar.

— GRANIA WAILE. Pp. 285, large print. (Unwin). Frontispiece and map. 1895.

A fanciful story written around the early life and after-career of the O’Malley Sea-queen. Her robbing, when only a young girl, of the eagle’s nest, her desperate sea-fights, and her many other adventures make pleasant reading. The atmosphere of the period is well brought out. But few of the incidents narrated are historical facts.

PICKERING, Edgar.

— TRUE TO THE WATCHWORD. Pp. 299. (Warne). 3s. 6d. Eight illustr. 1902.

A spirited account of the siege of Derry from the point of view of the besieged. Full of hairbreadth escapes and of desperate encounters with the Irishry, who are spoken of throughout as ferocious savages. Apart from this last point there is no noteworthy falsification of history. For boys.

POLLARD, Eliza F.

— THE KING’S SIGNET. (Blackie, and U.S.A.: Scribner).

France in the days of Madame de Maintenon, and Ireland during Williamite wars. B. of the Boyne described. Juvenile.

POLSON, Thomas R. J.

— THE FORTUNE TELLER’S INTRIGUE. Three Vols. (Dublin: McGlashan). 1847.

“Or, Life in Ireland before the Union, a tale of agrarian outrage.” An unusually objectionable and absurd libel on the priests and people of Ireland. The latter are represented as slavishly submissive to the former, who are spoken of as “walking divinities.” The priests attend their dupes at their execution for agrarian crimes, telling them that they are martyrs for the faith. The scene is Co. Clare.

The Author, an Englishman, and originally a private soldier, owned and edited the Fermanagh Mail for about forty years.

PORTER, Anna Maria. Born, 1780, in Durham. Died 1832. Was daughter of a surgeon of the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons, of Ulster extraction, and a sister of Jane Porter, author of The Scottish Chiefs, &c. She published more than nineteen books.

— HONOR O’HARA. Three Vols. (Longmans). [1826]. American ed., Harper, 1827. Two Vols.

The scene is laid in the N. of England, and the book has no relation to Ireland except that the heroine is supposed to be of Irish origin.

— THE LAKE OF KILLARNEY. Pp. 350. (London). New ed., 1839.

Described by the Author as “a harmless romance, which, without aiming to inculcate any great moral lesson, still endeavours to draw amiable portraits of virtue.”—(Pref.). An old-fashioned novel in the early Victorian sentimental manner. The plot is laid chiefly in Killarney (of which there is some description) and Dublin, at the time of the earlier Napoleonic wars, when Dublin had its parliament and was the centre of fashion. The plot is intricate, but turns chiefly on the mischances and misunderstandings that keep apart the hero, Felix Charlemont, and the heroine, Rose de Blaquière. This latter name was the title of later editions of this book, e.g. (London: C. H. Clare), 1856.

POWER, Marguerite A.

— NELLY CAREW. Two Vols. (Saunders & Otley). Engraved frontisp. 1859.

The heroine, daughter of an Irish landlord, is driven by the scheming of a crafty French stepmother (once her governess) into marriage with an Irish roué, and leads a life of bitter humiliation. But her honour is stainless through it all, and there is a happy ending. Characters (e.g., Larry McSwiggan) are for the most part capitally drawn. The moral is good. The brogue is well done. This Author, a niece of the Countess of Blessington, wrote also Evelyn Forrester, 1856, and The Foresters, 1857.

POWER, V. O’D.

— BONNIE DUNRAVEN: a Story of Kilcarrick. Two Vols. (589 pp.). (Remington). 1881.

A very sympathetic and pleasant love story of modern life in Co. Cork. The characters are thoroughly natural and human, and, moreover, thoroughly Irish. Conversations good. But perhaps the chief merit of the story is its faithful reproduction of South of Ireland “atmosphere,” especially by word-pictures of Southern scenes—the coasts, the Blackwater, Mount Mellaray. Was highly praised by The Athenæum, The Academy, and by the Catholic Press.—(I.M.).

— THE HEIR OF LISCARRAGH. (Art and Book Co.). 1892.

A story in which the romantic elements are very strong.

— TRACKED. (“Ireland’s Own” Library). 6d. Paper covers. 1914.

A wholesome and pleasant story of unrequited love and of jealousy. Scene: Innishowen (Co. Donegal). A well-worked out plot, with good descriptions of scenery. Peasants depicted with sympathy and understanding.

PRESTON, Dorothea.

— PADDY. (Sealy, Bryers). 1s. Twenty coloured illustrs.

Paddy’s dreams and adventures in Celtic Fairyland.

PREVOST, Antoine Francois; called Prevost d’Exiles, 1697-1763.

— LE DOYEN DE KELLERINE. Histoire morale composée sur les mémoires d’une illustre famille d’Irlande; et ornée de tout ce qui peut rendre une lecture utile et agréable. (La Haye: P. Poppy). 1744.

A trans. of this under title The Dean of Coleraine. A Moral History founded on the Memoirs of an Illustrious Family in Ireland, was printed in London (Vol. I.) and Dubl. (Vols. II. and III.) in 1742; another ed. 1780. The work was originally publ. in Paris, 1735, and there were further editions in 1750, 1821 (six vols.), &c. The Author was a French abbé, and a very voluminous author, having published upwards of 200 vols. There is a selection of his works in 39 vols. in the Library of T.C.D. His chief title to fame is the romance Manon Lescaut. The present is a well written, though very long, story, showing how the teller of the tale, the Dean or P.P. of Coleraine, in Antrim, watched with more than a father’s anxious care over the fortunes of his two half-brothers and sister. Their several characters appear admirably in the telling, especially that of the poor good Dean, unworldly, unselfish, deeply affectionate, but over anxious and almost over conscientious. His efforts to keep his wayward charges in the straight path amid the allurements of Paris are very well told. There is nothing in the least objectionable. There is an air of reality about the whole, though the style is old-fashioned. Towards the close the Dean acts as a Jacobite agent in Ireland.

PURDON, K. F. B. in Enfield, Co. Meath, and has always resided there. Ed. at home, in England, and at Alexandra College, Dublin. Has written much for Irish and English periodicals, her first encouragement coming from the Irish Homestead. She also owes much to the helpfulness of Richard Whiteing, the well-known writer.

— CANDLE AND CRIB. Pp. 42. 12mo. (Maunsel). 1s. Christmas, 1914.

Quietly but tastefully bound. Four good illustr. in colour by Beatrice Elvery. An exquisite little Christmas idyll telling of the strange way Art Moloney brought his new wife home to Ardenoo for Christmas.

— THE FOLK OF FURRY FARM. Pp. 315. (Nisbet). 6s. 1914.

A story of life at Ardenoo, somewhere in the Midlands, depicting in the most intimate way the conversation, manners, humours, kindliness of the people. Told as if by one of themselves with the strange phraseology, the unexpected turns, the often poetic figurativeness of the best shanachies. Miss Purdon writes as one with close and accurate knowledge of the home-life, at least in its outward aspects, of the small farmer class to which the chief characters belong. The matrimonial affairs of Michael Heffernan and his sharp-tongued sister Julia are humorously told, and the Author is almost a specialist in tramps. Pref. by “Geo. Birmingham,” giving a sketch of the Irish Literary movement.

QUIGLEY, Rev. Hugh; “A Missionary Priest.” 1818-1883. B. in Co. Clare, studied in Rome, and was there ordained for the American Mission. Was Rector of the University of St. Mary, Chicago, but resigned and laboured among the Chippewa Indians and among miners in California. Died in Troy, N.Y.

— THE CROSS AND SHAMROCK. Pp. 240. (Duffy). 2s. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60. Still in print. [1853].

Religious and moral instruction conveyed in the form of a story of the trials and sufferings (amounting at times to martyrdom) of a family of orphan children at the hands of various types of proselytisers. A harsh and satirical tone is adopted in speaking of American Protestantism. Incidentally there are sidelights on several phases of American life, notably rail-road construction. Full sub-t.:—“Or, how to defend the faith, an Irish-American Catholic tale of real life descriptive of the temptations, trials, sufferings, and triumphs of the children of St. Patrick in the great republic of Washington.”

— THE PROPHET OF THE RUINED ABBEY; or, A Glance of the Future of Ireland. Pp. 247. (Duffy). 1863.

“A narrative founded on the ancient ‘Prophecies of Culmkill’ and on other predictions and popular traditions among the Irish.”—(Title p.). To keep alive these traditions is the Author’s first aim, his second “to keep alive and kindle in the bosoms of the Irish Catholic people of this republic genuine sentiments both of patriotism and religion.”—(Pref.). Fr. Senan O’Donnell, under sentence of death in town of Cloughmore, Co. Waterford, at the hands of the British Government, is rescued by his brother. In the first part of the book there is abundance of stirring incident, thrilling escapes, &c., but the latter part becomes more wildly improbable and unreal as it proceeds. Fr. Senan is wrecked off coast of Clare and lives for years in a cave in cliffs of Moher with a little boy, rescued from the eagles. Time: about 1750-1798. Bitterly anti-English sentiment throughout. Only by an incident in the last few pages are the title and sub-titles justified.

— PROFIT AND LOSS; or, the Life of a Genteel Irish-American. Pp. 458. (N.Y.: T. O’Kane). 1873.

Purpose: to teach Catholic piety and to guard youth from danger. The genteel Irish-American is Michael Mulrooney, who was driven out of Ireland by the tyranny of the landlord class. The first twenty-five pp. tell us of his troubles in Ireland.

QUINLAN, May.

— IN THE DEVIL’S ALLEY. Pp. 262. (Art and Book Co.). 3s. 6d. Illustr. very cleverly and humorously by the Author. 1907.

Sketches of the lowest life in the East End of London, chiefly among the poorest Irish. Told with sympathy, close observation, and quiet humour. There is pathos too, but the Author never strains it nor forces the note. Sunt lachrimae rerum. The Author is the dau. of Judge Quinlan, late of Victoria, Australia.

READ, Charles Anderson. 1841-1878. Born near Sligo. Was for some years a merchant in Rathfriland, Co. Down. Went to London, 1863. Was an industrious and able writer, and a man full of enthusiastic admiration for Ireland, its people, and its literature. Produced numerous sketches, poems, short tales, and nine novels, the most notable of the latter being Love’s Service; but better known are his Aileen Aroon and Savourneen Dheelish, of which the London Review said: “We are presented with a view of agrarian crime in its most revolting aspect, and there is no false glamour thrown around any of the characters. Many of the incidents are highly dramatic, while the dialogue is bright and forcible.” The above notice is taken from an article by Mr. Charles Gibbon in the Cabinet of Irish Literature, edited by Mr. Read himself.

— SAVOURNEEN DHEELISH; or, One True Heart. 16mo. (London: Henderson), 1s. [1869]. 1874, 7th ed.

First appeared in The Weekly Budget. A melodramatic but finely told story. The principal incident is the historic tragedy utilised by Carleton in his “Wild Goose Lodge.” Especially thrilling is the scene where Kate Costelloe gives the evidence which she knows will bring her brother and her lover to the gallows. Barney Fegan, a jovial pedlar, plays a conspicuous part. The usual devices of evictions, murders, Whiteboys, traitors, trials, secret caves, &c. Scenery well described: brogue well done. The fair at Keady is a noteworthy piece of description. Scene: the district round Dundalk.

— AILEEN AROON; or, The Pride of Clonmore. (London: Henderson). 1s. [1870.]. Sixth ed. n.d.

First appeared in The Weekly Budget. Garratt O’Neill is falsely accused of murder. His sweetheart Aileen on her way to Downpatrick to defend him is abducted by his enemy. Suspected of infidelity, she is driven from her home, but is befriended by Father Nugent, an unfrocked priest, and his Fenian band, who lurk in the Mourne Mountains. After many thrilling episodes and hairbreadth escapes the lovers are united at last. Sensational but well-told, and containing some good descriptions.

READE, Amos.

— NORAH MORIARTY; or, Revelations of Irish Life. (Blackwood). Two Vols. 1886.

“A romance bound up with the story of the Land League, its rise... in 1880, its development, and the outrages and bitter sufferings endured by the victims.”—(Baker).

READE, Mrs. R. H.

— PUCK’S HALL. Pp. 254. (Belfast: Charles W. Olley). 1889.

Scene: Newcastle, Co. Down. A pleasant story, told in a straightforward way, with good characterisation. By the same Author:—Milly Davidson, Dora, Silver Mill, &c.

REED, Talbot Baines.

— SIR LUDAR. Pp. 343. (R.T.S.). Seven illustr. by Alfred Pearse. [1889]. Cheap reprints (“Leisure Hour” Office), 6d., 1910, and (Boys’ Own Paper). 1913.

Adventures of an English ’prentice boy in company with Sir Ludar, who is a son of Sorley Boy MacDonnell of Dunluce Castle, Co. Antrim. There is a constant succession of exciting incidents. The retaking of Dunluce from the English is the most noteworthy. The heroes are on board the Armada during its fight with the English. The tone is not anti-Irish, but occasionally unfair to Catholics. It is a book for boys.

The Author (1852-1893) was a son of Sir Chas. Reed, M.P., F.S.A., Deputy Governor of the Irish Society, and nephew of John Anderson, the Belfast bibliographer. He had a great love for Ireland and her people, and always delighted in visiting her shores.

— KILGORMAN. Pp. 420. (Nelson). Six illustr. (good). 1906.

Scene: mainly in Donegal. Relates adventures of Donegal fisherboy, first at home, then in Paris during Reign of Terror, then at battle of Camperdown, then in Dublin, where he frequents meetings of United Irishmen and meets Lord Edward. Standpoint: not anti-Irish, but hostile to aims of United Irishmen. Full of exciting adventure. Juv.

REID, Forrest.

— THE BRACKNELS: a Family Chronicle. Pp. 304. (Arnold). 6s. 1911.

This unpleasant and, we hope, abnormal family is that of a self-made Belfast merchant. The book is a study in temperaments; Mr. Bracknel himself, a harsh man, with little humanness, without affection, except a certain regard for an illegitimate child of past days; the daughter Amy, in love with Rusk, the tutor, and ready to go to any lengths to win him; the wilful, selfish, elder son; above all, Denis, the youngest, morbid, dreamy, the victim of delusions, engaging in strange pagan worship, yet with amiable traits. There is not a trace of religion in the chronicle of this family.

— FOLLOWING DARKNESS. Pp. 320. (Arnold). 6s. 1912.

A soul study in form of autobiography. The hero is a son of a Co. Down schoolmaster. He is brought up amid uncongenial people and in uncongenial circumstances, first amid the Mourne Mountains, then in sordid Cromac St., Belfast. His soul sickens with the dreariness of the education, and especially of the religion that is imposed on him, and the father, a hard, unresponsive man, is perversely blind to the genius (an artistic and somewhat moody temperament) and aspirations of the young man—with consequences almost fatal. He is thrown back on himself. Hence intense introspection and then an outlet sought in occult sciences. There is a love story, too, but it is of minor importance. The book is but a fragment, and has no real conclusion. The style is exceptionally good.

— AT THE DOOR OF THE GATE. Pp. 332. (Arnold). 6s. 1915.

“One needs no knowledge of Belfast and its people to appreciate nine-tenths of what Mr. Reid here describes; there can be no question that his characters are true to life: the small family at the combined post office and lending library; the hardworking, clean, and grim Mrs. Seawright, her two sons Martin and Richard, her adopted daughter Grace... all this one thoroughly appreciates as one admires the sustained skill with which in a succession of small strokes Mr. Reid builds up his admirable story.”—(Times Lit. Suppl.).

RHYS, Grace. “Mrs. Rhys (née Little) was born at Knockadoo, Boyle, Co. Roscommon, 1865. She is youngest daughter of J. Bennett Little, and married, in 1891, Ernest Rhys, the poet.... Her novels deal with Irish life, which she knows well, and are written with sympathetic insight, tenderness, and tragic power.”—(Irish Lit.).

— MARY DOMINIC. Pp. 296. (Dent). 1898.

The main theme is the seduction of a young peasant girl by the son of the landlord, and the nemesis that overtook the seducer after many years. The story is told with exceptional power and pathos. There is no prurient description, unless one half-page might be objected to on this score. The peasants are natural and life-like, but there is something strangely repellant in the pictures of the upper classes. There are incidents bringing out the darker aspects of the land-war. There is no anti-religious bias.

— THE WOOING OF SHEILA. (Methuen). 6s. [1901]. Second ed., 1908. (N.Y.: Holt). 1.50.

A gentleman, from unnatural motives, deliberately brings up his son as a common labourer. The boy falls in love with and marries a peasant girl, whom he had saved from the pursuit of a rascally young squire. On her marriage morning she learns that her husband has killed her unworthy lover. She at once leaves her husband, but a priest induces her to return, and the crime is hushed up in a rather improbable manner. As in the Author’s other books, there is a subtle charm of style, delicate analysis of character, and fair knowledge of peasant life.

— THE PRINCE OF LISNOVER. (Methuen). 1904.

Ireland in the early ’sixties. Has same qualities as Mary Dominic. Devotion of the people to the old and dispossessed “lord of the soil” is touchingly brought out. A pretty girl-and-boy love story runs through the whole.

— THE CHARMING OF ESTERCEL. Pp. 318. (Dent). 6s. 1913.

A love story of Ireland in the days of O’Neill and Essex. The main interest lies in the story of how Estercel is brought to love his cousin Sabia, and in the adventures of the former, an O’Neill and the envoy of the great Hugh, in Dublin and in Ulster. But the historical background is well painted and the historical personages carefully studied. The hero’s wonderful horse, Tamburlaine, is a strange and original “character” in the piece, and there is a splendid description of how he carried his master from Dublin home to the North. The Author writes with sympathy for Ireland. The charm of the style is enhanced by her sympathy with wild nature and delicate perception of its sights and sounds.

RHYS, Rt. Hon. Sir John, M.A., D.Litt. B. Cardiganshire, 1840. Ed. Bangor and Oxford. Also at the Sorbonne, College de France, Heidelberg, Leipsic, and Göttingen. Prof. of Celtic at Oxford since 1877. Member of innumerable learned societies and royal commissions. He has read many valuable papers on Celtic subjects before the R.I.A. Publ. a long series of works on Celtic subjects, e.g., Celtic Heathendom, 1886.

— CELTIC FOLK-LORE, Welsh and Manx. Two Vols. Pp. xlvi. + 718. (Oxford: Clarendon Press). 10s. 1901.

Stories gathered partly by letter, partly viva voce, classified and critically discussed. The group of ideas, he concludes, connected with the fairies is drawn partly from history and fact, partly from the world of imagination and myth, the former part representing vague traditions of earlier races. Many subsidiary questions are raised, e.g., magic, the origin of druidism, certain aspects of the Arthurian legends, &c. Ch. x. deals with Difficulties of the Folk-lorist; Ch. xi. with Folk-lore Philosophy; Ch. xii. with Race in Folk-lore and Myth. Throughout constant references are made to and frequent parallels drawn with Irish folk-lore, e.g., the Cuchulainn cycle.

RIDDELL, Mrs. née Charlotte E. Cowan. Born at Carrickfergus, 1832. Published her first book 1858, since when she has written nearly forty novels. All of these are remarkably clever, and some have been very popular. They deal chiefly with social and domestic life among the Protestant upper and middle classes. The scene is laid in London, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Scotland, &c. Few deal with Ireland. We may mention George Geith of Fen Court (1864), City and Suburb (1861), A Life’s Assize (1870), Above Suspicion (1875), Too Much Alone, Susan Drummond, Race for Wealth, Head of the Firm. Her books are noteworthy for the intimate knowledge of the proceedings of law and the business world of London which they display. D. 1906.

— MAXWELL DREWITT. [1865]. New illustr. ed., 1869. (Arnold).

A rather lengthy but well-told tale of adventures in Connemara, including an old-fashioned election (time, 1854) and a well-described trial for robbery on the Drogheda and Dundalk Railway. The plot is well constructed and the characters, mainly of the landlord class, sympathetically depicted. The peasantry are faithfully, if somewhat humorously, delineated. Dr. Sheen, the dispensary doctor, and his patients are well pourtrayed.

— A STRUGGLE FOR FAME. 1883. Several eds.

Partly autobiographical. Describes a young girl and her father sailing from Belfast with her MS. to win her way in London. Her experiences of publishers and love affairs.

— BERNA BOYLE. Pp. 443. (Macmillan). 6s. [1884]. 1900, &c.

A love story of the Co. Down about fifty years ago. Deals mainly with the trials of a young lady, who suffers much from suitors with disagreeable relatives. The characters are mainly drawn from a rather uninspiring and unsympathetic type of Ulster folk. Perhaps the most striking feature is the character of Berna’s mother, a vulgar, pushful, foolish woman. There is humour not a little in the situations and characters. The story suffers from its great length.

— THE BANSHEE’S WARNING, and Other Tales. (London: Macqueen). 6d. Paper. 1903.

Six stories, four having some concern with Ireland. The first tells how the Banshee goes to London to warn the scapegrace son of an Irish family, who is a clever surgeon, yet always plunged in debt. It is a study of a strange personality. “A Vagrant Digestion” humorously relates the journeyings of the hypochondriacal Vicar of Rathdundrum in search of health. “Mr. Mabbot’s Fright” and “So Near, or the Pity of It” both illustrate the honesty and the proper pride of the Irish. The latter is pathetic. The former is humorous, is full of life and movement, and contains fine descriptions of the coast-drive from Belfast to Larne in the old days, and of an exciting run-away.

RIDDALL, Walter.

— HUSBAND AND LOVER. Pp. 304. (Swift). 6s. 1913.

The love affairs of a London journalist who comes to Ireland, marries Doris, and makes love to Laura.—(T. Lit. Suppl.). The Author, who was the second son of the late Dean Riddall of Belfast, died in 1913, at the age of forty.

“RITA”; Mrs. Desmond Humphreys. Author of a great many novels: Mudie’s list enumerates 58, amongst them Peg the Rake and Kitty the Rag, both introducing Irish elements, and The Masqueraders describing the wanderings and social experiences of two Irish singers.

— THE SIN OF JASPER STANDISH. Pp. 342. (Constable). 1901.

Scene: one of the midland counties. The story is founded on the Newtonstewart, Co. Tyrone, tragedy, where a scoundrelly inspector of police murders the local bank-manager, then himself conducts the investigation, but is unmasked and brought to justice by the English heroine and her housekeeper. A morbid and sensational type of book, with not a few traces of religious and national bias. The English characters are belauded, the Irish for the most part represented as fools. There is much “stage-Irish” dialogue.

— A GREY LIFE. Pp. 347. (Stanley Paul). 6s. 1913.

Scene: a boarding-house in Bath kept by three reduced ladies, with whom Rosaleen O’Hara passes (in the later 1870’s) the three or four years covered by the story. The central figure is the Chevalier Theophrastus O’Shaughnessy, a charming, scholarly man, with sad stories of his past to tell.

ROBINSON, F. Mabel.

— THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. Two Vols. (Vizetelly). 1888.

Scene: Dublin, except for a chapter at Dromore and a visit to London. Deals with the famous agrarian “Plan of Campaign” in the eighties, viewed with Nationalist sympathies. Religion is not discussed. A number of men and women of the educated classes meet to talk politics. They go to see evictions, and vivid but heartrending pictures of these are drawn. A bad landlord is killed by a gentleman named Considine. The latter’s friend, Talbot, helps him to escape, but his daughter Stella dies of grief. Considine, who is an unbeliever, shoots himself. The story is a good one and skilfully worked out.

ROCHE, Hon. Alexis.

— JOURNEYINGS WITH JERRY THE JARVEY. (Smith, Elder). 6s. 1915.

Two of these sketches first appeared in the Cornhill. “One of the most mirth-provoking collection of sketches that has appeared for many a long day. There is a laugh in every page and a roar in every chapter. Yet it is all pure comedy: only once does the Author descend to farce.... a delightful book.”—(I.B.L.). The Author, son of 1st Baron Fermoy, was born in 1853, and died in 1915.

ROCHE, Regina Maria. 1765-1845. A once celebrated novelist. For many years before her death she lived in retirement at Waterford. Wrote also The Vicar of Lansdowne (1793), Maid of the Hamlet, The Monastery of St. Columba, &c., &c.

— THE CHILDREN OF THE ABBEY. Four Vols. 12 mo. [1798]. (Mason). Twelfth ed., 1835; others 1863, 1867.

A sentimental story of a very old-fashioned type. The personages are chiefly earls and marquises, the heroines have names like Amanda, Malvina, &c. Though in this novel Irish places (Enniskillen, Dublin, Bray) are mentioned, the book does not seem to picture any reality of Irish life. This is still on Mudie’s list. It was republ. in U.S.A. at Hartford, Exeter, Philadelphia, and N.Y.

— THE MUNSTER COTTAGE BOY. Four Vols. Pp. 1195. (London: Newman). 1820.

A little girl, Fidelia, grows up without knowing who her parents are. Bad people try to exploit her: a servant named Connolly tries to save her, but she falls from one misfortune into another, till finally she meets her father, and finds herself an heiress. Interminable conversations and intricacies of episode. A multitude of characters, who are for the most part English in Ireland. No humour, nor style.

— THE BRIDAL OF DUNAMORE. Pp. 888. (London: Newman). 1823.

A character study of Rosalind Glenmorlie, beautiful but haughty and ambitious, and of the misery she caused to many and finally to herself. It is tragedy almost all through. The scene in “Dunamore,” on E. coast of Ireland. The character of the heroine is overdrawn and exaggerated, like most of the Author’s dramatis personæ.

— THE TRADITION OF THE CASTLE; or, Scenes in the Emerald Isle. Four Vols. Pp. 1414. 1824.

A very long story, with a multitude of characters. The aim seems to be to plead that Irishmen should reside in their own country and work for its welfare. Scenery of Howth, Artoir-na-Greine, a place near Dublin, and Killarney. Dialect good. No discussion of religious matters, but a good deal of politics. The story opens during last session of Irish Parliament, and, in a discussion between husband and wife, the Author’s nationalist sentiments appear. Donoghue O’Brien, the hero, is long kept apart from his Eveleen Erin, but they are united in the end.

— THE CASTLE CHAPEL. Three Vols. Pp. 963. (London: Newman). 1825.

A story of a family of O’Neills of St. Doulagh’s Castle, somewhere in Ulster, early nineteenth century. Eugene falls in love with Rose Cormack, his sister’s companion, and they make vows of marriage in the chapel by moonlight. Eugene, who dabbles in phrenology and seems somewhat of a fool, goes away. On his return he is told that Rose has been killed in an accident. In reality she has been taken away by her father, a Mr. Mordaunt, former owner of the castle, who has poisoned his wife. Rose becomes an heiress, dies abroad, and leaves her fortune to the O’Neills, and an apology for her duplicity. A queer, outlandish sort of story.

ROCHFORT, Edith.

— THE LLOYDS OF BALLYMORE. Two Vols. (Chapman & Hall). 1890.

A domestic story, told with simplicity and feeling. The Lloyds belong to the Protestant landlord class, as do most of the personages in the tale. Period: 1881: the Land League days. Scene: the Midlands and afterwards Dublin. The first part of the plot turns on the agrarian murder of Mr. Lloyd, the trial, and execution of the murderer; the second on Tom Lloyd’s being suspected of a bank-robbery when the Lloyds are living in very straitened circumstances. All through runs a delicately told and very sympathetic love story. The land question is viewed from the landlord standpoint, but discussed without excessive bitterness. Conversations natural and peasant dialect good.

RODENBERG, Julius.

— DIE HARFE VON IRLAND: Märchen und dichtung in Irland. Pp. 299. 16mo. (Leipzig: Grunow). 1861.

Contains:—I. Thirteen Irish melodies, with music. II. Tales. III. Poems and songs transl. into German verse. At the end are useful notes, and at p. 283 a list of sources. These are chiefly the Dublin and London Magazine for 1825-7. Two are given as “mündlich” (gathered orally). Titles such as:—The land in the sea, the wizard of Crunnaan, two stories of the Leprechaun, the land of the ever young (Tír na n-óg), the fairy handkerchief of the Phuka, the fair Nora, &c.

ROGERS, R. D.

— THE ADVENTURES OF ST. KEVIN, and Other Irish Tales. (Swan Sonnenschein). Pp. 266. [1897]. 1907.

A dozen humorous sketches, well told, giving the old legends in a modern comic setting, much in the vein of Edmund Downey’s Through Green Glasses. The brogue is faithfully rendered.

ROLLESTON, T. W. B. 1857, at Shinrone, King’s Co. His father was County Court Judge for Tipperary. Ed. St. Columba’s, Rathfarnham, and T.C.D. Lived some years on the Continent, but has since lived alternately in London and in Dublin. Has written much verse. Also several literary, philosophical, and biographical works. Was the first secretary of the Irish Literary Society, London.

— MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE CELTIC RACE. Pp. ix. + 457. (Harrap). 7s. 6d. Sixty-four full-page illustr. by Stephen Reid—excellent. (N.Y.: Crowell). 2.50. 1911.

A very handsome volume, beautifully printed and bound. Contents:—1. The Celts in ancient history. 2. The religion of the Celts. 3. The Irish invasion myths. 4. The early Milesian kings. 5. Tales of the Ultonian cycle. 6. Tales of the Ossianic cycle. 7. The voyage of Maeldun. 8. Myths and Tales of the Cymry. Elaborate Glossary and Index. From about p. 106 onwards the legends, sagas, &c., are not simply discussed but told as stories. The résumé of early Celtic history, with the customs, art, religion, and influence of the race, is very valuable; but the main interest lies in his complete survey of the cycles of Irish myth and legend. The editor claims that he has “avoided any adaptation of the material for the popular taste.” Some very unfortunate (to say the least) remarks about religion (see pp. 47 and 66) might well have been omitted.

— THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN, and Other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland. Pp. lv. + 214. (Harrap). 5s. Sixteen illustr. by Stephen Reid. (N.Y.: Crowell). 1.50. 1910.

Introduction long, but very interesting, by the well-known man of letters (author of nearly thirty volumes), Rev. Stopford Brooke. Deals with the relationships and contrasts between the various cycles of Irish bardic literature and their several characteristics—and this in a style full of literary charm. The stories told by Mr. Rolleston (than whom few more competent could be found for the work) are re-tellings in a style graceful and poetic, but simple and direct, of ancient Gaelic romances, some already told in English elsewhere, others now first appearing in an English dress. They are drawn from all three cycles above mentioned. Source for each mentioned at end of book. Some of these tales are already well known, such as Oisin in the Land of Youth, and the Children of Lir. The style, it may be added, has not the fire and the dramatic force of Standish O’Grady, but it has good qualities of its own.

ROONEY, Miss Teresa J.; “Eblana.” B. 1840. D. in 1911.

— THE LAST MONARCH OF TARA. Pp. 311. (Gill). 2s. [1880]. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.80. 1889, &c.

Period: reigns of Tuathal and Diarmaid O Cearbhail. Scene: chiefly the district around Tara. Aims to present a detailed picture of the daily life and civilization of Ireland at the time. Chief events: the murder of Tuathal, the judgment of Diarmaid against Columbkille, followed by the battle of Cooldrevne, and finally the Cursing and Abandonment of Tara. The story is slight and moves slowly; there is no love interest. The historical events are not all, perhaps, very certain, but the author has brought very great industry and erudition (from the best sources) to the portrayal of the life of the time. The edition (of 1889) was revised and corrected by Canon U. J. Bourke, M.R.I.A., and is admirably produced.

— EILY O’HARTIGAN, an Irish-American Tale. (Sealy, Bryers). 2s. 1889.

Time of the Volunteers. Chief incidents in tale: Battle of Bunker’s Hill, and Irish Declaration of Independence in 1782. A disagreeable person of the name of Buck Fox (the name under which the story originally appeared) takes up quite too large a space in this book; and he and his friends, with their soi-disant English accents, are most decided bores. The point of view is strongly national.—(I.M.).

— THE STRIKE. (Sealy, Bryers). 6d. 1909.

“A stirring tale of Dublin in the eighteenth century, when Ireland stood well ahead in industrial activity, and the Dublin Liberties were the hub of Irish Industrialism.”

RORISON, E. S.

— A TASTE OF QUALITY. Pp. 319. (Long). 6s. 1904.

Family life among Protestant upper middle class folk in a country district—very pleasant and refined society. A kindly, human story, eminently true to life, without bias of any kind. One becomes quite familiar with the cleverly-drawn characters—the kindly, cultured Archdeacon and his sister; patient, crippled Larry, with his cheery slang; devoted Auntie Nell, bringing comfort and brightness where she goes; the Austrian countess; and the twins.

ROSSA, Jeremiah O’Donovan.

— EDWARD O’DONNELL: a Story of Ireland of Our Day. Pp. 300. (N.Y.: Green). 1884.

Scene somewhere near Fethard, Co. Tipperary, during Land League agitation. The Author’s sympathies are against the L.L. and for the physical force party, often called dynamiters at the time. The book is full of the agrarian question, viewed with bitterly anti-landlord bias. Eviction scenes, boycotting, midnight conspiracy. Satirical portrait of the pious landlord—Catholic attorney who battens on the miseries of the poor; also of various landlord types. In the case of “Father Tim” the portraits shows all the weak spots, but without bitterness or disrespect. See ch. 18, Fr. Tim’s sermon against the dynamiters. Good picture of a dispensary doctor’s life and difficulties. Well written, but rather a pamphlet than a story. It is believed in many quarters that Rossa did not write a word of this story;12 the edition I examined has on the title-page what purports to be a facsimile of Rossa’s signature. Rossa was b. in Rosscarbery, Co. Cork, 1831. Died in U.S.A., 1915, and was given a public funeral in Dublin. He was a well known Fenian leader, was condemned for treason-felony in 1865, and sentenced to perpetual imprisonment, but was subsequently released and went to New York, where he edited The United Irishman.

RUFFIN, Mrs. M. E. HENRY-, see HENRY-RUFFIN.

RUSSELL, Maud M.

— SPRIGS OF SHAMROCK; or, Irish Sketches and Legends. Pp. 134. (Browne & Nolan). 6d. 1900.

“The little books show how full of charm and fascination the holiday resorts of Ireland really are.”—(Lady’s Pictorial).

RUSSELL, T. O’Neill; “Reginald Tierney.” B. near Moate, Co. Westmeath, 1828. Son of Joseph Russell, a Quaker. Was devoted from about 1858 till the end of his life to the revival of the Irish language. During the Fenian movement he was an object of suspicion. He emigrated, and spent thirty years in U.S.A. Returning in 1895, he threw himself heart and soul into the Gaelic Revival. D. 1908.

— TRUE HEART’S TRIALS. (Gill). 1s. and 1s. 6d. Still in print, 1910.

A rather rambling tale of the troubles of a pair of lovers. Scene: first, the Lake district of Cavan and Westmeath, where we have a glimpse of squireen life. Afterwards the backwoods north of Albany, U.S.A. Both light and shade of American colonist life depicted. There are many laughable episodes in the book.

— DICK MASSEY. Pp. 300. (Gill). 1s. 1860. New ed., poor print, 1908.

Famine in 1814 and following years, as background for a story full of incident, humour, and pathos, with faithful pictures of many sides of Irish life—the emigrant ship, a wedding, relations of good and bad landlords with tenants. Altogether on the side of the peasant. Original title:—The Struggles of Dick Massey; or, the battles of a boy, by “Reginald Tierney.”

RUSSELL, Violet. Is the wife of George Russell, “A.E.,” Ed. of the Irish Homestead and a well-known poet.

— HEROES OF THE DAWN. Pp. 251. (Maunsel). 5s. Sixteen black and white drawings and four coloured illustr. by Beatrice Elvery. n.d. [1913].

Stories of the Fionn cycle, drawn from Standish O’Grady’s Silva Gadelica and from the Transactions of the Ossianic Society, and retold, with a pleasant simplicity and directness, for children. “I would have you see in them,” says the dedication, “a record of some qualities which the heroes of ancient times held to be of far greater worth than anything else—an absolute truthfulness and courtesy in thought and speech and action; a nobility and chivalry of mind, &c....” But the Author leaves the reader to draw his own moral and does not force it on him. The illustrations are charming, and the whole book is produced with great artistic taste.

RYAN, W. P., see also O’RYAN, W. P.

— THE HEART OF TIPPERARY. Pp. 256. (Ward & Downey). 1893.

A romance of the Land League, but not too much taken up with politics. Nationalist. Introd. by William O’Brien, M.P.

— STARLIGHT THROUGH THE ROOF. Pp. 240. (Downey). 1895. Under pseudonym “Kevin Kennedy.”

Scene: an inland village of Munster (presumably in Co. Tipperary). A tale of peasant life—Utopian reforms realized by a returned emigrant, opposed by land agents and a landlord’s priest; partial conversion of the latter to the people’s side; arrest of reformer on false charge of murder; breaking open of prison, and rescue, &c. An early and crude effort in fiction. Pleasant, emotional style. Very strong Nationalist bias.

“RATHKYLE, M. A.”

— FAREWELL TO GARRYMORE. Pp. 127. (Sealy, Bryers). 1s. net. 1912.

A simple little tale of life in an Irish village, showing knowledge of the country-folk and of their ways of thought and speech; also a thorough understanding of children. The Author is Miss M. Younge, of Upper Oldtown, Rathdowney.

SADLIER, Mrs. James,13 née Madden. Born at Cootehill, 1820. D. 1903. In 1844 she went to Canada, where the rest of her life was spent. Between 1847 and 1874 she wrote frequently for the principal Catholic papers in America. In 1895 she received the Laetare Medal. “Each of her works of fiction had a special object in view, bearing on the moral and religious well-being of her fellow Irish Catholics.” She says: “It is needless to say that all my writings are dedicated to the one grand object: the illustration of our holy Faith by means of tales or stories.” Her sympathies are strongly nationalist. Besides the books here noticed, she also published The Red Hand of Ulster, and a large number of religious works. Flynn of Boston publishes a uniform ed. of her works at 0.60 each vol. Many of them were, naturally, originally published by the firm of her husband, James Sadlier.

— THE FATE OF FATHER SHEEHY. Pp. 178 + appendix 76. (Duffy). 1s. 6d. Still in print. [c. 1845]. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60.

The story (true, though told in form of fiction) of how the heroic patriot-priest was judicially murdered at Clonmel in 1766 by the ascendancy faction, backed by the Government. Appendix by Dr. R. R. Madden, giving full details of the trial, depositions of witnesses, &c.

— WILLY BURKE. Pp. 224. (Duffy). 1s. 6d. [c. 1850]. In print, 1909.

Story of two Irish emigrant boys left orphans in the States, and their struggles with temptations against their Faith. One is a model boy; the other goes off the track, but is brought back again. A moral and religious story, full of Catholic faith and feeling. It might, however, be not unreasonably considered somewhat “goody-goody.”

— NEW LIGHTS; or, Life in Galway. Pp. 443. (N.Y.: Sadlier). [1853].

Peasant life in Famine times. Written with a strong sympathy for the sufferings of the people, and with admiration for their virtues. There is a good deal about the proselytism or “souperism” that was rife at the time. The evils of landlordism, resulting in evictions, &c., are depicted. There is no love interest.

— THE BLAKES AND FLANAGANS. Pp. 391. (N.Y.: Kenedy). 60 cents. net; and (Duffy) 2s. 6d. [1855]. 1909.

Life among lower middle class Irish in New York, showing in a somewhat satirical way, evil effects of public school education. The moral purpose, though fairly evident, does not detract from the naturalness of the story. The conversation is particularly lifelike.

— THE CONFEDERATE CHIEFTAINS. Pp. 384. Demy 8vo. (Gill). 4s. Many editions. [1859]. Still in print. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60 net.

A romance of a popular kind, without great literary pretensions, giving a good picture of the events of the time, written from a Catholic standpoint, and sympathising with the Old Irish party led by O’Neill, who is the hero of the tale. All the chief men of the various parties figure in the narrative. Full expression is given to the Author’s sympathies and dislikes, yet without, we believe, historic unfairness.

— BESSY CONWAY; or, The Irish Girl in America. Pp. 316. (N.Y.: Kenedy). 60 cents. net. Print rather poor. n.d. [1861].

Theme of story: influence of religion on character. Object (as stated in Pref.): to point out to Irish girls in America (especially servants) “the true and never-failing path to success in this life, and happiness in the next.” Bessy, daughter of Tipperary farmer, leaves for America. She finds when on board that Henry Herbert, son of her father’s landlord, a Protestant, is without encouragement from her, following her through love. The story tells how a change came over the wild young man, how he became a Catholic, and married Bessy; how the two of them made their fortunes in N. Y., and how Bessy came home just in time to stop the eviction of her father in the Famine year. Readable, with touches both of humour and of pathos. Highly moral and religious in tone.

— THE RED HAND OF ULSTER; or, the Fortunes of Hugh O’Neill. (London and Dublin), c. 1862.

Mentioned in most lists of this Author’s works, but not in British Museum Library.

— THE HERMIT OF THE ROCK. Pp. 320. (Gill). 2s. 6d. n.d. [1863]. In print.

Story of Irish society in the ’sixties. The “hermit,” who tends the graves and monuments on the Rock of Cashel, is a sort of Irish “Old Mortality,” and is a storehouse of legend and tradition. The story is by no means a tame one: there is a murder mystery, and sensation, though the latter does not degenerate into melodrama.

— THE DAUGHTER OF TYRCONNELL: a Tale of the Reign of James I. Pp. 160. (Duffy), 1s. (N.Y.: Kenedy). 60 cents, net. [1863]. Still in print.

Sufferings of Mary O’Donnell, daughter of the exiled Earl of Tyrconnell, at the hands of James I., who adopted her and wished her to marry a Protestant. She dresses as a man and escapes to the Continent, where she enters a convent. Founded on a tradition recorded in MacGeoghegan’s History of Ireland. James is painted in very dark colours; Mary is almost too good for real life.

— CON O’REGAN; or, Emigrant Life. Pp. 405. (N.Y.: Kenedy). 60 cents. [1864]. 1909.

A powerful anti-emigration novel, depicting the hardships of Irish emigrants in the New England states in the ’forties. Thoroughly Catholic and sympathetic to the Irish, but does not conceal their faults.

— THE OLD HOUSE BY THE BOYNE. Pp. 319. (Gill). 2s. 6d. [1865]; also (London) 1888. New ed., 1904. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60.

Scene: Drogheda. Many descriptions of old historic spots, and much legendary lore. There is a love interest, also, but the book is hardly up to the Author’s usual standard. At the outset of the book Drogheda is well described.

— THE HEIRESS OF KILORGAN. Pp. vi. + 420. (N.Y.: Kenedy). 60 cents. [1867]. New ed., 1909.

“A slight and very simple thread of fiction connects throughout the series of historical sketches constituting these ‘Evenings with the old Geraldines.’”—(Pref.). The plan is similar to that of Hibernian Nights Entertainments (Ferguson), q.v. At Kilorgan, near the Maigue, in Co. Limerick, dwell a poor family of descendants of the Geraldines. They are visited by an Englishman, who has (without their knowledge) bought the old place in the courts. Every night of his stay a story is told, the intervals being filled in by somewhat insipid love episodes, long poems (by Mrs. Hernans, Longfellow, Gerald Griffin, &c.), and songs. The stories are a series of episodes from Geraldine history from Gerald FitzWalter in Wales to the Sugán Earl, c. 1598, together with a few miscellaneous romantic stories. They are simply and interestingly told. Some are hardly for children. An Appendix gives some Geraldine documents.

— MACCARTHY MÓR. Pp. 277. (N.Y.: Kenedy). [1868]. At present in print. n.d.

Life and character of Florence MacCarthy Mór based on his Life and Letters by Daniel M’Carthy. M’Carthy is said by the Author (Pref.) almost to merit the name of the Munster Machiavelli. The book presents a striking picture of the struggles of the great families of the day to preserve faith and property amid the petty persecutions of the government and the intrigues of rivals. Chief events introduced: battles of Pass of Plumes, Curlew Mountains, and Bealanathabuidhe. Elizabeth, Cecil, Burleigh, the Northern Earls, the “Sugán” Earl, Sir Henry Power, &c., appear incidentally. The scene varies between the Killarney district, West Carbery, the Council Chamber of Elizabeth, and the Tower. The episode of the marriage of the daughter of MacCarthy Mór to Florence MacCarthy Reagh forms the theme of Miss Gaughan’s The Plucking of the Lily, q.v.

— MAUREEN DHU. Pp. 391. (N.Y.: Sadlier). [1869].

A tale of the Claddagh, the famous fishing village beside Galway city. Its manners and ways are described in detail and with fidelity. Tells how the beautiful daughter of the chief fisherman is wooed and won from all competitors by a wealthy young merchant of the city. The plot is well sustained and interesting, though somewhat complicated and hampered by digressions.

SANBORN, Alvan Francis.

— MEG McINTYRE’S RAFFLE, and Other Stories. Two Vols. (Boston: Small & Maynard). $1.25 each. 1896.

“Studies of the poorest classes in a great city, the pathos often ghastly in its intensity. The title-story is an Irish idyll.”—(Baker, 2).

SAVAGE, Marmion W. 1805-1872. B. Dublin. Ed. T.C.D. He was a government official in Dublin for some years, and at that time wrote for Dubl. Univ. Magazine. In 1856 he went to London, and there edited several periodicals. He was a witty and clever novelist, very popular in his day. Wrote also Bachelor of the Albany, My Uncle the Curate, Reuben Medlicott, A Woman of Business.

— THE FALCON FAMILY. (Chapman & Hall). [1845]. (Ward, Lock). New ed., 1854.

“The best known and choicest of the author’s numerous stories. It is intended as a satire on the leaders of the Young Ireland Party; and some of the satire is very keen and amusing, but as political pictures his sketches are no better than caricatures.”—(Read). John Mitchel, reviewing it (The Nation, 13th Decr., 1845), calls it “another of those pamphlet-novels that infest the literary world... though too obviously the production of an Irishman, is as obviously intended and calculated for the English market.... We have had some opportunities of acquaintance with the men the writer attempts to satirize, and do unfeignedly declare that we have never met (them).... In short, this book is a very paltry and ill-conditioned performance.”

SAVILE, Mrs. Helen.

— LOVE THE PLAYER. (Sonnenschein). 6s. 1899.

“A tragic plot, with sketches of Irish life, and unpleasant specimens of humanity in the rector and rector’s wife in the Protestant community of Tuleen. Old Micky Hogan, the sexton, is depicted with humour.”—(Baker, 2). By the same Author: The Wings of the Morning.

— MICKY MOONEY, M.P. Pp. 250. (Bristol: Arrowsmith). Illustr. by Nancy Ruxton. 1902.

Career of the hero from bog-trotter to M.P. As a background, a vulgar and absurd caricature of Irish life. Humour throughout of a very broad kind. Characters speak in an impossible brogue.

SCHLICHTTRULL, Aline Von.

— DER AGITATOR VON IRLAND. Pp. 1043. (Berlin: Otto Janke). 1859.

O’Connell is the hero, but there are a multitude of characters, chiefly of the ruling classes. Politics are much discussed, the Author’s sympathies being pretty clearly on the Catholic and Nationalist side. Scene partly in Ireland, partly in England, where the reader listens to speeches in the House of Lords.

SCHOFIELD, Lily.

— ELIZABETH, BETSY, AND BESS. (Duckworth). 6s. 1912.

“The purport of the Author is to reveal the varied charm and grace of a delightful Irish girl’s character between the ages of thirteen and eighteen or so.... A vital, significant portrait.”—(T. Litt. Suppl.). Scene: partly at “Castlemorne,” partly in a big English school near Liverpool.

SCOTT, Florence, and HODGE, Alma.

— THE ROUND TOWER. Pp. 229. (Nelson). 1s. 6d. Pretty picture cover. 1906.

A very slight story centering in the landing of the French at Killala in 1798. Adventures of two small English boys. An interesting but one-sided glimpse of some of the episodes of the time. For boys.

SENIOR, Dorothy.

— THE CLUTCH OF CIRCUMSTANCES; or, The Gates of Dawn. Pp. 333. (Black). Frontisp. 1908.

An Arthurian romance, with Finola, daughter of Cormac, King of Leinster, as heroine. She is married to a brutal husband, but in the end is united to her true love. Not, however, without passing through a long series of adventures, rescues by knights errant, escapes, &c. Has all the usual elements of the romantic chanson de geste—tourneys, rose-gardens, adventures in the green-wood. Told in highly romantic manner, but with the romance is blended a curious element of the modern problem novel.

SEYMOUR, St. John D.

— IRISH WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY. Pp. 256. (Hodges & Figgis). 5s. net. 1914.

A very competent piece of work from a scientific point of view. From the point of view of fiction it is full of weird and uncanny stories, gleaned from all sorts of sources.

SEYMOUR, St. John D., B.D., and HARRY L. NELIGAN, D.I., R.I.C.

— TRUE IRISH GHOST STORIES. (Hodges & Figgis). 3s. 6d. 1914.

Author says in Pref.: “For myself I cannot guarantee the genuineness of a single incident in this book—how could I, as none of them are my own personal experience. This at least I can vouch for, that the majority of the stories were sent to me as first or second-hand experiences by ladies and gentlemen whose statement on an ordinary matter of fact would be accepted without question.” The names of some contributors are mentioned. The stories are classified partly according to locality, partly according to the type of ghost in question. A final chapter gives a kind of Apologia for the book. Index of place names. The telling is, perhaps, a little monotonous and dull.

SHAND, Alexander Innes. 1832-1907. A Scotchman who interested himself in the Irish land question and wrote Letters from the West of Ireland, 1884. Other novels of his were Against Time and Shooting the Rapids.

— KILCARRA. Three Vols. (Blackwood). 1891.

The influence of a good and sweet-natured woman on selfish men, with the Land League agitation in Co. Galway for a background. The peasantry are depicted as wild and lawless and mere tools of the Land League, but as capable of much good. The shooting of landlords is sheer barbarism, no attempt being made by the Author to set forth its causes. The plot is furnished by the efforts of the hero, Capt. Martin Neville, to trace the murderer of a previous owner of the Kilcarra estate, and also by the story of his love for his cousin Ida, or rather hers for him. There is much about the relations between landlord and tenant.

SHARP, William, see “FIONA MACLEOD.”

SHEEHAN, M. F.

— NEATH SUNNY SKIES: Stories of the Co. Waterford. Pp. 123. (Waterford News). 6d. 1912.

A series of simple tales well told and true to life.

SHEEHAN, Canon Patrick A., D.D. B. 1852. Educated at St. Colman’s, Fermoy, and Maynooth. Spent two years (1875-77) on English mission in Devonshire. Parish Priest of Doneraile from 1895 till his death in 1913. His books deal chiefly with Catholic clerical life in Ireland—a subject which he was the first to deal with from within. He brought to bear on the features and problems of Irish life a deeply thoughtful and cultured mind. He did not indulge in thoughtless panegyric of Irish virtues, but touched firmly, though sympathetically, upon our national shortcomings and failings. His ideals are of the loftiest, yet never of an unsubstantial and airy, kind. His style is influenced too much perhaps in his earlier books by his very wide reading in many literatures, but particularly in Greek, German, Italian, and English. Besides the novels mentioned here, he has published two books of studies and reflections, viz., Under the Cedars and the Stars, and Parerga; also a book of poems, Cithara Mea, and a selection of Early Essays and Lectures.

— GEOFFREY AUSTIN, STUDENT. (Gill). 3s. 6d. Fifth ed., 1908.

Story of life in a secondary school, near Dublin, nominally controlled by the clergy, but in reality left to the care of a grinder of more than doubtful character. A most uncatholic worldliness prevails at Mayfield, and the standards of conduct and of religion are very low. Geoffrey’s faith is weakened and well-nigh ruined. The curtain falls upon him as he goes out to face the world, and we are left to conjecture his fate. Has been transl. into French under title Geoffroy.

— THE TRIUMPH OF FAILURE. Pp. 383. (Burns & Oates). [1899].

A sequel to the preceding. It is a close and sympathetic soul-study. Geoffrey loses all his worldly hopes and falls low indeed. He suffers the shipwreck of his faith. But in this valley of humiliation he learns strength to rise and conceives far different hopes, and we leave him on the heights of atonement and of regeneration. The book is philosophic in tone, and is enriched with many elevating thoughts from German, French, and English moralists. It is said to have been the Author’s favourite. It has been translated into many languages, e.g., French, under title Le succès dans l’échec (1906), and German as Der Erfolg des Misserfolgs (Press of the Missionaries of Steyl), M. 6.

— MY NEW CURATE. Pp. 480. (Art and Book Co.). 6s. Eighteenth ed. Eighteen rather poor illustr. [1899]. New ed. (Longmans), 2s. 6d. 1914. (Boston: Marlier). 1.50.

Into a sleepy, backward, out-of-the-way parish comes a splendid young priest, cultured, energetic, zealous, up-to-date. He succeeds in many reforms, but the moral of the whole would seem to be, “Nothing on earth can cure the inertia of Ireland,” or rather, perhaps, “You cannot undo in a day the operations of 300 years.” The old parish priest tells the story. There is in the book intimate sympathy with, and love of, the people, their humours, and foibles, and virtues. There is plenty of very humorous incident. Delightful moralizings, like those in the Author’s Under the Cedars and the Stars. It is full of undidactic lessons for both priests and people. The religious life of the people is, of course, much dwelt on, and a good deal of light is thrown on the private life of the priests. Transl. into French (Mon nouveau vicaire), Dutch (Mijn nieuwe kapelaan, by M. van Beek, 1904), German (Mein neuer Kaplan, Bachem, M. 6.), Italian, Spanish (Mi nuevo coadjutor, Herder), Hungarian, Slovene, Ruthenian.

— LUKE DELMEGE. Pp. 580. (Longmans). 6s. 1901.

The life-story of a priest. The main theme of this great novel is the setting forth of the spiritual ideals of the race and of the heights of moral beauty and heroism to which these ideals can lead. A strong contrast is drawn between the ideals which the hero sees at work around him during his stay in England, and those which he finds at work at home. Many phases and incidents of Irish life are shown—the home-life of the priest, the eviction, the funeral, scenes in Dublin churches, the beauty of Irish landscape. One of the best, if not the best, of Irish novels. Yet as a “problem” novel it is strangely inconclusive. Luke seems to die with his life-questions unanswered. Trans. into French, Luke Delmege, âmes celtiques et âmes saxonnes; German, Lukas Delmege, trans. Ant. Lohr. (Habbel), M. 6, 1906, sixth ed.; and Hungarian. Canon Sheehan used to say of this book that its central idea was the doctrine of vicarious atonement.

— GLENANAAR. Pp. 321. (Longmans). 6s. [1905]. New ed., 1915. 2s. 6d.

“Tainted blood, inherited shame, is a terrible thing amongst a people who attach supreme importance to these things.” This is, perhaps, the central theme of the story. The narrative opens in 1829 with the famous Doneraile Conspiracy trial in Cork, when O’Connell, summoned in hot haste from Derrynane, was just in time to save the lives of the innocent prisoners. The story traces to the third generation the strange fortunes of the descendants of one of the informers in this trial. There are glimpses of the famine of ’48 and of the spirit of the men of ’67. The story of Nodlag is a touching and beautiful one, and the episode of the returned American is very well done. Trans. into German, Das Christtagskind (Steyl: Mission Press), M. 2.50.

— THE SPOILED PRIEST, and Other Stories. Pp. 213. (Gill and Burns & Oates). 5s. Nine illustr. by M. Healy. 1905.

Eight stories. The title-story gives a glimpse of the workings of an ecclesiastical seminary, and also of the Irish peasants’ attitude towards a student who has been refused ordination. “Remanded” is the story, founded on fact, of a hero-priest of Cork. “The Monks of Trabolgan” is a curious, fanciful story of Ireland at some future period. The remaining tales, “Rita, the Street Singer,” “A Thorough Gentleman,” and “Frank Forest’s Mince-Pie,” &c., do not deal with Ireland. Has been transl. into German and Dutch.

— LOST ANGEL OF A RUINED PARADISE. Pp. vi. + 168. (Longmans). 3s. 6d.

Three schoolgirls on leaving college take part in tableau as Parcae or Fates. They announce in make-believe the fates of their companions. A mysterious voice from the audience announces their own. The story tells how their fates worked out. The first part of the drama takes place in Dublin, but after a time the scene shifts to London. Transl. into French as Ange égaré d’un paradis ruiné.

— LISHEEN; or, the Test of the Spirits. Pp. 454. (Longmans). 6s. 1907. New ed., 1914, 2s. 6d.

The conception is that of Tolstoi’s Resurrection, with the scene transferred to Kerry. It is the story of how a young man of the Irish landlord class determines to put to the test of practise his ideals of altruism. To this end he abandons the society of his equals and lives the life of a labourer. He finds how full of pain and heartburning and disappointment is the way of the reformer. There are many reflections on the national character and its defects are not whittled down. The book has two main themes—the greed and callousness of Irish landlords, and the inability of the Englishman to understand Irish character.

— THE BLINDNESS OF DR. GRAY; or, The Final Law. (Longmans). 6s. 1909. New ed., 1914. 2s. 6d.

The interest of this novel centres partly in its pictures of clerical life, partly in a charming love story of an uncommon type. The central figure is drawn with care and thoroughness. He is a strict disciplinarian, a rigid moralist, who worships the law with Jansenistic narrowness and hardness. But as the story goes on we discover beneath this hard surface unsuspected depths of human kindness. He himself finds out before the end that it is love, not law, that rules the world. The story contains many beautiful and touching scenes, and some fine description, notably in the South African portion of the book. There is some incidental criticism of various features of Irish life—popular politics, religious divisions, the Gaelic League, the change in the mentality of the people, and there is in it food for thought about some of our besetting faults. Considered by many to be the Author’s most finished and most powerful work. Transl. into German, Von Dr. Grays Blindheit, with introductory sketch (Einsiedeln: Benziger). M. 6. 1911.

— MIRIAM LUCAS. Pp. 470. (Longmans). 6s. [1912]. New ed., 1914. 2s. 6d.

Miriam is the daughter of wealthy Protestant parents in Glendarragh, in the W. of Ireland. Her mother, on becoming a Catholic, is driven by domestic persecution into evil ways, and subsequently disappears. Society ostracizes Miriam, who, in revolt against it, goes to Dublin, where, in alliance with a young visionary Trinity student, she flings herself into the Socialist movement. Her efforts end in a disastrous strike. For a time she staves off crime and tragedy, but it comes at last. Book III. brings her to New York in search of her mother, whom she discovers sunk to the lowest moral depths. The story hinges partly, too, on the lifting of the curse of Glendarragh by Miriam and the hero, who makes her happy in the end. There are not a few fine dramatic situations, but the plot does not hang together. The book is meant to deal with Irish social and religious problems and to picture certain phases of Irish life. The life pictured is chiefly that of the Protestant upper classes, of whom a severe and satirical portrait is drawn. There are just a few glimpses of peasant life. The Author raises more problems than he solves, and the prevailing impression left upon the reader is one of gloom. Has been transl. into German.

— THE GRAVES AT KILMORNA. Pp. 373. (Longmans). 6s. 1915.

An attempt to set forth the spirit of the Fenian movement of 1867, and even to contrast it with subsequent movements, to the great disadvantage of the latter; for the Author thought that the fire of Nationality has burned very low since ’67. The heroes are James Halpin (apparently intended for Peter O’Neill Crowley, who fell in ’67) and Miles Cogan, Fenians and unselfish patriots. There is some good character drawing, but the interest of plot and incident is slight, the chief interest being the vein of very ideal philosophy which runs through the book. The Author is gloomy and pessimistic about modern Ireland.

SHERLOCK, J.

— THE MAD LORD OF DRUMKEEL. Pp. 199. (Sealy, Bryers). 3s. 6d. 1909.

“An unexciting chronicle of the solitary Lord Barnabweel, his quaint experiments with his Irish property and tenantry, and the story of his son who left him, married in a Dublin lodging-house, and became a famous musician.”—(Times’ Lit. Suppl.).

SIDGWICK, Ethel.

— HERSELF. (Sidgwick & Jackson). 1912.

The story of an Irish girl in Paris and of her life and love affairs there. Pleasantly written, and giving a kindly account of the Irish character. (Press Notice).

SIGERSON, Hester.

— A RUINED RACE; or, the Last Macmanus of Drumroosk. (Ward & Downey). 6s. 1890.

A very gloomy view of Ireland. The Author displays intimate knowledge of Irish scenes, idioms, and characteristics. Period: middle of nineteenth century. Pictures with painful fidelity and much power the misfortunes of a once happy and prosperous couple belonging to the well-to-do peasant class. Misery seems to dog their steps from one end of the book to the other. The girl dies in the workhouse, the man takes to drink and is killed in an accident. Seems to aim at picturing the difficulties and sufferings of the peasantry, especially under the old land system. The Author was the wife of Dr. Geo. Sigerson.

SIME, William. B. Wick, Caithness, 1851. D. Calcutta, 1895. Author of several other works of fiction—King Capital, To and Fro, Boulderstone.

— THE RED ROUTE; or, Saving a Nation. Three Vols. (Sonnenschein). 1884.

Scene: West and South of Ireland, beginning with Galway, where the hero, Finn O’Brien, goes to college and suffers much both from collegians and peasantry. Finn becomes a Fenian, but falls in love with an English widow who had become a Catholic to escape the pursuit of bishops and parsons of her own Church. The heroine is a Claddagh girl, whose love for an English captain, Jeffrey, is crossed by the fact that she is a Fenian. One of the love affairs ends happily, the other tragically. The Author is not anti-Irish, but knows little about Ireland. He drags in priests “smelling strongly of whiskey” and nuns who have broken their vows.

SIMPSON, John Hawkins.

— POEMS OF OISIN, Bard of Erin. Pp. 280. (M’Glashan & Gill). 1857.

Translated into English prose from Irish by the Author with help of native speakers. Contents: Oisin, Bard of Erin (introductory by the Author); Deardra; Conloch Son of Cuthullin (sic); The Fenii of Erin and Fionn MacCumhal; Dialogue between Oisin and St. Patrick (pp. 61-184); Mayo Mythology (various Fenian Tales); The Battle of Ventry.

SKELLY, Rev. A. M., O.P.

— CUCHULAIN OF MUIRTHEMNE. Pp. 48. (C.T.S.I.). 1d. 1908.

A paper read before the Catholic Literary Society, Tralee. The Cuchulain epic briefly but admirably related. Passages of verse from Ferguson and De Vere are skilfully interwoven. Excellent notes at the end explain difficulties and references.

SMART, Hawley.

— THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY. (F. V. White). Fifth ed. 1890.

A stirring story of love and sport in “Co. Blarney” in “the eighties.” Mr. Eyre, one of the “ould stock,” gets into difficulties with his tenants, who stop the “Harkhallow” hounds and boycott him. Written from the English and landlord standpoint. The dialect is wonderfully good and the “horsey” scenes well done. The Author was a well-known sporting novelist; 1833-1893.

SMITH, Agnes; Mrs. Lewis.

— THE BRIDES OF ARDMORE: A Story of Irish Life. Pp. 393. (Elliott, Stock). Frontisp.—view of Ardmore. 1880.

Ardmore, Co. Waterford, in twelfth century. A few descriptions of scenery, but little local colour, and almost no historical mise-en-scène. The chief object of the story appears to be to picture forth a “primitive” Irish Church, unconnected with Rome, and resembling the modern Church of Ireland in many of its features. The priests are all married. Indeed their matrimonial affairs and the cruel interruption of these by decrees from Rome provide the greater part of the incidents. The tone is not bitter towards Catholicism, but innocently patronising and didactic.

[SMITH, John].

— IRISH DIAMONDS. Pp. 183. 16mo. (Chapman & Hall). 1847. (Gibbings). Five Illus. by “Phiz.” 1890.

Chapters:—On the Road, Young Ireland, Irish Wit, Irish Life, Irish Traits, The Latter End. Humorous Irish anecdotes, rather above the average “pigs, poteen, and praties” type, frankly meant to amuse, but showing not a little knowledge of and sympathy with Irish traits. When the book was written the Author was “one of the editors of the Liverpool Mercury.”

SMYTH, Patrick G. B. Ballina, Co. Mayo, about 1856. Was in early years a National School teacher. Besides his novels, he wrote verse for several Irish periodicals between 1876-1885. For some time he was engaged on a Chicago paper.

— THE WILD ROSE OF LOUGH GILL. Pp. 306. (Gill). 2s. 6d. [1883]. Fifth ed., 1904. (Benziger). 0.85.

Though nominally not the heroes, Owen Roe O’Neill and Miles the Slasher are the chief figures in this fine novel of the Wars of the Confederation. A love-story is interwoven with the historical events. The view-point is thoroughly national. The style abounds in imagery and fine descriptive passages. The novel is one of the most popular ever issued in Ireland. The story ends shortly after the fall of Galway in 1652. The scene is laid partly in Co. Sligo, where (near Lough Gill) one of the most thrilling episodes, founded on a still living tradition, takes place.

— KING AND VIKING; or, The Ravens of Lochlan. Pp. 200. (Sealy, Bryers). 1s. n.d. (1889).

Tireragh (Co. Sligo) in 888, the date assigned by the Four Masters to a great battle fought between the men of Connaught and the Danes. The wars between Danes and Irish furnish the chief interest of the book, but there is also the story of the feud between Ceallach the tanist of Hy Fiachrach and Dungallach, a rival. Much information, drawn from reliable sources, is given regarding the Irish clans, their customs, and their territories.

SOMERVILLE, Edith Œnone, and “MARTIN, Ross.” Miss Violet Martin, of Ross, Co. Galway. Miss Somerville is dau. of the late Col. Somerville, of Drishane, Skibbereen, Co. Cork. Both Authors are granddaughters of Chief Justice Charles Kendal Bushe. Amongst their other works are Naboth’s Vineyard, Beggars on Horseback, and Through Connemara in a Governess’ Cart (illust.).

— AN IRISH COUSIN. Pp. iv. + 306. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. [First ed., 1889]; new ed., quite re-written, 1903. Ten illustr. by E. Œ. Somerville.

Modern country-house life in Co. Cork. A serious study of the slow awakening of a young man to the realization that there are things in life more real to him than horses and dogs. His love for a clever cousin returned from Canada has a tragic ending. The characters of the tale are drawn from Protestant county society. Clever description of Durrus, the ramshackle home of the Sarsfields. Miss Jackson-Croly’s “At Home” and the run with the Moycullen hounds are said to be worthy of Lever.

— THE REAL CHARLOTTE. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. [1894]. Three Vols. (Ward & Downey).

A dark tale of a world “weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable.” An unscrupulous woman works the ruin of a sweet-natured, ill-trained girl. Scene: Irish country neighbourhood. Characters, land agents, farmers, great ladies, drawn with impartial and relentless truth. Pronounced by many critics to be worthy of Balzac.

— THE SILVER FOX. Pp. 195. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. [1898]. (Lawrence and Bullen).

The chief interest of this story lies in some sporting scenes in the West of Ireland. The peasantry are seen from an uncomprehending standpoint, and the chief figures are people of fashion, of no particular nationality. “Broadly speaking, the novel may be said to exhibit in a dramatic form the extraordinary hold which superstition still possesses on the minds of the Irish peasantry.”—(Spectator).

— SOME EXPERIENCES OF AN IRISH R.M. Pp. iv. + 310. Thirty-second thousand. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. Thirty-one illustr. (pen and ink sketches) by E. Œ. Somerville. 1899.

Racy, humorous sketches of hunting and other episodes in the south and west. The Author’s most successful work originally appeared in The Badminton Magazine.

— ALL ON THE IRISH SHORE. Pp. iv. + 274. Eighteenth thousand. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. Ten illustr. by E. Œ. Somerville. 1903.

Sketches of fox-hunting, horse-dealing, racing, trials for assault between neighbours, petty boycotting, rural larking, full of sprightly and rollicking humour. Chief characters, the petty county gentry. The peasantry are drawn in caricature, usually friendly, and are shown in relation to their social superiors, not in their own life and reality. If these sketches were taken seriously, the peasantry would appear as drunken, quarrelsome, lying, dirty, unconsciously comical—with scarcely a single redeeming trait. The scene is south-western Cork.

All on the Irish Shore has been described (Irish Monthly) as “a blend of Lover and Lever (in his coarser rollicking days) refined by some of the literary flavour of Jane Barlow, but with none of the insight and sympathy of Irish Idylls. The same may be said of the Experiences of an Irish R.M., which moreover, contains here and there passages needlessly offensive to national feeling.” Titles of some chapters:—Fanny Fitz’s Gamble, A Grand Filly, High Tea at McKeown’s, A Nineteenth Century Miracle, &c.

N.B.—Messrs. Longmans have (April, 1910) issued a new uniform edition of the works of Somerville and Ross, at 3s. 6d. per volume.

— FURTHER EXPERIENCES OF AN IRISH R.M. Pp. 315. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. 1908.

— SOME IRISH YESTERDAYS. Eleventh thousand. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. Fifty-one illustr. by E. Œ. Somerville. 1908.

Admirable illustrations of Connemara scenery, clever sketches of “natives” (usually of the lowest type). Light magazine sketches written in clever, racy style. Subjects: Holidays in Aran and Connemara and Carbery, picnics, country house anecdotes, superficial studies of peasants in Connemara and Cork. “In Sickness and in Health” pays a tribute to the strength of the marriage bond in Ireland.

— DAN RUSSELL, THE FOX. Pp. 340. (Methuen). 6s. 1911.

Miss Rowan comes over to Ireland and takes “Lake View,” in the midst of a hunting district in S. Munster. She falls in love—for the time—with John Michael, handsome, and the most valiant of huntsmen, but a child of nature whose whole mind is absorbed in hounds and horses. Hence complications. The Author’s usual pictures of hunting scenes and happy-go-lucky country gentry. Mrs. Delanty, the sharp and devious widow, is a curious portrait. Dan Russell is scarcely more than a minor character in the piece. It is a story about which we cannot speak favourably.

— IN MR. KNOX’S COUNTRY. (Longmans). 6s. Eight full-page illustr. in chalk. 1915.

Eleven sketches of the same type as the Experiences of an Irish R.M., with some new dramatis personæ in the old localities.

SQUIRE, Charles.

— THE BOY HERO OF ERIN. Pp. 240. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. Handsome cover. Four good illustr. by A. A. Dixon. 1907.

The Cuchulainn Saga told in simple and clear, but somewhat unemotional and matter-of-fact, style. Sources: Miss Hull’s Cuchulainn Saga and Miss Winifred Faraday’s Cattle Raid of Cuailgne (q.v.). The Author holds Cuchulainn to be a hero “not less brave and far more chivalrous than any Greek or Trojan” (Pref.), and thinks that the ancient Gael “invented the noble system of conduct which we call courtesy.”

— CELTIC MYTH AND LEGEND, Poetry and Romance. Pp. 450. (Gresham Publishing Co.). Four Plates in colour by J. H. F. Bacon; fourteen in monochrome by the same and others, and a few photos, n.d.

A kind of digest of the chief published translations of ancient Irish and Welsh saga and romance, preceded by four short essays on the interest of Celtic mythology, and the sources of our knowledge of it, the origin of the Britons and their religion (44 pp. in all). Pp. 47-248 are a summary of Gaelic myth, &c., and pp. 250-395 of British ditto. Then there is an essay on survivals of Celtic paganisms, and an Append. giving brief bibliogr. Index. The myths and romances are not related as a tale is told; they are merely placed on record, almost stripped of their poetry, along with all the extravagances and absurdities that disfigure them, chiefly through modern corruptions. Of little or no interest for young people.

STACE, Henry.

— THE ADVENTURES OF COUNT O’CONNOR in the Dominions of the Great Mogul. Pp. 343. (Alston Rivers). 1s. [1907]. 1909.

A string of impossible situations and thrilling escapes, purporting to be the adventures of an Irish soldier of fortune in India about 1670, related by himself. The Count frequently discourses of the honour of an Irish gentleman, and never acts up to it. His character is that of a thorough rascal. The book contains many disreputable adventures in harems.

STACPOOLE KENNY, Mrs. see KENNY.

STACPOOLE, H. de Vere. Son of Rev. William Church Stacpoole, D.D., of Kingstown, Co. Dublin. Ed. Malvern College, and St. Mary’s Hospital, London. Is a qualified medical man, but does not practise. Has travelled much. Resides near Chelmsford. Has publ. about twenty-two novels.—(Who’s Who). Some of these have been very successful, e.g., The Blue Lagoon.

— PATSY. Pp. 362. (Fisher Unwin). 6s. 1908.

A gay and humorous story of a house-party in a country mansion somewhere in “Mid-Meath.” Full of amusing characters, cleverly sketched, e.g., the Englishman, Mr. Fanshawe, and the naughty and natural children. Above all there is Patsy, the page-boy, an odd mixture of soft-hearted simplicity and preternatural cuteness. He is the deus ex machina of the piece, causes all sorts of entanglements, and unravels them again in the strangest way. There is just a little study of national characteristics, but no politics nor problems.

— GARRYOWEN: The Romance of a Racehorse. Pp. 352. (Fisher Unwin). 6s. 1910.

“A rattling good story... Moriarty the trainer is a gem—Mickey Free redivivus, as full of tricks as a bag of weasels. The Author knows his Irish peasantry inside and out, and the only blot on an exceptional book is a needless disquisition on the rights and wrongs of ‘cattle-driving.’”—(I.B.L.).

— FATHER O’FLYNN. Pp. 245. (Hutchinson). 1s. 1914.

The idea of the book, which is dedicated to Sir E. Carson and Mr. Redmond, is (see Pref.) to show the Catholic priest as the chief factor in present-day Irish life. The priest in question is represented in a favourable and friendly spirit, though perhaps hardly “at his best,” as the Author suggests. The chief interest is perhaps a love affair, conducted chiefly on horseback, which is told in a lively and spirited way.

STAVERT, A. A. B.

— THE BOYS OF BALTIMORE. Pp. 212. (Burns & Oates). 2s. 6d. 1907.

A splendid boy’s story. Rich in the vein of adventure, of sport and fight by land, of war by sea, of captivity and slavery. With this there is a solid, but not too obtrusive, lesson of the value of faith and piety in a boy’s life. The piety of the young heroes has nothing mawkish about it. The tone is Catholic. The brogue is very badly imitated.—(N.I.R.). Scene changes from Cork to Africa, and thence to London. Strafford, Wentworth, Laud, and Charles I. appear in the story.

STEPHENS, James. B. Dublin, 1884. Worked for some years in a solicitor’s office, but has definitely taken to literature. His first published volume was Insurrections, since which two other volumes of verse have appeared, and a fourth is about to appear. Has resided principally in Paris for the past two years, but is now living in Dublin, where he holds the position of Registrar at the National Gallery of Ireland. His writings have met with an enthusiastic reception from the critics.

— THE CHARWOMAN’S DAUGHTER. Pp. 228. (Macmillan). 3s. 6d. 1912. Publ. in U.S.A. under title Mary, Mary.

A study of the soul of a simple girl of the people and its development amid the surroundings of a Dublin tenement house and of the Dublin streets—her girlhood, her dreams for the future, her love affairs. The incidents are quite subordinate to the psychological interest. The atmosphere of the reality is carefully reproduced if somewhat idealised. There is nothing morbid nor sensational in the book. This, the Author’s first published novel, and many think his best, first appeared in The Irish Review.

— THE CROCK OF GOLD. Pp. 312. (Macmillan). Many reprints. 1912.

Described, accurately enough, by The Times as “this delicious, fantastical, amorphous, inspired medley of topsy-turveydom.” A fantasy in which human beings with Irish names, Irish gods and fairies, and the god Pan are mingled to bewilderment. And the whole is leavened with what may or may not be the Author’s philosophy. “Love is unclean and holy”... “Virtue is the performance of pleasant actions.” “Philosophy would lead to the great sin of sterility.” These sentences are isolated from the context, but they seem to indicate the general trend—the philosophy of Pan. However, there is much besides this in the torrent of wayward thought and fancy that is here let loose. The pictures of nature are finely and delicately touched. And there is humour of a strange kind not easy to define.

— HERE ARE LADIES. Pp. 349. (Macmillan). 5s. 1913.

Fragments of the Author’s peculiar philosophy of life conveyed in odds and ends of stories and sketches. Some are pure fancy, some are very closely observed bits of real life; some are humorous, with a kind of sardonic humour; some whimsical, some border on pathos. Many deal with various phases of married life. Little poems are sandwiched between the tales. The book is full of aphorisms, indeed the style is a riot of curious metaphor, flights of fancy, unexpected turns of phrase. The last piece (pp. 277-348) consists of a series of disquisitions by an old gentleman in the style of the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. An Irish flavour is noticeable at frequent intervals. The idiom (not the brogue) of Anglo-Irish conversation is well reproduced.

— THE DEMI-GODS. Pp. 280. (Macmillan). 5s. 1914.

The travels through Ireland of Patsy McCann, tinker and general rascal, and his daughter Mary, in company with three angels, become tinkers for the nonce. Patsy is a very human and a very real tinker, an ugly specimen of a disreputable class. The wanderings of this strange company form a thin thread on which is strung a medley of strange fancies, wayward comments, scraps of very excellent description, and glimpses of low life in its most sordid aspects (e.g., the drab Eileen Cooley, who appears at intervals). There is an effort to picture not only the outward doings, experiences, and sensations of the tramps, but also their outlook, such as it is, upon life, their makings of a philosophy, and the morality of the roads.

STEUART, John A. Author (born 1861) of A Millionaire’s Daughter, Self Exiled, In the Day of Battle, The Minister of State, Wine on the Lees, The Eternal Quest, A Son of Gad, The Rebel Wooing, &c., &c. Was born in Perthshire; lived in Ireland, America, and England. Edited Publishers’ Circular, 1896-1900.

— KILGROOM. Pp. 228. (Low). 6s. and 2s. 6d. [1890]. 1900.

The interest of the story turns on incidents of the Land War in a southern county. The Author takes the popular side, and paints the evils of landlordism in the darkest colours. Most of the characters are humble folk, including an amusing Scotchman, Sandy M’Tear. The story tells how a thirst for vengeance, engendered by oppression, takes possession of the young peasant, Ned Blake, almost stifling his love for his betrothed and ruining his life.

STEVENSON, JOHN. Is a member of the printing and publishing firm of McCaw, Stevenson & Orr, of Belfast. He made his first hit with Pat McCarty, Farmer of Antrim: His Rhymes, with a Setting (1903), in part reprinted from The Pen, a magazine run by the employes of his company.

— A BOY IN THE COUNTRY. Pp. 312. (Arnold). 5s. Illustr. by W. Arthur Fry. 1913.

A lad sent for his health to the care of an aunt in Co. Antrim tells his experiences and observations, his thoughts and dreams, and he tells them charmingly. Stories and anecdotes of the lives of the folk among whom he lives, told with insight and sympathy.

STEWART, Agnes M.

— GRACE O’HALLORAN. (Gill. N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60 net. [1857]. 1884, &c.

Sub-title: “Ireland and Its Peasantry.” “Another of A. Stewart’s pious little stories.... The reader will fail to discover much originality or force; but in these days it is no small praise to say there is nothing to condemn.”—(D.R.). Miss S. wrote a great number of stories between 1846 and 1887. All are highly moral in aim and tone, a series of them having for titles the various moral virtues.

— FLORENCE O’NEILL; or, The Siege of Limerick. 1871.

Also publ. under title Florence O’Neill, or, The Rose of Saint Germain.

— THE LIMERICK VETERAN; or, The Foster Sisters. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60 net. 1873.

STEWART, Miss E. M.

— ALL FOR PRINCE CHARLIE; or, The Irish Cavalier. Pp. 270. (Duffy). 1s. Very cheap paper and print. n.d.

The ’45 from a strongly Catholic and Jacobite standpoint. The story opens in an old castle in Bantry Bay, where the hero and heroine meet before the former goes off to fight for Prince Charlie. Various adventures during the raid on England and the retreat, and a complicated plot turning on the close resemblance between the hero and a twin brother, supposed dead, but who plays the traitor and the spy. All is well in the end. Some glimpses of penal laws at work. A little comic relief is afforded by the talk of Paddy O’Rafferty. Dialect poor.

STEWART, Rev. J.

— THE KILLARNEY POOR SCHOLAR. Pp. 164. 16mo. (London). [1845]. Third ed., 1846. New ed., 1866.

Sub-t.:—“Comprising the most remarkable features of the enchanting scenery of the Irish lakes, interspersed with sketches of real character.” In pref. Author claims thorough knowledge of places and people described. His object is to impress a high moral tone upon the mind. “A moral is deduced from every incident: a moral established by every dialogue.” This aim is fully carried out in the little story, which is merely a peg whereon to hang a moral, and is very sentimental.

STOKER, Bram. 1847-1912. B. in Dublin. Ed. T.C.D., where he had a distinguished career. Entered Civil Service and was called to the Bar, but subsequently for twenty-seven years secretary to Sir Henry Irving. Wrote also Dracula, Miss Betty, The Mystery of the Sea, Snowbound, &c., &c.

— THE SNAKE’S PASS. Pp. 372. (Collier). 1s. New ed. [1891]. (N.Y.: Harper). 0.40. 1909.

A tale written around the strange phenomenon of a moving bog. Scene: the Mayo coast, which is finely described. Hidden treasure, prophetic dreams, attempted murder, and much love and sentiment are bound up with the story. The sentiment is pure and even lofty. There is no bigotry nor bias, and no vulgar stage-Irishism. Andy Sullivan, the carman, is drawn with much humour and kindliness, but we cannot consider “Father Pether” a true type of Irish priest.

STOKES, Whitley. Ed.

— THE DESTRUCTION OF DÁ DERGA’S HOSTEL. (Paris: Bouillon). 1902.

“Conary becomes king on condition that he abide by certain bonds (geasa) imposed on him by his fairy kinsfolk. Having transgressed these conditions, he comes to his death in a great affray with outlaws, who attack the hostel. Portents and marvels are characteristic of the story from beginning to end.”—(Baker, 2).

“STRADLING, Matthew,” see MAHONY, Martin F.

STRAHAN, Samuel A. K., M.D.

— THE RESIDENT MAGISTRATE. (London: Alexander & Shepherd). 1s. 1888.

A tale of the “Jubilee Coercion days.” The leading character is founded on Captain Plunket of “Don’t hesitate to shoot” fame. With the doings of this personage (which look like clippings from the Star newspaper of those days) is mingled the story of a persecuted heroine suffering from an uncommon form of mania (in which the Author was a specialist). Dr. Strahan was a Belfast man. The materials of the story are handled, we think, with but little skill. Another of his stories, Dead yet Speaketh (Arrowsmith), was founded on the sudden death in his chambers in the Temple of an Irish fellow-student of the Author.

STRAIN, E. H.

— A MAN’S FOES. Pp. 467. (Ward, Lock). 6s. Illustr. by A. Forestier. (N.Y.: New Amsterdam Book Co.). 0.50. [1895.] Three Vols.

A strongly conceived and vigorously written historical tale of the siege of Derry. Point of view aggressively English and Protestant. The personages in the story often express bitterly anti-Catholic sentiments, but only such as may reasonably be supposed to have been freely expressed at the period. The Author, a Scottish lady resident in Ayrshire, has also published four other works of fiction.

“SWAN, Annie S.”; Mrs. Burnett Smith. B. Mountskip, Goresbridge, N.B. Ed. Edinburgh. Has written a great many novels. Resides in England or at Kinghorn, Scotland.—(Who’s Who).

— A SON OF ERIN. Pp. 344. (Hutchinson). 6s. Six illustr. 1899 and 1907.

Scene: first Edinburgh, then chiefly Co. Wicklow. Period: just before retirement of Butt and rise of Parnell, who is one of the personages of the tale. The interest turns on the discovery of the identity of a child abandoned in Edinburgh when an infant. No love interest. Titles of over sixty of her novels will be found in Mudie’s list.

SYKES, Jessica S. C.

— THE M’DONNELLS. Pp. 299. (Heinemann). 6s. 1905.

Aims at presenting picture of early Victorian manners and morals as seen in the life of this (rather unattractive) family, of Irish origin, but living in England, and in their surroundings. It was a period lacking in ideals and unstirred by new ideas, artistic, literary, or other. The Author paints it stupid, gross, and material, and seems to sum it up as “humbug” (from a review in the Athenæum).

Lord Charles Beresford, in a letter to the writer (see Pref.), acknowledges the book as “a true picture of English and Irish life in the upper circles of society five and forty years ago,” and that “it explains the idiocrasies (sic) of the Irish people, both Nationalist and Orange, and gives a clear explanation of the real causes of the unceasing discontent and strife existing in our sister isle.” “I have tried to give a description of the condition... to which English females of position were reduced by a wave of Evangelical cant and exaggerated morality....”—(Pref.). Has written also Algernon Casterton and Mark Alston.

“SYNAN, A.,” see CLERY, A. E.

TAUNTON, M.

— THE LAST OF THE CATHOLIC O’MALLEYS. (Washbourne. N.Y.: Kenedy).

Scene: Western Mayo, about 1798, but no historical events are introduced. An unpretentious little story, telling how Grace is married at fifteen against her will to a disreputable young man. He grows fond of her, and dies penitent three years after. Their child is stolen by a too fond nurse. The child grows up and joins the navy. Years after, Grace, who has married a naval officer, gets her sailor son back.

TAYLOR, Mary Imlay.

— MY LADY CLANCARTY. Pp. 298. (Gay & Bird). Illus. by A. B. Stephens. 1905.

“Being the true story of the Earl of Clancarty and Lady Elizabeth Spencer.” Donough McCarthy, a Jacobite nobleman, married in childhood to wealthy heiress of English Whig family, does not meet his bride again till many years later, and then in strange circumstances. Scene: England in days of William III., with glimpses of Ireland in the background. Appears to be founded on Tom Taylor’s play, Clancarty.

TEMPLETON, Herminie.

— DARBY O’GILL AND THE GOOD PEOPLE. (N.Y.: McClure). 1.50. 1903.

TENCH, Mary F. A. Resides in London, and writes a good deal for the periodicals.

— AGAINST THE PIKES. Pp. 357. (Russell). n.d. (1903).

How the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation. Phil O’Brien, returning to Ireland after long years of sin and suffering in Australia, finds his first love unchanged in heart—only to see her taken from him by death. He foregoes for her sake revenge on the man who had wrecked his life, and dies to save his enemy. Though the characters are Irish, there is little about Irish life (nothing about pikes). The whole book is very sad, the pathos of the close is painful, “navrant.” By the same Author: Where the Surf Breaks, A Prince from the Great Never-Never, &c.

THACKERAY, William Makepeace. The great novelist paid only one visit to Ireland (1842), the immediate outcome of which was his Irish Sketch Book (1843). The tone of this book gave great offence to Irishmen generally. Sir Samuel Ferguson severed his connection with the Dublin University Magazine because Lever, then editor, accepted Thackeray’s dedication. He could speak of the Young Irelanders only in terms of ridicule—witness his ballad “The Battle of Limerick”—though he was a personal friend of Gavan Duffy. He derived some of the incidents of Barry Lyndon from the chap-book, Life of Freney, which he read one night in Galway. Many of the characters in his greater novels are Irish, e.g., “The O’Mulligan,” said to be founded on W. J. O’Connell; “Capt. Shandon,” whose original was Dr. Maginn; “Capt. Costigan” and his famous daughter, “the Fotheringay,” said to be suggested by the dramatic triumph of Miss O’Neill, afterwards Lady Becher. “Ye hate us, Mr. Thackeray, ye hate the Irish,” said to him Anthony Trollope’s old Irish coachman. “Hate you? God help me, when all I ever loved on earth was Irish!” and his eyes filled with tears.—(Trollope). His wife was Irish.

— THE MEMOIRS OF BARRY LYNDON, ESQ. [1844]. Many editions in all styles.

The autobiography of a blackguard and a cad, a compound of every vice—meanness, mendacity, licentiousness, heartless selfishness. Add to these swagger, vulgarity, and a fire-eating audacity, which, however, is always on the safe side, and you have the portrait of the hero as painted by himself. All the characters are vicious or contemptible or both, the English and other foreigners no better than the Irish. Lyndon (real name Redmond Barry) belongs to an ancient and decayed family, once aristocratic. The story tells how he fights a duel at home in Ballybarry, falls in with swindlers in Dublin, deserts from the army, serves under Frederick the Great in the Seven Years’ War, becomes a professional but aristocratic gamester, marries (after a desperate struggle) the rich Lady Lyndon, blazes through a brief season in Dublin (1771), worries his wife into her grave, and finally runs through all his wealth. There is some humour in places, but it is grim and sardonic, and does not relieve the picture. Moral (see footnote near the close)—“Do not as many rogues succeed in life as honest men? More fools than men of talent?” Founded in part on the strange marriage of Andrew Bowes and the Countess of Strathmore at end of eighteenth century.

THOMAS, Edward.

— CELTIC STORIES. Pp. 128. (Oxford: The Clarendon Press). 1911.

“The Boyhood of Cuhoolin,” “Father and Son,” “The Battle of the Companions” (C. and Ferdia), “The Death of C.,” “Deirdre and Naisi,” “The Palace of the Quicken Trees,” “The Land of Youth.” The rest (pp. 82-end) are Welsh tales. Told very plainly and briefly, yet not dully. The diction is quite modern and prosaic. The grotesquer folk-lore elements are not excluded. The Author has also publ. Norse Stories and many other works on a variety of subjects.

THOMPSON, E. Skeffington. Was a granddaughter of John Foster, last Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. She was an ardent Nationalist. About 1889 she and her sister Mrs. Rae founded the Southwark Junior Irish Literary Society.

— MOY O’BRIEN. Pp. 300. (Gill). 3s. 6d. [1887]. New ed., 1914.

Deals with the politics of the day, but not to the neglect of the story, which shows considerable literary power, though containing but little incident. Strongly patriotic in tone. There is no religious bias. Treats of social and political life in Ireland thirty or forty years ago. Ends with many happy marriages. First appeared in U.S.A. in Harper’s (Irish Monthly).

THOMSON, C. L.

— THE CELTIC WONDER WORLD. Pp. 155. (Horace Marshall). 1902.

No. 2 of the Romance Readers. Irish, Welsh, and Breton stories edited for children. Very pretty and imaginative illustr. by E. Connor. The tales are taken from good sources—Whitley Stokes, Standish O’Grady, Crofton Croker, “Atlantis,” O’Curry, the Mabinogion, &c. Contains “Deirdre,” “Ossian in the Land of Youth,” Cuchulainn stories, &c., told in simple but not childish language.

THURNEYSEN, Rudolf.

— SAGEN AUS DEM ALTEN IRLAND. Pp. 152. Demy 8vo. (Berlin: Wiegandt & Grieben). 1901.

Short introd., then very briefly (in German, of course) the chief Irish sagas—the Courtships of Etain and of Fraoch, Mesgedra, Bricriu, episodes from the Cuchulainn cycle, the birth of Conachar, the Vision of MacConglinne, &c.

THURSTON, E. Temple. His novels are for the most part a series of studies or rather pamphlets on the action and influence of the Catholic Church on human nature. His conclusions are usually hostile to that Church. His writings give constant evidence of misconception of Catholic doctrine. Incidentally Irish types and scenes are introduced, and the writer is fond of comments on Irish life and character. Moreover, his first four books aim at “brutal” realism, or naturalism. His recent book, The City of Beautiful Nonsense, is a reaction to Idealism. Besides his Irish novels, noticed below, he has written Sally Bishop, The Evolution of Katherine, The Realist, and other tales (more or less anti-Christian in tendency), and Mirage.

— THE APPLE OF EDEN. Pp. 323. (Chapman & Hall). 1905.

An argument against the celibacy of the clergy, conveyed in the story of a young priest—his childhood, inexperience, life at Maynooth, first experiences in confessional. Here he meets the woman whom he had loved. He tells her that, but for the fact that she is married, he would break all ties for her sake. There is much study of Irish life (in Waterford), but the Author has nothing good to say about anything Irish, country doctors and priests being especially attacked.

— TRAFFIC. Pp. 452. (Duckworth). 1906.

Scene: Waterford and London. Has been well described by the Athenæum as a pamphlet in guise of a story, the thesis being that the refusal of the right of divorce in the Catholic Church may lead in practice to results disastrous to morality. This is conveyed in the story of a girl who leaves an unworthy Irish husband, and goes to London, where, being obliged to refuse an offer of marriage from an honourable Protestant, she takes to the streets. Contains strange misconceptions of Catholic doctrine and morality.

— THE GARDEN OF RESURRECTION. Pp. 307. (Chapman & Hall). 6s. [1911]. 1912.

Sub-t.: “Being the love story of an ugly man”—viz., Bellairs, a confirmed bachelor, who tells his own story. Overhears in restaurant conversation of a young man, from which he learns that the latter is about to marry a young West Indian girl named Clarissa, but cares only for her money. Bellairs is struck with pity for her, and determines to tell Clarissa of the worthlessness of Harry. He goes to the W. of Ireland, where Harry had left her in charge of two maiden aunts. She will not believe him, and goes to London with Harry. He betrays and deserts her: she comes back forlorn to Bellairs, and they are married. The writer has a keen feeling for nature, and there is much description. The character study is careful and the style is full of pleasant whimsicalities. The “Cruikshank” and “Bellwattle” of The Patchwork Papers reappear here.

— THIRTEEN. Pp. 279. (Chapman & Hall). 1912.

Short stories reproduced from magazines. Three of the thirteen are little bits of Irish—Wexford—life:—“The Little Sisters of Mercy,” “An Idyll of Science,” and “Holy Ann.” The rest deal with London. There is sentimentality and mannerism, but the literary craftsmanship is very good.

— THE PASSIONATE CRIME: a Tale of the Faerie. Pp. 311. 6s. (Chapman & Hall). 1915.

“The story of a strange murder—the murderer a poet—solitary among the romantic atmosphere of the lonely Irish hills.”—(Times Lit. Sup.).

THURSTON, Katherine Cecil. B. Cork in 1875. Dau. of Paul Madden, a friend of Parnell, and at one time nationalist mayor of Cork. She began to write only in 1903, and married E. Temple Thurston, q.v. Died at Cork, 1911. In this short period appeared six or seven novels. Of John Chilcote, M.P., her greatest success, it is estimated that 200,000 copies were sold in America alone.

— THE GAMBLER. (Hutchinson). 6s., and 6d. n.d. (1906). (N.Y.: Harper). 1.50.

A psychological study of an Irish woman’s character. Treats of Protestant upper middle class society, but questions of creed do not enter into the book. The scene for about the first third of the book is laid in Ireland, in an out-of-the-way country district. Then it shifts to Venice, and afterwards to London. In both places the heroine moves in a smart set, whose empty life and petty follies are well drawn. There is a problem of pathetic interest centering in two ill-assorted marriages. The part about Irish life, showing the foolish pride of some of the Irish gentry, is skilfully and sympathetically done.

— THE FLY ON THE WHEEL. Pp. 327. (Blackwood). 6s. (N.Y.: Dodd & Mead). 1.50. 1908.

Middle class Catholic society in Waterford, pictured, without satire, in its exterior aspects by one quite familiar with them. The heroine is an impulsive, self-willed girl in revolt against conventionality. With her Stephen Carey, a middle-aged man, conventionally married, falls in love and is loved in return. The theme on the whole is treated with restraint, yet there are passionate scenes. The complication is ended by the intervention of a priest, whose character is very sympathetically drawn. The end of all is the suicide of the girl.

THYNNE, Robert.

— RAVENSDALE. Three Vols. (Tinsley). 1873.

An attempt to represent the men and motives of the Emmet insurrection. Point of view Unionist. Free from caricature, vulgarity, patois, and conventional local colour. Scene at first in England, but mainly Dublin and Co. Wicklow. Deals with fortunes of a family named Featherstone—loyalists, with one exception, Leslie, who is a friend of Emmet. Michael Dwyer, Emmet, Lord Kilwarden, &c., figure in the tale. Love, hatred, murder, incidents of 1803, Emmet’s trial, escape of Leslie and his ultimate restoration keep up the interest to the end, when the real murderer confesses.

— TOM DELANY. Three Vols. (Tinsley). [1873]. 1876.

Begins with sale, in Encumbered Estates Court, of Mrs. Delany’s property in the West. The family then emigrate to Melbourne, where the rest of the story takes place. Most of the characters, however, are Irish, from Sergeant Doolan to Mr. Brabazon. There are various love-affairs, ending some brightly, others sadly; and there are pictures of life in the gold-diggings. Eventually the estate is restored, and the family comes back to Ireland.

— STORY OF A CAMPAIGN ESTATE. Pp. 429. (Long). 6s. Several editions. 1899.

A tale of the Land League and the Plan of Campaign, written from the landlord’s point of view. The estate is placed near the Curragh of Kildare. The chief characters are nearly all drawn from the Protestant middle and upper classes. There is also a fanatical Land League priest, and a peacemaking one, of whom a favourable portrait is drawn. “More cruel,” says the hero, “more selfish, more destructive than our fathers’ loins is the little finger of this unwritten law of the land—this juggernaut before which the people bow, and are crushed.” The question is ably argued out in many places in the book. The Author seems to identify the Land League with the worst secret societies, such as the Invincibles. The tone is not violent; there is no caricaturing, and no brogue.

— IRISH HOLIDAYS. Pp. 317. (Long). 6s. 1898, 1906, &c.

Story of an Englishman who goes down to spend his holidays with the Rev. John Good, Curate of Coolgreany, somewhere in the Bog of Allen, six miles from Birr and six from Banagher. Chiefly concerned, apart from a few sporting incidents, with aspects of agrarian agitation. Traditional English Conservative standpoint, accentuated by ignorance of Irish history and present conditions, and by ludicrous misconceptions. Fanciful descriptions of moonlighting, in which the peasantry appear as a mixture of fools and ruffians. But little humour, and that unconscious. No objectionable matter from religious or moral standpoint.

— BOFFIN’S FIND. Pp. 324. (Long). 6s. 1899 and 1906.

An exciting tale of Australian life in the fifties. One of the characters is a stage-Irishman of the earlier Lever type, who in one chapter relates his experiences with the Ribbonmen.

— JOHN TOWNLEY. Pp. 346. (Drane). 1901.

A political novel, “the last of a trilogy of Irish disaffection.”—(Pref.). J. T. is an Anglican clergyman who becomes a Catholic and, later, a priest. He comes to Ireland, where he finds the priests immersed in politics and using the confessional for political purposes. He is involved in circumstances of a tragic kind, and to escape from a disagreeable situation he goes to S. Africa, where he reverts to Protestantism. Dwells much on boycotting, moonlighting and murder. Describes the Phœnix Park murders, the subsequent trial, and the murder of the informer. The interest is exclusively political.

TOTTENHAM, G. L.

— TERENCE McGOWAN, the Irish Tenant. Two Vols. (Smith, Elder). 1870.

Depicts, from the landlord’s point of view, the land struggle in the sixties. This view-point is, in general, that “poor backward, barbarous, benighted Ireland” owed whatever good it possessed to the landlord class: the influence of the priest was evil: and Ireland’s troubles due mainly to the lawlessness and unreasonableness of the people and the weakness of the government. But the writer is not without knowledge of the people, and his pictures of life are probably true enough in the main. The story is well told, and the love story of Terence and Kathleen O’Hara and their sad fate is feelingly related. The book brings out well the evil results of the rule of a thoroughly unsympathetic landlord in the person of the English Mr. Majoribanks. An idea is given of how elections were conducted at the time. This Author wrote also Harry Egerton, Harcourt, and other novels.

TOWNSHEND, Dorothea.

— THE CHILDREN OF NUGENTSTOWN and their Dealings with the Sidhe.14 Pp. 176. (Nutt). 3s. 6d. Eight good illustr. by Ruth Cobb. 1911.

The young Nugents, two boys and a girl, go to visit their Aunt in her tumbledown old family place near Cork. The children get into touch with the fairies, and as a result family papers are recovered and fortune smiles once more on the Nugents.

“TRAVERS, Coragh,” see CRAWFORD, Mary S.

TRENCH, W. Stewart. 1808-1872. Was land agent in Ireland to the Marquess of Lansdowne, the Marquess of Bath, and Lord Digby. Owing to his very admirable character he came to be respected by the people. His opinion of Irish character was very high. His views will be found set forth more fully in his Realities of Irish Life.

— IERNE. (Longmans). Two Vols. 1871.

“A study of agrarian crime... in which the Author used material collected for a history of Ireland, which he refrained from publishing owing to the feeling occasioned by the controversy over the Irish Land Bill. He endeavours... to show the causes of the obstinate resistance by the Irish to measures undertaken for their benefit, and to show the method of cure.”—(Baker).

TROLLOPE, Anthony. 1815-1882. Lived in Ireland, 1841-1859, at Banagher and at Clonmel. Finished in Ireland his first two novels, The MacDermotts (1844), and The Kellys and O’Kellys (1848), both failures with the public. He claims to have known the people, and was sympathetic but anti-nationalist. It would be out of place here to dwell on the place in English literature of the Author of Barchester Towers and The Warden and Orley Farm, and the rest. An admirable contemporary article on his novels will be found in Dublin Review, 1872, Vol. 71, p. 393. The following deserves quotation: “This Englishman, keenly observant, painstaking, absolutely sincere and unprejudiced, with a lynx-like clearness of vision, and a power of literal reproduction of which his clerical and domestic novels, remarkable as they exhibit it, do not furnish such striking examples, writes a story as true to the saddest and heaviest truths of Irish life, as racy of the soil, as rich with the peculiar humour, the moral features, the social oddities, the subtle individuality of the far west of Ireland as George Eliot’s novels are true to the truths of English life.”

— THE MACDERMOTTS OF BALLYCLORAN. (Lane). 1s. [1844]. 1909.

Scene: Co. Leitrim. Chief characters: the members of a broken-down Catholic county family. Miss MacDermott is engaged to a Sub-Inspector of police. This latter, because of certain difficulties that stand in the way of their marriage, attempts to elope with her. Her brother comes on the scene, and there is an affray, in which the Sub-Inspector is killed. Young MacDermott is tried and publicly hanged. This is the mere outline. More interesting is the background of Irish rural life, seen in its comic and quaint aspect, by an observant and not wholly unsympathetic Englishman. The portrait of the grand old Father John M’Grath is most life-like and engaging, but the pictures of low life in the village and among the illicit stills is vulgar in tone and the humour somewhat coarse. The book is spoken of by a competent critic, Sir G. O. Trevelyan, as in some respects the Author’s best. The Author himself considers this his best plot. It has been spoken of as “one of the most melancholy books ever written.”

— THE KELLYS AND THE O’KELLYS. (Chapman & Hall). [1848]. New ed., 1907. (Lane). 1s.

Scene: Dunmore, Co. Galway, at the time of O’Connell’s trial, 1844. Mainly a love story of the upper classes. Some clever portraits, e.g., Martin Kelly, the Widow Kelly, and the hero, Frank O’Kelly, Lord Ballindine. Picture of hard-riding, hard-drinking, landlord class. A much more cheerful story than the preceding. It is fresh and genuinely humorous, and the human interest is very strong. The seventh London ed. appeared in 1867.

— CASTLE RICHMOND. Pp. 474. (Harper, Ward, Lock). 2s. [1860]. Fifth London ed., 1867. Still in print.

Scene: Co. Cork during the Famine years, 1847, and following, with which it deals fully. Tale of two old Irish families. The plot is commonplace enough but redeemed by great skill in the treatment, by admirable delineation of character, and by the drawing of the background. Absolutely cool and free from partisanship, he yet draws such a picture of those dreadful times as, in days to come, it will be difficult to accept as free from exaggeration. It is a graphic and terrible picture. The noble character of Owen Fitzgerald is finely drawn. There are touches of pleasant humour and of satire.

— PHINEAS FINN, the Irish Member. (Bell). 1866.

— PHINEAS REDUX. (Bell). 1874.

A study of political personalities. The scene is London, and the story is little, if at all, concerned with Ireland.

— THE LAND LEAGUERS. Three Vols. (Chatto & Windus). 1883.

Story of an English Protestant family who buy a property and settle in Galway. The book was never finished, and has, perhaps, little interest as a novel. But the life and incidents of the period are well rendered, notably the trials of people who are boycotted. Much sympathy with the people is displayed by the Author, and, on the whole, fair views of the faults and misunderstandings on both sides are expressed. The plot turns on the enmity of a peasant towards his landlord, whom he tries to injure in every way. The landlord’s little son is the only witness against the peasant. The child is murdered for telling what he knows. There is some harsh criticism of Catholic priests.

TROTTER, John Bernard. 1775-1818. Of a Co. Down family, and brother of E. S. Ruthven, M.P. for Dublin. Ed. T.C.D.; B.A., 1795. Barrister, and private secretary to Charles James Fox. Died in great poverty in Cork. His Walks in Ireland is his best known work, though he wrote many other works, literary and political.

— STORIES FOR CALUMNIATORS. Two Vols. (Dublin: Fitzpatrick). 1809.

“Interspersed with remarks on the disadvantages, misfortunes, and habits of the Irish.” Dedicated to Lord Holland. A remarkable book in many ways. Through the medium of three stories, largely based on fact, the Author sets forth instances of the sad aftermath of the rebellion, illustrating the tragic consequences that may ensue if those in authority listen to the voice of slander and condemn on suspicion. The stories are told to a Mr. Fitzmaurice by persons related to the victims, and Mr. F.’s own romance is interwoven with the tale. Incidentally the Author gives his own views on Irish politics, views full of the most kindly tolerance and of true patriotic feeling without ráiméis. He seems not a Catholic, but is most friendly towards Catholics. He is strongly in favour of the Irish language, of land reform, and of the higher education of women—astonishing views considering the period.

TURK, S. A.

— THE SECRET OF CARRICFEARNAGH CASTLE. (Washbourne). 2s. [1912]. Second ed., 1915.

“It has a somewhat sensational plot; but it certainly displays the deep piety, patriotism, and Christian charity of Erin’s sons and daughters.”—(Publ.).

TYNAN, Katherine; Mrs. H. A. Hinkson. Born in Dublin, 1861, ed. Dominican Convent, Drogheda. Lived for many years in England, but now resides in Co. Mayo. Her stories aim at the purely romantic. As they are not concerned with the seamy side of life, their atmosphere is almost entirely happy and ideal. They are never morbid nor depressing. They do not preach, and are not of the goody-goody type. The style is pleasant and chatty, with plenty of colour, often full of the poet’s vivid sense impressions. The tone is thoroughly Catholic, the sentiment Irish. Mrs. Hinkson is a very prolific writer. Besides the novels mentioned, and several volumes of poems, she has written several novels which are not concerned with Ireland, e.g., A Red Red Rose, The Luck of the Fairfaxes, Dick Pentreath, For Maisie, Mary Gray, &c. In choice of subject she has made a speciality of broken-down gentlefolk, and often introduces Quakers into her stories.

— A CLUSTER OF NUTS. Pp. 242. (Lawrence & Bullen). 1894.

Seventeen short sketches written for English periodicals. Subject: daily life of the peasantry—the village “characters,” a spoilt priest, the migrating harvesters, and a pathetic picture of a poor old village priest. Charming descriptions of scenery, not too long drawn out. Much tender and unaffected pathos.

— AN ISLE IN THE WATER. Pp. 221. (Black). 1895.

Fifteen short pieces collected out of various English periodicals. The scene of about half of them is an unnamed island off the West coast. The scene of the other is Achill. The title does not cover the rest. Sketches chiefly of peasant life, in which narrative (sometimes told in dialogue) predominates. The stories are very varied. There are pathetic sketches of young girls: “Mauryeen,” “Katie,” “How Mary came Home”; tales of the supernatural, such as “The Death Spancel”; “A Rich Woman,” a racy story of legacy hunting; while heroic self-sacrifice is depicted in “The Man who was hanged” and “A Solitary.” The last two pieces in the book are not stories: they are musings or subjective impressions.

— THE WAY OF A MAID. Pp. 300. (Lawrence & Bullen). 1895.

Domestic and social life in Coolevara, a typical Irish country town, chiefly among Catholic middle class folk. It is a simple and pleasant story of love and marriage with a happy ending.

— A LAND OF MIST AND MOUNTAIN. Pp. 195. (Catholic Truth Society). 1895.

Short sketches of Irish life written with the Author’s accustomed tenderness and simple pathos. Noteworthy are the tales that contain Jimmy, the Wicklow peasant lad, who loves all animals; the prodigal who returns after twenty years, and the exiles Giuseppe and Beppo, in their queer little Dublin shop. Real persons—Rose Kavanagh, Ellen O’Leary, and Sarah Atkinson—are introduced in a fictitious setting.

The Land I Love Best is another series of eight tales issued by the same publishers about 1898. 200 pages.

— THE DEAR IRISH GIRL. (Smith, Elder). 6s. (Chicago: McClurg). 1.50.

Motherless, and an only child, Biddy O’Connor brings herself up in a big, lonely Dublin house. Dr. O’Connor lives amid his memories and his books. Biddy is a winsome girl, and keeps the reader’s heart from the time we first meet her with the homeless dogs of Dublin as her favourite companions to the day when she weds the master of Coolbawn. The chief charm of the book lies in the picture of life amid the splendid scenery of Connaught. The book has a pleasant atmosphere of bright simplicity and quick mirthfulness. The Spectator calls it “fresh, unconventional, and poetic.”

— SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY. Pp. 310. (Smith, Elder). (Chicago: McClurg). 1.50. 1899.

Three delightful girls of a class which the Author delights to picture—impoverished gentry and their love affairs. The minor characters, servants, village people, &c., are very humorous and true to life. In this story the course of true love is by no means smooth, but all is well at the last. The scene varies between “Carrickmoyle” and London.

— A GIRL OF GALWAY. (Blackie). 5s. Handsome gift-book binding. 1900.

She stays with her grandfather, a miserly old recluse living in the wilds of Connemara, seeing nobody but his agent, an unscrupulous fellow, in whom he has perfect confidence. A love affair is soon introduced. It seems hopeless at first, but turns out all right owing to a strange unlooked for event. Pleasant and faithful picture of Connemara life.

— THREE FAIR MAIDS. Pp. 381. (Blackie). 6s. [1900]. (N.Y.: Scribner). 1.50. Twelve illustr. by G. Demain Hammond. 1909.

The three daughters of Sir Jasper Burke are of the reduced county family class, about which the Author loves to write. The expedient of receiving paying guests results in matrimony for the three girls. With this simple plot there are all the things that go to make Katharine Tynan’s works delightful reading: insight into character, impressions of Irish life, lovable personalities of many types.

— A DAUGHTER OF THE FIELDS. (Smith, Elder). 6s. (Chicago: McClurg). 1900.

“Another gracious Irish girl. Well educated, and brought up to a refined and easy life, she applies herself to the drudgery of farm work rather than desert her toiling mother; but the novelist finds her a husband and a more fortunate lot.”—(Baker).

— A UNION OF HEARTS. Pp. 296. (Nisbet). 2s. 6d. and 1s. 6d. n.d. [1900].

A typical example of Mrs. Hinkson’s stories. The main plot is a simple, idyllic love-story. The hero, much idealized, is an Englishman who tries to do good to his Irish tenants in his own way, and hence incurs their hatred, for a time. The heroine is an heiress come of a good old stock. Several of the characters are cleverly sketched: old Miss Lucy Considine and her antiquarian brother, in particular. Scenes of peasant life act as interludes to the main action, which lies in county family society. All the chief persons are Protestants, but the religious element is quite eliminated from the book.

— THAT SWEET ENEMY. (Constable). 6s. (Philadelphia: Lippincott). 1.50. 1901.

“A sentimental story of two Irish girls, children of a decayed house; their love affairs, the hindrance to their happiness, and the matrimonial dénouement.”—(Baker).

— A KING’S WOMAN. Pp. 155. (Hurst & Blackett). 6d. [1902]. 1905.

Told by Penelope Fayle, a young Quaker gentlewoman, a loyalist or King’s woman, but sympathetic to the Irish. Scene: a Leinster country house in 1798. No descriptions of the fighting, but glimpses of the cruelty of Ancient Britons, yeomanry, &c., and of the dark passions of the time. Racy, picturesque style, with exciting incidents and dramatic situations.

— THE HANDSOME QUAKER. Pp. 252. (A. H. Bullen). 1902.

Eighteen exquisite little stories and sketches dealing, nearly all, with the lives of the poorest peasantry. They have all the Author’s best qualities.

— LOVE OF SISTERS. Pp. 344. (Smith, Elder). 6s. [1902]. Third ed. 1908.

The scene varies between the West of Ireland and Dublin. A love-story, in which the central figures are Phillippa Featherstonhaugh and her sister, Colombe: a contrast in character, but each lovable in her own way. The plot turns on the unselfish devotion of the former, who, believing that her lover has transferred his affections to her sister, heroically stands aside. We shall not reveal the dénouement. The minor characters are capital, all evidently closely copied from life. There are the elderly spinsters, Miss Finola and Miss Peggy, and quite a number of charming old ladies, the country priest and the sisters’ bustling, philanthropic mother, always in a whirl of correspondence about her charities, and others equally interesting.

— A DAUGHTER OF KINGS. (Nash). 6s. (N.Y.: Benziger). 1.25. 1903.

The daughter of a broken-down aristocratic county family is obliged to take service as chaperon in an English family. Careful study of girl’s lovable character. Contrast between the pride and poverty of Witches’ Castle, Co. Donegal, and opulence of English home.

— THE HONOURABLE MOLLY. Pp. 312. (Smith, Elder). Second impression, 1903.

The Honourable Molly is of mixed Anglo-Irish aristocratic (her father was a Creggs de la Poer) and Scoto-Irish middle class origin (her mother’s people were O’Neills and Sinclairs). She has two suitors, one is from her mother’s people, the other is the heir to Castle Creggs and the title. Both are eminently worthy of her hand. She finally chooses one, after having accepted the other. Has all the sweetness and femininity of Katherine Tynan’s work. Is frankly romantic but not mawkish. There is no approach to a villain. There is some quiet and good-natured satire of old-fashioned aristocratic class-notions. The portraits of the two old maiden aunts are very clever.

— JULIA. Pp. 322. (Smith, Elder). 6s. Second impression, 1904.

How a baseless slander nearly ruined the life of Julia, the Cinderella of her family, how she was nearly lost to her lover, and by what strange turns of fortune she was restored. The chief characters belong to two branches of a Kerry family, whose history is that of many another in Ireland. Julia’s mother is a splendid type of the old-fashioned Irish matron. There is touching pathos in the picture of the Grace family (minor personages of the tale)—a mother’s absolute devotedness to a pair of thankless and worthless daughters. The old parish priest, too, is well drawn.

— THE ADVENTURES OF ALICIA. (White). 6s. 1906.

“A characteristically winning story of a poor young Irish girl, who had to serve English employers, but, in spite of all temptations, remained true to her Irish lover.”—(Press Notice).

— THE STORY OF BAWN. Pp. 312. (Smith, Elder). 6s. (Chicago: McClurg). 1.50. 1906.

One of the Author’s prettiest stories. Family of high standing falls into the meshes of money-lender. The daughter consents to marry him—but the plot need not be revealed. The scene appears to be Co. Kerry in the early ’sixties, but there seem to be some anachronisms.

— HER LADYSHIP. Pp. 305. (Smith, Elder). 6s. (Chicago: McClurg). 1.25. Second impression, 1907.

Lady Anne Chute is mistress of a vast estate in Co. Kerry. From the moment of her succession to the property she resolves to act the part of Providence in her people’s lives. She sets about improving their condition, founding industries, &c., and with full success. This is the background to a love-story. Old Miss Chenevix, once a “lady,” but now living almost on the verge of starvation in an obscure quarter of Dublin, is a pathetic figure. Pathetic also is the devotion of her old servant to the fallen fortunes of the family. Then there is the picture, drawn with exquisite sympathy, of the poor girl dying of consumption, and of how her religion exalted and brightened her last days. The descriptions or rather impressions of nature which brighten the story are peculiarly vivid.

— THE HOUSE OF THE CRICKETS. (Smith, Elder). 1908.

A story of Irish peasant farmer life. The heroine lives, with her brothers and sisters, a life of abject slavery, ruled by a tyrannical and puritanical father. In this wretched home she and her brother, Richard, develop noble qualities of character and mind. The members of the family are very life-like portraits, and the picture of Irish life is drawn with much care and skill.

— MEN AND MAIDS. Pp. 294. (Sealy, Bryers). 3s. 6d. Illustr. by Dorothea Preston. 1908.

A collection of short stories, chiefly thoroughly romantic love-stories. “A Big Lie” is, however, of a different character, and the Author has hardly ever written a more delightful story.

— PEGGY THE DAUGHTER. Pp. 335. (Cassell). 1909.

A romance of Ireland in early Victorian days. A young spendthrift nobleman, a widower, runs away with Priscilla, a Quakeress, and also an heiress. The description of the pursuit is exciting and dramatic. The penalty of his deed is a long imprisonment, from which he issues a sadder and wiser man. Priscilla’s care of his little daughter, Peggy, in the meantime is a pathetic story. The plot suggested by the attempted abduction by Sir H. B. Hayes of the Quakeress, Miss Pike, of Cork.

— COUSINS AND OTHERS. Pp. 319. (Laurie). 1909.

Eleven stories. The title story, the longest (there are nine chapters) tells how a shabby branch of an old Irish family finally won recognition by means of a marriage with the supposed heir and by the finding of certain old family papers. Contains some goodnatured satire on the snobbishness of Irish county society. One of the remaining stories is Irish in subject. All show the Author’s best qualities—freshness, charm, and cheerful optimism.

— THE HANDSOME BRANDONS. (Blackie). 3s. 6d. New ed. Illustr. by G. Demain Hammond.

How a marriage between scions of two ancient Irish houses heals a long-standing feud.

— THE HOUSE OF THE SECRET. Pp. 314. (James Clarke). 6s. 1910.

The story of Maeve Standish’s self-sacrifice in the sorrow-shadowed home of her father’s old friend, Miss Henrietta O’Neill, of her ultimate good fortune, and finally of her happy marriage. The setting is entirely Irish.—(Press Notice).

— HEART O’ GOLD; or, The Little Princess. Pp. 344. (Partridge). 3s. 6d.

Story of how Cushla MacSweeney and her sister, left as orphans, are carried off from their tumbled-down Irish home and brought up at Tunbridge Wells. How Cushla returns at twenty-one full of dreams for the improvement of Ireland, and is aided in her plans by a young man whom she afterwards marries. Full of the Author’s interesting character-studies.

— THE STORY OF CECILIA. Pp. 304. (Smith, Elder). 6s. (N.Y.: Benziger). 1.00. 1911.

Scene: Kerry and Dublin. Two stories, of mother and daughter, Ciss and Cecilia, interwoven. Ciss’s fiancé is reported killed. She loses her reason and persuades herself that a Dr. Grace, who is of peasant extraction, is her lover come back. To save her from the asylum Lord Dromore, her cousin and guardian, has to consent unwillingly to the marriage. The absent lover returns, but she does not meet him for twenty years. Meanwhile Ciss’s mésalliance is causing trouble in the course of Cecilia’s love for Lord Kilrush. But all ends happily. The characters are mainly drawn from the denationalised Irish upper classes. The story is told with much charm.

— PRINCESS KATHARINE. Pp. 320. (Ward). 6s. 1912.

A girl educated much above her mother’s condition in life and mixing in upper class society.

— ROSE OF THE GARDEN. Pp. 312. (Constable). 1912.

The story of Lady Sarah Lennox (1745-1826) in the form of fiction. A good many Irish members of the beau monde appear in the tale. It is not for young readers. See The Life and Letters of Lady Sarah Lennox, edited by the Countess of Ilchester and Lord Stavordale. Two vols. (Murray).

— A SHAMEFUL INHERITANCE. Pp. 324. (Cassell). 6s. 1914.

“Katharine Tynan, in her gentle way, puts before us the growing up of the boy Pat in ignorance of the disgrace (a jewel robbery) of his mother and the suicide of his father, and the effect upon him of the disclosure. A lovable and spiritual Father Peter plays a leading part in it all.”—(T. Litt. Suppl.). Pat finds his mother in time to comfort her deathbed, and in the end marries an old friend. Somewhat vague, and not free from inconsistencies.

— COUNTRYMEN ALL. Pp. 238. (Maunsel). 2s. 1915.

A volume of stories and sketches, very varied in its contents, from well-told but rather unconvincing little melodramas like “The Fox Hunter” and “John ’a Dreams” to very vivid glimpses of life, choses vues et vécues. These show various sides of Irish life and character; an unpleasant side in “The Ruling Passion” (a woman discussing her own funeral with her daughter), as well as the pleasant and lovable aspects. “The Mother” and “The Mother of Jesus” are little studies of exquisite tenderness. Several of the sketches are humorous, for instance the weird episode, “Per istam sanctam unctionem,” related by a priest. The scene of several seems to be the neighbourhood of Dublin.

— THE HOUSE OF THE FOXES. Pp. 307. (Smith, Elder). 6s. 1915.

The Turloughmores are overshadowed by a curse made long ago by an old woman wounded to death by the hounds of a former Lord T. when hunting. According to the curse, every head of the house must die a violent death, in forewarning of which foxes will be seen in twos and threes about the house for some time before. The actual Lord T. is expected home from his yachting cruise, his wife ever in dread of the doom. He is wrecked and apparently lost, but Meg Hildebrand, who is staying at the castle, discovers the almost dying lord in mysterious circumstances. He dies in his bed, his heir is married into a lucky house, and the curse is said to be lifted. Founded on a legend (still current) of a well-known Irish family. Many threads of various interest are woven into the tale.

— MEN, NOT ANGELS, and Other Tales told to Girls. (Burns & Oates). 3s. 6d. Many full-p. illustr. 1915.

Dainty stories, healthy and pleasant in tone, not weakly sentimental, definitely Catholic in character. Laid in various countries—England, France, Switzerland, as well as Ireland. Sympathetic studies of priests.

UPTON, W. C.

— UNCLE PAT’S CABIN. Pp. vi. + 284. (Gill). 1882.

“Or life among the agricultural labourers of Ireland.” “All the facts relative to the agricultural labourer in these pages can be vouched for.”—(Pref.). Describes vividly the long struggle of a labourer against adversity, the evils arising out of the competition for the land. A graphic picture of the conditions of the poor. Scene: Co. Limerick in the years from 1847 to 1880 or so. The writer was a carpenter working at Ardagh, who afterwards went to America. The chapters relating to a parliamentary contest are less valuable than the rest of the book. Lecky, in his “History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century” (Vol. 3, ch. 8, pp. 413-14 in a footnote), speaks of the book as “one of the truest and most vivid pictures of the present condition of the Irish labourer.”

VAIZEY, Mrs. G. de Horne.

— PIXIE O’SHAUGHNESSY.

Scene: first, a fashionable English girls’ school, afterwards a half-ruined castle in the West of Ireland. The book is taken up with the amusing scrapes and other adventures of a wild little Irish girl, and with the love affairs of her sisters. Gives a good, if somewhat overdrawn, picture of Irish character, especially of traditional Irish hospitality.

— MORE ABOUT PIXIE. (R.T.S.). 6d. 1910.

— THE FORTUNES OF THE FARRELLS. Pp. 190. (Leisure Hour Library Office). 6d. 1911.

VANCE, Louis Joseph.

— TERENCE O’ROURKE, Gentleman Adventurer. Pp. 393. (E. Grant Richards). 1906.

Thrilling adventures of a penniless soldier, who goes about Don Quixote-wise rescuing distressed damsels—each more beautiful than the last—fighting duels, and so forth. A good story of its class, and free from anything objectionable.

VEREKER, Hon. C. S., M.A., F.G.S.

— OLD TIMES IN IRELAND. Three Vols. (Chapman & Hall). 1873.

The Author was commandant of the Limerick City Artillery Militia and son of Lord Gort. Chiefly heavy light-comedy, with conventional characters and an air of unreality about the whole. The humour, the dialect, the characteristics of the various personages, all are highly exaggerated. A Lord Lieutenant, a Duke, the absurd Mr. and Mrs. O’Rafferty, the still more absurd love-sick schoolmaster, ruffianly Terry Alts, figure, among many others, in the tale.

VERNE, Jules.

— FOUNDLING MICK (P’tit Bonhomme). Pp. 303. (Sampson, Low). Seventy-six good illustr. 1895.

The very varied and often exciting adventures of a poor waif. Rescued from a travelling showman at Westport, Co. Mayo, he is sent to a poor school in Galway, resembling the workhouse in Oliver Twist. Further adventures bring him to Limerick, and then to Tralee, and afterwards to many other parts of Ireland. The book is written in thorough sympathy with Ireland, and in particular with the sufferings of the poor under iniquitous Land Laws, though at times with a little exaggeration. There is a vivid description of an eviction. Other aspects of Irish life are touched on, and with considerable knowledge. Dublin, Belfast, Killarney, Bray, are some of the places described. The spirit is Catholic: witness the kindly words on page 8 about Irish priests.

“WALDA, Viola.”

— MISS PEGGY O’DILLON; or, the Irish Critic. (Gill). 1890.

WALSHE, Miss E. H.

— THE FOSTER BROTHERS OF DOON. Pp. 394. (R.T.S.). Illustr. n.d. (c. 1865).

The foster-brothers are Myles Furlong, a Co. Wexford blacksmith on the rebel side in the rising of ’98, and Capt. Butler, a loyalist. Their respective adventures amid the historic events of the time are very well told. The Captain’s election as M.P. for Doon is well described. Putnam McCabe, Hamilton Rowan, Tone, Curran, and Jackson appear in the tale. Dialect good. Leans to loyalist side. “Written from a decidedly Protestant standpoint.”—(Nield).

— GOLDEN HILLS. (R.T.S.). 1865.

The Famine.

— THE MANUSCRIPT MAN; or, the Bible in Ireland. Pp. 226. (R.T.S.). 1869.

In the biographical note prefixed to this story we are told that the Author was all her life interested and actively engaged in evangelical work. She was born in Limerick, 1835, died 1868. The story tells how a family of Protestant landowners succeeded in distributing among their Catholic tenantry copies of the Bible in Irish, and thereby converted a number of them to Protestantism. The converts afterwards emigrate and settle in America. Scene: apparently West Connaught. Throughout, “Romanism” and “Romish” practices are contrasted with Protestantism, greatly to the disadvantage of the former. The book is well and interestingly written.

WARD, Mrs.

— WAVES ON THE OCEAN OF LIFE: a Dalriadian Tale. Pp. 322. (Simpkin). 1869.

Domestic life, with glimpses of religious and political strife in Ulster at close of eighteenth century truthfully delineated. Scene: Lough Erne and Antrim, the scenery of Dunluce and the Causeway described, and some real incidents introduced. Sympathetic towards the people, and does not disparage the ’98 insurgents.

WATSON, Helen H.

— PEGGY, D.O.: the Story of the Seven O’Rourkes. Pp. 312. (Cassell). 3s. 6d. Four coloured plates from drawings by Gertrude Steele. 1910.

The story told by a little lame girl of fourteen of a proud Irish family reduced to a cheap flat, and living in discomfort and anxiety without losing their cheerfulness of heart. There is both humour and pathos. We are introduced to some pleasant and lovable children.

WENTZ, Walter Yeeling Evans.

— THE FAIRY-FAITH IN CELTIC COUNTRIES: Its Psychica Origin and Nature. (Rennes: Imprimerie Oberthur). 1909.

The Author is Docteur ès Lettres, France; A.M., Stanford College, California; Member of Jesus College, Oxford; an American, and a pupil of Sir John Rhys, q.v. An investigation and discussion of “that specialised form of belief in a subjective realm inhabited by subjective beings which has existed from prehistoric times until now in Ireland, Scotland, Man, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany.” The Author, a believer in the existence of fairies, went himself through many parts of the countries above mentioned and spoke with and studied the peasantry. Divisions of work: I. The Living Fairy Faith Psychically Considered. II. The Recorded Fairy Faith Psychically Considered. III. The Cult of Gods, Spirits, Fairies, and the Dead. IV. The Fairy Faith Reconstructed.

[WEST, Jane]. 1758-1852. B. in London; the wife of a farmer in Northamptonshire. Author of A Gossip’s Story.

— THE HISTORY OF NED EVANS: A Tale of the Times. Two Vols. (Dublin). [1796]. 1805.

Title-p.:—“Interspersed with moral and critical remarks; anecdotes and characters of many persons well known in the polite world; and incidental strictures on the present state of Ireland.” The hero is supposed to be the son of a Welsh parson. The story opens in 1779, and is the love story of the Lady Cecilia, daughter of Lord Ravensdale, and the hero, who turns out in the end to be the true Lord Ravensdale. The story is full of incident. Ch. xxii. brings the hero to Ireland. He has some adventures in Dublin, which is partly described; then goes down to Ravensdale, which is seventy-six miles from Dublin. He goes to the American war, and has many adventures with Indians, narrow escapes, &c.; but finally returns to wed Cecilia. The story is highly moral and sentimental, with a religious tone. The characters are mainly of the Anglo-Irish gentry—Lord Rivers, Lord Squanderfield, &c. The then state of Ireland is but slightly dwelt on.

[WESTRUP, Margaret]; Mrs. W. Sydney Stacey. Author of Elizabeth’s Children.

— THE YOUNG O’BRIENS. Pp. 347. (Lane). 6s. 1906.

Doings of a family of Irish children left with an aunt in London during their father’s absence in India. With all their fun and pranks the children pine in London and long for the meadows and the woods of their home in Kilbrannan.

WEYMAN, Stanley.

— THE WILD GEESE. (Hodder & Stoughton). 6s. 1908. (N.Y.: Doubleday). 1.50. New thin paper ed., pp. 384, 2s. 1911.

Story of an abortive rising in Kerry in reign of George I., with exciting situations and a love interest. Style clear and vigorous. Irish characters nearly all vacillating, treacherous, and fanatical. Generally considered as giving an unreal idea of the times.

WHISTLER, Rev. Charles Watts. B. 1856. Author of a series of admirable stories for boys.

— A SEA QUEEN’S SAILING. (Nelson). 3s. 6d. 1907.

The Vikings about A.D. 935, time of Hakon the Good. Adventures of, among others, an Irish prince with the Vikings. Scene: northern and Irish coasts. Juvenile.

— A PRINCE ERRANT. (Nelson). 2s. 6d. 1908.

S.W. Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland about A.D. 792. Saxon, Briton, Norseman, and Dane. Juvenile.

WHITE, Captain L. Esmonde.

— IRISH COAST TALES OF LOVE AND ADVENTURE. Pp. 307. (Smith, Elder). 1865.

Contains two tales—(1) “The Black Channel of Cloughnagawn;” (2) “The Lovers of Ballyvookan.” Dr. Small goes to the west as a dispensary doctor, and meets the various types of character. The pursuit of a slave ship is well described, as are the men who man the western hookers, and know every turn of the dangerous Black Channel. The second deals with the wreck of H.M.S. Wasp and the love story of Norah Flynn. Both are exciting stories. The brogue is fairly good.

[WHITTY, Michael James]. (1795-1873).

— TALES OF IRISH LIFE. Two Vols. 12mo. (London: Robins). Six illustr. by Cruikshank. 1824.

“Illustrative of the manners, customs, and condition of the people.” Contents:—“Limping Mogue,” “The Rebel,” “The Absentee,” “The Robber,” “The Witch of Scollough’s Gap,” “The Informer,” “The Poor Man’s Daughter,” “Poor Mary,” “North and South, or Prejudice Removed” (showing, see especially pp. 29 sq., V. II., the Author’s freedom from bigotry), “The Priest’s Niece,” “The Last Chieftain of Erin,” “Turn-coat Watt” (Proselytism), “Protestant Bill,” &c. Intended “to disabuse the public mind and communicate information on a subject confessedly of importance.” Excellent stories by a journalist very well known in his day. B. Wexford, 1795, he came to London in 1821. In 1823 he was appointed editor of the London and Dublin Magazine, in which he published his work on Robert Emmet. From 1829 till his death he lived and worked in Liverpool. His Liverpool Daily Post, 1855, was the first penny daily paper.—(D.N.B.). His son, E. M. Whitty (1827-1860), was a brilliant journalist, and wrote a novel: Friends in Bohemia, and Parliamentary Portraits.

WHYTE-MELVILLE, Major G. J. (1821-1878). Had Irish connections and wrote many novels. Killed in hunting field—a death he had often described.

— SATANELLA: A story of Punchestown. Pp. 307. (Chapman and Hall). 1873. 2s. other eds.

A racy story of sportsmen and soldiers. Opens in Ireland and scene shifts to London. The talk of grooms and trainers fairly well done. The fate of the heroine and the famous black mare, both called “Satanella,” is tragic.

WILDE, Lady; “Speranza.” Well known as a poet of the Nation, one of the most passionately patriotic of them all. B. in Wexford, 1826. D. in London, 1896.

— ANCIENT LEGENDS OF IRELAND. Pp. 350. (Ward & Downey). 6s. 1888.

A collection of fairy stories, legends, descriptions of superstitious practices, medicals cures and charms, robber stories, notes on holy wells, &c., taken down from the peasantry, some in Gaelic, some in English. The legends, &c., are preceded by a learned essay on the origin and history of legend, and the book concludes with chapters on Irish art and ethnology and a lecture by Sir W. Wilde on the ancient races of Ireland. Contains a vast amount of matter useful to the folk-lorist, to the general reader, and even to the historian. The stories are rather pathetic and tender than humorous. Wrote also Ancient Cures, Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland, Driftwood from Scandinavia, The American Irish, &c.

WILLIAMS, Charles. B. Coleraine, 1838. D. London, 1904. The celebrated war correspondent of the Daily Chronicle and Standard; first editor of Evening News, and founder of the Press Club. Wrote a Life of Sir Evelyn Wood.

— JOHN THADDEUS MACKAY. Pp. 327. (Burleigh). (1889). 6s.

In this clever novel the Author draws upon his recollections of early days in Ulster. The hero, “a stickit minister,” goes out to India in company with a “Howley” father, so named after a famous Archbishop of Canterbury, and both learn charity and brotherly love and see the narrowness of their own views through mixing with the natives. Many real personages are introduced under thinly disguised cognomens, thus “Rev. Thomas Trifle” is the late Rev. Thomas Toye, of Belfast.

WILLS, William Gorman. B. Kilkenny, 1828. D. London, 1891. Poet, Painter, Dramatist, and Novelist. Ed. T.C.D. Son of Rev. James Wills, also a prolific writer. Wills is better known as a dramatist, having written no fewer than thirty-three plays, amongst the finest of them being Charles I., Olivia, and Faust. Amongst his other novels are Life’s Foreshadowings, which first appeared as a serial in Irish Metropolitan Magazine, 1857-8; The Wife’s Evidence, founded on an Irish tragedy, where a man named McLaughlin was hanged for a murder committed by his mother; Old Times, Notice to Quit, David Chantry, besides a long poem, Melchior.

— THE LOVE THAT KILLS. Three Vols. (Tinsley). 1867.

“It [the above novel] drew striking pictures of the relations between landlord and tenant in Ireland, the Irish Famine, and the Rebellion of 1848: and it showed a warm glow of sympathy with the Irish peasantry, which no one would have suspected in a man apparently so wholly out of touch with politics.” [From “Life of W. G. Wills” by Freeman Wills. London. 1898].

Notes

6 Reminiscences, p. 76-7.

7 Yet seems to have been publ. before it. I give the dates as they are given (doubtless by the Author) in the Literary Year Book.

8 So the name is given on the title-page, and it seems improbable that this Author is the same as the Author of the following item, first because there is a difference of thirty-four years between the dates, and secondly because the two books are wholly unlike. But the B. Museum Catal. assigns both to the same person.

9 The first two (pp. 342 + 332) are taken up by The Wife Hunter.

10 This is not a work of fiction. But it seems well to mention it here for it is really an elaborate re-telling of the ancient Irish hero-myths and romances.

11 I have not been able to ascertain whether this novel was ever reprinted in volume form from the periodical in which it appeared as a serial.

12 In a contribution to I.B.L. for Sept., 1915, Mr. Edmund Downey unhesitatingly assigns the book to the late Edward Moran, brother of the present Ed. of The Leader.

13 i.e., Mary A. Sadlier, to be carefully distinguished from Anna T. Sadlier, her daughter, born in Montreal. The latter has written nearly as much as her mother, but her works are not concerned with Ireland.

14 i.e., Fairies.