about the eighteen thirties or forties, bringing out what a
hostile agent can do to make the lot of the peasants a very
hard one, and showing how in the end his machinations are
brought to nought thanks to Father Pat. This latter and Father
Tom are fine types of Irish priests. The Author has a good eye
for characters and a keen sense of humour.
=DILLON, Patricia.= Born in Dublin. Educated chiefly in France. Has lived
most of her life in London. Has written for periodicals on historical
subjects for the most part.
⸺ EARL OR CHIEFTAIN. Pp. 140. (_C.T.S. of Ireland_). 1_s._ 1910.
The opening career of Hugh O’Neill looked at on its romantic
side, including his marriage with Mabel Bagenal. Other historic
characters appear in the tale, notably Feagh MacHugh O’Byrne.
=DODGE, W. P.=
⸺ THE CRESCENT MOON. Pp. 125. (_Long_). 1_s._ 6_d._ 1911.
A little love story, told skilfully enough in letters from
Sir Desmond Fitzgerald to his brother in S. Africa.—[T. LIT.
SUPPL.].
=DOLLARD, Rev. J. B.=
⸺ THE GAELS OF MOONDHARRIG. Pp. 124. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 6_d._
A collection of pleasant, breezy tales of the exploits,
especially in hurling, of the young men of Moondharrig (South
Kilkenny), showing an intimate knowledge and love of the people
of the author’s native place. An unobtrusive spirit of piety
runs through it.
=DORSEY, Anna Hanson.=[3] Born Georgetown, D.C., 1815. Received into the
Catholic Church, 1840. She is a pioneer of Catholic light literature
in the States. Nearly all her stories—there are more than thirty of
them—have a religious purpose, but as a rule this is not too much forced
on the reader. She was a Laetare medallist, described as the highest
honour the Church in America can bestow. Some titles of her books
are—_Tears on the Diadem_, _Dummy_, _Tangled Paths_, _Warp and Woof_, and
her last _Palms_, which was by many considered her best.
[3] Her daughter, Ella Loraine Dorsey, has written even more than Mrs. A.
H. Dorsey, and is one of the most prominent figures in American Catholic
literature.
⸺ THE HEIRESS OF CARRIGMONA. Pp. 381. (BOSTON: _Murphy_). Third thousand.
(_Washbourne_). 4_s._ 1910.
Scene: Co. Wicklow and Western U.S.A. Chiefly concerned
with the fortunes of an Irish peasant family named Travers,
especially the son, who goes to America, gets into trouble,
is rescued, and then⸺. A strong warning against emigration
is conveyed in this latter part of the story. Mrs. Dorsey’s
peasants here, as usual, are lifelike and interesting. Their
best qualities—trust in Providence, resignation under trial,
piety, self-sacrifice—are well brought out. The brogue is not
overdone. Anti-Irish characters are represented as mean and
hypocritical.
⸺ MONA THE VESTAL. Pp. 163-324. (N.Y.: _Christian Press Association
Publishing Co._). _n.d._
Bound in same vol. as “Norah Brady’s Vow” and under latter
title. An endeavour to place the heroic virtues of new
Christians in contrast with the decaying Druidic paganism. The
writer claims the Abbé McGeoghegan’s authority (also that of
Mooney and Carey) for her descriptions of the Ireland of the
time. But, with the exception of the incident of Patrick’s
arrival at Tara, the story and its setting are purely imaginary
and ideal. The Druids worship in vast temples with long
corridors and fine carvings. Tara is a great city of marble
palaces.
⸺ NORA BRADY’S VOW. Pp. 160. (N.Y.: _Christian Press Association
Publishing Co._). 0.50. _n.d._
Nora is only a servant girl, but is, without suspecting it,
a true heroine. But she is no saint, and has a sharp tongue
in her head. Her witty sallies are cleverly reproduced. The
author tells us that Nora was a “real and living person.” John
Halloran takes part in the rising of ’48, and is obliged to
fly to America. Nora vows not to settle down in life until the
fortunes of the Hallorans are restored. She goes to America,
works to support the family, which has been ruined by an
informer, and at length finds Halloran and reunites the family
once more. Scene: near Holy Cross Abbey on the Suir; afterwards
Boston. On the whole the tone and style are very emotional, but
with an emotion that rings true. This is relieved by not a few
gleams of pleasant humour. Irish dialect well done. Sympathy
strongly national.
⸺ THE OLD HOUSE AT GLENARAN. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 0.80. In print.
(_Washbourne_). 4_s._
=DOTTIN, Henry Georges.= Born 1863 in France. Prof. of Greek Lit. (1905)
at the University of Rennes. Has contributed to learned reviews and has
published several learned works, _La religion des Celtes_, 1903; _La
Bretagne et le Culte du passé_, 1903.
⸺ CONTES IRLANDAIS TRADUITS DU GAËLIQUE. Pp. 274. (_Rennes_). 1901.
Tales, thirty-five in number, collected in Connaught and
republished from the “Annales de Bretagne,” tome x.
N.B.—A book with the title of “Contes Irlandais” was published
by Messrs. Gill, of Dublin, 70 pp., 4to, 7_s._ 6_d._ It
consists of extracts from the untranslated portion of Douglas
Hyde’s “Leabhar Sgeuluigheachta” translated into French by M.
Georges Dottin, with the original Irish text in Roman letters
on the opposite page.
⸺ CONTES ET LÉGENDES D’IRLANDE. Pp. 218. (_Le Havre_). 3_fr._ 50. 1901.
See previous item. Thirty-eight tales translated from Irish
texts, published without translation in the Gaelic Journal
since 1882. Collected in all parts of Ireland, _e.g._, Les
exploits de Fion MacCumhail et de son géant Seachrin. Fion
MacCumhail et son pouce de science. Le Gobán Saor et Saint
Moling. La belle fille rusée du Gobán Saor. Le trèfle à quatre
feuilles, &c.
=DOUGLAS, James.= Born in Belfast of a Tyrone family. Is assistant
editor and literary critic of the London STAR. Author of _The Man in the
Pulpit_, _Adventures in London_, &c. Contributes to ATHENÆUM, BOOKMAN, &c.
⸺ THE UNPARDONABLE SIN. Pp. x + 418. 6_s._ (_Grant Richards_). 1907.
Falls into two parts. Part I. describes upbringing of a boy
in Belfast (Bigotsborough). Pictures sectarian hatred leading
to riots, in one of which, vividly described, the hero loses
a little brother. Other characters finely portrayed are “Jane
the Nailor” and the then Head Master of the Model School (“the
Castle”). In Part II. the boy has become a great preacher. All
London flocks to hear him, but he is beset with doubts and
difficulties. W. B. Yeats and Miss Maud Gonne are introduced
under thinly disguised names. The first part has been called by
editor of I. B. L. “the finest delineation of Belfast boyhood
ever penned.” The second part has been not inaptly described as
“the dream of an opium-eater.”
=DOWLING, Richard.= Born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, 1846. Educated St.
Munchin’s, Limerick. Much of his life was passed in journalistic work,
first for the NATION, then for London papers. He edited the short-lived
comic papers ZOZIMUS and YORICK, and was a leading spirit in another,
IRELAND’S EYE. In 1879 came his Irish romance, _The Mystery of Killard_;
but he found that there was no public at the time for Irish novels, so he
devoted himself to writing sensational stories for the English public.
He published some delightful volumes of essays, _Ignorant Essays_ and
_Indolent Essays_. These deal with all kinds of subjects in a quaint,
humorous, fanciful vein. Other novels—_The Sport of Fate_, _Under St.
Paul’s_, _The Weird Sisters_, &c., seventeen or so in all.
⸺ THE MYSTERY OF KILLARD. Pp. 357. (_Tinsley Bros._) [1879]. New edition,
1884.
A tale of the Clare coast and its fishing population (drawn
with much skill and fidelity) half a century back. The story
centres in a mysterious and romantic rock unapproachable by sea
and connected with the land by a single rope only. There is a
mysterious owner, or rather a series of them, and mysterious
gold. But the central idea of the book (one of the most
original in literature, it has been justly called) is the study
of a deaf-mute who, by brooding on his own misfortune, grows to
envy and then to hate his own child, because the child can hear
and speak.
⸺ SWEET INNISFAIL. Three Vols. (_Tinsley_). 1882.
Scene: chiefly the neighbourhood of Clonmel. The interest is
mainly in the plot, which is full of dramatic adventure and of
movement, without any very serious study of Irish character.
⸺ OLD CORCORAN’S MONEY. Pp. 310. (_Chatto & Windus_). Crown 8vo. Cloth.
3_s._ 6_d._ 1897.
Money is stolen from an old miser. The interest of the
complicated plot centres in the detection of the thief. Clever
sketches of life in a southern town. Characters carefully and
faithfully drawn, especially Head-Constable Cassidy, R.I.C.
⸺ ZOZIMUS PAPERS. (N.Y.: _Kenedy_). 38 cents net. 1909.
“A series of comic and sentimental tales and legends of
Ireland.” The title is most misleading. There are six pages of
an introduction dealing with Michael Moran, a famous Dublin
“character,” nicknamed Zozimus. The rest of the book consists
of a series of stories by Carleton, Lover, Lever, Barrington,
&c. The contents have nothing to do with Dowling nor with the
famous periodical ZOZIMUS.
=DOWNE, Walmer.=
⸺ BY SHAMROCK AND HEATHER. Pp. 325. (_Digby, Long_). 1898.
Scene: mainly in Ards of Down, near Strangford Lough, but
shifts to Edinburgh, London, and Capetown. Theme: an American
girl visiting her father’s native place in Ireland. Consists
largely of gossip about the characters introduced, not rising
above this level. The writer likes Ireland and the Irish,
but knows little of them. There is an air of unreality and
improbability about the whole book. Some prejudice against
Church of Ireland clergymen is displayed.
=DOWNEY, Edmund; “F. M. Allen.”= Born (1856) and educated in Waterford.
Being the son of a shipbroker, he came to know well the various sea types
that frequent a port. Went to London at twenty-two, and became partner
in the firm of Ward and Downey. Retired in 1890, and in 1894 founded
Downey & Co. Both of these firms, especially the latter, did a great deal
for the publishing of Irish books. His writings are many and varied.
They include humorous sketches, extravaganzas, sea stories, fairy tales,
sensational stories, a biography of Lever, a volume of reminiscences, and
a history of Waterford, and the two novels, _Clashmore_ and the _Merchant
of Killogue_. He at present carries on a publishing business in Waterford.
⸺ IN ONE TOWN. (_Ward & Downey_). 2_s._ [1884].
A seafarer’s life ashore. Scene: a port not unlike Waterford.
Many portraits of old salts, &c., drawn from life. Some
descriptions of scenery. “By turns romantic, pathetic, and
humorous”—(Review).
⸺ ANCHOR WATCH YARNS. Pp. 315. (_Downey_). [1884]. Seventh edition. _n.d._
Yarns told in a quaint nautical lingo by old salts around the
inn fire in a seaport town. The characters of the tellers
are very cleverly brought out in the telling. Full of humour
without mere farce.
⸺ THROUGH GREEN GLASSES. (_Ward & Downey_). Various prices from 6_s._ to
6_d._ [1887]. Many editions since.
This now famous book belongs to the same class as the
_Comic History of England_, but its humour is much superior
in quality. It consists of a series of historical or
pseudo-historical episodes purporting to be related by a
humorous Waterford countryman, Dan Banim, as seen from his
point of view. Kings and princes, saints and ancient heroes,
all play their parts in the delightful comedy, and talk in the
broadest brogue. “From Portlaw to Paradise,” one of the best
known, may be taken as a type. King James’s escape after the
Boyne is also admirably done.
⸺ THE VOYAGE OF THE ARK. (_Ward & Downey_). 1_s._ [1888]. Several
editions since.
The scriptural narrative of Noah and the Ark is made the basis
for a series of farcical episodes related in brogue.
⸺ FROM THE GREEN BAG. (_Ward & Downey_). 2_s._ 6_d._ and 1_s._ 1889.
More stories by “Dan Banim,” like those in _Through Green
Glasses_. The Pope and St. Patrick, Horatius and Julius Cæsar
figure in the stories. We cannot see that these stories are
“irreverent” in any serious sense, though they have sometimes
been taxed with irreverence.
⸺ BRAYHARD. (_Ward & Downey_). 2_s._ 6_d._ 1890.
Extravaganza founded on legends of the Seven Champions of
Christendom. Full of jokes, repartees, and comic situations.
⸺ CAPTAIN LANAGAN’S LOG. (_Ward & Downey_). 2_s._ (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 1.75.
1891, and since.
Story of an Irish-Canadian lad who runs away to sea, and goes
through all sorts of adventures full of excitement and fun.
⸺ GREEN AS GRASS. (_Chatto & Windus_). 3_s._ 6_d._ (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 1.75.
1892.
More “Dan Banim” stories. The first, running to 160 pages, is
a humorous account of Dermot MacMurrough’s love affair with
Devorgilla, and his betrayal of Ireland. Another tells how the
Earl of Kildare found out that Lambert Simnel was an imposter
by the latter’s skill in cooking griddle cakes.
⸺ THE ROUND TOWER OF BABEL. (_Ward & Downey_). 1_s._ Several editions;
first, 1892.
Further adventures in foreign parts of descendants of the Co.
Waterford voyagers in the Ark.
⸺ THE LAND-SMELLER. (_Ward & Downey_). [1892], and several editions since.
Yarns of sea-captains.
⸺ THE MERCHANT OF KILLOGUE: a Munster Tale. Three Vols. (_Heinemann_).
1894.
The Author’s first attempt at serious fiction, and one of his
finest works.
⸺ BALLYBEG JUNCTION. Pp. 276. (_Downey_). Very well illustr. by John F.
O’Hea. (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 1.75. 1895.
A comedy of southern Irish life, full of fun, without farcical
exaggeration, and true to reality.
⸺ PINCHES OF SALT. Pp. 246. (_Downey_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1895.
Nine Irish tales, mostly humorous, not told in dialect; full
of keen observation of Irish life.—(Review). “The Eviction at
Ballyhack,” and “The Viceroy’s Visit” are among the best.
⸺ GLIMPSES OF ENGLISH HISTORY. (_Downey_). 3_s._ 6_d._ Illustr. by J. F.
Sullivan. 1901.
Versions of episodes in English History told by “Dan Banim” in
his usual dialect.
⸺ THE LITTLE GREEN MAN. Pp. 152. (_Downey_). Illustr. very tastefully by
Brinsley Lefanu.
The pranks of the Leprechaun and his dealings with his human
friend Denis. A delightful fairy-tale, told with a purpose,
which does not take anything from its interest.
⸺ CLASHMORE. Pp. 406. (WATERFORD: _Downey_). 1_s._ [1903]. New edition.
1909.
A tale of a mystery centering in the strange disappearance of
Lord Clashmore and his agent. The story is healthy in tone, and
never flags. There is a pleasant love interest. The dénouement
is of an original and unexpected kind. The scene is the
neighbourhood of Tramore and Dunmore, Co. Waterford. There is
little or no study of national problems or national life, but
some shrewd remarks about things Irish are scattered here and
there in the book. The characters are not elaborately studied,
but are well drawn.
⸺ DUNLEARY: Humours of a Munster Town. Pp. 323. (_Sampson, Low_). 6_s._
1911.
Fourteen capital yarns told with great verve and go just for
the sake of the story. They are all humorous, just avoiding
uproarious farce. The personages of the stories are the various
queer types to be met with in a small southern port:—the
convivial spirits in the local semi-genteel club, those of
lower degree who foregather in the bar parlour of the “Dragon,”
the rival editors of the local papers, the candidates for the
harbour mastership, the skippers of the Dunleary steam-packet
company, the professional jail-bird—Micky Malowney, and
the “general play boy” Jeremiah Maguire. There is no stage
Irishism, and no politics. Dunleary is, of course, W—rf—d.
=DOYLE, J. J.=
⸺ CATHAIR CONROI, and other Tales. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 6_d._
Written for the Oireachtas, 1902, and now translated by the
Author from his own Irish original. They are for the most part
Munster folk-lore.
=“DOYLE, Lynn”; Leslie A. Montgomery.= Born Downpatrick, Co. Down.
Educated at Educational Institution, Dundalk. Has written a successful
play, “Love and Land.” Is a bank-manager, residing at Skerries, Co.
Dublin.
⸺ BALLYGULLION. Pp. 249. (_Maunsel_). 6_s._ Handsome cover. 1908. Cheap
edition. 1_s._ 1915.
A dozen stories supposed to be told by one Pat Murphy, in
the humorous brogue affected by country story-tellers. Comic
character and incident in neighbourhood of Northern town.
Considerably above the usual books of comic sketches. A good
example of the humour is “The Creamery Society”—the visit of
the Department’s expert, and his failure to make butter from
whitewash, and the difficulties that arise incidentally between
Nationalists and Orangemen, followed by Father Connolly’s
famous speech. Perhaps “Father Con’s Card-table” ought to have
been omitted.
=[DOYLE, M.]; “M. E. T.”=
⸺ EXILED FROM ERIN. Pp. 266. (_Duffy_). _n.d._ (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 0.45.
A homely, pleasant tale relating the pathetic life-story of two
brothers of the peasant class. The scene of the first part of
the tale is laid in Shankill, Vale of Shanganagh, Co. Dublin,
afterwards it changes to Wales, and then to America. The Author
tells us that his story is a true one, and that his endeavour
throughout has been to draw a faithful and sympathetic picture
of the life of the humbler classes. The sorrow and misfortune
of emigration is feelingly rendered.
=“DRAKE, Miriam”=; =Mrs. Clarke=, _née_ =Marion Doak= (_q.v._). Born
Dromard, Co. Down.
=DREISER, Theodore.=
⸺ JENNIE GERHART. (_Harper_). 6_s._ $1.35. 1911.
“A piece of industrial realism, inartistic and undramatic, but
thoroughly honest and full of serious thought. The fortunes
of two immigrant families, German and Irish, are contrasted.
Jennie is the daughter of the unsuccessful German, and falls
a victim to the pleasure-loving son of the enterprising
Irishman, who illustrates the dangers of our ... social
organization.”—(_Baker_ 2).
=DROHOJOWSKA, Mme. la Comtesse.=
⸺ RÉCITS DU FOYER, LÉGENDES IRLANDAISES, SCÈNES DE MŒURS. Pp. 208.
(PARIS: _Josse_). 1861.
Introd. very favourable to Ireland, but based on insufficient
and not first-hand information. It dwells chiefly on Irish
religious faith; also on superstition in Ireland. Then come the
legends—King Laura Lyngsky, Glendalough (King O’Toole’s Goose),
Donaghoo (a learned schoolmaster, who found a gold mine); King
O’Donoghue (Killarney), Grace O’Malley and Queen Elizabeth,
The King of Claddagh, John O’Glyn (a fisherman who marries a
mermaid, and joins her in the sea), James Lynch, &c.
=DUFF GORDON, Lady.=
⸺ STELLA AND VANESSA. Trans. (_Ward, Lock_). [1850: _Bentley_]. 1859.
Days of Swift, _c._ 1730. From the French of Léon de Wailly.
The scene is laid entirely in Ireland. The story opens at
Laracor. Swift is, of course, one of the central figures.
=DUGGAN, Ruby M.=
⸺ ONLY A LASS. Pp. 169. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 6_d._ Paper.
A sensational story with nothing really Irish about it. The
only Irish character is almost a caricature.
=DUNBAR, Aldis.=
⸺ THE SONS O’ CORMAC; an’ Tales of other Men’s Sons. Pp. x. + 240.
(_Longmans_). 6_s._ Eight illustr. by Myra Luxmoore. 1904.
“Some of the old heroic legends retold by a humorous Irishman
for children.”—(_Baker_). The stories (there are twelve) are
very clever, picturesque, and, like all good tales of faërie,
full of unconscious poetry.—_I.E.R._
=DUNN, Joseph.=
⸺ THE ANCIENT IRISH EPIC TALE: TÁIN BO CUALGNE, THE CUALGNE CATTLE RAID.
Now for the first time done entire into English out of the Irish of the
Book of Leinster and allied Manuscripts. Pp. xxxvi. + 382. Demy 8vo.
(_Nutt_). 25_s._ 1914.
Pref., on Irish Epic in general, and on the Táin in particular.
The Editor calls it “the wildest and most fascinating saga
tale, not only of the entire Celtic world, but even of all
Western Europe.” The work is a scholarly one, the various MSS.
being carefully collated by means of marginal- and foot-notes.
The Irish text is not given. Index of place and personal names.
A somewhat archaic style is adopted, but this is not overdone.
“The Táin,” says the Ed. truly, “is one of the most precious
monuments of the world’s literature.” The Ed. is a professor in
the Catholic University of Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
=[DUNN, N. J.].=
⸺ VULTURES OF ERIN: a Tale of the Penal Laws. Pp. 530 (N.Y.: _Kenedy_).
1.50. One woodcut. 1884.
Edward Fitzgerald is robbed of his property by his enemy,
Templeton, who accuses him falsely of a murder instigated by
himself. Shemus M’Andrew plots and plans to save Fitzg., but
the latter is nevertheless condemned to death, and his wife
loses her reason. He escapes, however, and after many years
returns with proof of T.’s guilt. The wife recovers, and all
ends happily. Scene: between Slieve Bouchta and Lough Derg.
Religion not formally introduced, but Catholic bias very
strong. Penal laws denounced, and scripture-readers appear in
unfavourable light.
=DUNNE, Finley Peter.=
⸺ THE DOOLEY BOOKS:—
1. MR. D. IN PEACE AND WAR. (_Routledge_). Seventh edition,
1906.
2. MR. D.’S PHILOSOPHY. (_Heinemann_). 3_s._ 6_d._ Illustr.
1901.
3. MR. D.’S OPINIONS. (_Heinemann_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1905.
4. MR. D. IN THE HEARTS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN. 1909.
5. OBSERVATIONS BY MR. D. (_Heinemann_). 3_s._ 6_d._
6. DISSERTATIONS BY MR. D. (_Harper_). 6_s._
7. MR. DOOLEY SAYS. (_Heinemann_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1910.
A series of fictitious conversations purporting to take place
over the counter of his bar in Archey Road, a seedy Irish
quarter of New York, between Mr. Dooley, “traveller, historian,
social observer, saloon-keeper, economist, and philosopher,”
who has not been out of his ward for twenty-five years “but
twict,” and his friend Hennessy. From the cool heights of life
in the Archey Road Mr. Dooley muses, philosophizes, moralizes
on the events and ideas of the day. He talks in broad brogue
(perhaps overdone), but his sayings are full of dry humour,
and the laugh is always with him. Many of these sayings have
the point and brevity of epigrams. No ridicule is cast on
Irish character, with which the Author, himself an Irishman,
obviously sympathizes. The view of politics, &c., is wholly at
variance with that which comes to us from the English Press.
=DUNNE, F. W.=
⸺ THE PIRATE OF BOFINE: an historical romance. Three Vols. 12mo.
(LONDON). 1832.
A strange medley of melodramatic episodes. The story jumps from
place to place in the most bewildering way, and wholly without
warning to the reader. Scene laid in various parts of the W.
of I. (Boffin, Galway, Bantry, &c.) in reign of Henry VIII.
Historical characters are introduced, but without historical
background. Style: “Know you aught of my maternal parent.”
(Vol. III., p. 15). “Fire flashed from his eyes, and death sat
upon his gleaming blade,” and soforth.
=“EBLANA,”= _see_ =ROONEY=.
=ECCLES, Charlotte O’Connor; “Hal Godfrey.”= Died 1911. Was a daughter
of A. O’C. Eccles, of Ballingard Ho., Co. Roscommon. She wrote first for
Irish periodicals. Later she went to London, and became a prominent lady
journalist there. Her _The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore_ is a very
clever and witty novel.
⸺ ALIENS OF THE WEST. Pp. 351. (_Cassell_). 6_s._ 1904.
Six stories reprinted from the AMERICAN ECCLESIASTICAL REVIEW
(Catholic), and the PALL MALL MAGAZINE. Scene: “Toomevara,” an
Irish country town of about 2,000 inhabitants, near Shannon
estuary. Life in this town is depicted in a realistic and
objective way, without moralizing, and without obtrusive
religious or political bias. Yet there are lessons—the miseries
of class distinctions and of social and religious cleavage; the
disasters of education above one’s sphere (even in a convent).
There is much pathos in the death of the peasant boy-poet, and
in the faithfulness of the servant girl to the fallen fortunes
of the family. A serious and earnest book.
=EDELSTEIN, Joseph.=
⸺ THE MONEYLENDER. Pp. 110. (DUBLIN: _Dollard_). Illustr. by Phil Blake.
1908.
A strangely realistic story of Jewish life in Dublin, told with
rude power. Written by a Jew, it gives a dreadful picture of
the life of the poor in Dublin slums, and of the misery wrought
by the Jewish moneylender, who grows rich on their misery. The
Jew, Levenstein, who is driven on in his evil course by desire
to avenge the sufferings of his persecuted race is a revolting,
yet a pathetic figure.
=EDGE, John Henry, M.A., K.C.= Born 1841. Son of late John Dallas Edge,
B.L. Lives in Clyde Road, Dublin.
⸺ AN IRISH UTOPIA. Pp. 296. (_Hodges & Figgis_). 3_s._ 6_d._ Frontisp.,
View of Glendalough. 1906 and 1910. Fourth ed. (_Cassell_), with fine
portraits and interesting autobiographical introduction, 1915.
“A Story of a Phase of the Land Problem.” Scene: Wicklow
County and Shropshire, England. A slender plot, telling of the
abortive attempt of a younger twin to oust the rightful heir
from title and property, ending with a lawsuit in which some
well known lawyers are introduced under slightly disguised
names. Father O’Toole is a very pleasant character study. The
famous “J.K.L.” Dr. Doyle, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin,
figures in the story. The standpoint is that of an Irish
Conservative, without religious bias, and sympathizing with
certain Irish grievances. Humour, pathos, and brogue are absent.
⸺ THE QUICKSANDS OF LIFE. Pp. 392. (_Milne_). 6_s._ 1908.
Scene: first half in England, portion of second half on
an estate somewhere in the South of Ireland. The interest
centres chiefly in the plot, which is complicated, a great
many of the personages passing through quite an extraordinary
number of vicissitudes. Though the Author is never prurient,
a considerable number of dishonest “love” intrigues are
introduced, treated in a matter-of-fact way as every-day
occurrences. Of Ireland there is not very much. The land
troubles furnish incidents for the story, but are not
discussed. The Irish aristocracy shows up somewhat badly in
the book. Some tributes are paid to the virtues of the Irish
peasantry.
=EDGEWORTH, Maria.= Scott, in his Preface to _Waverley_ (1829), speaks
of “the extended and well-merited fame of Miss Edgeworth, whose Irish
characters have gone so far to make the English familiar with the
character of their gay and kind-hearted neighbours of Ireland.” And he
continues: “Without being so presumptuous as to hope to emulate the rich
humour, the pathetic tenderness, and admirable tact, which pervade the
works of my accomplished friend, I felt that something might be attempted
for my own country, of the same kind as that which Miss Edgeworth has so
fortunately achieved for Ireland.” She came of an old County Longford
family, but was born in England in 1767; her father was a landed
proprietor at Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford, whose life she afterwards
wrote. Most of her long life was spent in Ireland. She came to know the
Irish peasantry very well, though from outside, and also the country life
of the nobility and gentry. She had much sympathy for Ireland, but was
unable to understand that radical changes were needful if the grievances
that weighed upon the country were to be removed. She died in 1849. The
circulation of her books has been enormous, and they are still frequently
reprinted both in these countries and in America.[4]
Uniform editions of her works: (1) Macmillan, with excellent
illustrations, 2_s._ 6_d._ and 3_s._ 6_d._ each; pocket
edition, 2_s._, and leather, 3_s._ (2) Dent, in twelve vols.,
2_s._ 6_d._ each, very tasteful binding, etched frontisp.,
ed. by W. Harvey. Messrs. Routledge also publish _Stories of
Ireland_; introduction by Professor Henry Morley; 1_s._
[4] An able and certainly not over-enthusiastic estimate of Miss
Edgeworth will be found in the DUBLIN REVIEW, April, 1838, p. 495, _sq._
⸺ WORKS, collected in eighteen Vols. 1832.
⸺ TALES AND MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. Nine Vols. (LONDON). 1848.
These were received with a chorus of praise by critics, such
as Lord Jeffery, Lord Dudley, and Sir James Mackintosh. Scott
called them “a sort of essence of common sense.”
⸺ CASTLE RACKRENT. (_Macmillan, &c._). (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 0.75. [1800].
A picture of the feudal gentry in the latter half of the
seventeenth century, in the form of reminiscences by an old
retainer of the glories of the family he had served. One
after another, he tells the careers of his various masters,
the wild waste and endless prodigality of one, the skinflint
exactingness of another. There is no religious bias nor
discussion of problems, the chief interest being the ingenuous
and unquestioning devotion of the old servant and his quaint
observations. The literary merits of the book are usually rated
very high.
⸺ THE ABSENTEE. (_Macmillan, &c._). (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 0.75. [1809].
A vivid impression of the Irish nobility trying to dazzle
London society, and to prove itself more English than the
English themselves, while the English great ladies mock at
their parvenu extravagance and outlandish ways. The fine lady
spends her days in social emulation, while her lord sinks to
the company of toadies and hangers-on, until the conscience of
the young heir is aroused by a tour in Ireland, and he brings
the family back to their estates. The peasants are drawn purely
in their relation of grateful and patient dependents.
⸺ ENNUI. [1809].
The Earl of Glenthorn, an English-bred absentee landlord, is
afflicted with _ennui_. He determines to attempt a cure by a
visit to Ireland, and the cure is effected in a very unlooked
for way. The Author draws in an amusing and vivid way the
contrast, as felt by Lord Glenthorn, between English tastes,
prejudices, and decorum and the strange Irish ways, which
surprise him at every turn.—(_Krans_).
⸺ ORMOND. Pp. 379. (_Macmillan, Dent, &c._) [1817].
Pictures of the scheming, political, extravagant gentry,
especially of a type of the Catholic country gentleman, the
good-natured, happy-go-lucky Cornelius O’Shane, known to his
worshipping tenantry as King Corny. There is also a sketch
of Paris society, to which Ormond, the attractive, impulsive
young hero, is introduced by an officer of the Irish Brigade.
Generally thought the most interesting, gayest, and most
humorous of Miss Edgeworth’s books.
⸺ TALES FROM MARIA EDGEWORTH. (_Darton_). 10_s._ 6_d._ Illustr. by Hugh
Thomson. 1912.
Introd. by Austin Dobson.
⸺ MISS EDGEWORTH’S IRISH STORIES (A Selection).
Ed. by Malcolm Cotter Seton, M.A., in _Every Irishman’s
Library_ (The Talbot Press). [In preparation].
=“EDWARDES, Martin”; E. L. Murphy.= Son of Mr. W. M. Murphy, of Dartry.
⸺ THE LITTLE BLACK DEVIL. Pp. 190. (_Everett_). 3_s._ 6_d._, and 1_s._
1910.
A first novel by a new Irish writer. Scene: Bantry and London.
The story of a young Irishman who, badly treated at home by
his guardian, goes to London to make his fortune. His heart
is broken by an adventuress, but in the end he marries a true
woman. A little immature, but pleasant, and suitable for any
class of readers.
=EDWARDS, R. W. K.=
⸺ UNCHRONICLED HEROES. Pp. 119. (DERRY: _Gailey_). 1_s._ 1888.
A rather feeble story of the Siege of Derry. Walker and
Mackenzie are introduced, the former highly lauded, the latter
disparaged. Appendix (filling nearly half the book) gives
extracts from scarce documents relating to the siege.
⸺ THE MERMAID OF INISH-UIG. Pp. 248. (_Arnold_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1898.
To Inish-Uig, a western island with a primitive people, comes
a new lighthouse keeper, a scoundrel and a hypocrite, who
leads “Black Kate” astray. He tries to turn to account the
illicit stilling propensities of the people, but is foiled in
an amusing way. Father Tim and a Presbyterian minister on the
mainland are two finely drawn characters. The islanders are
well described, and their dialect well rendered.
=EGAN, Maurice Francis, M.A., LL.D.= Born Philadelphia, 1852. Educated
La Salle Coll., Philadelphia and Georgetown Coll., Washington. Was Prof.
of English Literature in Catholic University of Washington till his
appointment as American Ambassador at Copenhagen. Has edited several
periodicals, and has contributed to most of the noteworthy periodicals in
the States. Has published many books on a great variety of subjects. His
father was from Tipperary.
⸺ THE SUCCESS OF PATRICK DESMOND. Pp. 400. (NOTRE DAME, INDIANA: _Office
of Ave Maria_). 1893.
A novel with a purpose. “The Author does not waste much space
on descriptions or impersonal reflections, nor does he trust
to sensational incidents. The development of feeling and
character, very often as revealed in natural conversation,
seems to be his strong point. He knows his own people best, but
we are sorry that he considers Miles and Nellie to be typical
of the manners and dispositions of that class of the Irish race
in the United States. The book is so cleverly written that one
might cull from its pages a very respectable collection of
epigrams.”—(_I. M._).
⸺ THE WILES OF SEXTON MAGINNIS. Pp. 380. (N.Y.: _Century Co._). Illustr.
by A. J. Keller. 1909.
=[EGAN, Pierce].= (1772-1849).
⸺ REAL LIFE IN IRELAND; or, the Day and Night Scenes, Rovings, Rambles,
and Sprees, Bulls, Blunders, Bodderation and Blarney, of Brian Boru,
Esq., and his elegant friend Sir Shawn O’Dogherty, exhibiting a Real
Picture of Characters, Manners, &c., in High and Low Life, in Dublin and
various parts of Ireland, embellished with humorous coloured engravings
from original designs by the most eminent Artists, “by a real Paddy.”
[1821].
Messrs. Methuen in 1904 reprinted the book from the fourth ed.
which was publ. by Evans & Co. The title-p. well describes
the book. Brian and his friend were what were then called
bucks and bloods. There is much absurdity, and extreme
exaggeration. The follies and vagaries of the two heroes are
told in a facetious and roistering style. There is not a little
coarseness. But the book is interesting for its side-lights on
the period, 1820-1830. Geo. IV.’s visit is described in a vein
of burlesque. The illustrations are even more vulgar than the
text, but have a similar interest.
=EGAN, P. M.=
⸺ SCULLYDOM: an Anglo-Irish Story of To-day. Pp. 360. (_Maxwell_). 2_s._
Picture boards. 1886.
Scene: Kilkenny. Time: 1880-84. Lucifer Scully, moneylender,
by degrees becomes possessed of much land, and grinds down
the tenants. They revolt, and this gives opportunity for good
descriptions of evictions and reprisals. Fred O’Brien, a fine
character whose sweetheart is spirited away by the villainy of
Scully, goes in pursuit of her, and has many adventures and
disappointments before all ends happily. Mickey Crowe and his
love episodes supplies the comic relief. The tone is strongly
National, and the dialect well done. The Author has also
written “A History and Guide to Waterford.”
=ELIZABETH, Charlotte.= [Mrs. Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna, 1790-1846].
⸺ THE ROCKITE. [1832].
The Tithe War (_c._ 1820) from Protestant standpoint. Captain
Rock was a famous leader of Whiteboys during the anti-tithe
war. The _Memoirs of Captain Rock_ were published anonymously,
1824, in Paris, by Thomas Moore.
⸺ DERRY: A Tale of the Revolution. Pp. xxiv. + 317. (_Nisbet_). [1839].
Sixth edition. 1886, and since.
Story of the Siege of Derry, written from ultra-Protestant
standpoint. The proceeds of the sale of the book are to be
devoted to teaching the Protestant religion “in their own
tongue to the Irish-speaking aborigines of the land.”—(Pref.).
The Author says elsewhere that “Popery is the curse of God upon
a land.” And the expression of similar views is very frequent
in the book.
=ELRINGTON, H.=
⸺ RALPH WYNWARD. Pp. 310. (_Nelson_). 2_s._ Attractive binding. Good
illustr. _n.d._ (1902).
Youghal in the days of Queen Elizabeth. A tale of adventure in
wild times, ending in the sack of Youghal during the Desmond
Wars. Without bias. Told by Ralph himself, a descendant of the
8th Earl of Desmond, who runs away from his home in England.
The 16th Earl and Sir Richard Boyle (afterwards the Great Earl
of Cork) appear in the story. Juvenile.
⸺ THE SCHOOL-BOY OUTLAWS. Pp. 266. (_Simpkin_). 2_s._ 6_d._ Six illustr.
1905.
Life at a school in the South of Ireland “for the sons of
the gentry.” Incidents of resistance to masters attempting a
reform. Two of the boys Jerry and Fitzgerald (who tells the
story, and is “the son of a well-known Dublin clergyman),” run
away, and live as outlaws. The accession of Queen Victoria
(1837) is the means of obtaining their pardon. A pleasant tale
for boys, free from religious or political bias.
=ENNIS, Alicia Margaret.=
⸺ IRELAND; or, The Montague Family.
=ENSELL, Mrs.=
⸺ THE PEARL OF LISNADOON. Pp. 126. (_Elliot Stock_). 1886.
Scene: Killarney in the time following O’Connell’s
imprisonment. Aims to prove that the landlords were extremely
ill-treated, and that the Irish are uncivilised, and more or
less savage. Strong Protestant bias. Usual pictures of agrarian
crime.
=ERVINE, St. John G.= Born Belfast, 1883. Has published four plays, three
of which have been successfully acted at the Abbey Theatre. Hopes to
publish a new novel, _Changing Winds_, in the near future.
⸺ EIGHT O’CLOCK, and Other Stories. Pp. 128. (_Maunsel_). 2_s._ 6_d._
1913.
Reprinted from various periodicals. Six out of the seventeen
are Irish in subject. There is the sketch of Clutie John, a
queer old North of Irelander, whose profession is “fin’in’
things.” “The Well of Youth,” a fantastic and humorous story
about the Well of St. Brigid in the Vale of Avoca—told in North
of Ireland dialect! In “The Fool,” John O’Moyle, a little
“astray in his mind,” gives an English tourist some eye-opening
facts about the condition of peasant farms (Catholic
and Protestant) in Donegal. “The Match” is a satire on
match-making. In “Discontent” a young Antrim boy on Lurigedan
tells of the hunger of the country-bred for the excitements of
town life. “The Burial” is concerned with life in Ballyshannon.
Clever and finished. The remainder deal with English life.
⸺ MRS. MARTIN’S MAN. Pp. 312. (_Maunsel_). 6_s._ 1915.
Theme: the triumph of an injured wife over a situation that
would have finally wrecked the lives of most women—her
desertion by an unfaithful husband, and, still harder to face,
his return after sixteen years, a worthless drunken lout, to
live with her again. Mrs. Martin is the book, which is both a
careful character study and a page of life-philosophy. But the
minor characters are good—the Presbyterian clergyman, verbose
and self-sufficient (a very unfavourable portrait), the canting
and narrow-minded Henry Mahaffy, and Mrs. Martin’s Man himself.
There is a somewhat drab background of lower middle-class life
in Ulster (Ballyreagh (= Donaghadee) and Belfast). A very
remarkable book that has had a deservedly great success. As for
its moral aspect, the Author is against cant, hypocrisy, and
intolerance; he is somewhat contemptuous towards religion: he
is never salacious, but there is an occasional sensuousness in
his treatment of a painful subject.
=ESLER, Mrs. Erminda Rentoul.= Daughter of Rev. Alexander Rentoul, M.D.,
D.D., of Manor Cunningham, Co. Donegal. Lives in London, and contributes
to CORNHILL, CHAMBERS’S, QUIVER, SUNDAY AT HOME, and many other
periodicals. Author of _The Way of Transgressors_ (1890), _Youth at the
Prow_, _The Awakening of Helena Thorpe_.
⸺ THE WAY THEY LOVED AT GRIMPAT: Village Idylls. (_Sampson Low_). 1893.
⸺ A MAID OF THE MANSE. Pp. 315. (_Sampson, Low_). 1895.
A story of Presbyterian clerical life in Co. Donegal forty
years ago. A pleasant, readable story, with a well wrought
plot. There is both pathos and humour in the book, and as a
picture of manners it is true to life, if somewhat idyllic.
⸺ THE WARDLAWS. (_Smith_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1896.
“A grave domestic story worked out on a basis of character,
laid in an Irish rural district.”—(_Baker_).
⸺ THE TRACKLESS WAY. Pp. 465. (_Brimley Johnson_). 6_s._ 1903.
“The story of a man’s quest for God.” (Sub-t.). Scene: chiefly
“Garvaghy, Co. Innismore,” in Ulster. The book is a searching
study of the inward religious and outward social life of a
Presbyterian minister, Gideon Horville, his difficulties,
aspirations, friendships, disappointment in marriage. He is
dismissed by his Church for teaching erroneous doctrines,
begins to write, and subsequently helps his great friend
Lord Tomnitoul in his religious and socialistic schemes. The
Author’s religious attitude is equally opposed to Catholicism,
to Calvinism, and, indeed, to Christianity. The background,
Horville’s social circle, with its meannesses, spites, and
petty jealousies, is not a pleasant one. The Author writes with
thorough knowledge. There are no politics.
=“ESMOND, Henry.”=
⸺ A LIFE’S HAZARD: or, The Outlaw of Wentworth Waste. Three Vols.
(_Sampson, Low_). 1878.
Scene: N. Co. Dublin. A sensational tale—abducted heir, forged
will, usurped title, jealousy, revenge, attempted murders,
perjury, &c. The outlaw, O’Grady, a T.C.D. man and a barrister,
heads a popular rising, twice escapes execution, and performs
wonderful deeds, always appearing in the nick of time to rescue
beauty in distress, or upset the schemes of the false lord.
There is much brogue—of a sort. The supernatural is frequently
introduced.
=FABER, Christine.= This is said to be a pen-name. An American Catholic
writer. Other novels—_An Original Girl_ (1901), _Ambition’s Contest_,
_A Fatal Resemblance_, _Reaping the Whirlwind_ (1905), _A Chivalrous
Deed_, _The Guardian’s Mystery_, _A Mother’s Sacrifice_. All of these are
published by P. J. Kenedy of New York.
⸺ CARROLL O’DONOGHUE; a Tale of the Irish Struggles of 1866 and of recent
times. Pp. 501. Pretty cover. (_Duffy_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1903.
Scene laid chiefly in Kerry, at the time of the Fenian
movement, though it is not a narrative of the latter. A very
dramatic story finely wrought out. Full of local colour,
humour, and pathos.
=“FALY, Patrick C.”; John Hill.=
⸺ NINETY-EIGHT: being the Recollections of Cormac Cahir O’Connor Faly
(late Col. in the French Service) of that awful period. Collected and
edited by his grandson, Patrick C. Faly, Attorney-at-Law, Buffalo, N.Y.
(_Downey_). Illustr. A. D. M’Cormick. 1897.
Cormac is heart and soul with the rebels. Life in Dublin, 1798,
described. Then we are brought all through the scenes of the
rising.
=FARADAY, Winifred, M.A.=
⸺ THE CATTLE RAID OF CUALNGE. (Táin bó Cuailnge). An ancient Irish prose
epic [Grimm Library, No. 16]. Pp. xxi. + 141. (_Nutt_). 4_s._ (N.Y.:
_Scribner_). 1.25. 1904.
A close student’s translation from the _Leabhar na h-Uidhri_
and the _Yellow Book of Lecan_. No notes, but interesting and
scholarly introduction.
=FENNELL, Charlotte and J. P. O’CALLAGHAN.=
⸺ A PRINCE OF TYRONE. Pp. 363. (_Blackwood_). 1897.
The amours of Seaghan O’Neill. Seems worthless from an
historical point of view. O’Neill appears as little better than
a villain of melodrama.
=FERGUSON, R. Menzies, D.D.= Author of _Rambles in the Far North_, &c.
⸺ THE OCHIL FAIRY TALES. Pp. 157. (_Nutt_). 3_s._ 6_d._ Illustr. 1913.
Most of the Tales related in this Book are founded on local
tradition: they are the echoes of that Celtic folk-lore which
is fast dying out. The western spurs of the Ochill hills and
the country lying between the Allan Water and the River Forth
form the scenes of the curious cantrips of the Wee Folk, once
so firmly believed in by the people of a former generation.
The purpose of the Author is to preserve some of those curious
tales which are still floating in the popular mind. In another
generation it will be too late.—(_Publ._).
=FERGUSON, Sir Samuel.= Born Belfast, 1810. Son of John Ferguson, of
Collen House, Co. Antrim. Educated Academical Institution, Belfast, and
T.C.D. Was first deputy keeper of the public records in Ireland. Was a
noted antiquarian, but is best known as one of the best of our Irish
poets. Most of his poetry deals with the heroic period of early Ireland.
Died 1886. See _Sir Samuel Ferguson in the Ireland of his Day_, by Lady
Ferguson. Besides the _Hibernian Nights_, Sir Samuel wrote also a very
amusing if not very reverent sketch, “Father Tom and the Pope,” which had
the unique distinction of being reprinted in BLACKWOOD’S MAGAZINE, 1910.
⸺ HIBERNIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS. Three Vols. Pp. 146 and 184 and 278.
(_Sealy, Bryers_). 1_s._ each, paper; 2_s._ cloth. [1887]. Still in print.
Written by the Author in early youth. Supposed to be told in
1592 by Turlough O’Hagan, O’Neill’s bard, to Hugh Roe O’Donnell
and his companions imprisoned in Dublin Castle. They are almost
entirely fictitious, but give many details of locality and of
the contemporary manners, customs, and modes of fighting. There
is an historical introduction. Contents: “Children of Usnach,”
“The Capture of Killeshin,” “Corby MacGillmore,” “An Adventure
of Seaghan O’Neill’s,” and the “Rebellion of Silken Thomas.”
Popular in style and treatment.
⸺ THE “RETURN OF CLANEBOY.” Pp. 43-98.
Relates how Aodh Duidhe O’Néill regained (_c._ 1333) his
territory of Claneboy in Antrim on the death of William
de Burgh, Earl of Ulster. The story is rather an ordinary
one—fighting and intrigues. There is some description of men
and manners and of County Antrim scenery.
⸺ THE “CAPTURE OF KILLESHIN.” Pp. 98-146.
A tale of the struggle of the Leinster Clans—chiefly the
O’Nolans—with the English settlers. Full of stirring incidents,
including a battle most vividly described. Period: end of 14th
century.
⸺ “CORBY MACGILLMORE.” Pp. 140.
Scene: North Antrim at the beginning of the fifteenth century.
A Franciscan preaches Christianity to the MacGillmores, who had
relapsed into barbarism and paganism. There is a very warlike
and un-Christian abbot in the story. The chief interest is the
enmity between the Clan Gillmore and the Clan Savage of North
Down, and the events, dark and tragic for the most part, that
result from it.
⸺ THE “REBELLION OF SILKEN THOMAS.” Pp. 278.
The main features of the rebellion are told in form of romance.
The real hero is Sir John Talbot, who first joins Lord Thomas
but afterwards leaves him. The story of Sir John’s private
fortunes occupies a large part of the narrative. The author is,
of course, perfectly acquainted with the history of the time.
=FIELD, Mrs. E. M.= This Author (born 1856) is daughter of J. Story,
J.P., D.L., of Bingfield, Co. Cavan. Besides _Ethne_, she has published
several other novels, _e.g._, _At the King’s Right Hand_.
⸺ DENIS. Pp. viii. + 414. (_Macmillan_). 2_s._ [1896]. Still in print.
A story of the Famine. Interesting portrait of Young Ireland
leader. Standpoint rather anti-national. Dedicated “to my
kinsfolk and friends among the landowners of Ireland.”
⸺ ETHNE. Pp. 312. (_Wells, Gardner_). 3_s._ 6_d._ Three or four good
Illustr. [1902]. Third edition. 1911.
A tale of Cromwell’s transplantation of the Irish to Connaught.
Purports to be taken partly from the diary of Ethne O’Connor,
daughter of one of the transplanted, and partly from the
“record” of Roger Standfast-on-the-Rock. The former is
converted to the religion of the latter by a single reading of
the Bible. The interest of the book is mainly religious.
=FIGGIS, Darrell.= Born Gleann-na-Smol, Co. Dublin, 1882. Was taken to
India in infancy and remained there till he was ten years old. Was put
into a London business house, and did not abandon this walk of life, in
which his fortunes were sometimes low enough, till about 1909, the date
of his first volume of poems, _A Vision of Life_. Since then he has been
engaged in journalism and literature. He has taken an active part in the
national movement in Ireland. For the past five years he has spent every
winter in Achill, where he now lives permanently. Has, among other works,
two novels, _Broken Arcs_ and _Jacob Elthorne_, and is now engaged on an
Irish story.
=FILDES, H. G.=
⸺ “TRIM” AND ANTRIM’S SHORES. Pp. 312. (_Greening_). 6_s._ 1904.
Account of holiday trip, supposed to be taken by the writer (an
Englishman) and his friend, “Trim,” to the coast of Antrim,
also Lough Neagh, and a few other places. Consists mainly of
humorous incidents treated more or less in the _Three Men in a
Boat_, or rather the _Three Men on the Bümmel_ style, but much
inferior. Little or no description of Antrim.
=FINLAY, T. A., S.J., M.A.; “A. Whitelock.”= Born 1848. Educated at
Cavan College, at Amiens, and at the Gregorian University, Rome. Entered
Irish Province S.J., 1866. Commissioner of Intermediate Education, 1900;
Vice-President of Irish Agricultural Organisation Society; Ex-Fellow of
Royal Univ. of I.; Editor, THE LYCEUM and then THE NEW IRELAND REVIEW
(1894-1910); President of Univ. Hall, Dublin, since 1913.—(CATH. WHO’S
WHO).
⸺ THE CHANCES OF WAR. (_Gill_). [1877]. New edition, 1908, and
(_Fallon_), 2_s._ 6_d._ 1911.
Aims (cf. Preface) to indicate the causes that led to failure
of Confederation of Kilkenny. Represents in the characters
introduced the aims and motives of the chief actors in the
events of the period, such as Owen Roe O’Neill, Rinuccini,
Sir Charles Coote, &c. There is a spirited description of the
first relief of Derry, the Battle of Benburb, Ireton’s siege
of Limerick. The hero is an exile returned from a continental
army. Between him and the heroine the villain Plunkett
interposes his schemes. Scene: chiefly an island in Lough Derg.
Though the main aim is historical, this fact in no way detracts
from the interest and excitement of the romance. Written in a
style above that of the majority of Irish historical novels.
Standpoint: Catholic and national, but free from violent
partisanship.
=FINN, L. A.=
⸺ BARNEY THE BOYO.[5] Pp. 180. (_Ireland’s Own Library_). 6_d._ _n.d._
How B. is, with many sighs of relief, sent forth by his native
village to found his fortune on a subscribed capital of £4
2_s._ 10_d._ How he is involved in the Castle Jewels mystery,
wins the “Ardilveagh Cup” at the Horse Show, swims the Channel,
and has many other topical adventures, succeeding always by his
native wit. Plenty of broad popular humour, somewhat in the
vein of Mick McQuaid.
[5] A Midland word for the Western “playboy” or general wag and practical
joker.
=FINN, Mary Agnes.=
⸺ NORA’S MISSION. Pp. 268. (_Washbourne_). 2_s._ 6_d._ (N.Y.:
_Benziger_). 1.75. [1911]. Second edition. 1914.
The mission was to bring back her uncle, who had settled in
Australia, both to his Church and to his country, and she
successfully carried it out: his wife and daughters, too,
“adapted themselves speedily to Irish manners and customs.” And
her visit to Australia unravelled some mysteries which we shall
not reveal. Scene laid in I. and most of characters Irish.
The “brogue” is avoided, but the conversation is somewhat
stilted and unnatural. The book is nicely printed and prettily
bound.—(_C.B.N._).
=FINNEY, Violet G.=
⸺ THE REVOLT OF THE YOUNG MACCORMACKS. Pp. 227. (_Ward & Downey_).
Illustr. by Edith Scannell. (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 1.50. 1896.
A story written for children and much appreciated by them. The
four young MacCormacks are very live and real children. Their
delightfully novel pranks are told in a breezy, natural style.
Many a “grown-up” will find interest in the book. Scene: partly
in Dublin, partly in West of Ireland.
⸺ A DAUGHTER OF ERIN. Pp. 224. (_Blackie_). 2_s._ 6_d._ Well illustr. by
G. Demain Hammond.
A bright little story, free from “problems,” “morals,”
morbidness, and prejudice. It tells how Norah’s hostility and
dislike to her cousin, John Herrick, gradually changes to love
in spite of herself. Her old lover accepts the inevitable like
a brave man, and loses his life in trying to do a service,
for her sake, to the favoured suitor. The Irish characters
are capitally sketched—Mrs. Ryan and Judy, the Rector’s
housekeeper. Bertie, the spoilt little invalid, is drawn to the
life. So, too, is the somewhat sententious old Rector.
=FITZGERALD, John Godwin.=
⸺ RUTH WERDRESS, FATHER O’HARALAN, AND SOME NEW CHRISTIANS. Pp. 340.
(_Blackwood_). 6_s._
An argument in narrative form against the celibacy of the
Catholic priesthood. Ruth W., flying from a home made unhappy
by evangelicalism, takes refuge with Fr. O’H., P.P. of
Blossomvale, who receives her into the Catholic Church. Fr.
O’H. falls madly in love with her, and there are a series of
situations, compromising and equivocal in appearance. Under
extraordinary circumstances the two are forced into a merely
formal marriage. We need not reveal the sequel. There is a
great deal about Catholic usages, priests, nuns, &c., with
which the Author shows considerable superficial acquaintance.
The Author is cautiously fair in detail, but the general
impression produced is sometimes distinctly unfavourable to
Catholicism. The New Christians are a sect of latter-day
evangelicals whom the Author satirises severely. One scene we
consider particularly offensive to Catholic feeling and highly
improbable into the bargain.
=[FITZGERALD, M. J.].=
⸺ THE MAKING OF JIM O’NEILL. Pp. 140. 16mo. (_C.T.S.I.: Iona Series_).
1910.
The story of the course of a young man’s vocation to the
priesthood, of his life at a typical Irish provincial seminary,
and of his vacations at home. The doings of the seminarians
are described frankly, not being at all idealised. The tale is
pleasantly and plainly told, without much analysis of motive or
of emotion. It is a vivid glimpse of the making of a priest.
=FITZGERALD, Rev. T. A., O.F.M.= Born Callan, Co. Kilkenny, 1862. Brought
up in Thurles; ed. at Christian Bros. Schools and St. Patrick’s College.
Became a Franciscan in 1879. Spent five years in Rome, and twenty in
Australia. Since his return to Ireland has learned the Irish language,
and has taken part in the revival movement. Witness his _Stepping Stones
to Gaeldom_.
⸺ HOMESPUN YARNS: WHILE THE KETTLE AND THE CRICKET SING. Pp. 222.
(_Gill_). 3_s._ 6_d._ Illustr. 1914.
Eighteen tales and sketches of Irish life—at home and in exile.
For the most part humorous, with genuine and spontaneous
humour. But pathos is often not far off, and edification is to
be got, though it is not thrust upon the reader. The sketches
of life in the slums and back streets of Dublin show the Author
at his best, for his errands of mercy have made him know them
thoroughly.
⸺ FITS AND STARTS. (_Gill_). 1915.
Another series of sketches similar to the previous, but
here, besides making the acquaintance of Cook Street, Great
Britain Street, and Chancery Lane, we have glimpses of Dalkey,
Kingstown, Rathmines, and even Lower Leeson Street. “The
Adventures of Black Pudden” is an exceptionally comic story.
=FITZPATRICK, Kathleen.=
⸺ THE WEANS AT ROWALLAN, Pp. 234. (_Methuen_). 6_s._ Illustr. Second
edition. 1905.
“We think it is one of the best books about children published
since the days of Mrs. Ewing.”—(_Speaker_). “Amusing and
pleasant. Some of the fun is tinged with the unconscious pathos
of child-life, and the mixed mirth and melancholy of the Irish
peasantry.”—(_Athenæum_).
=FITZPATRICK, Mary; Mrs. W. C. Sullivan.= Born in Barony of Farney, Co.
Monaghan, but belongs to the Fitzpatricks of Ossory. Educated in Dublin
and Paris. In 1894 married Dr. W. C. Sullivan, son of the late Dr. W. K.
Sullivan, President of the Queen’s College, Cork. Has contributed a good
deal to periodicals in Ireland and in America. Her writings are marked by
love for Ireland, and faith in Her future.
⸺ THE ONE OUTSIDE. Pp. 245. (_Maunsel_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1914.
Eight stories, six of which are Irish in subject. Seven of
the stories are tragedies. “The Doctor’s Joke” is the only
comedy. The title story tells how the father, after sixteen
years of absence, bread-winning in England, comes home to
find that the wife and children of the reality are far other
than what his dreams had pictured, and his wife has a similar
disillusionment. He is an outsider, and he realises it
bitterly. Painful tragedy is the outcome. The 2nd is a tragedy
of blighted hopes. The 3rd a lighter story laid in Fenian
times. 4. W. of Ireland. Love’s young dream destroyed by the
plotting of an ambitious and masterful old woman. Atmosphere
of loneliness and terror given to the whole. 5. A London slum
tragedy, with Irish characters. 6. A study in character, and
a peasant love-tale. All are told in beautiful and refined
language, often charged with pathos. The situations are
dramatic. The whole manner, the atmosphere, and the sentiment
are Irish.
=FITZPATRICK, T., LL.D.= Born, 1845, in Co. Down. Became a teacher in
early life. He was attached successively to Blackrock Coll., Dublin; St.
Malachy’s, Belfast; Athenry, Galway, and Birr schools. Of the last he was
headmaster in 1876. Was author of a serious historical work—_The Bloody
Bridge and other Studies of 1641._ Died 1912 in Dublin.
⸺ JABEZ MURDOCK, by “Banna Borka.” Two Vols. Pp. 300 + 335. (_Duffy_).
1_s._ 6_d._ (Two vols. in one). [1887]. 1888 still in print.
Scene: South Co. Down. The central figure is a rascally Scotch
settler who dabbles in poetry, and attains to wealth as “ajint”
by unscrupulous means. Between the episodes of his life are
interlarded scenes illustrating nearly every aspect of peasant
life at the time, all minutely and vividly described, and
conversations in which the problems of the times are discussed.
A good deal of humorous incident and character. The Author
evidently writes from first-hand knowledge. He is on the
Catholic and popular side. Period: first quarter of nineteenth
century.
⸺ THE KING OF CLADDAGH. Pp. 249. (_Sands_). Frontisp. ancient map of
Galway in 1651. 1899.
Galway City and County during Cromwellian period. Atrocities of
the eight years’ rule of the Roundheads. Forcible and vivid.
Point of view: National and Catholic.
=FITZSIMON, Miss E. A.=
⸺ THE JOINT VENTURE: A Tale in Two Lands. Pp. 327. (N.Y.: _Sheehy_). 1878.
Scene: opens in a valley of the Knockmealdowns, passes to
U.S.A. in ch. 7 (p. 109). Was a first novel, and so somewhat
immature. High moral and Catholic tone (perhaps somewhat
aggressive at times). Attacks Protestant divorce laws. One of
the best incidents, perhaps, is Mrs. Ned O’Leary’s conversion
to Catholicism.—(_Press Notices_). This was republ. in 1881
under title _Gerald Barry; or, The Joint Venture_.
=“FLOREDICE, W. H.”=
⸺ MEMORIES OF A MONTH AMONG THE “MERE IRISH.” Pp. xxix. + 321. (_Keegan,
Paul_). [1881]. Second edition, 1886.
A record of conversations held and things seen, but especially
of legends, stories, and anecdotes heard from the peasantry
during a stay made by the Author when a youth at Doe Castle,
near the head of Sheephaven, Co. Donegal. Owen Gregallah
(Gallagher?), an old water-bailiff, with whom the Author
used to go fishing, tells many of these latter, in the local
dialect, which is faithfully reproduced. The stories are
interesting in themselves, and very well told. Dr. Mahaffy
referred in the _Academy_ to one of them as the funniest Irish
story in print. There is no condescension in the Author’s
tone. He likes and respects, as well as enjoys, his peasant
companions. He seems to be an American. The Preface to the
second ed. gives a humorous account of the difficulties of
travel in Donegal in those days. N.B.—The title on the cover is
“‘Mere Irish’ Stories.”
⸺ DERRYREEL. Pp. vi. + 184. (LONDON: _Hamilton, Adams_). 1886.
“A collection of stories from N.W. Donegal.” This writer
published also a volume entitled _Floredice Stories_.
=FLYNN, T. M.= Was living at Carrick-on-Shannon at the time of writing
these sketches.
⸺ A CELTIC FIRESIDE: Tales of Irish Rural Life. (_Sealy Bryers_). 1_s._
1907.
Nine little tales—tragedies and comedies—of Irish life in
country and city. Many little touches show how well the Author
knows Irish life. He has a power, too, of making the truth of
his pictures go home to our hearts.—(_N.I.R._).
=FOREMAN, Stephen.=
⸺ THE OVERFLOWING SCOURGE, Pp. 335. (_Alston Rivers_). 6_s._ 1911.
Career of an unprincipled lawyer, who gains judgeship by a
series of crimes and keeps it by crimes even more heinous. A
greatly overdrawn picture of a dark and unpleasant side of
life. Such incidents as a packed jury condemning unjustly the
presiding judge’s son (with the judge’s own approbation) to
penal servitude seem wholly improbable. The parson and his
wife afford a gleam of humour. Although some of the worst of
the characters are Protestants, there are several apparent
sneers at things Catholic. “It is not written virginibus
puerisque.”—(_I.B.L._). The career of Blanco Hamilton seems
to be founded on that of Judge Keogh, and the incidental
references are to the latter’s times. Other novels of this
writer, a Corkman, living in Cork, are _The Errors of the
Comedy_, _The Fen Dogs_, _The Terrible Choice_.
=FORSTER, C. F. Blake-=, _see_ =BLAKE-FORSTER=.
=FRANCILLON, Robert E.=
⸺ UNDER SLIEVE BÁN: a Yarn in Seven Knots. Pp. 275. (N.Y.: _Holt_). 1881.
It originally appeared as a Christmas Annual with Coloured Illustrations.
Pp. 128. (_Grant_). 1_s._
A story of faithful love laid (at least its opening and closing
scenes) in Wexford (“Dunmoyle”). Period about 1798. Michael
and Phil both love Kate Callan. Kate loves P. best, and M.
goes away. Returning after three years, he finds Kate mourning
P., said to be lost at sea. M. and Kate are married, but on
the evening of the marriage M. meets P. M. “disappears,” but
in foreign parts meets P.’s French wife. The two couples are
united again. Kate is shot in the rebellion, but survives to
discover that M. was the best man after all. Dialect natural
but refined.
=“FRANCIS, M. E.”; Mrs. Blundell.= Born at Killiney Park, near Dublin.
Is the daughter of Mr. Sweetman, of Lamberton Park, Queen’s County; and
was educated there and in Belgium. In 1879 she married the late Francis
Blundell, of Liverpool. This home of her married life is the background
of many of her stories—(_Ir. Lit._). Among her books are: _Whither_
(1892), _In a North Country Village_, _A Daughter of the Soil_, _Among
Untrodden Ways_, _Maimie o’ the Corner_, _Pastorals of Dorset_, _The
Manor Farm_, _The Tender Passion_ (1910), and several others, besides
those noticed in this book—about thirty in all. All Mrs. Blundell’s
writings are noted for their delicacy of sentiment, deftness of touch,
pleasantness of atmosphere. They are saved from excessive idealism by
close observation of character and manners. Her Irish stories show
sympathy and even admiration for the peasantry.
⸺ THE STORY OF DAN, (LONDON: _Osgood, M’Ilvaine_). (BOSTON: _Houghton_).
0.50. 1894.
“A brief tale, told with directness and tragic simplicity
of a magnanimous peasant, who adores with infatuation a
worthless girl, and sacrifices himself uselessly and blindly.
Friendly portraits of Irish country people are among the minor
characters.”—(_Baker_).
⸺ FRIEZE AND FUSTIAN. (_Osgood_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1896.
The book is in two parts—the first a reflection or picture
of the mind and soul of the Irish peasant, the second of
that of the English peasant. The comparison or contrast is
not elaborated nor insisted upon. The pictures are there,
the reader judges. A series of short stories or studies form
the traits of the pictures, bringing out such points as the
kindness of the poor to one another, a mother’s love, a
mother’s pride in her son become priest, a servant’s fidelity,
and various stories of love. All told with delicate feeling and
insight. The Author has lived among both peoples. There is a
good deal of dialect.
⸺ MISS ERIN. Pp. 357. (_Methuen_). 6_s._ [1898]. Included in Benziger’s
(N.Y.) series of Standard Catholic Novels at 2_s._; also $1.00.
The story of a girl who, brought up as a peasant, afterwards
becomes a landowner. She tries to do her best for her tenants,
and her difficulties in the task are well depicted, the Author
fully sympathizing with Irish grievances. There are some
sensational scenes—among them an eviction. The love interest is
well sustained, and the character-drawing very clever.
⸺ NORTH, SOUTH, AND OVER THE SEA. Pp. 347. (_Country Life, and Newnes_).
Charming Illustr. by H. M. Brock. 1902.
Somewhat on the plan of _Frieze and Fustian_ by the same
Author, _q.v._ Three parts, each containing five stories or
sketches. The first part deals with North of England life, the
second with South of England, the third with Ireland. Humble
life depicted in all. In last part the subject of the first
sketch (an amusing one) is a rustic courtship of a curious
kind; 2, an old woman dying in the workhouse; 4 and 5, a
rural love-story. Studies rather of the minds and hearts of
poor Irish folk than of their outward ways. The author has
reproduced almost perfectly that brogue which is not merely
English mispronounced, but practically a different idiom
expressing a wholly different type of mind.
⸺ THE STORY OF MARY DUNNE. Pp. 312. (_Murray_). 6_s._ 1913.
The love story of Mat, “the priest’s boy,” for Mary, beginning
as a sweet and tender idyll in the home in Glenmalure, ending
in the tragedy of a law-court scene, where the hero is on trial
for murder and Mary faces worse than death in telling the story
of her wrongs—she has been an innocent victim of the white
slave traffic. Full of exquisite scenes, with touches of humour
as well as pathos. But in the main the book is a tragedy.
Its purpose seems clearly to be a warning and an appeal. The
poignant consequences of Mary’s undoing are not suitable for
every class of reader, but there is nothing approaching to
prurient description.
⸺ DARK ROSALEEN. Pp. 392. (_Cassell_). 6_s._ 1915.
The story of a “mixed marriage” between Norah, a Connemara
peasant girl, and Hector, a young engineer of Belfast origin.
They go to live at Derry. Bitterness and misunderstanding come
to blight their love, and the end is tragedy. The two points of
view, Protestant and Catholic, are put with impartiality.—(T.
LIT. SUPPL.).
=FREDERIC, Harold.=
⸺ THE RETURN OF THE O’MAHONEY: a Romantic Fantasy. Pp. 279.
(_Heinemann_). 3_s._ 6_d._ Three Illustr. 1893.
Scene: South-west Cork in Fenian times. The O’M., who comes
to Muirisc is not the real O’M. at all, but a Mr. Tisdale,
who has managed to secure the papers of the real O’M., who is
not aware of his own origin and real name. T. becomes a model
landlord, and is beloved of all. Tries his hand at Fenianism,
but soon abandons it and goes abroad to foreign wars. O’Daly,
left as manager, thrusts himself into his master’s place. But
a young American engineer (the real O’M. of course) turns up
and spoils his plans, but does not reveal his own identity till
after Tisdale’s death. Besides this there are numerous exciting
incidents and several mysteries. The characters are well drawn.
The Author is distinctly favourable to Ireland, and seems to
have a good knowledge of the country.
=FREMDLING, A.=
⸺ FATHER CLANCY. Pp. 358. (_Duckworth_). 1904.
Father Clancy is an unselfish devoted country parish priest,
beloved of his people, unworldly and simple to a fault. His
virtue serves to throw into deeper shadow the character of
his curate, Father O’Keeffe, who is an abandoned and vicious
ruffian. The purpose of the book is not at all clear to the
average reader.
=FROST, W. H.=
⸺ FAIRIES AND FOLK OF IRELAND. Pp. xvi. + 290. (N.Y.: _Scribner’s_). Ill.
by Sidney Richmond Burleigh. 1900.
=FROUDE, James Anthony.= 1818-1894. This celebrated writer had already
published his _History of England_ when, in 1869, he came to live (for
the summer) at Derreen, Kenmare, Co. Kerry, where he began his _The
English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century_ (first vol. appeared 1872).
Like most of F.’s books, it provoked numerous answers, among others that
of Father Thomas Burke, O.P., _Froude on Ireland_. The novel mentioned
below embodies his chief ideas on Ireland.
⸺ THE TWO CHIEFS OF DUNBOY, Pp. 456. (_Longmans_). 3_s._ 6_d._ [1889].
Several editions since.
Scene: the O’Sullivan’s country in south-west Cork. Period:
1750-98. The ideas expressed in the Author’s _The English in
Ireland_ put into the form of fiction. Thesis: if the English
had from the first striven to replace the hopeless Celt by
Anglo-Saxon and Protestant colonists she would have avoided her
subsequent troubles in Ireland, and all would have been well.
The English character (Colonel Goring) is throughout contrasted
with the Irish (Morty Sullivan), the whole forming a powerful
indictment of Ireland and the Irish as seen by Froude.
=FULLER, J. Franklin; “Ignotus.”= Born 1835. Is a native of Derryquin,
near Sneem, Co. Kerry. In his young days he was a close friend of the
priest (Fr. Walsh) who was the original of A. P. Graves’s “Father
O’Flynn.” As architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and to the
Church Representative Body he has travelled extensively through Ireland
and has lived in various parts of it—North, South, East, and West—always
on friendly terms with his Catholic neighbours. He resides in Dublin.
⸺ CULMSHIRE FOLK. Pp. 384. (_Cassell_). [1873]. Third edition, _n.d._
The plot is concerned with Sidney Bateman, heir of a family
that has come down in the world, his struggles against
misfortune, and his eventual attainment of fortune and
happiness. But the chief interest is the kindly, thoughtful
study of character and motive, of human nature in fact, also
in the picture of the ways of the little society (largely
clerical, _e.g._, the egregious Mr. M’Gosh) of Culmshire.
Lady Culmshire, woman of the world, but with a warm and true
heart within, is the central figure and is a very pleasant,
happily drawn portrait. The Irish interest is (1) the excellent
description of the homecoming of Sidney Bateman to the
ancestral castle of Rathvarney, in the wilds of Kerry, which
are well described; (2) the doings of Tim Conroy, a sort of
Mickey Free, and the Leveresque stories told of him by Capt.
Howley; (3) the portrait of the old P.P. of Rathvarney, Fr.
Walsh (the original of Graves’s “Father O’Flynn”).
⸺ JOHN ORLEBAR, CLERK. Pp. 293. (_Cassell_). [1878]. Second edition,
_n.d._
The plot of a villainous attorney, Joe Twinch, and his clerk,
an absconding Fenian, to cheat the rightful heiress out of
the Arderne estates. Dr. Packenham, a personal friend of
Orlebar, who had married the heiress, suspects foul play and
comes to Kerry, where the first Lady Arderne had for some
time resided, to make enquiries. He puts up at Rathvarney
(see _Culmshire Folk_), meets Tim and Fr. Walsh (who helps to
unravel the mystery), and sees something of Ireland in the
sixties (pp. 240-274). This something, it must be confessed,
is chiefly squalor, described, however, in a humorous and not
unsympathetic way.
=FURLONG, Alice.=
⸺ TALES OF FAIRY FOLKS, QUEENS, AND HEROES. Pp. 212. (_Browne & Nolan_).
2_s._ Four or five Illustr. by F. Rigney. Pretty cover. 1909.
Stories from ancient Gaelic Literature simply and pleasantly
told. Contents:—“Illan Bwee and the Mouse;” “Country under
Wave;” “The Step Mother;” “The Fortunes of the Shepherd’s Son;”
“The Golden Necklet;” “The Harp of the Dagda Mor;” “The Child
that went into the Earth;” and several others.
=GALLAHER, Miss Fannie; “Sydney Starr.”= Daughter of Frederick Gallaher,
one time Ed. of FREEMAN’S JOURNAL.
⸺ KATTY THE FLASH. (_Gill_). 1880.
Very low life in Dublin, with no attempt to idealise the rags
and filth and squalor; but clever and realistic.—(_I.M._).
⸺ THY NAME IS TRUTH. Three Vols. (_Maxwell_). 1884.
Incidentally describes the Hospice for the Dying, Harold’s
Cross, and the inner working of a daily newspaper office.
Cleverly written. The conversations are natural, and the human
interest strong. The politics of the time (1881) are discussed,
but they are not the main interest.
=GAMBLE, Dr. John.= I take the following account of this writer from
a note on him contributed by Mr. A. A. Campbell, of Belfast, to the
IRISH BOOK LOVER (September, 1909): Dr. Gamble was born in Strabane,
Co. Tyrone, in the early ’seventies of the eighteenth century. He was
educated in Edinburgh. He devoted most of his life to a study of the
people and characteristics of Ulster. He used to make frequent journeys
on foot, or by coach, through the country, chatting with everyone he
met, picking up story and legend and jest, and noting incidents. All his
writings were imbued with a deep sympathy for his fellow-countrymen. As a
vivid picture of the Ulster of his day his books are invaluable. They did
much to produce in England a kindly feeling for his countrymen. He died
in 1831.
⸺ SARSFIELD. Three Vols. 12mo. (LONDON). 1814.
The hero is a young Irishman who, under the name of Glisson, is
a French prisoner of war at Strabane. Aided by the daughter of
the postmaster he escapes, and wanders all over Ulster, where
the wildest excitement about the threatened French invasion
prevailed. Thence he goes to Scotland, England, and abroad.
He fights with Thurot at the Siege of Carrickfergus, and
eventually returns to Strabane, where he meets with a tragic
ending. The Author embodies in the story many local traditions
and much of his own observation and experience. Well worthy of
republication.
⸺ HOWARD. Two Vols. 12mo. (LONDON). 1815.
“The subject of the following tale was born in a remote part
of Ireland ... my principal character is not altogether an
imaginary one.” The hero of this autobiography is Irish. The
scene is London. The central incident is his seduction of a
young lady who after attempting suicide dies of remorse and
chagrin.
⸺ NORTHERN IRISH TALES. Two Vols. 8vo. (LONDON). 1818.
“Stanley,” the first tale tells the adventures of a young
profligate, son of a Derry Alderman, chiefly in Dublin. After
life of debauch he gets married, but goes bankrupt. His wife
dies, he attempts suicide, is rescued, and plunges once more
into vice. The rest of the story tells of his determined
pursuit of a young lady, ending in a murder for which he is
tried and hanged. It is founded on a romantic episode well
known in Ulster, the courtship and murder of Miss Knox,
of Prehen, near Derry, by Macnaughton, and his subsequent
execution for the crime. “Nelson” is a story of the American
Revolutionary War. Vol. II. contains only one tale, “Lesley.”
The hero is a North of Ireland man, whose travels and love
adventures on the Continent and at home are described. The
Author indulges in a good deal of moralizing.
⸺ CHARLTON; or, Scenes in the North of Ireland. Three Vols. 12mo.
(LONDON). [1823]. New edition, 1827.
Depicts, with sympathy for the views of the United Irishmen,
the state of Ireland during the years that immediately preceded
the rebellion. The hero is a young surgeon in a N. of Ireland
town who is tricked into becoming a United Irishman, and leads
the rebels at Ballynahinch. Under the name of Dimond the Rev.
James Porter is introduced, and many quotations are made from
his satire “Billy Bluff.” Northern dialect very well done.
=GAUGHAN, Jessie.= Born in Shropshire; one parent Irish, the other
Scotch. Educated in Paisley and in Ursuline Convent, Sligo. Besides
the book here mentioned she has publ. serially in I.M. _The Brooch of
Lindisfarne_, and has in preparation a story dealing with Ireton’s days
in Limerick.
⸺ THE PLUCKING OF THE LILY. Pp. 220. (_Washbourne_). 1912.
Reprinted from I.M. 1911-2. A charming little story of
Elizabethan times in Ireland (_c._ 1589-94), telling the
love-story of Eileen daughter of Earl Clancarthy and Florence
M’Carthy. Their love is crossed by the policy of Elizabeth,
who, for State purposes, wants an English husband for Eileen,
and not till the end are the two lovers united again. The
historical setting and colouring are accurate, but never
interfere with the story. The tone is Catholic, but not
obtrusively so. Good portrait of Elizabeth. Burleigh (in a
favourable light), Sir Warham St. Leger, and other historical
personages appear.
=GAY, Mrs. Florence, _née_ Smith.= Born in Molong, N.S.W., Australia. Is
an ardent imperialist, but proud of the strain of Celtic blood in her
family, and sympathetic towards Ireland. Resides in Surrey.
⸺ DRUIDESS, THE. Pp. 195. (_Ouseley_). 2_s._ 6_d._ 1908.
Cormac, a youth of Pictish royal blood, has a mission from
his dying father to rescue from the Saxons the mother of his
intended bride. His adventures in carrying out this mission
bring him from Damnonia (between the Yeo and the Axe) to
Ireland (Glendalough, Tailltenn, Donegal). He is present at
the half-pagan festival of Beltaine, and at the Convention
of Drumceat. At the latter he meets St. Columba, who is
sympathetically described. The story deals largely with the
lingerings of Paganism in Ireland. Several battles between
Saxons and Britons are described. The savage manners of the
time are pictured with realistic vividness. The wild scenes
of adventure follow one another without a pause. Intended for
“boys and others.”
=[GETTY, Edmund].=
⸺ THE LAST KING OF ULSTER. Three Vols. (LONDON: _Madden_). 1841.
Ostensibly a tale, in reality a kind of historical miscellany
of Elizabethan times, containing memoirs, anecdotes, family
history, &c., of the O’Neills, O’Donnells, and other Irish
chiefs. The Author was one of the best of our Northern
antiquaries.
=GIBBON, Charles.=
⸺ IN CUPID’S WARS. Three Vols. (_F. V. White_). 1884.
The scene is laid in Kilkenny in 1798 or thereabouts, but
both the topographical and historical settings are of the
vaguest—there is very little local colour, and practically no
depiction of historical events, though there is much about
rebellion and secret societies. The story is thoroughly
melodramatic: it has no serious purpose, but the tone is
wholesome. The characters of the story are all represented as
Catholics. This Author wrote upwards of thirty other novels.
=[GIBSON, Rev. Charles Bernard].= (1808-1885). Was chaplain at Spike
Island, and sometime minister of the Independent congregation at Mallow,
Co. Cork, but afterwards joined the Church of England. He was made
M.R.I.A. in 1854. He wrote a _History of Cork City and County_ (1861),
and five or six other works, including _Historical Portraits of Irish
Chieftains and Anglo-Norman Knights_, 1871.
⸺ THE LAST EARL OF DESMOND. Two Vols. (_Hodges & Smith_). 1854.
Extensive pref., introd. (summarising history of Earls of
Desmond), and notes. Scene: Mallow, various parts of Munster,
and the Tower of London. All the great personages of the time,
English and Irish, figure in the story, but several fictitious
characters are introduced, and many fictitious episodes are
throughout the story mingled with the facts of history. The
main plot turns on the Sugán Earl’s love for, and marriage
with, Ellen Spenser (an imaginary daughter of the poet). The
bias is strongly anti-Catholic. Fr. Archer, S.J., is the
villain of the piece, stopping at no crime to gain his ends.
It is also, though not to the same extent, anti-Irish. He
relies for his facts entirely on _Pacata Hibernia_ (point of
view wholly English). The Irish chiefs are made to speak in
vulgar modern-Irish dialect (“iligant,” “crattur,” “yr sowls
to blazes,” &c., &c.). The humour is distinctly vulgar, as in
the case of the Author’s other novel. Raleigh is one of the
personages.
⸺ DEARFORGIL, THE PRINCESS OF BREFFNY. Pp. 287. (LONDON: _Hope_). [1857].
Second edition (_Longmans_). 1884. Pp. xxiv. + 284.
Story of Diarmuid MacMurrough’s abduction of the wife of
O’Ruairc of Breffni, and subsequent events, including an
account of the Norman Invasion. The tone throughout is
anti-National and most offensive to Catholic feeling. The
frequent humorous passages are nearly always vulgar, and in
some instances coarse. There are many absurdities in the course
of the narrative.
=GIBSON, Jennie Browne.=
⸺ AILEEN ALANNAH. Pp. 86. (_Stockwell_). 1_s._ net. One good illustr.
1911.
Desmond Fitzgerald and Aileen have been sweethearts
from childhood, D. has to go to America. Percy Gerrard
intercepts their letters, and tries to marry Aileen. She is
broken-hearted, and goes as nurse to a London hospital. Percy
at the point of death confesses his wickedness, and No. 27 in
one of the wards turns out to be⸺. Scene: at first Donegal. A
very pleasant story, full of kindly Irish people, entirely free
from bigotry, and with an excellent though unobtruded moral
purpose.
=“GILBERT, George;” Miss Arthur.= Has written also _In the Shadow of the
Purple_ (1902), and _The Bâton Sinister_ (1903).
⸺ THE ISLAND OF SORROW. Pp. 384. (_Long_). 6_s._ 1903.
Deals, in considerable detail, with political and social life
in the Ireland of the time. The circles of Lord Edward and
Pamela Fitzgerald (centering in Leinster House), of the Emmet
family (at the Casino, Milltown), and of the Curran family
(at the Priory, Rathfarnham) are fully portrayed and neatly
interlinked in private life. The whole romance of Emmet and
Sarah Curran is related. There are many portraits—Charles James
Fox, Curran (depicted as a domestic monster), many men of
the Government party, above all, Emmet. This portrait is not
lacking in sympathy, though the theatrical and inconsiderate
character of his aims is insisted on. The whole work shows
considerable power of _dramatizing_ history, and is made
distinctly interesting. “The author,” says Mr. Baker, “tries to
be impartial, but cannot divest himself of an Englishman’s lack
of sympathy with Ireland.” The book is preceded by a valuable
list of authorities and sources.
=GILL, E. A. Wharton.=
⸺ AN IRISHMAN’S LUCK. (_Hodder & Stoughton_). 6_s._ 1914.
“A domestic tale of young folk in a British settlement in
Manitoba, and of the Canadian contingent in the Boer War.”—(T.
LIT. SUPPL.).
=GODFREY, Hal=, _see_ =CHARLOTTE O’C. ECCLES=.
=GOODRICH, Samuel Griswold; “Peter Parley.”= Born 1793 in Connecticut.
Author of 170 volumes, the list of them, with notes, occupying 7½ columns
of Allibone, of which 116 appeared under pseud. “Peter Parley.” Seven
millions had, according to the Author, been sold at date of Allibone.
⸺ TALES ABOUT IRELAND AND THE IRISH. 16mo. Pp. 300. (LONDON: _Berger_).
[1834]. 1836, 1852, 1856. _n.d._ _c._ 1865.
In Ch. I. there is a short account of the physical features,
climate, etc., of I. Pages 20-140 give a popular account of
Irish history from the English point of view, but on the whole
not unfair to Ireland. At p. 150 commences a pleasant little
description of a tour round I., with some little account of
antiquities seen on the way; also occasional legends and
stories connected with places. Illustrated by a number of small
nondescript woodcuts of no value. The above work seems to be
a portion of the Author’s _Tales about Great Britain_. First
publ. Baltimore, 1834.
=GRANT, John O’Brien; “Denis Ignatius Moriarty.”= The former of these two
names is signed to a dedication in _The Wife Hunter_, one of the “Tales
by the Moriarty Family.” I am not sure that it is not as fictitious as
the second.
⸺ THE HUSBAND HUNTER. Three Vols. 1839.
A society novel. Scene: Kerry, _c._ 1830. There is very little
plot, and the matrimonial complications (a Russian prince and
a German baron are involved) of the lady who gives to the
story its title form by no means the central episode. The
conversations are rather artificial and the humour a little
insipid. Pleasant portrait of a priest of the old sporting
type. Nothing objectionable.
⸺ INNISFOYLE ABBEY. Three Vols. (LONDON). 1840.
A story dealing with the religious question in Ireland, as seen
from a Catholic standpoint. It is full of able controversy
and shows keen observation. The hero Howard’s Protestant
and anti-Irish prejudices are made to give way as the real
situation of things is forced in on him. The restoration of
Innisfoyle Abbey is one of the main incidents. Some of the
incidents are taken from facts, _e.g._, the Rathcormac tithe
massacre. These incidents are related with energy and pathos.
But in general the story is of a lighter character, full of
broad Irish humour, and placing the sayings and doings of our
Orange fellow-countrymen in a point of view as ludicrous as it
is horrible. “A rambling, spirited, and racy tale, eccentric
and even absurd sometimes, but very original and entertaining.”
“This writer is known as the author of several amusing and
clever novels.”—(_D. R._).
=GRAVES, Alfred Perceval.= Born in Dublin, 1846, but his family resided
in Kerry. Son of late Dr. Graves, Bp. of Limerick. Educated at Windermere
Coll. and T.C.D. Was Inspector of Schools from 1875-1910. For eight years
Hon. Sec. of Irish Literary Society. Publ. upwards of seventeen books,
nearly all on Irish subjects—poems, songs (including the famous “Father
O’Flynn”), translations from the Irish, essays. Resides in Wimbledon.
⸺ THE IRISH FAIRY BOOK. (_Fisher Unwin_). Illustr. by George Denham.
1909. A new ed. at 3_s._ 6_d._, with fresh introd., is forthcoming.
A collection of fairy, folk, and hero-tales, nearly all
selected from books already published, together with poems by
Mangan, Tennyson, Nora Hopper, &c. Also tales from Standish
H. O’Grady, Brian O’Looney, Thomas Boyd, Mrs. M’Clintock,
Mrs. Ewing, Douglas Hyde, O’Kearney, &c. All are inspired by
Gaelic originals. “The book is one to delight children for its
simple, direct narratives of wonder and mystery,” while the
fairy mythology will interest the student of the early life
of man. The illustrations are as fanciful and elusive as the
beings whose doings are told in the tales. Mr. Graves’s Preface
is a popular review of the origin and character of fairy
lore.—(_Press Notice_).
=GREER, James.=
⸺ THREE WEE ULSTER LASSIES; or, News from our Irish Cousins. (_Cassell_),
1_s._ 6_d._ Illustr. by old blocks. 1883.
The three lassies are Bessie Strong, the Ulster-Saxon, a
landlord’s daughter; Jennie Scott, the Ulster-Scot, a farmer’s
daughter; and Nelly Nolan, the Ulster-Kelt, a peasant girl.
The Author insists throughout on the vast superiority of the
English and Scotch elements of the population—“the grave,
grim, hardy, sturdy race.” Interlarded with texts and hymns.
In the end Nelly, after an encounter with the priest and
stormy interviews with the neighbours, is converted and goes
to America. The Author died in Derry in 1913 at an advanced
age. He edited a _Guide to Londonderry and the Highlands of
Donegal_, 1885, which went through several editions.
=GREER, Tom.= Was born at Anahilt, Co. Down, a member of a well known
Ulster family. Ed. at Queen’s College, Belfast. M.A. and M.D., Queen’s
University, and practised in Cambridge. Unsuccessfully contested North
Derry as a Liberal Home Ruler, 1892, and died a few years afterwards. The
central idea of this tale was suggested by the old Co. Derry folk tale of
Hudy McGuiggen. See HARKIN, Hugh.
⸺ A MODERN DÆDALUS. Pp. 261. (LONDON: _Griffith, Farran_, &c.). 1885.
The introd. is signed John O’Halloran, Dublin, 30th Feb.,
1887! A curious story, told in first person, of a Donegal
lad who learned the secret of aerial flight by watching the
sea-birds. He flies over to London. Is in the House of Commons
for a debate. Parnell is well described. The way Parliament
and the Government and the Press dealt with the new invention
is cleverly and amusingly told. Jack, the hero, is imprisoned
but escapes, and on his return there is a successful rising in
Ireland, who establishes her independence by her air fleet.
The book is full of politics (Nationalist point of view).
An eviction scene in Donegal—“The Battle of Killynure”—is
described. Shrewd strokes of satire are aimed at the Tories
throughout.
=GREGORY, Lady.= Daughter of Dudley Persse, D.L., of Roxborough, Co.
Galway. She has identified herself with the modern Irish literary
movement. Besides the books here noted she has written a great many plays
for the Abbey Theatre. Her home is Coole Park, Gort, Co. Galway.
⸺ CUCHULAIN OF MUIRTHEMNE. Pp. 360. (_Murray_). 6_s._ Pref. by W. B.
Yeats. (N.Y.: _Scribner_). 2.00. 1902.
The Cuchulain legends woven into an ordered narrative. The
translation for the most part is taken from texts already
published. Lady Gregory has made her own translation from them,
comparing it with translations already published. “I have fused
different versions together and condensed many passages, and I
have left out many.” The narrative is not told in dialect, but
in the idiom of the peasant who speaks in English and thinks
in Gaelic. “I have thought it more natural to tell the stories
in the manner of thatched houses, where I have heard so many
legends of Finn, &c. ... than in the manner of the slated
houses where I have not heard them.” The matter also is often
such as the peasant Seanchuidhe might choose; the clear epic
flow being clogged with garbage of the Jack-the-Giant-killer
type. Fiona MacLeod says very well of the style that it is
“over cold in its strange sameness of emotion, a little chill
with the chill of studious handicraft,” and speaks elsewhere of
its “monotonous passionlessness” and its “lack of virility.”
Yet to the book as a whole he gives high, if qualified, praise.
W. B. Yeats, in his enthusiastic Preface, speaks of it as
perhaps the best book that has ever come out of Ireland. All
these remarks apply also to the following work.
⸺ GODS AND FIGHTING MEN. Pp. 476. (_Murray_). 6_s._ Pref. by W. B. Yeats.
(N.Y.: _Scribner_). 2.00. 1906.
Treats of: Part I. “The Gods” (Tuatha De Danaan, Lugh, The
Coming of the Gael, Angus Og, the Dagda, Fate of Children
of Lir, &c.); II. “The Fianna” (Finn, Oisin, Diarmuid, and
Grania). The Finn Cycle is treated as being wholly legendary.
⸺ A BOOK OF SAINTS AND WONDERS. (_Murray_). 5_s._ 1907.
A series of very short (half page or so) and disconnected
stories of fragmentary anecdotes. Told in language which is
a literal translation from the Irish, and in the manner of
illiterate peasants. First, there are stories of the saints,
all quite fanciful, of course, and usually devoid of definite
meaning. Then there is the Voyage of Maeldune, a strange piece
of fantastic imagination often degenerating into extravagance
and silliness. The book is not suitable for certain readers
owing to naturalistic expressions.
⸺ THE KILTARTAN WONDER-BOOK. Pp. 103. 9 in. + 7. (_Maunsel_). 3_s._ 6_d._
net. Illustr. by Margaret Gregory. Linen cover. 1910.
Sixteen typical folk-tales collected in Kiltartan, a barony in
Galway, on the borders of Clare, from the lips of old peasants.
“I have not changed a word in these stories as they were told
to me.”—(Note at end). But some transpositions of parts have
been made. It does not appear whether the stories were told
to Lady Gregory in Irish or in English. Nothing unsuited to
children. All the tales are distinctly _modern_ in tone if not
in origin. The illustrations are quaint and original, with
their crude figures vividly coloured in flat tints.
=GRIERSON, Elizabeth.=
⸺ THE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF CELTIC STORIES. Pp. 324. (_Black_). 6_s._ Twelve
very good illustrations in colour from drawings by Allan Stewart. 1908.
Sixteen fairy, folk, and hero-tales, partly Irish, partly
Scotch, dealing, among other things, with wonderful talking
animals that prove to be human beings transformed, adventures
of king’s sons amid all kinds of wonders, &c. One is “The Fate
of the Children of Lir,” and there are five or six about Fin.
There is little or no comicality. The style is simple and
refined, free from the usual defects of folk-lore. The book is
beautifully and attractively produced.
⸺ THE SCOTTISH FAIRY BOOK. Pp. 384. (_Fisher Unwin_). 6_s._ 100 Ill. by
M. M. Williams. 1910.
Same series as Mr. A. P. Graves’s _Irish Fairy Book_, _q.v._
Illustr. in a similar way. Not all of these tales will be new
to Irish children.
=GRIERSON, Rev. Robert.= Resides at 41 Ormond Road, Rathmines. His two
books are long out of print. I have been unable to obtain information
about them. They are not in the British Museum Library.
⸺ THE INVASION OF CROMLEIGH: a Story of the Times.
⸺ BALLYGOWNA. (ABERDEEN: _Moran_). 1898.
=GRIFFIN, Gerald.= Is one of our foremost novelists of the old
school. Born 1803, died 1840. Brought up on the banks of the Shannon,
twenty-eight miles from Limerick, at twenty he went to London, where all
his writing was done. Two years before his death he became a Christian
Brother. “He was the first,” says Dr. Sigerson, “to present several of
our folk customs, tales, and ancient legends in English prose.” P. J.
Kenedy, of New York, publishes an edition of his works in seven volumes,
and Messrs. Duffy have an edition in ten vols. at 2_s._ each.
⸺ HOLLAND TIDE. Pp. 378. (_Simpkin & Marshall_). 1827.
First series of _Tales of the Munster Festivals_, _q.v._ Often
published separately.
⸺ THE COLLEGIANS; or, The Colleen Bawn. (_Duffy_). 2_s._ [1828]. Still
reprinted. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 0.75. A new ed. forthcoming (_Talbot
Press_). 2_s._ 6_d._
Pronounced the best Irish novel by Aubrey de Vere, Gavan Duffy,
and Justin M’Carthy. Its main interest lies in its being a
tragedy of human passion. The character of Hardress Cregan,
the chief actor, is powerfully and pitilessly analysed. Eily
O’Connor is one of the most lovable characters in fiction.
Danny Man, with his dog-like fidelity; Myles, the mountainy
man, simple yet shrewd; Fighting Poll of the Reeks; Hardress
Cregan’s mother, are characters that live in the mind, like the
memories of real persons. There are pictures, too, of the life
of the day, the drunken, duelling squireen, the respectable
middle-class Dalys, the manners and ways of the peasantry,
whose quaint, humorous, anecdotal talk is perfectly reproduced,
but who are shown merely from without. The scene is laid partly
in Limerick and partly in Killarney. Dion Boucicault’s drama
“The Colleen Bawn” is founded on this story, which itself is
founded on a real murder-trial in which O’Connell defended the
prisoner and which Griffin reported for the press.
⸺ CARD-DRAWING, &c. 1829.
Second series of _Tales of the Munster Festivals_, _q.v._
⸺ THE CHRISTIAN PHYSIOLOGIST. Tales illustrative of the Five Senses. Pp.
xxvi. + 376. (_Bull_). 1830.
The tales are:—1. _The Kelp Gatherers_; 2. _The Day of Trial_;
3. _The Voluptuary Cured_; 4. _The Self Consumed_; and, 5. _The
Selfish Crotarie_. All are clever little stories of ancient and
modern Ireland, several of which have been reprinted separately.
⸺ THE INVASION. Very long. (_Duffy_). 2_s._ [1832]. Still reprinted.
(N.Y.: _Benziger_). 0.75.
Scene: chiefly the territory of the O’Haedha sept on Bantry
Bay. The story deals chiefly with the fortunes of the
O’Haedhas, but there are many digressions. The innumerable
ancient Irish names give the book a forbidding aspect to one
unacquainted with the language. The narrative interest is
almost wanting, the chief interest being the laborious and
careful picture of the life and civilization of the time, the
eve of the Danish Invasions. The archæology occasionally lacks
accuracy and authority, but these qualities are partly supplied
in the notes, which are by Eugene O’Curry. The invasion
referred to is an early incursion on the coasts of West Munster
by a Danish chief named Gurmund. Some of the characters are
finely drawn, _e.g._, the hero, Elim, and his mother and Duach,
the faithful kerne.
⸺ THE RIVALS. 1832.
Third series of _Tales of the Munster Festivals_, _q.v._
⸺ TALES OF THE MUNSTER FESTIVALS. (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 0.50.
Scene: the wild cliffs and crags of Kerry and West Clare.
Theme: the play of passions as wild and terrible as the scenes;
yet there are glimpses of peasant home-life and hospitality,
and many touches of humour. The tales appeared in three series,
1827, 1829, and 1832. The first (Holland Tide) contained the
_Aylmers of Ballyaylmer_, a story about a family of small
gentry on the Kerry coast, with many details of smuggling; _The
Hand and Word_, _The Barber of Bantry_, with its picture of
the Moynahans, a typical middle-class family, like the Dalys
in _The Collegians_, and several shorter tales. The second
series contains _Card-drawing_, _The Half-Sir_, and _Suil Dhuv
the Coiner_, which deals with the “Palatines” of Limerick. The
third series contains _The Rivals_ and _Tracy’s Ambition_.
These are sensational stories. The first has an interesting
picture of a hedge-school, the second brings out the people’s
sufferings at the hands of “loyalists” and government
officials. They contain several instances of seduction and of
elopement. Perhaps the best of these is _Suil Dhuv the Coiner_.
The characters of the robbers who compose the coiner’s gang are
admirably discriminated, and the passion of remorse in _Suil
Dhuv_ is pictured with a power almost equal to that of _The
Collegians_.
⸺ TALES OF MY NEIGHBOURHOOD. Three Vols. (_Saunders & Otley_). 1835.
Vol. 1 contains _The Barber of Bantry_. Vol. 2. Three sketches
and the dramatic ballad _The Nightwalker_. Vol. 3. Eight short
sketches and the poems _Shanid Castle_ and _Orange and Green_.
⸺ THE DUKE OF MONMOUTH. Pp. 423. (_Maxwell_). 1842.
A clever historical novel, dealing with this unfortunate
nobleman and the battle of Sedgmoor. Two Irish soldiers, Morty
and Shemus Delany, supply the comic relief. The fine ballad,
_The Bridal of Malahide_, first appears here, and the song, “A
Soldier, A Soldier.”
⸺ TALES OF A JURY ROOM. Pp. 463. (_Duffy_). 2_s._ [1842]. Still reprinted.
The scenes of three of these tales are in foreign lands—Poland,
the East, France in the days of Bayard. The remaining ten
are Irish. Among them are fairy tales, tales of humble life,
an episode of Clontarf, a story of the days of Hugh O’Neill,
and several, including the Swans of Lir, that deal with
pre-Christian times. All are well worth reading, especially
“Antrim Jack”—Macalister, who died to save Michael Dwyer.
=GRIFFITH, George.=
⸺ THE KNIGHTS OF THE WHITE ROSE. Pp. 311. (_J. F. Shaw_). 3_s._ 6_d._
Several good illustr. by Hal Hurst. 1908.
The adventures of three young soldiers, an Englishman (the
hero), an Irishman, and a Scotchman, in a Royalist crack
regiment. Lively descriptions of fighting before Derry and at
the Boyne. Good outline of the campaign but little historical
detail or description. Told in pleasant style with plenty of
go. For boys.
=GRIMSHAW, Beatrice.= An Irish Authoress, born in Cloona, Co. Antrim.
Hitherto her novels do not deal directly with Ireland, but some of her
chief characters are Irish. Thus Hugh Lynch, a Co. Clare man, is the hero
of her _When the Red Gods Call_ (Mills & Boon), 1910, and Geo. Scott,
a typical Belfastman, plays a prominent part in _Guinea Gold_ (Mills &
Boon), 1912. These novels deal with New Guinea life.
=GRINDON, Maurice.=
⸺ KATHLEEN O’LEOVAN: a Fantasy. Pp. 107. Two illustr. (_Simpkin,
Marshall_). 1896.
Levan, grandson of an O’Leovan who had settled in England,
visits the home of his ancestors, Castle Columba, Kilronan, and
meets the heroine.
=GUINAN, Rev. Joseph.= Father Guinan is P.P. of Dromod, in Co. Longford.
Before his appointment to an Irish parish he passed five years in
Liverpool. This gave him “the fresh eye,” the power to see things which,
had he remained in Ireland, he might never have observed. His books deal
with two things—the life of the poorest classes in the Midlands and the
life of the priests. Of both he has intimate personal knowledge, and for
both unbounded admiration. He writes simply and earnestly. To the critic
used only to English literature, his work may seem wanting in artistic
restraint, for he gives free vein to emotion. But this is more than
atoned for by its obvious sincerity.
⸺ SCENES AND SKETCHES IN AN IRISH PARISH; or, Priests and People in Doon.
(_Gill_). 2_s._ Fourth edition. 1906.
A faithful picture of typical things in Irish life: the
Station, the Sunday Mass, the grinding of landlordism, the
agrarian crime, the eviction, the emigration-wake. See
especially the chapter “Sunday in Doon.” This is the Author’s
first novel and is somewhat immature.
⸺ THE SOGGARTH AROON. (_Gill & Duffy_). 2_s._ 6_d._ (N.Y.: _Benziger_).
1.00. Second edition, 1907. Third, 1908.
Pathetic experiences of a country curate in an out-of-the-way
parish, where the people’s faith is strong and their lives
supernaturally beautiful. The Soggarth shares the few joys and
the many sorrows of their lives.
⸺ THE MOORES OF GLYNN. Pp. 354. (_Washbourne_). 3_s._ 6_d._ (N.Y.:
_Pratt_). 2.00. [1907]. Third edition. 1915.
The fortunes of a family of four children whose mother is a
beautiful and lovable character. The book is full of pictures
of many phases of Irish life, the relations between landlord
and tenant, priests and people, evictions, emigration, a
“spoiled priest.” A typical description is the realistic
picture of the pig fair. Full of true pathos, with an
occasional touch of kindly humour.
⸺ THE ISLAND PARISH. Pp. 331. (_Gill_). 1908.
The work of an ideal young priest in Ballyvora, a kind of
Sleepy Hollow where all is stagnation, poverty, and decay.
The picture of these squalid conditions of life is one of
photographic and unsparing exactness. Yet with loving insight
the Author shows the peasant’s quiet happiness, beauty of soul,
and downright holiness of life in the midst of all this. There
is no plot, the book is a series of pictures loosely strung
together. There is a chapter on Lisdoonvarna.
⸺ DONAL KENNY. (_Washbourne_). 1910. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 1.10.
Donal tells his own story—his mother’s early death, followed
by his father’s rapid fall into habits of drink; his own early
struggles; his love for Norah Kenny; his search for traces of
her real identity; and the happy ending of it all. Displays all
the Author’s knowledge of Irish life in sketches of priests and
people. Especially good is the character study of the faithful
old nurse, Nancy, with her quaint sayings.—(_Press Notice_).
⸺ THE CURATE OF KILCLOON. Pp. 282. (_Gill_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1913.
Labours, sorrows, and consolations of a young priest in
a very out of the way country parish. He had been very
distinguished at Maynooth and seemed thrown away on such a
place as Kilcloon, but he finds that there is work there worth
his doing—temperance to be promoted, the Gaelic League to be
established, industries to be fostered. The story has the same
qualities as the Author’s former books, and in fact differs
little from them.
=GWYNN, Stephen.= Born in Donegal, 1864. Eldest son of Rev. John Gwynn
of T.C.D. Is a grandson of William Smith O’Brien. Educated St. Columba’s
College, Rathfarnham, and Oxford, where he read a very distinguished
course. Since 1890 he has published a great deal—literary criticism,
translations, Irish topography, journalism, novels, politics. Has been
Nationalist M.P. for Galway City since 1906, and is one of the most
active members of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
⸺ THE OLD KNOWLEDGE. (_Macmillan_). 6_s._ 1901.
A book quite unique in conception. Into the romance are woven
fishing episodes and cycling episodes and adventures among
flowers. There are exquisite glimpses, too, of Irish home life,
and the very spirit of the mists and loughs and mountains of
Donegal is called up before the reader. But above all there
is the mystic conception of Conroy, the Donegal schoolmaster,
whose soul lives with visions, and communes with the spirits of
eld, the nature gods of pagan Ireland.
⸺ JOHN MAXWELL’S MARRIAGE. (_Macmillan_). 6_s._ 1903.
Scene: chiefly Donegal, _c._ 1761-1779. A strong and intense
story. Interesting not only for its powerful plot, but for
the admirably painted background of scenery and manners, and
for its studies of character. It depicts in strong colours
the tyranny of Protestant colonists and the hate which it
produces in the outcast Catholics. One of the main motives of
the story is a forced marriage of a peculiarly odious kind. In
connexion with this marriage there is one scene in the book
that is drawn with a realism which, we think, makes the book
unsuitable for certain classes of readers. The hero fights on
the American side in the war of Independence, and takes a share
in Nationalist schemes at home.
⸺ THE GLADE IN THE FOREST. Pp. 224. (_Maunsel_). 1_s._ Cloth. 1907.
Seven short stories, chiefly about Donegal, five of them
dealing with peasant life, of which the Author writes with
intimate and kindly knowledge. “The Grip of the Land” describes
the struggles of a small farmer and the love of his bleak
fields that found no counterpart in his eldest boy, who has his
heart set on emigration. Compare Bazin’s _La Terre qui Meurt_.
All the stories had previously appeared in such magazines as
the CORNHILL and BLACKWOOD’S.
⸺ ROBERT EMMET. (_Macmillan_). 6_s._ Map of Dublin in 1803. 1909.
An account of the Emmet rising related with scrupulous
fidelity to fact and in minute detail. The Author introduces
no reflections of his own, leaving the facts to speak. His
narrative is graphic and vivid, the style of high literary
value. The minor actors in the drama—Quigley, Russell,
Hamilton, Dwyer—are carefully drawn. Though he gives a
prominent place in the story to Emmet’s romantic love for Sarah
Curran, Mr. Gwynn has sought rather to draw a vivid picture of
the event by which the young patriot is known to history than
to reconstruct his personality.
=HALL, E.=
⸺ THE BARRYS OF BEIGH. Pp. 394. (_M’Glashan & Gill_). [1875.]
Scene: banks of Shannon twenty miles below Limerick. Story
opens about 1775.
=HALL, Mrs. S. C.= Born in Dublin, 1800. Brought by her mother (who was
of French Huguenot descent) to Wexford in 1806. Here she lived, mixing
a good deal with the peasantry, until the age of fifteen, when she was
taken away to London, and did not again return to Wexford. Wrote nine
novels, and many short stories and sketches. Besides the works noticed
here, she and her husband produced between them a very large number of
volumes. See his _Reminiscences of a Long Life_. Two vols. London. 1883.
A reviewer in BLACKWOOD’S describes her work as “bright with an animated
and warm nationality, apologetic and defensive.” She died in 1881.
⸺ SKETCHES OF IRISH CHARACTER. Pp. 443. (_Chatto & Windus_). 7_s._
6_d._ With Sixty-one Illustrations by Maclise, Gilbert, Harvey, George
Cruikshank, &c. [1829]. 1854 (5th), 1892, &c., &c.
Mrs. Hall intends in these sketches to do for her village
of Bannow, in Wexford, what Miss Mitford did for her
English village. This district, she says, “possesses to a
very remarkable extent all the moral, social, and natural
advantages, which are to be found throughout the country.”
The author proclaims (cf. Introduction) her intention “so
to picture the Irish character as to make it more justly
appreciated ... and more respected in England.” She applies
to the peasantry the saying “their virtues are their own;
but their vices have been forced upon them.” Again she
says, “the characters here are all portraits.” Yet it must
be confessed that the standpoint is, after all, alien, and
something strangely like the traditional stage Irishman appears
occasionally in these pages. There is, however, not a shadow of
religious bias. The “Rambling Introduction” makes very pleasant
reading.
⸺ LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF IRISH LIFE. Three vols. (long). (_Colburn_). 1838.
In five parts:—1. “The Groves of Blarney” (whole of Vol.
I.). 2. “Sketches on Irish Highways during the Autumn of
1834” (whole of Vol. II.). 3. “Illustrations of Irish Pride”
(two stories). 4. “The Dispensation.” 5. “Old Granny.” No. 1
“derives its title from an occurrence ... in ... Blarney ...
about the year 1812.”—(_Pref._). It is a thoroughly good story,
telling how Connor in order to win the fair widow Margaret,
his early love, takes an oath against drinking, flirting, and
faction-fighting for a year, and how a vengeful old tramp woman
makes him break it on the very last day. Amusingly satirical
portrait of the little Cockney, Peter Swan. Author’s sympathies
thoroughly Irish. Contents of Vol. II.:—“The Jaunting Car,”
“Beggars,” “Naturals,” “Servants,” “Ruins” [or stories told _a
propos_ of them], &c. The dialect is very well done, full of
humour and flavour. Characters all drawn from peasant class.
⸺ STORIES OF THE IRISH PEASANTRY. Pp. 302, (close print). (_Chambers_).
[1840]. 1851, &c.
Aims to reconcile landlords and peasantry. To this end tries
to show each to what their enmity is due and how they may
remedy the evil. The stories are to show the peasantry that
their present condition is due to defects in the national
character and in the prevailing national habits—chiefly drink,
early marriages, laziness, conservatism, superstition. The
Authoress has a good grasp of the ways of the people, but her
reasoning is peculiar. When a peasant, driven to desperation by
a cruel eviction, swears vengeance, this is put down to innate
lawlessness, sinfulness, and a murderous disposition. Twenty
stories in all, some melodramatic, some pastoral.
⸺ THE WHITEBOY. (_Ward, Lock, Routledge_). 2_s._, and 6_d._ [1845].
Several eds. since. (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 0.50.
In the height of the Whiteboy disturbances, which are luridly
described, a young Englishman comes to Ireland with the
intention of uplifting the peasantry and bettering their lot.
After some terrible experiences he at length succeeds to a
wonderful extent in his benevolent purposes. The book is of a
didactic type.—(_Krans_).
⸺ THE FIGHT OF FAITH: a Story of Ireland. Two Vols. (_Chapman & Hall_).
[1862]. 1869.
Opens at Havre in 1680 with a Huguenot family about to fly
from persecution. Their ship is wrecked off the Isle of Wight,
where the little girl Pauline is rescued and adopted by an old
sea-captain. The scene then changes to Carrickfergus, then held
by Schomberg. Geo. Walker is introduced, and the story ends
with the battle of the Boyne (the fight of faith). View-point
strongly Protestant.
⸺ NELLY NOWLAN, and Other Stories. Popular Tales of Irish Life and
Character. Seventh edition, with numerous Illustr. Demy 8vo. (LONDON).
1865.
Contains twenty-five delightful tales of Irish life, with
numerous illustrations by Maclise, Franklin, Brooke, Herbert,
Harvey, Nichol, and Weigall; “Sweet Lilly O’Brian,” “Mary
Ryan’s Daughter,” “The Bannow Postman,” “Father Mike,” and
twenty-one other tales. As a graphic delineator of Irish life
and character, no other writer has dealt with the subject so
delightfully and truly as Mrs. Hall. She wrote many volumes on
the subject, of which this is the best.
⸺ TALES OF IRISH LIFE AND CHARACTER. (_T. N. Foulis_). 5_s._ With Sixteen
Illustr. in colour from the famous Irish paintings of Erskine Nichol,
R.S.A. 1909.
=HALPINE, Charles Graham; “Private Myles O’Reilly.”= Born in Oldcastle,
Co. Meath, 1829. Son of Rev. N. J. Halpin (_sic_). Ed. T.C.D. Took up
journalism and went first to London, where he came to know some of the
young Irelanders, and thence to America. Became a well-known journalist.
Fought through the Civil War. His songs became very well-known throughout
the Union. D. 1868. Publ. also a series of prose sketches, _Baked Meats
of the Funeral_, and a vol. of reminiscences.
⸺ MOUNTCASHEL’S BRIGADE; or, The Rescue of Cremona. Pp. 151 (close
print). (DUBLIN: _T. D. Sullivan_). Fifth ed., 1882.
Episodes in the story of the Irish Brigade in the service of
France. The narrative is enlivened with love affairs, duels,
and exciting adventures very well told.
⸺ THE PATRIOT BROTHERS; or, The Willows of the Golden Vale. (DUBLIN).
Sixth ed. 1884. One ed., pp. 173 (small print), _n.d._, was publ. by A.
M. Sullivan.