The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ireland in Fiction, by Stephen J. Brown, S.J.

[3] Her daughter, Ella Loraine Dorsey, has written even more than Mrs. A. H. Dorsey, and is one of the most prominent figures in American Catholic literature.

— THE HEIRESS OF CARRIGMONA. Pp. 381. (Boston: Murphy). Third thousand. (Washbourne). 4s. 1910.

Scene: Co. Wicklow and Western U.S.A. Chiefly concerned with the fortunes of an Irish peasant family named Travers, especially the son, who goes to America, gets into trouble, is rescued, and then—. A strong warning against emigration is conveyed in this latter part of the story. Mrs. Dorsey’s peasants here, as usual, are lifelike and interesting. Their best qualities—trust in Providence, resignation under trial, piety, self-sacrifice—are well brought out. The brogue is not overdone. Anti-Irish characters are represented as mean and hypocritical.

— MONA THE VESTAL. Pp. 163-324. (N.Y.: Christian Press Association Publishing Co.). n.d.

Bound in same vol. as “Norah Brady’s Vow” and under latter title. An endeavour to place the heroic virtues of new Christians in contrast with the decaying Druidic paganism. The writer claims the Abbé McGeoghegan’s authority (also that of Mooney and Carey) for her descriptions of the Ireland of the time. But, with the exception of the incident of Patrick’s arrival at Tara, the story and its setting are purely imaginary and ideal. The Druids worship in vast temples with long corridors and fine carvings. Tara is a great city of marble palaces.

— NORA BRADY’S VOW. Pp. 160. (N.Y.: Christian Press Association Publishing Co.). 0.50. n.d.

Nora is only a servant girl, but is, without suspecting it, a true heroine. But she is no saint, and has a sharp tongue in her head. Her witty sallies are cleverly reproduced. The author tells us that Nora was a “real and living person.” John Halloran takes part in the rising of ’48, and is obliged to fly to America. Nora vows not to settle down in life until the fortunes of the Hallorans are restored. She goes to America, works to support the family, which has been ruined by an informer, and at length finds Halloran and reunites the family once more. Scene: near Holy Cross Abbey on the Suir; afterwards Boston. On the whole the tone and style are very emotional, but with an emotion that rings true. This is relieved by not a few gleams of pleasant humour. Irish dialect well done. Sympathy strongly national.

— THE OLD HOUSE AT GLENARAN. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.80. In print. (Washbourne). 4s.

DOTTIN, Henry Georges. Born 1863 in France. Prof. of Greek Lit. (1905) at the University of Rennes. Has contributed to learned reviews and has published several learned works, La religion des Celtes, 1903; La Bretagne et le Culte du passé, 1903.

Tales, thirty-five in number, collected in Connaught and republished from the “Annales de Bretagne,” tome x.

N.B.—A book with the title of “Contes Irlandais” was published by Messrs. Gill, of Dublin, 70 pp., 4to, 7s. 6d. It consists of extracts from the untranslated portion of Douglas Hyde’s “Leabhar Sgeuluigheachta” translated into French by M. Georges Dottin, with the original Irish text in Roman letters on the opposite page.

See previous item. Thirty-eight tales translated from Irish texts, published without translation in the Gaelic Journal since 1882. Collected in all parts of Ireland, e.g., Les exploits de Fion MacCumhail et de son géant Seachrin. Fion MacCumhail et son pouce de science. Le Gobán Saor et Saint Moling. La belle fille rusée du Gobán Saor. Le trèfle à quatre feuilles, &c.

DOUGLAS, James. Born in Belfast of a Tyrone family. Is assistant editor and literary critic of the London Star. Author of The Man in the Pulpit, Adventures in London, &c. Contributes to Athenæum, Bookman, &c.

Falls into two parts. Part I. describes upbringing of a boy in Belfast (Bigotsborough). Pictures sectarian hatred leading to riots, in one of which, vividly described, the hero loses a little brother. Other characters finely portrayed are “Jane the Nailor” and the then Head Master of the Model School (“the Castle”). In Part II. the boy has become a great preacher. All London flocks to hear him, but he is beset with doubts and difficulties. W. B. Yeats and Miss Maud Gonne are introduced under thinly disguised names. The first part has been called by editor of I. B. L. “the finest delineation of Belfast boyhood ever penned.” The second part has been not inaptly described as “the dream of an opium-eater.”

DOWLING, Richard. Born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, 1846. Educated St. Munchin’s, Limerick. Much of his life was passed in journalistic work, first for the Nation, then for London papers. He edited the short-lived comic papers Zozimus and Yorick, and was a leading spirit in another, Ireland’s Eye. In 1879 came his Irish romance, The Mystery of Killard; but he found that there was no public at the time for Irish novels, so he devoted himself to writing sensational stories for the English public. He published some delightful volumes of essays, Ignorant Essays and Indolent Essays. These deal with all kinds of subjects in a quaint, humorous, fanciful vein. Other novels—The Sport of Fate, Under St. Paul’s, The Weird Sisters, &c., seventeen or so in all.

— THE MYSTERY OF KILLARD. Pp. 357. (Tinsley Bros.) [1879]. New edition, 1884.

A tale of the Clare coast and its fishing population (drawn with much skill and fidelity) half a century back. The story centres in a mysterious and romantic rock unapproachable by sea and connected with the land by a single rope only. There is a mysterious owner, or rather a series of them, and mysterious gold. But the central idea of the book (one of the most original in literature, it has been justly called) is the study of a deaf-mute who, by brooding on his own misfortune, grows to envy and then to hate his own child, because the child can hear and speak.

Scene: chiefly the neighbourhood of Clonmel. The interest is mainly in the plot, which is full of dramatic adventure and of movement, without any very serious study of Irish character.

— OLD CORCORAN’S MONEY. Pp. 310. (Chatto & Windus). Crown 8vo. Cloth. 3s. 6d. 1897.

Money is stolen from an old miser. The interest of the complicated plot centres in the detection of the thief. Clever sketches of life in a southern town. Characters carefully and faithfully drawn, especially Head-Constable Cassidy, R.I.C.

“A series of comic and sentimental tales and legends of Ireland.” The title is most misleading. There are six pages of an introduction dealing with Michael Moran, a famous Dublin “character,” nicknamed Zozimus. The rest of the book consists of a series of stories by Carleton, Lover, Lever, Barrington, &c. The contents have nothing to do with Dowling nor with the famous periodical Zozimus.

Scene: mainly in Ards of Down, near Strangford Lough, but shifts to Edinburgh, London, and Capetown. Theme: an American girl visiting her father’s native place in Ireland. Consists largely of gossip about the characters introduced, not rising above this level. The writer likes Ireland and the Irish, but knows little of them. There is an air of unreality and improbability about the whole book. Some prejudice against Church of Ireland clergymen is displayed.

DOWNEY, Edmund; “F. M. Allen.” Born (1856) and educated in Waterford. Being the son of a shipbroker, he came to know well the various sea types that frequent a port. Went to London at twenty-two, and became partner in the firm of Ward and Downey. Retired in 1890, and in 1894 founded Downey & Co. Both of these firms, especially the latter, did a great deal for the publishing of Irish books. His writings are many and varied. They include humorous sketches, extravaganzas, sea stories, fairy tales, sensational stories, a biography of Lever, a volume of reminiscences, and a history of Waterford, and the two novels, Clashmore and the Merchant of Killogue. He at present carries on a publishing business in Waterford.

A seafarer’s life ashore. Scene: a port not unlike Waterford. Many portraits of old salts, &c., drawn from life. Some descriptions of scenery. “By turns romantic, pathetic, and humorous”—(Review).

Yarns told in a quaint nautical lingo by old salts around the inn fire in a seaport town. The characters of the tellers are very cleverly brought out in the telling. Full of humour without mere farce.

— THROUGH GREEN GLASSES. (Ward & Downey). Various prices from 6s. to 6d. [1887]. Many editions since.

This now famous book belongs to the same class as the Comic History of England, but its humour is much superior in quality. It consists of a series of historical or pseudo-historical episodes purporting to be related by a humorous Waterford countryman, Dan Banim, as seen from his point of view. Kings and princes, saints and ancient heroes, all play their parts in the delightful comedy, and talk in the broadest brogue. “From Portlaw to Paradise,” one of the best known, may be taken as a type. King James’s escape after the Boyne is also admirably done.

— THE VOYAGE OF THE ARK. (Ward & Downey). 1s. [1888]. Several editions since.

The scriptural narrative of Noah and the Ark is made the basis for a series of farcical episodes related in brogue.

More stories by “Dan Banim,” like those in Through Green Glasses. The Pope and St. Patrick, Horatius and Julius Cæsar figure in the stories. We cannot see that these stories are “irreverent” in any serious sense, though they have sometimes been taxed with irreverence.

Extravaganza founded on legends of the Seven Champions of Christendom. Full of jokes, repartees, and comic situations.

— CAPTAIN LANAGAN’S LOG. (Ward & Downey). 2s. (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.75. 1891, and since.

Story of an Irish-Canadian lad who runs away to sea, and goes through all sorts of adventures full of excitement and fun.

More “Dan Banim” stories. The first, running to 160 pages, is a humorous account of Dermot MacMurrough’s love affair with Devorgilla, and his betrayal of Ireland. Another tells how the Earl of Kildare found out that Lambert Simnel was an imposter by the latter’s skill in cooking griddle cakes.

— THE ROUND TOWER OF BABEL. (Ward & Downey). 1s. Several editions; first, 1892.

Further adventures in foreign parts of descendants of the Co. Waterford voyagers in the Ark.

— BALLYBEG JUNCTION. Pp. 276. (Downey). Very well illustr. by John F. O’Hea. (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.75. 1895.

A comedy of southern Irish life, full of fun, without farcical exaggeration, and true to reality.

Nine Irish tales, mostly humorous, not told in dialect; full of keen observation of Irish life.—(Review). “The Eviction at Ballyhack,” and “The Viceroy’s Visit” are among the best.

— GLIMPSES OF ENGLISH HISTORY. (Downey). 3s. 6d. Illustr. by J. F. Sullivan. 1901.

Versions of episodes in English History told by “Dan Banim” in his usual dialect.

— THE LITTLE GREEN MAN. Pp. 152. (Downey). Illustr. very tastefully by Brinsley Lefanu.

The pranks of the Leprechaun and his dealings with his human friend Denis. A delightful fairy-tale, told with a purpose, which does not take anything from its interest.

A tale of a mystery centering in the strange disappearance of Lord Clashmore and his agent. The story is healthy in tone, and never flags. There is a pleasant love interest. The dénouement is of an original and unexpected kind. The scene is the neighbourhood of Tramore and Dunmore, Co. Waterford. There is little or no study of national problems or national life, but some shrewd remarks about things Irish are scattered here and there in the book. The characters are not elaborately studied, but are well drawn.

Fourteen capital yarns told with great verve and go just for the sake of the story. They are all humorous, just avoiding uproarious farce. The personages of the stories are the various queer types to be met with in a small southern port:—the convivial spirits in the local semi-genteel club, those of lower degree who foregather in the bar parlour of the “Dragon,” the rival editors of the local papers, the candidates for the harbour mastership, the skippers of the Dunleary steam-packet company, the professional jail-bird—Micky Malowney, and the “general play boy” Jeremiah Maguire. There is no stage Irishism, and no politics. Dunleary is, of course, W—rf—d.

Written for the Oireachtas, 1902, and now translated by the Author from his own Irish original. They are for the most part Munster folk-lore.

“DOYLE, Lynn”; Leslie A. Montgomery. Born Downpatrick, Co. Down. Educated at Educational Institution, Dundalk. Has written a successful play, “Love and Land.” Is a bank-manager, residing at Skerries, Co. Dublin.

— BALLYGULLION. Pp. 249. (Maunsel). 6s. Handsome cover. 1908. Cheap edition. 1s. 1915.

A dozen stories supposed to be told by one Pat Murphy, in the humorous brogue affected by country story-tellers. Comic character and incident in neighbourhood of Northern town. Considerably above the usual books of comic sketches. A good example of the humour is “The Creamery Society”—the visit of the Department’s expert, and his failure to make butter from whitewash, and the difficulties that arise incidentally between Nationalists and Orangemen, followed by Father Connolly’s famous speech. Perhaps “Father Con’s Card-table” ought to have been omitted.

A homely, pleasant tale relating the pathetic life-story of two brothers of the peasant class. The scene of the first part of the tale is laid in Shankill, Vale of Shanganagh, Co. Dublin, afterwards it changes to Wales, and then to America. The Author tells us that his story is a true one, and that his endeavour throughout has been to draw a faithful and sympathetic picture of the life of the humbler classes. The sorrow and misfortune of emigration is feelingly rendered.

“DRAKE, Miriam”; Mrs. Clarke, née Marion Doak (q.v.). Born Dromard, Co. Down.

“A piece of industrial realism, inartistic and undramatic, but thoroughly honest and full of serious thought. The fortunes of two immigrant families, German and Irish, are contrasted. Jennie is the daughter of the unsuccessful German, and falls a victim to the pleasure-loving son of the enterprising Irishman, who illustrates the dangers of our ... social organization.”—(Baker 2).

— RÉCITS DU FOYER, LÉGENDES IRLANDAISES, SCÈNES DE MŒURS. Pp. 208. (Paris: Josse). 1861.

Introd. very favourable to Ireland, but based on insufficient and not first-hand information. It dwells chiefly on Irish religious faith; also on superstition in Ireland. Then come the legends—King Laura Lyngsky, Glendalough (King O’Toole’s Goose), Donaghoo (a learned schoolmaster, who found a gold mine); King O’Donoghue (Killarney), Grace O’Malley and Queen Elizabeth, The King of Claddagh, John O’Glyn (a fisherman who marries a mermaid, and joins her in the sea), James Lynch, &c.

Days of Swift, c. 1730. From the French of Léon de Wailly. The scene is laid entirely in Ireland. The story opens at Laracor. Swift is, of course, one of the central figures.

A sensational story with nothing really Irish about it. The only Irish character is almost a caricature.

— THE SONS O’ CORMAC; an’ Tales of other Men’s Sons. Pp. x. + 240. (Longmans). 6s. Eight illustr. by Myra Luxmoore. 1904.

“Some of the old heroic legends retold by a humorous Irishman for children.”—(Baker). The stories (there are twelve) are very clever, picturesque, and, like all good tales of faërie, full of unconscious poetry.—I.E.R.

— THE ANCIENT IRISH EPIC TALE: TÁIN BO CUALGNE, THE CUALGNE CATTLE RAID. Now for the first time done entire into English out of the Irish of the Book of Leinster and allied Manuscripts. Pp. xxxvi. + 382. Demy 8vo. (Nutt). 25s. 1914.

Pref., on Irish Epic in general, and on the Táin in particular. The Editor calls it “the wildest and most fascinating saga tale, not only of the entire Celtic world, but even of all Western Europe.” The work is a scholarly one, the various MSS. being carefully collated by means of marginal- and foot-notes. The Irish text is not given. Index of place and personal names. A somewhat archaic style is adopted, but this is not overdone. “The Táin,” says the Ed. truly, “is one of the most precious monuments of the world’s literature.” The Ed. is a professor in the Catholic University of Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

— VULTURES OF ERIN: a Tale of the Penal Laws. Pp. 530 (N.Y.: Kenedy). 1.50. One woodcut. 1884.

Edward Fitzgerald is robbed of his property by his enemy, Templeton, who accuses him falsely of a murder instigated by himself. Shemus M’Andrew plots and plans to save Fitzg., but the latter is nevertheless condemned to death, and his wife loses her reason. He escapes, however, and after many years returns with proof of T.’s guilt. The wife recovers, and all ends happily. Scene: between Slieve Bouchta and Lough Derg. Religion not formally introduced, but Catholic bias very strong. Penal laws denounced, and scripture-readers appear in unfavourable light.

1. MR. D. IN PEACE AND WAR. (Routledge). Seventh edition, 1906.

2. MR. D.’S PHILOSOPHY. (Heinemann). 3s. 6d. Illustr. 1901.

3. MR. D.’S OPINIONS. (Heinemann). 3s. 6d. 1905.

4. MR. D. IN THE HEARTS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN. 1909.

5. OBSERVATIONS BY MR. D. (Heinemann). 3s. 6d.

6. DISSERTATIONS BY MR. D. (Harper). 6s.

7. MR. DOOLEY SAYS. (Heinemann). 3s. 6d. 1910.

A series of fictitious conversations purporting to take place over the counter of his bar in Archey Road, a seedy Irish quarter of New York, between Mr. Dooley, “traveller, historian, social observer, saloon-keeper, economist, and philosopher,” who has not been out of his ward for twenty-five years “but twict,” and his friend Hennessy. From the cool heights of life in the Archey Road Mr. Dooley muses, philosophizes, moralizes on the events and ideas of the day. He talks in broad brogue (perhaps overdone), but his sayings are full of dry humour, and the laugh is always with him. Many of these sayings have the point and brevity of epigrams. No ridicule is cast on Irish character, with which the Author, himself an Irishman, obviously sympathizes. The view of politics, &c., is wholly at variance with that which comes to us from the English Press.

— THE PIRATE OF BOFINE: an historical romance. Three Vols. 12mo. (London). 1832.

A strange medley of melodramatic episodes. The story jumps from place to place in the most bewildering way, and wholly without warning to the reader. Scene laid in various parts of the W. of I. (Boffin, Galway, Bantry, &c.) in reign of Henry VIII. Historical characters are introduced, but without historical background. Style: “Know you aught of my maternal parent.” (Vol. III., p. 15). “Fire flashed from his eyes, and death sat upon his gleaming blade,” and soforth.

ECCLES, Charlotte O’Connor; “Hal Godfrey.” Died 1911. Was a daughter of A. O’C. Eccles, of Ballingard Ho., Co. Roscommon. She wrote first for Irish periodicals. Later she went to London, and became a prominent lady journalist there. Her The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore is a very clever and witty novel.

Six stories reprinted from the American Ecclesiastical Review (Catholic), and the Pall Mall Magazine. Scene: “Toomevara,” an Irish country town of about 2,000 inhabitants, near Shannon estuary. Life in this town is depicted in a realistic and objective way, without moralizing, and without obtrusive religious or political bias. Yet there are lessons—the miseries of class distinctions and of social and religious cleavage; the disasters of education above one’s sphere (even in a convent). There is much pathos in the death of the peasant boy-poet, and in the faithfulness of the servant girl to the fallen fortunes of the family. A serious and earnest book.

— THE MONEYLENDER. Pp. 110. (Dublin: Dollard). Illustr. by Phil Blake. 1908.

A strangely realistic story of Jewish life in Dublin, told with rude power. Written by a Jew, it gives a dreadful picture of the life of the poor in Dublin slums, and of the misery wrought by the Jewish moneylender, who grows rich on their misery. The Jew, Levenstein, who is driven on in his evil course by desire to avenge the sufferings of his persecuted race is a revolting, yet a pathetic figure.

EDGE, John Henry, M.A., K.C. Born 1841. Son of late John Dallas Edge, B.L. Lives in Clyde Road, Dublin.

— AN IRISH UTOPIA. Pp. 296. (Hodges & Figgis). 3s. 6d. Frontisp., View of Glendalough. 1906 and 1910. Fourth ed. (Cassell), with fine portraits and interesting autobiographical introduction, 1915.

“A Story of a Phase of the Land Problem.” Scene: Wicklow County and Shropshire, England. A slender plot, telling of the abortive attempt of a younger twin to oust the rightful heir from title and property, ending with a lawsuit in which some well known lawyers are introduced under slightly disguised names. Father O’Toole is a very pleasant character study. The famous “J.K.L.” Dr. Doyle, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, figures in the story. The standpoint is that of an Irish Conservative, without religious bias, and sympathizing with certain Irish grievances. Humour, pathos, and brogue are absent.

Scene: first half in England, portion of second half on an estate somewhere in the South of Ireland. The interest centres chiefly in the plot, which is complicated, a great many of the personages passing through quite an extraordinary number of vicissitudes. Though the Author is never prurient, a considerable number of dishonest “love” intrigues are introduced, treated in a matter-of-fact way as every-day occurrences. Of Ireland there is not very much. The land troubles furnish incidents for the story, but are not discussed. The Irish aristocracy shows up somewhat badly in the book. Some tributes are paid to the virtues of the Irish peasantry.

EDGEWORTH, Maria. Scott, in his Preface to Waverley (1829), speaks of “the extended and well-merited fame of Miss Edgeworth, whose Irish characters have gone so far to make the English familiar with the character of their gay and kind-hearted neighbours of Ireland.” And he continues: “Without being so presumptuous as to hope to emulate the rich humour, the pathetic tenderness, and admirable tact, which pervade the works of my accomplished friend, I felt that something might be attempted for my own country, of the same kind as that which Miss Edgeworth has so fortunately achieved for Ireland.” She came of an old County Longford family, but was born in England in 1767; her father was a landed proprietor at Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford, whose life she afterwards wrote. Most of her long life was spent in Ireland. She came to know the Irish peasantry very well, though from outside, and also the country life of the nobility and gentry. She had much sympathy for Ireland, but was unable to understand that radical changes were needful if the grievances that weighed upon the country were to be removed. She died in 1849. The circulation of her books has been enormous, and they are still frequently reprinted both in these countries and in America.[4]

Uniform editions of her works: (1) Macmillan, with excellent illustrations, 2s. 6d. and 3s. 6d. each; pocket edition, 2s., and leather, 3s. (2) Dent, in twelve vols., 2s. 6d. each, very tasteful binding, etched frontisp., ed. by W. Harvey. Messrs. Routledge also publish Stories of Ireland; introduction by Professor Henry Morley; 1s.

[4] An able and certainly not over-enthusiastic estimate of Miss Edgeworth will be found in the Dublin Review, April, 1838, p. 495, sq.

These were received with a chorus of praise by critics, such as Lord Jeffery, Lord Dudley, and Sir James Mackintosh. Scott called them “a sort of essence of common sense.”

A picture of the feudal gentry in the latter half of the seventeenth century, in the form of reminiscences by an old retainer of the glories of the family he had served. One after another, he tells the careers of his various masters, the wild waste and endless prodigality of one, the skinflint exactingness of another. There is no religious bias nor discussion of problems, the chief interest being the ingenuous and unquestioning devotion of the old servant and his quaint observations. The literary merits of the book are usually rated very high.

A vivid impression of the Irish nobility trying to dazzle London society, and to prove itself more English than the English themselves, while the English great ladies mock at their parvenu extravagance and outlandish ways. The fine lady spends her days in social emulation, while her lord sinks to the company of toadies and hangers-on, until the conscience of the young heir is aroused by a tour in Ireland, and he brings the family back to their estates. The peasants are drawn purely in their relation of grateful and patient dependents.

The Earl of Glenthorn, an English-bred absentee landlord, is afflicted with ennui. He determines to attempt a cure by a visit to Ireland, and the cure is effected in a very unlooked for way. The Author draws in an amusing and vivid way the contrast, as felt by Lord Glenthorn, between English tastes, prejudices, and decorum and the strange Irish ways, which surprise him at every turn.—(Krans).

Pictures of the scheming, political, extravagant gentry, especially of a type of the Catholic country gentleman, the good-natured, happy-go-lucky Cornelius O’Shane, known to his worshipping tenantry as King Corny. There is also a sketch of Paris society, to which Ormond, the attractive, impulsive young hero, is introduced by an officer of the Irish Brigade. Generally thought the most interesting, gayest, and most humorous of Miss Edgeworth’s books.

— TALES FROM MARIA EDGEWORTH. (Darton). 10s. 6d. Illustr. by Hugh Thomson. 1912.

Ed. by Malcolm Cotter Seton, M.A., in Every Irishman’s Library (The Talbot Press). [In preparation].

A first novel by a new Irish writer. Scene: Bantry and London. The story of a young Irishman who, badly treated at home by his guardian, goes to London to make his fortune. His heart is broken by an adventuress, but in the end he marries a true woman. A little immature, but pleasant, and suitable for any class of readers.

A rather feeble story of the Siege of Derry. Walker and Mackenzie are introduced, the former highly lauded, the latter disparaged. Appendix (filling nearly half the book) gives extracts from scarce documents relating to the siege.

To Inish-Uig, a western island with a primitive people, comes a new lighthouse keeper, a scoundrel and a hypocrite, who leads “Black Kate” astray. He tries to turn to account the illicit stilling propensities of the people, but is foiled in an amusing way. Father Tim and a Presbyterian minister on the mainland are two finely drawn characters. The islanders are well described, and their dialect well rendered.

EGAN, Maurice Francis, M.A., LL.D. Born Philadelphia, 1852. Educated La Salle Coll., Philadelphia and Georgetown Coll., Washington. Was Prof. of English Literature in Catholic University of Washington till his appointment as American Ambassador at Copenhagen. Has edited several periodicals, and has contributed to most of the noteworthy periodicals in the States. Has published many books on a great variety of subjects. His father was from Tipperary.

— THE SUCCESS OF PATRICK DESMOND. Pp. 400. (Notre Dame, Indiana: Office of Ave Maria). 1893.

A novel with a purpose. “The Author does not waste much space on descriptions or impersonal reflections, nor does he trust to sensational incidents. The development of feeling and character, very often as revealed in natural conversation, seems to be his strong point. He knows his own people best, but we are sorry that he considers Miles and Nellie to be typical of the manners and dispositions of that class of the Irish race in the United States. The book is so cleverly written that one might cull from its pages a very respectable collection of epigrams.”—(I. M.).

— THE WILES OF SEXTON MAGINNIS. Pp. 380. (N.Y.: Century Co.). Illustr. by A. J. Keller. 1909.

— REAL LIFE IN IRELAND; or, the Day and Night Scenes, Rovings, Rambles, and Sprees, Bulls, Blunders, Bodderation and Blarney, of Brian Boru, Esq., and his elegant friend Sir Shawn O’Dogherty, exhibiting a Real Picture of Characters, Manners, &c., in High and Low Life, in Dublin and various parts of Ireland, embellished with humorous coloured engravings from original designs by the most eminent Artists, “by a real Paddy.” [1821].

Messrs. Methuen in 1904 reprinted the book from the fourth ed. which was publ. by Evans & Co. The title-p. well describes the book. Brian and his friend were what were then called bucks and bloods. There is much absurdity, and extreme exaggeration. The follies and vagaries of the two heroes are told in a facetious and roistering style. There is not a little coarseness. But the book is interesting for its side-lights on the period, 1820-1830. Geo. IV.’s visit is described in a vein of burlesque. The illustrations are even more vulgar than the text, but have a similar interest.

— SCULLYDOM: an Anglo-Irish Story of To-day. Pp. 360. (Maxwell). 2s. Picture boards. 1886.

Scene: Kilkenny. Time: 1880-84. Lucifer Scully, moneylender, by degrees becomes possessed of much land, and grinds down the tenants. They revolt, and this gives opportunity for good descriptions of evictions and reprisals. Fred O’Brien, a fine character whose sweetheart is spirited away by the villainy of Scully, goes in pursuit of her, and has many adventures and disappointments before all ends happily. Mickey Crowe and his love episodes supplies the comic relief. The tone is strongly National, and the dialect well done. The Author has also written “A History and Guide to Waterford.”

The Tithe War (c. 1820) from Protestant standpoint. Captain Rock was a famous leader of Whiteboys during the anti-tithe war. The Memoirs of Captain Rock were published anonymously, 1824, in Paris, by Thomas Moore.

— DERRY: A Tale of the Revolution. Pp. xxiv. + 317. (Nisbet). [1839]. Sixth edition. 1886, and since.

Story of the Siege of Derry, written from ultra-Protestant standpoint. The proceeds of the sale of the book are to be devoted to teaching the Protestant religion “in their own tongue to the Irish-speaking aborigines of the land.”—(Pref.). The Author says elsewhere that “Popery is the curse of God upon a land.” And the expression of similar views is very frequent in the book.

— RALPH WYNWARD. Pp. 310. (Nelson). 2s. Attractive binding. Good illustr. n.d. (1902).

Youghal in the days of Queen Elizabeth. A tale of adventure in wild times, ending in the sack of Youghal during the Desmond Wars. Without bias. Told by Ralph himself, a descendant of the 8th Earl of Desmond, who runs away from his home in England. The 16th Earl and Sir Richard Boyle (afterwards the Great Earl of Cork) appear in the story. Juvenile.

Life at a school in the South of Ireland “for the sons of the gentry.” Incidents of resistance to masters attempting a reform. Two of the boys Jerry and Fitzgerald (who tells the story, and is “the son of a well-known Dublin clergyman),” run away, and live as outlaws. The accession of Queen Victoria (1837) is the means of obtaining their pardon. A pleasant tale for boys, free from religious or political bias.

Scene: Killarney in the time following O’Connell’s imprisonment. Aims to prove that the landlords were extremely ill-treated, and that the Irish are uncivilised, and more or less savage. Strong Protestant bias. Usual pictures of agrarian crime.

ERVINE, St. John G. Born Belfast, 1883. Has published four plays, three of which have been successfully acted at the Abbey Theatre. Hopes to publish a new novel, Changing Winds, in the near future.

Reprinted from various periodicals. Six out of the seventeen are Irish in subject. There is the sketch of Clutie John, a queer old North of Irelander, whose profession is “fin’in’ things.” “The Well of Youth,” a fantastic and humorous story about the Well of St. Brigid in the Vale of Avoca—told in North of Ireland dialect! In “The Fool,” John O’Moyle, a little “astray in his mind,” gives an English tourist some eye-opening facts about the condition of peasant farms (Catholic and Protestant) in Donegal. “The Match” is a satire on match-making. In “Discontent” a young Antrim boy on Lurigedan tells of the hunger of the country-bred for the excitements of town life. “The Burial” is concerned with life in Ballyshannon. Clever and finished. The remainder deal with English life.

Theme: the triumph of an injured wife over a situation that would have finally wrecked the lives of most women—her desertion by an unfaithful husband, and, still harder to face, his return after sixteen years, a worthless drunken lout, to live with her again. Mrs. Martin is the book, which is both a careful character study and a page of life-philosophy. But the minor characters are good—the Presbyterian clergyman, verbose and self-sufficient (a very unfavourable portrait), the canting and narrow-minded Henry Mahaffy, and Mrs. Martin’s Man himself. There is a somewhat drab background of lower middle-class life in Ulster (Ballyreagh (= Donaghadee) and Belfast). A very remarkable book that has had a deservedly great success. As for its moral aspect, the Author is against cant, hypocrisy, and intolerance; he is somewhat contemptuous towards religion: he is never salacious, but there is an occasional sensuousness in his treatment of a painful subject.

ESLER, Mrs. Erminda Rentoul. Daughter of Rev. Alexander Rentoul, M.D., D.D., of Manor Cunningham, Co. Donegal. Lives in London, and contributes to Cornhill, Chambers’s, Quiver, Sunday at Home, and many other periodicals. Author of The Way of Transgressors (1890), Youth at the Prow, The Awakening of Helena Thorpe.

A story of Presbyterian clerical life in Co. Donegal forty years ago. A pleasant, readable story, with a well wrought plot. There is both pathos and humour in the book, and as a picture of manners it is true to life, if somewhat idyllic.

“A grave domestic story worked out on a basis of character, laid in an Irish rural district.”—(Baker).

“The story of a man’s quest for God.” (Sub-t.). Scene: chiefly “Garvaghy, Co. Innismore,” in Ulster. The book is a searching study of the inward religious and outward social life of a Presbyterian minister, Gideon Horville, his difficulties, aspirations, friendships, disappointment in marriage. He is dismissed by his Church for teaching erroneous doctrines, begins to write, and subsequently helps his great friend Lord Tomnitoul in his religious and socialistic schemes. The Author’s religious attitude is equally opposed to Catholicism, to Calvinism, and, indeed, to Christianity. The background, Horville’s social circle, with its meannesses, spites, and petty jealousies, is not a pleasant one. The Author writes with thorough knowledge. There are no politics.

— A LIFE’S HAZARD: or, The Outlaw of Wentworth Waste. Three Vols. (Sampson, Low). 1878.

Scene: N. Co. Dublin. A sensational tale—abducted heir, forged will, usurped title, jealousy, revenge, attempted murders, perjury, &c. The outlaw, O’Grady, a T.C.D. man and a barrister, heads a popular rising, twice escapes execution, and performs wonderful deeds, always appearing in the nick of time to rescue beauty in distress, or upset the schemes of the false lord. There is much brogue—of a sort. The supernatural is frequently introduced.

FABER, Christine. This is said to be a pen-name. An American Catholic writer. Other novels—An Original Girl (1901), Ambition’s Contest, A Fatal Resemblance, Reaping the Whirlwind (1905), A Chivalrous Deed, The Guardian’s Mystery, A Mother’s Sacrifice. All of these are published by P. J. Kenedy of New York.

— CARROLL O’DONOGHUE; a Tale of the Irish Struggles of 1866 and of recent times. Pp. 501. Pretty cover. (Duffy). 3s. 6d. 1903.

Scene laid chiefly in Kerry, at the time of the Fenian movement, though it is not a narrative of the latter. A very dramatic story finely wrought out. Full of local colour, humour, and pathos.

— NINETY-EIGHT: being the Recollections of Cormac Cahir O’Connor Faly (late Col. in the French Service) of that awful period. Collected and edited by his grandson, Patrick C. Faly, Attorney-at-Law, Buffalo, N.Y. (Downey). Illustr. A. D. M’Cormick. 1897.

Cormac is heart and soul with the rebels. Life in Dublin, 1798, described. Then we are brought all through the scenes of the rising.

— THE CATTLE RAID OF CUALNGE. (Táin bó Cuailnge). An ancient Irish prose epic [Grimm Library, No. 16]. Pp. xxi. + 141. (Nutt). 4s. (N.Y.: Scribner). 1.25. 1904.

A close student’s translation from the Leabhar na h-Uidhri and the Yellow Book of Lecan. No notes, but interesting and scholarly introduction.

The amours of Seaghan O’Neill. Seems worthless from an historical point of view. O’Neill appears as little better than a villain of melodrama.

Most of the Tales related in this Book are founded on local tradition: they are the echoes of that Celtic folk-lore which is fast dying out. The western spurs of the Ochill hills and the country lying between the Allan Water and the River Forth form the scenes of the curious cantrips of the Wee Folk, once so firmly believed in by the people of a former generation. The purpose of the Author is to preserve some of those curious tales which are still floating in the popular mind. In another generation it will be too late.—(Publ.).

FERGUSON, Sir Samuel. Born Belfast, 1810. Son of John Ferguson, of Collen House, Co. Antrim. Educated Academical Institution, Belfast, and T.C.D. Was first deputy keeper of the public records in Ireland. Was a noted antiquarian, but is best known as one of the best of our Irish poets. Most of his poetry deals with the heroic period of early Ireland. Died 1886. See Sir Samuel Ferguson in the Ireland of his Day, by Lady Ferguson. Besides the Hibernian Nights, Sir Samuel wrote also a very amusing if not very reverent sketch, “Father Tom and the Pope,” which had the unique distinction of being reprinted in Blackwood’s Magazine, 1910.

— HIBERNIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS. Three Vols. Pp. 146 and 184 and 278. (Sealy, Bryers). 1s. each, paper; 2s. cloth. [1887]. Still in print.

Written by the Author in early youth. Supposed to be told in 1592 by Turlough O’Hagan, O’Neill’s bard, to Hugh Roe O’Donnell and his companions imprisoned in Dublin Castle. They are almost entirely fictitious, but give many details of locality and of the contemporary manners, customs, and modes of fighting. There is an historical introduction. Contents: “Children of Usnach,” “The Capture of Killeshin,” “Corby MacGillmore,” “An Adventure of Seaghan O’Neill’s,” and the “Rebellion of Silken Thomas.” Popular in style and treatment.

Relates how Aodh Duidhe O’Néill regained (c. 1333) his territory of Claneboy in Antrim on the death of William de Burgh, Earl of Ulster. The story is rather an ordinary one—fighting and intrigues. There is some description of men and manners and of County Antrim scenery.

A tale of the struggle of the Leinster Clans—chiefly the O’Nolans—with the English settlers. Full of stirring incidents, including a battle most vividly described. Period: end of 14th century.

Scene: North Antrim at the beginning of the fifteenth century. A Franciscan preaches Christianity to the MacGillmores, who had relapsed into barbarism and paganism. There is a very warlike and un-Christian abbot in the story. The chief interest is the enmity between the Clan Gillmore and the Clan Savage of North Down, and the events, dark and tragic for the most part, that result from it.

The main features of the rebellion are told in form of romance. The real hero is Sir John Talbot, who first joins Lord Thomas but afterwards leaves him. The story of Sir John’s private fortunes occupies a large part of the narrative. The author is, of course, perfectly acquainted with the history of the time.

FIELD, Mrs. E. M. This Author (born 1856) is daughter of J. Story, J.P., D.L., of Bingfield, Co. Cavan. Besides Ethne, she has published several other novels, e.g., At the King’s Right Hand.

A story of the Famine. Interesting portrait of Young Ireland leader. Standpoint rather anti-national. Dedicated “to my kinsfolk and friends among the landowners of Ireland.”

— ETHNE. Pp. 312. (Wells, Gardner). 3s. 6d. Three or four good Illustr. [1902]. Third edition. 1911.

A tale of Cromwell’s transplantation of the Irish to Connaught. Purports to be taken partly from the diary of Ethne O’Connor, daughter of one of the transplanted, and partly from the “record” of Roger Standfast-on-the-Rock. The former is converted to the religion of the latter by a single reading of the Bible. The interest of the book is mainly religious.

FIGGIS, Darrell. Born Gleann-na-Smol, Co. Dublin, 1882. Was taken to India in infancy and remained there till he was ten years old. Was put into a London business house, and did not abandon this walk of life, in which his fortunes were sometimes low enough, till about 1909, the date of his first volume of poems, A Vision of Life. Since then he has been engaged in journalism and literature. He has taken an active part in the national movement in Ireland. For the past five years he has spent every winter in Achill, where he now lives permanently. Has, among other works, two novels, Broken Arcs and Jacob Elthorne, and is now engaged on an Irish story.

Account of holiday trip, supposed to be taken by the writer (an Englishman) and his friend, “Trim,” to the coast of Antrim, also Lough Neagh, and a few other places. Consists mainly of humorous incidents treated more or less in the Three Men in a Boat, or rather the Three Men on the Bümmel style, but much inferior. Little or no description of Antrim.

FINLAY, T. A., S.J., M.A.; “A. Whitelock.” Born 1848. Educated at Cavan College, at Amiens, and at the Gregorian University, Rome. Entered Irish Province S.J., 1866. Commissioner of Intermediate Education, 1900; Vice-President of Irish Agricultural Organisation Society; Ex-Fellow of Royal Univ. of I.; Editor, The Lyceum and then The New Ireland Review (1894-1910); President of Univ. Hall, Dublin, since 1913.—(Cath. Who’s Who).

— THE CHANCES OF WAR. (Gill). [1877]. New edition, 1908, and (Fallon), 2s. 6d. 1911.

Aims (cf. Preface) to indicate the causes that led to failure of Confederation of Kilkenny. Represents in the characters introduced the aims and motives of the chief actors in the events of the period, such as Owen Roe O’Neill, Rinuccini, Sir Charles Coote, &c. There is a spirited description of the first relief of Derry, the Battle of Benburb, Ireton’s siege of Limerick. The hero is an exile returned from a continental army. Between him and the heroine the villain Plunkett interposes his schemes. Scene: chiefly an island in Lough Derg. Though the main aim is historical, this fact in no way detracts from the interest and excitement of the romance. Written in a style above that of the majority of Irish historical novels. Standpoint: Catholic and national, but free from violent partisanship.

How B. is, with many sighs of relief, sent forth by his native village to found his fortune on a subscribed capital of £4 2s. 10d. How he is involved in the Castle Jewels mystery, wins the “Ardilveagh Cup” at the Horse Show, swims the Channel, and has many other topical adventures, succeeding always by his native wit. Plenty of broad popular humour, somewhat in the vein of Mick McQuaid.