romance dealing with the fate of the brothers Sheares,
executed in 1798. Their story is followed with practically
historical exactitude, a thread of romance being woven in. A
good account of the politics of the time, especially of the
elaborate spy-system then flourishing, is given, but not so
as to interfere with the interest of the tale. There are fine
descriptions of the scenery of Wicklow, in which the action
chiefly takes place, and especially of the Golden Vale between
Bray and Delgany.
=HAMILTON, Catherine J.= Born in Somerset of Irish parents, her father
being from Strabane and her mother from Queen’s Co. Ed. chiefly by her
father, a vicar of the Ch. of England. At his death, in 1859, removed to
Ireland and lived there more than thirty years. Publ. at twenty-five her
first story, _Hedged with Thorns_. Wrote verse for the ARGOSY and Irish
stories for the GRAPHIC; contributed regularly to WEEKLY IRISH TIMES and
IRELAND’S OWN, including several serials. At present resides in London.
Author of _Notable Irishwomen_ (1904), _Women Writers, their Works and
Ways_ (1892), &c.
⸺ MARRIAGE BONDS; or, Christian Hazell’s Married Life. Pp. 439. (_Ward,
Lock_). _n.d._ (1878).
First appeared in THE ENGLISHWOMAN’S DOMESTIC MAGAZINE. An
unhappy marriage of a sweet, loving, sensitive nature to a man
of a hard, selfish character, who treats his wife with studied
neglect and discourtesy. Christian comes from her native
English manor house to live with Alick Hazell in an ugly,
ill-managed Irish country house, among disagreeable neighbours
somewhere on the S.E. coast of Ireland. He hates the people,
and is a bad landlord. She has no friend until the arrival
of his brother Eustace, whose mother was Irish and who loves
Ireland. Almost unawares they fall in love, but E. is a man of
honour, and C. is faithful to her husband to the very end. The
author is on Ireland’s side, though somewhat apologetically and
vaguely. Good picture of bitterly anti-Irish narrow-minded type
of minor country gentry.
⸺ THE FLYNNS OF FLYNNVILLE. Pp. 250. (_Ward, Lock_). 1879.
A story of the sensational kind, founded on the murder of a
bank-manager by a constabulary officer called Montgomery, and
the subsequent trial, which many years ago excited considerable
interest. Scene: S. of Ireland.
⸺ TRUE TO THE CORE: a Romance of ’98. Two Vols. (_F. V. White_). 1884.
The story of the love of a Kerry peasant girl for the ill-fated
John Sheares. The interest is that of plot, history being quite
of minor importance, and centres in the scheming of his various
enemies to compass the destruction of John Sheares in spite
of all the efforts of his guardian angel, Norah Nagle. There
is not one really sympathetic character. Sheares is a mere
dreamer; Norah is generous and faithful, but lies and “barges”
on occasion; almost all the rest, except Norah’s peasant lover,
are fools or villains of the blackest sort. Disagreeable
picture of the Dublin of the day. The story is told with
considerable verve and carries one along. The Author is not at
all hostile, but seems unstirred to any feeling of enthusiasm
for the cause of Ireland.
⸺ DR. BELTON’S DAUGHTERS. Pp. 169. (_Ward, Lock_). 1890.
Alice the second marries a curate in the W. of Ireland and
struggles to keep up on small means a good appearance. Her
husband is an incurable optimist.
⸺ THE LUCK OF THE KAVANAGHS. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 6_d._ 1910.
Strange adventures of an emigrant Irish boy.
=HAMILTON, Edwin, M.A., B.L., M.R.I.A.= Born 1849. Resides at Donaghadee,
Co. Down. Author of _Dublin Doggerels_ (1880), _The Moderate Man_ (1888,
_Downey_). The two following books are not in the British Museum Library.
⸺ BALLYMUCKBEG. 1885.
Political satire.
⸺ WAGGISH TALES. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 1897.
=HAMILTON, John, of St. Ernan’s. “An Irishman” [N.M.].=
⸺ THE THREE FENIAN BROTHERS. (_Macmillan_). 18mo. 1866. 1_s._
Paul, Mark, and Ned Ryan, sons of a well-to-do farmer, were
enticed into joining the Brotherhood, the two former by
Patrick Mahoney, the village schoolmaster. Ned had served
in the Federal Army (U.S.A.), and was sent back to Ireland
as a captain. “The characters and careers of the brothers
are vividly depicted in an interesting tale, the dialogue is
pointed, often witty.... In the unfolding of the story much
light is incidentally thrown on the state of feeling in Ireland
in 1865-6.” The Author has told his life-story in _Sixty Years’
Experience as an Irish Landlord_, and given his views in
_Thoughts on Ireland by an Irish Landlord_ (1886).
=“HAMILTON, M.”; Mrs. Churchill-Luck=, _née_ =Spottiswoode-Ashe=. Is a
native of Co. Derry. Publ. also _The Freedom of Harry Meredith_, _M’Leod
of the Camerons_, _A Self-denying Ordinance_, _Mrs. Brett_, _The Woman
who Looked Back_, &c.
⸺ ON AN ULSTER FARM. Pp. 143. (_Everett_).
A realistic sketch of the life of a workhouse child sent out to
service to a particularly unlovable set of hard Scotch Ulster
folk. Interesting as a study of character and as an exposure
of the misery attendant on the working of certain parts of
the workhouse system. This subject is also treated in Rosa
Mulholland’s _Nanno_, _q.v._
⸺ ACROSS AN IRISH BOG. (_Heinemann_). 1896.
An ugly, but very powerful, tale of seduction in Irish peasant
life. The study of the ignominious aspirations of the seducer,
a Protestant clergyman, after social elevation forms the pith
of the book. The difficulty of his position, technically on a
level with the gentry, though he is wholly unequal to them in
breeding, is brought out.
⸺ BEYOND THE BOUNDARY. Pp. 306. (_Hurst & Blackett_). 1902.
Scene: first in London, afterwards among Ulster peasantry
(dialect cleverly reproduced). Theme: a curiously ill-assorted
marriage. Brian Lindsay, son of Presbyterian Ulster peasants,
had during a panic deserted his men in action. Afterwards he
had been decorated mistakenly, instead of the man who had died
to save him. In London he meets this man’s sister, a solitary
working girl, but a lady. They are married, and he takes her
home. Disillusionment on the wife’s part follows, and Brian is
threatened with the discovery of his secret. What came of it
all is told in a beautiful and convincing story. Not gloomy
nor morbid. Running through the main plot is the story of
poor little French Pipette, deserted by the foolish, selfish,
mother, whom she adores. Old Lindsay, dour and godly, is very
well done. An element of humour is found in the characters of
Miss Arnold of the venomous tongue; fat little Mr. Leslie, who
loves his dinners; and Maggie, the Lindsay’s maid-of-all-work.
=HANNAY, Rev. James Owen=, _see_ =“GEORGE A. BIRMINGHAM.”=
=HANNIGAN, D. F.= Was born at Dungarvan, 1855. Ed. at St. John’s,
Waterford, and Queen’s College, Cork. Called to Irish bar, and formerly a
journalist in Dublin; is now in America. Contributed a long serial, _The
Moores of Moore’s Court_, to the MONITOR, 1879, and other stories to the
Dublin press.
⸺ LUTTRELL’S DOOM. Pp. 76. (ABERDEEN: _Moran_). 1_s._ 1896.
Purports to be extracts from an Irish gentlewoman’s diary kept
between 1690 and 1726.
=HANNON, John.= Born at Isleworth, 1870. Son of John Hannon, of
Kildorrery, Co. Cork. Ed. at St. Edmunds, England. For long engaged
in educational work, he afterwards took up journalism. He resides in
Isleworth.—(CATH. WHO’S WHO).
⸺ THE KINGS AND THE CATS: Munster Fairy Tales. Pp. 78. Size 6¾ × 9¾
(_Burns & Oates_). 2_s._ 6_d._ Thirteen illustr. by Louis Wain. 1908.
Handsomely produced. Preface by Father M. Russell, S.J.
Introductory verse by Katharine Tynan. Stories gleaned from old
Irish peasants in England. Full of quaint, amusing turns of
expression.
=HANRAHAN, P. R.=
⸺ EVA; or, the Buried City of Bannow.
Mentioned in the notice of this Author in O’Donoghue’s _Poets
of Ireland_.
=[HARDY, Miss].=
⸺ MICHAEL CASSIDY; or, The Cottage Gardener: a tale for small beginners.
(_Seeley_). [1840]. 1845.
By the Author of “The Confessor: a Jesuit tale of the times
founded on fact” [viz., Miss Hardy]. Cushing. The 1845 ed. has
a Pref. by C. B. Tayler. It is an attempt to urge people to
small allotments, green crops, rotation, economy, and hard work.
=HARDY, Philip Dixon.= _c._ 1794-1875. Was a bookseller and editor of
various Dublin periodicals. Publ. several volumes of verse, some books on
Irish topography, and some religious works of a strongly anti-Catholic
character.
⸺ LEGENDS, TALES, AND STORIES OF IRELAND. Pp. 328. (DUBLIN: _John
Cumming_). 1837.
Dedicated to Sir W. Betham. Hardy was the first editor of
the DUBLIN PENNY JOURNAL. His tales of Irish life deal with
fairies, faction-fights, smugglers, and burlesque or tragic
adventures in a manner by no means without vivacity and
cleverness, though the trail of the “stage-Irishman” is over
most of his work. This edition was illustrated in a somewhat
coarse and stage-Irish fashion. Other works of this Author
were:—_Essays and Sketches of Irish Life and Character_;
_Ireland in 1846-7, considered in reference to the rapid growth
of Popery_, and several works on Irish topography.
=HARKIN, Hugh= (1791-1854). For good account of this writer supplied by
his son, see O’Donoghue’s _Poets of Ireland_.
⸺ THE QUARTERCLIFT: or, the Adventures of Hudy McGuiggen. (BELFAST), _c._
1841. In shilling monthly parts. Illustrated.
An amusing story founded on the old Co. Derry folk tale of a
“gommeral” named Hudy McGuiggin, who didn’t see why he couldn’t
fly. So he made himself wings out of the feathers of a goose.
Arrayed in these, he jumped off a high mountain (still shown
by the peasantry), and of course came to grief. Strange to
say, he recovered and lived to be an old man. This and other
incidents are related with great verve and truth, and many well
pourtrayed characters are introduced. See GREER, Tom.
=[HARRIS, Miss S. M.]; “Athene.”= Fourth daughter of a Co. Down farmer,
the late William Harris, of Ballynafern, Banbridge. The family has been
long resident in Belfast.
⸺ IN THE VALLEYS OF SOUTH DOWN. Pp. viii. + 155. (BELFAST: _M’Caw,
Stevenson, & Orr_). 1898.
Rupert Stanwell is kept apart from Mabel Mervyn, for his
parents want him to marry a rich American heiress; but the
two are joined in the end, and all is well. Conventional and
unobjectionable, without any special local colour.
⸺ GRACE WARDWOOD. Pp. 269. (_Duffy_). 2_s._ 6_d._ Tasteful binding. 1900.
A domestic tale of middle class folk in Co. Down. Several
love stories intertwined. Gracefully written but “feminine,”
and not very mature in style. Contains little that is
characteristically Irish, except some legends introduced
incidentally.
⸺ DUST OF THE WORLD. Pp. vi. + 293. (_Allen_). 6_s._ 1913.
Sub-t.: “An historical romance of Belfast in the 17th century.”
Introduces the Earl of Donegall, the lord of the soil; Lady
Donegall who, to the annoyance of Bp. Jeremy Taylor, has
hankerings after Presbyterianism; George Macartney, the
Sovereign or Mayor; and other Belfast townsfolk of the day.
Swift is an anachronism in this story, and there are no grounds
in history for the portrait given of Patrick Adair, an early
Presbyterian minister. Lord Donegall is made to talk with a
brogue, while a butcher’s wife talks in the best of English.
=HARTLEY, Mrs.=, _née_ =May Laffan=. Born in Dublin. Widow of the late W.
N. Hartley, F.R.S. Her brother William Laffan was at the head of Laffan’s
Agency. For some considerable time past she has done no literary work.
⸺ HOGAN, M.P. Pp. 491. (_Macmillan_). 3_s._ 6_d._ [1876]. New ed. 1882.
Picture of Dublin society, showing how Catholics are
handicapped by their want of education and good breeding,
due, in the Author’s view, to wholly wrong system of Catholic
education. Discursive and garrulous. Full of social manœuvres,
petty intrigues, gossip, and scandal. Convent education from
within.
⸺ THE HON. MISS FERRARD. [1877]. (_Macmillan_). 1882. 3_s._ 6_d._
The Hon. Miss F. is the only daughter of the ancient and
broken-down house of the Darraghmores. The father squanders
his income faster than he gets it, and has to keep moving from
place to place, living chiefly on credit. Miss F. is brought up
in this inconsequent, semi-gipsy family, with wild harum-scarum
brothers. The Author does not blink the consequent shortcomings
of the heroine. Amusing things happen when she goes to live
with her maiden aunts at Bath—an unsuccessful experiment.
Her choice between her Irish farmer lover and the admirable
English Mr. Satterthwaite—we shall not reveal. Good minor
characters—Cawth, the old servant of the family; Mr. Perry,
the family lawyer. “The Author represents the interiors of all
Irish households of the middle classes as repulsive in the
extreme.... There is in them an innate vulgarity of thought,
with an atmosphere of transparent pretension.”—(SATURDAY REV.,
xliv., 403).
⸺ FLITTERS, TATTERS, AND THE COUNSELLOR. (_Macmillan_). 3_s._ 6_d._
[1879]. New ed., 1883.
Four stories: (1) Three little Dublin street arabs, nicknamed
as in title. Lively and realistic portraits. Poignant and
sympathetic picture of slum misery and degradation. (2) Deals
with the same subject. (3) Glasgow slum life. (4) Lurid and
revolting story of conspiracy and murder in a country district.
There are those who consider No. 1 quite the most perfect thing
that has been written about Dublin life.
⸺ THE GAME HEN. (DUBLIN). 1880.
⸺ CHRISTY CAREW. Pp. 429. (_Macmillan_). 2_s._ [1880]. New ed., 1883;
still in print.
Written in spirit of revolt against Catholic discouragement
of mixed marriages, showing the social disabilities which it
draws upon Catholics. Several portraits of priests, _e.g._, a
collector of old books and a model priest. Studies of various
aspects of Catholic life.
⸺ ISMAY’S CHILDREN. (_Macmillan_). 2_s._ [1887].
Tale of Fenian times, little concerned with political aims, but
rather with personal fortunes of the lads who are drawn into
the midnight drillings. Little political bias, but sympathies
with “the quality.” Close studies of Irish middle-class
domestic life. Scene: Co. Cork. The ATHENÆUM pronounced this
novel to be “the most valuable and dispassionate contribution
towards the solution of that problem [the Irish character]
which has been put forth in this generation in the domain of
fiction.”
=HATTON, Joseph.=
⸺ JOHN NEEDHAM’S DOUBLE. Pp. 208. 16mo. (_Maxwell_). 1_s._ Paper. _n.d._
(1885)
“A story founded on fact,” viz., John Sadleir’s career, his
fraud on the Tipperary Bank, &c. An exciting and melodramatic
story. Needham poisons his “double,” Joseph Norbury, and
deposits his body on Hampstead Heath, then escapes to America,
is tracked and arrested, but dramatically takes poison when
under arrest. Told with considerable verve. Thirty of this
Author’s books are enumerated by Allibone.
=HARVEY, W.=
⸺ IRISH LIFE AND HUMOUR. Pp. 221. (STIRLING: _Eneas Mackey_). 2_s._ 6_d._
1906.
A collection of short, witty anecdotes and jokes, four or five
to a page. Source: not indicated, but they are obviously culled
from periodicals, or from previous collections of the kind. A
few seem to be taken from serious biographies. They are given
without comment, exactly as he found them, says the Author
(Pref.). They exhibit no religious nor racial bias (witness the
last chapter on Priest and People), but throughout you have the
“Paddy” of the comic paper, and in many places the traditional
Stage-Irishman whirls his shillelagh and “hurroos for ould
Oireland” in a wholly impossible brogue. The stories are
classified under various heads, but for convenience only. They
do not illustrate national traits nor phases of national life.
The above is an abridgment of a larger work [1st ed., 1904,
without illustr.] with the same title, of which a new edition,
pp. 488, twelve illustrations in colour, 5_s._ net, has been
issued (August, 1909) by Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. More recently
a cheap ed. has been issued at 1_s._, pp. 206, paper covers,
with some poor illustr.
=“HASLETTE, John.”=
⸺ DESMOND ROURKE: Irishman. (_Sampson, Low_). 6_s._ 1911.
Scene: South America. The hero is intended to be typically
Irish. The story is described as racy and dashing, and has
received high praise from the Press. We understand that the
Author’s real name is Vahey, and that he lives at the Knock,
near Belfast (1911); see I. B. L., Vol. IV., p. 73. He had
before this novel already published two others. He is of
Huguenot descent, but was b. and ed. in Ireland.
=HAYENS, Herbert.=
⸺ AN AMAZING CONSPIRACY. Pp. 247. (S.P.C.K.). 2_s._ 6_d._ Illustr. by
Adolf Thiede. _n.d._ (1914).
An exciting boys’ adventure story, opening in an island of
the W. coast of Ireland, where mysterious events take place,
but passing chiefly in Guatemala, where the hero goes through
thrilling adventures in various revolutions.
=HEALY, Cahir.=
⸺ A SOWER OF THE WIND. Pp. 168. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 6_d._ Paper. _c._ 1910.
Scene: the Donegal coast. A sensational and romantic story.
Local Land League doings described. The author writes of the
people with knowledge and sympathy.
⸺ THE ESCAPADES OF CONDY CORRIGAN. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 0.50 net.
=[HEMPHILL, Barbara].=
⸺ THE PRIEST’S NIECE. Three Vols. (_Hurst & Blackett_). 1855.
In the first two volumes there is nothing about Ireland. In the
third the scene shifts to Cashel, and there are some attempts
to picture Irish life. The Author is not anti-Catholic nor
anti-Irish: she is amusingly ignorant of Catholic matters
and is not interested in Ireland. P. 37—a scene of Irish
lawlessness (capture of a private still). P. 40—unpleasant
description of a wake. The plot hinges mainly on the strife
in the hero’s mind between his love for Ellen, the penniless
peasant girl, to whom he owes several rescues from the
Shanavests, and the heiress to marry whom would be to save his
father from ruin.
=HENDERSON, George.=
⸺ THE FEAST OF BRICRIU: an Early Gaelic Saga. (_Irish Texts Society_).
6_s._ 1899.
Belongs to Cuchullin cycle. C. contends in a series of
competitive feats with Conall and Loigare for the championship
of Ulster ... the origin of the contest being the desire of B.
to stir up strife among his guests. Introd. and notes.
⸺ SURVIVALS IN BELIEF AMONG THE CELTS. Pp. 340. Demy 8vo. (EDINBURGH:
_MacLehose_). 10_s._ net. 1911.
The Author is Lecturer in Celtic language and literature in
the University of Glasgow. The book consists of the substance
of a series of lectures on Folk Psychology. It is a study in
Celtic “psychical anthropology”—practically a study of magic,
superstitions, and other survivals of primitive paganism. Deals
chiefly with the Scottish Highlands, but there are frequent
allusions to Irish folklore and legend. Highly technical in
conception and language.
=[HENDERSON, Rev. Henry]; “Ulster Scot.”= Was for many years a
Presbyterian minister in Holywood, Co. Down, and wrote for BELFAST WEEKLY
NEWS _Woodleigh Hall, a Tale of the Fenians_, and _The Moutrays of
Clonkeen_.
⸺ THE TRUE HEIR OF BALLYMORE. Pp. 80. Demy 8vo. (BELFAST). 1_s._
Wrappers. 1859.
Sub-t.:—“Passages from the history of a Belfast Ribbon Lodge.”
Frontisp.—the insignia of Ribbonism. An anti-Ribbon pamphlet
in the form of a story. Relates the machinations of a certain
Ribbon lodge for the destruction of Protestantism, and, in
particular, the scheme whereby a Catholic widow is made to
inveigle Col. Obrey into marriage. The latter drives out his
sister and nephew, and Ballymore is invaded by a low-class
drinking set of Catholics, who finally bring the poor Colonel
to his grave. Subsequently it transpires that Mrs. Connor’s
husband was alive all the time, and the Colonel’s nephew
comes into his own. The book is full of the awful crimes
of Ribbonism, and closes thus:—“No statesmanship, no good
government will ever deliver our land from Ribbon disloyalty,
outrages, and savage assassinations until Romanism is
extirpated from the country. Ribbonism is the offspring of
Romanism.”
⸺ THE DARK MONK OF FEOLA: Adventures of a Ribbon Pedlar. (_Office of_
BELFAST NEWS LETTER). c. 1859.
“The first part contains a very affecting episode illustrative
of the evils which are certain to follow the union of
Protestant women with men who belong to the Roman Catholic
faith. To all Protestants the story cannot fail to be
interesting; and Orangemen, especially, will peruse it with
peculiar pleasure.”—(DOWNSHIRE PROTESTANT).
⸺ THE SANDY ROW CONVERT.
=HENRY-RUFFIN, Mrs. M. E.=
⸺ THE NORTH STAR. Pp. 356. (BOSTON: _Little, Brown_). $1.50 net. Six good
Ill. by Wilbur D. Hamilton. [1904]. 1908.
Scene: Norway and Ireland. The story of how Olaf Trygvesson,
the exiled king of Norway, returned as a Christian champion,
and overthrew his pagan rival. The wild brutal paganism of the
time is depicted with realism. There is an interesting account
of a great gathering in Dublin, and a sketch of Olaf’s life in
exile amid his Irish hosts. There is also a love interest. Mrs.
Henry-Ruffin is the only daughter of the late Thomas Henry, of
Mobile, Alabama.
=HENTY, G. A.= Born 1832, in Cambridgeshire. He spent some time in
Belfast in his capacity of Purveyor to the Forces. D. 1902. One of the
greatest, perhaps quite the greatest, of writers for boys. His eighty-six
or more published stories deal with almost all countries and every period
of history. All his stories are sane and healthy and told in the manner
that boys love. Their historical side is carefully worked out.
⸺ FRIENDS THOUGH DIVIDED. (_Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton_). 3_s._ 6_d._
Excellent coloured Illustr. Attractive binding and general get-up. (N.Y.:
_Burt_). 1.00. [1883]. New eds.
A fine boys’ adventure-story of the Civil War. Scene: mainly
Great Britain, but at end shifts to Ireland for the Siege of
Drogheda, which is well described. Good account of Cromwell,
the two Charles, Argyll. Sympathies of writer clearly royalist.
Ireland represented to be in state of semi-barbarism. Juvenile.
⸺ ORANGE AND GREEN. (_Blackie_). 5_s._ Handsome binding; eight Illustr.
by Gordon Browne. (N.Y.: _Burt_). 1.00. [1887]. 1907.
Adventures of two boys (one a Protestant, the other a Catholic)
in the Williamite Wars. Battles of Boyne, Aughrim, sieges of
Athlone, Cork, and Limerick, described. Impartial. Williamite
excesses condemned. Sarsfield’s action after Limerick severely
dealt with.
⸺ IN THE IRISH BRIGADE. Pp. 384. (_Blackie_). 6_s._ Twelve excellent
illustr. by Chas. M. Sheldon. (N.Y.: _Scribner_). 1.50. 1901.
Adventures of Desmond Kennedy, officer of the Irish Brigade,
in the service of France, during the War of the Spanish
Succession—chiefly in Flanders and Spain. The facts are based
on O’Callaghan’s _History of the Irish Brigade_ and Boyer’s
_Annals of the Reign of Queen Anne_. No Irish Nationalist could
quarrel with the views expressed in the Author’s Preface.
=HEYGATE, W. E.=
⸺ WILD SCENES AMONG THE CELTS. Pp. 114. (_Parker_). 6_d._ 1859.
One of a series “Tales for Young Men and Women” (Church of
England). This volume contains the two following tales:—
THE PENITENT.—How Shossag, a prince of S. Leinster, was
accessory to his brother’s murder. How punishment overtook him,
and how he ended his life as a penitent at the feet of St.
Piran of Cornwall. Period _c._ 410 A.D.
THE FUGITIVE.—A story of crime, and its punishment in the
person of a Pictish chief. St. Columba has a prominent place
in the story. Of him a sympathetic and appreciative picture
is drawn. Scene: Scottish mainland, Iona, and N. Connaught,
_c._ 590-597. This Author has written a dozen other historical
stories. See NIELD. The two above noted are quite suitable for
Catholic children.
=HICKEY, Rev. P.=
⸺ INNISFAIL. Pp. 284. (_Gill_). 3_s._ 6_d._ [1906]. (N.Y.: _Pratt_).
1.75. Third ed. 1907.
Life-story of a young priest from early youth to departure for
Australia, largely told in letters from college, with verse
interspersed. Sketches of life in Tipperary (fox-hunt, school
scenes, &c.).
=HINKSON, H. A.= Born in Dublin, 1865. Married Katharine Tynan, 1893
(_q.v._). Ed. Dublin High School, T.C.D., and in Germany. Called to the
English Bar, 1902. Until the last few years he has resided in England. He
now lives in Claremorris, Co. Mayo, for which county he is R.M.
⸺ GOLDEN LADS AND GIRLS. Pp. 312. (_Downey_). 1895.
A love story of the upper middle classes. Pictures of western
(Galway) county family life, and of student life in Trinity,
both strongly reminiscent of Lever. Good portraits of Irish
types, the country doctor, the unpopular agent, the reforming
landlord (English and a convert to Catholicism); the Protestant
country clergyman, &c. This latter portrait is rather
satirical. The tone on the whole is nationalist and Catholic.
⸺ FATHER ALPHONSUS. Pp. 282. (_Unwin_). 1898.
The life-story of two young seminarians. One of these, finding
he has no vocation, leaves before ordination, and has no reason
to repent the step. The other, ignoring uneasy feelings that
trouble may come of it later, becomes a priest. Afterwards he
meets with a certain lady, a recent convert from Protestantism.
A mutual attachment springs up, and eventually they are
married. The circumstances, as arranged by the novelist, are
so strange as almost to seem to palliate this sin, were it not
for his omission of one factor, viz., that particular form of
divine help towards the doing of duty which Catholics call
the _gratia status_. The erring priest ends his life in a
Carthusian monastery. The tone throughout is almost faultless
from a Catholic standpoint. Indeed, though there are several
passionate scenes, rendering the book unfitted for certain
readers, the moral tone is high. Some of the characteristics of
Irish social life are admirably portrayed.
⸺ UP FOR THE GREEN. Pp. 327. (_Lawrence & Bullen_). 6_s._ 1898.
“For several of the incidents related in this story, the Author
is indebted to the narrative of Samuel Riley, a yeoman [Quaker]
of Cork, who was captured by the rebels, while on his way to
Dublin, in September, 1798.” This worthy man discovers the
rebels to be very different from what he had taken them to
be. A healthy, breezy tale with more adventure than history.
Standpoint: thoroughly national. There is quiet humour in the
quaintly told narrative of the Quaker. Castlereagh, Major Sirr,
Grattan, Lord Enniskillen figure in the story.
⸺ WHEN LOVE IS KIND. Pp. 320. (_Long_). 1898.
A wholesome Irish love-story of the present day. The hero,
Rupert Standish, is a soldier and a soldier’s son. The story
brings out the comradeship which may exist between father and
son. The page-boy, Peter, with his gruesome tales, is a curious
study. There are many passages descriptive of scenes and
incidents in Ireland.
⸺ THE KING’S DEPUTY. Pp. 236. (_Lawrence & Bullen_). 6_s._ (CHICAGO:
_M’Clurg_). 1.25. 1899.
Period: the days of Grattan’s Parliament, of which a vivid
picture is drawn, and of the viceroyalty of the Duke of
Rutland. The interest is divided between a love story and the
story of a plot of the Protestant aristocracy to establish an
independent Irish Republic on the Venetian model. Grattan,
Curran, Napper Tandy, Sir John Parnell, Sir Boyle Roche, Father
Arthur O’Leary, &c., are introduced. Descriptions (historically
accurate) of the Hell-Fire Club and the Funny Club.
⸺ SIR PHELIM’S TREASURE. Pp. 255. (S.P.C.K.) 1_s._ 6_d._ Illustr. W. S.
Stacey. _n.d._ (1901).
A boy’s adventure-story of search for treasure. No “moral” or
lesson. Good description of Crusoe-life on a little island off
the Irish coast. Pleasant style; no tediousness nor dullness.
⸺ THE POINT OF HONOUR. (_Lawrence & Bullen_). 6_s._ (CHICAGO: _M’Clurg_).
1.50. 1901.
“Stories about the quarrelsome, bottle-loving, duelling gentry
of the eighteenth century.”—(_Baker_).
⸺ SILK AND STEEL. Pp. 336. (_Chatto & Windus_). 6_s._ Picture cover. 1902.
Adventures of an Irish soldier of fortune at the Court of
Charles I., in the Netherlands, and in Ireland. Brisk and
picturesque in style. Sketch of Owen Roe and description of
Benburb. The hero is Daniel O’Neill, a nephew of Owen Roe.
Full of historical incidents and personages, _e.g._, the Earl
of Essex, Father Boethius Egan, Lord Antrim. Point of view:
national.
⸺ FAN FITZGERALD. Pp. 340. (_Chatto & Windus_). 6_s._ 1902.
Young Dick Burke, brought up in England, feels the call of the
Celt, and returns to his inherited estates with intent to be
a model landlord. We are told in a lively and amusing style
how he succeeds or fails. The Author is nationalist, but by no
means a bitter partisan.
⸺ THE WINE OF LOVE. 1904.
Deals mainly with the upper classes in the West of Ireland.
Abuses of landlordism not spared. Picture of horse-dealing,
fox-hunting, and card-playing lives. Also picture of typically
good landlords. Standpoint on the whole national and even
Catholic. Style: breezy and vigorous. Good knowledge shown of
inner lives and feelings of all classes.
⸺ THE SPLENDID KNIGHT. Pp. 262. (_Sealy, Bryers_). Illustr. by Lawson
Wood. 1905.
Adventures of an Irish boy in Sir Walter Raleigh’s expedition
up the Orinoco. A brisk and entertaining narrative.
⸺ GOLDEN MORN. Pp. 303. (_Cassell_). Frontisp. 1907.
Tells the strange adventures in Ireland, London, and France
of Captain O’Grady. At Leopardstown Races his mare breaks her
neck, just at the finish; the Captain loses a fortune, and is
fain to depart on his travels—but “all is well that ends well,”
and it is so with Captain O’Grady.
⸺ O’GRADY OF TRINITY. (_Lawrence & Bullen_). 6_s._ Re-issued by C. H.
White at 6_d._ 1909.
Fun, frolic, and love in a student’s career. A gay and
wholesome novel. Sympathetic picture of Trinity College life.
Highly praised by Lionel Johnston.
⸺ THE CONSIDINE LUCK. Pp. 300. (_Swift_). 6_s._ 1912.
It was popularly believed that the estate could not pass from
Considine hands. Sir Hugh C. dies, and lo! the estate is found
to be mortgaged to Mr. Smith, of London. Mr. Smith arrives, and
brings with him his English notions which he proceeds to carry
out to the disgust of the locality. He refuses all attempts
to buy him out, but the Considine luck comes to the rescue,
and the estate falls once more into the hands of a Considine.
Pleasant, light style.
=HOARE, Mrs.=
⸺ SHAMROCK LEAVES; or, Tales and Sketches of Ireland. Pp. 237.
(_M’Glashan_). 1851.
If one could abstract from the bits of gossipy anecdote
intended as links to the principal stories, this book consists
of several studies, touching and true to the reality, of the
lives of the poor, and in particular of their sufferings during
and after the Famine years. Written with much sympathy for the
lowly, and a vivid sense of actuality. Most of the tales have a
moral, but it does not spoil the story.
=HOBHOUSE, Violet.= Born 1864. Eldest daughter of Edmund McNeill, D.L.,
of Craigdunn, Co. Antrim. Married Rev. Walter Hobhouse, second son of
Bishop Hobhouse. She was devoted to Irish traditions, folklore, &c., and
could speak Irish, but was a keen Unionist, and in 1887 and the following
years spoke much against Home Rule on English platforms. After her death
in 1902 a small volume of poems, serious and deeply religious, _Speculum
Animae_ was printed for private circulation.
⸺ AN UNKNOWN QUANTITY. Pp. 382. (_Downey_). 6_s._ 1898.
⸺ WARP AND WEFT. (_Skeffington_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1899.
“A conscientious rendering of homely aspects of life in Co.
Antrim.”—(_Baker_).
=HOCKING, Rev. Joseph.=
⸺ ROSALEEN O’HARA. Pp. 352. (_Hodder & Stoughton_). 3_s._ 6_d._ and 1_s._
Two illustr. 1913.
A product of the Home Rule controversy. The Author is a noted
anti-Catholic writer, but he is also a Liberal, and desirous of
defending Liberalism from the charge of seeking to establish
Rome Rule in Ireland. Home Rule, so reads the story, would mean
Rome Rule for some years, but would ultimately lead to the
emancipation of the Irish from the thralldom of priestcraft and
dogma. The story tells of Denis who unexpectedly discovers that
he is heir to an Irish estate, and neighbour of Elenore Tyrone,
whom he had seen and loved. A quarrel and the attractions
of the beautiful “Fenian,” Rosaleen, separate the two for a
time. The Author clearly knows little or nothing of Ireland,
but he would like to be benevolent in tone to “dear old
beautiful Erin.” By the same Author: _Follow the Gleam_, _The
Wilderness_, _The Jesuit_, _The Scarlet Woman_, and some thirty
other novels.
=HOEY, Mrs. Cashel=, _née_ =Sarah Johnston.= Born at Bushy Park, Co.
Dublin, 1830. Wife of the well-known Irish journalist, John Cashel Hoey
(d. 1892). Has published more than twenty-seven volumes, _e.g._, _The
Question of Cain_ (1882), _The Lover’s Creed_, _No Sign_ (1876), _The
Queen’s Token_, _A Stern Chase_, &c., &c. She became a Catholic in 1858.
D. 1908.
=HOLLAND, Denis.= A well-known Irish journalist. Born in Cork about 1826.
He founded THE IRISHMAN, 1858. _See_ Pigot’s _Recollections of an Irish
Journalist_, and D. J. O’Donoghue’s _Poets of Ireland_.
⸺ DONAL DUN O’BYRNE: A Tale of the Rising in Wexford in 1798. Pp. 224.
(_Gill_). 1_s._ _n.d._
The story of the rising (including Oulart, Tubberneering,
Gorey, and Ross, and the guerilla warfare after Vinegar Hill)
from an insurgent’s point of view. The book is full of scenes
of blood, and breathes a spirit of vengeance. The narrative is
not remarkable. Some of the scenes border on indelicacy.
⸺ ULICK O’DONNELL: an Irish Peasant’s Progress. 1860.
A romantic and pleasant story. Adventures in Liverpool and
elsewhere in England of a clever peasant lad from Newry. He
wins his way by his sterling qualities, and returns prosperous
to his native Co. Down. Author tries to bring out contrasting
characteristics of English and Irish.
=HOLT, Emily S.=
⸺ UNDER ONE SCEPTRE; or, Mortimer’s Mission. (_Shaw_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1884.
Career of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March and Ulster (1374-98)
in Monmouthshire, Ireland, and London. He was lieutenant of
Ulster, Connaught, and Meath. Richard II. declared him heir to
the throne, but later grew jealous of his popularity. He was
slain at Kells in battle with Art McMurrough Kavanagh. Juvenile.
=HOPKINS, Tighe.= Born 1856. Son of Rev. W. R. Hopkins, Vicar of Moulton,
Cheshire. Besides the work mentioned here this Author ed. Carleton’s
_Traits and Stories_ in the “Red Letter Library,” and wrote _Kilmainham
Memories_, several novels, and various other works. Resides at Herne
Bay. Has written many other novels:—_For Freedom_, _The Silent Gate_,
_Tozer’s_, _’Twixt Love and Duty_, &c.
⸺ THE NUGENTS OF CARRICONNA. Three Vols., afterwards one Vol. (_Ward &
Downey_). 1890.
Main theme: an old impoverished family suddenly enriched
by Australian legacy. Interwoven there is an interesting
love-story. Anthony Nugent, eccentric, of astronomical tastes,
has on his housetop a telescope which plays a prominent part
in the story. Brogue well done. The dramatic interest centred
in an Inspector of Police, a type probably very rare in Irish
fiction.
=HOPPER, Nora; Mrs. W. H. Chesson.=
⸺ BALLADS IN PROSE. Pp. 186. (_Lane_). 5_s._ Beautifully bound and
printed. 1894.
Strange, wayward tales of far-off pagan days in which one moves
as in a mist of dreams. Soaked with Gaelic fairy and legendary
lore. The prose pieces, all very short, are interspersed with
little poems, that are slight and frail as wreaths of vapour.
Some of the stories are symbolical. They are told in simple and
graceful prose.
=HUDSON, Frank.= This Author, after many years’ work for Dublin
periodicals, went to London early in the ’eighties. He wrote a few Irish
sporting novels of a light and humorous kind.
⸺ THE ORIGIN OF PLUM PUDDING, and other Irish Fairy Tales. Illustr. by
Gordon Browne. 1888.
Only one of these five stories is genuinely Irish—“Shaun
Murray’s Challenge,” the scene of which is Dalkey. The
title-story tells how a drunken man one evening threw his sack
of groceries into a pot on the fire, and in the morning found a
plum-pudding.
⸺ THE LAST HURDLE: a Story of Sporting and Courting. Pp. 304. (_Ward &
Downey_). 1888.
Life in an Irish county family of the old stock, with
sympathy for the poor around them. Good idea of refined
Irish country life and its easy-going ways. A story full of
sport, gaiety, and dramatic incidents, turning mainly on the
winning of the heroine by the hero in spite of the plots of
the rival. Good and bad landlords are contrasted. An eviction
scene is described, with full sympathy for the victims.
Shamus-the-Trout, a poacher, is a very picturesque figure.
⸺ RUNNING DOUBLE: a Story of Stage and Stable. Two Vols. (_Ward &
Downey_). 1890.
Scene: varies between England, Dublin, and “Ennisbeg.” There
are remarks on Irish life, scenery, and customs, but the chief
interest is sporting—fishing, racing, betting. The stage part
is in England. There is very little plot. All ends in a double
wedding.
=HUGHES, Mrs. Kate Duval.=
⸺ THE FAIR MAID OF CONNAUGHT: and other Tales for Catholic Youth. Pp.
178. (N.Y.: _Kenedy_ and _Benziger_). 1.25, 0.60, 0.30. 1889.
=HULL, Eleanor.= Born in Ireland of a Co. Down family. Daughter of Prof.
Edward Hull, the eminent geologist, long Director of the Geological
Survey of Ireland. Ed. at Alexandra Coll., Dublin, and in Brussels. Has
written much—chiefly on Irish literature, folk-lore, and history—for
various periodicals. Is the Author of eight important books on Irish
subjects:—_Pagan Ireland_, _Early Christian Ireland_, _A Text-Book of
Irish_ [Gaelic] _Literature_, _The Poem-Book of the Gael_. Has for many
years studied Old Irish under the best professors, and it is her chief
pleasure and interest. Founded in 1899 the Irish Texts Society, and
has been its Hon. Secretary ever since. Is President of Irish Literary
Society in London.
⸺ THE CUCHULLIN SAGA IN IRISH LITERATURE. Pp. lxxx. + 316. (_Nutt_). 1898.
A collection of fourteen stories relating to Cuchulin,
translated from the Irish by various scholars (Meyer, O’Curry,
Stokes, Windisch, O’Grady, Duvan, &c.). A more valuable
work, says Fiona MacLeod (in substance), for students of
Gaelic legend and literature than the more recent works by
Lady Gregory. The book is not cast in an artistic mould. It
merely contains the rude materials from which epic and lyric
inspiration may be drawn. Important and valuable Introduction
deals with literary qualities of the Saga, its historical
aspects and its mythology. Map of Ireland to illustrate
Cuchulin Saga. Appendix contains chart of Cuchulin Saga. Notes
pp. 289-297.
⸺ CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER. Pp. 279. (_Harrap_). 5_s._ net.
Illustr. in colour by Stephen Reid. [1909].
Intended for young, but not very young readers. Told in modern
language, free from Gaelicisms, archaisms, and difficult names.
The story is continuous, not told in detached episodes. The
style, though without the strange wild grandeur of Standish
O’Grady, is on the whole beautiful. The story itself is full
of the spirit of heroism and chivalry. It is selected and
adapted from many sources (indicated in Appendix), and the epic
narrative is not mixed with puerile or absurd episodes. Some of
the illustrations are excellent, others tend, perhaps, too much
to quaintness.
=HUME, Martin.=
⸺ TRUE STORIES OF THE PAST. Pp. xi. + 226. (_Eveleigh Nash_). 5_s._ net.
1911.
Ed. with introd. by R. B. Cunningham Grahame. Eight stories
from History. i. “How Rizzio was Avenged;” ii. “A Rebellious
Love-match;” iii. “Prince and Pastry Cook;” iv. “The Revenge of
John Hawkins;” v. “The Scapegoat;” vi. “Sir Walter [Raleigh]’s
Homecoming;” vii. “Cloth of Gold and Frieze.” Some of these
treat of the amours of great personages. Their standpoint is,
of course, English and Protestant. viii. “The Last Stand of the
O’Sullivans” is told with much spirit, and with sympathy for
the Irish cause. It does not include the famous retreat of the
O’Sullivans.
=HUNGERFORD, Mrs.= Born 1855. Daughter of Canon Hamilton, Rector of Ross,
Co. Cork. Ed. in Ireland. Her early home was St. Brenda’s, Co. Cork.
Wrote upwards of forty-six novels dealing with the more frivolous aspects
of modern society. They had a great vogue in their day. The most popular
of all was, perhaps, _Molly Bawn_ (1878). Most of her books appeared
Anon. Her plots are poor and conventional, but she possessed the faculty
of reproducing faithfully the tone of contemporary society. She died at
Bandon 1897.—(D.N.B.).
⸺ MOLLY BAWN. (_Smith, Elder_). 6_s._ and 2_s._ (BOSTON: _Caldwell_).
0.75. [1878].
“A love tale of a tender, but frivolous and petulant Irish
girl, who flirts and arouses her lover’s jealousy, and
who offends against the conventions in all innocence. A
gay and witty story spiced with slang, and touched with
pathos.”—(_Baker_).
⸺ A LITTLE IRISH GIRL; and other Stories. (LONDON: _Whitefriars Libr._).
1891.
⸺ THE O’CONNORS OF BALLYNAHINCH. Pp. 261. (_Heinemann_). 1_s._ 6_d._ 1896.
A domestic story of love and marriage in the Author’s lightest
vein. The characters belong chiefly to the landlord class, a
local carman being the only peasant introduced. There is no
expression of political views. The scene is laid in Cork.
⸺ NORA CREINA. Pp. 328. (_Chatto & Windus_). 1903.
A love-story from start to finish, without pretence of the
study of character. The story of how Norah is won from dislike
to love is pleasantly told. No politics. Peasants hardly
mentioned. Scene not specified.
=HUNT, B.=
⸺ FOLK TALES OF BREFFNY. Pp. viii. + 197. (_Macmillan_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1913.
Breffny, _i.e._, Cavan and Leitrim. Many of these stories—there
are twenty-six of them, all very short—“were told by an
old man, who said he had more and better learning nor the
scholars,” and are a curious mixture of literary language,
and a very peculiar and picturesque peasant dialect. They are
somewhat off the ordinary lines of folk-lore stories, and are
told in a quaint drily-humorous vein.
=HYDE, Dr. Douglas, LL.D., D.Litt.; “An Craobhin Aoibhinn.”= Son of
late Rev. Arthur Hyde, Frenchpark, Co. Roscommon. Ed. T.C.D. Has been
President of the Gaelic League since its foundation in 1893. Is Professor
of Modern Irish in the National University of Ireland.
⸺ BESIDE THE FIRE. Gaelic Folk-stories. Collected, ed. (Irish text facing
English), and trans. by D. H. With Introd., Notes on Irish text, and
Notes on tales, by Ed. and Alfred Nutt. Pp. lviii. + 204. (_Nutt_). 7_s._
6_d._ 1891.
Extremely interesting and valuable Preface (50 pages) by the
Author, in which he reviews what had been hitherto done for
Irish folk-lore, remarks on the genesis of the folk-tale, its
affinities with the Scotch folk-tale, and tells us where and
from whom and in what circumstances he got his stories, ending
by some explanations of the style of his translations. The
preface is followed by some critical remarks on it by Alfred
Nutt. The English of the translations is that of the peasants.
This is the first really scientific treatment of Irish
folk-lore.
⸺ THE ADVENTURES OF THE LAD OF THE FERULE.
⸺ THE ADVENTURES OF THE CHILDREN OF THE KING OF NORWAY. (_Irish Texts
Society_). 1899.
Two Irish romantic tales of the 16th and 17th centuries,
ed. and transl. for the first time with introd., notes, and
glossary. The “Lad” is a mysterious being who appears to
Murough, son of Brian Boru, and carrying home for him the
spoils of a miraculous hunting, demands as reward a certain
ferule that lies at the bottom of a lake. Murough slays a
serpent, and delivers the land of the Ever Young, which lies
at the bottom of the lake. The second is a long story of
enchantment and marvellous adventures.—(_Baker_, 2).
⸺ An Sgéalaidhe Gaedhealach: Connaught Folk Tales. Three Parts. With
French Trans. by Georges Dottin. (_Rennes_). Parts 1 and 2, 10_s._; Part
3, 2_s._ 1901.
⸺ LEGENDS OF SAINTS AND SINNERS. Pp. xiv. + 295. (_Talbot Press: Every
Irishman’s Library_). 2_s._ 6_d._ 1915.
Forty-six stories described by the Author as Christian
folk-lore, all translated for the first time from the Irish,
and for the most part gathered from the lips of the people
by the Author himself, who has been gathering folklore for
twenty-five years. Each tale is preceded by a preface giving
all the details of its collection, origin, character, &c., that
are of interest to the folk-lorist as well as to the general
reader. The tales are compared with similar tales occurring in
foreign countries.
=INGELOW, Jean. 1820-1897.=
⸺ OFF THE SKELLIGS. Three Vols. (_Keegan Paul._ BOSTON: _Roberts_).
[1872]. Second ed., _c._ 1881.
Has no other connection with Ireland than the episode of the
picking up near the Skellig Island, off Waterville, Co. Kerry,
of a boat’s crew that had escaped from a burning ship.
=IRVINE, Alexander.= B. in town of Antrim of very poor parents. Was a
newsboy in Antrim, a coal-miner in Glasgow, a Marine. Began again at
the bottom in N.Y. 1888, and went through extraordinary experiences. Is
a Socialist. Lives in Peekskill, N.Y. See his autobiography _From the
Bottom Up_. (_Heinemann_). 1910.
⸺ MY LADY OF THE CHIMNEY CORNER. Pp. 224. (_Nash_). 3_s._ 6_d._ net.
Eight eds. in three or four months. 1914.
Sub-t.:—“A story of love and poverty in Irish peasant life.”
The central figure—almost the only figure in the book—is Anna
Gilmore, a poor woman living in Pogue’s Entry, in the town of
Antrim. Brought up as a pious Catholic by Catholic parents,
she marries a Protestant against their wish. Henceforth she
has renounced Catholicism, having chosen, as she says, love
instead of religion. To show that her choice was of the better
part seems to be the purpose of the Author. The book is a
lovingly-drawn portrait, with slight incidents, and the many
wise sayings of Anna as traits. There is a strong evangelical
religious atmosphere throughout. The story is largely in
dialect. It is laid in Famine times; yet there are several
mention of Fenians, which seems to spell Catholic. The book
would be better understood by a reading of the Author’s
autobiography, _From the Bottom Up_.
=IRVINE, G. Marshall, B.A., M.B.=
⸺ THE LION’S WHELP. Pp. 406. (_Simpkin_). 6_s._ 1910.
Introd. (by J. Campbell, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.S., LL.D. (_Hon.
Causa_)) says, “In writing _The Lion’s Whelp_ Dr. Irvine has
set before himself two main objects. He desires to inculcate
on the medical profession the necessity which exists for the
education of the public in all that pertains to the maintenance
of health ... and he wishes to impress upon the public all
that is summed up in the time-worn adage—‘Prevention is better
than cure.’” Incidentally, the book is also a satire against
professional make-believe. Scene varies between Belfast, the
North of England, and Denver City, U.S.A. The hero, Dan Nevin,
starts his career as a doctor, with high ideals—too high,
as he discovers, for real life. The story is concerned with
his love-affair and various other adventures. A fine plot,
well worked out, with several striking characters. Moral tone
high. Religion scarcely touched upon. There are interesting
descriptions of Co. Down scenery and of life in Queen’s
College, Belfast. The Author is a doctor, practising in Co.
Armagh.
=IRWIN, Madge.=
⸺ THE DIAMOND MOUNTAIN; or, Flowers of Fairyland. (DUNDALK: _The
Dundalgan Press_). 1_s._ Illustr. by A. Donnelly. 1908. Cover in white
and gold.
=IRWIN, Thomas Caulfield.= 1823-1892. Is better known as a poet than as
a prose-writer. Yet he wrote one hundred and thirty tales of various
length, essays on many subjects, and an historical romance “From Cæsar to
Christ.” He was of unsound mind for a number of years before his death.
⸺ WINTER AND SUMMER STORIES AND SLIDES OF FANCY’S LANTERN. Pp. 252. Close
print. (_Gill_). 1879.
Contents: 1. “Old Christmas Hall;” 2. “The First Ring”; 3.
“An Irish Fairy Sketch”; 4. “The Miser’s Cottage”; 5. “By
Moonlight”; 6. “By Gaslight”; 7. “A Visit to a Great Artist”;
8. “Falstaff’s Wake”; 9. “A Scene in Macbeth’s Castle”; 10.
“Julio”; 11. “A Death”; 12. “Visions of an Old Voyage from Rome
to Asia”; 13. “The Shores of Greece”; 14. “Theocritus”; 15. “A
Glimpse of Arcadia”; 16. “A Ballad of Old Dublin” (verse); 17.
“Corney McClusky” (verse); 18. “Ethel Maccara”; 19. “Pausias
and Glycera”; 20. “Manon and her Spirit Lover”; 21. “An Ancient
Aryan Legend”; 22. “A Florentine Fortune”; 23. “Insielle’s
Dimple and Fan.”
Miscellaneous sketches and stories. Several are literary
_jeux-desprit_ (_e.g._, 8, 9, 10). Others slight studies of
curious little aspects of life, rather imaginary than real.
For the most part, however, they are peculiar, weird tales,
several touching the preternatural, but not morbid. The prose
is poetic, imaginative, and of high literary qualities—at times
comparable with those of de Quincey, _e.g._, in No. 4, p. 72,
_sq._ Here and there are exquisite pen-pictures. Several of the
tales have Irish settings. No. 4 has curious pictures of old
Dublin, _c._ 1770.
=JACOBS, Joseph.=
⸺ CELTIC FAIRY TALES. Pp. xvi. + 274. (_Nutt_). 6_s._ Complete edition.
[1891]. Third, 1902.
Eight full-page plates and numerous illustrations in the text
by J. D. Batten. The pictures are exquisite, and could scarcely
be more appropriate. Interesting and valuable Notes and
References at end, about 30 pages, giving the source of each
tale and parallels. The tales are drawn mainly from previous
printed collections. The twenty-six tales include some Scotch
and Welsh. Some are hero-tales, as “Deirdre,” and “The Children
of Lir”; some folk-tales; some drolls, _i.e._, comic anecdotes
of feats of stupidity or cunning. There are practically no
fairy-tales properly so called. The tales are admirably
selected, and are told in simple, straightforward language.
⸺ MORE CELTIC FAIRY TALES. Pp. xvi. + 234. (_Nutt_). 6_s._ Complete
edition.
All that has been said of the first series can be applied to
the second, which is in every way worthy of its predecessor.
Twenty stories. The two volumes may fairly be said to
constitute the most representative and attractive collection of
Celtic tales ever issued.
⸺ CELTIC FAIRY TALES. By Joseph Jacobs and J. D. Batten. (_Nutt_). 3_s._
6_d._
⸺ MORE CELTIC FAIRY TALES. By the same Authors. (_Nutt_). 3_s._ 6_d._
The above are children’s editions of these well-known books.
The text is practically the same as in the complete edition,
but there are two or three illustrations omitted, as well as
the Introduction and Notes. The tales are well known to be
admirably suited to children.
N.B.—The same writers have edited _English Fairy Tales_, _More
English Fairy Tales_, _Indian Fairy Tales_, and _The Book of
Wonder Voyages_, which includes the voyage of Maelduin.
=“JAMES, Andrew”; James Andrew Strahan, LL.D.=, a Belfast man, Prof. of
Jurisprudence in the Queen’s Univ. there.
⸺ NINETY-EIGHT AND SIXTY YEARS AFTER. (_Blackwood_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1911.
In two parts. Part I. (four short stories) is told in dialect
(correctly rendered) by an old schoolmaster, and relates
incidents of the rebellion in Presbyterian Ulster, in which
the narrator’s father had played a part on the loyalist side.
Shows thorough understanding of the political and social
conditions of the time, and is written in evident sympathy with
the rebels, though with no blind partisanship. Part II. (four
chapters of a longer story) introduces the supernatural, ghosts
of ’98 returning to influence events sixty years after. A book
of much power and truth.
=JARROLD, Ernest.=
⸺ MICKEY FINN IDYLLS. Pp. 281. (N.Y.: _Harper_). 1899. Introd. by Charles
A. Dana (N.Y. _Sun_).
Reprinted from the SUNDAY SUN, LESLIE’S WEEKLY, &c. Micky is a
youngster of 9 or 10, born of Irish parents, settled at Coney
Island, where the scene of the idylls is laid. A good deal of
humour and some pathos. A goat figures largely in the sketches.
⸺ MICKY FINN’S NEW IRISH YARNS. N.Y. 1902.
=JAY, Harriett.= A sister-in-law and adopted daughter of the late Robert
Buchanan, Scottish poet and novelist. She lived for some years in Mayo,
and the result of her observations was two good novels. She wrote also
_Madge Dunraven_, and some other novels.
⸺ THE QUEEN OF CONNAUGHT. (_Chatto & Windus_). Picture boards. 2_s._
_n.d._ (1875).
How an Englishman, John Bermingham, fell in love with and
married the descendant of an old western family. How he
tried, but failed, to reform with English ideas the Connaught
peasantry. Told with considerable power and insight. Note
especially the description of a police hunt over the mountains
in the snow. Has been dramatised.
⸺ THE DARK COLLEEN. Three Vols. (_Bentley_). 1876.
Scene: an island off the W. coast. Morna Dunroon finds a French
sailor, survivor of a shipwreck. She afterwards marries him,
but he abandons her and goes back to France. She follows him,
and passes through strange adventures, but he is still false
to her. Nemesis follows in the end. Father Moy is a fine
portrait of a priest. The dialect and the scenery are both true
to the reality, the description of the storm at the close is
particularly well done.
⸺ THE PRIEST’S BLESSING; or, Poor Patrick’s progress from this world to a
better. Pp. 308. (_F. V. White_). Two eds. 1881.
A most objectionable book from a Catholic point of view. Very
hostile picture of priesthood of Ireland who keep the people
in “bovine ignorance.” The two specimens that appear in the
story are villains of the worst type. One is 25, and has been
seven years a priest! He drinks heavily, and works miracles. By
another a respectable peasant is incited to murder. The views
of politics can only be described as “Orange.”
⸺ MY CONNAUGHT COUSINS. Three Vols. (_F. V. White_). 1883.
Jack Kenmare goes to his uncle’s place in Connaught, and has a
pleasant time in company with his cousins. He becomes engaged
to one of them, who writes stories. Several of these are given.
An excellent moral tale, and a glimpse of happy Irish life in a
country house. The political point of view is not Nationalist:
neither is it hostile to Ireland.
=JEBB, Horsley.=
⸺ SPORT ON IRISH BOGS. Pp. 192. (_Everett_). 1_s._ Paper. 1910.
Farcical Irish stories by a Londoner who occasionally shoots
and fishes in Ireland. Peasants made grotesque, but Author has
no hostile intentions. Nondescript dialect. “A Home in Calery”
is quite different, and makes very pleasant reading. “Sister
Eugenia” is an agreeable, melodramatic story.
=JESSOP, George H.= B. in Ireland; ed. at Trinity. Went to U.S.A., 1873.
Edited JUDGE (1884), and contributed to other humorous papers. Wrote
some very successful plays. He died in 1915 at Hampstead. Another of his
novels is _The Emergency Men_, a novel in which he pictures the land
troubles in Ireland from the anti-popular point of view.
⸺ GERALD FRENCH’S FRIENDS. Pp. 240. (_Longmans_). Well illustr. 1889.
Six stories reprinted from the CENTURY MAGAZINE, 1888. Gerald,
a spendthrift son of good family, takes to journalism, and
goes to San Francisco. There he meets various types of his
fellow-countrymen, and the stories are about these. “All the
incidents related in this book are based on fact, and several
of them are mere transcripts from actual life.... The purpose
is to depict a few of the most characteristic types of the
native Celt of the original stock, as yet unmixed in blood, but
modified by new surroundings and a different civilization.” An
excellent work, and perhaps the Author’s best.
⸺ WHERE THE SHAMROCK GROWS. (_Murray & Evenden_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1911.
A rather commonplace story. The characters are mostly of the
squireen class, notably the drunken Mat O’Hara. There are two
love stories, both having happy conclusions, to which the
racehorse Liscarrick largely contributes. “The paper is poor
and the binding tawdry.”—(I.B.L.) “The writer has only put on
record that part of his experience which can be reconciled with
conceptions derived from Lever.”—(IRISH TIMES).
⸺ DESMOND O’CONNOR. Pp. 320. (_Long_). 6_s._ 1914.
The “Wild Geese” in Flanders. Desmond is the “Lion of the Irish
Brigade.” A love story that moves through camps and courts,
siege, battle, adventure, misunderstanding, to a happy ending,
under the aegis of the _Grand Monarque_. Told with spirit and
verve.
=JOHNSTON, Miss.=
⸺ ELLEN: A Tale of Ireland. Pp. 139. 16mo. (LONDON). 1843.
A curious and rather meaningless little story. Ellen O’Rorick,
daughter of a drunken tavern keeper, of Leixlip, goes to
England, and mixes in high society. Forgotten and looked down
upon by her childhood’s friend, whom she loves, she marries
in succession two elderly, rich men, and then settles in
Ireland to a life of philanthropy, having meanwhile become a
Protestant. A good deal of moralising.
=JOHNSTON, M. L.=
⸺ MAVOURNEEN; or, The Children of the Storm. Pp. 233. (_Walter Scott_).
1904.
Kitty O’Neill on her way to her aunt at Lostwin, in England,
is saved from a wreck by Ralph Whitteridge, of that place.
Kitty grows up, and has several suitors, but meets Ralph again,
and marries him in spite of the aunt who wishes her to marry
Edward, the Squire. Some of the action takes place at Malhay,
in the S. of Ireland, Kitty’s native place. Kitty dies, and
Ralph takes to drink, but is rescued by a former rival, and on
the voyage out to S. Africa proves his sterling worth, but is
drowned in a storm along with his little boy, Curly. Author’s
knowledge of Ireland very slight. Brogue poor. No anti-Catholic
bias.
=JOHNSTON, William=, of Ballykilbeg, 1829-1902. Was in his day one of
the most strenuous opponents of Home Rule, a leader of Orangemen, and
Unionist M.P. for Belfast during many years. His novels reflect his
political opinions.
⸺ NIGHTSHADE. (BELFAST: _Aicken_). 2_s._ Portrait. [_c._ 1870]. Many
editions; the last _c._ 1902.
The hero, Charles Annandale, a young Ulster landlord and an
Oxfordman, returns to Ireland in the thick of the agrarian
agitation. His agent is shot by Ribbonmen, who had been
previously absolved by the priest. He is an unsuccessful
candidate for Parliament. The election is well described, the
Author probably drawing on his experiences at Downpatrick in
1857. Among the characters is Rev. Mr. Werd (Dr. Drew, of
Belfast). The sister of Charles’s betrothed is entrapped by
a Jesuit, who poses as her guardian, and immured in a Paris
convent, but is released after a lawsuit. There is much
denunciation of “prowling Jesuits,” “Liberal Protestants,” and
“Puseyite Traitors.”
⸺ UNDER WHICH KING. Pp. 308. (_Tinsley_). 1873.
A plain historical narrative, with little plot, and no
character drawing of the various events of 1688-91—Derry, the
Boyne, &c. Very strong Williamite bias.
=JONES, T. Mason.=
⸺ OLD TRINITY: a Tale of real life. Three Vols. 1867.
Period, _c._ 1850. Scene: T.C.D., Ossory, and Co. Limerick.
Career, told by himself of a brilliant young Trinity man,
including a love story. A fine piece of narrative. But the
chief source of interest, perhaps, is the account of the land
troubles of the day, as the very sympathetic picture of the
sufferings of the peasantry during and after the Famine years.
It includes portraits, drawn with feeling and admiration,
of an Ossory P.P., and of a dissenting minister. There are
pointed criticisms of educational methods and a study, none too
favourable, of life in T.C.D. The Author ran THE TRIBUNE in
Dublin in the fifties, and was afterwards well-known in England
as a lecturer of the Reform League.
=JOYCE, James A.= B. of Galway parentage about thirty years ago. Was
a student of Clongowes Wood College and of University Coll., Dublin.
Published some years ago a small book of verse that has been much
admired, entitled _Chamber Music_. Is at present in Trieste.
⸺ DUBLINERS. Pp. 278. (_Grant, Richards_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1914.
Seventeen _genre_ studies in the form of stories picturing
life among the Dublin lower-middle and lower classes, but
from one aspect only, viz., the dark and squalid aspect. This
is depicted with almost brutal realism, and though there is
an occasional gleam of humour, on the whole we move, as we
read, in the midst of painful scenes of vice and poverty. His
characters seem to interest the author in so far as they are
wrecks or failures in one way or another. He writes as one who
knows his subject well.
=JOYCE, Patrick Weston, M.A., LL.D.= 1827-1914. B. at Ballyorgan, Co.
Limerick. Ed. at private schools; graduated at T.C.D. In 1845 he entered
the service of the Commissioners of National Education. He rose to be
principal of the Marlborough Street Training Schools, Dublin. Elected
M.R.I.A., 1863; President of Royal Society of Antiquaries. Wrote several
histories of Ireland, of one of which 86,000 copies were sold. Publ.
works on Irish place-names, Irish music, a grammar of the Irish language,
a social history of Ancient Ireland, &c., &c. D. Jan., 1914. He was
writing practically up to the day of his death.
⸺ OLD CELTIC ROMANCES. Pp. xx. + 474. (_Longmans_). [1879]. Third ed.,
revised and enlarged. 1907.
Thirteen tales, selected and translated from the manuscripts of
Trinity College and of the Royal Irish Academy. Some had been
already published, but in a form inaccessible to the public,
and in _literal_ translations made chiefly for linguistic
purposes. The author justly claims that this is “the first
collection of the old Gaelic prose romances that has ever
been published in fair English translation.”—(_Pref._). The
translations are, as the Author says, in “simple, plain, homely
English.” He has made little or no attempt to invest them with
the glamour of poetry. The text is preceded by some particulars
concerning these tales and their origin, and followed by notes
and a list of proper names. The tales are: “The Fates of the
Children of Lir, Tuireann and Usnach”; “The Voyages of Mailduin
and of the Sons of O’Corra”; “The Pursuit of the Gilla Dacker
and of Dermat and Grania”; “Connla of the Golden Hair”; “Oisin
in Tir-na-nOge,” &c. “I would bring out,” said Dr. Richard
Garnett, Librarian of the British Museum “Joyce’s _Irish
Romances_ in the cheapest possible form and place them in the
hands of every boy and girl in the country.”
=JOYCE, Robert Dwyer.= Brother of the preceding. B. Glenosheen, Co.
Limerick, 1830. Graduated in Queen’s Coll., Cork. Went to U.S.A. in 1866,
where he was very successful as a doctor. Returned to Ireland, 1883, and
died the same year. He is perhaps better known as a poet than as a prose
writer.
⸺ LEGENDS OF THE WARS IN IRELAND. Pp. 352. (BOSTON: _Campbell_). 1868.
Thirteen historical and semi-historical legends, told by
a thoroughly good story-teller, with plenty of colour and
exciting incident and without clogging erudition. “A Batch of
Legends” includes the story of the monks of Kilmacluth and
the wonderful bird, a story of love in the ’45 (Culloden,
&c.), a legend about Murrough of the Burnings, _c._ 1663, how
Patrick saved the life of his servant Duan, Black Hugh Condon’s
vengeance on the English, _c._ 1601; and another, “The Master
of Lisfinry,” the takings and retakings of Youghal during the
Desmond rebellion, story of a lost child found. “The Fair
Maid of Killarney”—the taking of Ross Castle by Ludlow during
Cromwellian wars. “An Eye for an Eye”—knightly combats during
the Bruce invasion, 1315. “The Rose of Drimnagh”—abduction
of Eleanora de Barneval of Drimnagh (near Inchicore) by the
O’Byrnes. “The House of Lisbloom,” a legend of Sarsfield and
the Rapparees, an exciting story. “The Whitethorn Tree,” a
strange tale of Rapparees and Puritans, abductions and rescues
and fights. “The First and Last Lords of Fermoy,” 1216 and 1660
(the faithless Charles II.) “The Little Battle of Bottle Hill”
is another Rapparee story. “The Bridal Ring,” a story of Cahir
Castle. “Rosaleen; or, the White Lady of Barna”—end of 18th
century.
P.S.—Some of these Legends were publ. without the name of the
Author in cheap paper ed. by Cameron & Ferguson, of Glasgow,
under title, _Galloping O’Hogan, and other tales_, _n.d._
⸺ IRISH FIRESIDE TALES. Pp. 376. (_Boston_). 1871.
Sixteen stories, some historical (or pseudo-historical), some
legendary, some serious, some comic. The scenes are laid in
various parts of Ireland, and at various periods. Told in
very pleasant if somewhat old-fashioned style. Contents—“The
Geraldine and his Bride Fair Ellen”; “The Pearl Necklace”
(a love story of Kilmallock); “The Building of Mourne”
(Cork—Legend); “A Little Bit of Sport” (four comic stories);
“Madeline’s Vow” (modern); “The Golden Butterfly” (Co. Clare);
“Creevan, the Brown Haired”; “Mun Carberry and the Phooka”; “a
story of Dublin life in the days of Queen Ann,” &c. Very little
dialect.
=JUBAINVILLE, H. d’Arbois de.=
⸺ TÁIN BO CUALNGE. ENLÈVEMENT DU TAUREAU DIVIN ET DES VACHES DE COOLEY.
Pp. 190. (PARIS: _Champion_). En livraisons. 1907-9.
“La plus ancienne épopée de l’Europe occidentale traduite
par H. d’A. de J., Membre de l’Institut, Prof. au College de
France, avec la collaboration de MM. Alexandre Smirnoff et
Eugène Bibart.”
=KAVANAGH, Rev. M.=
⸺ SHEMUS DHU; the Black Pedlar of Galway. (_Duffy_). 2_s._ [LONDON:
1867]. Very many editions. Still in print. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 0.60.
Life in and about Galway during Penal times. The peasantry are
portrayed as well as the citizens and the upper classes. The
plot is somewhat rambling, yet the book is interesting. In
Allibone this is said to be by Maurice Dennis Kavanagh, LL.D.,
called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, 1866.
=KEARY, Miss Annie.= B. at Bilton Rectory, nr. Wetherby, Yorkshire,
1825. Her father, a Galway man, was rector of the parish. She wrote
many novels, _Early Egyptian History_, _The Nations Around_, _Heroes
of Asgard_, &c. She had very little personal knowledge of Ireland. D.
1879.—(D.N.B.). _See_ Memoir of Annie Keary, by her sister, 1882.
⸺ CASTLE DALY: The Story of an Irish House thirty years ago. Pp. 576.
(_Macmillan_). 3_s._ 6_d._ [1875]; often reprinted. Fourth ed., 1889.
(PHILADELPHIA: _Porter_). 1.00.
Period: the Famine years and Smith O’Brien rising. The
sufferings of the people sympathetically described. The Young
Ireland movement dwelt on both from an English and an Irish
standpoint. All through the book constant contrast between
English and Irish characters, showing their incompatibility,
and on the whole the superiority of the English; yet the book
shows sympathies with Home Rule, to which one of the chief
characters is converted. There are some descriptions of scenery
in Connemara.
=KEEGAN, John.=
⸺ LEGENDS AND POEMS. Pp. 552. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1907.
Memoir of Author by D. J. O’Donoghue, pp. v.-xxxiii. He was a
self-educated Midlands peasant, who lived in the first half of
the last century. This miscellany consists of (_a_) Six tales
of the Rockites, the brutal doings of a secret society that
flourished about 1830; (_b_) Legends and tales of the peasantry
of Queen’s County and North Munster; (_c_) Pp. 289-446,
“Gleanings in the Green Isle,” a series of letters written in
1846 to DOLMAN’S, a London Catholic magazine, which deals with
Irish country life, and are interspersed with stories; (_d_)
Pp. 493-552, Poems.
=KEIGHTLEY, Sir Samuel R.= B. Belfast, 1859. Son of S. Keightley, of
Bangor, Co. Down. Ed. Queen’s Coll., Belfast. Contested Antrim as Indep.
Unionist (1903), and S. Derry as Liberal (1910). Member of Senate of
Queen’s Univ. Resides in Lisburn, Co. Antrim. Other works:—_A King’s
Daughter_, _The Cavaliers_, _Heronford_, &c.
⸺ THE CRIMSON SIGN. Pp. 189. (_Hutchinson_). 6_s._, and 6_d._ (N.Y.:
_Harper_). 1.50. [1894].
Adventures of a Mr. Gervase Orme, “sometime lieutenant in
Mountjoy’s (Williamite) regiment of foot,” previous to and
during the siege of Derry. The story is told with great verve,
and is full of romantic and exciting adventure. There is little
or no discussion of politics, and no bitter partisan feeling.
⸺ THE LAST RECRUIT OF CLARE’S. (_Hutchinson_). (N.Y.: _Harper_). 1.50.
[1897]. 1908.
A stirring and exciting story of the Irish Brigade in Jacobite
days, told in bold, dashing style. Strong pro-Jacobite feeling.
Part of the story takes place at Kilmallock, Co. Limerick,
the rest on the Continent—Tournay, Fontenoy, &c. Madame de
Pompadour is one of the historical personages.
⸺ THE PIKEMEN. Pp. viii + 311. Well illustrated. (_Hutchinson_). 6_s._
1903.
The supposed “narrative of Rev. Patrick Stirling, M.A., of
Drenton, Sangamon Co., Ill., U.S.A., formerly of Ardkeen, Co.
Down,” telling his experiences in the Ards of Down (district
between Strangford Lough and the sea) during the rising.
Presbyterian-Nationalist bias. Strong character study. Faithful
descriptions of scenery. The study of the Government spy is
especially noteworthy.
⸺ A BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK. Pp. 319. (_Long_). 1906.
A swaggering young bravo—a faint imitation of Barry
Lyndon—tells his adventures in Dublin and on the Continent in
the days of the drinking, gambling, out-at-elbows squireens
(end of eighteenth century). The hero is thus described:—“I
should like to have seen the man who at cards, drinking punch,
riding or selling a horse, deludhering a woman, or winging his
man had any advantage of Rody Blake” (p. 12). A facetious,
swashbuckler tone is adopted throughout.
⸺ RODY BLAKE.
The preceding book seems to have been publ. also under this
title, or possibly this is a sequel, but I failed to come
across it, in spite of much research.
=KELLY, Eleanor F.= Resides in Dublin. She is a constant contributor to
Catholic periodicals here and in the States.
⸺ BLIND MAUREEN; and other Stories. Pp. 160. (_Washbourne_). 2_s._ _n.d._
(1913).
Ten short stories reprinted from THE CATHOLIC FIRESIDE, and
other Catholic magazines. High moral tone, characterisation
good, dialogue (often in dialect) natural. St. Antony plays a
prominent part. “The Fate of the Priest Hunter” is a tale of
18th century persecution in Ireland.
⸺ OUR LADY INTERCEDES. Pp. 210. (_Washbourne_). 2_s._ 6_d._ 1913.
Twelve stories, several of which are Irish, devoted to showing
the care of the Blessed Virgin for those who invoke her. One
relates to Cromwellian times, but for the most part the stories
relate to the present time.
⸺ THE THREE REQUESTS; and other Stories. Pp. 192. (_Duffy_). 3_s._ 6_d._
1914.
Twelve little stories, Irish in subject. The interest of the
story is always quite subordinate to the religious and moral
interest. The tales deal with answers to prayer (two of them
are about prayers to St. Antony), the evils of emigration,
and of proselytism, the reward of charity, &c., one is a
ghost-story. They are told with great simplicity.
=KELLY, Peter Burrowes.= 1811-1883. B. Stradbally, Queen’s Co. Took an
active part in politics, and was a noted speaker. Died in Dublin.
⸺ THE MANOR OF GLENMORE; or, The Irish Peasant. Three Vols. (LONDON: _Ed.
Bull_). 1839.
Scene: Stradbally, in the Queen’s County. Most of the
personages of the tale and many of its incidents are real.
The country is very well described; the book has many
interesting incidents; peasant life is pictured with knowledge
and sympathy. The last year of the agitation for Catholic
Emancipation is the period dealt with. The famous Clare
election is described, and there is a character sketch of
Dr. Doyle (“J.K.L.”). It criticised strongly the Protestant
ascendancy and landlord party, dwells upon the doings of
Orangemen and of Whiteboys, and the attempts to reconcile the
two factions.
=KELLY, William Patrick.= B. 1848. Son of John Kelly, of Mount Brandon,
Graigue, Co. Kilkenny. Ed. Clongowes Wood College and R.M.A. Woolwich.
Late R. Artillery. Lives in Harrogate. Has written seven or eight other
stories, chiefly semi-historical adventure stories.
⸺ SCHOOLBOYS THREE. Pp. 320. (_Routledge_). 3_s._ 6_d._ Eight illustr.
(good). [1895]. Several new eds.
A story of school-boy life at Clongowes Wood College in the
early ’sixties, told in a pleasant and picturesque style, and,
almost all through, with frank fidelity to reality. It is full
of lively incident. Was highly praised by the leading literary
reviews.
=[KEMBLE, Ann]; “Ann of Swansea.”=
⸺ GERALD FITZGERALD; an Irish Tale. Five Vols (!). (LONDON: _Newman_).
1831.
Gerald, whose Catholic wife has deserted him, lives in an
old half-ruined family castle, near Armagh. The book is
an interminable (1698 pp.) series of petty scandals and
flirtations, gossip, and matchmaking among the titled persons
living in “Doneraile Castle,” and “Lisburn Abbey.” The insipid
affairs of an out-of-date _beau monde_. This Author also wrote
_Uncle Peregrine’s Heiress_, _Conviction_, _Guilty or not
Guilty_, and many other stories.
=KENNEDY, Patrick; “Harry Whitney.”= Born in Co. Wexford, 1801. In
1823 he removed to Dublin, and for the greater part of his life he
kept a bookshop in Anglesea Street. His sketches of Irish rural
life as he had known it are told with spirit, and with a kind of
photographic literalness and exactness. They are very free from anything
objectionable. Dr. Douglas Hyde, speaking of his folk-lore, says that
“many of his stories appear to be the detritus of genuine Gaelic
folk-stories filtered through an English idiom and much impaired and
stunted in the process. He appears, however, not to have adulterated them
very much.” In the Pref. to _Evenings in the Duffrey_ he says (and the
remarks apply to his other books), “On all other points [viz., than the
matrimonial fortunes of his hero and heroine] there is not a fictitious
character, nor incident in the mere narrative, nor legend related, nor
ballad sung, which was not current in the country half a century since.
The fireside discussions were really held, and the extraordinary fishing
and hunting adventures detailed, as here set down.” He died in 1873.
⸺ LEGENDS OF MOUNT LEINSTER. Pp. 283. 16mo. (_Dublin_). 1855.
Title of a miscellany published under pseudonym of “Harry
Whitney.” Contains: “Three Months in Kildare Place,” “Bantry
and Duffrey Traditions,” “The Library in Patrick Street”; in
all nine sketches, four of which are stories supposed to be
told at fireside of Wexford farm-house. Careful picture of
manners and customs. No. 1 is a story of the time of Brian,
_c._ 1001 A.D. 3. A love-tale of the days of Sarsfield. 6.
Penal days, a hunted priest.
⸺ FICTIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 1859.
⸺ LEGENDARY FICTIONS OF THE IRISH CELTS. (_Macmillan_). [1866]. Several
eds. since.
Over 100 stories, given, for the most part, “as they were
received from the story-tellers with whom our youth was
familiar.” They are derived from the English-speaking peasantry
of County Wexford. They include “Household Stories” (wild and
wonderful adventures), “Legends of the Good People” or fairies,
witchcraft, sorcery, ghosts and fetches, Ossianic, &c.,
legends, and “Legends of the Celtic Saints.” All these are in
this book published for the first time. All through there is an
interesting running comment, introductory and connective. The
book is hardly suitable for children.
⸺ THE BANKS OF THE BORO. Pp. 362. (_M’Glashan & Gill_). 2_s._ [1867]. New
ed., 1875, &c.
Into the tissue of a pleasant and touching story of quiet
country life in North-west Wexford the Author has woven a
collection of tales, ballads, and legends, some of which are
of high merit. They contain a wealth of information on local
customs and traditions. Incidentally, Irish peasant character
is truthfully painted in all its phases—grave, gay, humorous,
and grotesque. The moral standard is very high throughout.
There are many vivid descriptions of scenery. The whole is told
in a simple, pleasant, genial style. The Author tells us that
the chief incidents, circumstances, and fireside conferences
mentioned in the book really occurred.
⸺ EVENINGS IN THE DUFFREY. Pp. 396. (_M’Glashan & Gill_). 2_s._ 1869.
A kind of sequel to the _Banks of the Boro_. The adventures
of the hero, Edward O’Brien, are continued, the story being,
as before, interspersed with legends and ballads. It has the
same good qualities as the earlier book, the tone being again
thoroughly healthy.
⸺ THE FIRESIDE STORIES OF IRELAND. Pp. 162. 32mo. (_M’Glashan & Gill_).
1_s._ 6_d._ 1870.
“A good book” (Douglas Hyde in _Beside the Fire_). Fifty tales,
chiefly fairy and folk-lore, but of very varied types, full of
local colour and interest. Many of them are of the kind found
in the folk-tales of all nations, but have an unmistakably
Irish (not stage-Irish) savour. Moreover, they are told with
vivacity, quaintness, and sly humour. A good selection,
suitable for readers of any age or class.
⸺ THE BARDIC STORIES OF IRELAND. Pp. 227. (_M’Glashan & Gill_). 2_s._
[1871].
Fifty-eight stories, founded, some on pagan myth, others on
historical traditions of great families. All were originally
found in poetic form, and many of them retain much of their
poetic qualities. Many are told with a singular humorous
naïveté. In all the language is simple but very adequate and
dignified. They are free from anything that would make them
unsuitable for the young.
⸺ THE BOOK OF MODERN IRISH ANECDOTES. Pp. 192. 12mo. New ed. (_Gill_).
6_d._ Has passed through several editions and is still in print. 1913.
“Has no higher ambition than that of agreeably occupying a
leisure hour.”—(_Pref._). “It has entered into the present
writer’s purpose to draw the attention of his readers to the
principal events in the history of his country since the
Revolution of 1691.”—(_Pref._). Anecdotes of Swift, Sheridan,
Curran, Moore, O’Connell, &c. Stories of duelling, gaming,
hunting, shooting, acting, electioneering, drinking. Taken
from such Authors as R. R. Madden, W. J. Fitzpatrick, Sir John
Gilbert, Sir Jonah Barrington, Hon. Edward Walsh, &c., &c. Free
from coarseness, and practically free from the Stage-Irishman.
In the new ed. there are about 200 proverbs transl. from the
Irish and an Index.
=KENNEDY, Rev. John J.=
⸺ CARRIGMORE; or, Light and Shade in West Kerry. Pp. 128. (_Office of
Chronicle_: WANGARATTA). 1909.
=KENNY, Mrs. Stacpoole.= D. of J. R. Dunne, of Ennistymon, Co. Clare, and
wife of T. H. Kenny, of Limerick, near which city she resides.
⸺ JACQUETTA. Pp. 227. (_Washbourne_). 2_s._ 6_d._ (N.Y.: _Benziger_).
0.75. 1910.
Scene: Kilrush, Co. Clare, and London. The story of an
Irish-Australian girl who comes to live in Ireland with her
uncle, Dr. Desmond. She had contracted an unhappy marriage, but
believed her husband dead. The story tells how she finds him,
and the fate that overtakes him. There is also the love-story
of Dr. Desmond. In the end all is well with uncle and niece.
⸺ LOVE IS LIFE. Pp. 317. (_Greening_). 6_s._ 1910.
The heroine, Iseult Dymphna Macnamara, whose mother was French,
lives at the Court of Louis XIV. at the time when James II.
held his exiled Court at St. Germain. She loves the son of
Sarsfield, but is forced by circumstances into a loveless
marriage with a noble and chivalrous Frenchman, St. Amand, whom
the king had chosen for her. St. Amand goes off to the wars
(Steenkirk and Landen), and meantime the king pursues Iseult
with amorous attentions. To avoid them she flies to Ireland.
Here we get a glimpse of the Penal days in Co. Clare. All comes
right when Iseult comes to love her husband. Brightly and
entertainingly told.
⸺ CARROW OF CARROWDUFF. Pp. 331. (_Greening_). 6_s._ 1911.
Scene: West County (obviously Clare). The hero, son of an
unpopular landlord, whose cattle have been houghed and
otherwise maimed, goes, in spite of warnings, to a wake among
the tenantry. This wake is described as a scene of savagery.
On his return he is “shot at” and wounded, and there comes
to nurse him a young nun with whom, before her entrance into
religious life, he had fallen in love. It turns out that
she had entered the convent in a moment of pique. The hero
accordingly proposes, and they are married by the death-bed of
his father, who has fallen a victim to the League.
⸺ THE KING’S KISS. Pp. 288. (_Digby, Long_). 6_s._ 1912.
A kind of sequel to _Love is Life_. How Iseult, who tells the
story, buys the life of her cousin Harry Macnamara by a kiss
given to Louis XIV. This, though innocent on her part, was the
beginning of her troubles. Her enraged husband rides post-haste
to Versailles to tell Louis what he thinks of him. St. Armand
disappears, and Iseult almost dies of fever; but through
a whole series of plots and court intrigues and exciting
adventures things right themselves at last. James II., the
Duchess of Tyrconnell, and many other historical persons play a
part in the romance.
⸺ OUR OWN COUNTRY. Pp. 142. (_Duffy_). 2_s._ 1913.
Sequel to _Carrow of Carrowduff_, with same personages. Several
interwoven love stories—in particular that of an English
Protestant gentleman (converted in the course of the tale)
with Mrs. Monsel, a widow, mother-in-law to Corona Carrow, who
tells part of the story. The _dénouement_ has a deep religious
interest, which indeed is the chief interest of the whole book.
⸺ DAFFODIL’S LOVE AFFAIRS. Pp. 320. (_Holden & Hardingham_). 6_s._ 1913.
A story of life among gentlefolk. Scene: near Carlingford and
in London. D.’s mother, of a good but impoverished family, has
five daughters on her hands, and the way in which these are
married off, partly owing to her matchmaking exertions, forms
the burden of the story. For the most part it is a light and
vivacious story of social life and flirtations, but an element
of tragedy is introduced in one of the subsidiary love-stories,
that of D.’s sister Kit, who was thus punished for a flirtation
carried on with Sir Dermot de Courcy while his wife was still
alive.
⸺ MARY: A Romance of West County. Pp. 273. (_Washbourne_). 2_s._ 6_d._
1915.
On leaving her convent school in Dublin, Mary goes home to
realise for the first time that her father not only cares
little for her but dislikes her (her birth had cost her
mother’s life). But in the long run she wins his love. There
is a double love story—her own and that of her madcap, slangy,
tomboy cousin Benigna. The Author is persistently vivacious and
sprightly (calling in slang to her assistance) in a way that
might irritate. There is no repose or quiet beauty about the
style.
=KENNY, Louise.=
⸺ THE RED-HAIRED WOMAN: Her Autobiography. Pp. 400. (_Murray_). 6_s._
1905.
The interest centres in an old county family of Thomond, the
O’Currys. Characters typical of various conditions of life in
Ireland: an unpopular, police-protected landlord, a landowner
with an encumbered estate, an upstart usurer, faithful
retainers, evicted tenants, etc. (_N.I.R._, Dec., 1905).
=KENNY, M. L.=
⸺ THE FORTUNES OF MAURICE CRONIN. Three Vols. (_Tinsley_). 1875.
A very long novel with a very complicated plot and without a
trace of brightness or of humour. The plot turns chiefly on
a case of mistaken identity. Maurice returns from soldiering
in India to find that he is really heir to the estates of the
Grace family, and can marry Mary Grace, his cousin, whom his
putative mother had thought to be his sister. No national
interest. Date 184-. Places such as Deverell’s Chase, Desmond’s
Tower, Rathcroghan, are mentioned.
=KERR, Eliza.=
⸺ SLIEVE BLOOM. Pp. 153. (_Wesleyan Conference Office_). Three illustr.
1881.
A little non-controversial Methodist story for young people.
Tells (in the present tense throughout) how May and Willie
lived a very poor life with their maternal grandmother, but
by the coming of their father’s mother were raised to better
circumstances. Nice descriptions of Mountmellick, the Bog of
Allen, and Slieve Bloom.
⸺ KILKEE. Pp. 193. (_Wesleyan Methodist School Union_). Third ed. 1885.
A moral and religious (but not controversial) tale. Adventures
of two boys near the Pollock Hole Rocks, Kilkee, the scenery
around which is well described. On all occasions the boys quote
Scripture texts, and the piety of the personages concerned is
constantly insisted on.
⸺ KEENA KARMODY, &c.: A Tale. Pp. 192. (_Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School
Union_). 1887.
Also _The Golden City_, _Hazel Haldene_, and four or five
others.
=KETTLE, Rosa Mackenzie.=
⸺ ROSE, SHAMROCK, AND THISTLE. Pp. 286. (_Fisher, Unwin_). 6_s._ 1893.
“A Story of two Border Towers.” Rhoda Carysfort, an Irish girl,
comes to live with her English cousins, and eventually marries
a Scotch laird. Except for the heroine’s nationality there is
nothing Irish about the story, though the Author’s sympathies
are with Ireland. The tone is very “respectable” and somewhat
prim. It seems intended as a book of instruction for girls.
=KICKHAM, Charles J.= B. Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary, 1828. Began early
to write for nationalist papers—THE NATION, THE CELT, THE IRISHMAN, THE
IRISH PEOPLE. Most of his contributions were verse, but to THE SHAMROCK
he contributed his chief novels. He threw himself into the Fenian
movement, was arrested along with John O’Leary, and sentenced to fourteen
years’ penal servitude. His health never recovered from this period of
prison. He died in 1882 at Blackrock, near Dublin. See the short _Life_
by J. J. Healy, publ. 1915 by Messrs. Duffy. Besides the novels mentioned
below, Kickham wrote the following short stories:—“Poor Mary Maher” (a
sad tale of ’98); “Never Give Up,” “Annie O’Brien,” “Joe Lonergan’s Trip
to the Lower Regions” (Irish life in the fifties, dealing largely with
land troubles); “White Humphrey of the Grange: A Glimpse of Tipperary
fifty years ago”; “Elsie Dhuv” (a story of ’98, full of incident, much
of it humorous). These tales have been collected for publication in the
near future by Mr. William Murphy, of Blackrock. K. knew thoroughly and
loved intensely his own place and people. He had wonderful powers of
observation and a great fund of quiet humour.
⸺ SALLY CAVANAGH. (_Duffy_). 2_s._ [1869]. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 0.75. New
ed. 1902.
Kickham’s first story. Contains in germ all the great qualities
of _Knocknagow_. We feel all through that it is the work of a
man of warm, tender, homely heart—a man born and bred one of
the people about whom he writes. It is a simple and natural
tale of love among the small farmer class. Sally Cavanagh’s
tragedy is due to the combined evils of landlordism and
emigration. Some of the saddest aspects of the latter are dwelt
upon. The book is quite free from declamation and moralizing,
the events being left to tell their own sad tale. Perhaps the
noblest characters in the book are the Protestant Mr. and Mrs.
Hazlitt. There is no trace of religious bigotry. There are
touches of humour, too—for example, the love affairs of Mr.
Mooney and the inimitable scene between Shawn Gow and his wife.
⸺ KNOCKNAGOW. Pp. 628. (_Duffy_). 3_s._ 6_d._ [1879]. Upwards of 14 eds.
since. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 1.25.
One of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all Irish novels.
Yet it is not so much a novel as a series of pictures of life
in a Tipperary village. We are introduced to every one of its
inhabitants, and learn to love them nearly all before the end.
Everything in the book had been not only seen from without
but _lived_ by the Author. It is full of exquisite little
humorous and pathetic traits. The description of the details
of peasant life is quite photographic in fidelity, yet not
wearisome. There is the closest observation of human nature
and of individual peculiarities. It is realism of the best
kind. The incidents related and some of the discussions throw
much light on the Land Question. The Author does not, however,
lecture or rant on the subject. Occasionally there are tracts
of middle-class conversation that would, I believe, be dull for
most readers.
⸺ FOR THE OLD LAND. Pp. 384. (_Gill_). 2_s._ [1886]. New ed. 1914. (N.Y.:
_Benziger_). 0.75.
Main theme: the fortunes and the sufferings of an Irish family
of small farmers under the old land system. The peasant’s love
of home and the bitter sadness of emigration are brought out in
the unfolding of the tale. All through there runs a love-tale
told with the Author’s usual restraint, simplicity, and
delicate analysis of motive. There is a humorous element, too,
amusing bailiffs and policemen furnishing much of it. Constable
Sproule driving home the pigs is capitally done. Rody Flynn is
a grand old character, evidently sketched from life.
⸺ THE PIG-DRIVING PEELERS.
Appears in one of the “Knickerbocker Nuggets,” entitled
“Representative Irish Tales.” Compiled, with Introd. and notes
by W. B. Yeats. (N.Y.: _Putnam_). Two Vols. _n.d._
=KING, Richard Ashe; “Basil,” “Desmond O’Brien.”= The Author is (1914)
Staff Extension Lecturer of Oxford and London Universities. Has
contributed a good deal to the CORNHILL and to the PALL MALL GAZETTE, and
is reviewer for TRUTH. Has written, besides the books noticed here, _Love
the Debt_, _A Drawn Game_, _A Coquette’s Conquest_, and many others.
Also a life of Swift. B. Co. Clare. Ed. at Ennis Coll. and T.C.D. He
gave up in the eighties his living in the Church of England and began
contributing to FREEMAN’S JOURNAL, TRUTH, &c. “He is,” says W. P. Ryan in
his _The Irish Literary Revival_, “intensely Celtic, but too candid to
overlook the Celt’s failings.” For some time in the eighties he lived in
Blackrock, Co. Dublin. See Mrs. Hinkson’s _Reminiscences of Twenty-five
Years_, pp. 282-3.
⸺ THE WEARING OF THE GREEN. Pp. 299. (_Chatto & Windus_). 2_s._ 6_d._
1886.
A story of the course of true love, in which the lovers are
long kept apart by many untoward happenings. The writer’s
sympathies and the characters of his story are Protestant,
yet there is no hostility to Catholics, and one of the
pleasantest characters in the book is Father Mac. One of the
minor incidents of the story is connected with the Fenian
conspiracy. The chief interest of the book lies, perhaps, in
the drawing of the lesser characters. In his delineation of all
the English personages the Author is unsparingly caustic. The
book is brightly written; the conversation particularly good;
there is a vein of sarcasm throughout, and plenty of incident.
The author evidently sympathises with Irish grievances, and is
proud of his country.
⸺ BELL BARRY. (_Chatto_). 2_s._ 1891.
“An exciting story, laid in I., then in Liverpool, and in part
aboard a liner. The Irish servants and other minor characters
... provide a good deal of humorous talk.”—(_Baker_).
⸺ A GERALDINE. Two Vols. 1893. (_Ward & Downey_).
A story of almost contemporary life, largely concerned with
land troubles in Ireland. The heroine, a very attractive
character and a woman of great resourcefulness, is the daughter
of a rack-renting squireen, and is a contrast to the remainder
of the family, which is weak, idle, and selfish. Other
unpleasant characters are a villainous attorney and a bigoted
and pedantic clergyman. Some of the duties which the R.I.C.
have to perform are severely commented upon. The Author takes
the popular side. The incidents are related with spirit and
humour.
=KING, Toler.=
⸺ ROSE O’CONNOR: A Story of the Day. Pp. 173. (CHICAGO: _Sumner_). Second
ed. 1881.
Rose O’C. and Tim Brady love each other. Tim has to go to
America. Meanwhile the famine years come in Ireland. Rose’s
family is reduced to extremities, and she is compelled to
promise marriage to Tim’s rival in order to save it. But Tim
returns in the nick of time. Locality not indicated. Purpose,
to contrast the tyranny of landlordism with the refinement and
gentleness of the Irish peasantry. The tone is Catholic, but
not aggressively so.
=KINGSTON, W. H. G.=
⸺ PETER THE WHALER. Pp. 252. (_Blackie: Library of Famous Books_). 1_s._
Full size. Cloth. One Illustr. At present in print.
Peter associates with low company in his Irish home and gets
into such scrapes that he has to be sent to sea. The rest is a
fine series of adventures such as boys love. Here and there a
good moral lesson is slipped in, not too obtrusively. K. was a
great writer for boys. Allibone enumerates 161 of his works.
=KNOWLES, Richard Brinsley.= 1820-1882. B. Glasgow. Son of the dramatist,
James Sheridan Knowles, a Cork man who ended as a Baptist preacher. Was
at first a barrister, but took up journalism as a profession. In 1849
he became a Catholic. In 1853 _sq._ ed. of ILLUSTRATED LONDON MAGAZINE.
_Glencoonoge_ originally appeared as a serial in the MONTH.
⸺ GLENCOONOGE. Three Vols. (_Blackwood_). 1891.
Three threads of romance skilfully intertwined, the chief of
which is the love story of an English girl of gentle birth
and a splendid young Irish peasant. The scene is an inn in
a valley somewhere on the South-west coast. The valley as
described bears a strong resemblance to Glengarriff. The story
is eminently sane and natural, reading like a record of real
events. It is full of human interest, and is written in a
style unaffected yet charmingly literary. There are some good
portraits—the Protestant Rector, the lovable Father John,
Conn Houlahan, the hero, Old Mr. Jardine, the O’Doherty. The
description of an Irish Sunday is one of the most beautiful
in fiction. The book shows understanding sympathy for Irish
characteristics and ideals.
=[KNOX, Rev. J. Spencer]; “An Irish Clergyman.”=
⸺ PASTORAL ANNALS. Pp. 397. (LONDON: _Seeley_). [1840]. Second ed., 1841.
Contents:—“The Sick Parish,” “The First Death,” “The Sermon,”
“The Warning,” “The Private Still,” “The Pluralist,” “The Inn,”
“The School,” “Ribbonism” (a very unfavourable picture of
bailiffs, process-servers. Very fair towards Catholics); “The
Night,” “The Starving Family,” “The Birth,” “The Soup Shop”
(Famine of 1817), “Death by Starvation,” “The Confessional”
(a plea for private confession), “Family Worship,” “Tithe
Setting,” “Lough Derg” (facetious in tone. Lough D. pilgrimage
= “a scene of mockery and dissoluteness”). A series of
studies—for the most part careful and sympathetic—of peasant
life as seen by a liberal-minded and kindly Protestant Rector.
The part of Ireland dealt with would appear to be Donegal.
=“LAFFAN, May,”= _see_ =HARTLEY=.
=LALOR, Desmond.=
⸺ LOUGHBAR. Pp. 252. (_Stockwell_). 6_s._ 1914.
Adventures, not of a very remarkable kind, of a young doctor in
the W. of Ireland, locality indefinite. He is presented with a
practice, and a furnished house. There is a ghost, but he is
not a real one, and rather commonplace. The whole thing is very
_couleur de rose_, everybody being nicely married off, and the
descriptions do not give the impression of things seen.
=LANE, Elinor Macartney.=
⸺ KATRINE. (_Harper_). 6_s._ 1909.
“An Irish-American love-story with scenes of planters’ life
in South Carolina. The Authoress has a keen appreciation of
the psychology of the Irish character, and in her portrayal
of Dermott MacDermott and Katrine Dulany, she successfully
indicates the lights and shades of that puzzling combination of
mysticism and practicality.”—(IRISH TIMES).
=LANGBRIDGE, Rev. Frederick.= Rector of St. John’s, Limerick. Chaplain
district asylum. B. Birmingham, 1849. Ed. there, and at Oxford. D.Litt.,
T.C.D., 1907. Has publ. many volumes of poetry, and some plays.—(WHO’S
WHO).
⸺ MISS HONORIA. Pp. 216. (WARNE: _Tavistock Library_). 1894.
Sub-t.: “A tale of a remote corner of Ireland,” viz.,
“Carrowkeel,” a seaside village. Miss Honoria, a woman of 32,
full of piety and zeal, the prop of the parish, has never
known love till she meets Sebert, to whom she becomes engaged,
Sebert writes beautiful letters from London. Miss H. goes there
to find Sebert making love to her niece “Daisy.” H. stands
aside, and S. marries Daisy. They return to Ireland, where
S. makes love to a poor girl. She is drowned. H. dies, and
S. becomes an East End missionary. There is much sentiment.
Some pretty descriptions of scenery, and some good minor
characters—“Kevin Kennedy” and “Corney the Post.”
⸺ THE CALLING OF THE WEIR. Pp. 304. (Large print). (_Digby, Long_). 1902.
A love story of Protestant middle classes. Scene: near the
Shannon Weir and Falls of Donass, Co. Limerick. Two girls
become engaged to two men rather through force of circumstances
than for love. Problem: are the circumstances such as to
justify Mary in marrying the man she does not love. In a
strange way it comes about that each girl marries the other’s
fiancé, and finds happiness. Not without improbabilities, but
lively and piquant in style. Irish flavour and humour provided
by Mrs. Mack, the housekeeper, and Constable Keogh. By same
Author: _The Dreams of Dania_, _Love has no Pity_, &c.
⸺ MACK THE MISER. Pp. 125. (_Elliott Stock_). 1907.
A tale of middle class Protestant life in Limerick, turning on
the vindication of the supposed miser’s character by a young
girl. The tendency of the book is moral and religious.
=LANGBRIDGE, Rosamond.= Dau. of preceding. B. Glenalla, Donegal. Brought
up and ed. privately in Limerick. Has contributed short stories and
articles to the MANCHESTER GUARDIAN and to other periodicals. Her
attitude towards Ireland has been expressed in a fine passage worthy to
be quoted. “Nationalist by sympathy and inclination, but not by contact
or association, and belonging to no particular party or clique she
[the Author] believes in Ireland as the Land of Spiritual Happiness;
as the Land which has kept itself innocent, religious, and vividly
individualistic, in face of the wave of undistinguishable sameness which
is engulfing all national idiosyncrasy, and tends towards becoming the
Esperanto of the soul. Ireland she believes in as the Child-Soul amongst
nations, not to be deceived or bought, but perceiving and desiring with
incorruptible ingenuousness those things which alone make individual, as
well as national life worth while: Faith and Freedom before Subordination
and Sophistication, and the Traffic of the Heart to the Traffic of the
Mart.” Their necessary brevity must give to the following notes an
impression of want of sympathy. They scarcely do full justice to all the
qualities of the books.
⸺ THE FLAME AND FLOOD. Pp. xii. + 339. (_Fisher, Unwin_; _First Novel
Library_). 1903.
A love-story. The lovers marry other people _not_ for love.
It is only the presence of a child that prevents the heroine
from leaving her husband for her lover. There are accordingly
curious situations, but nothing positively immoral in the tone.
The story is well constructed. Scene: partly in Ireland, partly
in England.
⸺ THE THIRD EXPERIMENT. Pp. 300. (_Fisher, Unwin_). 1904.
The scene is laid amid very low class society in an Irish town.
The interest centres in a young girl who is reared on charity,
but finally marries a fairly respectable tradesman. The
personages of the story seem to be Protestants, but religion is
scarcely touched on. The brogue is very thick, but the stage
Irishman humour is absent. There is a persistent attempt to
study types and characters.
⸺ AMBUSH OF YOUNG DAYS. Pp. vii. + 344. (_Duckworth_). 1906.
The scene is laid in a temperance hotel. The central character
is a young girl, daughter of proprietor, who is given to
telling out the truth in a most unnecessary and inconvenient
manner. The lodgers come prominently into the story, and the
heroine ends by marrying one of them.
⸺ THE STARS BEYOND. Pp. vii. + 375. (_Nash_). 1907.
A problem novel dealing with an ill-assorted marriage—the
wife’s name (symbolic) is “Vérité,” the husband’s “Virtue”;
hence the clash. Religion enters largely into the book. Types
of Irish Protestant clergy. The writer’s sympathy seems to
waver between Catholicism and Protestantism, but the heroine
rejects both. The servants’ talk in conventional brogue.
⸺ IMPERIAL RICHENDA. Pp. 313. (_Alston Rivers_). 6_s._ 1908.
Scene: a small watering-place near Dublin. A fantastic comedy,
somewhat vulgar in places, but on the whole amusing, abounding
as it does in bright dialogue, and in absurdly comical
situations. Some shrewd strokes of satire are aimed at Dublin
Society, and there are piquant sayings on other subjects.
The central figure is a young lady who takes a situation as
waitress in a small hotel. Her character is so equivocal that
the book cannot be recommended for general reading.
=LARMINIE, William. B.= 1849, in Co. Mayo. D. at Bray, 1900. Was many
years in the Civil Service. He is better known as a poet, Author of
_Glanlua_ and _Fand_, than as a folk-lorist.
⸺ WEST IRISH FOLK-TALES AND ROMANCES. Pp. xxvi. + 258. (_Elliot Stock_).
3_s._ 6_d._ 1898.
Taken down, by the editor, between 1884 and 1898, word for word
in Irish from peasants in Galway (Renvyle), Mayo (Achill),
and Donegal (Glencolumbkille and Malinmore), and translated
literally. Interesting introduction on the origin and sources
of folk-lore. At the end are some remarks on phonetics,
which do not show a deep knowledge of the Irish system of
orthography, and specimens of the tales in Irish written
phonetically. The book is primarily for folk-lorists and some
naturalistic expressions render it unsuitable reading for the
young. There are eighteen stories in all.
N.B.—The Author tells us (introduction) that besides the
tales in this book, he has in his possession many others not
yet published. This collection, a large one, is preserved in
safety, but still awaits publication.
=“LAUDERDALE, E. M.”; Mrs. Moore.=
⸺ TIVOLI. Pp. 278. (CORK: _Guy_). 1886.
A family story (landlord class) laid first at Deer Park, near
Cork, afterwards in England, whither the family retires to be
out of the Land League agitation. This last is referred to
with evident aversion. The interest turns largely on a mystery
of identity. The Author knows the Cork district well, and
describes localities accurately. Her sympathies are clearly not
nationalist. The religious attitude is one of tolerance.
=LAWLESS, Hon. Emily.= B. in Ireland, 1845. Eldest d. of Lord Cloncurry.
Came to know the W. of Ireland through her associations with the home of
her mother’s family. Her mother was a Miss Kirwan, of Castle Hackett, Co.
Galway. _See_ Miss Lawless’s _Traits and Confidences_ for some memories
of her childhood. She went a good deal among the people in her natural
history excursions. She had wide knowledge of Irish history, as her
volume on _Ireland_ in the History of the Nations Series bears witness.
She wrote several books besides those here noted. D. 1913. For a good
article on her _see_ NINETEENTH CENTURY, July, 1914.
⸺ HURRISH. Pp. 342. (_Methuen_). [1886]. 1902.
Scene: a wild and poverty-stricken district in Clare. A view of
the bad days of the ’eighties by one to whom the Land League
stands for “lawlessness and crime.” The people are depicted as
half-savage. The story is a gloomy one, full of assassinations
and the other dark doings of the Land League. The picture it
gives of an Irish mother will jar harshly on the feelings of
most Irishmen. The Irish dialect is all but a caricature. Yet
the story met with an immediate and extraordinary success. In
a vol. publ. by Mr. Gladstone in 1892, _Special Aspects of the
Irish Question_, he says of _Hurrish_, “She has made present to
her readers, not as an abstract proposition, but as a living
reality, the estrangement of the people of Ireland from the
law.... As to the why of this alienation, also, she has her
answer (p. 309 of first ed.), ‘The old long-repented sin of the
stronger country was the culprit.’ She thinks there was a sin,
a deep sin, and (so I construe her) an inveterate sin, but a
sin now purged by repentance.”
⸺ WITH ESSEX IN IRELAND. Pp. 298. (_Methuen_). 6_s._ [1890]. New ed.,
1902.
A narrative of Essex’s Irish expedition, 1599, purporting to
be related by his private secretary. Pictures Elizabethan
barbarity in warfare. It has a strange element of the uncanny
and supernatural. Hints at the spell that Ireland casts over
her conquerors. Written in quaint Elizabethan English which
never lapses into modernness.
⸺ GRANIA: the Story of an Island. (_Smith, Elder_). 3_s._ 6_d._, and
2_s._ 6_d._ [1892].
A sympathetic picture of life in the Aran Islands, where
existence is a struggle against the elements. There are typical
characters, such as Honor, the saintly and patient, with her
eyes on the life beyond, and Grania, young and impetuous, and
longing for joy as she battles with the endless privations of
her stern lot, and the lover, Irish alike in his goodness and
in his vices. The success of this book exceeded even that of
_Hurrish_. Swinburne thought it “just one of the most exquisite
and perfect works of genius in the language” (in a letter).
⸺ MAELCHO. Pp. 418. (_Methuen_). 1_s._ (N.Y.: _Appleton_). 1.50. [1895].
1905.
Gloomy picture of misery and devastation during the Desmond
rebellion. An English boy escaping from a night attack
finds refuge in a Connemara glen among the native Irish
(O’Flaherties), hideous wretches of savage appearance
and uncouth tongue. Then comes a confused account of the
melodramatic struggles of Fitzmaurice and his wild followers
against the English, noble, steady, and civilized. There is a
vague impression throughout of an Irish race without ideals or
religion, inevitably losing ground, moved by no impulse but
love of strife and cringing superstition. But the cruelties of
the English at the time are not in any way slurred over.
⸺ TRAITS AND CONFIDENCES. Pp. 272. (_Methuen_) 6_s._ 1897.
A volume of stories and sketches, founded for the most part
on fact. Some are autobiographical episodes of childhood.
There is an incident of ’98, an incident of the Land War,
and two episodes of Irish history, the story of Geroit Mor,
Earl of Kildare, and that of Art Macmurrough, told in vivid,
romantic style without political bias. Again, there are
extremely interesting “memories” of the Famine of 1846-7.
On pages 142-150 is a remarkable description of Connemara.
The story-telling is full of vivacity and picturesqueness,
reminding one of French storytellers, such as Daudet. The book
is filled from first to last with Ireland.
⸺ THE BOOK OF GILLY. Pp. 285. (_Smith, Elder_). Four illustr. by Leslie
Brooke. 1906.
Scene: a small island in Kenmare Bay. Gilly is an
eight-year-old boy sent to Inishbeg for a few months by his
father, Lord Magillicuddy, who is in India. The book makes
a marvellous pen-picture of life and scenery in this remote
corner of Ireland.
=LAWLESS, Emily, and Shan F. BULLOCK.=
⸺ THE RACE OF CASTLEBAR. Pp. 364. (_Murray_). 6_s._ 1914.
The story of Humbert’s invasion of Ireland in 1798, as seen
by the narrator, an Englishman named Bunbury, fresh come
to Ireland. B. is represented as an honest, unprejudiced,
if somewhat phlegmatic personage. The historic events are
presented with great vividness and vigour. The Authors aim at
painstaking objectivity. On the one side the sufferings of the
Catholics and the harsh treatment of the rebels are painted in
strong colours. The portraits both of the rebel leaders and of
the Orangemen are far from flattering. The narrative is largely
based on that written at the time by Dr. Stock, the excellent
Protestant Bishop of Killala. Bunbury is made to spend some
weeks at his palace.
=LEAHY, A. H.= B. in Kerry in 1857. Is a Fellow of Pembroke Coll.,
Cambridge.
⸺ THE COURTSHIP OF FERB. Square 16mo. Pp. xxix. + 100. (_Nutt_). 2_s._
Two illustr. by Caroline Watts. 1902.
Vol. I. of Irish Saga Library. Elegantly produced in every way.
An English version of Professor Windisch’s German translation
of an old Irish romance from the _Book of Leinster_ (twelfth
century). The verse of the original is translated here into
English verse, the prose into prose. “In the verse-translations
endeavour has been made to add nothing to a literal rendering
except scansion and rhyme.”—(Pref.). The tale itself is a kind
of preface to the great Tàin. It is not of very striking merit,
but is told in simple, dignified language. The translation
reads very well. A literal translation of all the poetry is
given at the end.
⸺ ANCIENT HEROIC ROMANCES OF IRELAND. Two Vols. Small 4to. Vol. I., pp.
xxv. + 197. Vol. II. pp. ix. + 161. (_Nutt_). 8_s._ net. 1905.
Contents: Vol. I. “The Courtship of Etain”; “MacDatho’s Boar”;
“The Death of the Sons of Usnach” (Leinster Version); “The
Sick Bed of Cuchulainn”; “The Combat at the Ford” (Leinster
Version). Vol. II. “The Courtship of Fraech”; “The Cattle Spoil
of Flidias”; “The Cattle Spoil of Dartaid”; “The Cattle Spoil
of Regamon.” The Preface deals with Irish Saga literature in
general and in particular with the sagas here translated. Each
piece is preceded by a special Introduction dealing with its
sources and character. At the end of Vol. I. (pp. 163-197)
are copious notes explaining difficulties and giving literal
translations. At the end of Vol. II. is a portion of the Text
of “The Courtship of Etain,” with interlinear translation.
Elsewhere the Text is not inserted. The book is “an attempt to
give to English readers some of the oldest romances, in English
literary forms, that seem to correspond to the literary forms
which were used in Irish to produce the same effect.”—(Pref.).
The translation is partly in prose, partly in verse. The former
is dignified and fully worthy of the subject, literal and yet
in literary English. The verse does not seem to us to reach as
high a level. It is very varied as to metre, yet the poetic
spirit seems to be wanting.
N.B.—The theme of “The Courtship of Etain,” though not coarse
or prurient, is such as to render it unfit for the young.
=LEAHY, Walter T.=
⸺ COLUMBANUS THE CELT. Pp. 455. (PHILADELPHIA: _Kilner_). $1.50. 1913.
The eventful career of the great St. Columbanus (d. 615) in
the form of fiction. Father Leahy bases his story on the
narrative of Jonas, a monk of Bobbio, who wrote the founder’s
life about the middle of the seventh century. But some of the
incidents (notably the incipient love story) are unhistorical.
The Author does little to reproduce the colour and “atmosphere”
of these distant times. He even falls into somewhat glaring
anachronisms. Yet much is done to make the story interesting.
=LEAMY, Edmund.= B. Waterford, 1848, and educated there. Was for many
years in Parliament as M.P. for Waterford and afterwards for Kildare. Was
a kindly man and a delightful story-teller, beloved of children. He died
in 1904.
⸺ IRISH FAIRY TALES. Pp. xix. + 155. [1889]. New ed. (_Gill_). 2_s._
6_d._ With Introd. by Mr. John E. Redmond, M.P., and Note by T. P. G.
Delightful Illustr. by George Fagan. Cr. 8vo. Handsome art linen binding.
1906. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 0.90.
Sources of inspiration: O’Curry and Joyce. Child audience aimed
at throughout. Hence naïveté in style. At times there is a
simple, sweet beauty of language, and some passages, especially
in the last tale, of true prose poetry. Some useful notes at
end.
⸺ THE FAIRY MINSTREL OF GLENMALURE. Pp. 48. 4to. (_Duffy_). 1_s._ Cover
design and many very pretty illustrations by C. A. Mills.
Adventures of Irish children in an Irish fairyland of giants
and little old men and little old women. Told in refined
and graceful style, quite free from brogue, for very little
children, with here and there an unobtrusive moral.
⸺ BY THE BARROW RIVER, and Other Stories. Pp. 281. (_Sealy, Bryers_).
3_s._ 6_d._ Portrait. 1907.
Twenty dramatic, exciting stories, including several good ghost
stories, tales of the exploits of the Irish Brigade, of early
Ireland, of tragedy, and of comedy. By a capital story-teller.
The book would make an excellent present or prize.
⸺ GOLDEN SPEARS, and other Fairy Tales. (N.Y.: _Fitzgerald_). Cover
design in colours by Corinne Turner. 1911.
This is simply a new American ed. of _Irish Fairy Tales_.
=LEE, Aubrey.=
⸺ A GENTLEMAN’S WIFE. Pp. 328. (EDINBURGH: _Morton_). 6_s._ 1904.