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). 6s. 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). 7s. 6d. 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). 10s. 6d. each.

— LIADAIN AND CUIRITHIR. (Nutt). 1s. 6d. 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). 6s. 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). 1s. 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). 6s. (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). 2s. 6d. (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). 6s. Also 6d. 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). 6s. 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). 6s. 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). 6s. (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). 6s. 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). 3s. 6d. 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). 1s. 6d.

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). 6s. 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). 3s. 6d. 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. 6d.

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). 2s. 6d. [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.

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). 6s. 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). 2s. 6d. 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). 2s. 6d. 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). 3s. 6d. 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). 3s. 6d. 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). 6s. 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). 2s., &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). 3s. 6d. 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., 2s. 6d. 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). 5s. 1907.

This is a reprint of an earlier story entitled Dunmara (Smith, Elder), q.v.

— OUR SISTER MAISIE. Pp. 383. (Blackie). 6s. 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). 6s. 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). 3s. 6d. 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). 5s. 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). 3s. 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). 2s. (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). 6s. 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). 2s. 6d. 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). 6s. Illustr. by G. Demain Hammond. (N.Y.: Benziger). 1.50. 1911.

— TWIN SISTERS: An Irish Tale. Pp. 392. (Blackie). 6s. 1912.

— NORAH OF WATERFORD. Pp. 251. (Sands). 3s. 6d. 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). 2s. 6d. 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). 2s. [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). 3s. 6d. [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). 1s. [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). 1s. 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). 6s. 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). 1s. 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). 6s. 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). 2s. 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). 1s. 6d. 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). 6s. 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). 6s. 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). 6d. 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). 3s. 6d. [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). 2s. 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). 6s. 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). 2s. 6d. 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). 2s. 6d. 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.