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

At the outset of this book we are introduced in a series of pictures to the homes of representative people of various parties, and long, imaginary political conversations between the prominent men of the time are given. Then there is a full account of the rebellion from the battle of Kilcullen to Vinegar Hill. Practically every noteworthy personage of the time is described in private and in public life. The romantic interest is entirely subservient to the historical, yet there is plenty of adventure. The bias is ultra-nationalist. The style, and especially the descriptions, were highly praised by a reviewer in the Tablet.

A full account of the life and exploits of Art MacMurrough, with many adventures of fictitious characters, and much description of the manners and life of the times within and without the Pale. In the conversations the Author attempts to reproduce the spoken English of the time, with a lamentable result. They are full of yclept, eftsoons, by my halidom, marry, &c., &c., so as to be unintelligible at times. The speech of the Irish characters is nearly as full of Gaelic expressions. “Many of the events narrated in this story are supplied from tradition,” says the Author. But she has been at much pains to utilize undoubtedly authentic sources. The style, on the whole, is pleasant.

The story of the Norman Invasion of Ireland, together with the series of events that led to it, and the consequences that followed, the central idea being that it was the treachery and disunion of her own princes that wrought the ruin of Ireland. All the chief men connected with the events narrated play prominent parts in the story. St. Laurence O’Toole is finely drawn. The last Ard Righ, Roderick, is shown weak and unfit to rule in perilous times. Strongbow is a leading character; his death is vividly described. Art MacMurrough is, of course, the villain. The style is somewhat highflown and often loaded with antiquated phrases and latinized expressions. Yet the story, apart from its historical value, which is considerable, has a strong interest of its own.

— LORD ROCHE’S DAUGHTERS OF FERMOY. Pp. 344. (Sealy, Bryers). (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.50. 1892.

In the course of this romance the whole history of the Wars of the Confederation of Kilkenny and of the Cromwellian Invasion is related. The story is described by the Author as “a very encyclopædia of tragedies.” The Author is strongly on the side of Owen Roe O’Neill as against the Confederate Catholics of the Pale, and, of course, the Puritans. A fine series of adventures and of historical pictures, but spoiled by frequent lapses from literary good taste.

O’BYRNE, W. Lorcan. B. in Dublin, 1845. Son of Christopher O’Byrne, of Ballinacor, Co. Wicklow. Delighted from earliest youth in Irish lore of all kinds. Held a position in the Education Office during the greater part of his life. D. 1913. His books, though popular in style, were the result of much patient research.

— A LAND OF HEROES. Pp. 224. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. Well illustr. by J. H. Bacon. (N.Y.: Scribners). 1.25. 1899.

“Intended to reach the level of children.” Very interesting Introduction. The book is a series of Irish hero tales from various cycles, including the best-known (Sons of Tuirean, Lir, Usnach, &c.), and the Romance of the early kings very much as in Miss Hull’s Pagan Ireland. The book contains a larger number of tales than any other except the most expensive. The bare story is told without any attempt to work up the materials into poetic or dramatic form.

— KINGS AND VIKINGS. Pp. 240. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. Six illustr. by Paul Hardy. n.d. (1900). (N.Y.: Scribners). 1.25.

Drawn from published translations of Gaelic MSS., e.g., Standish H. O’Grady’s Silva Gadelica; Dr. Todd’s edition of the Wars of the Gael and Gall; Dr. O’Donovan’s Battle of Magh Rath, &c. Contents: stories of early Christian times, chiefly from the lives of St. Patrick, St. Brigid, St. Columbkille, and St. Brendan; the trial of the Bards; the battles of Dunbolg, Moira, &c.; stories of the Danish invasions and in particular of Brian Borumha. Full of good information, but not strong in narrative interest.

— CHILDREN OF KINGS. Pp. 240. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. Illustr. by Paul Hardy. 1904.

“The aim of this book is to present tales from Three Cycles of Romance, viz., the Cuchulain, the Ossianic, and the Arthurian, interwoven after the manner of a Celtic design” (Introduction). The chief characters of the three cycles appear in various stories (there are thirty-one in all). A truly wonderful knowledge of the period embraced by these tales is displayed in the book, but the glamour of romance and the magic of words are wanting.

— THE KNIGHT OF THE CAVE; or, The Quest of the Pallium. Pp. 248. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. Six illustr. by Paul Hardy. 1906.

A thin thread of narrative connecting much interesting and valuable information about historical events and about the life of the people at the period. The hero passes from England, then laid waste by the wars of Stephen’s reign, to Ireland, where we are shown in great detail the civil and ecclesiastical life of the day. Thence he accompanies St. Malachi to Clairvaux on a visit to St. Bernard. Then he visits Italy—Tivoli, Horace’s Sabine Farm, and Rome, whose antiquities are described at length. Finally, he returns to Ireland, whose state is again dwelt upon. The narrative is relieved by exciting adventures and by stories told incidentally. The Author’s erudition is extensive and accurate. The title refers to St. Patrick’s Purgatory, Lough Derg.

— THE FALCON KING. Pp. 240. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. Six illustr. by Paul Hardy. Picture Cover. 1907.

“A series of historical episodes (beginning in Wales, 1146), vignettes of contemporary life, and stories from Celtic and Icelandic sagas and Norman French chansons de geste, illustrating events, manners, and religion.... Shows Henry II. and his barons engaged in the conquest of Ireland, and gives a good account of Dermot MacMurrough, and also of life in Dublin.”—(Baker, 2).

A pretty love-story of Connemara (the Killaries). The Author is for the language movement, and strongly opposed to the bargain marriages of the West.

Three tales of Connemara. The first is a graceful little fairy story, the third a story of faithful love.

— TURF-FIRE STORIES, and Fairy Tales of Ireland. Pp. 405. (N.Y.: Kenedy). 0.63. Illustr. with woodcuts. 1890.

“The greater number of the following sketches are original; the others have been transcribed, and in most cases materially altered, from the musty pages of some ‘Quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore.’” (Pref.) Most of the stories are comic. The persons and incidents are mostly drawn from peasant life. Most of them are capitally told. A few are somewhat journalistic and hurriedly written. There is no caricaturing nor “Stage Irishism.” Some are legends of places, others typical fairy or folk tales. There are a large number of woodcuts, which, however, have no connection with the letter-press.

— STUDIES IN BLUE. (Sealy, Bryers). 2s. Illustr. by C. A. Mills. n.d. (c. 1903).

Sketches, true to life, and cleverly told, of the most disreputable side of Dublin slum-life, as seen, chiefly, in the Police Courts. Amusing, but at times verging on vulgarity.

The fortunes of the house of Desmond in the 16th century, and chiefly those of Lord James Fitzgerald (son of the great Earl) who became a Protestant, and was therefore rejected by his people and retired to England. The story opens with a Protestant service in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1581. It contains interesting allusions to Glendalough, Dublin, and Adare. Author’s viewpoint Protestant.

— FATHER RALPH. Pp. 494. (Macmillan). 6s. Six impressions within a few months. 1914.

An anti-clerical and modernist novel by an Author with inside knowledge of the Catholic Church in Ireland. It is the story of a young priest from his birth until we take leave of him (défroqué) on board a ship leaving Ireland. In the course of the narrative there is presented a general view of Irish life as seen from the standpoint of such writers as M. J. F. M’Carthy, W. P. O’Ryan, and “Pat,” but clerical life is depicted with far more minute knowledge than by any of these. Sensational features such as the amours of priests, nuns, &c., are avoided, though much innuendo is indulged in. All the estimable characters in the book are represented as either Modernists, or else voteens and people who avoid thinking on serious problems. The Bishop, Father Molloy, and Ralph’s mother, as depicted by the Author, are revolting in the extreme. Except in rare instances all the outward details of Irish life are true to reality, but seen with jaundiced eyes. It may fairly be said that there is scarcely a page of this book that does not appeal in one form or another to non-Catholic prejudice.

Maurice Blake is a young National Schoolmaster, an ideal teacher, an enthusiast for Irish Ireland and for industrial revival. He falls foul of Father Mahon, the P.P., who is made as odious as possible. Maurice cannot get a dispensation to marry Alice Barton, a Protestant, and is compelled to marry her in a registry office. Maurice is selected as candidate by his constituency but, through the agency of Fr. Mahon, is set aside in favour of a worthless drunkard, and a mission is preached by “Seraphists.” Ch. XXIII., describing this mission, is most offensive and vulgar. Minor characters are Driscoll, the former Master; Breslin, editor and free-thinker; Fr. Malone, a lovable character; Dr. Hannigan with his “diffident, humble manner covering the pride of Lucifer”; Fr. Cafferley, fond of tea parties in publicans’ back parlours, &c. The Church Times says of the book, “It is much more angry and malevolent than its predecessor,” and the Times Lit. Suppl., in an article obviously written by a non-Catholic, “It is a bitter and, if true, a deadly attack on the priesthood, and an almost rancorous indictment of the practice and influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.”

Scene: Dublin and suburbs. A book for an idle hour, recounting the whimsical adventures of the hero and his experiments with professions of all kinds. Humour broad, but not vulgar.

The Author was b. at Fermoy in 1814, and wrote some important works on Irish biography and topography, such as The Blackwater in Munster; The History of Dundalk (with John Dalton); Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland; The Munster Circuit; The Irish Bar. Founded the Fermoy Journal, and published his autobiography, An Octogenarian Literary Life, Cork, 1896.

A novel founded on the remarkable Yelverton Marriage Case at Killowen, Co. Down, mentioned in the Author’s Autobiography.

— NED M’COOL AND HIS FOSTER BROTHER. Pp. 281. (Derry: printed at Offices of Derry Journal). 1871.

Sub-t., “An Irish tale founded on facts.” The Author was a native of Castlefin, Co. Donegal. He wrote also Strabane and Lifford, The Consequences of a Refusal, &c.

“The tale embraces the services of the old Wexford Regiment from 1810 to its disbandment in 1816, and is a true picture of the rollicking and free life of that half-disciplined soldiery.” (Pref.). Full of stories, good, bad, and indifferent, told with considerable spirit. One chapter goes back to ’98, and gives some interesting personal reminiscences. There are a good many love affairs. The Author is a firm loyalist, and something of an Orangeman, but displays little bias. The scene is laid in various parts of Ireland.

O’GRADY, Standish. B. 1846, at Castletown Berehaven, on Bantry Bay, Co. Cork, of which his father was rector. Ed. at home and in Tipperary, and at T.C.D. Was called to the Bar, but his main occupations have been literary. Besides the works here mentioned he has written much on literary, political, and economic subjects, and is one of the most distinguished of living Irish writers.

— HISTORY OF IRELAND. The Heroic Period.[10] Two Vols. Pp. xxii. + 267 + 348. (Sampson, Low). 1878.

Described by the Author (Pref.) as “the reduction to its artistic elements of the whole of that heroic history taken together, viewing it always in the light shed by modern archæologians, frequently using the actual language of the bards, and as much as possible their style and general character of expression.”... “Through the loose chaotic mass ... I have endeavoured to trace the mental and physical personality of the heroes and heroines, and to discover the true order of events.” The chapter headings read like those of a novel—“Only a Name,” “Perfidy,” “In Vain,” “Swift Succour.” Vol. I. deals with the Fianna, Cuchulain, the Cattle-raid of Cuailgne. Vol. II. is entirely taken up (all but the first 88 pp.) with the Cuchulain cycle. The above work is carefully to be distinguished from the Author’s History of Ireland, Critical and Philosophical. Vol. I. (all publ.) pp. 468 (Sampson, Low), 1881. In the Pref. to this latter he says, “The books already published by me on this subject are portions of a work in which I propose to tell the History of Ireland through the medium of tales, epic or romantic.”

[10] This is not a work of fiction. But it seems well to mention it here for it is really an elaborate re-telling of the ancient Irish hero-myths and romances.

— FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS. Pp. 182. Size, 4 × 6½. (Unwin, Children’s Library). Illustr. by J. B. Yeats. 1892.

Delightful tales of the heroic age of the Fianna told in poetic but very simple language. Will appeal not to children only but to all. Part IV., “The Coming of Finn,” is particularly fine. “Most of these tales are, I think, quite new.”—(Preface).

Stories and pictures, nine in number, of Ireland in the days of Elizabeth “not so much founded on fact as in fact true.”—(Pref.). (1) How a drummer-boy saved Clan Ranal from destruction by the Deputy; (2) A sketch of Philip O’Sullivan, historian, soldier, and poet; (3) The destruction of the O’Falveys by Mac an Earla of the Clan M’Carthy; (4) The vengeance of the O’Hagans on Phelim O’Neill; (5) A sketch of Sir Richard Bingham, the infamous but mighty Captain of Connaught; (6) How the English surprised by treachery Rory Og O’More and his people; (7) The story of Brian of the Ramparts O’Rourke; (8) Don Juan del Aquila, the heroic defender of Kinsale; (9) Detailed and vivid description of the battle of the Curlew Mountains from the Irish point of view. These have all the great qualities of the Flight of the Eagle, and indicate the same views of history—the selfishness and frequent savagery of some of the Irish chieftains, their hatred of one another, their constant readiness to submit to the Queen’s grace when it suited—all this is brought out. Yet the Author is on the side of Ireland: he dwells on what is heroic in our history, he paints the Elizabethan deputies and their subordinates in dark colours.

— COMING OF CUCHULAINN. Pp. 160. (Methuen). Six good illustrations by D. Murray Smith. 1894.

The story of the hero’s boyhood told in epic language, full of antique colour and simile, and rising at times to wild grandeur. The great shadows of ancient De Danaan gods are never far from the mortal heroes who figure in the saga.

A sequel to the preceding, telling the heroic tale of how Cuchulainn held the fords of Ulster alone against the hosts of Maeve. It is even fuller than is the first book of the myth and lore of the primitive Gael. There is a very interesting introduction by the Author.

Strange adventures among the caves and cliffs of the west coast, with a touch of the uncanny, and some interesting and curious things about seals.

— THE CHAIN OF GOLD. Pp. 304. (Fisher Unwin). Sixteen good illustr. Nice cover. 1895.

A story of adventure on the wild west coast of Ireland. Curious and original plot, with an element of the supernatural.

Period: last years of Elizabeth’s reign. Scene: the country of O’Sullivan Beare, the south-west corner of Cork. Weaves the battle of Kinsale and the siege of Dunboy into the story of the young O’Sullivan, Ulrick. Full of vividly presented details of the public and private life of the time, and of novel and suggestive presentments of its political and social ideals. These it brings home to the reader as no history could do. Yet the story is not neglected. Standpoint: impartial, on the whole.

A wild and nightmare-like tale. Scene: a lonely castle on the west coast inhabited by a gang of Jacobite desperadoes. Contains no historical incidents.

— FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE. Pp. 298. (Sealy, Bryers). 3s. 6d. [Lawrence & Bullen, 1897]. New ed., 1908. (N.Y.: Benziger). 1.10.

The historical episode of the kidnapping of Hugh Roe O’Donnell and his escape from Dublin Castle evoked in a narrative of extraordinary dramatic power and vividness. The Author has breathed a spirit into the dry bones of innumerable contemporary documents and State Papers, so that the men of Elizabethan Ireland seem to live and move before us. The effect is greatly strengthened by the vigour and rush of the style, which reminds one of that of Carlyle in his French Revolution. The Author has peculiar and decided views about Elizabethan Irish politics. “The authorities for the story,” he tells us in his Preface, “are the Annals of the Four Masters, the Historia Hiberniæ of Don Philip O’Sullivan Beare, O’Clery’s Life of Hugh Roe, and the Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, from 1587 forward.”

O’GRADY, Standish Hayes. B. 1832, Co. Limerick. Was a fluent Irish speaker, and his knowledge of the language and of Irish traditions was, according to those who knew him, unrivalled. Evidence of this will be found in his Catalogue of the Irish MSS. in the British Museum, never finished, but, as far as it goes, a mine of Gaelic lore. Was one of the founders of the Ossianic Society. D. 16th October, 1915.

Vol. I., pp. 416, contains Irish text (Roman letters); Vol. II., pp. xxxii. + 604, contains Preface, Translation, and Notes. Thirty-one tales and other pieces, all taken from ancient MSS., such as the Book of Leinster, the Leabhar Breac, &c. Fifteen are from MSS. in the British Museum. Out of the thirty-one, only six or seven had been published before. Ranged under four heads—(I.) Hagiology, or Stories of early Irish saints; (II.) Legend, historical or romantic; (III.) Ossianic lore; (IV.) Fiction, some of which is humorous. The Irish text is presented in a difficult and archaic dialect, much as if, says a critic, Robinson Crusoe and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle were to be printed in the dialect of Chaucer. The Author in his Preface discusses and describes his sources most minutely. Forty years of study intervened between the Author’s previous publication, Diarmaid and Grainne, for the Ossianic Society (1853), and this. The English of his translation, though sometimes affected, is vigorous, rich, varied, often picturesque and on the whole thoroughly worthy of the subject. Twenty-eight pages of notes and corrections. Indexes: A, of personal and tribal names; B, of place-names.

O’HANLON, Canon John; “Lageniensis.” B. Stradbally, 1821. From 1842-1857 he was in U.S.A., where he was ordained. He published eighteen important works dealing with Irish history, archæology, and especially hagiography, his great Lives of the Irish Saints, nine vols. of which appeared, being a lasting monument to his research. He died in 1905.

— IRISH FOLK-LORE: Traditions and Superstitions of the Country: with Humorous Tales. (Cameron & Ferguson). Pp. viii. + 312. 2s. 1870.

A miscellany containing folk-lore proper, studies in popular superstition viewed as remnants of paganism, historical episodes, tales, &c., gathered from ancient MSS., with a great store of antiquarian and historical information about all periods of our annals and very many parts of Ireland. Much of all this is drawn from rare and not easily accessible sources. Contains chapters on Druidism, Legendary Voyages, Dungal the Recluse. A type of the humorous stories is the capital “Mr. Patrick O’Byrne in the Devil’s Glen.” The book is intended for the general public rather than for folklorists. It is pleasant and chatty in style. The source of the stories is not, as a rule, indicated by the Author.

— IRISH LOCAL LEGENDS. Pp. 133. (Duffy). 1s. First publ. 1896; still in print.

A collection of thirty stories picked up by the Author during holidays in various parts of Ireland, and “received, mostly, from accidental and familiar intercourse with the peasantry.”—(Pref.). The place with which the legend is connected is indicated in each case. The legends are of a very miscellaneous nature, local incidents, fairy stories, ghost stories, old hero stories, &c. A considerable number of counties are represented by one or more stories.

O h-ANNRACHAIN, Michea. B. New Ross, Co. Wexford. Ed. Christian Bros.’ Schools and Collegiate Academy, Carlow. Has written a good deal for the press. Is an ardent worker in the Language Movement.

A fine stirring adventure story of the doings of one of the “Wild Geese” in Sheldon’s division of the Irish Brigade in the service of France. Scene: Flanders, Bavaria, Italy, and Dublin. c. 1703. Told in a breezy way and thoroughly Irish in spirit.

— CONQUERED AT LAST: from Records of Dhu Hall and its Inmates. A Novel. Three Vols. 1874.

O’HIGGINS, Brian; “Brian na Banban.” B. Kilskyre (Cill Scire), Co. Meath, 1882; ed. there. Came to Dublin about twelve years ago and threw himself into the work of the Gaelic League, for which he became a travelling teacher (múinteoir taistil) in Cavan and Meath. Has publ. two books in Irish. Has for years past been a frequent contributor to the Catholic and Irish press at home and in America and Australia. His songs are popular at Irish-Ireland concerts all over the country.

The gay and humorous side of the language movement seen from a League point of view—the Seonín, the Feis, the Gaelic Christmas hearth. One sketch gives a glimpse of the early years of John Boyle O’Reilly.

Sketches of peasant life in a remote glen (place not indicated). Almost wholly taken up with the sadness and the miseries of emigration. Simple, pathetic, and religious.

O’Kane, Rev. W. M. B. 1872, at Millisle, Co. Down. Son of Capt. Francis O’Kane, of Weymouth and Millisle. Ed. Royal Academical Institution, Belfast, and at Queen’s Coll., Belfast; B.A. and LL.B., R.U.I. Was Curate in Banbridge and Belfast and is at Present Incumbent of Ashbourne, Derbyshire. Author of The King’s Luck and Guppy Guyson.

Love story and adventures in 1561 or thereabouts of Cormac O’Hagan, follower and friend of Shane O’Neill, his escape from the Tower, his rescue of Marjorie Drayton, his share in the battle of Armagh where Shane defeats the Deputy, his going with Shane to visit Elizabeth, and many sensational adventures in consequence. He finally gives up Ireland altogether, settles in England, and he and his descendants ever after are good Englishmen. One of the chief characters is the ever resourceful Dickie Toogood.

— THE STORY OF CONN-EDA; or, The Golden Apples of Loch Erne, from the Irish. Pp. 17. (London: J. R. Smith). 1855.

Reprinted from the Proceedings of the “Cambrian Archæological Association.”

— THE KNIGHTS OF THE PALE. Pp. viii. + 263. (Glasgow: Cameron & Ferguson). 1857 and 1870.

Sub-title, “Ireland 400 Years Ago.” First appeared in The Celt. The Author was sentenced about 1866 to penal servitude for Fenianism, was released about 1877, went to U.S.A., and died in Brooklyn about 1889. Wrote also a Life of O’Connell in two vols. “The object of the story is to give the impression which a prolonged study of Irish antiquities has produced on the Author’s mind.”—(Pref.). Interspersed with the narrative are several pieces of verse, some original, some translated by the Author from the Gaelic. The period is the middle of the 15th century.

Ten short sketches of the little tragedies and comedies of the lives of the humbler classes. They are simple, true, and sincere. The scene is Clare or Galway.

“Father O’Kennedy was born in 1850, was educated in Limerick and in Maynooth. Has been for a long time contributor to various Irish and American magazines, notably the Irish Monthly. He knows his people intimately, and knows how to interest us in the simple pains and pleasures of the poor.... His style is charming. He has an eye for the simplicities of life.”—(Irish Lit.). His stories and sketches are known and appreciated in the U.S. even more than at home in Ireland.

O’MAHONY, Nora Tynan. A sister of Katharine Tynan, q.v. Dau. of the late Andrew C. Tynan, of Whitehall, Clondalkin, Co. Dublin. Married John O’Mahony (d. 1904), a brilliant Irish barrister. She has written much for Irish and American periodicals and has just published a vol. of poems which has been highly praised. Her work is simple, gentle, with many touches of beauty. The atmosphere is always Irish and Catholic.

Struggles of a young girl of good social position to maintain her widowed mother and little brother and sister. She eventually does this by means of poultry farming, of which much is said. There is little distinctively Irish in the story. The style is graceful and pleasing.

Adventures of a Fenian in England, and of his lady-love, a prima donna at Covent Garden. Plenty of sensation, of a crude and improbable type. A “time-slayer,” as the Author calls it.

O’MEARA, Kathleen; “Grace Ramsay.” B. Dublin, 1839. Dau. of Dennis O’Meara, of Tipperary, and granddaughter of Barry O’M., Napoleon’s surgeon. She went with her parents to Paris at an early age, and it is doubtful whether she afterwards visited her native land. D. N. B. enumerates fifteen of her works, six of which were novels. D. 1888.

A story of priests and people in Connaught in the days of the Soupers by an Author distinguished in other fields of literature. The scene is laid partly in Paris. Noteworthy characters are Mr. Ringwood, an English convert clergyman, and Father Fallon, an Irish country priest. The plot turns mainly on the conversion of an English lady who had married an Irishman and settled in Connaught. Controversy is avoided.

O’MULLANE, M. J., M.A. B. 1889 in Sligo. Gained an honours diploma in education in the National University. Is Principal of the National Examining Institute of Ireland, Professor of Mod. Languages in Christian Schools, Westland Row, and of Irish in Spiddal Summer Irish College, Galway. He has contributed serials on Irish historical subjects to Our Boys. He has done much to spread among the people knowledge of and interest in the heroic period of early Gaelic Ireland by means of his excellent penny C.T.S.I. pamphlets, soon, we hope, to be given a more permanent form. The following are the titles:—

This is partly a serious study of the subject, partly a retelling of the old sagas.

Links with the Past. Containing “Lug-na-Gall” (a legend of 1642), “Green are the Distant Hills,” “The Origin of Lough Gill,” “Melcha,” “The Wooing of Eithne.”

Biroge of the Mountain, and Other Tales, viz.:—“The Recovery of the Táin Bo Cuailgne,” “The First Water-Mill in Ireland,” “The Wooing of Moriath,”—all tales of early Ireland.

The Return of the Red Hand. A story of Dunamase, fortress of the O’Moores in the year 1200.

These nine pamphlets are very well but not pretentiously written. They are written with good knowledge of the period referred to, but are not overloaded with archæology. In footnotes the pronunciation of the Gaelic names is given phonetically. The first eight of these booklets, together with Fr. Skelly’s Cuchulainn of Muirthemne (q.v.) form an excellent introduction to Ireland’s Heroic Period and to our saga literature.

— HANDRAHAN, the Irish Fairy Man; and Legends of Carrick[-on-Suir]. Edited by Mrs. S. C. Hall and publ. 1854. (London: Tweedie). Pp. 187.

The Author was born in Waterford, 1777. Lived the last years of his chequered life in poverty in London. Published several volumes of verse, chiefly on Temperance subjects, and a drama entitled Alva. D. c. 1860. The above is a very good and original story. Handrahan is a kind of herb-doctor skilled in potions and in charms against the fairies.

N.B.—This is not in the British Museum Library or elsewhere that I know of, but is given a prominent mention in all his biographies.

“O’NEILL, Moira,” Mrs. Skrine, née Nesta Higginson. Author of the well-known Songs of the Glens of Antrim. Her home was long in Cushendun, Co. Antrim. She has also published An Easter Vacation, 1893. The scene laid in an English watering place. A frequent contributor to Blackwood’s Magazine.

— THE ELF ERRANT. Pp. 109. (A. H. Bullen). Seven illustr. by W. E. F. Britten. New ed., 1902.

An excursion into Fairyland. A fanciful tale, told in exquisite and simple language, with elves and fairies for characters. All through there is a subtle comparison, which only the grown and thoughtful children will notice, of English and Irish character. This latter by no means interferes with the interest of the book for children, but makes it well worth reading by the grown-ups.

The Author came to America from Ireland in 1907. Agnes Repplier says of the book: “These Irish stories are as good as good can be; gay, sad, amusing, pathetic, human. I like the stories themselves; I like the way they are told. They don’t suggest ‘plot,’ but bits of real life.” In the Pref. the Author says: “Thoughts go back to the long restful days beside Galway Bay, to the still evenings in the Cork hills.... These little stories are the fruit of these moments of retrospection.” There is much dialect, well reproduced.

— CORRAGEEN IN ’98. (Methuen). 6s. (N.Y.: New Amsterdam Book Co.). Pp. 325. 1.50. 1898.

“Written with sympathy for the loyalists. A realistic description of the more horrible features.”—(Baker).

Time: after Famine of 1846, when the Encumbered Estates Court was in full swing. Cleverly written, and showing intimate knowledge of Munster ways of speech and thought among the farming and lower classes. Good taste and strong faith in the people and in the people’s faith are everywhere discernible. The writers eschew all moralizing and also all description of scenery.—(Irish Monthly).

O’RYAN, W. P.; “Kevin Kennedy.” B. near Templemore, Co. Tipperary, 1867. Lived for several years in London, where he took an active share in the activities of the Southwark Irish Literary Club and the Irish Literary Society: he has written a history of their beginnings. Was editor of The Peasant and of its successors, The Irish Peasant and The Irish Nation. In these he mingled anti-clericalism with much excellent writing strongly national in tone. The Plough and the Cross is largely autobiographical. Publ. 1912, The Pope’s Green Island.

A story, how much of which is fact we do not learn, woven round certain real events of recent date, and in particular the stopping of a paper of which the Author was editor. Many of the characters may be recognised as portraits of real personages, among others the Author himself, Mr. T. P. O’Connor, Geo. Moore, Mr. James McCann, Mr. Edward Martyn, and Mr. Sweetman. The book is largely taken up with conversations in which the Author gives expression to his peculiar views on many subjects. Many of these belong to the class of ideas known collectively to Catholics as Modernism. Throughout the book there is constant criticism of the Irish clergy, much of this criticism being put into the mouths of “progressive” priests. The personages and the series of events dealt with are highly idealized. Distinctly well written, but somewhat “exalté” in style. Scene: Dublin and the Boyne Valley.

— TERENCE O’DOWD; or, Romanism To-day. Pp. 350. (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication). n.d.

“An Irish story founded on facts.” Scene near Mt. Nephin and the Deel, Co. Mayo. A long diatribe against the Catholic Church, representing it in the most odious light, in order, says the Introd., to warn Protestants that it is the same monstrously wicked system as ever. Ignorance, squalour, rudeness, and brutality are the terms constantly used to describe the Irish peasantry. The tone is often facetious and sarcastic. The peasants, including “Father McNavigan,” speak an extraordinary jargon. Appendices give extracts from Kirwan’s letter to Bishop Hughes.

The story of an Irish peasant lad, first in Ireland as clerk in a shop and commercial traveller in a small way, then in America as labourer, soldier, and business man. Good picture of farming and provincial town life in Ireland of the day. Point of view Catholic and strongly nationalist. The book almost a sermon against drink and emigration. Style and handling of plot somewhat immature.

O’SHEA, John Augustus; “The Irish Bohemian.” 1840-1905. B. Nenagh. Ed. Catholic Univ. Went to London, 1859. Was war correspondent and writer on The Standard for twenty-five years. Was a man of extraordinary versatility—journalist, writer on continental politics, lecturer, dramatist, Irish politician. He was a member of the Southwark Irish Literary Club, 1885, sqq. Mr. W. P. Ryan speaks of him as drawing upon his own experiences of “merry and dashing life” in Tipperary for his stories—“Conal O’Rafferty” and others. See his Leaves from the Life of a Special Correspondent and Random Recollections.

A political skit on the then situation in Ulster. Grabbum = the English Garrison in Ireland; Drudge, his devoted dupe = Orangeism. Farmer John Bull sends Grabbum over to Pat to help him, and is amazed at the result. The moral is the beneficial effects (including an Anglo-American alliance) of Home Rule. Irish public men—F. J. Bigger, Sir Roger Casement, Douglas Hyde, &c., are introduced under thin disguises. The tone is, of course, light and facetious.

“An exceedingly well-written tale of the times of St. Columba, based on the ‘life’ by Adamnan. The hero and his associates are fictitious, but the setting of the story is worked out with remarkable care.”—(C.B.N.). In the Van of the Vikings is by the same Author.

[PARNELL, William, M.P.]. Wrote also An Historical Apology for the Irish Catholics (1807). He was knight of the shire for Wicklow and brother of Lord Congleton. He died 1821. (See Moore’s Memoirs, vii., 109). Charles Stewart Parnell came of the same family.

— MAURICE AND BERGHETTA; or, the Priest of Rahery. Pp. xxiv. + 213. (Boston and London). [1819]. Second ed., 1825.

“Dedicated to the Catholic priesthood of Ireland.” “The character of Maurice is drawn from a person who not many years ago was a ploughman. The Author’s object is not to write a novel but to place his observations on the manners of the Irish peasantry in a less formal shape than that of a regular dissertation.”—(Introd.). Related by Father O’Brien. The love of Maurice O’Neal for Berghetta Tual, their marriage and subsequent fortunes, misfortunes, and romantic adventures, till they rise to be grandees of Spain. The coincidences are rather far-fetched and improbable and the characters not very real. Many moral lessons are inculcated.

An anti-Land League novel, describing the terrorism of that organisation and the sufferings it entailed. The plot is the love-story of John Seebright, an Englishman, for the Irish Eveline Wellwood, who is persecuted by the League. Devoid of humour and almost of romance. The dialect is well handled, and the writer clearly knew well his Limerick and Clare. But the tone of the book is on the whole bitter and somewhat narrow-minded.

— THE LIFE AND ACTS OF THE RENOWNED AND CHIVALROUS EDMUND OF ERIN, commonly called Emun ac Knuck or Ned of the Hills, &c. Two Vols. Pp. 345, 300. (Dublin: Tegg). Other eds., 1841. Ten good illustr. by B. Clayton.

Sub-title: “An Irish Historical Romance of the Seventh Century founded on facts and blended with a brief and pithy epitome of the origin, antiquity, and history of Ireland.” An extraordinary and rather eccentric production, written in a strain of exaggerated enthusiasm for Ireland. The facts are supposed to be taken mainly “from some very ancient documents found amongst the papers of the late Dr. Andrews, Provost of T.C.D.,” whose grandniece the Author was. To the novel she appends “a Circular Letter,” relating her matrimonial differences with her husband, Capt. P. She also wrote Tales for the British People, and became a Catholic.

“Stephen Glynn loves Sheila D., and there is never the smallest reason why he should not marry her. Both are represented as sweet and good, and he is a clergyman. After their sin Stephen’s whole mind is set on religious atonement: he joins a religious order, leaving Sheila to struggle on alone with her child. He breaks his vows, and all is apparently to end happily when, acting under a misapprehension, he drowns himself.”—(T. Lit. Suppl.)

PENDER, Mrs. M. T., née O’Doherty. B. Co. Antrim. Ed. at home, at Ballyrobin National School and Convent of Mercy, Crumlin Road, Belfast. Has contributed much prose and verse to various Irish periodicals.

A love story, the scene of which is laid in Ulster during the rebellion. Full of romantic adventures. Historical characters introduced: Lord Edward Putnam M’Cabe, and especially Henry Joy M’Cracken. Battle of Antrim described, but remainder of incidents almost entirely fictitious. No attempt at impartiality. The Government side is painted in the darkest colours.

A sensational romance of the time of Sir Cahir O’Doherty’s rising and the governorship of Paulett in Derry. c. 1608.