on half-pay.” Some of these take place near “Ballysallagh,” in
Connaught, where the hero is stationed, his duties being mainly
to keep down the Ribbonmen and to hunt for illicit stills.
Attitude towards the former somewhat bloodthirsty. The two
chief houses belong to the priest and the tithe-proctor, the
task of the latter being described as the grinding of money
“out of the wretched serfs.” Little plot, long and tedious
conversations.
⸺ ERIN GO BRAGH; or, Irish Life Pictures. Two Vols. (_Bentley_).
Portrait. 1859.
A posthumous collection of short stories originally contributed
to BENTLEY’S MISCELLANY and other magazines. Written in the
light, rollicking, high-spirited vein characteristic of
Maxwell. Many of them are recollections of actual experience.
Prefaced by biographical sketch by Dr. Maginn.
⸺ LUCK IS EVERYTHING; or, The Adventures of Brian O’Linn. Pp. 440.
(_Routledge_). (N.Y.: _Pratt_). 3.00. 1860.
An infant, child of a dying mother who had been abducted, is
landed on Innisturk. He is adopted by the head man there, grows
up, goes to England, and after many exciting adventures, love
episodes, and hair-breadth escapes, finds out his own origin
and succeeds to ancestral estates. Originally appeared as
serial (with illustrations on steel by John Leech) under the
title of _Brian O’Linn_ in BENTLEY’S MISCELLANY.
=MAYNE, Thomas Ekenhead.= Son of a well-known bookseller of Belfast, was
fast earning for himself a considerable literary reputation, but died at
32, 1899.
⸺ THE HEART O’ THE PEAT: Irish Fireside and Wayside Sketches. Pp. 214.
(BELFAST: _W. Erskine Mayne_). 1_s._ Paper. 1899.
“These are all Irish stories, written on the spot, with a
faithfulness that can be felt in every line. There is no
attempt at meretricious workmanship, no maudlin sentimentality,
no mock heroics. They are simple tales, simply told; but
occasionally the restraint, which is everywhere discernible, is
relaxed for a moment, and the fire of the poet glows in half a
dozen lines, as a landscape or a sea-piece is enthusiastically
drawn, or some incident touches the gentle human heart of the
writer.”—(James H. Cousins, in SINN FEIN).
=“MEADE, L. T.”; Elizabeth Thomasina Toulmin Smith.= She was a daughter
of Rev. R. T. Meade, of Nohoval, Co. Cork. She was b. at Bandon. She
lived in England from 1874 till her death in 1915. Mudie’s catalogue
enumerates 185 of her novels, many of which were stories for school
girls. Of these novels several, no doubt, besides those here mentioned,
relate to Ireland.
⸺ THE O’DONNELLS OF INCHFAWN. (_Hatchards_). 6_s._ 1887.
⸺ THE WILD IRISH GIRL. Pp. 444. (_Chambers_). 6_s._ Eight coloured
Illustr. by the well-known PUNCH artist, Lewis Baumer. 1910.
Warm-hearted, impulsive Patricia has been allowed to run wild
at her own sweet will in Ireland. She is brought to London,
finds the conventional restraints of society too narrow for
her, and as a consequence gets into many amusing and harmless
scrapes, and out of them again.—(_Press Notices_).
⸺ DESBOROUGH’S WIFE. Pp. 319. (_Digby, Long_). 6_s._ One Illustr. 1911.
Scene: near Tralee, in Kerry. Patrick D. contracts a runaway
marriage with a beautiful peasant girl. He falls heavily in
debt, finds that his mother, on whom he had relied, is even
more heavily involved, and that the only way out is a marriage
with a rich heiress. Patrick basely yields, and the poor wife
consents to “disappear,” but in a strange way, connected with a
certain “silent room” in the D. mansion, whose secret we shall
not divulge, things right themselves at last. Peter Maloney,
Patrick’s faithful foster-brother, is curiously similar to
Griffin’s Danny Mann. The moral tone is high.
⸺ PEGGY FROM KERRY. Pp. 330. (_Chambers_). 6_s._ Pretty cover and eight
coloured Illustr. by Miss A. Anderson. 1912.
Peggy is the daughter of a poor Irish peasant and of an
officer. She is now an orphan, but has been adopted by an
English friend of her father’s and sent to an English boarding
school. The story is made up of plots and petty jealousies
amongst the schoolgirls. Peggy, though much ridiculed for
her dreadful brogue, triumphs over her special enemy and the
latter’s followers and ends by being popular and happy.
⸺ KITTY O’DONOVAN. Pp. 330. (_Chambers_). 5_s._ Six good coloured
Illustr. by J. Finnemore. 1912.
Doings in a select English boarding school, where the pretty
heroine from Kerry comes scatheless through the spiteful plots
of her jealous rivals, and is crowned Queen of the May. There
is a pretty description of Kerry scenery, but most of the
action takes place outside of Ireland.
⸺ THE PASSION OF KATHLEEN DUVEEN. Pp. 284. (_Stanley Paul_). 6_s._ 1913.
“A tale of the novelette class about a young Irishman forced
into crime and faithlessness to his young wife by his family’s
need of money.”—[TIMES LIT. SUPPL.]. Another “Colleen Bawn”
story. Brilliant young officer marries penniless girl.
Financial straits. Murder; and nemesis.
⸺ AT THE BACK OF THE WORLD. (_Hurst & Blackett_). 6_s._ _n.d._
Scene: “Arranmore,” on the sea coast of Cork. Sheila O’Connor
is long sundered from her lover by the suspicion, shared by
herself, that he is the murderer of her father, the Squire.
Whether they are ever united again we leave the reader to
discover. There are many scenes that show us the life of the
peasantry, in particular their religious customs. The book
seems free from bias, and the brogue is not exaggerated.
=[MEANY, Mary L.].=
⸺ CONFESSORS OF CONNAUGHT; or, The Tenants of a Lord Bishop. Pp. viii. +
319. (PHILADELPHIA: _Cunningham_). [1864]. _n.d._ (still in print).
Hardly a story: rather a relation of real incidents in
which the names are thinly disguised. Turns chiefly on the
proselytising efforts of Lord Plunkett, Protestant Archb. of
Tuam, resulting in the Partry evictions. Archb. MacHale,
Father Patrick Lavelle, Mgr. Dupanloup, and J. F. Maguire play
parts in the tale. Written with strong Catholic bias, but among
the chief characters are a Protestant minister and his wife,
who are represented as estimable in every way. Style lively,
and at times humorous. Dialogue good and natural. The Author is
a great admirer of William Smith O’Brien. She has also publ.
_Grace Morton; or, The Inheritance_. _A Catholic Tale._
=MEANY, Stephen Joseph.= B. nr. Ennis, Co. Clare, 1825. A noted
journalist, first in his native Clare, then in Dublin. In 1848 he was
imprisoned for some months. Then he went to Liverpool, where he founded
the first English Catholic paper outside London—THE LANCASHIRE FREE
PRESS. Went to U.S.A., 1860. Returned to England, and was arrested on a
charge of Fenianism, 1867, and sentenced to 15 years. D. N.Y., 1888. His
“Life” has been written by John Augustus O’Shea.
⸺ THE TERRY ALT: a Tale of 1831. Three Vols. 1841.
The “Terry Alts” was a name adopted by the secret agrarian
agitators in Munster, previously known as “Whiteboys.” Not in
British Museum Library.
=[MEIKLE, James.]=
⸺ KILLINCHY; or, The Days of Livingston. Pp. 156. 12mo. (BELFAST:
_McComb_). 1839.
Description of Presbyterian life in Ulster immediately after
the Scottish Plantation, with biographical details concerning
Rev. John Livingston, a Scot from Kilsyth, who was minister of
Killinchy, Co. Down, from 1630-5. Story element slight. The
Author was a schoolmaster in the district.
=MELVILLE, Theodore.=
⸺ THE IRISH CHIEFTAIN AND HIS FAMILY. Four Vols. Pp. 910. (LONDON: _Lane,
Newman_). 1809.
The chieftain is The O’Donoghue of Killarney, dispossessed for
loyalty to the Stuarts. His family, that of Lord Roskerrin, a
Williamite, rewarded with an estate, and an exiled Venetian
are the _dramatis personæ_. Scene: chiefly Killarney. Period,
only vaguely indicated, 18th century. Conrad O’D. the hero,
falls in love with the daughter of the hated Lord R. There are
kidnappings and highly sensational adventures of all kinds,
told in a romantic manner, among others how Conrad helps to
reinstate the exiled Venetian grandee. Author’s sympathies
thoroughly on the Irish side, but does not seem unfair to the
English. He wrote also _The White Knight_, _The Benevolent
Monk_, &c. Good descriptions of Killarney.
=MEREDITH, George.= B. Portsmouth, 1828. He had, as he used to boast,
both Welsh (from his father) and Irish blood (from his mother) in his
veins. Ed. chiefly in Germany. The writer of his life in the ENCYCLOPEDIA
BRITTANICA says of him, “In Meredith went the writer who had raised the
creative art of the novel, as a vehicle of character and constructive
philosophy, to its highest point.... The estimate of his genius formed
by “an honourable minority,” who would place him in the highest rank of
all, by Shakespeare, has yet to be confirmed by the wider suffrage of
posterity.” He died in 1909.
⸺ CELT AND SAXON. Pp. 300. (_Constable_). 6_s._ 1910.
Left unfinished, like Dickens’s _Edwin Drood_. The plot has
hardly begun to work out. The chief interest lies in the
purpose which was—the author tells us—to contrast English,
as typified in John Bull, to the description of whose
characteristics a whole chapter is devoted, with Celtic
character and ideals. This purpose is manifest throughout the
book. There is a set of Irish and a set of English characters,
and within these two sets are types differing widely from
one another. One of the most pronounced types of Irishman is
married to a lady of peculiarly English characteristics, and
the resulting ménage affords the author scope for much dry
humour. A romantic episode is just beginning to develop. The
highly-wrought Meredithian style is as distinctive as in his
former books, and there are stray glimpses of the Meredithian
philosophy.
=“MERRY, Andrew”; Mrs. Mildred H. G. Darby=, _née_ =Gordon-Dill=. B.
1869, in Sussex, d. of a North of Irelander, a cousin of Sir Samuel Dill,
and of an English mother. Ed. at home. Married in 1889 J. C. Darby, Esq.,
D.L. Her writings are noted for their impartial standpoint as regards
Irish questions, and for their virile style. Never in the criticisms of
her literary work has it been suggested that the pen-name hid a woman.
⸺ THE GREEN COUNTRY. Pp. viii. + 378. (_Grant, Richards_). 1902.
Little studies, humorous or pathetic, of the Irish people of
to-day. Both the landlord class and the peasantry, Catholics
as well as Protestants, figure in the tale. The Author makes
(_c.f._ Pref.) her characters responsible for the views they
express. She applies herself with insight and sympathy and
without bias to a careful presentation of various aspects of
the national character, its shadows no less than its lights.
But there is no preaching. The story entitled “The love of God
or Men” is full of true religious feeling.
⸺ PADDY RISKY; or, Irish Realities of To-day. Pp. 367. (_Grant,
Richards_). 1903.
Seven stories dealing with aspects of Irish life from the
landlord and Unionist point of view, yet tone not anti-Irish,
nor unjust to any class. The spirit is that of Davis’ “Celt and
Saxon,” quoted at outset:—
“What matter that at different times
Your fathers won this sod?
In fortune and in name we’re bound
By stronger links than steel,” &c.
One story shows the hardship of compulsory sale of grass lands.
Another deals (delicately) with seduction in peasant life. Most
of the characters in the stories are peasants of the Midlands.
Charming descriptions of Irish scenery.
⸺ THE HUNGER: Being Realities of the Famine Years in Ireland, 1845-1848.
Pp. 436. (_Melrose_). 6_s._ 1910.
This is, in the form of fiction, a narrative of happenings in
one district, with a plot and personal drama and talk proper
to the novel, and all of these show the gifts of a practised
and able novelist; but “every incident,” the writer assures
us, “is fact, not fiction.” His matter is mainly derived from
oral statements, helped and verified from books, records, and
trustworthy private sources; and in an introduction Mr. Merry
deals with the causes and characteristics of the famine, the
horrors of which were such that even many of the incidents
here selected had to be modified in their details to become
publishable.—(TIMES LIT. SUPPL.).
=MEYER, Kuno.= B. Hamburg, 1858. Ed. Hamburg and Leipzig. Lecturer in
Teutonic Languages at Univ. Coll., Liverpool, 1884; Professor, 1895.
Founded the ZEITSCHRIFT FUR CELTISCHE PHILOLOGIE, 1895, and, along with
Whitley Stokes, the ARCHIV. FUR CELTISCHE LEXICOGRAPHIE, 1898; founded
the School of Irish Learning in Dublin, 1903; Prof. of Celtic in Univ.
of Berlin since 1911. Has publ. a long series of most valuable works on
Celtic-Irish subjects.
⸺ THE VISION OF MACCONGLINNE: a Twelfth Century Irish Wonder-Tale.
(_Nutt_). 7_s._ 6_d._ net. 1892.
“Transl. by K. Meyer, literary introd. by W. Woolner. A
primitive tale combining two elements—satire of the Abbot
and Monks of Cork, and the vision of the Lake of Milk, which
reveals to the gleeman MacConglinne how King Cathal may be
delivered from the demon of gluttony that has been the bane of
his land. Full of extravagance and comic fancy.”—(_Baker_, 2).
⸺ THE VOYAGE OF BRAN, SON OF FERBAL, TO THE LAND OF THE LIVING. An old
Irish saga, now first edited, with translation. Notes and Glossary by
Kuno Meyer. With an Essay upon the Irish Vision of the Happy Otherworld,
and the Celtic Doctrine of Rebirth by Alfred Nutt. [Grimm Library, Vols.
4 and 6].
Vol. I. “The Happy Otherworld.” Pp. xviii. + 331. 1895.
Vol. II. “The Celtic Doctrine of Rebirth.” Pp. xii. + 352.
1897. (_Nutt_). 10_s._ 6_d._ each.
⸺ LIADAIN AND CUIRITHIR. (_Nutt_). 1_s._ 6_d._ 1902.
An Irish love-story of the ninth century, partly in prose,
partly in verse. Old Irish text and English translation.
Introduction by Editor. Interesting chiefly to the student of
Old Irish and the folk-lorist.
=MILLIGAN, Alice and W. H.=
⸺ SONS OF THE SEA KINGS. Pp. 404. (_Gill_). 6_s._ Ten illustr. by J.
Carey. 1914.
Based on the Scandinavian sagas—the Burnt Njal, Snorri
Sturleson’s Saga of Olaf, Tryggvesons, the Heimskringla,
&c. Iceland is the centre of these sagas, but Ireland looms
in the background, for the hero, Kiartain, comes of famous
Irish-Danish stock. The Authors have vividly realised and
vividly pictured these far times (end of 10th century). The
tone and “atmosphere” of the sagas has been preserved with
great fidelity, and the tale, told in language of much dignity
and beauty, is of high dramatic force and interest. Miss
Milligan is well known as poetess, journalist, and lecturer on
Irish subjects. Resides in Bangor, Co. Down.
=[MILLINGEN, John Gideon].= B. Westminster, 1782. Son of a Dutch
merchant. Served as Surgeon in Peninsular War under Wellington,
1809-1814. Wrote many plays, a history of duelling, and other works. D.
1862. (Boase).
⸺ ADVENTURES OF AN IRISH GENTLEMAN. Three Vols. (_Colburn & Bentley_).
1830.
A very unpleasant book. Only the opening and closing scenes
are in Ireland (neighbourhood of Bantry Bay, Skibbereen, and
Tralee), the interval being filled by adventures in Portugal
(where the Inquisition is held up to obloquy), and in Paris
(where Freemasonry is praised and convents vilified). These
adventures are, for the most part, more or less scandalous
“love” affairs. At the outset there is a good deal about Irish
disaffection and lawlessness. The Author seizes every occasion
to drag in the confessional, the Pope, &c., and to inveigh
against them.
=MONTGOMERY, J. W.=
⸺ MERVYN GRAY; or, Life in the R.I.C. (EDINBURGH: _Cameron & Ferguson_).
1_s._ _c._ 1875.
The Author was a native of Virginia, Co. Cavan. He was
a zealous antiquary, and wrote on antiquarian subjects.
Published, besides the above, two volumes of verse and one of
prose sketches. D. Bangor, Co. Down, 1911.
=MOORE, F. Frankfort.= B. in Limerick, 1855, but brought up and ed. in
Belfast. Began to write at 16. For sixteen years worked on staff of
BELFAST NEWS-LETTER. See his _Journalist’s Note Book_, 1894. All this
time he was turning out at least one book a year. In 1893 he scored a
great success with his _I Forbid the Banns_. Since then his output has
been very large. He resides at Lewes.
⸺ THE JESSAMY BRIDE. (_Hutchinson_). 6_s._ (N.Y.: _Fenno_). 50c. 1897.
The story of the last years and death of Goldsmith, told with
all the Author’s well-known verve. Full of dialogue, witty
and lively, yet not merely flashy, in which Johnson, Burke,
Garrick, and other wits and worthies of the day take part. The
central theme is Goldsmith’s attachment to the beautiful Mary
Horneck, called the Jessamy Bride. There is much true pathos in
the story, and not a word that could offend susceptibilities.
⸺ CASTLE OMERAGH. (_Constable_). 2_s._ 6_d._ (N.Y.: _Appleton_). 1.50.
1903.
Scene: the West of Ireland (Co. Clare) during Cromwell’s
invasion. The central figures are the Fawcetts, a Protestant
planter family, whose sympathies have become Irish. The eldest
son is an officer in the army of O’Neill. The second, the hero,
is literary and unwarlike, and inclined to Quakerism. A Jesuit
friend of the family figures prominently in the story, and is
presented in a very favourable light. The Drogheda massacre and
Cromwell’s repulse at Clonmel are included.
⸺ THE ORIGINAL WOMAN. Pp. 343. (_Hutchinson_). 1904.
Thesis: whatever culture may have done for the modern woman,
she reverts to the instincts of the original woman in the
crisis of a life-decision. Scene: first, country house in
Galway. The heroine is a typical modern girl of the best kind.
The hero, who is also the villain, is a singularly attractive
personality, the complicated workings of whose mind the Author
delights to analyse. Later the scene changes to Martinique.
Here an element of the supernatural and uncanny enters the
story. The style is witty, the character-drawing very clever.
⸺ CAPTAIN LATYMER. (_Cassell_). 6_s._ Also 6_d._ ed. 1908.
A sequel to _Castle Omeragh_. The eldest Fawcett is condemned
by Cromwell to the West Indies, but escapes along with the
daughter of Hugh O’Neill, nephew of Owen Roe. There are
exciting adventures. The book, as does _Castle Omeragh_, gives
a faithful picture of the times.
⸺ THE ULSTERMAN: a Story of To-day. Pp. 323. (_Hutchinson_). 6_s._ 1914.
A very candid, plainspoken, and judicious picture of life in
North-East Ulster. Pictures what the TIMES LIT. SUPPL. calls
“the unsympathetic materialism, the drab ugliness of a life
which finds its chief recreation in religious strife, and
much of its consolation in strong drink.” But dwells upon the
sterling good qualities that go to counterbalance these others.
Opens in a mid-Antrim town on the eve of “the 12th.” Story of
a bigoted Ulster mill-owner whose sons eventually marry into
Catholic families of a lower class. Not political.
⸺ THE LADY OF THE REEF. Pp. 348. (_Hutchinson_). 6_s._ 1915.
A young English artist in Paris suddenly inherits a
property in North Co. Down, and arrives to find himself in
a puzzling environment. Cleverly sketched characters are
introduced—MacGowan, the pushful attorney, the excellent parson
Gilliland, and the dipsomaniac captain. Then there is a wreck,
a rescue, and enter the “Lady of the Reef.” The sequel tells
whether she accepts the artist or not.—(I.B.L. and T. LIT.
SUPPL.).
=MOORE, George.= A distinguished poet, novelist, dramatist, and art
critic. Was born in Ireland, 1857, of a Catholic family of Co. Mayo, many
of whose members were distinguished nationalists. He has produced some
twenty books. Much of Mr. Moore’s education has been acquired in France,
with the result that, as Dr. William Barry says, “he is excessively,
provokingly un-English.” At the same time he has little but scorn for
things Irish. He has, as he tells us in _Confessions of a Young Man_,
abandoned the Catholic Church. He may be said to be at war with all
prevailing types of religion and current codes of morality. His books
bear abundant evidence of the fact. Many of them treat of most unsavoury
topics, and that with naturalistic freedom and absence of reserve.
They were consequently excluded from lending libraries such as Mudie’s
and Smith’s. Many critics rank Mr. Moore very high as a psychologist
and as a critic. An interesting article on him will be found in G. K.
Chesterton’s _Heretics_. His non-Irish stories include _Evelyn Innes_,
_Sister Theresa_, _Esther Waters_, _A Mummer’s Wife_, _Celibates_, _Vain
Fortune_, _A Mere Accident_, &c. Within the last two or three years he
has published at intervals three vols. of reminiscences entitled _Ave,
Salve, Vale_, in which no privacies are respected and which in other
respects resemble his novels.
⸺ A DRAMA IN MUSLIN. Pp. 329. (_Vizetelly_). 1886.
Period: just before and just after the Phœnix Park murders.
Some attention is given to Land League tyranny before, and
coercion after. The interest centres in a party of girls
educated at a convent school at St. Leonard’s, and their
subsequent adventures in Irish society looking for husbands,
and all eventually going to the bad, with two exceptions. Of
these latter, one is a mad missionary and a Protestant, who
becomes a Catholic and a nun, the other is a free-thinker and
an authoress, a combination which the Author considers natural.
For the Irish peasant the Author has only disgust. The picture
of a Mass in an Irish chapel (pp. 70-72) would be offensive and
painful to a Catholic. Re-issued as _Muslin_, 1915.
⸺ THE UNTILLED FIELD. (_Unwin_). 6_s._ (PHILADELPHIA: _Lippincott_).
1.50. [1903]. New ed. (_Heinemann_). 1914.
A series of unconnected sketches of Irish country life, most
of which deal with relations between priests and people—evil
effects of religion on the latter, banishing joy, producing
superstition, killing art. In some of the stories priests are
depicted favourably. In the first the subject of the nude in
artist’s models is treated with complete frankness. Another
contains warnings against emigration. Some of the sketches are
exquisite; most of them, religious bias apart, true to life.
Has been transl. into Irish under title _An t-Ur Gort_ by P.
O’Sullivan.
⸺ THE LAKE. Pp. 340. (_Heinemann_). 6_s._ 1905. (N.Y.: _Appleton_). 1.50.
“A vague and inchoate novel with some passionate and delightful
descriptions of Nature. The theme, very indecisively worked
out, is that of a young priest’s rebellion against celibacy,
stimulated by the attractions of a girl whom he drove from the
parish because she had gone wrong.”—(_Baker_). Scene: Connaught
and Kilronan Abbey. The story seems meant to uphold the purely
Hedonistic view of life.
=MOORE, Sidney O.=
⸺ THE FAMILY OF GLENCARRA: a Tale of the Irish Rebellion. Pp. 154.
(_Bath_). Six illustr. of little value. _n.d._ (1858).
Ninety-eight (Humbert’s Invasion) seen from the standpoint
of the “Irish Society” (a proselytising organisation). The
book is intended to set forth “the ignorance and degradation
peculiar to the Romish districts of Ireland,” and tells how
Aileen who was engaged to one of the rebels (a murderer) is
converted, and endeavours to convert others, with varying
success. The book is full of calumnies against, and grotesque
misrepresentations of, the Catholic Church. It closes with an
appeal to the “Daughters of England” for funds for the Irish
Society.
=MORAN, D. P.= Editor since its inception of the LEADER (Dublin). A
Waterford man.
⸺ TOM O’KELLY. Pp. 232. (_Duffy_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1905.
An ugly picture of lower middle class life in a small Irish
provincial town. It depicts the vulgarity and shoneenism
of this class, its drunkenness, its efforts to imitate the
well-to-do Protestant better classes, &c., &c. Unsparing
ridicule is showered upon Nationalist politics and politicians.
The unpleasantness of the picture is somewhat relieved by the
doings of Tom O’Kelly and the juvenile Ballytowners. Very
slight plot.
=MORAN, J. J.=
⸺ THE DUNFERRY RISIN’. (_Digby, Long_). 1894.
A study of the Fenian movement. The EVENING SUN of London
devoted a two-column review to the book, written by an old
participator in the Fenian movement (we understand that the
writer was the late J. F. X. O’Brien, M.P.), in which the story
was described as one of the most vivid pictures of the Irish
Republican Brotherhood and their movement that had yet been
written.
⸺ IRISH STEW. (_Digby, Long_). 1895.
A collection of humorous stories. “Jack Arnold’s Tour,” the
longest story, may be taken as typical. It relates the comical
adventures of an English visitor at Bundoran. The stories are
remarkable for their spirited and racy dialogue.
⸺ STORIES OF THE IRISH REBELLION. (ABERDEEN: _Moran_). 1_s._ 6_d._
Short stories, noteworthy for vividness and dramatic power (for
example, the story of Leonie Guiscard and Teeling). Humour and
pathos alternate. Neither is overdone.—(Publ.).
⸺ TWO LITTLE GIRLS IN GREEN. (ABERDEEN: _Moran_). 6_s._ 1898.
Land League story—extreme popular point of view; gives vivid
idea of feelings of people during hottest years of the
agitation. Introduces amiable Englishman who sees justice done
for his tenants. Clear and pleasant style.—(IRISH MONTHLY).
⸺ IRISH DROLLERIES. (_Drane_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1909.
Ten comic stories such as “Pat Mulligan’s Love-making,”
a bashful young man “proposing” by proxy; “Miss Mullan’s
Mistake,” story of an elderly spinster who answers a
matrimonial advertisement with amusing results. Others are:
“Torsney’s Ghost,” “O’Hagan’s Golden Weddin’,” “Tim Mannion the
Hero,” “The Wake at Mrs. Doyle’s,” and so on.—(_Press Notice_).
“Mr. Moran has done much good work as a publisher of Irish
books in Aberdeen. In his humorous sketches of Irish life he
has ever striven to eschew the ‘Stage-Irishman’ type of vulgar
comicality. He writes much for various papers. Besides the
books noted here, he has published _A Deformed Idol_, &c.”
=MORGAN, Lady.= She was the daughter of a poor Dublin actor,
named Owenson, and was born in 1777. Her self-reliance, gaiety,
and accomplishments won her a prominent place in the literary
and social life of Dublin. She married Sir T. C. Morgan,
physician to the Lord Lieutenant. She protests energetically
in her books against the religious and political grievances
of Ireland. “Her books are a sign of the growth of a broader
spirit of Irish nationality and reflect the growing interest in
Irish history and antiquities.”—(_Krans_). She is said to have
published more than seventy volumes. Her satires of the higher
social life of Dublin are spirited and readable even to-day,
but their tone is often sharp and bad-tempered. She caught
well the outward drolleries of the lower classes: postillions,
innkeepers, Dublin porters, &c.; but she seldom looks beneath
the surface. It has been well said that her novels are
“thoroughly Irish in matter, in character, in their dry humour,
and cutting sarcasm; no less than in their vehemence and
impetuosity of feeling.” Twenty-two of her works are mentioned
by Allibone. She died in 1859.
⸺ ST. CLAIR; or, the Heiress of Desmond. [1803]. 1807, 1812.
“_St. Clair_, in sentiment and situation a weak imitation of
Werter, introduces an Irish antiquary, who discourses upon
local legends and traditions, ancient Irish MSS., and Celtic
history, poetry, and music.”—(_Krans_). Aims at upsetting the
notion of the possibility of platonic love between the sexes
without any approach to real attachment. Into the description
of places and scenes the Authoress worked much of her Connaught
experience.
⸺ ST. CLAIR EN OLIVIA ... MET PLATEN. Dutch trans. by F. van Teutem.
(AMSTERDAM). 1816.
⸺ THE WILD IRISH GIRL. [1806]. (N.Y.: _Haverty_). 1.50. (_Routledge_).
_n.d._ 6_d._
A love story of almost gushing sentiment. The scene is the
barony of Tirerragh, in Sligo (where the book was actually
written). Here the “Prince” of Inismore, though fallen on evil
days, still keeps up all the old customs of the chieftains, his
ancestors. He wears the old dress, uses the old salutations,
has his harper and his shanachie, &c. His daughter, Glorvina,
is the almost ethereal heroine. The personages of the book
frequently converse about ancient Irish history, legend,
music, ornaments, weapons, and costumes. There is much acute
political discussion and argument in the book. It is fervently
on the side of Irish nationality. “Father John” is a fine
character modelled on the then Dean of Sligo. It contains
many other portraits drawn from real life. Its success at
the time was enormous. In two years it passed through seven
editions.—(Fitzpatrick, Krans, &c.).
⸺ O’DONNEL. Pp. 288. (_Downey_). 2_s._ 6_d._ [1814]. 1895.
The central figure of this tale is a scion of the O’Donnells
of Tyrconnell, proud, courteous, travelled, who has fought
in the armies of Austria and of France, and finally that of
England. He is a type of the old Catholic nobility, and his
story is made to illustrate the working of the Penal laws.
Nearly all the personages of the story are people of fashion,
mostly titled. There is much elaborate character-study, and not
a little social satire. The native Irish of the lower orders
appear in the person of M’Rory alone, a humorous faithful old
retainer, whose conversation is full of bulls. Lady Singleton,
the meddling, showy, flippantly talkative woman of fashion,
and Mr. Dexter, the obsequious, a West Briton of those days,
are well drawn. The main purpose of the book, says the Author,
was to exhibit Catholic disabilities. There are interesting
descriptions of scenery along the Antrim coast and in Donegal.
As fiction it is slow reading, yet Sir Walter Scott speaks
highly of it.
⸺ FLORENCE MACARTHY. (N.Y.: _Sadlier_). 1.50. 1816.
Combines, as so many of Lady Morgan’s books do, political
satire with a romantic love tale. A kidnapped heir asserts
his claim to a peerage and estates and unwittingly woos the
romantic Florence, to whom he had been betrothed in his youth.
Mr. Fitzpatrick calls the book “an exceedingly interesting
and erudite novel,” and tells us how, before attempting
it, she had “saturated her memory with a large amount of
reading which bore upon the subject of it.” The character of
Counsellor Con Crawley constitutes a bitter attack on Lady
Morgan’s unscrupulous enemy, John Wilson Croker. The half-mad
schoolmaster, Terence Oge O’Leary, is a curious type.
⸺ THE O’BRIENS AND O’FLAHERTYS. Three eds. in one year. [1827]. (N.Y.:
_Haverty_).
May be said to have for its object Catholic Emancipation, yet
the author was no admirer of O’Connell, and in this book keen
strokes of satire are aimed at the Jesuits, and even at the
Pope. Mr. Fitzpatrick says that “though professedly a fiction
it is really a work of some historical importance, and may
be safely consulted in many of the details by statistic or
historic writers.” He tells us also that it “contains a few
coarse expressions; and, in common with its predecessors,
exhibits a somewhat inconsistent love for republicanism and
aristocracy.” The novel is the story of a young patriot who,
expelled from Trinity College along with Robert Emmet and
others, becomes a volunteer and a United Irishman, and is
admitted to the councils of Tone, Napper Tandy, Rowan, and
the rest. After ’98 (which is not described in detail) he
goes to France, where he rises to be a General, and marries
the heroine. The book depicts with vividness and fidelity the
manners of the time (hence the occasional coarseness). There
are lively descriptions of Castle society in the days of the
Duke of Rutland. Lord Walter Fitzgerald was the original of
“Lord Walter Fitzwalter.”
⸺ LES O’BRIEN ET LES O’FLAHERTY OU L’IRLANDE EN 1793 is the title of a
French translation of the preceding by J. Cohen. Three Vols. (PARIS: _C.
Gosselin_). 1828.
⸺ DRAMATIC SCENES FROM REAL LIFE. Two Vols. (_Saunder’s & Otley_). [1833].
Contains a piece entitled “Mount Sackville.” “It possesses a
great deal of her peculiar power, has much truth, and much good
feeling, alloyed with some angry prejudice. There are some
scenes inimitable for their racy humour, and the characters
of Gallagher, the orange-agent, his ally the housekeeper, and
Father Phil, are worthy the hand that sketched M’Rory and the
Crawley family.... The Whiteboy scenes, though forcibly drawn,
are perhaps too melodramatic. Shows much bitterness against the
Repealers.”—(DUBL. REV.).
=MORIARTY, Denis Ignatius.= Ed. by.
⸺ THE WIFE HUNTER AND FLORA DOUGLAS. Three Vols.[9] (_Bentley_). 1838.
Prefatory notice signed by “John O’Brien Grant,” of Kilnaflesk,
the teller of the story. K. is “situated in a remote corner
of the kingdom,” near Bandon (vol. II., p. 186); it is
an old rambling family mansion, dating from 1713. We are
introduced to a set of hard-drinking, Orange squireens. The
hero, refused by his nurse’s daughter Mary, has a “go” at a
rich heiress, merely to better himself. He also, in company
with Morrough O’Driscoll, a “restless, blustering, dexterous,
successful, ambitious, amusing and farcical genius,” throws
himself into politics. Then there are a number of burlesque
electioneering scenes. Duly elected, the hero goes to Dublin,
meets Charlemont, &c., in high society. Hero marries Mary
after all; then, on her death, rescues an heiress and marries
her.... A third matrimonial venture is unsuccessful. There is
no seriousness in the book.
[9] The first two (pp. 342 + 332) are taken up by _The Wife Hunter_.
=MORRIS, E. O’Connor.=
⸺ KILLEEN: a Study of Girlhood. Pp. 348. (_Elliot Stock_). 1895.
Scene: “Killeen Castle,” Queen’s County. The plot turns on
misunderstandings that keep lovers apart. The characters are
of the Anglo-Irish and English upper classes. The book is
religious and moral in tone, the standpoint Protestant. Peasant
character sympathetically treated.
⸺ CLARE NUGENT. Pp. 324. (_Digby, Long_). 1902.
A rather sentimental tale of an Irish girl who goes to work
in England, in order to retrieve the fallen fortunes of the
family. This a particularly successful marriage enables her to
do, and all ends most ideally. An ordinary plot, somewhat long
drawn out. One or two charming descriptions of Irish scenery.
⸺ FINOLA. Pp. 304. (_Digby, Long_). 6_s._ 1910.
Scene: chiefly Dublin at the present day. Murrough O’Brien is
to get a great inheritance on condition of marrying Finola
de Burgh. He gives his consent. Then he is ordered off to
S. Africa. On his return he falls in love with a certain
Kathleen Burke, and is resolved to lose his inheritance for
her sake. The situation has been planned by the romantic Lady
Mary Eustace. Her plans nearly turn out in an unforeseen way.
The interest then settles on the identity of Kathleen Burke.
Several of the characters are well sketched. Notably, Eleanor
Butler, a sharp and amusing spinster.
=MORRIS, W. O’Connor.= B. 1824 at Kilkenny. Son of B. Morris, Rector of
Rincurran, near Kinsale. Ed. in England. Became a County Court Judge. He
devoted himself largely to politics; was a Liberal Unionist, strongly
opposed to Home Rule, and especially to the land agitation. Was himself
a good landlord, and an estimable man. D. 1904. _See_ his reminiscences,
_Memories and Thoughts of a Life_.
⸺ MEMOIRS OF GERALD O’CONNOR. Pp. 311. (_Digby, Long_). 1903.
Reminiscences (told in the first person) of one Gerald
O’Connor, an ancestor of the Author. “Compiled partly from
old documents and papers in my possession, partly from
reminiscences handed down from father to son during five
generations, and partly from my own researches.”—(Pref.).
But the Author has freely filled in gaps in the authentic
records and supplied colouring, though there is practically
no dialogue. O’Connor served in the Williamite Wars, 1689-91,
emigrated to France with Sarsfield, and joined the staff of
Marshal Villars. Was in all the great battles of the War of the
Spanish Succession. The Author describes effects on Ireland of
conquest and confiscation from point of view of O’Connor, but
admits in Preface that he himself looks at modern Ireland from
the landlord’s standpoint.
=MULHOLLAND, Clara.= Is a sister of Lady Gilbert. Was born in Belfast,
but left it at an early age, and was educated at convents in England
and Belgium. The style of her stories is simple and bright, their tone
thoroughly wholesome. Even when there is nothing directly about religion,
they breathe an atmosphere of Catholicism. All of them can safely and
with profit be given to the young. Many of them are specially meant
for young readers. Some of her non-Irish stories are _The Miser of
Kingscourt_, _A Striking Contrast_.
⸺ PERCY’S REVENGE. (_Gill_). 1887.
Irish and Catholic.
⸺ LITTLE MERRY FACE AND HIS CROWN OF CONTENT. (_Burns & Oates_). 1889.
Stories for children. Irish and Catholic.
⸺ LITTLE SNOWDROP AND OTHER STORIES. Pp. 192. (_Washbourne_). 2_s._ 6_d._
Illustr. 1889.
The scene of the principal story, a great favourite with
children, is laid in Killiney, near Dublin. It tells of a child
kidnapped by gypsies.
⸺ THE LITTLE BOGTROTTERS. Pp. 188. (BELFAST: _Ward_; BALTIMORE, U.S.A.:
_John Murphy_). Illustr. _n.d._
The child heroine actually loves her prospective step-mother,
and is delighted at the approaching marriage. During the
honeymoon Elise visits her cousins the Sullivans in Ireland—a
pleasant houseful of harum-scarum boys and girls, with whom
Elsie has many adventures. “Father John” is a fine type of
Irish priest.
⸺ DIMPLING’S SUCCESS. Pp. 150. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). _n.d._
Reminds one of _Little Lord Fauntleroy_, but Dimpling O’Connor
not only wins her stern old grandfather’s heart, but wins him
to the Catholic Church. There are plenty of adventures and a
good deal of piety, not of the goody-goody description.
⸺ KATHLEEN MAVOURNEEN. Pp. 143. (BALTIMORE: _Murphy_). 1890.
A cruel Donegal landlord fearing that his son is becoming
attached to Kathleen Burke, daughter of a poor tenant of one
of his farms, evicts Mrs. Burke. This blow kills her. Kathleen
goes as a governess to London, and there the lovers meet again.
But the hero has seen the error of his father’s ways, and
goes into Parliament. In the end he and his father too become
Catholics, and all ends well. For young people.
⸺ LINDA’S MISFORTUNES, AND LITTLE BRIAN’S TRIP TO DUBLIN. (_Gill_).
(N.Y.: _Benziger_). 0.70 net. [_c._ 1892]. Still in print.
Two stories, the first and longer not being concerned with
Ireland. The second is a delightful little children’s story.
⸺ IN A ROUNDABOUT WAY. Pp. 224. (_Washbourne_). 2_s._ 6_d._ 1908.
Main theme: a plot to defraud an orphan girl of inherited
property, which in a strange manner fails, and all is well
again. Scene: first, London, then Donegal, of the scenery of
which the Author gives vivid descriptions. The life of the
peasants and their relations with their priests are depicted
with sympathy and feeling.
⸺ TERENCE O’NEILL’S HEIRESS. Pp. 358. (_Browne & Nolan_). 3_s._ 6_d._
Illustr. by C. A. Mills. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 1.35. 1909.
A pleasant story of a young girl left an unprovided orphan, who
is cared for by generous relatives, whom in their hour of need
she strives to repay. Suspected of a theft, she is vindicated
only after much sorrow and heart-burning. The heroine is a
noble and beautiful character. Refined and sensitive, loving
music and art, she is obliged to take service as a governess in
an English family. There she meets the great trial of her life,
but also the final crown of her happiness.
⸺ SWEET DOREEN. (_Washbourne_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1915.
Poverty and misery in Ballygorst have reached a climax. At the
suggestion of the Agent, Father Ryan goes to Dublin to get
the Landlord to do something. The latter is respectful, but
will do nothing. Just as Father Ryan is going the Landlord’s
daughter and her American friend Laura come in. They will go to
Ballygorst, and Papa is persuaded to be of the party. The story
tells how they came, met “Sweet Doreen” and her brothers and
sister, and met with many adventures, pleasant and unpleasant,
in the effort to do good.
=MULHOLLAND, Rosa; Lady Gilbert.= Born in Belfast, about 1855. She spent
some years in a remote mountainous part of the West of Ireland. Of the
rest of her life most has been passed in Ireland, where she still lives.
In her early literary life she received much help and encouragement from
Dickens, who highly valued her work. She has written much poetry of
high literary quality and “marked by a thought and diction peculiar to
herself.”—(IRISH LIT.). Her novels are intensely Catholic, though without
anti-Protestant feeling, and intensely national. But their most striking
quality is a literary style of singular purity and grace, and a quiet
beauty very different from the flash and rattle of much recent writing.
She has publ. several vols. of verse. Among her non-Irish novels may be
mentioned _The Late Miss Hollingford_, _The Squire’s Granddaughter_, _The
Haunted Organist_. Lady Gilbert has also written many children’s stories
full of originality and playful fancy.
⸺ DUNMARA. By “Ruth Murray.” Three Vols. (_Smith, Elder_). 1864.
Wrecked on the coast Ellen, of mysterious antecedents, is taken
into the family of Mr. Aungier, or Dunmara Castle, in the
West. Strange household—the half-witted Miss Rowena, the dark,
vindictive Miss Elswitha, with unpleasant family history in
the background. A will is discovered making Ellen heiress of
Dunmara, but revealing to her that she is the daughter of a man
formerly slain by Mr. Aungier, who had asked her in marriage.
This long keeps the two apart, but they are married in the end.
Little Irish colour. Written in somewhat strained style and at
times over-emotional.
⸺ HESTER’S HISTORY. Pp. 237. (_Chapman & Hall_). 1869.
Pastoral life in the Glens of Antrim at the time of the
Union, the main theme being a love story. Humour and tragedy
alternate. Incidents of the rebellion of ’98, including an
attack on a castle in the Glens by the English soldiery. Some
historical characters are introduced. During part of the action
the scene shifts to London. The story was written at the
request of Charles Dickens, and he thought highly of it.
⸺ ELDERGOWAN; and Other Tales (three). (_Marcus Ward_). Illustr. 1874.
“Eldergowan” is a very careful and clever study of a girl’s
varying moods. “It is an excellent example of artistic work
and perfect in its way.” “Mrs. Archie” is a comedy in which
the chief actors are the antiquated family of the MacArthurs,
dwelling in the glens of Antrim. The third story, “Little Peg
O’Shaughnessy” is written in a lively style, with plenty of
interest of a healthy “real” kind.—(I.M.).
⸺ THE WILD BIRDS OF KILLEEVY. Pp. 311. (_Burns & Oates_). (N.Y.:
_Benziger_). 1.10. [1883].
An exquisite little tale, not of the realistic sort, but sweet
and ideal. Kevin and Fanchea are little peasant playmates
together in Killeevy. Kevin is dull at his books, but full
of the love of nature. Fanchea is a fairy with a bird-like
voice. One day she is stolen by gipsies, then by strange
fortune gets into the upper stratum of society. Kevin goes
out into the world to look for her. He gets education and
becomes a poet. After long years they meet again and all is
well. Killeevy is an Irish-speaking district where the people
treasure religiously their Irish MSS. Here and there there
are pen-pictures of much beauty. It is not of course a mere
children’s book. It has been well said of the book: “It is our
own world after all, seen through the crystal of pure language,
artistic sense, and joyous perception of natural beauty.”
⸺ THE WALKING TREES; and Other Tales. Pp. 256. (_Gill_). 1885.
Contains “The Girl from under the Lake,” an Irish fairy tale,
occupying about one-third of the book. It is charmingly told.
⸺ MARCELLA GRACE: an Irish Novel. (_Kegan, Paul_). 6_s._ 1886.
A story with an elaborate plot, full of dramatic incident.
Incidentally the evils of landlordism and Fenianism are dwelt
upon, the former in the picture drawn of the hovels, the
starved land, and the meek misery of the people—and here the
author is at her best. The minor characters are clearly and
sympathetically drawn, evidently from life. There is much
sadness and even tragedy in the story. The Phœnix Park Murders
are touched upon.
⸺ A FAIR EMIGRANT. Pp. 370. (_Kegan, Paul_). 2_s._, &c. [1889]. New ed.,
1896, &c.
Period: about the ’seventies. Scene: at first in America
(farming life), then in Ireland, north coast of Antrim. A love
story. The heroine, one of those whom all must love, is an only
daughter, whose mission in life is to clear her dead father’s
reputation. Full of romantic incident. There is a picture of
the landlord class of the time, and there are many good things
about the vexed economic and social questions of the day. The
book has the Author’s usual grace of diction, sincerity of
thought, and fine descriptions of scenery. It was very highly
praised in Irish, English, and Scotch literary journals.
⸺ NANNO. Pp. 287. (_Grant Richards_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1899.
A rural love-story. Scene: Dublin and Youghal and Ardmore. The
heroine is a girl born in the workhouse, who is saved from
its dangerous and degrading atmosphere, and raised, by true
affection and by living among good country people, to high
moral feeling and purpose and to the heights of self-sacrifice.
The most realistic and the strongest of Lady Gilbert’s works.
Esteemed by the literary critics and by herself to be the best
of her novels. It is based on facts, and it occasioned the
reform of certain abuses in workhouses.
⸺ ONORA. Pp. 354. (_Grant Richards_). 1900.
A story of country life in Waterford in the days of the
Land League. Eviction scenes. Life in Land League huts on
the Ponsonby Estate. Has a strong emotional interest, with
much study of the family affections and of the interplay of
character. Many touches of humour. Highly praised in English
literary reviews. Incidentally there are glimpses of Mount
Melleray and of the scenery on the Blackwater. The sterling
goodness of obscure people is rendered with womanly sympathy.
Interwoven with the main story is that of Norah’s little lame
poet brother Deelan, a pathetic episode. Also folk-tales and
ballads.
⸺ TERRY. Pp. 112. (_Blackie_). Thirteen good illustr. by E. A. Cabitt.
1902.
Scene: West of Ireland. A story for children, about a girl and
boy of an adventurous turn, relating their doings while living
with their grandmother and their nurse, their parents being
away in Africa.
⸺ THE TRAGEDY OF CHRIS: The Story of a Dublin Flower-Girl. (_Sands_).
[1903]. Second ed., 2_s._ 6_d._ 1914.
Sheelia, the little workhouse girl, is boarded out with Mary
Ellen Brady, and lives a happy life with her in her cottage in
the fold of the hills. But Mary Ellen dies, and Sheelia, to
escape dependence on the worthless cousins of her dead “Mammy,”
runs away to Dublin. Here she is friendless and penniless
till she becomes a flower-girl under the tutorship of Chris.
Tragedy comes when Chris disappears (she had been decoyed away
to London and made a “white slave”), and Sheelia makes it her
life work to find her again. She does so, but in the saddest
circumstances. The pitiful story is told with perfect delicacy.
Scene: Dublin, various other parts of Ireland, and London.
⸺ THE STORY OF ELLEN. Pp. 434. (_Burns & Oates_). 5_s._ 1907.
This is a reprint of an earlier story entitled _Dunmara_
(Smith, Elder), _q.v._
⸺ OUR SISTER MAISIE. Pp. 383. (_Blackie_). 6_s._ Illustr. by G. Demain
Hammond, R.I. 1907.
Maisie, aged eighteen, comes from Rome to take charge of a
whole family of step-brothers and sisters. She owns an island
off the West coast. The family goes there. The children, after
many vicissitudes, turn out clever, develope special aptitudes,
and put these to use in helping the poor islanders in various
ways. There is a pretty love-story towards the close.
⸺ COUSIN SARA. Pp. 399. (_Blackie_). 6_s._ Eight fine illustr. by Frances
Ewan. 1908.
An ideal love-story woven into a strong plot. There is tragedy
and humour with touches of heroism. High ideals are set forth.
The scene varies between the North of Ireland, Italy, and
London. The central idea of the story is this: Sara’s father, a
retired soldier, has a talent for the invention of machinery.
One of his inventions is stolen, and then patented by one whom
he had trusted. Then Sara shows her true worth.
⸺ A GIRL’S IDEAL. Pp. 399. (_Blackie_). Bound in solid gift-book style;
cover attractive though not in perfect taste; many illustr. 1908.
Tells how an Irish-American girl comes to Ireland to spend a
huge fortune to the greatest advantage of her country. There
is also a love interest. Incidentally there is a description
of the Dublin Horse Show; a number of folklore tales are
told by Duncie, and there are good descriptions of Connaught
scenery. The book is rather crowded with somewhat characterless
personages, and there are improbabilities not a few.
⸺ THE GIRLS OF BANSHEE CASTLE. Pp. 384. (_Blackie_). 3_s._ 6_d._ Illustr.
by John Bacon. _n.d._
Three girls, brought up in poverty by a governess in London,
migrate to Galway to occupy the castle, pending the discovery
of the missing heir. The latter turns up, but is not what he
was thought to be, and there are complications. The girls hear
a great deal of folk-lore and legend from the servants and from
the peasantry.
⸺ CYNTHIA’S BONNET SHOP. (_Blackie_). 5_s._ Eight illustr. by G. Demain
Hammond, R.I.
“Cynthia, daughter of an impoverished Connaught family, wants
to support a delicate mother. She and her star-struck sister
go to London, where Cynthia opens a bonnet shop. How they
find new interests in life is told with mingled humour and
pathos.”—(_Publ._).
⸺ GIANNETTA: A Girl’s Story of Herself. (_Blackie_). 3_s._ Six full-page
illustr. by Lockhart Bogle.
“The story of a changeling who is suddenly transferred to
the position of a rich English heiress. She develops into
a good and accomplished woman, and has gained too much
love and devotion to be a sufferer by the surrender of her
estates.”—(_Publ._).
⸺ THE RETURN OF MARY O’MURROUGH. Pp. 282. (_Sands_). 2_s._ (N.Y.:
_Benziger_). 0.75. [1908]. Cheap ed., 1915.
Illustrated by twelve exceptionally good photos of Irish
scenery and types. Scene: near Killarney. The girl comes back
from the States to find her lover in jail, into which he had
been thrown owing to the perjury and treachery of some of the
police. We shall not reveal the sequel. The story is told with
a simplicity and restraint which render the pathos all the
more telling. It is faithful to reality, deeply Catholic, and
wholly on the side of the peasantry, of whose situation under
iniquitous laws a picture is drawn which can only be described
as exasperating.
⸺ THE WICKED WOODS. Pp. 373. (_Burns & Oates_). New ed. 1909.
The hero is a scion of a family in which a curse, uttered
against one of its founders by poor peasants whom he had
dispossessed, had worked ruin for many generations. He is
wholly unlike his ancestors, yet he, too, in a strange and
tragic manner, falls under the influence of the curse—for
a time. The story tells how he escapes from the terrible
trial. Incidentally the best qualities of the peasantry are
beautifully shown forth, especially the charity of the poor to
one another.
⸺ THE O’SHAUGHNESSY GIRLS. Pp. 383. (_Blackie_). 6_s._ Eight pleasant
half-tone ill. by G. Demain Hammond. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 1.50. 1910.
Scene: partly in London, partly by the Blackwater, in Munster,
where live Lady Sibyl O’Shaughnessy and her two unmarried
daughters. Of these latter, Lavender lives at home, takes an
interest in things Gaelic, and has fireside ceilidhes. The
other, Bell, runs away and goes on the stage. The search for
Bell and the discovery of the identity of a mysterious boy on
the O’S. farm constitute the main incidents of a delightful
story. There is a love interest. The moral of the whole (not
too obtrusive) is “Do the work that’s nearest, though it’s dull
at times.”
⸺ FATHER TIM. Pp. 314 (large print). (_Sands_). 2_s._ 6_d._ net. One
coloured illustr. (_Benziger_). 0.90. 1910. Still in print.
Father T. is a zealous curate, first in a Dublin mountain
parish, afterwards in a parish among the Dublin slums. The
interest centres in his influence and work among upper and
lower classes alike. The story tells, too, of the varying
fortunes of other people that come into his life. Harrowing
pictures are drawn of the Dublin slums. Written with the
Author’s habitual literary charm. The plot is slight, but the
incidents follow one another rapidly and the interest does not
flag.
⸺ FAIR NOREEN: the Story of a Girl of Character. (_Blackie_). 6_s._
Illustr. by G. Demain Hammond. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 1.50. 1911.
⸺ TWIN SISTERS: An Irish Tale. Pp. 392. (_Blackie_). 6_s._ 1912.
⸺ NORAH OF WATERFORD. Pp. 251. (_Sands_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1915.
A republication of _Onora_.
=MURPHY, Con. T.=
⸺ THE MILLER OF GLANMIRE: an Irish Story. Pp. 227. (CHICAGO: _Baker_).
Illustr. 1895.
=MURPHY, James.= B. Glynn, Co. Carlow, 1839. Ed. locally. He entered
the teaching profession, and was for some years Principal of the
Public Schools at Bray, Co. Wicklow, being appointed in 1860. He was
successively Town Clerk of Bray and Prof. of Mathematics in Cath. Univ.
and in Blackrock Coll. He resides in Kingstown. He has written more than
twenty-five novels, eleven of which have been published. Others he hopes
to publish in the near future.
⸺ THE HAUNTED CHURCH. (LOND.: _Spencer Blackett_). 4 eds.
The story of a treasure buried by buccaneers in an old
graveyard near Dublin, telling how the chief characters of the
tale, after many exciting adventures in Peru at the time of the
revolution there, eventually find the treasure and also the
heir to the earldom of Glenholme.
⸺ THE SHAN VAN VOCHT: a Tale of ’98. Pp. 347. (_Gill_). 2_s._ 6_d._
_n.d._ [1883]. Several since.
A melodramatic story, full of hairbreadth escapes, related with
a good deal of dash, and at times of power. Tells of Tone’s
negotiations in Paris leading to the various attempted French
invasions of Ireland, with a detailed and vivid account of
that in which Admiral Bompart was defeated in Lough Swilly and
Tone himself captured, also details of the latter’s trial and
execution.
⸺ THE FORGE OF CLOHOGUE. Pp. 332. (_Sealy, Bryers, and Gill_). [1885].
5th ed., 1912.
The story opens on Christmas Eve, 1797, and ends with the
battle of Ross, including very stirring descriptions of the
battle there and at Oulart. As is usual with this Author, the
plot is somewhat loose, there are improbabilities, and the love
interest is of a stereotyped kind; yet the reader is carried
along by the quick succession of exciting incident. Of course
the standpoint is national. A good idea is given of the state
of the country at the time.
⸺ THE HOUSE IN THE RATH. Pp. 291. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 2_s._ [1886]. Fifth
ed., 1909.
Has the usual qualities of this Author’s stories: plenty of
exciting and dramatic incident, and stirring descriptions—among
the latter the battle of Camperdown. Deals with Wolfe Tone’s
efforts to obtain aid from France for the United Irishmen and
with the plans of the latter at home. Lord Edward Fitzgerald
and Oliver Bond appear. There are pictures, too, of the
atrocities of the yeomanry. Interwoven with these events there
is a romance of private life centering in the cleverly drawn
characters of Teague, the Fiddler, and Kate Hatchman. As usual,
the Author makes much use of “the long arm of coincidence.”
⸺ CONVICT No. 25; or, The Clearances of Westmeath. Pp. 324. (_Duffy_).
3_s._ 6_d._ [1886]. Fifth ed., 1913.
Depicts landlordism in its worst days and at its worst—about
forty or fifty years ago. A complicated and somewhat
melodramatic plot in which probability is a good deal strained.
A slight love story runs through the book.
⸺ THE FORTUNES OF MAURICE O’DONNELL. 1887, and two others since.
⸺ HUGH ROACH, THE RIBBONMAN. (_Duffy_). 1_s._ [_c._ 1887]. Fourth ed.,
1909.
One of the most popular of the author’s stories. The
leading incidents are founded on occurrences of the time.
Full of thrilling and dramatic situations and historical
pictures.—(FREEMAN).
⸺ LUKE TALBOT. Pp. 278. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 1_s._ 1890. Sixth ed. in
preparation.
A sensational story, filled, without any interval of dullness,
with exciting adventures—sea battles, wrecks, hairbreadth
escapes, fighting under Wellington in Spain, &c., &c. The
main theme is a murder committed by a wicked land agent in
Ireland—Malcolm M’Nab—and of which Luke is suspected on strong
circumstantial evidence. All through the book, until just the
end, M’Nab is on top, but right finally triumphs. There is no
attempt at character drawing and very little probability.
⸺ THE FLIGHT FROM THE CLIFFS. Pp. 266. (_Duffy_). 1911.
Author’s avowed intention—to present Irish and Catholic view
of the Confederation War. With the political and military
events of the time in mingled the romance of Walter Butler
(the hero), who is on the Confederate side, and the daughter
of Inchiquin. Owen Roe and Father Luke Wadding are prominent
in the tale. Careful description of Benburb. Scene laid in
many parts of Ireland (Dublin, Wicklow, Cork, Donegal, &c.),
and in Spain and Rome. Full of exciting adventures, battles,
sieges, &c. Illustr. very numerous. They are crude, but serve
to enliven the narrative.
⸺ LAYS AND LEGENDS OF IRELAND. (_Duffy_). 1912.
Twelve in prose and five in verse. Includes two of Author’s
best short stories—“Maureen’s Sorrow” and “At Noon by the
Ravine,” as well as several of his best known ballads.
⸺ THE INSIDE PASSENGER. (_Duffy_). 1913.
The mail coach from Limerick is overtaken by a snow-storm
near the old castle of Bullock, near Dalkey, and held up by
a snowdrift. Passengers have to get out and shelter in the
castle. To while away the time they tell stories each more
weird and wonderful than the preceding, and all referring
indirectly to the Inside Passenger. Towards morning the I. P.,
the coachman, and the six brass-bound boxes are found to have
disappeared. The story tells what befell on the head of this
and how the mystery was finally solved.
=MURPHY, Nicholas P.= D. 1914. Ed. Clongowes Wood College. Was a member
of the English Bar.
⸺ A CORNER IN BALLYBEG. Pp. 256. (_Long_). 6_s._ 1902.
A collection of short, humorous sketches of life in a midland
village in Ireland at the present day. The dialect is well
done. The book is not written in a spirit of caricature.
=MURRAY, John Fisher.= B. Belfast, 1811. Ed. there and T.C.D. Wrote much
for Irish and English periodicals, including the NATION and the UNITED
IRISHMAN. D. Dublin, 1865.
⸺ THE VICEROY. Three Vols. (LOND.). 1841.
Deals with Dublin official life, satirizing it unmercifully.
First appeared in BLACKWOOD’S MAGAZINE. The Author was born in
Belfast in 1811; died 1865. Wrote for the NATION, the UNITED
IRISHMAN (1848), the DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE, &c. Graduated
M.A. in T.C.D., 1832.
=NAUGHTON, William.=
⸺ THE PRIEST’S BOY: a Story of Irish Rural Life. (DUBLIN: _Hunter_).
1_s._ 1914.
=NEVILLE, Elizabeth O’Reilly.=
⸺ FATHER TOM OF CONNEMARA. (N.Y.: _Rand, McNally Co._). $1.50. Illustr.
[1902]. 1903.
Rural life in W. of Ireland.
=NEVILLE, Ralph.=
⸺ LLOYD PENNANT: a Tale of the West. Two Vols. (_Chapman & Hall_). 1864.
First ran as a serial in “Duffy’s Hibernian Magazine,” 1863.
Well-written and exciting melodrama, with a good plot, but very
quiet and plain in style. The hero, who bears an assumed name,
and is really heir of an old Anglo-Irish family, joins the
British navy. He is unjustly accused of disloyalty and intimacy
with Lord Edward Fitzgerald. But all ends well, including his
love affair with Kate Blake, daughter of a family that plays a
principal part in the story. The Humbert invasion is touched
upon, especially the Castlebar “Races.” There is a good deal
about the ways of gombeen men and middlemen in the West.
Sympathies national. Wrote also _The Squire’s Heir_, 1881.
=NEWCOMEN, George.=
⸺ A LEFT-HANDED SWORDSMAN: a Romance of the Eighteenth Century. Pp. 239.
(_Smithers_). 6_s._ 1900.
The life and doings of Cicely Grattan and of her adopted son
Victor La Roche, a noble and generous youth, brave and skilled
in sword-play—examples respectively of womanly virtue and manly
character. The interest centres chiefly in Cicely’s wrecked
love affairs and in Victor’s successful ones. Abundance of
incident sustains the interest throughout, and the book gives a
fairly good picture of society in the Dublin of the day, with
not a little reference to its loose morals.
=NEWTON, W. Douglas.=
⸺ THE NORTH AFIRE. Pp. 204. (_Methuen_). 2_s._ 1914.
Sub-t.: “A non-political story of Ulster’s war.” By a Catholic
Conservative.
=NOBLE, Mrs. Nicholas; [Madge Irwin].=
⸺ DRUIDEAN THE MYSTIC, and Other Irish Stories. Pp. 93. Sq. 12mo.
(DUNDALK: _W. Tempest_). 1_s._ 6_d._ 1913.
Three little stories, only the last of which has a definite
plot, and a poem. They deal with peasant life. They are told
in a dialect which is not very sure of itself nor very true to
reality. The nine little illustrations by J. E. Corr and the
excellent printing and general get-up make the book very dainty.
=NOBLE, E.=
⸺ AN IRISH DECADE. Pp. 110. (_Digby, Long_). _n.d._ (1891).
Three stories:—1. “The O’Donol (_sic_) Rent,” 1879-80; 2.
“Rosie,” 1885; 3. “By Kerry Moonlight,” 1889. 1. How a
thriftless young farmer went in for anti-rent agitation and
brought ruin on himself and his young wife. 2. Story of a
resisted eviction ending in tragedy. 3. The “moonlighter” phase
of the land war. All three stories are written to show the
wickedness and the uncalled for nature of the land agitation.
They are nicely written and constitute a clever piece of
special pleading. In 2, the priest is represented as “heartily
sympathetic with the Cause but utterly unsympathetic with
gratuitous demonstrations of mass violence.”
=O’BRIEN, Charlotte Grace.= B. 1845. A dau. of William Smith O’Brien, the
Young Ireland leader who in 1848 was condemned to death for high treason,
a sentence afterwards commuted to transportation. Lived nearly all her
life in Co. Limerick. Worked strenuously on behalf of Irish emigrants.
Took active part in Nationalist politics and in the Gaelic League. Became
a Catholic towards the end of her life. D. 1905. See _Charlotte Grace
O’Brien, Selections from her Writings and Correspondence_, with a memoir
by Stephen Gwynn [her nephew]. (_Maunsel_). 1909.
⸺ DOMINICK’S TRIALS: an Irish Story. Pp. 120. (_Gall & Inglis_). _n.d._
(1870).
A little tract in story form, telling how Dominick was
converted by his Bible, lost his job as farmer’s scarecrow,
converts his sister Judy, and is sent with her to a Protestant
orphanage in England, after which “they never lost an
opportunity of turning any poor benighted Roman Catholic to the
light of God’s truth.”
⸺ LIGHT AND SHADE. Two Vols. Pp. 287, 256. (_Kegan, Paul_). 1878.
A tale of the Fenian rising by the daughter of William Smith
O’Brien. A double love story runs through the book. The
descriptions of the scenery of the Shannon and neighbouring
districts are derived from livelong observations. Tone pure and
healthy, dialect perfect. Of this story Stephen Gwynn says:
“Violent, even melodramatic, in incident, it lacks the power of
characterisation, but it has many passages of beauty.... She
worked largely upon material gathered from the lips of men who
had been actors in the Fenian rising.”
=O’BRIEN, Dillon.= B. 1817, at Kilmore, Co. Roscommon. Ed. at St.
Stanislaus Coll., Tullabeg. Went to U.S.A. and settled in St. Paul, Minn.
Wrote a good deal of verse and several novels of Irish-American life. D.
1882. His serial _Dead Broke_, in the IRISH MONTHLY of 1882, is a good
example of his pleasant, gay manner of telling a story.
⸺ THE DALYS OF DALYSTOWN. (U.S.A., ST. PAUL). 1866.
⸺ FRANK BLAKE. (U.S.A., ST. PAUL). 1876.
=O’BRIEN, FitzJames.=
⸺ THE POEMS AND STORIES OF FITZJAMES O’BRIEN. Pp. lxii. + 485. (BOSTON:
_Osgood_). 1881.
Coll. and ed., with sketch of Author, by W. Winter. FitzJames
O’Brien was one of the most distinguished of Irish-American
writers. B. Limerick, 1838. Ed. T.C.D. D. 1862. He is a master
of the weird and eerie, after the manner of Lefanu (_q.v._)
and Poe. His prose works are little if at all concerned with
Ireland.
⸺ THE DIAMOND LENS, and Other Stories. (LOND.). 1887.
Sketch of Author prefixed. Contains no Irish stories.
=O’BRIEN, Hon. Georgina.= Eldest dau. of the late Lord O’Brien of
Kilfenora, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.
⸺ THE HEART OF THE PEASANT, and Other Stories. Pp. 277. (_Sisley_). 6_s._
1908.
Twelve stories of various types. Some have a slight meaning
behind the mere tale. Four or five do not concern Ireland, and
several others do not touch peasant life. The tone is on the
whole sympathetic towards the external aspects of Catholicism.
The stories do not deal in politics or in problems. They are
chiefly little aspects of life and feeling. The last and
longest is a very modern story of the love affair of Rev. Mark
Dibbs and a certain Lady Glynn.
⸺ A TWENTIETH CENTURY HERO. Pp. 308. (_Maunsel_). 6_s._ 1913.
The scene and most of the characters of this story are
English. Some Irish interest, however, is afforded by Mr. and
Mrs. Flanagan, the latter bright, thrifty, busy; the former
of the happy-go-lucky type, content to let his wife do the
bread-winning.
=O’BRIEN, Morrough.=
⸺ THE LEAGUE OF THE RING and TORN APART. (_Ireland’s Own Library_). 6_d._
_n.d._ (1914).
Exciting stories of mysteries unravelled by the great Irish
detective, Dermod O’Donovan. Villainy is defeated and
couples are happily married. Quite healthy in tone, but very
sensational. The scene is Belfast and neighbourhood.
=O’BRIEN, Mgr. Richard Baptist; “Father Baptist.”= B. at Carrick-on-Suir,
1809. D. 1885. A distinguished priest, who was Dean of Limerick. Was
well-known in religious and philanthropic works. He wrote poems for the
NATION under the pen-name of “Baptist.”
⸺ AILEY MOORE. Pp. 311. (_Duffy_). 3_s._ 6_d._ [1856]. Fifth ed. _n.d._
(N.Y.: _Benziger_). 0.60.
Period: the years before and after ’48. Plot pleasant, but
main interest abundance of side incidents, character studies
and details of Irish life, introduced chiefly to picture the
evils of misgovernment prevailing at the time. The style is
agreeable, though there are rather lengthy moralizings. It was
advertised by Dolman as “showing how Eviction, Murder, and such
like pastimes are managed and Justice administered in Ireland.”
⸺ JACK HAZLITT, A.M. Pp. 380. (_Duffy_). Third ed. _n.d._ Still in print.
(N.Y.: _Benziger_). 0.60. [1875].
The Preface tells us that Jack Hazlitt, whose fortunes are
followed in this book, was a real person known to the Author,
and that many of the adventures recorded are true. Scene:
first, banks of Shannon (King’s County or Westmeath), then
America. Story of sensational kind, but with many moral
lessons, often verging on homilies, directed chiefly against
free-thought and undenominational education.
⸺ THE D’ALTONS OF CRAG. Pp. 283. (_Duffy_). 2_s._ 1882. (N.Y.:
_Benziger_). 0.60. [1882].
A tale laid in a time of helplessness and hopelessness, in
which the Author gives “many illustrations of the beautiful and
devoted love that has ever bound together the people and the
priests of Ireland.”—(_Pref._). The Author tells us that every
one of the main incidents is based on fact, and that many of
the characters are portraits of real persons. The story is told
with great vigour, and is full of diversified incident of no
humdrum or commonplace character.—(IRISH MONTHLY).
=O’BRIEN, William.= B. Mallow, Co. Cork, 1852. Ed. Cloyne diocesan
seminary and Queen’s Coll., Cork. Early engaged in journalism. He long
edited UNITED IRELAND, to which he contributed much prose and verse. He
is one of the best known and most remarkable of modern Irish politicians.
He has been prosecuted nine times for political offences, and spent more
than two years in prison, where _When We Were Boys_ was written. Has been
Member of Parliament, except for short intervals, since 1883.
⸺ WHEN WE WERE BOYS. Pp. 550. (_Longmans_). 6_s._ 1890. Frequently
republished.
One of the most remarkable of Irish novels. A tale of Ireland
in Fenian times. Scene: Glengarriff, Co. Cork. A very brilliant
book, sparkling with epigram and metaphor. Full of criticism,
argument, thought and dream about Ireland. The story itself is
strong in romantic and human interest. The characterization is
full of life and reality, yet many of the characters are types.
In the course of the tale many aspects of Irish life, among
all classes, pass in review. There are many touches of satire.
Over all the characters and scenes the author’s exuberant
imagination has cast a glare as of the footlights, making them
stand out in vivid colours and clear outlines. Yet there is
little or no distortion or misrepresentation. The Author’s
sympathies are strongly nationalist and Catholic, yet national
failings are not blinked, and some of the portraits of priests
are distinctly satirical. The central interest, perhaps, is the
romantic excitement, enthusiasm, and exaltation of an impending
rising.
⸺ A QUEEN OF MEN. Pp. 321. (_Unwin_). [1898]. Third ed., 1899. There is a
cheap ed. in paper covers.
Scene: Galway City, Clare Island, and the opposite coast, just
before the great War of the Earls. A very highly-coloured
romance, full of flashy and dramatic sensation, told with an
exuberance of language that sometimes exceeds, but at times
is very effective. Some of the descriptive pieces are quite
above the common and attain remarkable vividness. The book was
written in the midst of the scenes described. An effective
device to secure colour is the frequent interjection of Gaelic
phrases phonetically spelt. The heroine of the tale is the
famous Gránia Ni Mháille, who appears not only as dauntless
sea-queen of the O’Malleys, but above all in her womanly
character. Fitzwilliam, Bingham, and Perrott also appear,
the last as a hero. Though many of the incidents are quite
fictitious and few happened exactly as narrated, yet some of
those which might seem most incredible to anyone unacquainted
with the State Papers could be paralleled by real happenings.
Some of the incidents narrated are: the Composition of
Connaught, the disgrace of Perrott, the wrecking of the Armada
on the Connaught coast, Gránia’s visit to Elizabeth. With
Gránia’s love story is entwined another, that of Cahal O’Malley
and Nuala O’Donnell.
=O’BRIEN, Mrs. W.= Wife of preceding; _née_ Sophie, dau. of Herman
Raffalovich, of Paris. She is a convert to Catholicism, and a thoroughly
naturalised Irishwoman for many years past. She has written also a book
of reminiscences, _Under Croagh Patrick_. I have also seen mentioned as
by her a book entitled _Amidst Mayo Bogs_.
⸺ ROSETTE: a Tale of Dublin and Paris. Pp. 266. (_Burns & Oates_). 1907.
Diary of Rosette, only child of a Parisian bourgeois family.
Deals chiefly with the life of this family in Paris, and
afterwards in Dublin. There is no sensationalism. Rosette’s
religious development is thoughtfully worked out, and there is
good character-drawing (_e.g._, Rosette’s artistically inclined
mother and the old servant, Mélanie). The point of view is, of
course, distinctly feminine. The style is pretty and graceful.
=O’BYRNE, Dermot.=
⸺ CHILDREN OF THE HILLS. Pp. 148. (_Maunsel_). 2_s._ 6_d._ _n.d._ [1913].
Seven stories reprinted from THE IRISH REVIEW and ORPHEUS
(an art periodical). They belong to the literary movement
associated with the Abbey Theatre. They have the weird
imaginativeness and the flavour of the occult and uncanny of
Yeats’s prose stories, together with the vivid word-painting
of “Fiona McLeod.” The Author delights in the portrayal of
primitive and savage passions on the one hand, and on the other
in the suggestion of the wild landscapes, rock-strewn and
mist-shrouded, of Western Donegal (_e.g._, Glencolumbcille, in
“Ancient Dominions”). These stories of pure fancy are strangely
interwoven with settings of extreme realism—drunken tinkers,
peasants, &c. Only here and there have we remarks like the
following (p. 123):—“But those who are intimate with the soul
of the Gaelic peasant know that the God of the Christian is
only one amongst a Pantheon of hidden dominations lovely and
terrible, though the priest at the altar may thunder anathemas
from a fettered intelligence,” &c. The reviewer in the TIMES
LIT. SUPPL. pointed out the real defect of these stories—they
are wanting in heart.
=O’BYRNE, D.=
⸺ THE SISTERS AND GREEN MAGIC. Pp. 76. (_Daniel_). 2_s._ 6_d._ net. 1912.
=O’BYRNE, M. L.=
⸺ THE PALE AND THE SEPTS. Two Vols. (_Gill_). [1876].
The design is to illustrate, in all its cruelty, treachery,
greed, and unscrupulousness, the steady advance of the English
settlement. Yet by no means all the English are painted as
villains. We are shown the forces of government at work at
home in the Castle. Careful portraits of Archbishop Loftus
and the old Earl of Kildare. Descriptions of battle of
Glenmalure, Hungerford’s massacre at Baltinglass, the capture
and recapture of Glenchree, &c., &c. Fine description of
scenery, _e.g._, Gougane Barra. The religious persecutions
are vividly portrayed. Highly praised by the ATHENÆUM. The
original sub-title was “Or, The Baron of Belgard and the Chiefs
of Glenmalure. A Romance of the 16th Century, by Emelobie de
Celtis.”
⸺ LEIXLIP CASTLE. Pp. 649. (_Gill_). [1883]. Others since.
Period: years 1690 _sqq._ Deals with battle of Boyne, flight
of James II., sieges of Limerick and Athlone, the battle of
Aughrim—all fully and vividly described. Standpoint: strongly
national and Catholic. Gives pleasant insight into the
private lives of some Catholic families at the time and their
difficulties with Protestant neighbours. Narrative somewhat
tedious and slow-moving.
⸺ ILL-WON PEERAGES; or, An Unhallowed Union. Pp. 716. (_Gill_). 1884.
At the outset of this book we are introduced in a series of
pictures to the homes of representative people of various
parties, and long, imaginary political conversations between
the prominent men of the time are given. Then there is a full
account of the rebellion from the battle of Kilcullen to
Vinegar Hill. Practically every noteworthy personage of the
time is described in private and in public life. The romantic
interest is entirely subservient to the historical, yet there
is plenty of adventure. The bias is ultra-nationalist. The
style, and especially the descriptions, were highly praised by
a reviewer in the TABLET.
⸺ ART MACMURROUGH O’KAVANAGH. Pp. 706. (_Gill_). [1885].
A full account of the life and exploits of Art MacMurrough,
with many adventures of fictitious characters, and much
description of the manners and life of the times within and
without the Pale. In the conversations the Author attempts to
reproduce the spoken English of the time, with a lamentable
result. They are full of _yclept_, _eftsoons_, _by my halidom_,
_marry_, &c., &c., so as to be unintelligible at times. The
speech of the Irish characters is nearly as full of Gaelic
expressions. “Many of the events narrated in this story are
supplied from tradition,” says the Author. But she has been at
much pains to utilize undoubtedly authentic sources. The style,
on the whole, is pleasant.
⸺ THE COURT OF RATH CROGHAN. Pp. 465. (_Gill_). 2_s._ 6_d._ 1887.
The story of the Norman Invasion of Ireland, together with the
series of events that led to it, and the consequences that
followed, the central idea being that it was the treachery and
disunion of her own princes that wrought the ruin of Ireland.
All the chief men connected with the events narrated play
prominent parts in the story. St. Laurence O’Toole is finely
drawn. The last Ard Righ, Roderick, is shown weak and unfit to
rule in perilous times. Strongbow is a leading character; his
death is vividly described. Art MacMurrough is, of course, the
villain. The style is somewhat highflown and often loaded with
antiquated phrases and latinized expressions. Yet the story,
apart from its historical value, which is considerable, has a
strong interest of its own.
⸺ LORD ROCHE’S DAUGHTERS OF FERMOY. Pp. 344. (_Sealy, Bryers_). (N.Y.:
_Pratt_). 1.50. 1892.
In the course of this romance the whole history of the Wars of
the Confederation of Kilkenny and of the Cromwellian Invasion
is related. The story is described by the Author as “a very
encyclopædia of tragedies.” The Author is strongly on the side
of Owen Roe O’Neill as against the Confederate Catholics of the
Pale, and, of course, the Puritans. A fine series of adventures
and of historical pictures, but spoiled by frequent lapses from
literary good taste.
=O’BYRNE, W. Lorcan.= B. in Dublin, 1845. Son of Christopher O’Byrne, of
Ballinacor, Co. Wicklow. Delighted from earliest youth in Irish lore of
all kinds. Held a position in the Education Office during the greater
part of his life. D. 1913. His books, though popular in style, were the
result of much patient research.
⸺ A LAND OF HEROES. Pp. 224. (_Blackie_). 2_s._ 6_d._ Well illustr. by J.
H. Bacon. (N.Y.: _Scribners_). 1.25. 1899.
“Intended to reach the level of children.” Very interesting
Introduction. The book is a series of Irish hero tales from
various cycles, including the best-known (Sons of Tuirean, Lir,
Usnach, &c.), and the Romance of the early kings very much as
in Miss Hull’s _Pagan Ireland_. The book contains a larger
number of tales than any other except the most expensive. The
bare story is told without any attempt to work up the materials
into poetic or dramatic form.
⸺ KINGS AND VIKINGS. Pp. 240. (_Blackie_). 2_s._ 6_d._ Six illustr. by
Paul Hardy. _n.d._ (1900). (N.Y.: _Scribners_). 1.25.
Drawn from published translations of Gaelic MSS., _e.g._,
Standish H. O’Grady’s _Silva Gadelica_; Dr. Todd’s edition
of the _Wars of the Gael and Gall_; Dr. O’Donovan’s _Battle
of Magh Rath_, &c. Contents: stories of early Christian
times, chiefly from the lives of St. Patrick, St. Brigid, St.
Columbkille, and St. Brendan; the trial of the Bards; the
battles of Dunbolg, Moira, &c.; stories of the Danish invasions
and in particular of Brian Borumha. Full of good information,
but not strong in narrative interest.
⸺ CHILDREN OF KINGS. Pp. 240. (_Blackie_). 2_s._ 6_d._ Illustr. by Paul
Hardy. 1904.
“The aim of this book is to present tales from Three Cycles of
Romance, viz., the Cuchulain, the Ossianic, and the Arthurian,
interwoven after the manner of a Celtic design” (Introduction).
The chief characters of the three cycles appear in various
stories (there are thirty-one in all). A truly wonderful
knowledge of the period embraced by these tales is displayed in
the book, but the glamour of romance and the magic of words are
wanting.
⸺ THE KNIGHT OF THE CAVE; or, The Quest of the Pallium. Pp. 248.
(_Blackie_). 2_s._ 6_d._ Six illustr. by Paul Hardy. 1906.
A thin thread of narrative connecting much interesting and
valuable information about historical events and about the life
of the people at the period. The hero passes from England, then
laid waste by the wars of Stephen’s reign, to Ireland, where
we are shown in great detail the civil and ecclesiastical life
of the day. Thence he accompanies St. Malachi to Clairvaux on
a visit to St. Bernard. Then he visits Italy—Tivoli, Horace’s
Sabine Farm, and Rome, whose antiquities are described at
length. Finally, he returns to Ireland, whose state is again
dwelt upon. The narrative is relieved by exciting adventures
and by stories told incidentally. The Author’s erudition is
extensive and accurate. The title refers to St. Patrick’s
Purgatory, Lough Derg.
⸺ THE FALCON KING. Pp. 240. (_Blackie_). 2_s._ 6_d._ Six illustr. by Paul
Hardy. Picture Cover. 1907.
“A series of historical episodes (beginning in Wales, 1146),
vignettes of contemporary life, and stories from Celtic
and Icelandic sagas and Norman French _chansons de geste_,
illustrating events, manners, and religion.... Shows Henry II.
and his barons engaged in the conquest of Ireland, and gives
a good account of Dermot MacMurrough, and also of life in
Dublin.”—(_Baker_, 2).
=[O’CONNELL, Mrs. K. E.]=, of Leenane, Co. Galway; =“Aroon.”=
⸺ NOREEN DHAS. Pp. 62. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 1_s._ 1902.
A pretty love-story of Connemara (the Killaries). The Author is
for the language movement, and strongly opposed to the bargain
marriages of the West.
⸺ WHITE HEATHER. Pp. 62. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 1_s._ 1903.
Three tales of Connemara. The first is a graceful little fairy
story, the third a story of faithful love.
=O’CONNOR, Barry.=
⸺ TURF-FIRE STORIES, and Fairy Tales of Ireland. Pp. 405. (N.Y.:
_Kenedy_). 0.63. Illustr. with woodcuts. 1890.
“The greater number of the following sketches are original;
the others have been transcribed, and in most cases materially
altered, from the musty pages of some ‘Quaint and curious
volumes of forgotten lore.’” (Pref.) Most of the stories
are comic. The persons and incidents are mostly drawn from
peasant life. Most of them are capitally told. A few are
somewhat journalistic and hurriedly written. There is no
caricaturing nor “Stage Irishism.” Some are legends of places,
others typical fairy or folk tales. There are a large number
of woodcuts, which, however, have no connection with the
letter-press.
=[O’CONNOR, Joseph K.]; “Heblon.”=
⸺ STUDIES IN BLUE. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 2_s._ Illustr. by C. A. Mills.
_n.d._ (_c._ 1903).
Sketches, true to life, and cleverly told, of the most
disreputable side of Dublin slum-life, as seen, chiefly, in the
Police Courts. Amusing, but at times verging on vulgarity.
=O’DONNELL, Lucy.=
⸺ ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL. Pp. 86. (DUBLIN: _Curry_). 1855.
The fortunes of the house of Desmond in the 16th century,
and chiefly those of Lord James Fitzgerald (son of the great
Earl) who became a Protestant, and was therefore rejected
by his people and retired to England. The story opens with
a Protestant service in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1581. It
contains interesting allusions to Glendalough, Dublin, and
Adare. Author’s viewpoint Protestant.
=O’DONOGHUE, ⸺.=
⸺ THE PRINCE OF KILLARNEY. (LONDON).
=O’DONOVAN, Gerald.=
⸺ FATHER RALPH. Pp. 494. (_Macmillan_). 6_s._ Six impressions within a
few months. 1914.
An anti-clerical and modernist novel by an Author with inside
knowledge of the Catholic Church in Ireland. It is the story
of a young priest from his birth until we take leave of him
(_défroqué_) on board a ship leaving Ireland. In the course
of the narrative there is presented a general view of Irish
life as seen from the standpoint of such writers as M. J.
F. M’Carthy, W. P. O’Ryan, and “Pat,” but clerical life
is depicted with far more minute knowledge than by any of
these. Sensational features such as the amours of priests,
nuns, &c., are avoided, though much innuendo is indulged in.
All the estimable characters in the book are represented
as either Modernists, or else voteens and people who avoid
thinking on serious problems. The Bishop, Father Molloy, and
Ralph’s mother, as depicted by the Author, are revolting in
the extreme. Except in rare instances all the outward details
of Irish life are true to reality, but seen with jaundiced
eyes. It may fairly be said that there is scarcely a page
of this book that does not appeal in one form or another to
non-Catholic prejudice.
⸺ WAITING. Pp. 387. (_Macmillan_). 6_s._ 1914.
Maurice Blake is a young National Schoolmaster, an ideal
teacher, an enthusiast for Irish Ireland and for industrial
revival. He falls foul of Father Mahon, the P.P., who is made
as odious as possible. Maurice cannot get a dispensation to
marry Alice Barton, a Protestant, and is compelled to marry her
in a registry office. Maurice is selected as candidate by his
constituency but, through the agency of Fr. Mahon, is set aside
in favour of a worthless drunkard, and a mission is preached
by “Seraphists.” Ch. XXIII., describing this mission, is most
offensive and vulgar. Minor characters are Driscoll, the
former Master; Breslin, editor and free-thinker; Fr. Malone,
a lovable character; Dr. Hannigan with his “diffident, humble
manner covering the pride of Lucifer”; Fr. Cafferley, fond of
tea parties in publicans’ back parlours, &c. THE CHURCH TIMES
says of the book, “It is much more angry and malevolent than
its predecessor,” and the TIMES LIT. SUPPL., in an article
obviously written by a non-Catholic, “It is a bitter and,
if true, a deadly attack on the priesthood, and an almost
rancorous indictment of the practice and influence of the Roman
Catholic Church in Ireland.”
=O’DONOVAN, Michael.=
⸺ MR. MULDOON. Pp. 328. (_Greening_). 6_s._
Scene: Dublin and suburbs. A book for an idle hour, recounting
the whimsical adventures of the hero and his experiments with
professions of all kinds. Humour broad, but not vulgar.
=O’DONOVAN ROSSA=, _see_ =ROSSA=.
=O’FLANAGAN, James Roderick, B.L., M.R.I.A.=
⸺ BRYAN O’REGAN. 1866.
The Author was b. at Fermoy in 1814, and wrote some important
works on Irish biography and topography, such as _The
Blackwater in Munster_; _The History of Dundalk_ (with John
Dalton); _Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland_; _The
Munster Circuit_; _The Irish Bar_. Founded the FERMOY JOURNAL,
and published his autobiography, _An Octogenarian Literary
Life_, Cork, 1896.
⸺ CAPTAIN O’SHAUGHNESSY’S SPORTING CAREER. Two Vols. 1872.
⸺ GENTLE BLOOD.
A novel founded on the remarkable Yelverton Marriage Case at
Killowen, Co. Down, mentioned in the Author’s Autobiography.
=[O’FLANAGAN, T.]; “Samoth.”=
⸺ NED M’COOL AND HIS FOSTER BROTHER. Pp. 281. (DERRY: printed at Offices
of DERRY JOURNAL). 1871.
Sub-t., “An Irish tale founded on facts.” The Author was a
native of Castlefin, Co. Donegal. He wrote also _Strabane and
Lifford_, _The Consequences of a Refusal_, &c.
=OGLE, Thomas Acres.=
⸺ THE IRISH MILITIA OFFICER. Pp. 314. 12mo. (DUBLIN: no name of publ.).
1873.
“The tale embraces the services of the old Wexford Regiment
from 1810 to its disbandment in 1816, and is a true picture
of the rollicking and free life of that half-disciplined
soldiery.” (Pref.). Full of stories, good, bad, and
indifferent, told with considerable spirit. One chapter goes
back to ’98, and gives some interesting personal reminiscences.
There are a good many love affairs. The Author is a firm
loyalist, and something of an Orangeman, but displays little
bias. The scene is laid in various parts of Ireland.
=O’GRADY, Standish.= B. 1846, at Castletown Berehaven, on Bantry Bay,
Co. Cork, of which his father was rector. Ed. at home and in Tipperary,
and at T.C.D. Was called to the Bar, but his main occupations have
been literary. Besides the works here mentioned he has written much
on literary, political, and economic subjects, and is one of the most
distinguished of living Irish writers.
⸺ HISTORY OF IRELAND. The Heroic Period.[10] Two Vols. Pp. xxii. + 267 +
348. (_Sampson, Low_). 1878.
Described by the Author (Pref.) as “the reduction to its
artistic elements of the whole of that heroic history taken
together, viewing it always in the light shed by modern
archæologians, frequently using the actual language of the
bards, and as much as possible their style and general
character of expression.”... “Through the loose chaotic mass
... I have endeavoured to trace the mental and physical
personality of the heroes and heroines, and to discover the
true order of events.” The chapter headings read like those of
a novel—“Only a Name,” “Perfidy,” “In Vain,” “Swift Succour.”
Vol. I. deals with the Fianna, Cuchulain, the Cattle-raid of
Cuailgne. Vol. II. is entirely taken up (all but the first 88
pp.) with the Cuchulain cycle. The above work is carefully
to be distinguished from the Author’s _History of Ireland,
Critical and Philosophical_. Vol. I. (all publ.) pp. 468
(Sampson, Low), 1881. In the Pref. to this latter he says, “The
books already published by me on this subject are portions of a
work in which I propose to tell the History of Ireland through
the medium of tales, epic or romantic.”
[10] This is not a work of fiction. But it seems well to mention it here
for it is really an elaborate re-telling of the ancient Irish hero-myths
and romances.
⸺ RED HUGH’S CAPTIVITY. 1889.
An early ed. of _The Flight of the Eagle_, _q.v._
⸺ FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS. Pp. 182. Size, 4 × 6½. (_Unwin, Children’s
Library_). Illustr. by J. B. Yeats. 1892.
Delightful tales of the heroic age of the Fianna told in poetic
but very simple language. Will appeal not to children only but
to all. Part IV., “The Coming of Finn,” is particularly fine.
“Most of these tales are, I think, quite new.”—(Preface).
⸺ THE BOG OF STARS. Pp. 179. (_Fisher Unwin, New Irish Library_). 2_s._
1893.
Stories and pictures, nine in number, of Ireland in the
days of Elizabeth “not so much founded on fact as in fact
true.”—(Pref.). (1) How a drummer-boy saved Clan Ranal from
destruction by the Deputy; (2) A sketch of Philip O’Sullivan,
historian, soldier, and poet; (3) The destruction of the
O’Falveys by Mac an Earla of the Clan M’Carthy; (4) The
vengeance of the O’Hagans on Phelim O’Neill; (5) A sketch
of Sir Richard Bingham, the infamous but mighty Captain of
Connaught; (6) How the English surprised by treachery Rory Og
O’More and his people; (7) The story of Brian of the Ramparts
O’Rourke; (8) Don Juan del Aquila, the heroic defender of
Kinsale; (9) Detailed and vivid description of the battle
of the Curlew Mountains from the Irish point of view. These
have all the great qualities of the _Flight of the Eagle_,
and indicate the same views of history—the selfishness and
frequent savagery of some of the Irish chieftains, their hatred
of one another, their constant readiness to submit to the
Queen’s grace when it suited—all this is brought out. Yet the
Author is on the side of Ireland: he dwells on what is heroic
in our history, he paints the Elizabethan deputies and their
subordinates in dark colours.
⸺ COMING OF CUCHULAINN. Pp. 160. (_Methuen_). Six good illustrations by
D. Murray Smith. 1894.
The story of the hero’s boyhood told in epic language, full
of antique colour and simile, and rising at times to wild
grandeur. The great shadows of ancient De Danaan gods are never
far from the mortal heroes who figure in the saga.
⸺ THE GATES OF THE NORTH. New ed. Pp. 151. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 3_s._ 6_d._
1908.
A sequel to the preceding, telling the heroic tale of how
Cuchulainn held the fords of Ulster alone against the hosts of
Maeve. It is even fuller than is the first book of the myth
and lore of the primitive Gael. There is a very interesting
introduction by the Author.
⸺ LOST ON DHU CORRIG. Pp. 284. (_Cassell_). Nine good illustr. 1894.
Strange adventures among the caves and cliffs of the west
coast, with a touch of the uncanny, and some interesting and
curious things about seals.
⸺ THE CHAIN OF GOLD. Pp. 304. (_Fisher Unwin_). Sixteen good illustr.
Nice cover. 1895.
A story of adventure on the wild west coast of Ireland. Curious
and original plot, with an element of the supernatural.
⸺ ULRICK THE READY. New ed. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 3_s._ 6_d._ [1896]. 1908.
Period: last years of Elizabeth’s reign. Scene: the country of
O’Sullivan Beare, the south-west corner of Cork. Weaves the
battle of Kinsale and the siege of Dunboy into the story of the
young O’Sullivan, Ulrick. Full of vividly presented details
of the public and private life of the time, and of novel and
suggestive presentments of its political and social ideals.
These it brings home to the reader as no history could do. Yet
the story is not neglected. Standpoint: impartial, on the whole.
⸺ IN THE WAKE OF KING JAMES. Pp. 242. (_Dent_). 4_s._ 6_d._ 1896.
A wild and nightmare-like tale. Scene: a lonely castle on
the west coast inhabited by a gang of Jacobite desperadoes.
Contains no historical incidents.
⸺ FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE. Pp. 298. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 3_s._ 6_d._ [_Lawrence
& Bullen_, 1897]. New ed., 1908. (N.Y.: _Benziger_). 1.10.
The historical episode of the kidnapping of Hugh Roe O’Donnell
and his escape from Dublin Castle evoked in a narrative
of extraordinary dramatic power and vividness. The Author
has breathed a spirit into the dry bones of innumerable
contemporary documents and State Papers, so that the men of
Elizabethan Ireland seem to live and move before us. The
effect is greatly strengthened by the vigour and rush of the
style, which reminds one of that of Carlyle in his _French
Revolution_. The Author has peculiar and decided views about
Elizabethan Irish politics. “The authorities for the story,”
he tells us in his Preface, “are the _Annals of the Four
Masters_, the _Historia Hiberniæ_ of Don Philip O’Sullivan
Beare, O’Clery’s _Life of Hugh Roe_, and the _Calendar of State
Papers, Ireland_, from 1587 forward.”
=O’GRADY, Standish Hayes.= B. 1832, Co. Limerick. Was a fluent Irish
speaker, and his knowledge of the language and of Irish traditions was,
according to those who knew him, unrivalled. Evidence of this will be
found in his _Catalogue of the Irish MSS. in the British Museum_, never
finished, but, as far as it goes, a mine of Gaelic lore. Was one of the
founders of the Ossianic Society. D. 16th October, 1915.
⸺ SILVA GADELICA. Two Vols. Demy 8vo. (_Williams & Norgate_). 1892.
Vol. I., pp. 416, contains Irish text (Roman letters); Vol.
II., pp. xxxii. + 604, contains Preface, Translation, and
Notes. Thirty-one tales and other pieces, all taken from
ancient MSS., such as the _Book of Leinster_, the _Leabhar
Breac_, &c. Fifteen are from MSS. in the British Museum. Out of
the thirty-one, only six or seven had been published before.
Ranged under four heads—(I.) Hagiology, or Stories of early
Irish saints; (II.) Legend, historical or romantic; (III.)
Ossianic lore; (IV.) Fiction, some of which is humorous.
The Irish text is presented in a difficult and archaic
dialect, much as if, says a critic, _Robinson Crusoe_ and the
_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ were to be printed in the dialect of
Chaucer. The Author in his Preface discusses and describes his
sources most minutely. Forty years of study intervened between
the Author’s previous publication, _Diarmaid and Grainne_,
for the Ossianic Society (1853), and this. The English of his
translation, though sometimes affected, is vigorous, rich,
varied, often picturesque and on the whole thoroughly worthy
of the subject. Twenty-eight pages of notes and corrections.
Indexes: A, of personal and tribal names; B, of place-names.
=O’HANLON, Canon John; “Lageniensis.”= B. Stradbally, 1821. From
1842-1857 he was in U.S.A., where he was ordained. He published eighteen
important works dealing with Irish history, archæology, and especially
hagiography, his great _Lives of the Irish Saints_, nine vols. of which
appeared, being a lasting monument to his research. He died in 1905.
⸺ IRISH FOLK-LORE: Traditions and Superstitions of the Country: with
Humorous Tales. (_Cameron & Ferguson_). Pp. viii. + 312. 2_s._ 1870.
A miscellany containing folk-lore proper, studies in popular
superstition viewed as remnants of paganism, historical
episodes, tales, &c., gathered from ancient MSS., with a great
store of antiquarian and historical information about all
periods of our annals and very many parts of Ireland. Much of
all this is drawn from rare and not easily accessible sources.
Contains chapters on Druidism, Legendary Voyages, Dungal the
Recluse. A type of the humorous stories is the capital “Mr.
Patrick O’Byrne in the Devil’s Glen.” The book is intended for
the general public rather than for folklorists. It is pleasant
and chatty in style. The source of the stories is not, as a
rule, indicated by the Author.
⸺ THE BURIED LADY: a Legend of Kilronan. (DUBLIN). 1877.
⸺ IRISH LOCAL LEGENDS. Pp. 133. (_Duffy_). 1_s._ First publ. 1896; still
in print.
A collection of thirty stories picked up by the Author
during holidays in various parts of Ireland, and “received,
mostly, from accidental and familiar intercourse with the
peasantry.”—(Pref.). The place with which the legend is
connected is indicated in each case. The legends are of a
very miscellaneous nature, local incidents, fairy stories,
ghost stories, old hero stories, &c. A considerable number of
counties are represented by one or more stories.
=O h-ANNRACHAIN, Michea.= B. New Ross, Co. Wexford. Ed. Christian Bros.’
Schools and Collegiate Academy, Carlow. Has written a good deal for the
press. Is an ardent worker in the Language Movement.
⸺ A SWORDSMAN OF THE BRIGADE. Pp. 231. (_Sands_). 3_s._ 6_d._ 1914.
A fine stirring adventure story of the doings of one of the
“Wild Geese” in Sheldon’s division of the Irish Brigade in the
service of France. Scene: Flanders, Bavaria, Italy, and Dublin.
_c._ 1703. Told in a breezy way and thoroughly Irish in spirit.
=O’HARE, Hardress.=
⸺ CONQUERED AT LAST: from Records of Dhu Hall and its Inmates. A Novel.
Three Vols. 1874.
=O’HIGGINS, Brian; “Brian na Banban.”= B. Kilskyre (Cill Scire), Co.
Meath, 1882; ed. there. Came to Dublin about twelve years ago and threw
himself into the work of the Gaelic League, for which he became a
travelling teacher (múinteoir taistil) in Cavan and Meath. Has publ. two
books in Irish. Has for years past been a frequent contributor to the
Catholic and Irish press at home and in America and Australia. His songs
are popular at Irish-Ireland concerts all over the country.
⸺ BY A HEARTH IN EIRINN. (_Gill_), 1_s._ 1908.
The gay and humorous side of the language movement seen from a
League point of view—the Seonín, the Feis, the Gaelic Christmas
hearth. One sketch gives a glimpse of the early years of John
Boyle O’Reilly.
⸺ GLIMPSES OF GLEN-NA-MONA. Pp. 115. (_Duffy_). 6_d._ Paper. 1908.
Sketches of peasant life in a remote glen (place not
indicated). Almost wholly taken up with the sadness and the
miseries of emigration. Simple, pathetic, and religious.
⸺ FUN O’ THE FORGE. (DUBLIN: _Whelan_). 1915.
A collection of humorous stories.
=O’Kane, Rev. W. M.= B. 1872, at Millisle, Co. Down. Son of Capt. Francis
O’Kane, of Weymouth and Millisle. Ed. Royal Academical Institution,
Belfast, and at Queen’s Coll., Belfast; B.A. and LL.B., R.U.I. Was Curate
in Banbridge and Belfast and is at Present Incumbent of Ashbourne,
Derbyshire. Author of _The King’s Luck_ and _Guppy Guyson_.
⸺ WITH POISON AND SWORD. Pp. 402. (_Mills & Boon_). 6_s._ 1910.
Love story and adventures in 1561 or thereabouts of Cormac
O’Hagan, follower and friend of Shane O’Neill, his escape from
the Tower, his rescue of Marjorie Drayton, his share in the
battle of Armagh where Shane defeats the Deputy, his going with
Shane to visit Elizabeth, and many sensational adventures in
consequence. He finally gives up Ireland altogether, settles
in England, and he and his descendants ever after are good
Englishmen. One of the chief characters is the ever resourceful
Dickie Toogood.
=O’KEARNEY, Nicholas.= Trans.
⸺ THE STORY OF CONN-EDA; or, The Golden Apples of Loch Erne, from the
Irish. Pp. 17. (LONDON: _J. R. Smith_). 1855.
Reprinted from the Proceedings of the “Cambrian Archæological
Association.”
=O’KEEFFE, Christopher M.=
⸺ THE KNIGHTS OF THE PALE. Pp. viii. + 263. (GLASGOW: _Cameron &
Ferguson_). 1857 and 1870.
Sub-title, “Ireland 400 Years Ago.” First appeared in _The
Celt_. The Author was sentenced about 1866 to penal servitude
for Fenianism, was released about 1877, went to U.S.A., and
died in Brooklyn about 1889. Wrote also a Life of O’Connell in
two vols. “The object of the story is to give the impression
which a prolonged study of Irish antiquities has produced on
the Author’s mind.”—(Pref.). Interspersed with the narrative
are several pieces of verse, some original, some translated by
the Author from the Gaelic. The period is the middle of the
15th century.
=O’KELLY, Seumas.=
⸺ BY THE STREAM OF KILMEEN. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 6_d._ Paper. _c._ 1910.
Ten short sketches of the little tragedies and comedies of
the lives of the humbler classes. They are simple, true, and
sincere. The scene is Clare or Galway.
=O’KENNEDY, Father Richard.= P.P. of Fedamore, Co. Limerick.
⸺ COTTAGE LIFE IN IRELAND.
“Father O’Kennedy was born in 1850, was educated in Limerick
and in Maynooth. Has been for a long time contributor to
various Irish and American magazines, notably the IRISH
MONTHLY. He knows his people intimately, and knows how to
interest us in the simple pains and pleasures of the poor....
His style is charming. He has an eye for the simplicities of
life.”—(IRISH LIT.). His stories and sketches are known and
appreciated in the U.S. even more than at home in Ireland.
=O’LEARY, C.=
⸺ THE IRISH WIDOW’S SON; or, The Pikemen of ’98. (BOSTON). 1869.
Wrote also _The Last Rosary_ (BOSTON), 1869.
=O’MAHONY, Nora Tynan.= A sister of Katharine Tynan, _q.v._ Dau. of the
late Andrew C. Tynan, of Whitehall, Clondalkin, Co. Dublin. Married John
O’Mahony (d. 1904), a brilliant Irish barrister. She has written much for
Irish and American periodicals and has just published a vol. of poems
which has been highly praised. Her work is simple, gentle, with many
touches of beauty. The atmosphere is always Irish and Catholic.
⸺ UNA’S ENTERPRISE. Pp. 241. (_Gill_). Neat binding. 1907.
Struggles of a young girl of good social position to maintain
her widowed mother and little brother and sister. She
eventually does this by means of poultry farming, of which much
is said. There is little distinctively Irish in the story. The
style is graceful and pleasing.
⸺ MRS. DESMOND’S FOSTER CHILD. (_Browne & Nolan_). 1_s._ 6_d._ 1912.
=O’MEARA, Graves.=
⸺ OWEN DONOVAN, Fenian. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 6_d._ Paper. 1909.
Adventures of a Fenian in England, and of his lady-love, a
_prima donna_ at Covent Garden. Plenty of sensation, of a crude
and improbable type. A “time-slayer,” as the Author calls it.
=O’MEARA, Kathleen; “Grace Ramsay.”= B. Dublin, 1839. Dau. of Dennis
O’Meara, of Tipperary, and granddaughter of Barry O’M., Napoleon’s
surgeon. She went with her parents to Paris at an early age, and it
is doubtful whether she afterwards visited her native land. D. N. B.
enumerates fifteen of her works, six of which were novels. D. 1888.
⸺ THE BATTLE OF CONNEMARA. (_Washbourne_). 1878.
A story of priests and people in Connaught in the days of
the Soupers by an Author distinguished in other fields of
literature. The scene is laid partly in Paris. Noteworthy
characters are Mr. Ringwood, an English convert clergyman,
and Father Fallon, an Irish country priest. The plot turns
mainly on the conversion of an English lady who had married an
Irishman and settled in Connaught. Controversy is avoided.
=O’MULLANE, M. J., M.A.= B. 1889 in Sligo. Gained an honours diploma
in education in the National University. Is Principal of the National
Examining Institute of Ireland, Professor of Mod. Languages in Christian
Schools, Westland Row, and of Irish in Spiddal Summer Irish College,
Galway. He has contributed serials on Irish historical subjects to OUR
BOYS. He has done much to spread among the people knowledge of and
interest in the heroic period of early Gaelic Ireland by means of his
excellent penny C.T.S.I. pamphlets, soon, we hope, to be given a more
permanent form. The following are the titles:—
_Craobh Ruadh; or, the Red Branch Knights._ Two parts. 1910.
This is partly a serious study of the subject, partly a
retelling of the old sagas.
_The Tuatha de Danaan; or, the Children of Dana._ Two parts.
_Links with the Past._ Containing “Lug-na-Gall” (a legend of 1642),
“Green are the Distant Hills,” “The Origin of Lough Gill,” “Melcha,” “The
Wooing of Eithne.”
_The Coming of the Children of Miledh._
_Finn MacCoole._
_Biroge of the Mountain_, and Other Tales, viz.:—“The Recovery of the
Táin Bo Cuailgne,” “The First Water-Mill in Ireland,” “The Wooing of
Moriath,”—all tales of early Ireland.
_The Return of the Red Hand._ A story of Dunamase, fortress of the
O’Moores in the year 1200.
These nine pamphlets are very well but not pretentiously
written. They are written with good knowledge of the period
referred to, but are not overloaded with archæology. In
footnotes the pronunciation of the Gaelic names is given
phonetically. The first eight of these booklets, together
with Fr. Skelly’s _Cuchulainn of Muirthemne_ (_q.v._) form an
excellent introduction to Ireland’s Heroic Period and to our
saga literature.
=O’NEILL, John.=
⸺ HANDRAHAN, the Irish Fairy Man; and Legends of Carrick[-on-Suir].
Edited by Mrs. S. C. Hall and publ. 1854. (LONDON: _Tweedie_). Pp. 187.
The Author was born in Waterford, 1777. Lived the last years
of his chequered life in poverty in London. Published several
volumes of verse, chiefly on Temperance subjects, and a drama
entitled _Alva_. D. _c._ 1860. The above is a very good and
original story. Handrahan is a kind of herb-doctor skilled in
potions and in charms against the fairies.
⸺ MARY OF AVONMORE; or, The Foundling of the Beach. Three Vols.
N.B.—This is not in the British Museum Library or elsewhere
that I know of, but is given a prominent mention in all his
biographies.
=“O’NEILL, Moira,” Mrs. Skrine=, _née_ =Nesta Higginson=. Author of
the well-known _Songs of the Glens of Antrim_. Her home was long in
Cushendun, Co. Antrim. She has also published _An Easter Vacation_, 1893.
The scene laid in an English watering place. A frequent contributor to
BLACKWOOD’S MAGAZINE.
⸺ THE ELF ERRANT. Pp. 109. (_A. H. Bullen_). Seven illustr. by W. E. F.
Britten. New ed., 1902.
An excursion into Fairyland. A fanciful tale, told in exquisite
and simple language, with elves and fairies for characters.
All through there is a subtle comparison, which only the grown
and thoughtful children will notice, of English and Irish
character. This latter by no means interferes with the interest
of the book for children, but makes it well worth reading by
the grown-ups.
Republished, Christmas, 1909, by _Sidgwick & Jackson_. 3_s._
6_d._
=O’REILLY, Gertrude M.=
⸺ JUST STORIES. Pp. 233. (N.Y.: _Devin-Adair Co._). $1.00. 1915.
The Author came to America from Ireland in 1907. Agnes Repplier
says of the book: “These Irish stories are as good as good can
be; gay, sad, amusing, pathetic, human. I like the stories
themselves; I like the way they are told. They don’t suggest
‘plot,’ but bits of real life.” In the Pref. the Author says:
“Thoughts go back to the long restful days beside Galway Bay,
to the still evenings in the Cork hills.... These little
stories are the fruit of these moments of retrospection.” There
is much dialect, well reproduced.
=“O’REILLY, Private Myles,”= _see_ =HALPINE=.
=ORPEN, Mrs.=
⸺ CORRAGEEN IN ’98. (_Methuen_). 6_s._ (N.Y.: _New Amsterdam Book Co._).
Pp. 325. 1.50. 1898.
“Written with sympathy for the loyalists. A realistic
description of the more horrible features.”—(_Baker_).
=O’RYAN, Julia and Edmund.=
⸺ _IN RE_ GARLAND. (_Richardson_). 1873.
Time: after Famine of 1846, when the Encumbered Estates Court
was in full swing. Cleverly written, and showing intimate
knowledge of Munster ways of speech and thought among the
farming and lower classes. Good taste and strong faith in the
people and in the people’s faith are everywhere discernible.
The writers eschew all moralizing and also all description of
scenery.—(IRISH MONTHLY).
=O’RYAN, W. P.; “Kevin Kennedy.”= B. near Templemore, Co. Tipperary,
1867. Lived for several years in London, where he took an active share
in the activities of the Southwark Irish Literary Club and the Irish
Literary Society: he has written a history of their beginnings. Was
editor of THE PEASANT and of its successors, THE IRISH PEASANT and THE
IRISH NATION. In these he mingled anti-clericalism with much excellent
writing strongly national in tone. _The Plough and the Cross_ is largely
autobiographical. Publ. 1912, _The Pope’s Green Island_.
⸺ THE PLOUGH AND THE CROSS. Pp. 378. (_The Irish Nation_). 1_s._ 1910.
A story, how much of which is fact we do not learn, woven round
certain real events of recent date, and in particular the
stopping of a paper of which the Author was editor. Many of the
characters may be recognised as portraits of real personages,
among others the Author himself, Mr. T. P. O’Connor, Geo.
Moore, Mr. James McCann, Mr. Edward Martyn, and Mr. Sweetman.
The book is largely taken up with conversations in which
the Author gives expression to his peculiar views on many
subjects. Many of these belong to the class of ideas known
collectively to Catholics as Modernism. Throughout the book
there is constant criticism of the Irish clergy, much of this
criticism being put into the mouths of “progressive” priests.
The personages and the series of events dealt with are highly
idealized. Distinctly well written, but somewhat “exalté” in
style. Scene: Dublin and the Boyne Valley.
_See_ =RYAN, W. P.=
=O’SHAUGHNESSY, Tom.=
⸺ TERENCE O’DOWD; or, Romanism To-day. Pp. 350. (PHILADELPHIA:
_Presbyterian Board of Publication_). _n.d._
“An Irish story founded on facts.” Scene near Mt. Nephin and
the Deel, Co. Mayo. A long diatribe against the Catholic
Church, representing it in the most odious light, in order,
says the Introd., to warn Protestants that it is the same
monstrously wicked system as ever. Ignorance, squalour,
rudeness, and brutality are the terms constantly used to
describe the Irish peasantry. The tone is often facetious and
sarcastic. The peasants, including “Father McNavigan,” speak an
extraordinary jargon. Appendices give extracts from Kirwan’s
letter to Bishop Hughes.
=O’SHEA, James.=
⸺ FELIX O’FLANAGAN, an Irish-American. Pp. 206. (CORK: _Flynn_). 1902.
The story of an Irish peasant lad, first in Ireland as clerk
in a shop and commercial traveller in a small way, then in
America as labourer, soldier, and business man. Good picture of
farming and provincial town life in Ireland of the day. Point
of view Catholic and strongly nationalist. The book almost a
sermon against drink and emigration. Style and handling of plot
somewhat immature.
=O’SHEA, John Augustus; “The Irish Bohemian.”= 1840-1905. B. Nenagh.
Ed. Catholic Univ. Went to London, 1859. Was war correspondent and
writer on THE STANDARD for twenty-five years. Was a man of extraordinary
versatility—journalist, writer on continental politics, lecturer,
dramatist, Irish politician. He was a member of the Southwark Irish
Literary Club, 1885, _sqq._ Mr. W. P. Ryan speaks of him as drawing upon
his own experiences of “merry and dashing life” in Tipperary for his
stories—“Conal O’Rafferty” and others. See his _Leaves from the Life of a
Special Correspondent_ and _Random Recollections_.
⸺ MILITARY MOSAICS: a Set of Tales, &c. Pp. viii. + 303. (_Allen_). 1888.
=[O’SULLIVAN, Rev. P. P.]; “An Ulster Clergyman.”=
⸺ THE DOWNFALL OF GRABBUM. Pp. 148. (BELFAST: _Carswell_). 6_d._ Illustr.
1913.
A political skit on the then situation in Ulster. Grabbum =
the English Garrison in Ireland; Drudge, his devoted dupe =
Orangeism. Farmer John Bull sends Grabbum over to Pat to help
him, and is amazed at the result. The moral is the beneficial
effects (including an Anglo-American alliance) of Home Rule.
Irish public men—F. J. Bigger, Sir Roger Casement, Douglas
Hyde, &c., are introduced under thin disguises. The tone is, of
course, light and facetious.
=OUTRAM, Mary Frances.=
⸺ BRANAN THE PICT. Pp. 356. (_R.T.S._). 2_s._ 6_d._ Coloured frontisp.
1913.
“An exceedingly well-written tale of the times of St. Columba,
based on the ‘life’ by Adamnan. The hero and his associates are
fictitious, but the setting of the story is worked out with
remarkable care.”—(C.B.N.). _In the Van of the Vikings_ is by
the same Author.
=“PARLEY, Peter,”= _see_ =GOODRICH=.
=[PARNELL, William, M.P.].= Wrote also _An Historical Apology for the
Irish Catholics_ (1807). He was knight of the shire for Wicklow and
brother of Lord Congleton. He died 1821. (See Moore’s Memoirs, vii.,
109). Charles Stewart Parnell came of the same family.
⸺ MAURICE AND BERGHETTA; or, the Priest of Rahery. Pp. xxiv. + 213.
(BOSTON and LONDON). [1819]. Second ed., 1825.
“Dedicated to the Catholic priesthood of Ireland.” “The
character of Maurice is drawn from a person who not many years
ago was a ploughman. The Author’s object is not to write a
novel but to place his observations on the manners of the
Irish peasantry in a less formal shape than that of a regular
dissertation.”—(Introd.). Related by Father O’Brien. The love
of Maurice O’Neal for Berghetta Tual, their marriage and
subsequent fortunes, misfortunes, and romantic adventures, till
they rise to be grandees of Spain. The coincidences are rather
far-fetched and improbable and the characters not very real.
Many moral lessons are inculcated.
=[PATRICK, Mrs. F. C.].=
⸺ THE IRISH HEIRESS. (LONDON). 18—.
=PAUL, Major Norris.=
⸺ MOONLIGHT BY THE SHANNON SHORE. Pp. 312. (_Jarrold_). [1888].
An anti-Land League novel, describing the terrorism of that
organisation and the sufferings it entailed. The plot is the
love-story of John Seebright, an Englishman, for the Irish
Eveline Wellwood, who is persecuted by the League. Devoid of
humour and almost of romance. The dialect is well handled,
and the writer clearly knew well his Limerick and Clare. But
the tone of the book is on the whole bitter and somewhat
narrow-minded.
⸺ EVELINE WELLWOOD. (_Jarrold_). 1892.
This is simply another ed. of _Moonlight by the Shannon Shore_.
=PECK, Mrs. F.=
⸺ THE LIFE AND ACTS OF THE RENOWNED AND CHIVALROUS EDMUND OF ERIN,
commonly called Emun ac Knuck or Ned of the Hills, &c. Two Vols. Pp. 345,
300. (DUBLIN: _Tegg_). Other eds., 1841. Ten good illustr. by B. Clayton.
Sub-title: “An Irish Historical Romance of the Seventh
Century founded on facts and blended with a brief and pithy
epitome of the origin, antiquity, and history of Ireland.” An
extraordinary and rather eccentric production, written in a
strain of exaggerated enthusiasm for Ireland. The facts are
supposed to be taken mainly “from some very ancient documents
found amongst the papers of the late Dr. Andrews, Provost
of T.C.D.,” whose grandniece the Author was. To the novel
she appends “a Circular Letter,” relating her matrimonial
differences with her husband, Capt. P. She also wrote _Tales
for the British People_, and became a Catholic.
=PELHAM, Gordon.=
⸺ SHEILA DONOVAN, a Priest’s Love-Story. Pp. 295. (_Lynwood_). 1911.
“Stephen Glynn loves Sheila D., and there is never the smallest
reason why he should not marry her. Both are represented
as sweet and good, and he is a clergyman. After their sin
Stephen’s whole mind is set on religious atonement: he joins a
religious order, leaving Sheila to struggle on alone with her
child. He breaks his vows, and all is apparently to end happily
when, acting under a misapprehension, he drowns himself.”—(T.
LIT. SUPPL.)
=PENDER, Mrs. M. T.=, _née_ =O’Doherty=. B. Co. Antrim. Ed. at home, at
Ballyrobin National School and Convent of Mercy, Crumlin Road, Belfast.
Has contributed much prose and verse to various Irish periodicals.
⸺ THE GREEN COCKADE. Pp. 380, close print. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 3_s._ 6_d._
A love story, the scene of which is laid in Ulster during the
rebellion. Full of romantic adventures. Historical characters
introduced: Lord Edward Putnam M’Cabe, and especially Henry
Joy M’Cracken. Battle of Antrim described, but remainder
of incidents almost entirely fictitious. No attempt at
impartiality. The Government side is painted in the darkest
colours.
⸺ THE LAST OF THE IRISH CHIEFS.[11]
A sensational romance of the time of Sir Cahir O’Doherty’s
rising and the governorship of Paulett in Derry. _c._ 1608.
[11] I have not been able to ascertain whether this novel was ever
reprinted in volume form from the periodical in which it appeared as a
serial.
=PENROSE, Mrs. H. H.=, _née_ =Lewis=. B. Kinsale. Ed. at Rochelle
School, Cork. Took honours in T.C.D. in German and English Literature.
In addition to her novels she has written innumerable stories for the
magazines, _e.g._, TEMPLE BAR and the WINDSOR. Resides in Surrey. Besides
the novels mentioned below, _As Dust in the Balance_ and _An Unequal
Yoke_ are partly concerned with Ireland.
⸺ DENIS TRENCH. Pp. 432. (_Alston Rivers_). 6_s._ 1911.
Denis and his sister on their mother’s death are left in doubt
about the character and identity of their father, whom they
had seen only in their infancy, and who, as a matter of fact,
had left his wife in order to become a Roman Catholic priest.
This priest acts as a kind of providence to his two children,
and reveals himself only on his death bed. The Authoress seems
quite unacquainted with Catholic practice, but does not depict
it in a hostile spirit. The scene is partly in Ireland, but the
only trace of Irish interest is an occasional reference to a
mysterious quality in the Celtic blood of the hero and heroine,
and the character of the poor girl Stella Delaney, whom Denis
marries.
⸺ A FAERY LAND FORLORN. Pp. 312. (_Alston Rivers_). 6_s._ 1912.
Life among better-class Protestant folk in a little seaside
town in the S. of Ireland. The main interest is furnished
by the sad love story of Evelyn Eyre. Mr. Eyre, gentle and
bookloving, and Capt. Donovan, given to drink and a tyrant
in his family, are neighbours and close friends till a
misunderstanding brings estrangement and leads to a tragedy,
resulting in the separation—for ever, as it proves—of Evelyn
and her lover Terence Donovan. The story is wholesome and human
and free from religious or other bias. Aunt Kitty, a lovable
old maid, provides an element of humour.
⸺ BURNT FLAX. Pp. 319. (_Mills & Boon_). 6_s._ 1914.
The Land League agitation from landlord standpoint. Excellent
but over-firm landlord, hired agitator, attempt on landlord’s
life. The rent-payers are brutally murdered by leaguers, who
are represented as drunken and credulous. There is some good
character drawing: Tinsy O’Halloran the half-witted boy, is
original: Father O’Riordan is represented as a good sensible
priest. The brogue is travestied.
=[PERCIVAL, Mrs. Margaret].=
⸺ THE IRISH DOVE; or, Faults on Both Sides. Pp. 206. (DUBLIN:
_Robertson_). 1849.
By the Author of _Rosa, the Work Girl_. Helen Wilson, whose
mother was Irish, inherits an estate in Kerry. After years of
residence in India and then in England, she comes to live in
Ireland, grows to love the people, and spends what is left of
her failing life in teaching the natives the New Testament in
Irish. The interest of the book lies in its picture of and
apology for, the attempt made (chiefly by “The Irish Society”)
in the first half of the 19th century to convert the Irish to
Protestantism through the medium of the Irish language. The
witness it gives to the bitterly anti-Irish feeling prevailing
in England at the time is interesting. The peasantry is
represented as debased and priest-ridden, but their condition
is ascribed in part to English hostility and to absenteeism.
=PETREL, Fulmar.=
⸺ GRANIA WAILE. Pp. 285, large print. (_Unwin_). Frontispiece and map.
1895.
A fanciful story written around the early life and after-career
of the O’Malley Sea-queen. Her robbing, when only a young girl,
of the eagle’s nest, her desperate sea-fights, and her many
other adventures make pleasant reading. The atmosphere of the
period is well brought out. But few of the incidents narrated
are historical facts.
=PICKERING, Edgar.=
⸺ TRUE TO THE WATCHWORD. Pp. 299. (_Warne_). 3_s._ 6_d._ Eight illustr.
1902.
A spirited account of the siege of Derry from the point of view
of the besieged. Full of hairbreadth escapes and of desperate
encounters with the Irishry, who are spoken of throughout as
ferocious savages. Apart from this last point there is no
noteworthy falsification of history. For boys.
=POLLARD, Eliza F.=
⸺ THE KING’S SIGNET. (_Blackie_, and U.S.A.: _Scribner_).
France in the days of Madame de Maintenon, and Ireland during
Williamite wars. B. of the Boyne described. Juvenile.
=POLSON, Thomas R. J.=
⸺ THE FORTUNE TELLER’S INTRIGUE. Three Vols. (DUBLIN: _McGlashan_). 1847.
“Or, Life in Ireland before the Union, a tale of agrarian
outrage.” An unusually objectionable and absurd libel on the
priests and people of Ireland. The latter are represented
as slavishly submissive to the former, who are spoken of as
“walking divinities.” The priests attend their dupes at their
execution for agrarian crimes, telling them that they are
martyrs for the faith. The scene is Co. Clare.
The Author, an Englishman, and originally a private soldier,
owned and edited the FERMANAGH MAIL for about forty years.
=PORTER, Anna Maria.= Born, 1780, in Durham. Died 1832. Was daughter of
a surgeon of the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons, of Ulster extraction, and a
sister of Jane Porter, author of _The Scottish Chiefs_, &c. She published
more than nineteen books.
⸺ HONOR O’HARA. Three Vols. (_Longmans_). [1826]. American ed., _Harper_,
1827. Two Vols.
The scene is laid in the N. of England, and the book has no
relation to Ireland except that the heroine is supposed to be
of Irish origin.
⸺ THE LAKE OF KILLARNEY. Pp. 350. (LONDON). New ed., 1839.
Described by the Author as “a harmless romance, which, without
aiming to inculcate any great moral lesson, still endeavours to
draw amiable portraits of virtue.”—(Pref.). An old-fashioned
novel in the early Victorian sentimental manner. The plot is
laid chiefly in Killarney (of which there is some description)
and Dublin, at the time of the earlier Napoleonic wars, when
Dublin had its parliament and was the centre of fashion. The
plot is intricate, but turns chiefly on the mischances and
misunderstandings that keep apart the hero, Felix Charlemont,
and the heroine, Rose de Blaquière. This latter name was the
title of later editions of this book, _e.g._ (LONDON: _C. H.
Clare_), 1856.
=POWER, Marguerite A.=
⸺ NELLY CAREW. Two Vols. (_Saunders & Otley_). Engraved frontisp. 1859.
The heroine, daughter of an Irish landlord, is driven by the
scheming of a crafty French stepmother (once her governess)
into marriage with an Irish roué, and leads a life of bitter
humiliation. But her honour is stainless through it all, and
there is a happy ending. Characters (_e.g._, Larry McSwiggan)
are for the most part capitally drawn. The moral is good. The
brogue is well done. This Author, a niece of the Countess of
Blessington, wrote also _Evelyn Forrester_, 1856, and _The
Foresters_, 1857.
=POWER, V. O’D.=
⸺ BONNIE DUNRAVEN: a Story of Kilcarrick. Two Vols. (589 pp.).
(_Remington_). 1881.
A very sympathetic and pleasant love story of modern life in
Co. Cork. The characters are thoroughly natural and human, and,
moreover, thoroughly Irish. Conversations good. But perhaps
the chief merit of the story is its faithful reproduction of
South of Ireland “atmosphere,” especially by word-pictures of
Southern scenes—the coasts, the Blackwater, Mount Mellaray.
Was highly praised by THE ATHENÆUM, THE ACADEMY, and by the
Catholic Press.—(I.M.).
⸺ THE HEIR OF LISCARRAGH. (_Art and Book Co._). 1892.
A story in which the romantic elements are very strong.
⸺ TRACKED. (_“Ireland’s Own” Library_). 6_d._ Paper covers. 1914.
A wholesome and pleasant story of unrequited love and of
jealousy. Scene: Innishowen (Co. Donegal). A well-worked out
plot, with good descriptions of scenery. Peasants depicted with
sympathy and understanding.
=PRESTON, Dorothea.=
⸺ PADDY. (_Sealy, Bryers_). 1_s._ Twenty coloured illustrs.
Paddy’s dreams and adventures in Celtic Fairyland.
=PREVOST, Antoine Francois=; called =Prevost d’Exiles=, 1697-1763.