THE GAELIC REVIVAL--THOMAS DAVIS--CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY--ANGLO-IRISH
LITERATURE--THE IRISH DRAMA--DRAMATISTS AND ACTORS.
One effect of the disturbance in political work caused by the split
seemed to be the impetus given to existing movements which, so far as
politics were concerned, were neutral ground. Chief amongst these was
the Gaelic League, which from its foundation advanced by leaps and
bounds and brought to the front many fine characters.
Francis Fahy was one of the first Presidents of the Gaelic League of
London, and there is no doubt but the Irish language movement in the
metropolis owes much to his influence and indefatigable exertions.
I first made his acquaintance over twenty-five years ago, when he was
doing such splendid Irish propagandism in the Southwark Irish Literary
Club, of which, although he had able and enthusiastic helpers, he was
the life and soul. He has written many songs and poems, which have been
collected and published. What is, perhaps, one of the raciest and most
admired of his songs, "The Quid Plaid Shawl," first appeared in the
"Nationalist" for February 7th, 1885, a weekly periodical which I was
publishing at the time. Several stirring songs of great merit by other
members of the society also appeared in its pages. Indeed, the members
came to look upon the "Nationalist" as their own special organ, and ably
written and animated accounts of their proceedings appeared regularly in
its columns. I also published a song book for them, compiled by Francis
Fahy, chiefly for the use of their younger members.
An active Gaelic Leaguer, who did much for the success of the movement
in London, was William Patrick Ryan. He wrote a "Life of Thomas Davis"
for "Denvir's Monthly," a sort of revival of my "Irish Library." This
book was very favourably received by the press. The "Liverpool Daily
Post" gave it more than a column of admirable criticism, evidently from
the pen of the editor himself, Sir Edward Russell. In it was the
following kindly reference to myself: "Our present pleasing duty is to
recognise the labours of Mr. Denvir--efforts in such a cause are always
touchingly beautiful--as an inculcator of national sentiment; to
illustrate the genuine literary interest and value of the first booklet
of his new library; and to wish the library a long and useful, and in
every way successful vogue."
Another active man in the language movement in London, whose
acquaintance I was glad to renew when I first came to the metropolis, is
Doctor Mark Ryan.
It is nearly forty years since we first knew each other in connection
with another organisation. He then lived in a North Lancashire town,
and was studying medicine, not being at that time a fully qualified
doctor. If I remember rightly, our interview had no connexion with the
healing art, indeed quite the contrary, for besides qualifying for the
medical profession, he was graduating in the same school as Rickard
Burke, Arthur Forrester, and Michael Davitt, but, like myself, was more
fortunate than Burke and Davitt, inasmuch as he escaped their fate of
being sent into penal servitude. Although Mark Ryan was for a long time
resident in Lancashire, he there lost nothing, nor has he since, of the
fluent Gaelic speech of his native Galway, for I heard him quite
recently delivering an eloquent speech in Irish at a gathering of the
Gaelic League.
Speaking of Dr. Mark Ryan reminds me of how often I have noticed in my
travels through Great Britain, what a number of Irish doctors there are,
and also that they are almost invariably patriotic. They are of great
service to the cause, for it frequently happens that, in some districts,
they are almost the only men of culture, and are not generally slow to
take the lead among their humbler fellow-countrymen.
One of the finest Irish scholars in the Gaelic League was Mr. Thomas
Flannery. He, too, was a valued contributor to my "Monthly Irish
Library," two of the best books in the series, "Dr. John O'Donovan," and
"Archbishop MacHale," being from his pen. In fact, he and Timothy
MacSweeny I might almost look upon as having been the Gaelic editors of
the "Monthly."
I once, when in business in Liverpool, printed a Scottish Gaelic
Prayer-Book for Father Campbell, one of the Jesuit priests of that city,
for use among the Catholic congregations in the highlands and islands of
Scotland. John Rogers, like Timothy MacSweeny, a ripe Irish scholar,
called on me while it was in progress, and was delighted to know that
such a book was being issued. To Mr. MacSweeny I also sent a copy, and
they both could read the Scottish Gaelic easily, showing, of course, how
closely the Irish and Scottish Gaels were, with the Manx, united in one
branch of the Celtic race, as distinguished from the Bretons and Welsh.
I have always had an intense admiration for the poetry of "Young
Ireland." I used to call it Irish literature until I found myself
corrected, very properly, by my Gaelic League friends, who maintained
that, not being in the Irish tongue, its proper designation was
Anglo-Irish literature.
I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of one of the leading
young Irelanders, Charles Gavan Duffy, after his return to this country,
when he assisted at the inauguration of our London Irish Literary
Society, which has been a credit to the Irishmen of the metropolis. Much
of the success of the Society is due to Alfred Perceval Graves, author
of the well-known song "Father O'Flynn," a faithful picture of a genuine
Irish _soggarth_. Among others of the members of the society who have
made their mark in Irish literature is Mr. Richard Barry O'Brien, the
President, the author of several valuable works of history and
biography.
It was at the opening of our Literary Society that I first met Duffy in
the flesh, but I had known and admired him in spirit from my earliest
boyhood. I was greatly pleased when he told me he had been much
interested in my publications, not only those issued more recently, but
those of many years before. I afterwards had a letter from him in
reference to my "Irish in Britain," in which he said: "I saw long ago
some of the little Irish books you published in Liverpool, and know you
for an old and zealous worker in the national seed field."
His son, George Gavan Duffy, is a solicitor, practising in London, and
an active worker in the national cause. His wife is a daughter of the
late A.M. Sullivan, and is as zealous a Nationalist as was her father,
and as patriotic as her husband.
The first book of National poetry I ever read was one compiled by
Charles Gavan Duffy--"The Ballad Poetry of Ireland." I should say that
this has been one of the most popular books ever issued. There are none
of his own songs in this volume. The few he did write are in the "Spirit
of the Nation" and other collections. These make us regret he did not
write more, for, in the whole range of our poetry, I think there is
nothing finer or more soul-stirring than his "Inishowen," "The Irish
Rapparees," and "The Men of the North."
It is unfortunate that we have nothing from the pen of Thomas Davis on
the subject of the Irish drama and dramatists, for among the most
delightful and valuable contributions to the Anglo-Irish literature of
the nineteenth century were his "Literary and Historical Essays."
For students, historians, journalists, lecturers, and public speakers,
they have been an inexhaustible mine, since they first appeared week by
week in the "Nation" during the Repeal and Young Ireland movements. As
sources of inspiration they have been of still more practical value to
the Irish poet, painter, musician and sculptor.
Though he was apparently in good health up to a few days of his death,
which was quite unexpected, Davis, in giving to his country these
unsurpassed essays, might have had some idea that his life would not be
a long one, and that, if he could not himself accomplish all he had
projected, he would at least sketch out a programme for his brother
workers in the national field, and for those coming after them.
A glance at the contents of Davis's Essays will show how fully he has
covered almost every field in which Irishmen are or ought to be
interested. We have Irish History, Antiquities, Monuments, Architecture,
Ethnology, Oratory, Resources, Topography, Commerce, Art, Language, Our
People of all classes, Music and Poetry dealt with in an attractive as
well as in a practical manner. Anyone who has ever gone to these Essays,
as I have over and over again, for information, has always found Davis
completely master of every subject that he touched. His "Hints to Irish
Painters" are illustrations of the value of the advice he gives in
connection with his varied themes. Those of the generations since his
time who have profited by his teaching know best how valuable would have
been his views in connection with the Irish Drama.
Knowing as we do how _thorough_ Davis was in everything he took up, the
reason he did not deal with it was, probably, that he had not had the
same opportunities of getting information on this as upon the other
wonderfully varied subjects in his Essays.
I have in my mind at this moment one Irish dramatist, Edmond O'Rourke,
who would have appreciated anything Davis would have written on the
subject, and would certainly have profited by it.
O'Rourke, better known by his stage name of Falconer, was an actor as
well as a dramatist. He was "leading man" when I first saw him in the
stock company of the Adelphi Theatre, Liverpool, and used to play the
whole round of Shakespearean characters, his favourite parts being the
popular ones of Macbeth, Hamlet, and Richard the Third. He was a
dark-complexioned man of average height, somewhat spare in form and
features. Though his performances were intellectual creations, we boys
used to make somewhat unfavourable comparisons between him and Barry
Sullivan, another of our fellow-countrymen. Barry was by no means
superior to Falconer in his conception of the various parts, but he
greatly surpassed him in voice, physique, and general bearing on the
stage, in which respects I think he had no equal in our times.
After Falconer went to London he became manager of the Lyceum Theatre,
where several of his pieces were performed, including the well-known
Irish drama, "Peep o' Day," which had an enormously successful run. With
this he also produced a magnificent panorama of Killarney, to illustrate
which he wrote the well-known song of "Killarney" which, with the music
of Balfe, our Irish composer, at once became very popular, as it ever
since has been. Madame Anna Whitty, the distinguished vocalist, who
first sang "Killarney," was a daughter of Michael James Whitty, of whom
I have spoken elsewhere. In going through my papers I have just come
across a letter from O'Rourke, dated from the Princess's Theatre,
Manchester, August 19th, 1872, in which he tells me of the great success
in Manchester of another play of his, "Eileen Oge." This also he
produced at the Lyceum Theatre, London, where it had a long and
successful run. Edmund O'Rourke was a patriotic Irishman, and in this
respect I could never have made the same comparison between the
patriotism of the two men, Barry Sullivan and him, as I did between them
as actors. _Both_ were patriotic Irishmen. It will be remembered that in
an early chapter of this book I have mentioned that Barry Sullivan once
offered himself to our committee as an Irish Nationalist candidate for
the parliamentary representation of Liverpool.
Dion Boucicault, too, is one, I am sure, who would have profited by
anything Thomas Davis might have written on the subject of the drama. I
am quite satisfied that though he was severely criticised for the wake
scene in his play of "The Shaughraun" at the time it was first produced,
the objectionable features in this were more the fault of the actors
than of the dramatist; but the subject was an exceedingly risky one,
even for a man like Boucicault, and would have been better avoided
altogether.
Besides Barry Sullivan and Falconer, other Irish actors I knew were
Barry Aylmer, James Foster O'Neill, and Hubert O'Grady. They were
impersonators of what were known as "Irish parts," and being genuine
Irish Nationalists, as well as actors, did much to elevate the character
of such performances. For with them, all the wit and drollery were
retained, while they helped, by their example, to banish the buffoonery
that used to characterise the "Stage Irishman."
I am reminded by a criticism on one of his pieces in a London daily
paper that we can claim, as a fellow-countryman, perhaps the most
brilliant writer at the present time for the British stage--George
Bernard Shaw. From a conversation I had with him once, I would certainly
gather that he was a patriotic Irishman.
I have done something in the way of dramatic production myself, one of
the pieces I wrote being at the request of Father Nugent, to assist him
in the great temperance movement he had started in Liverpool. He engaged
a large hall in Bevington Bush, where every Monday night he gave the
total abstinence pledge against intoxicating liquors to large numbers of
people. I was then carrying on the "Catholic Times" for him, and he
asked me to be the first to take the pledge from him at his public
inauguration of the movement. Although, as he was aware, I was already a
pledged teetotaler to Father Mathew, I was greatly pleased to agree to
assist him all I could in his great work.
He believed in providing a counter-attraction to the public house, and
each Monday night, in the Bevington Hall, he provided a concert or some
other kind of entertainment; giving, in the interval between the first
and second part a stirring address and the temperance pledge. As there
was a stage and scenery in the hall, we often had dramatic sketches. The
drama I wrote for Father Nugent had a temperance moral. It was called
"The Germans of Glenmore." It was played several Monday nights in
succession, and was well received.
Some years afterwards I made it into a story, calling it "The Reapers of
Kilbride." This appeared over a frequent signature of mine, "Slieve
Donard," in the "United Irishman," the organ of the Home Rule
Confederation.
Singularly enough, I found that part of it had been changed back again
into the first act of a drama by Mr. Hubert O'Grady, the well-known
Irish comedian.
That gentleman was giving a performance for the benefit of the newly
released political prisoners at one of our Liverpool theatres. Being
somewhat late, I was making my way upstairs in company with Michael
Davitt, and the play had commenced. I could hear on the stage part of
the dialogue, which seemed familiar to me, and, sure enough, when I
took my seat and listened to the rest of the act, the dialogue was
pretty nearly, word for word, from "The Reapers of Kilbride." The
compiler of the play being acted had also drawn upon another drama of
mine for his last act, "Rosaleen Dhu, or the Twelve Pins of Bin-a-Bola."
The play we were witnessing was very cleverly constructed, for Mr.
O'Grady, with his strong dramatic instincts and experience, could tell
exactly what would go well, and could use material accordingly. The
transformation of the story as it appeared in the "United Irishman" back
again into a play would be easily effected, as, leaving out the
descriptive part, the dialogue itself, with the necessary stage
directions, told the story. This, no doubt, Mr. O'Grady had perceived.
Later still, I carried out a similar transformation with another of my
own productions. I have a piece in three acts which, as a play, has
never been published or performed. It is called "The Curse of
Columbkille." This drama I changed into a story, which has appeared in
the series of 6d. novels published by Messrs. Sealy, Bryers and Walker.
The most striking character in it is Olaf, a Dane, who believes himself
to be a re-incarnation of one of the old Danish sea rovers. A member of
the firm, the late Mr. George Bryers, a sterling Irishman, called my
attention to the opinion of the professional reader to the firm that it
would be advisable to call the story "Olaf the Dane; or the Curse of
Columbkille." I accepted the suggestion, and accordingly the book has
been published with that title.
I have seen with much interest the movement inaugurated by the Irish
Theatre Company in Dublin, and have been present at some of their
performances in London. In spite of some false starts and a tendency to
imitate certain undesirable foreign influences, the movement should
certainly help to foster the Irish drama.