Part I. tells how a peasant girl is, after a week’s

acquaintance, enticed from her home by a man who, it

transpires, is already married. In Part II. their daughter,

adopted by a saintly English clergyman, learns her parentage

on the morrow of her engagement. She releases her betrothed;

but a year afterwards marries a charming elderly baronet (the

“gentleman” of the story). The first part is rather coarse. The

book is witty, the plot well worked out, some of the characters

most amusing; the end unexpected. By the same Author: _John

Darker_.

=LEFANU, J. Sheridan.= B. in Dublin, 1814. Ed. T.C.D. Contributed largely

to DUBL. UNIV. MAGAZINE, of which he became ed. and owner, as well as of

the DUBLIN EVENING PACKET and EVENING MAIL. D. 1873. His chief power was

in describing scenes of a mysterious or grotesque character, and in the

manipulation of the weird and the supernatural.

This Author also wrote _Uncle Silas_, _In a Glass Darkly_, _The

Tenants of Malory_, _Willing to Die_, _The Rose and Key_, _The

Evil Guest_, _The Room in the Dragon Volant_, _A Chronicle of

Golden Friars_, _Checkmate_, _The Watcher_, _Wylder’s Hand_,

_All in the Dark_, _Guy Deverel_, _Wyvern Mystery_, &c. Nearly

all published by Downey & Co. Messrs. Duffy publ. a set of

eight of his novels at 3_s._ 6_d._ each.

⸺ THE COCK AND ANCHOR: A Tale of Old Dublin. Pp. 358. (_Duffy_). 3_s._

6_d._ [1845]. 1909.

A dreadful story of the conspiracy of a number of

preternaturally wicked and inhuman villains to ruin a young

spendthrift baronet, and to compel his sister to marry one

of themselves. The threads of the story are woven with

considerable skill. The tale, a gloomy one throughout, reaches

its climax in a scene of intense and concentrated excitement.

The time is the Viceroyalty of the Earl of Wharton, the story

ending in 1710, but, except for the incidental introduction

in one scene of Addison, Swift, and the Viceroy himself, the

events or personages of the time are not touched upon. There

are some slight pictures of the life of the people of the

period, but of Ireland there is nothing unless it be the talk

of some comic Irish servants.

⸺ THE FORTUNES OF COL. TORLOGH O’BRIEN. Pp. 342. (_Routledge_). 3_s._

6_d._ Twenty-two Plates by Phiz. [_Anon._: 1847]. Several other eds. 1904.

Reckoned among the three or four best Irish historical novels.

Main theme: the efforts of the hero, an officer in the Jacobite

army, to regain possession of his estates in Tipperary, which

are held by the Williamite, Sir Hugh Willoughby, whose daughter

O’Brien loves. There are many minor plots and subordinate

issues, among them the unscrupulous and nearly successful

conspiracy against Sir Hugh. The history is not the main

interest, but there is an account of the causes of Jacobite

downfall, descriptions of James’s Court at Dublin, and a

fine description of Aughrim. There are excellent pictures

of scenery, and some skilful though roughly drawn character

sketches. The action closes shortly after the Treaty of

Limerick.

⸺ THE HOUSE BY THE CHURCHYARD. (_Duffy_). 3_s._ 6_d._ [1863].

“A sensational story with a mystery plot based on a murder.

Black Dillon, a sinister and ingenious ruffian, is a grim

figure of melodramatic stamp. The setting gives scenes of

social life in a colony of officers and their families near

Dublin.”—(_Baker_, 2).—Chapelizod.

⸺ THE PURCELL PAPERS. Three Vols. (_Bentley_). 1880.

Short stories collected and ed. by Mr. A. P. Graves, with

short memoir of the Author prefixed. For the most part they

are either rollicking comic stories, told in broad brogue, or

tales of mystery and terror in the vein of this Author’s longer

novels. Examples of the former are:—“Billy Malowney’s taste of

love and glory” and “The Quare Gander.” These are not meant as

“stage-Irish” ridicule, but as pure fun. Examples of the latter

type:—“Passages in the Secret History of an Irish Countess”

and “A Chapter in the history of a Tyrone family.” There are

also pure adventure stories, such as:—“An Adventure of Hardress

Fitzgerald, a Royalist Captain.” All are admirably told. All

but one are of Irish interest. They were originally contributed

to the DUBLIN UNIV. MAGAZINE.

=LENIHAN, D. M.=

⸺ THE RED SPY: A Story of Land League Days. Pp. 236. (_Duffy_). 3_s._

6_d._ _n.d._ (in print).

Appears to be largely autobiographical. A story of Land

League days, full of incident. The interest chiefly turns

on the interplay of plot and counterplot, in which the

various parties—the moonlighters, the Castle, and Parnell’s

followers—figure. The centre of all the plots is McGowan, the

“Red Spy,” a secret service agent of the Castle. The scene

shifts from America to Ireland—Dublin, Kildare, the Kerry

border (good description), Lisdoonvarna. Types well studied—the

genial landlord Col. O’Hara; the sporting squire Sir Thady

Monroe; the weak-minded oppressor Sir Richard A⸺; the American

journalist, &c. The “Red Spy” in real life was “Red Jim”

McDermott.

=LEPPER, J. H.=

⸺ CAPTAIN HARRY. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 6_d._ 1908.

“Tale of Parliamentary Wars, introducing the principal

characters who took part on the Royalist and the Parliamentary

sides.”

⸺ FRANK MAXWELL. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 6_d._ Paper.

Adventures of an Irish Puritan planter’s son, who by an unlucky

series of accidents finds himself on the royalist and Irish

side just before the rebellion of 1641. The central incident

of the story is the journey of one Hugh O’Donnell to Glasgow,

where he meets Charles secretly, and is returning as Viceroy

when he is wrecked, and Frank Maxwell along with him, on the

coast of Antrim. The Irish are, on the whole, represented as

rather bloodthirsty and barbaric, especially “Hugh O’Donnell.”

A good “adventure” book.

=LESTER, Edward.=

⸺ THE SIEGE OF BODIKE: A Prophecy of Ireland’s Future. Pp. 140. (LONDON:

_Heywood_). 1886.

A political skit written from a strongly Tory standpoint, in

which the Author tells us how _he_ would deal with the Irish

question. The time is 188-, yet an imaginary Fenian rebellion

is described. Kilkenny falls into the hands of the enemy,

and a bomb is dropped from a balloon on Bodike, a village in

Kilkenny. The whole is wildly improbable, but it is probably

meant to be so.

=LETTS, W. M.= A granddaughter of Alexander Ferrier, Esq., of Knockmaroon

Park, Co. Dublin, where she spent many summers. She resides in Blackrock,

Co. Dublin. Ed. at St. Anne’s, Abbots Bromley, and Alexandra College,

Dublin. Has written _Diana Dethroned_, _Christina’s Son_, _The Rough

Way_ (Wells, Gardner), short Irish stories for children in the MONTH and

other periodicals. She is coming to be very well known as a poet, and has

written some plays for the Abbey Theatre.

⸺ THE MIGHTY ARMY. Pp. 128. (_Wells, Gardner_). 5_s._ net. Ill. by

Stephen Reid. 1912.

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

=LEVER, Charles.= Born (1806) in Dublin, of English parentage; graduated

at T.C.D. Wrote much for the NATIONAL MAGAZINE, the D.U. MAGAZINE,

BLACKWOOD’S, the CORNHILL, &c. Consul in Spezzia, 1858, and at Trieste,

1867. Here he died in 1872. Is by far the greatest of that group of

writers who, by education and sympathies, are identified with the English

element in Ireland. He was untouched by the Gaelic spirit, was a Tory in

politics, and a Protestant. “His imagination,” says Mr. Krans, “did not

enable him to see with the eyes of the Catholic gentry or the peasantry.

He knew only one class of peasants well—servants and retainers, and he

only knew them on the side they turned out to their masters. Most of his

peasants are more than half stage-Irishmen.” He had no sympathy with the

religious aspirations of Catholics, and his pictures of their religious

life are sometimes offensive. These are his limitations. On the other

hand, his books are invariably clean and fresh, free from vulgarity,

morbidness, and mere sensationalism. His first four books overflow with

animal spirits, reckless gaiety, and fun. It has been well remarked

by his biographer, W. J. Fitzpatrick, that his genius was much more

French than English. After _Hinton_ he is more serious, more attentive

to plot-weaving, and to careful character-drawing. His books give a

wonderful series of pictures of Irish life from the days of Grattan’s

Parliament to the Famine of 1846. Many of these pictures, though true to

certain aspects of Irish life, create a false impression by directing

the eye almost exclusively to what is grotesque and whimsical. Lever’s

portrait gallery is one of the finest in fiction. It includes the

dashing young soldiers of the earlier books; the comic characters, an

endless series; diplomatists, doctors, lawyers, politicians, usurers,

valetudinarians, aristocrats, typical Irish squires, adventurers,

braggarts, spendthrifts, nearly all definite and convincing. See Art,

in BLACKWOOD, Apr., 1862, and in DUBL. REV., 1872, Vol. 70, p. 379.

Also Edmund Downey’s book, _Charles Lever: his Life and Letters_. Many

of Lever’s novels were originally published in shilling monthly parts,

with two illustrations by “Phiz” (Hablot K. Browne), and had as great

a vogue as those of Dickens. There have been many editions since by

_Routledge_ (3_s._ 6_d._) and _Chapman & Hall_ (2_s._), with and without

illustrations, but the finest ever issued is:—

⸺ COMPLETE NOVELS. Edited by the Novelist’s Daughter. Thirty-seven Vols.

(_Downey_). Publ. £19 18_s._ Cloth. 1897-9.

The only complete and uniform ed. of Lever. Contains all

the original steel engravings and etchings by “Phiz” and

Cruikshank, and many ill. by Luke Fildes and other artists.

Ed. and annotated by means of unpublished memoranda found

among Author’s papers. Lever’s prefaces are printed, and

bibliographical notes appended to each story.

⸺ HARRY LORREQUER. Pp. 380. (N.Y.: _Dutton_). 1.00. [1839].

The first of Lever’s rollicking military novels. The hero is

a dashing young English officer, who comes to Cork with his

regiment, and there passes through what the Author calls “a

mass of incongruous adventures. Such was our life in Cork,

dining, drinking, riding steeplechases, pigeon-shooting, and

tandem-driving.” The book abounds in humorous incidents, and

is packed with good stories and anecdotes. All sorts of Irish

characters are introduced. There are sketches of Catholic

clerical life in a vein of burlesque. The latter part of the

story takes the reader to the Continent (various parts of

France and Germany), where we meet Arthur O’Leary, afterwards

made the hero of another story. Mr. Baker describes the book

well as “very Irish in the stagey sense, very unreal.”

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

From electioneering, hunting, and duelling with the Galway

country gentry, the scene changes to Trinity, where the hero

goes in for roistering, larking, and general fast living with

the wildest scamps in town. Then he gets a commission in the

dragoons, and goes to the Peninsula (p. 147). There he goes

through the whole campaign, and ends by viewing Waterloo from

the French camp. Throughout, the narrative is enlivened by the

raciest and spiciest stories. The native Irish, where they

appear, are drawn in broad caricature. “Major Monsoon” was the

portrait of a real personage, and so was the tomboy Miss “Baby

Blake.” “Mickey Free” is the best known of Lever’s farcical

Irish characters.

⸺ JACK HINTON. Pp. 402. (BOSTON: _Little, Brown_). 5.00. [1843].

Adventures of a young English officer who arrives in Ireland

during the Viceroyalty of the Duke of Grafton. The hero’s Irish

experiences include steeplechasing, fox-hunting, “high life”

in Dublin, a glimpse of society life in the Castle, love,

duelling, and murder. But Lever wrote the book to show how

Irish character and Irish ways differed wholly from English,

and he represents Hinton as constantly having his prejudiced

English eyes opened with a vengeance. This novel contains some

of Lever’s most famous characters: Corny Delaney, Hinton’s

body servant; Mr. and Mrs. Paul Rooney, parvenu leaders of

Dublin society; Father Tom Loftus, Lever’s idea of the jolly

Irish priest; Bob Mahon, the devil-may-care impecunious Irish

gentleman; most of all Tipperary Joe. “For these,” says the

Author (Pref.,) “I had not to call upon imagination.” Tipperary

Joe was a real personage. For the last 100 pages the scene

shifts to Spain, France, and Italy. Throughout, event succeeds

event at reckless speed. There are some scenes of Connaught

life, and a fine description of a meeting of “The Monks of the

Screw.”

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

The early scenes (150 pp.) of Tom’s life (told throughout in

the first person) take place in Ireland. Lever tells us (Pref.)

that he tried to make Tom intensely Irish before launching

him into French life. Tom enlists, but in consequence of a

quarrel with a fatal ending has to fly the country. He goes

to France, then under the First Consul, and joins the army.

Military, civil, and political life at Paris is described with

wonderful vividness and knowledge. These form a background to

the exciting and dramatic adventures and love affairs of the

hero. Then there is the Austerlitz campaign fully described;

then life at Paris in 1806. Then the campaign of Jena. Finally,

we have a description of the last campaign that ended with

the abdication at Fontainebleau. The portrait of Napoleon is

lifelike and convincing. Lever throws himself thoroughly into

his French scenes. A pathetic episode is the love of Minette,

the Vivandière, for Tom, and her heroic death at the Bridge

of Montereau. Darby the Blast is a character of the class of

Mickey Free and Tipperary Joe, yet quite distinct and original.

The scene near the close where Darby is in the witness-box is

a companion picture to Sam Weller in court, and is one of the

best things of its kind in fiction.

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

Rather a collection of stories of adventure than a novel. Lever

has worked into it many of his own experiences in Canada, and

also at Göttingen. There is a good deal about Student life in

Germany. Many stories (of the Napoleonic wars chiefly) are

told by the various characters all through the book. Some

contemporary critics thought this the best of Lever’s books.

⸺ ST. PATRICK’S EVE. Pp. 203. (_Chapman & Hall_). illustr. by “Phiz.”

(N.Y.: _Harper_). [1845].

A short and somewhat gloomy tale of a period that Lever knew

well—the pestilence of 1832. Scene: borders of Lough Corrib.

The life described is that of the small farmer and the peasant

struggling to make ends meet. Faction-fighting is dealt with in

the opening of the tale, and the relations between landlord and

agent and tenantry, at the period, are described with insight.

“When I wrote it, I desired to inculcate the truth that

prosperity has as many duties as adversity has sorrows.” It is

far the most national of Lever’s stories, and there is a depth

of feeling and of sympathy in it that would surprise those

acquainted only with _Charles O’Malley_ and _Harry Lorrequer_.

⸺ THE O’DONOGHUE. Pp. 369. (_Routledge_). [1845].

Scene: Glenflesk (between Macroom and Bantry) and Killarney.

Period: from just before to just after the French expedition to

Bantry. The O’Donoghue, poor and proud, is intended as a type

of the decaying Catholic gentry of ancient lineage, living

in a feudal, half-barbaric splendour, beset by creditors and

bailiffs whom fear of the retainer’s blunderbuss alone kept

at a distance. Mark O’Donoghue, proud, gloomy, passionate,

filled with hatred of the English invader, wears a frieze

coat like the peasants, sells horses, hunts and fishes for a

livelihood. He joins the United Irishmen, who are represented

as making an ignoble traffic of conspiracy, and takes part

in Hoche’s attempted invasion. Other characters are: Kate

O’Donoghue, educated abroad; Lanty Lawler, horse-dealer, who

supplies plenty of humour; in particular Sir Marmaduke Travers,

a well-meaning but self-sufficient Englishman, who, knowing

nothing of Ireland, makes ludicrous attempts to better his

tenants’ condition. “I was not sorry to show,” says Lever

(Pref.), “that any real and effective good to Ireland must have

its base in the confidence of the people.” For this book Lever

was bitterly accused of Repeal tendencies.

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

Scene: chiefly Connemara; the novel opening with a fine picture

of the old-time splendours of Ballynahinch Castle, the seat of

the “Martins.” For awhile the scene shifts to Paris during the

Revolution of 1830. The story illustrates the practical working

of the Emancipation Act. Martin is a type of the ease-loving

Irish landlord, “shirking the cares of his estates, with an

immense self-esteem, narrow, obstinate, weak, without ideas,

and with a boundless faith in his own dignity, elegance, and

divine right to rule his tenants” (Krans). Rejected by his

tenantry at an election he quits the country in disgust,

leaving them to the mercies of a Scotch agent. Lever pictures

vividly the sufferings of the people both from this evil

and from the cholera, drawing for the latter upon his own

experiences when ministering to cholera patients in Clare. He

says of the people that “no words of his could do justice to

the splendid heroism they showed each other in misfortune.”

Mary Martin is one of Lever’s most admirable heroines. There

is a fine study, also, of a young man of the people, son of a

small shopkeeper in Oughterard, who, by his sterling worth,

raises himself to the highest positions.

⸺ THE KNIGHT OF GWYNNE. (PHILADELPHIA: _Peterson_). 1847.

A close study, based on considerable knowledge, of the ways

and means adopted by the English Government to destroy the

Irish Parliament. Castlereagh figures in no flattering

fashion. Con Heffernan is a type of his unscrupulous tools.

The Knight himself is an engaging portrait of a lovable old

Irish gentleman, frank, high-spirited, courteous, chivalrous.

At first placed in ideal circumstances for the display of

all his best qualities, he shows himself no less noble in

meeting adversity. Other notable characters are Bagenal Daly

(a portrait of Beauchamp Bagenal), the villainous attorney

Hickman, and Mr. Dempsey, the story-telling innkeeper. In

describing the coasts of Antrim and Derry and the country about

Castlebar and Westport, Lever draws upon his own experiences.

⸺ ROLAND CASHEL. Pp. 612. [1850]. (N.Y.: _Harper_). 1849.

Opens with wonderfully vivid and picturesque description of

life in the Republic of Columbia. A harum-scarum young Irish

soldier of fortune almost promises marriage to the daughter

of a Columbian adventurer. Then he learns he is heir to a

large property in Ireland, and he immediately returns there.

In Dublin the daughters of his lawyer, Mr. Kennyfeck, and

others try to capture the young heir, but instead he falls

in love with a penniless girl. Then there are exciting and

romantic adventures. The villain, Tom Linton, with the

intention of ruining Roland, introduces him to fast society,

nearly implicates him with the young wife of Lord Kilgoff;

the Columbian adventurer turns up to claim him; he is charged

with murder; but eventually all is well. Lady Kilgoff is an

admirably drawn character, as also is the Dean of Drumcondra,

a portrait of Archbishop Whately. In the last chapter there

is a passage which seems to show how Lever realized that the

anglicized society of the Pale is far from being the true

Ireland. Incidentally, too, the evils of landlordism are

touched upon.

⸺ THE DALTONS; or, Three Roads in Life. Pp. 700. (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 1.50.

[1852].

The longest and most elaborate of Lever’s novels. Subject: the

careers of Peter Dalton, an absentee Irish landlord—needy,

feckless, selfish, Micawberish—and his children, on the

Continent in Germany, Austria, and Italy. Some of the leading

characters are involved in the Austro-Italian campaign of 1848,

and in the Tuscan Revolution. There is a study—a flattering

one—to Austrian military life, and lively, amusing pictures of

Anglo-Italian life in Florence. A noteworthy character is the

Irish Abbé d’Esmonde, who towards the close of the book takes

part in some dramatic incidents during a visit to Ireland,

undertaken in the cause of the Church. There is in the book a

good deal about “priest-craft.”

⸺ MAURICE TIERNAY. (N.Y.: _Harper_). 1.00. [1852].

Adventures of a young Jacobite exile in many lands, 1793-1809.

Opens with vivid description of “The Terror.” Later Maurice

joins the Army of the Rhine, and then Humbert’s expedition to

Ireland. The latter is fully related, and also the capture and

death of Wolfe Tone. After some adventures in America, the hero

returns to Europe, and is in Genoa during its siege by the

Austrians. Taken prisoner by the latter, he escapes and joins

Napoleon, of whose Austrian campaign a brilliant description is

given. Napoleon and some of his great marshals loom large in

the story, and the military life of the period on the Continent

is described. But perhaps the best part of the book is the

account of Humbert’s invasion of Ireland.

⸺ CON CREGAN. Pp. 496. (PHILADELPHIA: _Peterson_). [1854].

Lever describes his hero as the “Irish Gil Blas.” Born on the

borders of Meath, Cregan goes to Dublin, where he has some

exciting experiences, ending in his being carried off in the

yacht of an eccentric baronet. He is wrecked on an island off

the coast of North America. Here he meets a runaway negro

slave, Menelaus Crick, one of the most striking characters

in the book. There follow experiences (tragic and comic) in

Quebec, and afterwards in Texas and Mexico, life in which is

described with remarkable vividness and wealth of colour. At

last Cregan returns to Ireland, and marries a Spanish lady whom

he had met in Mexico.

⸺ SIR JASPER CAREW. Pp. 490. (N.Y.: _Harper_). [1855].

The early part (152 pages) deals with the career of the hero’s

father, a wealthy Irish gentleman of Cromwellian stock, who has

estates and copper and lead mines in Wicklow. He goes to Paris,

allies himself by a secret marriage with the party of the Duke

of Orleans, then returns to Ireland, where he kills a Castle

official in a duel, receiving himself a mortal wound. His widow

is deprived of the property, and left in poverty. She retires

to Mayo, with her son, Jaspar. In this part there are elaborate

pictures of politics in the early days of the Irish Parliament,

and of the wild, extravagant social life of the period. Jasper

goes to France, is involved in revolutionary plots, is sent to

London as secret agent, and there has interviews with Pitt and

Fox. Finally he returns to Ireland to claim his birthright.

The story is told in the first person, and Lever intended the

narrative to reveal the intimate character of the teller. The

book is crammed with adventure. It was a favourite with the

Author.

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

Intended (_see_ Pref.) as an experiment to bear out (or the

contrary) his conviction that “any skill I possess lies in the

delineation of character and the unravelment of that tangled

skein that makes up human motives.” The scene at first is in

a castle on the shores of the Killaries, between Mayo and

Galway; afterwards it is on the Continent. Lord Glencore is a

passionate, proud, soured man, misanthropical and suffering

from disease. A scandal connected with his wife has filled

him with hatred and bitterness. He determines to disown his

son, who, after a terrible scene, runs away from home. The

book is largely taken up with the adventures in Italy and

elsewhere of Sir Horace Upton, a distinguished diplomatist

and a valetudinarian, together with the doings and sayings

of his follower, Billy Traynor, formerly poor scholar,

hedge-schoolmaster, fiddler, journalist, now unqualified

medical practitioner—a strange character drawn from a real

personage. Many of the characters are cosmopolitan political

intriguers. In the end Lady Glencore’s innocence is established.

⸺ DAVENPORT DUNN. (PHILADELPHIA: _Peterson_). 1859.

The astonishing histories of two adventurers. Dunn is an

ambitious, clever man who by shady means lifts himself into

a high position as a financier and launches into immense

financial schemes. This character was drawn from John Sadlier,

Junior Lord of the Treasury, who was the associate of Judge

Keogh in “The Pope’s Brass Band,” (so-called) and closed

an extraordinary career by committing suicide on Hampstead

Heath. Grog David, a blackleg, rivals Dunn in another sphere,

his sporting cheats being as vast as the other’s financial

swindles. Davis’ high-hearted daughter, Lizzie, is a

finely-drawn character.

⸺ ONE OF THEM. Pp. 420. (N.Y.: _Harper_). 0.50. (1861).

Scene varies between Florence and the North of Ireland, many of

the incidents described being real experiences of his own gone

through in each of these places. Lever having been asked which

of his novels he deemed best suited for the stage, replied

that if a sensation drama were required, he thought _One of

Them_ a good subject. Deals largely with the adventures on the

Continent of a queer type of Irish M.P.; but its outstanding

character is Quackinboss, a droll specimen of Yankee.

⸺ BARRINGTON. (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 0.50. [1862].

A novel of social and domestic life in the middle classes.

Scene: a queer little inn, “the Fisherman’s Home,” on the banks

of the Nore, Co. Kilkenny. Here the Barringtons live. Among

the striking characters are the fire-eating Major M’Cormack;

Dr. Dill, an excellent study of a country medical man, and

his lively daughter, Polly. The interest largely turns on

the disgrace and subsequent vindication of Barrington’s son,

George. In this Lever portrays his own son and his career.

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

The whimsical adventures of Algernon Sydney Potts, only son

of a Dublin apothecary. An extravaganza in the vein of _Don

Quixote_, and quite unlike Lever’s other works. Potts’s

experiences begin in Ireland, but most of them take place on

the Continent.

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

Humorous adventures on the Continent of an Anglo-Irish family

filled with preposterously false ideas about the manners and

customs of the countries they visit. Told in a series of

letters in which the chief personages are made the unconscious

exponents of their own characters, follies, and foibles, each

character being so contrived as to evoke in the most humorous

form the peculiarities of all the others. There are many acute

reflections on Irish life, especially in the letters of Kenny

Dodd to his friend in Bruff (Co. Limerick). Kenny Dodd is a

careful and thoughtful character-study. The Author considered

Kate Dodd to be the true type of Irishwoman. Biddy Cobb,

servant of the Dodds, is one of Lever’s most humorous women

characters. Lever held that he had never written anything equal

to “The Dodds.”

⸺ LUTTRELL OF ARRAN. (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 1.50. [1865].

Opens in Innishmore, Aran Islands, off the coast of Galway.

Luttrell, a proud, morbid man of broken fortunes arrives there

with his wife, the daughter of an Aran peasant. The latter

dies, leaving an only son, Harry. Shortly afterwards Sir

Gervais Vyner, a wealthy Englishman, calls at the island in his

yacht, and renews acquaintance with Luttrell. Vyner then goes

to Donegal, where he meets with and adopts a beautiful peasant

girl. The interest turns largely on the success of Vyner’s

experiment in making a fine lady out of the girl. She is one

of Lever’s most charming heroines. After many vicissitudes she

comes to Innishmore. Here she meets Harry, who had returned

from an adventurous career at sea, and they are married. Tom

O’Rorke, who keeps an inn in a wild part of Donegal, provides

a good deal of the humour. His inveterate hatred of everything

English, his wit and his audacity (not always commendable),

mark him out for special mention. There is also an amusing

American skipper.

⸺ TONY BUTLER. (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 1.50. [1865].

Scene: partly in North of Ireland, partly on the Continent.

Tony gets a post in the diplomatic service, and has many

adventures, strange, humorous, or stirring. Diplomatic life

(Lever was a British Consul abroad for most of his days) is

described with a cunning hand. Some of Tony’s experiences take

place during the Garibaldian war. The most striking figure in

the book is Major M’Caskey, the noisy, swaggering, impudent

soldier of fortune. Skeff Damer, the young diplomat, is also

interesting, and Dolly Stewart is a most pleasing study.

⸺ SIR BROOKE FOSBROOKE. [1866]. (_Routledge, &c._). 3_s._ 6_d._ (N.Y.:

_Harper_). 0.50.

“Reproduces much of the humour and frolic of his earlier tales,

the mess-room scene in the officers’ quarters at Dublin, with

which the drama opens, recalling the sprightly comedy of Harry

Lorrequer. The vigorous story that follows contains much more

serious characterization and portraiture of real life than the

earlier books.”—(_Baker_).

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

Scene of first portion: North of Ireland, near Coleraine, Co.

Londonderry; afterwards Italy. Deals with the experiences of a

rich English banker and his family, who come to Ireland, but

the central figure is the selfish old peer, Viscount Culduff,

a neighbouring landowner, on whose estate coal is found. Much

of the novel deals with the exploiting of the Culduff mine. Tom

Cutbill, a bluff, vulgar, humorous engineer, who comes to work

this mine, provides most of the fun, which is scattered through

the story. All the characters are vividly drawn, among others

that of a young Irish Protestant clergyman, the only one that

appears prominently in Lever’s pages. The mystery that runs

through the book is kept veiled with great cleverness to the

very end. Finally, the book is packed with witty epigrammatic

talk.

⸺ LORD KILGOBBIN. (N.Y.: _Harper_). 1.00. [1872].

Lever’s last novel. It pictures social and political conditions

in Ireland about 1865, the days of the Fenians. The book is

marked by almost nationalist sympathies, one of the finest

characters being Daniel Donogan, Fenian Head-Centre and

Trinity College student, who while “on his keeping” is elected

M.P. for King’s County. Matthew Kearney, styled locally Lord

Kilgobbin, is a shrewd, good-natured, old-fashioned type of

broken-down Catholic gentility, living in an old castle in

King’s County. His daughter Kate, is a high-spirited, clever,

and amiable girl, but the real heroine is the brilliant Nina

Kostalergi, of mixed parentage (the mother Irish, the father a

Greek prince and adventurer), who bewitches in turn Fenians,

soldiers, politicians, and Viceregal officials. A remarkable

creation is Joe Atlee, a kind of Bohemian student of Trinity,

cynical, indolent, but miraculously clever and versatile. It

teems with witty talk and dramatic situations. Throughout there

is food for thought about the affairs of Ireland. Has been

illustr. by Luke Fildes (Macmillan). 3_s._ 6_d._

⸺ GERALD FITZGERALD. (N.Y.: _Harper_). 0.40. [First ed. in book form,

1899].

The hero is a legitimate son of the Young Pretender,

offspring of a secret marriage with an Irish lady. Recounts

his surprising adventures and his relations with Mirabeau

(whose death is powerfully described), the poet Alfieri,

Madame Roland, the Pretender himself, whose court at Rome is

described, &c., &c. There is little humour, the book being a

sober historical or quasi-historical romance. There are some

passages offensive to Catholic feeling.

Lever also wrote:—_A Rent in a Cloud_; _That Boy of Norcott’s_;

_Paul Goslett’s Confessions_; _Nuts and Nutcrackers_, 1845;

_Tales of the Trains_, 1845; _Horace Templeton_, 1848;

_Cornelius O’Dowd_, 1873.

=LIPSETT, Caldwell.=

⸺ WHERE THE ATLANTIC MEETS THE LAND. Pp. 268. (_Lane_). 3_s._ 6_d._ net.

1896.

Sixteen stories, many of them artistically constructed, and

told with literary grace and finish. The Irish character is

viewed from an unsympathetic and, at times, hostile standpoint.

Only a few of the stories deal with the peasants or have any

special bearing on Irish life. Two or three deal with seduction

in rather a light manner.

=LIPSETT, E. R.=

⸺ DIDY. Pp. 301. (_Duckworth_). 6_s._ $1.30. Eight full-page Illustr. by

Joseph Damon. 1912.

Published in U.S.A. by the John Lane Co., N.Y., under the title

of _The House of a Thousand Welcomes_ (price 1.50), this being

the name of a boarding house in New York opened by Mr. and

Mrs. Dunleary and their daughter Didy, who have emigrated from

Cork. The story is chiefly concerned with the lodgers in this

house—the eccentric Dr. O’Dowd, a journalist, and the son of

a big landlord in Ireland—all of whom fall in love with Didy.

The last named is successful, and he makes the journalist, a

Protestant named Healy (the remainder of the personages are

Catholics), editor of the principal Irish Unionist paper,

which he owns, in order “to make it a message of peace to all

Ireland.” The author avoids religious or political bias, and

tells a merry, good-humoured story.

=“LISTADO, J. T.”=

⸺ MAURICE RHYNHART. Two Vols. (_Chapman & Hall_). 1871.

“Or, A few passages in the life of an Irish rebel.” The hero,

descended from a Williamite soldier, “in every respect the very

model of a respectable young Protestant,” is a clerk in Selskar

(Wexford) and in love with Miss Rowan, socially much above him.

An ardent young Irelander, he joins the local branch and works

might and main for the movement. Soon he is “on his keeping,”

but escapes to London. There he marries Miss Rowan. After many

hardships they go to Australia, where he rises to be Premier

and is knighted. Returns, and is made M.P. for Selskar. Reminds

one of the career of Sir C. Gavan Duffy. Splendidly told, the

interest never flagging. Protestant dissenting tea-parties hit

off cleverly. The whole atmosphere of the critical summer of

’48 is reproduced with vividness and fidelity. Dialogue good

and characterisation life-like.

=LOCHHEAD, A.=

⸺ SPRIGS OF SHILLELAH. Pp. 158. (DUNDEE: _Leng_). 1907. 6_d._

Sixteen humorous sketches, “founded on fact—more or less,”

reprinted from the PEOPLE’S FRIEND.

=LOGAN, J.=

⸺ THE McCLUSKY TWINS. Pp. 112. (_Drane_). 1912. 1_s._

A tale of twin tomboys, who provide gossip for an Ulster

countryside. Dialect well handled.—(I.B.L.).

=LOUGH, Desmond.=

⸺ THE BLACK WING. (_“Ireland’s Own” Library_). 6_d._ _n.d._ (1914).

A story of secret societies and of revenge. Scene: Kerry and

Corsica. Unconvincing, but unobjectionable.

⸺ RED RAPPAREE. Pp. 179. (_“Ireland’s Own” Library_). 6_d._ _n.d._

Thrilling adventures and hairbreadth escapes of Cahir Ronayne,

who has taken to the road in revenge for his father’s

execution. A fair lady is involved, also a dissolute lord, and

there are plenty of plots and counter plots, duels and combats.

=LOUGHNAN, Edmond Brenan.=

⸺ THE FOSTER SISTERS. Three Vols. (_Tinsley_). 1871.

Opens in Sligo, near Lough Arrow. Largely concerned with an

intricate family history and mysteries of identity. Scene soon

shifts to Paris, where many of the personages have gone and

where most of the action takes place. The chief interest is a

very melodramatic murder in the secret room of the _Chat Noir_,

and the subsequent tracing of the crime to the murderer, a

typical stage villain. The story is pretty well told, but the

conversations are most artificial.

=LOVER, Samuel.= B. in Dublin, 1797. Was not only a novelist but a

musician, a painter, and a song-writer (he wrote some 300 songs, and

composed the music for most of them). He ed. the DUBLIN NATIONAL MAGAZINE

and the SATURDAY MAGAZINE. D. 1868. _See_ “Lives” by J. A. Symington and

Bayle Bernard. “Lover,” says Mr. D. J. O’Donoghue, “is first and last

an Irish humourist.” Readers should bear this fact in mind. His humour

is of the gay, careless, rollicking type. He is sometimes coarse, but

never merely dull. He does not caricature the Irish character, for his

sympathies were strongly Irish; but wrote to amuse his readers, not to

depict Irish life. He was often accused by his friends of exaggerating

the virtues of his countrymen, and it may be admitted that he sometimes

did so. “The chief defect of his novels,” says Maurice Francis Egan,

_q.v._, “is that they were written with an eye on what the English reader

would expect the Irish characters to do.”

⸺ RORY O’MORE. Pp. 452. (_Constable_). 3_s._ 6_d._ [1837]. (N.Y.:

_Dutton_). 1.00. 1897.

Introduction and notes by D. J. O’Donoghue, who considers this

to be Lover’s best long story. A tale of adventure in 1798,

with a slight historical background. National in sentiment,

without being unfairly biased. Contains some of Lover’s best

humour, especially the endless drollery and whimsicalities of

the hero, Rory. Some of the types are very true to life. There

are passages of genuine pathos. Tries to prove that the more

heinous atrocities in ’98 were due to a few desperadoes.

⸺ HANDY ANDY. Pp. 460. (_Constable_). 3_s._ 6_d._ Portrait of Lover.

[1842]. 1898. Critical Introd. and Notes by D. J. O’Donoghue. (N.Y.:

_Dutton_). 1.00.

A series of side-splitting misadventures of a comic, blundering

Irishman. Does not pretend to be a picture of real Irish life,

yet, though exaggerated, it is not without truth. Besides

Andy’s adventures there are scenes from the life of the

harum-scarum gentry, uproarious dinners, a contested election,

practical jokes. The characters include peasants, duellists,

hedge-priests, hedge-schoolmasters, beggars, and poteen

distillers. There is a good deal of vulgarity.

⸺ TREASURE TROVE; or, He Would be a Gentleman. Pp. 469. (_Constable_).

3_s._ 6_d._ [1844]. Many since. (BOSTON: _Little, Brown_). 1.00. 1899.

Critical introduction by D. J. O’Donoghue. Adventures of a

somewhat stagey hero, Ned Corkery, with the Irish Brigade in

the service of France and of the Young Pretender. Fontenoy,

and the ’45 in Scotland, are introduced. The novel, says

the editor, can only be called pseudo-historical. The

writer had but imperfectly mastered the history, and treats

it unconvincingly. The humour is below the author’s usual

standard, but the interest is well sustained. It is coarse and

vulgar in parts.

⸺ LEGENDS AND STORIES OF IRELAND. Two Vols. Pp. xix. + 240, and xvi +

274. (_Constable_). 3_s._ 6_d._ each. [1832 and 1834; many editions

since]. 1899. (N.Y.: _Sadlier_). 1.50.

Introductions by the Author and by the editor, D. J.

O’Donoghue. A miscellany consisting chiefly of humorous stories

with regular plots. It contains also some old legends told

in comic vein, yarns told by guides and boatmen, and several

serious stories. There is nothing to offend Catholic feeling.

There is a most sympathetic sketch of a priest and a story

about the secret of the confessional that any Catholic might

have written. The peasantry are seen only from outside, though

the author mixed much among them. They are not caricatured,

though chiefly comic types are selected. There is plenty of

brogue, faithfully rendered on the whole. The first volume

contains a humorous essay on Street Ballads, with specimens.

Lover is at his best in uproariously laughable stories such us

“The Gridiron” and “Paddy the Sport.”

⸺ FURTHER STORIES OF IRELAND. Pp. 220. (_Constable_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1899.

Critical and biographical introduction (pp. xxviii.) by D. J. O’Donoghue.

Chiefly very short, humorous sketches. Some are stories written

around various national proverbs.

⸺ IRISH HEIRS: A Novel. Pp. 173. (N.Y.: _Dick & Fitzgerald_). Illustr.

187-.

Mentioned in catal. of N. Y. Library. _Treasure Trove_ bore on

original title-page the announcement that it was “the first of

a series of accounts of Irish Heirs.”

=LOVER and CROKER.=

⸺ LEGENDS AND TALES OF IRELAND. Pp. 436. (_Simpkin, Marshall_, &c.).

_n.d._ Now in print.

Contains:—Lover’s _Legends and Tales of Ireland_ (twenty-four

in all), and Croker’s _Fairy Legends of the South of Ireland_.

“Croker and Lover,” says W. B. Yeats, “full of the ideas of

harum-scarum Irish gentility, saw everything humourized. The

impulse of the Irish literature of their time came from a class

that did not—mainly for political reasons—take the people

seriously, and imagined the country as a humorist’s Arcadia;

its passion, its gloom, its tragedy they knew nothing of.

What they did was not wholly false; they merely magnified an

irresponsible type, found oftenest among boatmen, carmen, and

gentlemen’s servants, into the type of a whole nation, and

created the Stage-Irishman.”—(Introd. to _Fairy and Folk-tales

of the Irish Peasantry_).

=LOWRY, Frank M.=

⸺ THE DUBLIN STATUES “AT HOME”: A New Year’s Tale. 4to. (_Sealy,

Bryers_). Illustr. with Seven Cartoons. 1912.

=LOWRY, Mary.=

⸺ THE ENCHANTED PORTAL. Pp. 142. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 6_d._ Paper. _c._

1910.

Scene: Antrim coast, whose scenery is vividly pictured. A novel

of romance, intrigue, and adventure, pleasant and healthy in

tone, but fanciful and somewhat unreal.

Author has also written _The Clans of Ireland_, _Old Irish Laws

and Customs_, and _The Story of Belfast_.

=“LYALL, Edna”; Ada Ellen Bayley.= Was born and educated at Brighton,

and resided there and at Eastbourne. Her first story, _Won by Waiting_,

appeared in 1879. Titles of eighteen of her books are to be found in

Mudie’s LIST.

⸺ DOREEN. Pp. 490. (_Longmans_). Various prices from 6_d._ to 6_s._

[1894]. 1902.

Doreen, daughter of an old ’48 man and Fenian, and herself an

ardent Nationalist, is a professional singer, but helps the

Home Rule cause by her singing. The chief interest is a love

story, but in the background there is the national struggle

and a vivid picture is drawn of the feelings of those engaged

on both sides. The author is on the nationalist side, and the

most striking figure in the book is Donal Moore, a Nationalist

member. The first ed. was dedicated to Gladstone.

=LYNAM, Col. William F.= Belonged to the 5th Royal Lancashire Militia.

Lived at Churchtown Ho., Dundrum, 1863-87, and then at Clontarf till his

death in 1894. He was a Catholic and a man of much piety. He lived a very

retired life.

⸺ MICK McQUAID.

Magazine stories that have never been published in a volume

do not come within the scope of this work. But I think an

exception must be made in this case. The serial or series of

serials centering in the character of Mick McQuaid has made a

record in literature. It began in the pages of the SHAMROCK on

Jan. 19th, 1867. With short interruptions it has been running

ever since in the pages of that periodical, and is running

still, though the Author died in 1894. The following are some

of the series that appeared:—1. “M. McQ.’s Conversion,” 1867;

2. “M. McQ., the Evangeliser,” 1868-9; 3. “M. McQ. Under

Agent,” 52 chapters, 1869-70; 4. “M. McQ., M.D.,” 28 ch., 1872;

5. “M. McQ., M.P.,” 51 ch., 1872-3; 6. “M. McQ., Solicitor,” 43

ch., 1873-4; 7. “M. McQ.’s Spa,” 91 ch., 1876-8; 8. “M. McQ.,

Alderman,” 61 ch., 1879-80; 9. “M. McQ., Moneylender,” 47 ch.,

1880-1; 10. “M. McQ., Gombeen Man,” 48 ch., 1881-2; 11. “M.

McQ.’s Story,” 1884; 12. “M. McQ., Workhouse Master,” 1885; 13.

“M. McQ., Sub-Sheriff,” pt. 1, 47 ch., 1888-9; 14. “M. McQ.,

Sub-Sheriff,” pt. 2, 1889; 15. “M. McQ., Stockbroker,” 61 ch.,

1889-90; 16. “M. McQ., Removable,” 1890.

The Author himself tired of Mick McQuaid, and tried to put

other creations in the field:—“Dan Donovan,” “Corney Cluskey,”

“Japhet Screw,” “Sir Timothy Mulligan,” and so on. But after a

few chapters the readers invariably demanded “Mick” again, and,

if the Author had not new adventures ready, he had to reproduce

the already published adventures. More than once editors tried

to drop the series, but the circulation which was 60,000 fell

at once, and “Mick” had to appear again. Apart from their issue

in the SHAMROCK many of “Mick’s” adventures were reproduced

in penny numbers, and sold far and wide. After the Author’s

death the editors simply reproduced the series over again.

Harry Furniss began his artistic career by illustrating _Mick

McQuaid_. Besides _Mick McQ._ another humorous series, _Darby

Darken, P.L.G._, ran in the IRISH EMERALD.

=LYNCH, E. M.=

⸺ KILBOYLAN BANK; or, Every Man his own Banker. Pp. 240. (_Kegan Paul_).

3_s._ 6_d._ 1896.

Father O’Callaghan returning from Italy greatly impressed by

what he has seen of the Raffeisen Banking System at work, tries

to start a similar system in Kilboylan. The book is the story

of his efforts, difficulties, and final success. The local

types—landlord, strong farmer, miller, publican, schoolmaster,

“pote,” and “chaney merchant” are cleverly hit off, and their

conversation rings true. The book is primarily a lesson in

economics, but the characters are well brought out, and a

little love-story runs through the whole. Miss Lynch also wrote

for Sir Charles Gavan Duffy’s “New Irish Library” a story

adapted from the French—_A Parish Providence_. It was intended

to teach certain economic lessons to Irishmen.

=LYNCH, Hannah.= B. in Dublin. Lived much in Spain, in Greece, and in

France, publishing various articles and books about them, notably a

book on Toledo and _French Life in Town and Country_. Among her novels

are _Prince of the Glades_, _Dr. Vermont’s Fantasy_, _Daughters of

Men_, _Jimmy Blake_, _Clare Monroe_. She was associated with Miss Anna

Parnell in the Ladies’ Land League in the eighties. When UNITED IRELAND

was suppressed she carried the type to Paris, and the paper was issued

there. Mrs. Hinkson says of her,[6] “She was one of the few people I have

known who eat, drink, and dream books, and not many can have given to

literature a more passionate delight and devotion.”

[6] _Reminiscences_, p. 76-7.

⸺ THROUGH TROUBLED WATERS. Pp. 460. (_Ward, Lock_). 1885.

Scene: chiefly Carantrila House, Dunmore (“Cardene”) near

Tuam, Co. Galway. Opens with an impending lawsuit about the

inheritance of “Cardene.” It is settled by Mrs. St. Leger

giving it up to her brother-in-law for a large sum. Henceforth

she plots to get it back for her son. In later years he comes

on a visit to the place. He falls in love with Nora Dillon, but

carries on an innocent flirtation with a peasant girl. He is

accused of seduction, the real culprit being Nora’s brother,

and denounced from the altar. This latter scene is well done.

But the truth comes out, and all is well with Hartley and Nora.

The portrait drawn of one of the two priests introduced is

rather satirical, but the tone is Catholic throughout.

⸺ AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CHILD. Publ. Anon. Pp. 306. (_Blackwood_). 6_s._

1899.

Clearly genuine autobiography. Begins in little village in

Kildare, but at five or six the child is taken to Dublin.

Story of an unhappy childhood, for she was treated with great

harshness by sisters and mother. Had some friends, however,

among them an old gentleman, who believed himself to be

Hamlet and O’Donovan Rossa, then a young lad. (_See_ p. 609

in BLACKWOOD’S MAGAZINE, vol. 164, where the story appeared

serially). Her unhappiness was continued at the convent school,

near Birmingham, where she was educated. Everything is set

down, including a flogging she received and an account of her

first confession. A very curious book, very well written.

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

⸺ IRELAND’S DREAM: a Romance of the Future. Two Vols. (_Sonnenschein_).

1888.

A forecast of Ireland under Home Rule. Contains much about

relations of Orangemen and Catholics, the National League,

secret societies, emigration, and so on. Represents an Ireland

hopelessly “gone to the dogs”—no security for life or property,

murder rife, prosperity gone, &c. Written in flippant style,

betraying bitter contempt for Irish nationalism.

=LYSAGHT, Mrs.=

⸺ REX SINGLETON; or, The Pathway of Life. (_Wells, Gardner_). 2_s._

Illustr. Third ed., _c._ 1911.

Thoroughly a boy’s book, full of the adventures and pranks of

an Irish boy.—(Publ.).

=LYSAGHT, Sidney Royse.= Eldest son of T. R. Lysaght, of Mintinna, Co.

Cork. Has published three volumes of verse between 1886 and 1911. Lives

in Somerset.

⸺ HER MAJESTY’S REBELS. Pp. 488. (_Macmillan_). 6_s._ 1907.

In a prefatory note the Author tells us that though the career

of his hero resembles that of Charles Stewart Parnell, Connor

Desmond is not intended as a portrait of Parnell. “There is

an historical basis for the structure of the story—not for

the persons.” A political novel, written mainly about the

course of national life in Ireland, 1875-1891. The central

figure most obviously reproduces the career and even the

personal characteristics of Parnell, who is well and even

sympathetically portrayed. The writer’s view-point is free,

on the whole, from party bias. He is convinced that a Royal

residence in Ireland would be a sure antidote to seditious

tendencies. There is a strong love interest. The Author

depicts many scenes of Irish life among various classes.

The hero is “involved in flagitious relations with several

women.”—(_Baker_, 2).

=LYTTLE, Wesley Guard; “Robin.”= Born, 1844, at Newtownards, Co. Down.

Was successively a junior reporter, a school teacher, a lecturer on

Dr. Corry’s _Irish Diorama_, a teacher of shorthand, an accountant, an

editor. Started, in 1880, THE NORTH DOWN AND BANGOR GAZETTE, a strong

Liberal and Home Rule paper. Afterwards owned and edited THE NORTH DOWN

HERALD. Died 1896.

⸺ ROBIN’S READINGS. Eight Vols.

Series of humorous stories, poems, and sketches in the dialect

of a Co. Down farmer, of which he had a thorough mastery.

Some verse as well as prose. The Author gave several thousand

recitals in various parts of the three kingdoms. The success of

the above books was immediate and remarkable. They have enjoyed

great popularity ever since. The character of these readings

may be seen from the following titles:—V. I. “Adventures of

Paddy McQuillan”—“a simple country fellow”—“his trip tae

Glesco”—“his courtships”—“his wee Paddy”—“his twins”—“his tay

perty.” V. II. “The adventures of Robin Gordon”—“Peggy and

how I courted her”—“Wee Wully”—“the fechtin’ dugs”—“Robin

on the ice”—“dipplemassy.” V. III. “Life in Ballycuddy, Co.

Down”—“my brither Wully”—“kirk music”—“the General Assembly of

1879” (exciting scenes, Robin’s oration)—“the royal visit to

Ireland”—“the Ballycuddy Meinister”—“wee Paddy’s bumps,” &c.,

&c.

⸺ SONS OF THE SOD: a Tale of County Down. (BANGOR). 1_s._ Paper. 1886.

A racy story dealing with the peasantry of North Down which the

Author knew well, and could depict admirably. The tale gives a

picture of their merry-makings, courtships, humours, joys, and

sorrows—wakes, weddings, evictions, &c., &c.

⸺ BETSY GRAY. Pp. 116. (BANGOR). 1_s._ 3_d._ [1888]. New ed. (BELFAST:

_Carswell_). Revised by F. J. Bigger. 1913.

Betsy Gray, the heroine (founded on a real personage) takes

part in the rebellion, and fights at Ballynahinch. A story of

thrilling interest. Relates events that preceded rebellion,

dwelling much on the atrocities of the yeomanry, then describes

in full the chief incidents of the rebellion. Introduces Wm.

Steele Dickson, William Orr, H. Joy McCracken, Henry Munro,

and Mick Maginn—the informer. “The Author has gone over every

inch of the ground, and has hunted up old documents and old

traditions indefatigably.” In entire sympathy with rebels.

There is a good deal of local dialect, and much local colour.

⸺ THE SMUGGLERS OF STRANGFORD LOUGH.

“A melodramatic romance of an old-fashioned type, founded on

facts. What with murder, robbery, abduction, smuggling, secret

societies, and underground caverns, the reader is carried

breathlessly along from start to finish. The local dialect is

well conveyed.”—(I.B.L.). The headquarters of the smugglers

was Killinchy, and the period of the story the end of the

eighteenth century.

⸺ DAFT EDDIE. Pp. 162. (BELFAST: _Carswell_). 6_d._ 1914.

A re-issue of _The Smugglers of Strangford Lough_.

=MACALISTER, R. A. Stewart, M.A., F.S.A.= B. Dublin, 1870. At present

Professor of Irish Archæology in the National University. Author of

a series of learned works on Palestine exploration, the Philistines,

Ecclesiastical Vestments, Irish Epigraphy and Archæology, &c.

⸺ TWO IRISH ARTHURIAN ROMANCES. Pp. ix. + 207. (_Nutt, for Irish Texts

Society_). 10_s._ 6_d._ net. 1908.

Text and transl. on opposite pages. Contains two stories:—The

Story of the Crop-eared Dog and The Story of Eagle-Boy. They

are of the Wonder-voyage type. Arthur plays a secondary part.

“The dreamland of _gruagachs_ and monstrous nightmare shapes is

here as typically a creation of Irish fancy as in any of the

stories of the Finn cycle.”... “Eagle-Boy is a striking story,

displaying ... no small constructive ingenuity and literary

feeling.”—(_Introd._).

=M’ANALLY, D. R., Jr.=

⸺ IRISH WONDERS. Pp. 218. (_Ward, Lock_). Illustr. (pen and ink), H. R.

Heaton. 1888.

“The ghosts, giants, pookas, demons, leprechawns, banshees,

fairies, witches, widows, old maids, and other marvels of

the Emerald Isle. Popular tales as told by the people.

Collected during a recent lengthy visit, in the course of

which every county in the Island was traversed from end to

end.”—(_Title-page and Pref._). Very broad brogue. Somewhat

“Stage-Irish” in tone.

=“MACARTHUR, Alexander”; Mrs. Nicchia=, _née_ =Lily MacArthur=. At

present residing in New York.

⸺ IRISH REBELS. Pp. 219. (_Digby, Long_). 3_s._ 6_d._ _n.d._ (1893).

“O’Donoghue,” the hero, a young Catholic T.C.D. student,

is deputed by the secret societies to shoot a landlord. He

escapes at the time, and has a successful career at the bar, in

parliament, and also in love, for he marries the girl of his

choice, a daughter of “Judge Kavanagh,” a bitter Orangeman.

But years afterwards his crime becomes known to some of his

friends, and the discovery kills his wife. The Author is

entirely favourable to the national cause. Parnell is mentioned

several times. The central figure is not O’D., but “Lowry,” a

remarkable portrait, probably drawn from life.

=M’AULIFFE, E. F.=

⸺ GRACE O’DONNELL: A Tale of the 18th Cent. Pp. 220. (CORK: _Guy & Co._).

1891.

Ireland in Penal times, middle of 18th century (Fontenoy, 1745,

is introduced). Period fairly well illustrated—sufferings

of Catholics, tithe-proctors, hedge-schools, etc. Scene

varies between Galway, Madrid, London, Dublin, and Paris. The

characters all belong to the better class, and the tone of the

story may be described as “genteel”: there is nothing specially

national about it. Author wishes to show “how many claims

each [Catholic and Protestant] has on the other for love and

admiration.” Some poems are included.

=MACCABE, William Bernard.= B. in Dublin, 1801. Was a journalist for the

greater part of his life, first in Dublin, then for fifteen years in

London, and again in Dublin from 1852-57. Wrote many Catholic works. Died

at Donnybrook, 1891.

⸺ AGNES ARNOLD. Three Vols. (LOND.: _Newby_). 1861.

A well constructed plot, with many fine dramatic scenes and

much truthful character drawing. Shows the courses by which the

people were driven into rebellion in 1798. The Author tells us

that much of the materials were gleaned from his conversations

in his boyhood with Wm. Putnam MacCabe, one of the insurgent

leaders. Scene: Wexford.

=M’CALL, Patrick J.= B. in Dublin, 1861, and ed. at Catholic University

School, Leeson Street. Much better known as a poet by his _Irish

Noinins_, _Songs of Erin_, _Irish Fireside Songs_, and _Pulse of the

Bards_ than as a prose writer. Resides in Patrick Street, Dublin.

⸺ FENIAN NIGHTS’ ENTERTAINMENTS. Pp. 132. (DUBLIN: _T. G. O’Donoghue_).

[1895].

Twelve evenings of story-telling at a Wexford fireside. The

stories are mostly Ossianic legends, but there are a few fairy

tales. They purport to be told by a farmer with all the arts

of the shanachie—the quaintness, the directness, the pithy

sayings, the delightful digressions, and the gay humour. They

are, of course, in dialect.

=M’CALLUM, Hugh and John.= Ed. an original collection of the poems of

Ossian, Orrann, Ullin, and other bards who flourished in the same age.

(_Montrose_). 1816.

=M’CARTHY, Justin.= B. in Cork, 1830, and ed. there. Began there his

literary career of over sixty years. In 1853 he went to Liverpool, and

thence to London in 1860. From that time till his death in 1912 he lived

almost exclusively in England. But he never lost touch with Ireland.

For many years he was a Nationalist M.P., and from 1890-96 was Chairman

of the Party. His works number over forty, many of them dealing with

Ireland—novels, history, biography, reminiscences, &c.

⸺ A FAIR SAXON. Pp. 386. (_Chatto & Windus_). 3_s._ 6_d._ [1873]; several

since. New ed. about 1907.

Main theme: the love of an English girl for Maurice FitzHugh

Tyrone, an Irish M.P., famous in the House as a clever and

insuppressible opponent of the Government. Much of the story

(a complicated one) is concerned with the efforts of another

lover of the Fair Saxon to supplant Tyrone, and also to get

him to violate the conditions of a legacy. The latter are (1)

that Tyrone shall not marry before forty; (2) that he shall

not join the Fenians; (3) that he shall not fight a duel. His

efforts meet with a wonderful succession of alternate success

and failure. Incidentally we have glimpses of Fenian plotting,

the Fenian movement being portrayed with little sympathy. The

characters are nearly all insipid or vicious worldlings, drawn

in a satirical and sometimes cynical vein. Such is Mrs. Lorn,

the rich American widow, of fast life. The heroine, and to a

certain extent the hero, are exceptions. The precocious young

American, Theodore, is one of the best things in the book.

⸺ MAURICE TYRONE. (_Benziger_). 0.75. The American ed. of _A Fair Saxon_.

⸺ MONONIA. Pp. 383. (_Chatto & Windus_). 6_s._ [1901]. New edition, 1902.

Scene: a large Munster town, presumably Cork. Time: the

attempted rising in 1848. The chief interest is the unfolding

in action of the various characters. Some of these are

strikingly and distinctively portrayed. The treatment of

the love element is original, the course of true love being

smooth from the start. Here and there are pleasant bits of

description. The standpoint is Catholic and nationalist, but

without anti-English feeling, several of the principal and most

admirable characters being English. A happy love story runs

through the book.

=M’CARTHY, Justin Huntley.= S. of preceding. B. 1860. Ed. University

College School, London. Began writing 1881. Nationalist M.P. 1884-1892,

during which period he was an ardent politician. Publ. _England under

Gladstone_ (1884), and in the same year a successful play, “The

Candidate.” Then followed _Hours with Great Irishmen_, _Ireland since

the Union_, _The Case for Home Rule_, &c., and a number of books, poems,

tales, &c., on Oriental subjects. His knowledge of our myth and legend

has been described as comprehensive and exhaustive. He has publ. many

other novels and plays and volumes of verse. But of late years the

theatrical world has claimed him wholly.

⸺ LILY LASS. Pp. 150. (_Chatto & Windus_). 1_s._ 6_d._ 1889.

Picture from nationalist point of view of Young Ireland

movement, especially in Cork. Full of sensational incidents,

told with much verve.

⸺ THE ILLUSTRIOUS O’HAGAN. (_Hurst & Blackett_). 1905. (N.Y.: _Harper_).

1.50, &c.

Melodramatic adventures of two cosmopolitan adventurers of

Irish origin, in various parts of Europe and, in particular,

among the courts of the petty German princes, where very fast

living prevails. The picture we are given of these latter is

frank enough. The colouring is brilliant, the style bright and

swift. Copyrighted for the stage.

⸺ THE O’FLYNN. Pp. 352. (_Hurst & Blackett_). 1_s._ (N.Y.: _Harper_).

1.50. 1910.

O’Flynn is a swashbucklering, swaggering soldier of fortune,

who has seen service in the Austrian army. The story tells of

the varying fortunes of O’F. and of Lord Sedgemouth in their

rivalry for the hand of the Lady Benedetta Mountmichael. Both

suitors are in the service of King James, and the scene varies

between Dublin Castle and Knockmore, a castle “in the heart of

the Wicklow hills.” Full of more or less burlesque plots and

stratagems and surprises. Written in a pleasant but reckless

and rattling style. Smacks strongly of the stage throughout,

indeed it was originally a successful play before appearing in

book form. Incidents not historical. _Not for young people._

⸺ THE FAIR IRISH MAID. Pp. 344. (_Mills & Boon_). 6_s._ (N.Y.: _Harper_).

1.30. 1911.

Ireland a few years after the Union; but not political. Mr.

McC., in his usual vein of gay romanticism, takes his beautiful

maiden from Kerry to London, where in the modish days of the

Dandies she is for a time the reigning toast. But she is

true to her Kerry lover, whom she finds in London lost and

ruined, and whom she rescues and enables to produce his Irish

play. Other characters are Lord Cloyne, the Irish ascendancy

landlord, Mr. Rubie, the English M.P. who has come to visit

and improve Ireland, and an antiquary who wants to buy a round

tower and provides many amusing situations.—(_Press notices_).

=M’CARTHY, Michael J. F.= B. Midleton, Co. Cork. Ed. Vincentian Coll.,

Cork; Midleton College, Cork; T.C.D. After the appearance of _Five Years

in Ireland_ in 1901, “has written and spoken against the power exercised

by the Roman Catholic Church in politics and in education. Started and

conducted Christian Defence Effort in opposition to Home Rule, 1911-14.”

Author of _Priests and People in Ireland_, _Rome in Ireland_, &c.—(WHO’S

WHO).

⸺ GALLOWGLASS. Pp. 540. (_Simpkin, Marshall_). 6_s._ 1904.

Purports to portray the social and political life of various

classes in a typical South of Ireland town (“Gallowglass”).

Written in a vein of bitter satire. Peasant, shopkeeper,

politician, and especially priest, are held up to unmeasured

scorn. Aspersions are cast upon Catholic teachings and

practices. Eviction scenes, the workings of a secret society,

political meetings, a scene in Parliament, serve the writer for

his purpose in various ways.

=M’CHESNEY, Dora.=

⸺ KATHLEEN CLARE. Pp. 286. (_Blackwood_). Six Illustr. by J. A. Shearman.

1895.

Story of Wentworth, Earl of Strafford’s Viceroyalty in Ireland,

told in form of diary purporting to be written by a kinswoman

of Strafford’s, who sees him in his home life and acquires

extraordinary love and reverence for him. The tale of his

execution is pathetically told. Quaint Elizabethan English.

Pretty Elizabethan love-songs interspersed.

=M’CLINTOCK, Letitia.=

⸺ A BOYCOTTED HOUSEHOLD. Pp. 319. (_Smith, Elder_). 1881.

Period, _c._ 1880. Mr. Hamilton is a model as a man and

landlord. His family is in very reduced circumstances owing to

“No-Rent Campaign.” Then we have various incidents of the land

war—threatening letters, burning of hay, and finally the eldest

son is brutally murdered by tenants on whom favours had been

heaped. The beautiful home life, sympathetic love affairs, &c.,

of the Hamiltons are dwelt upon as pointing the contrast with

the wickedness of the League and the meaningless ingratitude

of the peasantry. Sympathies of Author wholly with landlords.

The Hamilton boys were all educated at Rugby, and the general

outlook of the family is English. Scene: King’s Co. and Donegal

alternately.

=M’CLINTOCK, Major H. S.=

⸺ RANDOM STORIES; chiefly Irish. Pp. 147. (BELFAST: _Marcus Ward_).

Illustr. _n.d._ _c._ 1885.

A collection of unobjectionable smoke-room yarns, more or less

original, and more or less humorous. Illustr. somewhat crude.

=M’CRAITH, L. M.= Mrs. L. M. M’Craith Blakeney, of Loughloher, Cahir, Co.

Tipperary. B. 1870. Ed. in Ireland and at Cheltenham. Has written also

_The Suir from its Source to the Sea_, _The Romance of Irish Heroines_,

_The Romance of Irish Heroes_, &c. In these and other writings her aim

has been to popularise Irish local history and antiquities in the hopes

of fostering a love of country, especially in the young.

⸺ A GREEN TREE. Pp. 221. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1908.

A pleasant family story with a sympathetically, though somewhat

dimly-sketched, Irish background. All through there is the

contrast between English and Irish ideals. One or two peculiar

Irish types are well drawn.

=MACDERMOTT, S.=

⸺ LEIGH OF LARA: a Novel of Co. Wicklow. (_Gill?_). 1_s._ 6_d._

A slight but pleasant tale, told in straightforward manner,

without character-study, scene-painting, problems, or politics.

Deals with the false and misunderstood position of a man who

has been entrusted with the charge of his sister-in-law, while

his brother is abroad “on his keeping,” and the complications

that arise from this position.

=MACDERMOTT, W. R.=

⸺ FOUGHILOTRA: A Forbye Story. Pp. 326. (_Sealy, Bryers_). _c._ 1906.

Sub-t.:—A memorial of the Ulster handloom weavers. A

sociological study, in form of novel, of the history and

development of a family. Scene: shore of Lough Neagh. Time:

present day, though the family history goes back two hundred

years. The forceful and pungent dialect in which it is written

is quite natural and true to life. An unusual and noteworthy

book—interesting alike for its plot, its clever character-study

and the thoughtfulness that pervades it. Has considerable

humour, and nothing in the least objectionable. This author

also has published, under the pen name of “A. P. O’Gara,” _The

Green Republic_.

=MACDONAGH, Michael.= B. Limerick, 1862. Ed. Christian Bros.’ Schools.

At twenty-two joined the staff of FREEMAN’S JOURNAL. From 1894 to the

present has been on staff of TIMES, and he lives in London. His father,

Michael O’Doherty MacDonagh, was a Donegal man, a printer and poet.

Has been writing about Ireland all his life in an immense variety of

periodicals, and has published about a dozen books, many of them relating

to Parliament, of great historic value.

⸺ IRISH LIFE AND CHARACTER. Pp. 382. (_Hodder & Stoughton_). 6_s._ Many

editions, the 5th being in 1905.

Object: “To give a clear, full, and faithful picture of

Irish life and character, illustrated by anecdotes and by

my own experience during a twelve years’ connexion with

Irish journalism.” “I have admitted into my collection only

anecdotes that are truly genuine, really humorous, and

certainly characteristic of the Irish people.” “The face of

Ireland as seen in these pages is always puckered with a

smile.”—(_Pref._). May be described as anecdotes, chiefly

comic, classified and accompanied by a running commentary.

Chapters: The Old Irish Squire; Duelling; Faction Fighting;

Some Delusions about Ireland (_e.g._, “Stage-Irishman”); Bulls;

In the Law Courts; “Agin the Government”; Irish Repartee and

Sarcasm; Love-making in Ireland (its matter-of-factness, &c.);

Humours of Politics In and Out of Parliament; The Ulster

Irishman; The Jarvey; The Beggar; Sunniness of Irish Life, &c.

It is to be observed that the laugh is often against the Irish

throughout, and perhaps our national failings are rather more

prominent here than our national virtues, the serious side of

Irish life being scarcely touched on at all.

=M’DONNELL, Randal William.= B. in Dublin, 1870. Son of Randal M’Donnell,

Q.C. Ed. Armagh Royal School. B.A., T.C.D. Was for a time assistant

librarian in Marsh’s Library, and now a L.G.B. inspector. Has published

also three volumes of verse.

⸺ KATHLEEN MAVOURNEEN. Pp. 270. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 2_s._ Frontisp. 1898.

Pictures first the causes and events that led to the rebellion,

Tone’s visit to America, his schemes, the French invasion. Then

vivid description of the outbreak in Wicklow, the fight at

Tubberneering, the battle of New Ross, the capture and death of

Lord Edward Fitzgerald.

⸺ WHEN CROMWELL CAME TO DROGHEDA. Pp. 147. (_Gill_). 2_s._ 6_d._ Map of

Drogheda and map of Ireland in time of Cromwell. (N.Y.: _Benziger_).

0.90. 1906.

“Edited from the record of Clarence Stranger,” an officer in

the army of Owen Roe O’Neill. Covers principal events from

Cromwell’s landing to the Plantation, including defence of

Clonmel.

⸺ MY SWORD FOR PATRICK SARSFIELD. Pp. 201. (_Gill_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1907.

Adventures of Phelim O’Hara (character well drawn), a colonel

in Sarsfield’s horse, who witnesses siege of Derry, battle of

the Boyne, two sieges of Limerick. Much history, varied by

startling adventures.

⸺ ARDNAREE. Pp. 227. (_Gill_). 1911.

“The story of an English girl in Connaught, told by herself.”

Mainly a record of social life (tea-parties, military balls,

&c.), with a good deal of fairly mild love-making. The ’98

insurrection (landing of French at Killala, &c.) forms a kind

of background but is little spoken of. The Author hits off

cleverly enough the outlook and language of a narrator such as

the heroine.

=MACDOUGALL, Rev. J.=

⸺ CRAIGNISH TALES, collected by. Notes on the War Dress of the Celts by

Lord A. Campbell. Pp. xvi. + 98. (_Nutt_). 5_s._ 20 plates. 1889.

⸺ FOLK AND HERO TALES. Pp. xxx. + 311. Demy 8vo. (_Nutt_). 7_s._ 6_d._

net. Three Illustr. by E. Griset. 1891.

Introduction by A. Nutt deals with aims of study of folk-lore,

and various theories of the origin of this latter, and the

value of Celtic folk-lore.

Ten tales collected in district of Duror (Argyllshire) between

Summer of 1889 and Spring of 1890, obtained from a labouring

man named Cameron, who had them in his boyhood from Donald

MacPhie and others. As folk-lore they are thoroughly reliable

and genuine, the Gaelic text given after each story being

written at the narrator’s dictation with painstaking accuracy.

The stories are typical folk-tales—a string of marvellous

adventures of some hero with giants and enchanted castles and

witches, &c., &c.—often grotesque and extravagant and devoid

of moral or other significance beyond the mere narrative....

Free from coarseness. Finn is the hero in several of these

tales. Good Index. 50 pp. of Notes, devoted chiefly to variant

versions of the tales, explanations of terms and comparisons

with other tales.

=M’DOWELL, Lalla.=

⸺ THE EARL OF EFFINGHAM. Pp. 280. (_Tinsley_). 1877.

Time: the forties, in Ballyquin, Co. Galway. It is a kind of

appeal in story form to the Irish landlords to stay at home

and “right Ireland’s wrongs.” The good points in the Irish

character are well brought out, the brogue is well reproduced,

and there is much humour. There are some glimpses of Dublin

society. The bias is somewhat Protestant.

=“MACEIRE, Fergus.”=

⸺ THE SONS OF EIRE. Three vols. (LOND.: _Newby_). 1872.

Author styles himself “The last of the Sons of Eire,” an old

broken-down Irish family living in Hampshire (Vol. II. brings

them back to Ireland). A long autobiography, with a multitude

of rather trifling incidents, much conversation, and a good

deal of moralising. The portrait of the writer’s mother is

interesting and curious. The Author seems Catholic and Irish in

sympathies. In the end the teller marries the betrothed of his

brother Brian, the real hero, who has been killed in a skating

accident.

=MACGILL, Patrick.= “The Navvy Poet.” B. Glenties, Co. Donegal, 1891. Ed.

at National school until he was twelve. At fourteen began to write verse

for the DERRY JOURNAL. Soon after set out for Greenock with 10_s._ in his

pocket. “Since then I have done all sorts of things, digging, draining,

farming, and navvying.” In 1912 was a plate-layer on the Caledonian

Railway.—(I.B.L., III., p. 71). His poems are _Songs of a Navvy_,

_Gleanings from a Navvy’s Scrap Book_, and _Songs of the Dead End_. Is

now a soldier in the London Irish Rifles, and has written a good account

of military life in _The Amateur Army_. A series of sketches from the

firing line, entitled _The Red Horizon_, is in preparation.

⸺ CHILDREN OF THE DEAD END. Pp. 305. (_Herbert Jenkins_). 6_s._ 1914.

“Most of my story is autobiographical.”—(_Foreword_). It opens

in the Glenties with a faithful picture of the people and their

hard life. The scene then shifts to Scotland and depicts the

toils and temptations that beset the men, and especially the

girls, in their sordid and insanitary surroundings. The hero

goes on tramp with “Moleskin Joe,” a philosophic vagabond,

finely described; and the shifts they are put to and the scenes

they come through all bear the mark of truth, as does the wild

life led by the navvies at Kinlochleven. The description of

these scenes in a London newspaper led to his employment on the

press. The hero’s love for Norah Ryan is purely and touchingly

delineated, and, save for one unhappy gibe at the P.P., the

book is unobjectionable.

⸺ THE RAT PIT. Pp. 308. (_Jenkins_). 1915.

The story of Norah Ryan, the heroine of _The Children of the

Dead End_, from her childhood in Western Donegal to her death,

a woman of the streets, in a Glasgow slum. A heartrending

story from start to finish, with scarcely a gleam of cheer.

The Author has exceptional powers of observation and gifts

of description, and the book is extraordinarily realistic.

But the realism and the sombreness being exclusive, the

effect is exaggerated even to falseness. Farley McKeown is

impossibly villainous, the picture of the wake revolting

because undiscerning, Norah’s innocence overdrawn. Yet on the

whole the Author’s claim that it is a transcript from life,

life seen and lived by him, is doubtless well sustained. There

are several needless sneers at the priests, _e.g._, p. 286,

which is wantonly unpleasant. The Author is not prurient, but

he describes plainly and vividly scenes in Glasgow brothels.

Good picture of the conditions of life of the Irish migratory

labourers.

=[M’GOVERN, Rev. J. B.]; “J. B. S.”= Of St. Stephen’s Rectory,

Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester. An enthusiast for Irish archæology and a

frequent contributor on his favourite subject to N. & Q., CORK ARCHAEOL.

JOURNAL, the ANTIQUARY, &c.

⸺ IMELDA, or Retribution: a Romance of Kilkee. (_Tinsley_). 7_s._ 6_d._

1883.

Scene: varies between Kilkee and Meenahela on the one hand

and Italy on the other. The story is concerned with the

faithlessness of Imelda Lestrange, an Irish girl, to her

affianced Florentine lover, Gasper Bicchieri, whom she had

met at Kilkee, and the Nemesis that befalls her in the

faithlessness of her new lover—and husband—Monckton, who

deserts her for his cousin, Teresa Dempsey. Most of this

happens at Kilkee. The end is tragedy. Forty years later Gasper

returns to Kilkee to brood in the scene of the catastrophe of

his life. There is little or no characterisation or study of

motive. The story opens in 1829.

=M’HENRY, James, M.D.= B. Larne, Co. Antrim, 1785. Ed. Dublin and

Glasgow. Lived 1817-1842 in U.S.A. From 1842 till his death in 1845 he

was U.S. consul at Derry. Publ. several volumes of verse (Mr. O’Donoghue

enumerates nine) and several novels besides those mentioned below.

⸺ THE INSURGENT CHIEF. Pp. 128, very close print. (_Gill_). Bound up with

HEARTS OF STEEL. _n.d._

Adventures of a young loyalist during the rebellion in the

North, pleasantly told, but with improbabilities and a good

deal of the _deus ex machina_. Gives the very best description

of the scenes in Belfast and Larne leading up to the Battle

of Antrim and the consequent defeat of the “United men,” many

of whom were personally known to the Author. The leaders are

referred to by name, and the heroic death of Willy Neilson

pathetically described. The famous rebel ballad of “Blaris

Moor” is put into the mouth of a ballad singer in Belfast, and

the northern dialect is excellently rendered.

The original title of this was _O’Halloran; or, The Insurgent

Chief_, [1824], Philadelphia, three vols., and in same year

London, one vol. Republ. frequently in Glasgow (_Cameron &

Ferguson_) and Belfast (_Henderson_).

⸺ THE HEARTS OF STEEL. (_Gill_). 6_d._ [1825]. Still in print.

A story full of sensational adventure. There is a good deal

about the Oak Boys and Steel Boys, Ulster Protestant secret

societies which indulged in agrarian outrages as a protest

against various abuses. The writer praises the Presbyterian

religion somewhat at the expense of the Catholic. Some of

the incidents related are rather coarse. Includes legends of

Carrickfergus, also a good deal of verse.

=MACHRAY, Robert.= B. 1857. Formerly Prof. of Ecclesiastical History in

St. John’s University College, Manitoba. War editor, DAILY MAIL, 1904-05.

Between 1898 and 1914 has publ. a dozen novels, besides other works.

⸺ GRACE O’MALLEY, Princess and Pirate. Pp. viii. + 338. (_Cassell_).

6_s._ 1898.

Purporting to be “Told by Ruari Macdonald, Redshank and Rebel,

The same set forth in the Tongue of the English.” Scene:

various points on the west coast from Achill to Limerick. To a

dual love story—of Grace (= Grania Waile) and Richard Burke,

Ruari (the hero) and Eva, Grace’s foster-sister—are added

many stirring descriptions of sea-fights and escapes, sieges

and hostings. Historical personages, such as Sir Nicholas

Malbie, the Earl of Desmond, and Stephen Lynch of Galway, are

introduced. The moral tone is entirely good. The point of view

is Grace O’Malley’s.

=M’ILROY, Archibald.= B. Ballyclare, Co. Antrim, 1860. Entered first the

banking and then the insurance business. Took part in public life in his

native county and in Co. Down. For the last three years of his life,

which was ended in the Lusitania disaster, 1915, he lived in Canada.

⸺ THE AULD MEETIN’ HOOSE GREEN. Pp. 260. (BELFAST: _M’Caw, Stevenson &

Orr_). 1898.

Stories of the Co. Antrim peasantry. Time: thirty or forty

years ago. Imitative of the “Kailyard” school in England. An

intimate picture of Ulster Presbyterianism and its ways of

thought. Has both humour and pathos. Is offensive to no creed

or class. Ulster-Scot dialect true to life. Titles of some of

the stories:—“Two Little Green Graves,” “At Jesus’ Feet,” “The

Old Precentor Crosses the Bar.”

⸺ WHEN LINT WAS IN THE BELL. (_Unwin_). 1898.

⸺ BY LONE CRAIG LINNIE BURN. Pp. 153. (_Unwin_). 1900.

“Two series of local stories of the Scoto-Irish folk of Ulster,

the chat of village gossips, character-sketches of doctor,

minister, agent, and inn-keeper: quaint blends of Scottish and

Irish traits. Most of the tales of idyllic kind.”—(_Baker_).

The reviewer in the IRISH MONTHLY says of the second of the

above: “It is a wonderfully realistic picture of various grades

of social life in a little country town in the North ... giving

amusing glimpses of the working of practical Presbyterian

theology in the rustic middle class.... Leaves on the reader

a very remarkable impression of truthfulness and reality.”

In this second novel there is some humour and a good deal of

pathos. The same remarks apply here as to _The Auld Meetin’

Hoose Green_.

⸺ A BANKER’S LOVE STORY. Pp. 247. (_Fisher Unwin_). 1901.

The story opens in “the Union Bank, Spindleton” (the Ulster

Bank, Belfast), the various types of bank directors and

clerks being cleverly described—the mischief-making Blake,

the jolly Harry Burke, &c. The scene shifts to “Craig Linnie”

(Ballyclare), where George Dixon’s love story begins. He

is transferred to Ballinasloe (good description of the big

fair). Through no fault of his own he comes under a cloud, but

eventually matters clear up and all ends happily. The Author

knows his Ulster types thoroughly.

⸺ THE HUMOUR OF DRUID’S ISLAND. Pp. 127. (_Hodges, Figgis_; and _Mullan_,

BELFAST). 2_s._ 6_d._ 1902.

Scene: “Druid’s Island” is Islandmagee, Co. Antrim. A series of

very short anecdotes told to one another by the Presbyterian

country people, in their peculiar Scoto-Irish dialect, and full

of the dry, “pawky” humour of the North. Gives glimpses of the

manners and life of the place.

=MACINNES, Rev. D.=

⸺ FOLK AND HERO TALES. Collected, ed. (in Gaelic), and trans. by; with

a Study on the Development of the Ossianic or Finn Saga, and copious

Notes by Alfred Nutt. Pp. xxiv. + 497. (_Nutt_). 15_s._ net. Portrait of

Campbell of Islay and two Illustr. by E. Griset. 1890.

Gaelic and English throughout on opposite pages. The tales

were taken down at intervals during 1881-2, chiefly from the

dictation of A. MacTavish, a shoemaker of seventy-four, a

native of Mull. The tales are typical folk-tales, full of

giants, monsters, and other mythic and magic beings. They

are often quaint, imaginative and picturesque, but abound in

extravagance and absurdity. In Mr. Nutt’s notes (pp. 443 to

end) he studies chiefly—(1) What relation, if any, obtains

between the folk-tales current in Scotland and the older Gaelic

literature; (2) what traces of early Celtic belief and customs

do these tales reveal. They are very elaborate and scholarly.

Good Index.

=M’INTOSH, Sophie.= Born at Kinsale, where she resided for many years,

until her marriage with Rev. H. M’Intosh, of Methodist College, Belfast.

In her sketches she describes faithfully and vividly the people of her

native town.—(IRISH LIT.).

⸺ THE LAST FORWARD, and Other Stories. Pp. 152. (_Brimley Johnson_). Five

Illustr. by Jack B. Yeats. 1902.

Ten Irish school and football stories, with plenty of schoolboy

language and slang, told in lively, stirring style, never dull.

=McKAY, J. G.=

⸺ THE WIZARD’S GILLIE; or, Gille A’Bhuidseir and Other Tales. Ed. and

transl. by J. G. McKay. (_St. Catherine’s Press_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1915.

A selection from the MS. collection of the tales gathered by

the late J. F. Campbell, of Islay (_q.v._), and preserved

in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh. The Gaelic and the

translation are given on opposite pages. Some of the titles are

“Donald Caol Cameron,” “The Carpenter MacPheigh,” “The Sept of

the Three Score Fools.”

=MACKAY, William.=

⸺ PRO PATRIA: the Autobiography of a Conspirator. Two Vols.

(_Remington_). 1883.

The narrator, Ptolemy Daly, is a weak, conceited youth,

given to hysterics and poetry. Full of visions of Robert

Emmet, he joins the staff of “The Sunburst,” the organ of

an insurrectionary movement led by Phil Gallagher, a fine

character, evidently modelled on T. C. Luby. At the critical

moment Daly plays the traitor and decamps to England. Isaac

Butt and John Rea are introduced, under thinly disguised

names. Scene: Dublin and Wicklow. Written in ironical vein:

Daly’s only “Speech from the Dock” was on a charge of drunk

and disorderly. The Author was one of three brothers, all

well-known London journalists. He was born in Belfast in 1846.

Wrote also _A Popular Idol_ and _Beside Still Waters_.

=MACKENZIE, Donald A.=

⸺ FINN AND HIS WARRIOR BAND; or, Tales of Old Alban. Pp. 248.

(_Blackie_). 2_s._ 6_d._ 1910.

Stories, arranged in a connected series, of the Fenian cycle,

adapted for children from twelve to fourteen or thereabouts.

Told in picturesque language, but perfectly simple and

direct. For the most part folklore, full of magic and wonder,

nine-headed giants and fire-breathing dogs. But here and

there the antique hero-tale appears, as in the Battle of

Gavra and the death of Dermaid. Localities mostly Scotch. The

illustrations (6 coloured, 34 in black and white) are charming

in every way. Picture cover.

=MACKENZIE, R. Shelton.=

⸺ BITS OF BLARNEY. (N.Y.: _Redfield_). [1854]. (N.Y.: _Alden_). 1884.

“A series of Irish stories and legends collected from the

peasantry,” familiar to the Author in youth (see pref.). It is

a volume of miscellanies. Includes three stories of Blarney

Castle told in serio-comic manner by a schoolmaster; some

local legends of Finn McCool, &c.; eccentric characters (the

bard O’Kelly, Father Prout, Irish dancing masters, Charley

Crofts, Buck English); Irish publicists; sketches of Grattan

and O’Connell (the former enthusiastic, the latter not wholly

favourable—O’C. “the greatest professor of Blarney these latter

days have seen or heard”). He speaks of O’C. from personal

knowledge. On the whole thoroughly nationalist in tone. The

Author, b. in Co. Limerick, 1809, educated Cork and Fermoy,

was a journalist in London, afterwards in New York, and wrote

or edited many valuable works, historical and biographical. D.

1880.

=M’KEON, J. F.=

⸺ ORMOND IDYLLS. Pp. 144. (_Nutt_). 1_s._ Paper. 1901.

Scene: Co. Kilkenny. Eight little sketches of peasant life,

pathetic and sad. In one a glimpse is given with knowledge and

sympathy of the work of a country priest.

=M’LENNAN, William.=

⸺ SPANISH JOHN. Pp. 270. (_Harper_). 6_s._ Eighteen v. g. Illustr. by F.

de Myrbach. 1898.

Adventures of Col. John McDonnell from the Highlands, when a

lieutenant in the regiment Irlandia, in the service of the K.

of Spain, operating in Italy (1744-6). At the Scots College in

Rome, whither he had been sent to be made a priest, he had met

a young student, a Mr. O’Rourke. This latter, now a chaplain in

the Irish Brigade, saves McD.’s life on the field of Villetri.

Subsequently the two are sent by the Duke of York to Scotland

on a mission to Prince Charlie. They find that all is lost.

Characters admirably drawn, notably the humorous, warm-hearted,

heroic Father O’Rourke.

=“MACLEOD, Fiona”; William Sharp.= B. Paisley, 1856. Ed. Glasgow Univ.

Spent his boyhood in the West Highlands and Islands and became imbued

with love for things Celtic. Even as late as 1899 it was positively

stated that, in spite of conjectures to the contrary, William Sharp and

Fiona MacLeod were not the same person, and Mrs. Hinkson says in her

_Twenty-five Years’ Reminiscences_ that she is not yet convinced that

they were.

⸺ THE LAUGHTER OF PETERKIN. Pp. 288. (_Constable_). Four Drawings by S.

Rollenson. 1897.

“A re-telling of old tales of the Celtic Wonder-World.

Contains: ‘The Laughter of Peterkin’; ‘the Four White Swans

(Sons of Lir)’; ‘the Fate of the Sons of Tuireann’; ‘Darthool

and the Sons of Usnach.’” Told in language of great beauty and

simplicity.

⸺ SPIRITUAL TALES. (EDINB.: _Geddes_). 1897.

⸺ TRAGIC ROMANCES. (EDINB.: _Geddes_). 1897.

⸺ BARBARIC TALES. (EDINB.: _Geddes_). 1897.

⸺ THE DOMINION OF DREAMS. (_Constable_). 1899.

⸺ THE SIN-EATER, and Other Tales. (_Constable_). 1899.

⸺ THE WASHER OF THE FORD, and Other Tales. (_Constable_). 1899.

⸺ The collected works written under the above pen-name (between 1894 and

1905). Ed. by his widow, and publ. by _Heinemann_ in seven Vols., 5_s._

net each. Three Vols. have appeared, viz.:—I. _Pharais; The Mountain

Lovers_. II. _The Sin Eater; The Washer of the Ford_ (April). Pp. 450.

III. _The Dominion of Dreams; Under the Dark Star_ (April). Pp. 438. The

following are announced:—IV. _The Divine Adventure; Iona_, &c. V. _The

Winged Destiny._ VI. _The Silence of Amor; Where the Forest Murmurs._

VII. _Poems and Dramas._

Some titles of the stories in these three vols.:—“Morag of the

Glen,” “The Dan-nan-Ron,” “The Sin-Eater,” “The Flight of the

Culdees,” “The Harping of Cravetheen,” “Silk o’ the Kine,”

“Cathal of the Woods,” “St. Bride of the Isles,” “The Awakening

of Angus Ogue,” “Three Marvels of Iona,” &c.

These books of Fiona Macleod’s are, for the most part, shadowy,

elusive dream-poems in prose, wrought into a form of beauty

from fragments of old Gaelic tales heard in the Western isles

(where the Author lived for years) from fishermen and crofters.

They are full of the magic of words subtly woven, of vague

mystery, and of nature—wind and sea and sky. He strives to

infuse into his stories the sadder and more mystic aspects of

the Gaelic spirit, as he conceives it. “I have not striven to

depict the blither Irish Celt.” But many of his stories are

simply Irish legends, _e.g._, _The Harping of Cravetheen_. The

Author thus describes his work: “In certain sections are tales

of the old Gaelic and Celtic Scandinavian life and mythology;

in others there is a blending of paganism and Christianity; in

others again are tales of the dreaming imagination having their

base in old mythology, or in a kindred mythopæic source....

Many of these tales are of the grey wandering wave of the

West, and through each goes the wind of the Gaelic spirit which

turns to the dim enchantment of dreams.” On the other hand,

some of these stories deal with life in modern Gaelic Scotland,

_e.g._, _The Mountain Lovers_, which, however poetically told,

is after all a tale of seduction. _The Winged Destiny_, amid

much matter of a different nature, contains several tales of

Gaelic inspiration.

=MACLEOD and THOMSON.=

⸺ SONGS AND TALES OF ST. COLUMBA AND HIS AGE. By Fiona Macleod and

J. Arthur Thomson. Third edition. Large paper 4to. (EDINB.: _Patrick

Geddes_). 6_d._ nett.

=M’MAHON, Ella.= Dau. of late Rev. J. H. MacMahon, Chaplain to the

Lord-Lieutenant. Ed.: home. Has written much for various magazines and

periodicals, and particularly on historical and archæological subjects.

Has publ. about seventeen novels. Now resides in Chelsea.—(WHO’S WHO).

⸺ FANCY O’BRIEN. (_Chapman & Hall_). 6_s._ 1909.

A tragedy of city life centering in the betrayal and desertion

of Bridgie Doyle by Fancy O’Brien. Full of human interest,

careful and skilful study of character and motive. Catholic

in sympathy. “In its minor details the book is true to life,

photographic in its realism.” The story is of high dramatic

and literary excellence. In the account of the Easter Monday

excursion to Bray “the story of Bridgie’s undoing is told with

a rare combination of poetry, force, and restraint.”—(N.I.R.,

Aug., 1909).

⸺ THE JOB. Pp. 383. (_Nisbet_). 6_s._ 1914.

Sir Thady, a Cromwellian-Irish baronet, grows interested

in his Irish surroundings on his estate of Ballymaclashin.

He ceases to haunt the Bath Club, Piccadilly, and takes to

starting carpet factories (_The Job_). Many of the incidents

are furnished by the difficulties that beset the task owing to

the amateurish innocence of the baronet and the stupidity of

his local helpers. And besides there are the love affairs of

Sir Thady and the English Miss Devereux. The point of view is

Anglo-Irish, the “mere” Irish being regarded _de haut en bas_

as rather impossible, thriftless, poor people, in short, as a

problem to be dealt with philanthropically. The style is easy

and pleasant.

=MACMANUS, Miss L.= Holds a distinct place among Irish authors of

to-day as being one of the very few writers of Irish historical

fiction who write from a thoroughly national standpoint. Her books are

straightforward, stirring tales, enthusiastically Irish, free from

tedious disquisitions, but based on considerable historical research.

She is a worker in the ranks of the Gaelic League, and in her Co. Mayo

(Kiltimagh) home does much for the cause of Irish Ireland. She is

interested in folklore, and some of the tales she has collected have

recently been publ. in the FOLKLORE JOURNAL. Some of her stories in the

Dublin weeklies deal in the weird and the mysterious. The following have

been publ. by The Educational Co. of Ireland as penny pamphlets:—_In the

High King’s Camp_, _A Battle Champion_, _Felim the Harper_, _The Prince

of Breffny’s Son_, _How Enda went to the Iceland_, _The Leathern Cloaks_.

She has publ. two serials in SINN FEIN: _The Professor in Erin_ and _One

Generation Passeth_.

⸺ THE SILK OF THE KINE. Pp. 282. (_Fisher Unwin_). 3_s._ 6_d._ (N.Y.:

_Harper_). 1.00. 1896.

Scene: chiefly Connaught and south-west Ulster during the

Parliamentary Wars. The heroine is a daughter of the Maguire of

Fermanagh. Her capture by the Roundheads, her rescue from the

man-hunters by a Parliamentarian officer, her condemnation to

slavery in St. Kitt’s, and her escape, are told in vivid and

thrilling style. It is a story for young readers especially.

⸺ LALLY OF THE BRIGADE. (_Duffy_). 2_s._ 1_s._ (BOSTON: _Page_). 25_c._

1899.

Adventures, during the War of the Spanish Succession, of a

Colonel of the Brigade, who, after many thrilling experiences,

distinguishes himself at Cremona, and marries a girl whom he

had met during the war under romantic circumstances. The tale

is lively and interesting, and makes one realize somewhat

of the intrigues and dangers of war.... Young readers may

derive a great deal of amusement and instruction from the

book.—(N.I.R.). Lally is a young captain in the regiment of

Dillon. “James III.,” Louis XIV., Prince Eugène, Marshall

Villeroy, and General O’Mahony all appear in the story.

⸺ NESSA. Pp. 147. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 2_s._ (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 0.60.

_n.d._ (1904).

A tale of the Cromwellian Plantation, characterized by a simple

unpretentious style and considerable power of description, both

of character and scenery.—(_Press notices_). The little book

was highly praised by the ACADEMY and by the IRISH TIMES. It

is, of course, strongly national in sentiment. Scene: an old

castle near Lough Conn, Co. Mayo.

⸺ IN SARSFIELD’S DAYS. Pp. 306. (_Gill_). Illustr. 1907.

“A Passage from the Memoirs of Brigadier Niall MacGuinness

of Iveagh, sometime captain in Sarsfield’s Horse.” Scene:

Limerick during Siege. Includes account of Sarsfield’s Ride and

of the repulse of William’s assault. The plot hinges on the

disappearance of Balldearg O’Donnell’s cross, which Iveagh is

suspected of having stolen. The central figure is perhaps the

wayward and imperious Ethna Ni Briain. The story moves rapidly,

unencumbered by descriptions or digressions. The scenes are

vivid and dramatic. The Author’s play, “O’Donnell’s Cross,” is

founded on this novel. Publ. in U.S.A. (N.Y.: _Buckles_), 1.50,

under title _The Wager_.

⸺ NUALA. Pp. 322. (_Browne & Nolan_). 3_s._ 6_d._ Four Illustr. by Oswald

Cunningham. 1908.

Tells how the only child, aged fifteen, of the head of the

O’Donnells, then in the service of the Austrian Government, is

entrusted by her father just before his death with the mission

of obtaining the Cathach, or battle-book of the O’Donnells,

from the monks at Louvain. On the way she passes through

exciting adventures, being captured by some of Napoleon’s

soldiers. Gen. Hoche figures in the story. Juvenile.

=MACMANUS, Seumas.= B. Mountcharles, Co. Donegal, 1870. Son of a peasant

farmer. Was for some years a National School teacher, but subsequently

turned entirely to journalism. Has written for most of the Irish papers

and magazines and for many English and American periodicals. Is well

known in the States, where he frequently goes on lecturing tours.

⸺ SHUILERS FROM HEATHY HILLS. Pp. 102. (MOUNTCHARLES: _G. Kirke_). 1893.

The Author’s earliest poems and three prose sketches:—“Micky

Maguire” (the last of the hedge schoolmasters), “How you bathe

at Bundoran,” and “A Trip with Phil M’Goldrick.”

⸺ THE LEADIN’ ROAD TO DONEGAL. Pp. 246. (_Digby, Long_). 3_s._ 6_d._

(N.Y.: _Pratt_). 2.00. [1896]. Second ed., 1908; others since.

Twelve short stories of the Donegal peasantry, full of very

genuine, if somewhat broad, humour and drollery. They are not

meant as pictures of peasant life. The dialect is exaggerated

for humorous purposes, and at times the fun goes perilously

near “Stage-Irishism.” But they are never coarse or vulgar.

⸺ ’TWAS IN DHROLL DONEGAL. (_Gill_). 1_s._ Third ed., 1897.

Eight tales dealing with the humorous side of the home-life of

Donegal peasants. A few, however, are folk-tales of the Jack

the Giant-killer type. Told with verve and piquancy and with

unflagging humour, but the skill in story-telling is naturally

not as developed in this as in the Author’s later work, drawing

a good deal upon humorous padding to aid the intrinsic humour

of the incidents.

⸺ THE BEND OF THE ROAD. (_Gill, Duffy_). 2_s._, 3_s._ (N.Y.: _Pratt_).

1.75. [1897].

This is a sequel to _A Lad of the O’Friels_,[7] but consists

of detached sketches, and is not told in the first person.

Most of the sketches are humorous, notably “Father Dan and

Fiddlers Four”; but there is pathos, too, as in “The Widow’s

Mary,” a scene at a wake before an eviction. The Introduction

is an admirable summing up of the peculiarities, emotions, and

vicissitudes of life in an out-of-the-way Donegal countryside.

[7] Yet seems to have been publ. before it. I give the dates as they are

given (doubtless by the Author) in the _Literary Year Book_.

⸺ THE HUMOURS OF DONEGAL. (_Unwin_). (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 1.50. [1898].

Seven stories admirably told, and full of the richest and most

rollicking humour. In the first only, viz., “When Barney’s

Thrunk Comes Home,” is there a touch of the pathetic. It would

be hard to beat “Shan Martin’s Ghost,” and “Why Tómas Dubh

Walked,” and “How Paddy M’Garrity did not get to be Gauger.”

“One St. Patrick’s Day” gives the humorous side of Orange and

Green rivalry.

⸺ THROUGH THE TURF SMOKE. (_Fisher Unwin_). 2_s._ (N.Y.: _Doubleday_.

TORONTO: _Morang_). 2.00. [1899]. 1901.

Simple tales of the Donegal peasantry. There is both pathos

and humour—the former deep, and at times poignant; the latter

always rich and often farcical. The Author writes with all the

vividness of one who has lived all he writes about. He has full

command of every device of the story-teller, yet never allows

his personality to show except, as it should, through the

medium of the actors.

⸺ IN CHIMNEY CORNERS. Pp. 281. (N.Y.: _Harper_). Illustr. by Pamela

Colman Smith. 1899.

“Subtle, merry tales of Irish Folk-lore.”—(_Pref._). The

stories are very similar in kind to the same Author’s _Donegal

Fairy Tales_. There is the same quaint, humorous, peasant

language, the same extravagances and impossibilities. The

illustrations are very numerous. They are very brightly

coloured, but for the most part extremely bizarre.

⸺ THE BEWITCHED FIDDLE, and Other Irish Tales. Pp. ix. + 240. (N.Y.:

_Doubleday and McClure_). 1900.

Ten short stories, humorous for the most part, but one, “The

Cadger Boy’s Last Journey,” moving and pathetic. They are

an exact reproduction in dialect and phraseology of stories

actually heard by the Author at Donegal firesides, and the

fidelity of the reproduction is perfect.

⸺ DONEGAL FAIRY STORIES. Pp. 255. (_Isbister_). 1902. (N.Y.: _McClure_).

Dedication in Irish and English. Thirty-four full-page pen

and ink drawings, signed “Verbeek.” These latter are quaint

and amusingly grotesque. The stories are folk-tales, told

just as the peasantry tell them, without brogue, but with all

the repetitions, humorous extravagances and naïveté of the

folk-tale. They are just the thing for children, and are quite

free from coarseness and vulgarity.

⸺ THE RED POACHER. (N.Y.: _Funk & Wagnalls_). 0.75. 1903.

⸺ A LAD OF THE O’FRIELS. Pp. 318. (_Gill_; _Duffy_). 2_s._, 2_s._ 6_d._,

3_s._ (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 2.00. [1903]. Third ed., 1906.

In this book one actually seems to have been living among the

childlike and quaint yet deep-natured, true, and altogether

lovable little circle of Knocknagar, and to have shared

its joys and sorrows. Every character described stands out

altogether distinct, old Toal a’Gallagher the sententious;

his wife, Susie of the sharp tongue; their son, Toal the

“Vagabone,” with his wild pranks; the grandiloquent “Masther,”

and all the rest. Through it all runs the simple love story of

Dinny O’Friel and Nuala Gildea, companions from childhood. The

book is full of deep, but quiet and restrained, feeling. The

description of the pilgrimage to Lough Derg has much beauty.

⸺ DOCTOR KILGANNON. (_Gill_). 1_s._ (Wrapper). Well illustr. 1907.

A string of loosely-connected after-dinner stories chiefly

about comic duelling and electioneering. Told with pleasant

drollery.

⸺ YOURSELF AND THE NEIGHBOURS. Pp. 304. (N.Y.: _Devin Adair Co._). Five

Illustr. by T. Fogarty. 1914.

A picture by one who has lived it of the life of the Donegal

peasant—not their outward life merely, but their most intimate

thoughts and beliefs, hopes and joys, their whole outlook on

things. The Author is discerning and sympathetic in a high

degree. “Yourself and Herself” gives a Donegal man’s life

story from “the barefoot time” through love and marriage to

“evening’s quiet end.” Some of the remaining stories show

the Author’s humour at its best—the Homeric struggles of

the “priest’s boy” with the New Curate and the Tartar of a

postmistress, the “come home Yankee,” and so on.

=M’NALLY, Mrs.=[8]

⸺ ECCENTRICITY. Three Vols. (over 1,000 pp.). (DUBL.: _Cumming_). 1820.

An endless series of love affairs between charming ladies and

wealthy gentlemen, all of the upper classes, very proper, very

stilted, and dull. The eccentricity is on the part of an old

soldier who is a misanthrope and a hermit, but resolves to

return to normal life and renew acquaintance with his daughter.

He descends upon the friend’s family in which he has left her,

carries off another by mistake, &c. The plot never really moves

on.

[8] So the name is given on the title-page, and it seems improbable

that this Author is the same as the Author of the following item, first

because there is a difference of thirty-four years between the dates,

and secondly because the two books are wholly unlike. But the B. Museum

Catal. assigns both to the same person.

=M’NALLY, Louisa.=

⸺ THE PIRATE’S FORT. Pp. 210. (_Hodges & Smith_). 1854.

The fort is Dunalong, on Inisherkin, in Baltimore Bay, a

stronghold of the O’Driscoll’s towards close of 16th cent.

English ship captured. O’D.’s natural son, a ferocious pirate,

falls in love with captain’s daughter. She is true to her

English officer. The beautiful daughter of O’D. saves her

from his fury. Vengeance of the English—destruction of the

fort—double wedding of the two fair maids to two English

officers. A prominent rôle is assigned to money-grabbing, idle,

besotted Franciscan friar.

=MACNAMARA, Lewis.=

⸺ BLIND LARRY: Irish Idylls. (_Jarrold_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1897.

“Artless records of life among the very poor in West of

Ireland, the fruit of kindly observation, and, obviously,

essays in the _Thrums_ style. Larry is a poor blind fiddler,

whose one joy in life is his son, and he turns out a reproach

to his father. “Katty’s Wedding” is a very Irish bit of farce,

and “Mulligan’s Revenge” expresses the vindictive passions of

the Celt, an episode of jealousy and crime, alleviated at the

close by repentance and reconciliation.”—(_Baker_).

=MACNAMARA, Rachel Swete.=

⸺ SPINNERS IN SILENCE. Pp. 317. (_Blackwood_). 6_s._ 1911.

Fingal and Lutie are lovers somewhere in the wilds of Ireland.

Enter an Interloper (a danseuse of doubtful reputation),

who falls genuinely in love with F., and tries to win him.

She fails, and exit. The atmosphere is very ideal and the

language, especially the conversations, somewhat high-flown.

Author writes well, and is clearly sympathetic to Ireland. The

housekeeper cousin of “county family” status, with her genteel

notions, is well sketched.

=M’NULTY, Edward.= B. 1856, Randalstown, Co. Antrim. Ed. in the

Incorporated Society’s School, Aungier St., Dublin, where he was

a schoolmate and intimate of G. B. Shaw. Contributes to various

periodicals—IRISH SOCIETY, THE OCCULT REVIEW, &c., and has written a

play, “The Lord Mayor,” for the Abbey Theatre. Satirizes Irish failings,

but is proud of being an Irishman himself. Resides in Ranelagh, Dublin.

⸺ MISTHER O’RYAN. Pp. 271. (_Arnold_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1894.

A priest, squat, red-faced, whiskey-loving, unspeakably vulgar,

and a ruffian to whom he is disgracefully related, organize a

branch of the “Lague,” and boycott a farmer who will not join.

The latter’s daughter dies tragically in consequence. The

typical “pesint” is introduced as cringeing, priest-ridden, and

wholly degraded. Impossible brogue throughout.

⸺ SON OF A PEASANT. Pp. 342. (_Arnold_). 1897.

A great advance on _Misther O’Ryan_, _q.v._ A tragic-comedy

of life among lower middle class people in a small provincial

town. The “son of a peasant” is Clarence Maguire, an obscure

young schoolmaster, who in the end comes in for great wealth

and all but wins the daughter of Sir Herbert O’Hara, an

impoverished gentleman. A sub-plot is furnished by the love

affairs of Constable Kerrigan and his determined efforts after

promotion. The plot affords the Author scope for many genuinely

humorous scenes, especially those in the Flanagan family, which

are admirably done, and for the clever portrayal of some of

the meaner aspects of human nature—class pride, servility, the

worship of the moneyed man, time serving, &c. The plot largely

turns on an absurd superstition about changelings. This leads

to the hideous tragedy of the close. The book is marred by a

travesty of the brogue. Otherwise it is not anti-national.

⸺ MAUREEN. Pp. 343. (_Arnold_). 6_s._ 1904.

Of the same type as _Misther O’Ryan_. One of the priests

introduced trades with a miraculous statue on the superstition

of the people; the other is a sleek, smooth fop, thoroughly and

heartlessly vicious. There is little else besides this in the

book.

⸺ MRS. MULLIGAN’S MILLIONS. (_Hurst & Blackett_). 6_s._ 1908.

A broad farce, with Irish people (of the worst stage-Irish

type) as actors, and a small, vulgar Irish town for scene.

Mrs. Mulligan is a very low species of tramp. She is supposed

suddenly to come in for a fortune, and her relations tumble

over one another in efforts to gain her favour—until the bubble

bursts. There is much caricature of Irish traits and manners.

Local journalism is specially ridiculed.—(_News cuttings_).

=M’SPARRAN, Archibald.=

⸺ THE LEGEND OF M’DONNELL AND THE NORMAN DE BORGOS. Pp. 213, close print.

16mo. (_Gill_). 1_s._ [BELFAST, 1829]. Still in print.

Writer (1795-1850?) was a school-master in Derry, who emigrated

to America in 1830, where he published _Tales and Stories of

the Alleghenys_ and _The Hermit of the Rocky Mountains_. A

tale of the struggles between O’Neills, O’Donnells, O’Cahans,

M’Quillans, M’Donnells, and other Ulster septs. Scene:

northern portions of Antrim, Derry, and Donegal. The work of a

half-educated man. A rambling story marked by frequent lapses

from literary good taste and numerous grammatical mistakes.

The peasantry talk in broad modern brogue, full of “arrah,”

“musha,” “tare-an-ouns,” &c. Shows a considerable though

undigested knowledge of Irish history and topography. The book

had considerable vogue both here and in U.S.A.

=MACSWEENEY, Rev. Patrick M., M.A.= One of the most erudite of Irish

priests. Was Chancellor’s Gold Medallist in the Royal University. Was

afterwards Professor of Mod. Lit. in Holy Cross College, Clonliffe. Is at

present editor of the IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.

⸺ THE MARTIAL CAREER OF CONGHAL CLÁIRINGHNEACH. Pp. lxvii. + 225. (_Nutt,

for Irish Texts Society_). 1904.

Ed. for the first time with all the apparatus of

scholarship—critical study of the Tale or Saga, literary study

of the text, grammatical study, notes, glossary, and index. The

story belongs to the pre-Cuchulainn stage of the Red Branch

Cycle. Conghal is supposed to have reigned from 177 to 162 B.C.

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

⸺ TALES OF IRELAND AND THE IRISH. Pp. 224. (_Farquhar Shaw_). 1854.

Wrote also _The Irish Reformation Movement_, 1852; _Modern

Mystery_, 1854, &c. The object of these three stories is to

point out the wickedness and the evil influence, especially in

Ireland, of the Catholic Church. In “Betty Bryan’s Fortune,”

Thady becomes a Protestant, and all goes well with him: the

sign of the Cross is called a charm; and there is a description

of Beltaine superstitions. In “The Terry Alt,” a girl is seized

just after marriage and immured in a convent for life: the

conspirators are a monk, a priest, and “Blackboys.”

=MADDEN, M. S.=

⸺ THE FITZGERALD FAMILY. (R.T.S.). 2_s._ Three cold. ill. by Victor

Prout. 1910.

The family is left very poor on death of father, a C. of I.

clergyman. Rich and vulgar relations adopt Barry and Moya, the

former of whom becomes an unbearable bounder, the latter a

heartless flirt. The rest of the family remains very poor, very

good, and rather dull. There is an occasional mention of Irish

peasants and the Irish language. Apart from this, the persons,

their doings, and the atmosphere are wholly un-Irish. The story

has a moral purpose that is good and not too obtrusive.

=MAGENNIS, Peter.= A retired National School teacher. B. near

Derrygonnelly, Co. Fermanagh, in 1817, the son of a farmer. D. 1910, aged

93, at his birth-place.

⸺ THE RIBBON INFORMER: a Tale of Lough Erne. Pp. 158. (LONDON). 1874.

An unskilfully constructed, rambling narrative, interspersed

with indifferent verse. The Author says in his Preface: “This

novel is founded on fact, almost every incident in it actually

occurred, and many of them within the recollection of the

writer. It contains local traditions and legendary lore. It

treats of highway robbery, illicit distilling, rural manners,

party feeling, and a rather disorganized state of society.”

⸺ TULLY CASTLE: a Tale of 1641. Pp. 266. (ENNISKILLEN: _Trimble_). 1877.

A very crude, rambling tale, bringing in a few incidents of

the Confederate War and several historic characters, but

mainly taken up with private love affairs, abductions, &c. No

character study and no real portrayal of the times. Occasional

vulgarity. Scene: chiefly the shores of Lough Erne.

=MAGINN, J. D.=

⸺ FITZGERALD, THE FENIAN. Two Vols. Pp. 576. (_Chapman & Hall_). 1889.

Deals with Fenian and Land League movements. The Author is

unacquainted with the history and organization of Fenianism.

The land agitation he represents as forced upon an unwilling

peasantry by a kind of murder-club in America. Scene: mainly

Co. Sligo. Parnell and Biggar are brought in under assumed

names, and are broadly caricatured. The portrayal of Butt

is truer to reality and less marred by bias. The Author is

uninformed and, on the whole, uncomprehending: hence some

absurd statements about things Irish, some objectionable (but

evidently unintentionally so) references to the Catholic

Church, and a quite impossible Irish brogue. But he is on the

whole not unfriendly to Ireland.

=MAGINN, William.= B. Cork, 1793. Ed. T.C.D. Began early to write for the

magazines (BLACKWOOD’S, &c.), chiefly parodies and other _jeux d’esprit_.

Went to London, 1823, where, in 1830, he established FRASER’S MAGAZINE,

which with Carlyle, Thackeray, Maclise, Prout as contributors, for some

years was at the head of English periodical literature. He fell more and

more into habits of drunkenness, and engaged in disreputable journalism.

Writing to the end, he died in 1842. Thackeray drew a portrait of him as

Captain Shandon in _Pendennis_. Many memoirs of him have been written.

His “Bob Burke’s Duel with Ensign Brady” is said to be the raciest Irish

story ever written.

⸺ MISCELLANIES: Prose and Verse. (LONDON). [First collection, 1840].

Selections ed. by “R. W. Montagu.” 1885. (N.Y.: _Scribner_). 9.60.

Contains “Bob Burke’s Duel,” “The Story without a Tail,” and

other Irish stories, published in magazines between 1823 and

1842. These stories are told mostly in a vein of broad comedy.

Their characters are roysterers and swaggerers. Maginn was a

man of brilliant gifts. The fantastic humour and wild gaiety of

his stories give them an original flavour. Maginn was a high

Tory and an Orangeman.—(_Krans_). Dr. Mackenzie edited, in

1857, _The Miscellanies of William Maginn_ (5 vols.), published

in America. Contents:—Vols. I. and II. “The O’Doherty Papers.”

III. “The Shakespeare Papers.” IV. “Homeric Ballads.” V. “The

Fraserian Papers,” with a life of the Author.

=MAHONY, Martin Francis; “Matthew Stradling.”= B., Co. Cork, 1831. D.

1885. Was a nephew of “Father Prout.” Also wrote _Cheap John’s Auction_.

⸺ THE IRISH BAR SINISTER. Pp. 136. LONDON. 1872.

“New ed. in four chapters.” The original was publ. by Gill,

Dublin, 1871. Really a pamphlet showing up the place-hunting

whiggery that prevailed in the Irish Bar at that time,

and giving a picture of Irish politics after the Fenian

insurrection, and at the outset of the Home Rule movement.

⸺ THE MISADVENTURES OF MR. CATLYNE, Q.C. An Autobiography. Two Vols.

(_Tinsley_). 1873.

Elaborates the idea of the above-mentioned work. Depicts, under

assumed names, well-known Irish lawyers of the day. Intrigues

of the candidate for a small Irish borough, and his difficulty

in placating all parties well described. This originally

appeared in FRASER’S MAGAZINE. There is little plot, and no

romantic interest.

⸺ JERPOINT. An ungarnished Story of the Time. Three Vols. (_Chapman &

Hall_). 1875.

A satirical study of parvenus, snobs, and various curious

types, very cleverly characterised. The story is chiefly

concerned with the Courtneys, risen from the publichouse to

county-family importance. P. 49 _sq._ gives an excellent

picture of a meet, with a study of the personages present. Full

of close observation and excellent descriptions. Among the best

portraits are those of the Hanlon family, always shabby and

out-at-elbows, yet ever struggling with fortune. We are not

told the situation of “the Cathedral City of Jerpoint on the

Sea.”

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

Carlow.

⸺ THE GOLDEN LAD. 16mo. (_C.T.S. of Ireland: Iona Series_). 1_s._ 1910.

A study of Dublin slum-children, told with humour, insight, and

sympathy, by one who thoroughly knows their ways. The dialect

is faithfully rendered.

=MANNERS, T. Hartley.=

⸺ PEG O’ MY HEART. Pp. 320. (_Hodder & Stoughton_). 1913.

“Novelized” from a popular play. Peg is daughter of an Irish

agitator of the eighties who goes to America in the troubled

times. On the death of Peg’s mother her father returns to

Ireland, and lives there for many years, till bright prospects

call him back to America. But the main part of the action is

taken up with Peg’s visit of a month to her English relations

in Scarborough. The Author rather overdraws the contrast

between English and Irish types. There is much clever dialogue.

Ends with passing of second reading of Home Rule Bill, and the

glorification of the one-time agitator.

=MANNIX, Mary E.=

⸺ MICHAEL O’DONNELL; or, The Fortunes of a Little Emigrant. (BOSTON:

_Flynn_). 0.60. [1900]. In print, 1910.

“Michael, an honest, industrious youngster, not too good to

use his fists when attacked by other boys, comes to the U.S.,

and steps into an excellent situation after three months

of walking across the Continent. By a series of innocent

misunderstandings, combined with hostile malice, he is made to

appear guilty of theft; but the truth is soon manifest.... Told

with much animation and liveliness.”—(AMERICAN ECCLES. REV.)

Juvenile.

⸺ PILGRIM FROM IRELAND. (BOSTON: _Flynn_). 0.36. In print, 1910.

=MAPOTHER, Mary J.=

⸺ THE DONALDS: an Irish Story (_Gill_). 6_s._ _c._ 1879.

Not in British Museum Library.

=MARSH, Mrs.=

⸺ THE NEVILLES OF GARRETSTOWN. Three Vols. (_Saunders & Otley_). 1860.

The main plot is a somewhat slight story of a lost heir

returning to claim his inheritance, which had been usurped

by an intruder. But the chief interest lies in the numerous

side incidents and digressions which are designed to portray

various phases of the life of the times. Opens and closes at

Clonmel, but the scene shifts to Dublin, Bantry, Paris, and

other places. Introduces Jacobite conspiracies, street-rioting,

hedge schools, city entertainments, political discussions, the

working of the Penal laws, and historical personages, such

as Primate Stone, Thurot, Prince Charles Edward, Archbishop

Dillon, and many others. Is more or less on the side of the

English colony, but is not unfair to any party. Has little or

no character study, and not much human interest, but abounds in

incident.

=MARTIN, Miss H. L.=

⸺ CANVASSING. (_Duffy_). Still in print. (N.Y.: _Kenedy_). [1832].

Published as one of the O’Hara’s tales. An elaborate tale of

matchmaking and marriage among the upper classes, written with

a moral purpose. Incidentally there is a good picture of an

election contest in the first quarter of the nineteenth century.

=MARTINEAU, Harriet.=

⸺ IRELAND: a Tale. Pp. 136. (LONDON: _Fox_). 1832.

Appeared in a series of illustrations of political economy.

Written in the cause of the Irish poor, aiming to show “how

long a series of evils may befal individuals in a society

conducted like that of Ireland, and by what a repetition

of grievances its members are driven into disaffection and

violence.” Shows three sources of evils—thriftlessness in

tenants, rapacity in landlords, misplaced benevolence.

=MASON, Miss.=

⸺ KATE GEARY; or, Irish Life in London. (LONDON: _Dolman_). 1853.

“A Tale of 1849.” “The specific object of this work is to

exemplify the various ways in which the poor are placed at a

disadvantage, and the misery and, almost of necessity, the

crime that ensue from their present crowded condition.” “Miss

M. describes the life of one who might be called a Sister

of Charity living in the world.... She tells us she has

witnessed the incidents of her tale, which are described with

vivacity.... The Author has entangled her heroine in a love

affair, which, in itself, is very frigid and tedious.”—(D.R.).

=MASON, A. E. W.=

⸺ CLEMENTINA. (_Methuen_). 2_s._ Eight illustr. by Bernard Partridge.

[1901]. Second ed., 1903. (_Nelson_). New ed., 7_d._ 1911.

The story of the romantic escape in 1720 of the Princess

Clementina Sobieski from Austria, and how she was conducted to

Rome to be married to the Pretender by the Chevalier Charles

Wogan, member of an Anglo-Irish family of Clongowes Wood, in

the County Kildare. Some glimpses of the Irish Brigade. A

lively narrative. Mr. Baker calls it “a particularly close

imitation of Dumas.”

⸺ THE FOUR FEATHERS. Pp. 338. (_Smith, Elder_). 6_s._ (_Nelson_). 7_d._

[1903]. 1912.

Scene varies between London, Devonshire, the Soudan, and

Donegal (Ramelton and Glenalla), the scenery of which latter

is finely described. The theme is original and striking. The

hero, an English soldier, is all his life haunted by the fear

of showing “the white feather” at a critical moment. He resigns

his commission rather than risk in a campaign his reputation

for courage. This action brings on him the dreaded imputation

of cowardice. How he redeems his honour is finely told. A

delicate soul-study. The heroic self-sacrifice of Jack Durance

still further raises the moral worth of the book.

=MASON JONES=, _see_ =JONES=.

=MATHEW, Frank.= A grand-nephew of Father Mathew, the Apostle of

Temperance. B. 1865; ed. Beaumont, King’s College School, and London

University. The writer of the Preface to the New Ed. of the _Cabinet of

Irish Literature_ says: “A good many people of excellent judgment look

upon Mr. Mathew as the Irish novelist we have been so long awaiting....

He does not write merely from the point of view of a sympathetic

outsider. He has the true Celtic temperament, with the advantage of

education, inherited and otherwise, over the peasants of genius who have

so long represented the Irish spirit.” Wrote also _Father Mathew, his

Life and Times_, _One Queen Triumphant_, _The Royal Sisters_, &c. Resides

in London.

⸺ AT THE RISING OF THE MOON. Pp. 240. (_M’Clure_). 3_s._ 6_d._

Twenty-seven good Illustr. (N.Y.: _M’Clure_). 1.50. 1893.

Twenty tales (memories of the old days, says the Author),

picturing many phases of peasant life on the West coast:

incidents of the moonlighting days, faction fights, the joke

of the potheen-makers, the attachment of priests and people,

the hardships of the poor, the days of sorrow, the love of home

and country. Told with sympathy in simple but literary style.

Dialogue clever and full of bright snatches of Celtic humour.

⸺ THE WOOD OF THE BRAMBLES. (_Lane_). 6_s._ 1896.

Gives a grotesque picture, intended for vivid realism, of

the rebellion. The rebels are comic savages, their leaders

(the priests included) little better than buffoons. It is

a burlesque ’98. It is well, however, to add the following

estimate from the prefatory essay to the new edition of _The

Cabinet of Irish Literature_: “A born critic here and there

will find out that Mr. Frank Mathew’s _Wood of the Brambles_ is

as full of wit, wisdom, observation, and knowledge as genius

can make it; but to the ordinary reader it is deliberately and

offensively topsy-turvy, and there’s an end of it.”

⸺ THE SPANISH WINE. Pp. 180. (_Lane_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1898.

A tale of Dunluce Castle, Co. Antrim, in the days when the

MacDonnells from Scotland were Lords of Antrim, and Perrott was

Elizabeth’s deputy. The story is told in form of reminiscence,

the actual movement of the plot occupying only a few hours.

Little attempt at description of scenes or times. The Author’s

sympathies are with the MacDonnells, who were on the English

side at the time. The book has been greatly admired, especially

for the vividness of its historical atmosphere and its poetic

and romantic glamour.

⸺ LOVE OF COMRADES. (_Lane_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1900.

“Ultra romantic. The sprightly daughter of a Wicklow squire,

bosom friend of Lord Strafford (then Lord Lieutenant

of Ireland), goes on a perilous journey disguised as a

gallant, with a message of life or death to Strafford at

Dublin.”—(_Baker_, 2).

=MATURIN, Charles Robert.= 1782-1824. Born in Dublin, and educated at

Trinity College. Was a clergyman of the Church of Ireland, and all

his life the sworn enemy of Catholicism and of Presbyterianism, both

of which, especially the latter, he treats unsparingly in some of his

books. Besides his novels he wrote tragedies, such as “Bertram,” and

bloodcurdling melodramas, such as “Fredolpho.” In his way of life he

was somewhat of an oddity—the madness of genius, his admirers said—and

this is reflected in his works. “His romances attracted Scott and

Byron, and many critics have given them great though qualified praise.

Bombastic extravagance of language, tangled plots, and impossible

incidents characterize them all. A remarkable eloquence in descriptions

of turbulent passion is his strong point.” Besides the novels mentioned

below, he wrote _Melmoth, the Wanderer_, generally considered his

masterpiece, and “_The Albigenses_, his last and best (1824), which was

pronounced by BLACKWOOD to be ‘four volumes of vigour, extravagance,

absurdity, and splendour’” (compiled from Krans and Read). It should be

noted that this writer sometimes violates good morals by indecency. Mr.

N. Idman, of Lotsgotan, Helsingfors, Finland, is at present engaged on

a study of M. which he intends to publish. The 1892 ed. of _Melmoth_

contains an introductory memoir of M., a bibliography, and a criticism of

each of his works.

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

Republ. in “The Romancists’ and Novelists’ Library,” two vols.

(_Clements_), 1839. The original ed. was anon.—by the Author

of “Montorio” [_i.e._, “Dennis Jasper Murphy”]. Intended as

an exposition of the unhappy condition of Ireland and as a

picture of the life and manners of the time. The former is

soon lost sight of, but the latter is well carried out. The

hero is a strong Nationalist who works wholly for Ireland’s

cause. Apart from this graver purpose, interest is sustained

by a succession of exciting incidents and by good character

drawing. There is little plot, a great deal of sentiment,

and a great many disreputable intrigues, without, however,

objectionable details. The scene varies between Dublin and the

W. of Ireland—life in the family of a Protestant landowner and

in that of a Catholic feudal chief. Period, _c._ 1806-8. The

society depicted is that of the aristocratic classes. Author’s

standpoint full of sympathy and even admiration for Ireland,

strongly Protestant (Ch. of I.) and anti-“Roman.”

⸺ LE JEUNE IRLANDAIS. Four Vols. (PARIS). 1828.

Traduction per Madame la Comtesse de Molé.

⸺ THE MILESIAN CHIEF. Four Vols. 12mo. (LONDON). 1812.

“Was generally well received by the critics. Even Talfourd,

who had been rather hard on his first novel (_The Fatal

Revenge_), said of this: ‘There is a bleak and misty grandeur

about it which, in spite of all its glaring defects, sustains

for it an abiding place in the soul.’”—(C. A. Read). Deals

with the “prehistoric” Milesian invasion. Gustave Planche

in his critique on M. says of this book, “C’est un livre où

étincellent ça et là des pages magnifiques.”

⸺ CONNAL OU LES MILESIENS. Traduit de l’anglais par Madame la Comtesse

[de Molé]. Four tom. (PARIS). 1828.

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

Young de Courcy rescues Eva, who had been carried off to be

made a Catholic of by a fanatical grandmother, and he falls in

love. This brings him into Calvinistic Methodist circles in

Dublin. These the Author describes minutely and with satire.

The Methodist gloom and coldness drive the hero to the company

of a brilliant actress (really Zaira, Eva’s mother). He is long

torn between the two, but finally goes to Paris with Zaira.

There he deserts her for another. There is a fine description

of Z.’s despair. Eva dies of decline, and de Courcy, repentant,

soon follows. “A moral and interesting tale.” “The full praise

both of invention and of execution must be allowed to Mr. M.’s

sketch of Eva.” As regards Methodism, Mr. M. “has used the

scalpel, not, we think, unfairly but with professional rigour

and dexterity.”—(From a review by Sir Walter Scott in the

EDINB. REV., xxx., 234).

⸺ EVA; ou, Amour et Religion. Traduit de l’anglais sur la 2e éd. par M. 4

tom. (PARIS). 1818.

=MATURIN, Edward.= Son of the preceding.

⸺ THE IRISH CHIEFTAIN; or, The Isles of Life and Death. Pp. 316, v. close

print. 16mo. (GLASGOW: _Griffin_). 1848.

A wild story, in which historical names (O’Ruarc of Breffny,

Dermod MacMurrough, Strongbow, Eva, Devorgilla) are given to

the personages, but which has no foundation in history. The

incidents are supposed to take place some short time after the

Norman invasion, but the book bristles with anachronisms. It is

a series of thrilling adventures, fighting, revenge, murders,

hairbreadth escapes, and so forth. Highly melodramatic,

sentimental, and extravagant.

⸺ BIANCA: a Tale of Erin and Italy. Two Vols. 660 pp. (N.Y.: _Harper_).

1852.

An outlandish sort of story, full of murders, perhaps a dozen,

if not more. Nearly all the characters have some terrible

secret connected with their past; hardly any of them are

legitimate children. A duel between two brothers, and banshees,

and mysterious ladies with dark prophesyings, etc., and all the

fee-faw-fum of the times when all this was popular.

=MAXWELL, W. Hamilton.= 1792-1850. He was a clergyman of the Church of

Ireland, with a parish at Ballagh, in the wilds of Connaught, but was

largely relieved of pastoral duties by the absence of a flock. He divided

his leisure between field sports of all kinds and the writing of books.

_Wild Sports of the West_, _Stories of Waterloo_, and _The Bivouac_ were

the most successful of these; they are still much read. He tells a story

capitally, with verve and spirit, and his situations are as exciting as

those of any modern novelist. Maxwell was the first writer of military

novels: he is the forerunner and even the inspirer of Lever. Mr. Baker

describes his _Stories of Waterloo_ as “A farrago of Irish stories,

sensational, with a dash of Hibernian character and local colouring.”

This book is still to be had (Routledge, 2_s._), and a new ed. publ. by

The Talbot Press, Dublin (Every Irishman’s Library), and ed. by Lord

Dunraven, has recently (Sept., 1915) appeared of his _Wild Sports_.

⸺ O’HARA. Two Vols. (_Andrews_). [1825].

A Protestant landowner casts in his lot with the United

Irishmen. The Government attaints him of treason; he is tried

by a jury of drunken bigots, and hanged as a traitor. His

son, the hero of the tale, then throws himself heart and soul

into the rebellion. The interest centres in the accounts

of the fighting in the North. The hero is a leader at the

battle of Antrim. Some light is thrown on the nature of the

friction between the Catholic and the Protestant commanders,

which constantly threatens the disruption of the rebel

forces.—(_Krans_). Publ. anon.

⸺ THE DARK LADY OF DOONA. [1836]. Also (_Smith, Elder_) 1837. Pp. 306.

(BELFAST) 1846. (LOND.) 1854. (_Warne_). 6_d._ 1891.

“A weak historical novel, in Scott’s manner, which attempts

a picture of sixteenth-century life.”—(_Krans_). The heroine

is Grace O’Malley. The story opens in 1601, but there is a

retrospective portion going back to tell the early life of the

heroine. A tale of love and wild vengeance. In the story figure

the heir of the Geraldines (who marries Grace’s granddaughter),

Hugh O’Neill, and Sir Richard Bingham. Grace joins the latter

against O’Neill. Well written on the whole.

⸺ LA DAME NOIRE DE DOONA. Roman historique traduit par Pâquis. Two tom.

(PARIS). 1834(!).

⸺ ADVENTURES OF CAPT. BLAKE; or, My Life. (_Routledge_). 6_d._

[_Bentley_, 1835]. 1838. Third ed., 1882.

Really two practically independent stories, that of Major Blake

and that of his son, the Captain. The former is far the more

interesting, giving a good account of Gen. Humbert’s invasion

and of the manners of the peasantry at the time (especially

their open-hearted hospitality and kindliness), and some nice

descriptions of Connaught scenery. But for an absurd scene of

confession in a courthouse no religious bias is displayed. The

remaining two volumes are a rambling series of miscellaneous

adventures in Portugal, Paris, and London, consisting largely

of amorous episodes not edifying, to say the least, and told in

a facetious and somewhat vulgar strain.

⸺ THE ADVENTURES OF HECTOR O’HALLORAN AND HIS MAN, MARK ANTONY O’TOOLE.

(_Warne_). 6_d._ Paper. (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 0.30. [1842]. _n.d._ (recently

reprinted).

The hero is the son of a landlord and ex-soldier living in the

South of Ireland. Beginning with an attack on the castle by

local malcontents, Hector and his man pass through a series

of adventures (some of which are described with considerable

“go”), first in Dublin, then in London, and finally in the

Peninsular War under Wellington. Most of the incidents take

place amid the lowest society, and some of them are distinctly

coarse. There is no character-drawing and little or no attempt

to picture the life of the period. The military experiences in

Spain form, perhaps, the best part of the book. There is no

sympathy for Ireland, and there are some gibes at Catholicism.

⸺ THE ADVENTURES OF CAPT. O’SULLIVAN. Three Vols. (_Colburn_). [1848].

1855.