IRISH FICTION UNDER NAMES OF AUTHORS, ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY. (continued 8)

O’LEARY, C.

⸺ THE IRISH WIDOW’S SON; or, The Pikemen of ’98. (Boston). 1869.

Wrote also The Last Rosary (Boston), 1869.

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

⸺ UNA’S ENTERPRISE. Pp. 241. (Gill). Neat binding. 1907.

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

⸺ MRS. DESMOND’S FOSTER CHILD. (Browne & Nolan). 1s. 6d. 1912.

O’MEARA, Graves.

⸺ OWEN DONOVAN, Fenian. (Sealy, Bryers). 6d. Paper. 1909.

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

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

⸺ THE BATTLE OF CONNEMARA. (Washbourne). 1878.

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

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

Craobh Ruadh; or, the Red Branch Knights. Two parts. 1910.

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

The Tuatha de Danaan; or, the Children of Dana. Two parts.

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

The Coming of the Children of Miledh.

Finn MacCoole.

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

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

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

O’NEILL, John.

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

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

⸺ MARY OF AVONMORE; or, The Foundling of the Beach. Three Vols.

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

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

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

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

Republished, Christmas, 1909, by Sidgwick & Jackson. 3s. 6d.

O’REILLY, Gertrude M.

⸺ JUST STORIES. Pp. 233. (N.Y.: Devin-Adair Co.). $1.00. 1915.

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

“O’REILLY, Private Myles,” see HALPINE.

ORPEN, Mrs.

⸺ CORRAGEEN IN ’98. (Methuen). 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).

O’RYAN, Julia and Edmund.

⸺ IN RE GARLAND. (Richardson). 1873.

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

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

⸺ THE PLOUGH AND THE CROSS. Pp. 378. (The Irish Nation). 1s. 1910.

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

See RYAN, W. P.

O’SHAUGHNESSY, Tom.

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

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

O’SHEA, James.

⸺ FELIX O’FLANAGAN, an Irish-American. Pp. 206. (Cork: Flynn). 1902.

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

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

⸺ MILITARY MOSAICS: a Set of Tales, &c. Pp. viii. + 303. (Allen). 1888.

[O’SULLIVAN, Rev. P. P.]; “An Ulster Clergyman.”

⸺ THE DOWNFALL OF GRABBUM. Pp. 148. (Belfast: Carswell). 6d. Illustr. 1913.

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

OUTRAM, Mary Frances.

⸺ BRANAN THE PICT. Pp. 356. (R.T.S.). 2s. 6d. Coloured frontisp. 1913.

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

“PARLEY, Peter,” see GOODRICH.

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

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

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

[PATRICK, Mrs. F. C.].

⸺ THE IRISH HEIRESS. (London). 18—.

PAUL, Major Norris.

⸺ MOONLIGHT BY THE SHANNON SHORE. Pp. 312. (Jarrold). [1888].

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

⸺ EVELINE WELLWOOD. (Jarrold). 1892.

This is simply another ed. of Moonlight by the Shannon Shore.

PECK, Mrs. F.

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

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

PELHAM, Gordon.

⸺ SHEILA DONOVAN, a Priest’s Love-Story. Pp. 295. (Lynwood). 1911.

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

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

⸺ THE GREEN COCKADE. Pp. 380, close print. (Sealy, Bryers). 3s. 6d.

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

⸺ THE LAST OF THE IRISH CHIEFS.[11]

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

PENROSE, Mrs. H. H., née Lewis. B. Kinsale. Ed. at Rochelle School, Cork. Took honours in T.C.D. in German and English Literature. In addition to her novels she has written innumerable stories for the magazines, e.g., Temple Bar and the Windsor. Resides in Surrey. Besides the novels mentioned below, As Dust in the Balance and An Unequal Yoke are partly concerned with Ireland.

⸺ DENIS TRENCH. Pp. 432. (Alston Rivers). 6s. 1911.

Denis and his sister on their mother’s death are left in doubt about the character and identity of their father, whom they had seen only in their infancy, and who, as a matter of fact, had left his wife in order to become a Roman Catholic priest. This priest acts as a kind of providence to his two children, and reveals himself only on his death bed. The Authoress seems quite unacquainted with Catholic practice, but does not depict it in a hostile spirit. The scene is partly in Ireland, but the only trace of Irish interest is an occasional reference to a mysterious quality in the Celtic blood of the hero and heroine, and the character of the poor girl Stella Delaney, whom Denis marries.

⸺ A FAERY LAND FORLORN. Pp. 312. (Alston Rivers). 6s. 1912.

Life among better-class Protestant folk in a little seaside town in the S. of Ireland. The main interest is furnished by the sad love story of Evelyn Eyre. Mr. Eyre, gentle and bookloving, and Capt. Donovan, given to drink and a tyrant in his family, are neighbours and close friends till a misunderstanding brings estrangement and leads to a tragedy, resulting in the separation—for ever, as it proves—of Evelyn and her lover Terence Donovan. The story is wholesome and human and free from religious or other bias. Aunt Kitty, a lovable old maid, provides an element of humour.

⸺ BURNT FLAX. Pp. 319. (Mills & Boon). 6s. 1914.

The Land League agitation from landlord standpoint. Excellent but over-firm landlord, hired agitator, attempt on landlord’s life. The rent-payers are brutally murdered by leaguers, who are represented as drunken and credulous. There is some good character drawing: Tinsy O’Halloran the half-witted boy, is original: Father O’Riordan is represented as a good sensible priest. The brogue is travestied.

[PERCIVAL, Mrs. Margaret].

⸺ THE IRISH DOVE; or, Faults on Both Sides. Pp. 206. (Dublin: Robertson). 1849.

By the Author of Rosa, the Work Girl. Helen Wilson, whose mother was Irish, inherits an estate in Kerry. After years of residence in India and then in England, she comes to live in Ireland, grows to love the people, and spends what is left of her failing life in teaching the natives the New Testament in Irish. The interest of the book lies in its picture of and apology for, the attempt made (chiefly by “The Irish Society”) in the first half of the 19th century to convert the Irish to Protestantism through the medium of the Irish language. The witness it gives to the bitterly anti-Irish feeling prevailing in England at the time is interesting. The peasantry is represented as debased and priest-ridden, but their condition is ascribed in part to English hostility and to absenteeism.

PETREL, Fulmar.

⸺ GRANIA WAILE. Pp. 285, large print. (Unwin). Frontispiece and map. 1895.

A fanciful story written around the early life and after-career of the O’Malley Sea-queen. Her robbing, when only a young girl, of the eagle’s nest, her desperate sea-fights, and her many other adventures make pleasant reading. The atmosphere of the period is well brought out. But few of the incidents narrated are historical facts.

PICKERING, Edgar.

⸺ TRUE TO THE WATCHWORD. Pp. 299. (Warne). 3s. 6d. Eight illustr. 1902.

A spirited account of the siege of Derry from the point of view of the besieged. Full of hairbreadth escapes and of desperate encounters with the Irishry, who are spoken of throughout as ferocious savages. Apart from this last point there is no noteworthy falsification of history. For boys.

POLLARD, Eliza F.

⸺ THE KING’S SIGNET. (Blackie, and U.S.A.: Scribner).

France in the days of Madame de Maintenon, and Ireland during Williamite wars. B. of the Boyne described. Juvenile.

POLSON, Thomas R. J.

⸺ THE FORTUNE TELLER’S INTRIGUE. Three Vols. (Dublin: McGlashan). 1847.

“Or, Life in Ireland before the Union, a tale of agrarian outrage.” An unusually objectionable and absurd libel on the priests and people of Ireland. The latter are represented as slavishly submissive to the former, who are spoken of as “walking divinities.” The priests attend their dupes at their execution for agrarian crimes, telling them that they are martyrs for the faith. The scene is Co. Clare.

The Author, an Englishman, and originally a private soldier, owned and edited the Fermanagh Mail for about forty years.

PORTER, Anna Maria. Born, 1780, in Durham. Died 1832. Was daughter of a surgeon of the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons, of Ulster extraction, and a sister of Jane Porter, author of The Scottish Chiefs, &c. She published more than nineteen books.

⸺ HONOR O’HARA. Three Vols. (Longmans). [1826]. American ed., Harper, 1827. Two Vols.

The scene is laid in the N. of England, and the book has no relation to Ireland except that the heroine is supposed to be of Irish origin.

⸺ THE LAKE OF KILLARNEY. Pp. 350. (London). New ed., 1839.

Described by the Author as “a harmless romance, which, without aiming to inculcate any great moral lesson, still endeavours to draw amiable portraits of virtue.”—(Pref.). An old-fashioned novel in the early Victorian sentimental manner. The plot is laid chiefly in Killarney (of which there is some description) and Dublin, at the time of the earlier Napoleonic wars, when Dublin had its parliament and was the centre of fashion. The plot is intricate, but turns chiefly on the mischances and misunderstandings that keep apart the hero, Felix Charlemont, and the heroine, Rose de Blaquière. This latter name was the title of later editions of this book, e.g. (London: C. H. Clare), 1856.

POWER, Marguerite A.

⸺ NELLY CAREW. Two Vols. (Saunders & Otley). Engraved frontisp. 1859.

The heroine, daughter of an Irish landlord, is driven by the scheming of a crafty French stepmother (once her governess) into marriage with an Irish roué, and leads a life of bitter humiliation. But her honour is stainless through it all, and there is a happy ending. Characters (e.g., Larry McSwiggan) are for the most part capitally drawn. The moral is good. The brogue is well done. This Author, a niece of the Countess of Blessington, wrote also Evelyn Forrester, 1856, and The Foresters, 1857.

POWER, V. O’D.

⸺ BONNIE DUNRAVEN: a Story of Kilcarrick. Two Vols. (589 pp.). (Remington). 1881.

A very sympathetic and pleasant love story of modern life in Co. Cork. The characters are thoroughly natural and human, and, moreover, thoroughly Irish. Conversations good. But perhaps the chief merit of the story is its faithful reproduction of South of Ireland “atmosphere,” especially by word-pictures of Southern scenes—the coasts, the Blackwater, Mount Mellaray. Was highly praised by The Athenæum, The Academy, and by the Catholic Press.—(I.M.).

⸺ THE HEIR OF LISCARRAGH. (Art and Book Co.). 1892.

A story in which the romantic elements are very strong.

⸺ TRACKED. (“Ireland’s Own” Library). 6d. Paper covers. 1914.

A wholesome and pleasant story of unrequited love and of jealousy. Scene: Innishowen (Co. Donegal). A well-worked out plot, with good descriptions of scenery. Peasants depicted with sympathy and understanding.

PRESTON, Dorothea.

⸺ PADDY. (Sealy, Bryers). 1s. Twenty coloured illustrs.

Paddy’s dreams and adventures in Celtic Fairyland.

PREVOST, Antoine Francois; called Prevost d’Exiles, 1697-1763.

⸺ LE DOYEN DE KELLERINE. Histoire morale composée sur les mémoires d’une illustre famille d’Irlande; et ornée de tout ce qui peut rendre une lecture utile et agréable. (La Haye: P. Poppy). 1744.

A trans. of this under title The Dean of Coleraine. A Moral History founded on the Memoirs of an Illustrious Family in Ireland, was printed in London (Vol. I.) and Dubl. (Vols. II. and III.) in 1742; another ed. 1780. The work was originally publ. in Paris, 1735, and there were further editions in 1750, 1821 (six vols.), &c. The Author was a French abbé, and a very voluminous author, having published upwards of 200 vols. There is a selection of his works in 39 vols. in the Library of T.C.D. His chief title to fame is the romance Manon Lescaut. The present is a well written, though very long, story, showing how the teller of the tale, the Dean or P.P. of Coleraine, in Antrim, watched with more than a father’s anxious care over the fortunes of his two half-brothers and sister. Their several characters appear admirably in the telling, especially that of the poor good Dean, unworldly, unselfish, deeply affectionate, but over anxious and almost over conscientious. His efforts to keep his wayward charges in the straight path amid the allurements of Paris are very well told. There is nothing in the least objectionable. There is an air of reality about the whole, though the style is old-fashioned. Towards the close the Dean acts as a Jacobite agent in Ireland.

PURDON, K. F. B. in Enfield, Co. Meath, and has always resided there. Ed. at home, in England, and at Alexandra College, Dublin. Has written much for Irish and English periodicals, her first encouragement coming from the Irish Homestead. She also owes much to the helpfulness of Richard Whiteing, the well-known writer.

⸺ CANDLE AND CRIB. Pp. 42. 12mo. (Maunsel). 1s. Christmas, 1914.

Quietly but tastefully bound. Four good illustr. in colour by Beatrice Elvery. An exquisite little Christmas idyll telling of the strange way Art Moloney brought his new wife home to Ardenoo for Christmas.

⸺ THE FOLK OF FURRY FARM. Pp. 315. (Nisbet). 6s. 1914.

A story of life at Ardenoo, somewhere in the Midlands, depicting in the most intimate way the conversation, manners, humours, kindliness of the people. Told as if by one of themselves with the strange phraseology, the unexpected turns, the often poetic figurativeness of the best shanachies. Miss Purdon writes as one with close and accurate knowledge of the home-life, at least in its outward aspects, of the small farmer class to which the chief characters belong. The matrimonial affairs of Michael Heffernan and his sharp-tongued sister Julia are humorously told, and the Author is almost a specialist in tramps. Pref. by “Geo. Birmingham,” giving a sketch of the Irish Literary movement.

QUIGLEY, Rev. Hugh; “A Missionary Priest.” 1818-1883. B. in Co. Clare, studied in Rome, and was there ordained for the American Mission. Was Rector of the University of St. Mary, Chicago, but resigned and laboured among the Chippewa Indians and among miners in California. Died in Troy, N.Y.

⸺ THE CROSS AND SHAMROCK. Pp. 240. (Duffy). 2s. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60. Still in print. [1853].

Religious and moral instruction conveyed in the form of a story of the trials and sufferings (amounting at times to martyrdom) of a family of orphan children at the hands of various types of proselytisers. A harsh and satirical tone is adopted in speaking of American Protestantism. Incidentally there are sidelights on several phases of American life, notably rail-road construction. Full sub-t.:—“Or, how to defend the faith, an Irish-American Catholic tale of real life descriptive of the temptations, trials, sufferings, and triumphs of the children of St. Patrick in the great republic of Washington.”

⸺ THE PROPHET OF THE RUINED ABBEY; or, A Glance of the Future of Ireland. Pp. 247. (Duffy). 1863.

“A narrative founded on the ancient ‘Prophecies of Culmkill’ and on other predictions and popular traditions among the Irish.”—(Title p.). To keep alive these traditions is the Author’s first aim, his second “to keep alive and kindle in the bosoms of the Irish Catholic people of this republic genuine sentiments both of patriotism and religion.”—(Pref.). Fr. Senan O’Donnell, under sentence of death in town of Cloughmore, Co. Waterford, at the hands of the British Government, is rescued by his brother. In the first part of the book there is abundance of stirring incident, thrilling escapes, &c., but the latter part becomes more wildly improbable and unreal as it proceeds. Fr. Senan is wrecked off coast of Clare and lives for years in a cave in cliffs of Moher with a little boy, rescued from the eagles. Time: about 1750-1798. Bitterly anti-English sentiment throughout. Only by an incident in the last few pages are the title and sub-titles justified.

⸺ PROFIT AND LOSS; or, the Life of a Genteel Irish-American. Pp. 458. (N.Y.: T. O’Kane). 1873.

Purpose: to teach Catholic piety and to guard youth from danger. The genteel Irish-American is Michael Mulrooney, who was driven out of Ireland by the tyranny of the landlord class. The first twenty-five pp. tell us of his troubles in Ireland.

QUINLAN, May.

⸺ IN THE DEVIL’S ALLEY. Pp. 262. (Art and Book Co.). 3s. 6d. Illustr. very cleverly and humorously by the Author. 1907.

Sketches of the lowest life in the East End of London, chiefly among the poorest Irish. Told with sympathy, close observation, and quiet humour. There is pathos too, but the Author never strains it nor forces the note. Sunt lachrimae rerum. The Author is the dau. of Judge Quinlan, late of Victoria, Australia.

READ, Charles Anderson. 1841-1878. Born near Sligo. Was for some years a merchant in Rathfriland, Co. Down. Went to London, 1863. Was an industrious and able writer, and a man full of enthusiastic admiration for Ireland, its people, and its literature. Produced numerous sketches, poems, short tales, and nine novels, the most notable of the latter being Love’s Service; but better known are his Aileen Aroon and Savourneen Dheelish, of which the London Review said: “We are presented with a view of agrarian crime in its most revolting aspect, and there is no false glamour thrown around any of the characters. Many of the incidents are highly dramatic, while the dialogue is bright and forcible.” The above notice is taken from an article by Mr. Charles Gibbon in the Cabinet of Irish Literature, edited by Mr. Read himself.

⸺ SAVOURNEEN DHEELISH; or, One True Heart. 16mo. (London: Henderson), 1s. [1869]. 1874, 7th ed.

First appeared in The Weekly Budget. A melodramatic but finely told story. The principal incident is the historic tragedy utilised by Carleton in his “Wild Goose Lodge.” Especially thrilling is the scene where Kate Costelloe gives the evidence which she knows will bring her brother and her lover to the gallows. Barney Fegan, a jovial pedlar, plays a conspicuous part. The usual devices of evictions, murders, Whiteboys, traitors, trials, secret caves, &c. Scenery well described: brogue well done. The fair at Keady is a noteworthy piece of description. Scene: the district round Dundalk.

⸺ AILEEN AROON; or, The Pride of Clonmore. (London: Henderson). 1s. [1870.]. Sixth ed. n.d.

First appeared in The Weekly Budget. Garratt O’Neill is falsely accused of murder. His sweetheart Aileen on her way to Downpatrick to defend him is abducted by his enemy. Suspected of infidelity, she is driven from her home, but is befriended by Father Nugent, an unfrocked priest, and his Fenian band, who lurk in the Mourne Mountains. After many thrilling episodes and hairbreadth escapes the lovers are united at last. Sensational but well-told, and containing some good descriptions.

READE, Amos.

⸺ NORAH MORIARTY; or, Revelations of Irish Life. (Blackwood). Two Vols. 1886.

“A romance bound up with the story of the Land League, its rise ... in 1880, its development, and the outrages and bitter sufferings endured by the victims.”—(Baker).

READE, Mrs. R. H.

⸺ PUCK’S HALL. Pp. 254. (Belfast: Charles W. Olley). 1889.

Scene: Newcastle, Co. Down. A pleasant story, told in a straightforward way, with good characterisation. By the same Author:—Milly Davidson, Dora, Silver Mill, &c.

REED, Talbot Baines.

⸺ SIR LUDAR. Pp. 343. (R.T.S.). Seven illustr. by Alfred Pearse. [1889]. Cheap reprints (“Leisure Hour” Office), 6d., 1910, and (Boys’ Own Paper). 1913.

Adventures of an English ’prentice boy in company with Sir Ludar, who is a son of Sorley Boy MacDonnell of Dunluce Castle, Co. Antrim. There is a constant succession of exciting incidents. The retaking of Dunluce from the English is the most noteworthy. The heroes are on board the Armada during its fight with the English. The tone is not anti-Irish, but occasionally unfair to Catholics. It is a book for boys.

The Author (1852-1893) was a son of Sir Chas. Reed, M.P., F.S.A., Deputy Governor of the Irish Society, and nephew of John Anderson, the Belfast bibliographer. He had a great love for Ireland and her people, and always delighted in visiting her shores.

⸺ KILGORMAN. Pp. 420. (Nelson). Six illustr. (good). 1906.

Scene: mainly in Donegal. Relates adventures of Donegal fisherboy, first at home, then in Paris during Reign of Terror, then at battle of Camperdown, then in Dublin, where he frequents meetings of United Irishmen and meets Lord Edward. Standpoint: not anti-Irish, but hostile to aims of United Irishmen. Full of exciting adventure. Juv.

REID, Forrest.

⸺ THE BRACKNELS: a Family Chronicle. Pp. 304. (Arnold). 6s. 1911.

This unpleasant and, we hope, abnormal family is that of a self-made Belfast merchant. The book is a study in temperaments; Mr. Bracknel himself, a harsh man, with little humanness, without affection, except a certain regard for an illegitimate child of past days; the daughter Amy, in love with Rusk, the tutor, and ready to go to any lengths to win him; the wilful, selfish, elder son; above all, Denis, the youngest, morbid, dreamy, the victim of delusions, engaging in strange pagan worship, yet with amiable traits. There is not a trace of religion in the chronicle of this family.

⸺ FOLLOWING DARKNESS. Pp. 320. (Arnold). 6s. 1912.

A soul study in form of autobiography. The hero is a son of a Co. Down schoolmaster. He is brought up amid uncongenial people and in uncongenial circumstances, first amid the Mourne Mountains, then in sordid Cromac St., Belfast. His soul sickens with the dreariness of the education, and especially of the religion that is imposed on him, and the father, a hard, unresponsive man, is perversely blind to the genius (an artistic and somewhat moody temperament) and aspirations of the young man—with consequences almost fatal. He is thrown back on himself. Hence intense introspection and then an outlet sought in occult sciences. There is a love story, too, but it is of minor importance. The book is but a fragment, and has no real conclusion. The style is exceptionally good.

⸺ AT THE DOOR OF THE GATE. Pp. 332. (Arnold). 6s. 1915.

“One needs no knowledge of Belfast and its people to appreciate nine-tenths of what Mr. Reid here describes; there can be no question that his characters are true to life: the small family at the combined post office and lending library; the hardworking, clean, and grim Mrs. Seawright, her two sons Martin and Richard, her adopted daughter Grace ... all this one thoroughly appreciates as one admires the sustained skill with which in a succession of small strokes Mr. Reid builds up his admirable story.”—(Times Lit. Suppl.).

RHYS, Grace. “Mrs. Rhys (née Little) was born at Knockadoo, Boyle, Co. Roscommon, 1865. She is youngest daughter of J. Bennett Little, and married, in 1891, Ernest Rhys, the poet.... Her novels deal with Irish life, which she knows well, and are written with sympathetic insight, tenderness, and tragic power.”—(Irish Lit.).

⸺ MARY DOMINIC. Pp. 296. (Dent). 1898.

The main theme is the seduction of a young peasant girl by the son of the landlord, and the nemesis that overtook the seducer after many years. The story is told with exceptional power and pathos. There is no prurient description, unless one half-page might be objected to on this score. The peasants are natural and life-like, but there is something strangely repellant in the pictures of the upper classes. There are incidents bringing out the darker aspects of the land-war. There is no anti-religious bias.

⸺ THE WOOING OF SHEILA. (Methuen). 6s. [1901]. Second ed., 1908. (N.Y.: Holt). 1.50.

A gentleman, from unnatural motives, deliberately brings up his son as a common labourer. The boy falls in love with and marries a peasant girl, whom he had saved from the pursuit of a rascally young squire. On her marriage morning she learns that her husband has killed her unworthy lover. She at once leaves her husband, but a priest induces her to return, and the crime is hushed up in a rather improbable manner. As in the Author’s other books, there is a subtle charm of style, delicate analysis of character, and fair knowledge of peasant life.

⸺ THE PRINCE OF LISNOVER. (Methuen). 1904.

Ireland in the early ’sixties. Has same qualities as Mary Dominic. Devotion of the people to the old and dispossessed “lord of the soil” is touchingly brought out. A pretty girl-and-boy love story runs through the whole.

⸺ THE CHARMING OF ESTERCEL. Pp. 318. (Dent). 6s. 1913.

A love story of Ireland in the days of O’Neill and Essex. The main interest lies in the story of how Estercel is brought to love his cousin Sabia, and in the adventures of the former, an O’Neill and the envoy of the great Hugh, in Dublin and in Ulster. But the historical background is well painted and the historical personages carefully studied. The hero’s wonderful horse, Tamburlaine, is a strange and original “character” in the piece, and there is a splendid description of how he carried his master from Dublin home to the North. The Author writes with sympathy for Ireland. The charm of the style is enhanced by her sympathy with wild nature and delicate perception of its sights and sounds.

RHYS, Rt. Hon. Sir John, M.A., D.Litt. B. Cardiganshire, 1840. Ed. Bangor and Oxford. Also at the Sorbonne, College de France, Heidelberg, Leipsic, and Göttingen. Prof. of Celtic at Oxford since 1877. Member of innumerable learned societies and royal commissions. He has read many valuable papers on Celtic subjects before the R.I.A. Publ. a long series of works on Celtic subjects, e.g., Celtic Heathendom, 1886.

⸺ CELTIC FOLK-LORE, Welsh and Manx. Two Vols. Pp. xlvi. + 718. (Oxford: Clarendon Press). 10s. 1901.

Stories gathered partly by letter, partly viva voce, classified and critically discussed. The group of ideas, he concludes, connected with the fairies is drawn partly from history and fact, partly from the world of imagination and myth, the former part representing vague traditions of earlier races. Many subsidiary questions are raised, e.g., magic, the origin of druidism, certain aspects of the Arthurian legends, &c. Ch. x. deals with Difficulties of the Folk-lorist; Ch. xi. with Folk-lore Philosophy; Ch. xii. with Race in Folk-lore and Myth. Throughout constant references are made to and frequent parallels drawn with Irish folk-lore, e.g., the Cuchulainn cycle.

RIDDELL, Mrs. née Charlotte E. Cowan. Born at Carrickfergus, 1832. Published her first book 1858, since when she has written nearly forty novels. All of these are remarkably clever, and some have been very popular. They deal chiefly with social and domestic life among the Protestant upper and middle classes. The scene is laid in London, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Scotland, &c. Few deal with Ireland. We may mention George Geith of Fen Court (1864), City and Suburb (1861), A Life’s Assize (1870), Above Suspicion (1875), Too Much Alone, Susan Drummond, Race for Wealth, Head of the Firm. Her books are noteworthy for the intimate knowledge of the proceedings of law and the business world of London which they display. D. 1906.

⸺ MAXWELL DREWITT. [1865]. New illustr. ed., 1869. (Arnold).

A rather lengthy but well-told tale of adventures in Connemara, including an old-fashioned election (time, 1854) and a well-described trial for robbery on the Drogheda and Dundalk Railway. The plot is well constructed and the characters, mainly of the landlord class, sympathetically depicted. The peasantry are faithfully, if somewhat humorously, delineated. Dr. Sheen, the dispensary doctor, and his patients are well pourtrayed.

⸺ A STRUGGLE FOR FAME. 1883. Several eds.

Partly autobiographical. Describes a young girl and her father sailing from Belfast with her MS. to win her way in London. Her experiences of publishers and love affairs.

⸺ BERNA BOYLE. Pp. 443. (Macmillan). 6s. [1884]. 1900, &c.

A love story of the Co. Down about fifty years ago. Deals mainly with the trials of a young lady, who suffers much from suitors with disagreeable relatives. The characters are mainly drawn from a rather uninspiring and unsympathetic type of Ulster folk. Perhaps the most striking feature is the character of Berna’s mother, a vulgar, pushful, foolish woman. There is humour not a little in the situations and characters. The story suffers from its great length.

⸺ THE BANSHEE’S WARNING, and Other Tales. (London: Macqueen). 6d. Paper. 1903.

Six stories, four having some concern with Ireland. The first tells how the Banshee goes to London to warn the scapegrace son of an Irish family, who is a clever surgeon, yet always plunged in debt. It is a study of a strange personality. “A Vagrant Digestion” humorously relates the journeyings of the hypochondriacal Vicar of Rathdundrum in search of health. “Mr. Mabbot’s Fright” and “So Near, or the Pity of It” both illustrate the honesty and the proper pride of the Irish. The latter is pathetic. The former is humorous, is full of life and movement, and contains fine descriptions of the coast-drive from Belfast to Larne in the old days, and of an exciting run-away.

RIDDALL, Walter.

⸺ HUSBAND AND LOVER. Pp. 304. (Swift). 6s. 1913.

The love affairs of a London journalist who comes to Ireland, marries Doris, and makes love to Laura.—(T. Lit. Suppl.). The Author, who was the second son of the late Dean Riddall of Belfast, died in 1913, at the age of forty.

“RITA”; Mrs. Desmond Humphreys. Author of a great many novels: Mudie’s list enumerates 58, amongst them Peg the Rake and Kitty the Rag, both introducing Irish elements, and The Masqueraders describing the wanderings and social experiences of two Irish singers.

⸺ THE SIN OF JASPER STANDISH. Pp. 342. (Constable). 1901.

Scene: one of the midland counties. The story is founded on the Newtonstewart, Co. Tyrone, tragedy, where a scoundrelly inspector of police murders the local bank-manager, then himself conducts the investigation, but is unmasked and brought to justice by the English heroine and her housekeeper. A morbid and sensational type of book, with not a few traces of religious and national bias. The English characters are belauded, the Irish for the most part represented as fools. There is much “stage-Irish” dialogue.

⸺ A GREY LIFE. Pp. 347. (Stanley Paul). 6s. 1913.

Scene: a boarding-house in Bath kept by three reduced ladies, with whom Rosaleen O’Hara passes (in the later 1870’s) the three or four years covered by the story. The central figure is the Chevalier Theophrastus O’Shaughnessy, a charming, scholarly man, with sad stories of his past to tell.

ROBINSON, F. Mabel.

⸺ THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. Two Vols. (Vizetelly). 1888.

Scene: Dublin, except for a chapter at Dromore and a visit to London. Deals with the famous agrarian “Plan of Campaign” in the eighties, viewed with Nationalist sympathies. Religion is not discussed. A number of men and women of the educated classes meet to talk politics. They go to see evictions, and vivid but heartrending pictures of these are drawn. A bad landlord is killed by a gentleman named Considine. The latter’s friend, Talbot, helps him to escape, but his daughter Stella dies of grief. Considine, who is an unbeliever, shoots himself. The story is a good one and skilfully worked out.

ROCHE, Hon. Alexis.

⸺ JOURNEYINGS WITH JERRY THE JARVEY. (Smith, Elder). 6s. 1915.

Two of these sketches first appeared in the Cornhill. “One of the most mirth-provoking collection of sketches that has appeared for many a long day. There is a laugh in every page and a roar in every chapter. Yet it is all pure comedy: only once does the Author descend to farce.... a delightful book.”—(I.B.L.). The Author, son of 1st Baron Fermoy, was born in 1853, and died in 1915.

ROCHE, Regina Maria. 1765-1845. A once celebrated novelist. For many years before her death she lived in retirement at Waterford. Wrote also The Vicar of Lansdowne (1793), Maid of the Hamlet, The Monastery of St. Columba, &c., &c.

⸺ THE CHILDREN OF THE ABBEY. Four Vols. 12 mo. [1798]. (Mason). Twelfth ed., 1835; others 1863, 1867.

A sentimental story of a very old-fashioned type. The personages are chiefly earls and marquises, the heroines have names like Amanda, Malvina, &c. Though in this novel Irish places (Enniskillen, Dublin, Bray) are mentioned, the book does not seem to picture any reality of Irish life. This is still on Mudie’s list. It was republ. in U.S.A. at Hartford, Exeter, Philadelphia, and N.Y.

⸺ THE MUNSTER COTTAGE BOY. Four Vols. Pp. 1195. (London: Newman). 1820.

A little girl, Fidelia, grows up without knowing who her parents are. Bad people try to exploit her: a servant named Connolly tries to save her, but she falls from one misfortune into another, till finally she meets her father, and finds herself an heiress. Interminable conversations and intricacies of episode. A multitude of characters, who are for the most part English in Ireland. No humour, nor style.

⸺ THE BRIDAL OF DUNAMORE. Pp. 888. (London: Newman). 1823.

A character study of Rosalind Glenmorlie, beautiful but haughty and ambitious, and of the misery she caused to many and finally to herself. It is tragedy almost all through. The scene in “Dunamore,” on E. coast of Ireland. The character of the heroine is overdrawn and exaggerated, like most of the Author’s dramatis personæ.

⸺ THE TRADITION OF THE CASTLE; or, Scenes in the Emerald Isle. Four Vols. Pp. 1414. 1824.

A very long story, with a multitude of characters. The aim seems to be to plead that Irishmen should reside in their own country and work for its welfare. Scenery of Howth, Artoir-na-Greine, a place near Dublin, and Killarney. Dialect good. No discussion of religious matters, but a good deal of politics. The story opens during last session of Irish Parliament, and, in a discussion between husband and wife, the Author’s nationalist sentiments appear. Donoghue O’Brien, the hero, is long kept apart from his Eveleen Erin, but they are united in the end.

⸺ THE CASTLE CHAPEL. Three Vols. Pp. 963. (London: Newman). 1825.

A story of a family of O’Neills of St. Doulagh’s Castle, somewhere in Ulster, early nineteenth century. Eugene falls in love with Rose Cormack, his sister’s companion, and they make vows of marriage in the chapel by moonlight. Eugene, who dabbles in phrenology and seems somewhat of a fool, goes away. On his return he is told that Rose has been killed in an accident. In reality she has been taken away by her father, a Mr. Mordaunt, former owner of the castle, who has poisoned his wife. Rose becomes an heiress, dies abroad, and leaves her fortune to the O’Neills, and an apology for her duplicity. A queer, outlandish sort of story.

ROCHFORT, Edith.

⸺ THE LLOYDS OF BALLYMORE. Two Vols. (Chapman & Hall). 1890.

A domestic story, told with simplicity and feeling. The Lloyds belong to the Protestant landlord class, as do most of the personages in the tale. Period: 1881: the Land League days. Scene: the Midlands and afterwards Dublin. The first part of the plot turns on the agrarian murder of Mr. Lloyd, the trial, and execution of the murderer; the second on Tom Lloyd’s being suspected of a bank-robbery when the Lloyds are living in very straitened circumstances. All through runs a delicately told and very sympathetic love story. The land question is viewed from the landlord standpoint, but discussed without excessive bitterness. Conversations natural and peasant dialect good.

RODENBERG, Julius.

⸺ DIE HARFE VON IRLAND: Märchen und dichtung in Irland. Pp. 299. 16mo. (Leipzig: Grunow). 1861.

Contains:—I. Thirteen Irish melodies, with music. II. Tales. III. Poems and songs transl. into German verse. At the end are useful notes, and at p. 283 a list of sources. These are chiefly the Dublin and London Magazine for 1825-7. Two are given as “mündlich” (gathered orally). Titles such as:—The land in the sea, the wizard of Crunnaan, two stories of the Leprechaun, the land of the ever young (Tír na n-óg), the fairy handkerchief of the Phuka, the fair Nora, &c.

ROGERS, R. D.

⸺ THE ADVENTURES OF ST. KEVIN, and Other Irish Tales. (Swan Sonnenschein). Pp. 266. [1897]. 1907.

A dozen humorous sketches, well told, giving the old legends in a modern comic setting, much in the vein of Edmund Downey’s Through Green Glasses. The brogue is faithfully rendered.

ROLLESTON, T. W. B. 1857, at Shinrone, King’s Co. His father was County Court Judge for Tipperary. Ed. St. Columba’s, Rathfarnham, and T.C.D. Lived some years on the Continent, but has since lived alternately in London and in Dublin. Has written much verse. Also several literary, philosophical, and biographical works. Was the first secretary of the Irish Literary Society, London.

⸺ MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE CELTIC RACE. Pp. ix. + 457. (Harrap). 7s. 6d. Sixty-four full-page illustr. by Stephen Reid—excellent. (N.Y.: Crowell). 2.50. 1911.

A very handsome volume, beautifully printed and bound. Contents:—1. The Celts in ancient history. 2. The religion of the Celts. 3. The Irish invasion myths. 4. The early Milesian kings. 5. Tales of the Ultonian cycle. 6. Tales of the Ossianic cycle. 7. The voyage of Maeldun. 8. Myths and Tales of the Cymry. Elaborate Glossary and Index. From about p. 106 onwards the legends, sagas, &c., are not simply discussed but told as stories. The résumé of early Celtic history, with the customs, art, religion, and influence of the race, is very valuable; but the main interest lies in his complete survey of the cycles of Irish myth and legend. The editor claims that he has “avoided any adaptation of the material for the popular taste.” Some very unfortunate (to say the least) remarks about religion (see pp. 47 and 66) might well have been omitted.

⸺ THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN, and Other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland. Pp. lv. + 214. (Harrap). 5s. Sixteen illustr. by Stephen Reid. (N.Y.: Crowell). 1.50. 1910.

Introduction long, but very interesting, by the well-known man of letters (author of nearly thirty volumes), Rev. Stopford Brooke. Deals with the relationships and contrasts between the various cycles of Irish bardic literature and their several characteristics—and this in a style full of literary charm. The stories told by Mr. Rolleston (than whom few more competent could be found for the work) are re-tellings in a style graceful and poetic, but simple and direct, of ancient Gaelic romances, some already told in English elsewhere, others now first appearing in an English dress. They are drawn from all three cycles above mentioned. Source for each mentioned at end of book. Some of these tales are already well known, such as Oisin in the Land of Youth, and the Children of Lir. The style, it may be added, has not the fire and the dramatic force of Standish O’Grady, but it has good qualities of its own.

ROONEY, Miss Teresa J.; “Eblana.” B. 1840. D. in 1911.

⸺ THE LAST MONARCH OF TARA. Pp. 311. (Gill). 2s. [1880]. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.80. 1889, &c.

Period: reigns of Tuathal and Diarmaid O Cearbhail. Scene: chiefly the district around Tara. Aims to present a detailed picture of the daily life and civilization of Ireland at the time. Chief events: the murder of Tuathal, the judgment of Diarmaid against Columbkille, followed by the battle of Cooldrevne, and finally the Cursing and Abandonment of Tara. The story is slight and moves slowly; there is no love interest. The historical events are not all, perhaps, very certain, but the author has brought very great industry and erudition (from the best sources) to the portrayal of the life of the time. The edition (of 1889) was revised and corrected by Canon U. J. Bourke, M.R.I.A., and is admirably produced.

⸺ EILY O’HARTIGAN, an Irish-American Tale. (Sealy, Bryers). 2s. 1889.

Time of the Volunteers. Chief incidents in tale: Battle of Bunker’s Hill, and Irish Declaration of Independence in 1782. A disagreeable person of the name of Buck Fox (the name under which the story originally appeared) takes up quite too large a space in this book; and he and his friends, with their soi-disant English accents, are most decided bores. The point of view is strongly national.—(I.M.).

⸺ THE STRIKE. (Sealy, Bryers). 6d. 1909.

“A stirring tale of Dublin in the eighteenth century, when Ireland stood well ahead in industrial activity, and the Dublin Liberties were the hub of Irish Industrialism.”

RORISON, E. S.

⸺ A TASTE OF QUALITY. Pp. 319. (Long). 6s. 1904.

Family life among Protestant upper middle class folk in a country district—very pleasant and refined society. A kindly, human story, eminently true to life, without bias of any kind. One becomes quite familiar with the cleverly-drawn characters—the kindly, cultured Archdeacon and his sister; patient, crippled Larry, with his cheery slang; devoted Auntie Nell, bringing comfort and brightness where she goes; the Austrian countess; and the twins.

ROSSA, Jeremiah O’Donovan.

⸺ EDWARD O’DONNELL: a Story of Ireland of Our Day. Pp. 300. (N.Y.: Green). 1884.

Scene somewhere near Fethard, Co. Tipperary, during Land League agitation. The Author’s sympathies are against the L.L. and for the physical force party, often called dynamiters at the time. The book is full of the agrarian question, viewed with bitterly anti-landlord bias. Eviction scenes, boycotting, midnight conspiracy. Satirical portrait of the pious landlord—Catholic attorney who battens on the miseries of the poor; also of various landlord types. In the case of “Father Tim” the portraits shows all the weak spots, but without bitterness or disrespect. See ch. 18, Fr. Tim’s sermon against the dynamiters. Good picture of a dispensary doctor’s life and difficulties. Well written, but rather a pamphlet than a story. It is believed in many quarters that Rossa did not write a word of this story;[12] the edition I examined has on the title-page what purports to be a facsimile of Rossa’s signature. Rossa was b. in Rosscarbery, Co. Cork, 1831. Died in U.S.A., 1915, and was given a public funeral in Dublin. He was a well known Fenian leader, was condemned for treason-felony in 1865, and sentenced to perpetual imprisonment, but was subsequently released and went to New York, where he edited The United Irishman.

RUFFIN, Mrs. M. E. HENRY-, see HENRY-RUFFIN.

RUSSELL, Maud M.

⸺ SPRIGS OF SHAMROCK; or, Irish Sketches and Legends. Pp. 134. (Browne & Nolan). 6d. 1900.

“The little books show how full of charm and fascination the holiday resorts of Ireland really are.”—(Lady’s Pictorial).

RUSSELL, T. O’Neill; “Reginald Tierney.” B. near Moate, Co. Westmeath, 1828. Son of Joseph Russell, a Quaker. Was devoted from about 1858 till the end of his life to the revival of the Irish language. During the Fenian movement he was an object of suspicion. He emigrated, and spent thirty years in U.S.A. Returning in 1895, he threw himself heart and soul into the Gaelic Revival. D. 1908.

⸺ TRUE HEART’S TRIALS. (Gill). 1s. and 1s. 6d. Still in print, 1910.

A rather rambling tale of the troubles of a pair of lovers. Scene: first, the Lake district of Cavan and Westmeath, where we have a glimpse of squireen life. Afterwards the backwoods north of Albany, U.S.A. Both light and shade of American colonist life depicted. There are many laughable episodes in the book.

⸺ DICK MASSEY. Pp. 300. (Gill). 1s. 1860. New ed., poor print, 1908.

Famine in 1814 and following years, as background for a story full of incident, humour, and pathos, with faithful pictures of many sides of Irish life—the emigrant ship, a wedding, relations of good and bad landlords with tenants. Altogether on the side of the peasant. Original title:—The Struggles of Dick Massey; or, the battles of a boy, by “Reginald Tierney.”

RUSSELL, Violet. Is the wife of George Russell, “A.E.,” Ed. of the Irish Homestead and a well-known poet.

⸺ HEROES OF THE DAWN. Pp. 251. (Maunsel). 5s. Sixteen black and white drawings and four coloured illustr. by Beatrice Elvery. n.d. [1913].

Stories of the Fionn cycle, drawn from Standish O’Grady’s Silva Gadelica and from the Transactions of the Ossianic Society, and retold, with a pleasant simplicity and directness, for children. “I would have you see in them,” says the dedication, “a record of some qualities which the heroes of ancient times held to be of far greater worth than anything else—an absolute truthfulness and courtesy in thought and speech and action; a nobility and chivalry of mind, &c....” But the Author leaves the reader to draw his own moral and does not force it on him. The illustrations are charming, and the whole book is produced with great artistic taste.

RYAN, W. P., see also O’RYAN, W. P.

⸺ THE HEART OF TIPPERARY. Pp. 256. (Ward & Downey). 1893.

A romance of the Land League, but not too much taken up with politics. Nationalist. Introd. by William O’Brien, M.P.

⸺ STARLIGHT THROUGH THE ROOF. Pp. 240. (Downey). 1895. Under pseudonym “Kevin Kennedy.”

Scene: an inland village of Munster (presumably in Co. Tipperary). A tale of peasant life—Utopian reforms realized by a returned emigrant, opposed by land agents and a landlord’s priest; partial conversion of the latter to the people’s side; arrest of reformer on false charge of murder; breaking open of prison, and rescue, &c. An early and crude effort in fiction. Pleasant, emotional style. Very strong Nationalist bias.

“RATHKYLE, M. A.”

⸺ FAREWELL TO GARRYMORE. Pp. 127. (Sealy, Bryers). 1s. net. 1912.

A simple little tale of life in an Irish village, showing knowledge of the country-folk and of their ways of thought and speech; also a thorough understanding of children. The Author is Miss M. Younge, of Upper Oldtown, Rathdowney.

SADLIER, Mrs. James,[13] née Madden. Born at Cootehill, 1820. D. 1903. In 1844 she went to Canada, where the rest of her life was spent. Between 1847 and 1874 she wrote frequently for the principal Catholic papers in America. In 1895 she received the Laetare Medal. “Each of her works of fiction had a special object in view, bearing on the moral and religious well-being of her fellow Irish Catholics.” She says: “It is needless to say that all my writings are dedicated to the one grand object: the illustration of our holy Faith by means of tales or stories.” Her sympathies are strongly nationalist. Besides the books here noticed, she also published The Red Hand of Ulster, and a large number of religious works. Flynn of Boston publishes a uniform ed. of her works at 0.60 each vol. Many of them were, naturally, originally published by the firm of her husband, James Sadlier.

⸺ THE FATE OF FATHER SHEEHY. Pp. 178 + appendix 76. (Duffy). 1s. 6d. Still in print. [c. 1845]. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60.

The story (true, though told in form of fiction) of how the heroic patriot-priest was judicially murdered at Clonmel in 1766 by the ascendancy faction, backed by the Government. Appendix by Dr. R. R. Madden, giving full details of the trial, depositions of witnesses, &c.

⸺ WILLY BURKE. Pp. 224. (Duffy). 1s. 6d. [c. 1850]. In print, 1909.

Story of two Irish emigrant boys left orphans in the States, and their struggles with temptations against their Faith. One is a model boy; the other goes off the track, but is brought back again. A moral and religious story, full of Catholic faith and feeling. It might, however, be not unreasonably considered somewhat “goody-goody.”

⸺ NEW LIGHTS; or, Life in Galway. Pp. 443. (N.Y.: Sadlier). [1853].

Peasant life in Famine times. Written with a strong sympathy for the sufferings of the people, and with admiration for their virtues. There is a good deal about the proselytism or “souperism” that was rife at the time. The evils of landlordism, resulting in evictions, &c., are depicted. There is no love interest.

⸺ THE BLAKES AND FLANAGANS. Pp. 391. (N.Y.: Kenedy). 60 cents. net; and (Duffy) 2s. 6d. [1855]. 1909.

Life among lower middle class Irish in New York, showing in a somewhat satirical way, evil effects of public school education. The moral purpose, though fairly evident, does not detract from the naturalness of the story. The conversation is particularly lifelike.

⸺ THE CONFEDERATE CHIEFTAINS. Pp. 384. Demy 8vo. (Gill). 4s. Many editions. [1859]. Still in print. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60 net.

A romance of a popular kind, without great literary pretensions, giving a good picture of the events of the time, written from a Catholic standpoint, and sympathising with the Old Irish party led by O’Neill, who is the hero of the tale. All the chief men of the various parties figure in the narrative. Full expression is given to the Author’s sympathies and dislikes, yet without, we believe, historic unfairness.

⸺ BESSY CONWAY; or, The Irish Girl in America. Pp. 316. (N.Y.: Kenedy). 60 cents. net. Print rather poor. n.d. [1861].

Theme of story: influence of religion on character. Object (as stated in Pref.): to point out to Irish girls in America (especially servants) “the true and never-failing path to success in this life, and happiness in the next.” Bessy, daughter of Tipperary farmer, leaves for America. She finds when on board that Henry Herbert, son of her father’s landlord, a Protestant, is without encouragement from her, following her through love. The story tells how a change came over the wild young man, how he became a Catholic, and married Bessy; how the two of them made their fortunes in N. Y., and how Bessy came home just in time to stop the eviction of her father in the Famine year. Readable, with touches both of humour and of pathos. Highly moral and religious in tone.

⸺ THE RED HAND OF ULSTER; or, the Fortunes of Hugh O’Neill. (London and Dublin), c. 1862.

Mentioned in most lists of this Author’s works, but not in British Museum Library.

⸺ THE HERMIT OF THE ROCK. Pp. 320. (Gill). 2s. 6d. n.d. [1863]. In print.

Story of Irish society in the ’sixties. The “hermit,” who tends the graves and monuments on the Rock of Cashel, is a sort of Irish “Old Mortality,” and is a storehouse of legend and tradition. The story is by no means a tame one: there is a murder mystery, and sensation, though the latter does not degenerate into melodrama.

⸺ THE DAUGHTER OF TYRCONNELL: a Tale of the Reign of James I. Pp. 160. (Duffy), 1s. (N.Y.: Kenedy). 60 cents, net. [1863]. Still in print.

Sufferings of Mary O’Donnell, daughter of the exiled Earl of Tyrconnell, at the hands of James I., who adopted her and wished her to marry a Protestant. She dresses as a man and escapes to the Continent, where she enters a convent. Founded on a tradition recorded in MacGeoghegan’s History of Ireland. James is painted in very dark colours; Mary is almost too good for real life.

⸺ CON O’REGAN; or, Emigrant Life. Pp. 405. (N.Y.: Kenedy). 60 cents. [1864]. 1909.

A powerful anti-emigration novel, depicting the hardships of Irish emigrants in the New England states in the ’forties. Thoroughly Catholic and sympathetic to the Irish, but does not conceal their faults.

⸺ THE OLD HOUSE BY THE BOYNE. Pp. 319. (Gill). 2s. 6d. [1865]; also (London) 1888. New ed., 1904. (N.Y.: Benziger). 0.60.

Scene: Drogheda. Many descriptions of old historic spots, and much legendary lore. There is a love interest, also, but the book is hardly up to the Author’s usual standard. At the outset of the book Drogheda is well described.

⸺ THE HEIRESS OF KILORGAN. Pp. vi. + 420. (N.Y.: Kenedy). 60 cents. [1867]. New ed., 1909.

“A slight and very simple thread of fiction connects throughout the series of historical sketches constituting these ‘Evenings with the old Geraldines.’”—(Pref.). The plan is similar to that of Hibernian Nights Entertainments (Ferguson), q.v. At Kilorgan, near the Maigue, in Co. Limerick, dwell a poor family of descendants of the Geraldines. They are visited by an Englishman, who has (without their knowledge) bought the old place in the courts. Every night of his stay a story is told, the intervals being filled in by somewhat insipid love episodes, long poems (by Mrs. Hernans, Longfellow, Gerald Griffin, &c.), and songs. The stories are a series of episodes from Geraldine history from Gerald FitzWalter in Wales to the Sugán Earl, c. 1598, together with a few miscellaneous romantic stories. They are simply and interestingly told. Some are hardly for children. An Appendix gives some Geraldine documents.

⸺ MACCARTHY MÓR. Pp. 277. (N.Y.: Kenedy). [1868]. At present in print. n.d.

Life and character of Florence MacCarthy Mór based on his Life and Letters by Daniel M’Carthy. M’Carthy is said by the Author (Pref.) almost to merit the name of the Munster Machiavelli. The book presents a striking picture of the struggles of the great families of the day to preserve faith and property amid the petty persecutions of the government and the intrigues of rivals. Chief events introduced: battles of Pass of Plumes, Curlew Mountains, and Bealanathabuidhe. Elizabeth, Cecil, Burleigh, the Northern Earls, the “Sugán” Earl, Sir Henry Power, &c., appear incidentally. The scene varies between the Killarney district, West Carbery, the Council Chamber of Elizabeth, and the Tower. The episode of the marriage of the daughter of MacCarthy Mór to Florence MacCarthy Reagh forms the theme of Miss Gaughan’s The Plucking of the Lily, q.v.

⸺ MAUREEN DHU. Pp. 391. (N.Y.: Sadlier). [1869].

A tale of the Claddagh, the famous fishing village beside Galway city. Its manners and ways are described in detail and with fidelity. Tells how the beautiful daughter of the chief fisherman is wooed and won from all competitors by a wealthy young merchant of the city. The plot is well sustained and interesting, though somewhat complicated and hampered by digressions.

SANBORN, Alvan Francis.

⸺ MEG McINTYRE’S RAFFLE, and Other Stories. Two Vols. (Boston: Small & Maynard). $1.25 each. 1896.

“Studies of the poorest classes in a great city, the pathos often ghastly in its intensity. The title-story is an Irish idyll.”—(Baker, 2).

SAVAGE, Marmion W. 1805-1872. B. Dublin. Ed. T.C.D. He was a government official in Dublin for some years, and at that time wrote for Dubl. Univ. Magazine. In 1856 he went to London, and there edited several periodicals. He was a witty and clever novelist, very popular in his day. Wrote also Bachelor of the Albany, My Uncle the Curate, Reuben Medlicott, A Woman of Business.

⸺ THE FALCON FAMILY. (Chapman & Hall). [1845]. (Ward, Lock). New ed., 1854.

“The best known and choicest of the author’s numerous stories. It is intended as a satire on the leaders of the Young Ireland Party; and some of the satire is very keen and amusing, but as political pictures his sketches are no better than caricatures.”—(Read). John Mitchel, reviewing it (The Nation, 13th Decr., 1845), calls it “another of those pamphlet-novels that infest the literary world ... though too obviously the production of an Irishman, is as obviously intended and calculated for the English market.... We have had some opportunities of acquaintance with the men the writer attempts to satirize, and do unfeignedly declare that we have never met (them).... In short, this book is a very paltry and ill-conditioned performance.”

SAVILE, Mrs. Helen.

⸺ LOVE THE PLAYER. (Sonnenschein). 6s. 1899.

“A tragic plot, with sketches of Irish life, and unpleasant specimens of humanity in the rector and rector’s wife in the Protestant community of Tuleen. Old Micky Hogan, the sexton, is depicted with humour.”—(Baker, 2). By the same Author: The Wings of the Morning.

⸺ MICKY MOONEY, M.P. Pp. 250. (Bristol: Arrowsmith). Illustr. by Nancy Ruxton. 1902.

Career of the hero from bog-trotter to M.P. As a background, a vulgar and absurd caricature of Irish life. Humour throughout of a very broad kind. Characters speak in an impossible brogue.

SCHLICHTTRULL, Aline Von.

⸺ DER AGITATOR VON IRLAND. Pp. 1043. (Berlin: Otto Janke). 1859.

O’Connell is the hero, but there are a multitude of characters, chiefly of the ruling classes. Politics are much discussed, the Author’s sympathies being pretty clearly on the Catholic and Nationalist side. Scene partly in Ireland, partly in England, where the reader listens to speeches in the House of Lords.

SCHOFIELD, Lily.

⸺ ELIZABETH, BETSY, AND BESS. (Duckworth). 6s. 1912.

“The purport of the Author is to reveal the varied charm and grace of a delightful Irish girl’s character between the ages of thirteen and eighteen or so.... A vital, significant portrait.”—(T. Litt. Suppl.). Scene: partly at “Castlemorne,” partly in a big English school near Liverpool.

SCOTT, Florence, and HODGE, Alma.

⸺ THE ROUND TOWER. Pp. 229. (Nelson). 1s. 6d. Pretty picture cover. 1906.

A very slight story centering in the landing of the French at Killala in 1798. Adventures of two small English boys. An interesting but one-sided glimpse of some of the episodes of the time. For boys.

SENIOR, Dorothy.

⸺ THE CLUTCH OF CIRCUMSTANCES; or, The Gates of Dawn. Pp. 333. (Black). Frontisp. 1908.

An Arthurian romance, with Finola, daughter of Cormac, King of Leinster, as heroine. She is married to a brutal husband, but in the end is united to her true love. Not, however, without passing through a long series of adventures, rescues by knights errant, escapes, &c. Has all the usual elements of the romantic chanson de geste—tourneys, rose-gardens, adventures in the green-wood. Told in highly romantic manner, but with the romance is blended a curious element of the modern problem novel.

SEYMOUR, St. John D.

⸺ IRISH WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY. Pp. 256. (Hodges & Figgis). 5s. net. 1914.

A very competent piece of work from a scientific point of view. From the point of view of fiction it is full of weird and uncanny stories, gleaned from all sorts of sources.

SEYMOUR, St. John D., B.D., and HARRY L. NELIGAN, D.I., R.I.C.

⸺ TRUE IRISH GHOST STORIES. (Hodges & Figgis). 3s. 6d. 1914.

Author says in Pref.: “For myself I cannot guarantee the genuineness of a single incident in this book—how could I, as none of them are my own personal experience. This at least I can vouch for, that the majority of the stories were sent to me as first or second-hand experiences by ladies and gentlemen whose statement on an ordinary matter of fact would be accepted without question.” The names of some contributors are mentioned. The stories are classified partly according to locality, partly according to the type of ghost in question. A final chapter gives a kind of Apologia for the book. Index of place names. The telling is, perhaps, a little monotonous and dull.

SHAND, Alexander Innes. 1832-1907. A Scotchman who interested himself in the Irish land question and wrote Letters from the West of Ireland, 1884. Other novels of his were Against Time and Shooting the Rapids.

⸺ KILCARRA. Three Vols. (Blackwood). 1891.

The influence of a good and sweet-natured woman on selfish men, with the Land League agitation in Co. Galway for a background. The peasantry are depicted as wild and lawless and mere tools of the Land League, but as capable of much good. The shooting of landlords is sheer barbarism, no attempt being made by the Author to set forth its causes. The plot is furnished by the efforts of the hero, Capt. Martin Neville, to trace the murderer of a previous owner of the Kilcarra estate, and also by the story of his love for his cousin Ida, or rather hers for him. There is much about the relations between landlord and tenant.

SHARP, William, see “FIONA MACLEOD.”

SHEEHAN, M. F.

⸺ NEATH SUNNY SKIES: Stories of the Co. Waterford. Pp. 123. (Waterford News). 6d. 1912.

A series of simple tales well told and true to life.

SHEEHAN, Canon Patrick A., D.D. B. 1852. Educated at St. Colman’s, Fermoy, and Maynooth. Spent two years (1875-77) on English mission in Devonshire. Parish Priest of Doneraile from 1895 till his death in 1913. His books deal chiefly with Catholic clerical life in Ireland—a subject which he was the first to deal with from within. He brought to bear on the features and problems of Irish life a deeply thoughtful and cultured mind. He did not indulge in thoughtless panegyric of Irish virtues, but touched firmly, though sympathetically, upon our national shortcomings and failings. His ideals are of the loftiest, yet never of an unsubstantial and airy, kind. His style is influenced too much perhaps in his earlier books by his very wide reading in many literatures, but particularly in Greek, German, Italian, and English. Besides the novels mentioned here, he has published two books of studies and reflections, viz., Under the Cedars and the Stars, and Parerga; also a book of poems, Cithara Mea, and a selection of Early Essays and Lectures.

⸺ GEOFFREY AUSTIN, STUDENT. (Gill). 3s. 6d. Fifth ed., 1908.

Story of life in a secondary school, near Dublin, nominally controlled by the clergy, but in reality left to the care of a grinder of more than doubtful character. A most uncatholic worldliness prevails at Mayfield, and the standards of conduct and of religion are very low. Geoffrey’s faith is weakened and well-nigh ruined. The curtain falls upon him as he goes out to face the world, and we are left to conjecture his fate. Has been transl. into French under title Geoffroy.

⸺ THE TRIUMPH OF FAILURE. Pp. 383. (Burns & Oates). [1899].

A sequel to the preceding. It is a close and sympathetic soul-study. Geoffrey loses all his worldly hopes and falls low indeed. He suffers the shipwreck of his faith. But in this valley of humiliation he learns strength to rise and conceives far different hopes, and we leave him on the heights of atonement and of regeneration. The book is philosophic in tone, and is enriched with many elevating thoughts from German, French, and English moralists. It is said to have been the Author’s favourite. It has been translated into many languages, e.g., French, under title Le succès dans l’échec (1906), and German as Der Erfolg des Misserfolgs (Press of the Missionaries of Steyl), M. 6.

⸺ MY NEW CURATE. Pp. 480. (Art and Book Co.). 6s. Eighteenth ed. Eighteen rather poor illustr. [1899]. New ed. (Longmans), 2s. 6d. 1914. (Boston: Marlier). 1.50.

Into a sleepy, backward, out-of-the-way parish comes a splendid young priest, cultured, energetic, zealous, up-to-date. He succeeds in many reforms, but the moral of the whole would seem to be, “Nothing on earth can cure the inertia of Ireland,” or rather, perhaps, “You cannot undo in a day the operations of 300 years.” The old parish priest tells the story. There is in the book intimate sympathy with, and love of, the people, their humours, and foibles, and virtues. There is plenty of very humorous incident. Delightful moralizings, like those in the Author’s Under the Cedars and the Stars. It is full of undidactic lessons for both priests and people. The religious life of the people is, of course, much dwelt on, and a good deal of light is thrown on the private life of the priests. Transl. into French (Mon nouveau vicaire), Dutch (Mijn nieuwe kapelaan, by M. van Beek, 1904), German (Mein neuer Kaplan, Bachem, M. 6.), Italian, Spanish (Mi nuevo coadjutor, Herder), Hungarian, Slovene, Ruthenian.

⸺ LUKE DELMEGE. Pp. 580. (Longmans). 6s. 1901.

The life-story of a priest. The main theme of this great novel is the setting forth of the spiritual ideals of the race and of the heights of moral beauty and heroism to which these ideals can lead. A strong contrast is drawn between the ideals which the hero sees at work around him during his stay in England, and those which he finds at work at home. Many phases and incidents of Irish life are shown—the home-life of the priest, the eviction, the funeral, scenes in Dublin churches, the beauty of Irish landscape. One of the best, if not the best, of Irish novels. Yet as a “problem” novel it is strangely inconclusive. Luke seems to die with his life-questions unanswered. Trans. into French, Luke Delmege, âmes celtiques et âmes saxonnes; German, Lukas Delmege, trans. Ant. Lohr. (Habbel), M. 6, 1906, sixth ed.; and Hungarian. Canon Sheehan used to say of this book that its central idea was the doctrine of vicarious atonement.

⸺ GLENANAAR. Pp. 321. (Longmans). 6s. [1905]. New ed., 1915. 2s. 6d.

“Tainted blood, inherited shame, is a terrible thing amongst a people who attach supreme importance to these things.” This is, perhaps, the central theme of the story. The narrative opens in 1829 with the famous Doneraile Conspiracy trial in Cork, when O’Connell, summoned in hot haste from Derrynane, was just in time to save the lives of the innocent prisoners. The story traces to the third generation the strange fortunes of the descendants of one of the informers in this trial. There are glimpses of the famine of ’48 and of the spirit of the men of ’67. The story of Nodlag is a touching and beautiful one, and the episode of the returned American is very well done. Trans. into German, Das Christtagskind (Steyl: Mission Press), M. 2.50.

⸺ THE SPOILED PRIEST, and Other Stories. Pp. 213. (Gill and Burns & Oates). 5s. Nine illustr. by M. Healy. 1905.

Eight stories. The title-story gives a glimpse of the workings of an ecclesiastical seminary, and also of the Irish peasants’ attitude towards a student who has been refused ordination. “Remanded” is the story, founded on fact, of a hero-priest of Cork. “The Monks of Trabolgan” is a curious, fanciful story of Ireland at some future period. The remaining tales, “Rita, the Street Singer,” “A Thorough Gentleman,” and “Frank Forest’s Mince-Pie,” &c., do not deal with Ireland. Has been transl. into German and Dutch.

⸺ LOST ANGEL OF A RUINED PARADISE. Pp. vi. + 168. (Longmans). 3s. 6d.

Three schoolgirls on leaving college take part in tableau as Parcae or Fates. They announce in make-believe the fates of their companions. A mysterious voice from the audience announces their own. The story tells how their fates worked out. The first part of the drama takes place in Dublin, but after a time the scene shifts to London. Transl. into French as Ange égaré d’un paradis ruiné.

⸺ LISHEEN; or, the Test of the Spirits. Pp. 454. (Longmans). 6s. 1907. New ed., 1914, 2s. 6d.

The conception is that of Tolstoi’s Resurrection, with the scene transferred to Kerry. It is the story of how a young man of the Irish landlord class determines to put to the test of practise his ideals of altruism. To this end he abandons the society of his equals and lives the life of a labourer. He finds how full of pain and heartburning and disappointment is the way of the reformer. There are many reflections on the national character and its defects are not whittled down. The book has two main themes—the greed and callousness of Irish landlords, and the inability of the Englishman to understand Irish character.

⸺ THE BLINDNESS OF DR. GRAY; or, The Final Law. (Longmans). 6s. 1909. New ed., 1914. 2s. 6d.

The interest of this novel centres partly in its pictures of clerical life, partly in a charming love story of an uncommon type. The central figure is drawn with care and thoroughness. He is a strict disciplinarian, a rigid moralist, who worships the law with Jansenistic narrowness and hardness. But as the story goes on we discover beneath this hard surface unsuspected depths of human kindness. He himself finds out before the end that it is love, not law, that rules the world. The story contains many beautiful and touching scenes, and some fine description, notably in the South African portion of the book. There is some incidental criticism of various features of Irish life—popular politics, religious divisions, the Gaelic League, the change in the mentality of the people, and there is in it food for thought about some of our besetting faults. Considered by many to be the Author’s most finished and most powerful work. Transl. into German, Von Dr. Grays Blindheit, with introductory sketch (Einsiedeln: Benziger). M. 6. 1911.

⸺ MIRIAM LUCAS. Pp. 470. (Longmans). 6s. [1912]. New ed., 1914. 2s. 6d.

Miriam is the daughter of wealthy Protestant parents in Glendarragh, in the W. of Ireland. Her mother, on becoming a Catholic, is driven by domestic persecution into evil ways, and subsequently disappears. Society ostracizes Miriam, who, in revolt against it, goes to Dublin, where, in alliance with a young visionary Trinity student, she flings herself into the Socialist movement. Her efforts end in a disastrous strike. For a time she staves off crime and tragedy, but it comes at last. Book III. brings her to New York in search of her mother, whom she discovers sunk to the lowest moral depths. The story hinges partly, too, on the lifting of the curse of Glendarragh by Miriam and the hero, who makes her happy in the end. There are not a few fine dramatic situations, but the plot does not hang together. The book is meant to deal with Irish social and religious problems and to picture certain phases of Irish life. The life pictured is chiefly that of the Protestant upper classes, of whom a severe and satirical portrait is drawn. There are just a few glimpses of peasant life. The Author raises more problems than he solves, and the prevailing impression left upon the reader is one of gloom. Has been transl. into German.

⸺ THE GRAVES AT KILMORNA. Pp. 373. (Longmans). 6s. 1915.

An attempt to set forth the spirit of the Fenian movement of 1867, and even to contrast it with subsequent movements, to the great disadvantage of the latter; for the Author thought that the fire of Nationality has burned very low since ’67. The heroes are James Halpin (apparently intended for Peter O’Neill Crowley, who fell in ’67) and Miles Cogan, Fenians and unselfish patriots. There is some good character drawing, but the interest of plot and incident is slight, the chief interest being the vein of very ideal philosophy which runs through the book. The Author is gloomy and pessimistic about modern Ireland.

SHERLOCK, J.

⸺ THE MAD LORD OF DRUMKEEL. Pp. 199. (Sealy, Bryers). 3s. 6d. 1909.

“An unexciting chronicle of the solitary Lord Barnabweel, his quaint experiments with his Irish property and tenantry, and the story of his son who left him, married in a Dublin lodging-house, and became a famous musician.”—(Times’ Lit. Suppl.).

SIDGWICK, Ethel.

⸺ HERSELF. (Sidgwick & Jackson). 1912.

The story of an Irish girl in Paris and of her life and love affairs there. Pleasantly written, and giving a kindly account of the Irish character. (Press Notice).

SIGERSON, Hester.

⸺ A RUINED RACE; or, the Last Macmanus of Drumroosk. (Ward & Downey). 6s. 1890.

A very gloomy view of Ireland. The Author displays intimate knowledge of Irish scenes, idioms, and characteristics. Period: middle of nineteenth century. Pictures with painful fidelity and much power the misfortunes of a once happy and prosperous couple belonging to the well-to-do peasant class. Misery seems to dog their steps from one end of the book to the other. The girl dies in the workhouse, the man takes to drink and is killed in an accident. Seems to aim at picturing the difficulties and sufferings of the peasantry, especially under the old land system. The Author was the wife of Dr. Geo. Sigerson.

SIME, William. B. Wick, Caithness, 1851. D. Calcutta, 1895. Author of several other works of fiction—King Capital, To and Fro, Boulderstone.

⸺ THE RED ROUTE; or, Saving a Nation. Three Vols. (Sonnenschein). 1884.

Scene: West and South of Ireland, beginning with Galway, where the hero, Finn O’Brien, goes to college and suffers much both from collegians and peasantry. Finn becomes a Fenian, but falls in love with an English widow who had become a Catholic to escape the pursuit of bishops and parsons of her own Church. The heroine is a Claddagh girl, whose love for an English captain, Jeffrey, is crossed by the fact that she is a Fenian. One of the love affairs ends happily, the other tragically. The Author is not anti-Irish, but knows little about Ireland. He drags in priests “smelling strongly of whiskey” and nuns who have broken their vows.

SIMPSON, John Hawkins.

⸺ POEMS OF OISIN, Bard of Erin. Pp. 280. (M’Glashan & Gill). 1857.

Translated into English prose from Irish by the Author with help of native speakers. Contents: Oisin, Bard of Erin (introductory by the Author); Deardra; Conloch Son of Cuthullin (sic); The Fenii of Erin and Fionn MacCumhal; Dialogue between Oisin and St. Patrick (pp. 61-184); Mayo Mythology (various Fenian Tales); The Battle of Ventry.

SKELLY, Rev. A. M., O.P.

⸺ CUCHULAIN OF MUIRTHEMNE. Pp. 48. (C.T.S.I.). 1d. 1908.

A paper read before the Catholic Literary Society, Tralee. The Cuchulain epic briefly but admirably related. Passages of verse from Ferguson and De Vere are skilfully interwoven. Excellent notes at the end explain difficulties and references.

SMART, Hawley.

⸺ THE MASTER OF RATHKELLY. (F. V. White). Fifth ed. 1890.

A stirring story of love and sport in “Co. Blarney” in “the eighties.” Mr. Eyre, one of the “ould stock,” gets into difficulties with his tenants, who stop the “Harkhallow” hounds and boycott him. Written from the English and landlord standpoint. The dialect is wonderfully good and the “horsey” scenes well done. The Author was a well-known sporting novelist; 1833-1893.

SMITH, Agnes; Mrs. Lewis.

⸺ THE BRIDES OF ARDMORE: A Story of Irish Life. Pp. 393. (Elliott, Stock). Frontisp.—view of Ardmore. 1880.

Ardmore, Co. Waterford, in twelfth century. A few descriptions of scenery, but little local colour, and almost no historical mise-en-scène. The chief object of the story appears to be to picture forth a “primitive” Irish Church, unconnected with Rome, and resembling the modern Church of Ireland in many of its features. The priests are all married. Indeed their matrimonial affairs and the cruel interruption of these by decrees from Rome provide the greater part of the incidents. The tone is not bitter towards Catholicism, but innocently patronising and didactic.

[SMITH, John].

⸺ IRISH DIAMONDS. Pp. 183. 16mo. (Chapman & Hall). 1847. (Gibbings). Five Illus. by “Phiz.” 1890.

Chapters:—On the Road, Young Ireland, Irish Wit, Irish Life, Irish Traits, The Latter End. Humorous Irish anecdotes, rather above the average “pigs, poteen, and praties” type, frankly meant to amuse, but showing not a little knowledge of and sympathy with Irish traits. When the book was written the Author was “one of the editors of the Liverpool Mercury.”

SMYTH, Patrick G. B. Ballina, Co. Mayo, about 1856. Was in early years a National School teacher. Besides his novels, he wrote verse for several Irish periodicals between 1876-1885. For some time he was engaged on a Chicago paper.

⸺ THE WILD ROSE OF LOUGH GILL. Pp. 306. (Gill). 2s. 6d. [1883]. Fifth ed., 1904. (Benziger). 0.85.

Though nominally not the heroes, Owen Roe O’Neill and Miles the Slasher are the chief figures in this fine novel of the Wars of the Confederation. A love-story is interwoven with the historical events. The view-point is thoroughly national. The style abounds in imagery and fine descriptive passages. The novel is one of the most popular ever issued in Ireland. The story ends shortly after the fall of Galway in 1652. The scene is laid partly in Co. Sligo, where (near Lough Gill) one of the most thrilling episodes, founded on a still living tradition, takes place.

⸺ KING AND VIKING; or, The Ravens of Lochlan. Pp. 200. (Sealy, Bryers). 1s. n.d. (1889).

Tireragh (Co. Sligo) in 888, the date assigned by the Four Masters to a great battle fought between the men of Connaught and the Danes. The wars between Danes and Irish furnish the chief interest of the book, but there is also the story of the feud between Ceallach the tanist of Hy Fiachrach and Dungallach, a rival. Much information, drawn from reliable sources, is given regarding the Irish clans, their customs, and their territories.

SOMERVILLE, Edith Œnone, and “MARTIN, Ross.” Miss Violet Martin, of Ross, Co. Galway. Miss Somerville is dau. of the late Col. Somerville, of Drishane, Skibbereen, Co. Cork. Both Authors are granddaughters of Chief Justice Charles Kendal Bushe. Amongst their other works are Naboth’s Vineyard, Beggars on Horseback, and Through Connemara in a Governess’ Cart (illust.).

⸺ AN IRISH COUSIN. Pp. iv. + 306. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. [First ed., 1889]; new ed., quite re-written, 1903. Ten illustr. by E. Œ. Somerville.

Modern country-house life in Co. Cork. A serious study of the slow awakening of a young man to the realization that there are things in life more real to him than horses and dogs. His love for a clever cousin returned from Canada has a tragic ending. The characters of the tale are drawn from Protestant county society. Clever description of Durrus, the ramshackle home of the Sarsfields. Miss Jackson-Croly’s “At Home” and the run with the Moycullen hounds are said to be worthy of Lever.

⸺ THE REAL CHARLOTTE. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. [1894]. Three Vols. (Ward & Downey).

A dark tale of a world “weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable.” An unscrupulous woman works the ruin of a sweet-natured, ill-trained girl. Scene: Irish country neighbourhood. Characters, land agents, farmers, great ladies, drawn with impartial and relentless truth. Pronounced by many critics to be worthy of Balzac.

⸺ THE SILVER FOX. Pp. 195. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. [1898]. (Lawrence and Bullen).

The chief interest of this story lies in some sporting scenes in the West of Ireland. The peasantry are seen from an uncomprehending standpoint, and the chief figures are people of fashion, of no particular nationality. “Broadly speaking, the novel may be said to exhibit in a dramatic form the extraordinary hold which superstition still possesses on the minds of the Irish peasantry.”—(Spectator).

⸺ SOME EXPERIENCES OF AN IRISH R.M. Pp. iv. + 310. Thirty-second thousand. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. Thirty-one illustr. (pen and ink sketches) by E. Œ. Somerville. 1899.

Racy, humorous sketches of hunting and other episodes in the south and west. The Author’s most successful work originally appeared in The Badminton Magazine.

⸺ ALL ON THE IRISH SHORE. Pp. iv. + 274. Eighteenth thousand. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. Ten illustr. by E. Œ. Somerville. 1903.

Sketches of fox-hunting, horse-dealing, racing, trials for assault between neighbours, petty boycotting, rural larking, full of sprightly and rollicking humour. Chief characters, the petty county gentry. The peasantry are drawn in caricature, usually friendly, and are shown in relation to their social superiors, not in their own life and reality. If these sketches were taken seriously, the peasantry would appear as drunken, quarrelsome, lying, dirty, unconsciously comical—with scarcely a single redeeming trait. The scene is south-western Cork.

All on the Irish Shore has been described (Irish Monthly) as “a blend of Lover and Lever (in his coarser rollicking days) refined by some of the literary flavour of Jane Barlow, but with none of the insight and sympathy of Irish Idylls. The same may be said of the Experiences of an Irish R.M., which moreover, contains here and there passages needlessly offensive to national feeling.” Titles of some chapters:—Fanny Fitz’s Gamble, A Grand Filly, High Tea at McKeown’s, A Nineteenth Century Miracle, &c.

N.B.—Messrs. Longmans have (April, 1910) issued a new uniform edition of the works of Somerville and Ross, at 3s. 6d. per volume.

⸺ FURTHER EXPERIENCES OF AN IRISH R.M. Pp. 315. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. 1908.

⸺ SOME IRISH YESTERDAYS. Eleventh thousand. (Longmans). 3s. 6d. Fifty-one illustr. by E. Œ. Somerville. 1908.

Admirable illustrations of Connemara scenery, clever sketches of “natives” (usually of the lowest type). Light magazine sketches written in clever, racy style. Subjects: Holidays in Aran and Connemara and Carbery, picnics, country house anecdotes, superficial studies of peasants in Connemara and Cork. “In Sickness and in Health” pays a tribute to the strength of the marriage bond in Ireland.

⸺ DAN RUSSELL, THE FOX. Pp. 340. (Methuen). 6s. 1911.

Miss Rowan comes over to Ireland and takes “Lake View,” in the midst of a hunting district in S. Munster. She falls in love—for the time—with John Michael, handsome, and the most valiant of huntsmen, but a child of nature whose whole mind is absorbed in hounds and horses. Hence complications. The Author’s usual pictures of hunting scenes and happy-go-lucky country gentry. Mrs. Delanty, the sharp and devious widow, is a curious portrait. Dan Russell is scarcely more than a minor character in the piece. It is a story about which we cannot speak favourably.

⸺ IN MR. KNOX’S COUNTRY. (Longmans). 6s. Eight full-page illustr. in chalk. 1915.

Eleven sketches of the same type as the Experiences of an Irish R.M., with some new dramatis personæ in the old localities.

SQUIRE, Charles.

⸺ THE BOY HERO OF ERIN. Pp. 240. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. Handsome cover. Four good illustr. by A. A. Dixon. 1907.

The Cuchulainn Saga told in simple and clear, but somewhat unemotional and matter-of-fact, style. Sources: Miss Hull’s Cuchulainn Saga and Miss Winifred Faraday’s Cattle Raid of Cuailgne (q.v.). The Author holds Cuchulainn to be a hero “not less brave and far more chivalrous than any Greek or Trojan” (Pref.), and thinks that the ancient Gael “invented the noble system of conduct which we call courtesy.”

⸺ CELTIC MYTH AND LEGEND, Poetry and Romance. Pp. 450. (Gresham Publishing Co.). Four Plates in colour by J. H. F. Bacon; fourteen in monochrome by the same and others, and a few photos, n.d.

A kind of digest of the chief published translations of ancient Irish and Welsh saga and romance, preceded by four short essays on the interest of Celtic mythology, and the sources of our knowledge of it, the origin of the Britons and their religion (44 pp. in all). Pp. 47-248 are a summary of Gaelic myth, &c., and pp. 250-395 of British ditto. Then there is an essay on survivals of Celtic paganisms, and an Append. giving brief bibliogr. Index. The myths and romances are not related as a tale is told; they are merely placed on record, almost stripped of their poetry, along with all the extravagances and absurdities that disfigure them, chiefly through modern corruptions. Of little or no interest for young people.

STACE, Henry.

⸺ THE ADVENTURES OF COUNT O’CONNOR in the Dominions of the Great Mogul. Pp. 343. (Alston Rivers). 1s. [1907]. 1909.

A string of impossible situations and thrilling escapes, purporting to be the adventures of an Irish soldier of fortune in India about 1670, related by himself. The Count frequently discourses of the honour of an Irish gentleman, and never acts up to it. His character is that of a thorough rascal. The book contains many disreputable adventures in harems.

STACPOOLE KENNY, Mrs. see KENNY.

STACPOOLE, H. de Vere. Son of Rev. William Church Stacpoole, D.D., of Kingstown, Co. Dublin. Ed. Malvern College, and St. Mary’s Hospital, London. Is a qualified medical man, but does not practise. Has travelled much. Resides near Chelmsford. Has publ. about twenty-two novels.—(Who’s Who). Some of these have been very successful, e.g., The Blue Lagoon.

⸺ PATSY. Pp. 362. (Fisher Unwin). 6s. 1908.

A gay and humorous story of a house-party in a country mansion somewhere in “Mid-Meath.” Full of amusing characters, cleverly sketched, e.g., the Englishman, Mr. Fanshawe, and the naughty and natural children. Above all there is Patsy, the page-boy, an odd mixture of soft-hearted simplicity and preternatural cuteness. He is the deus ex machina of the piece, causes all sorts of entanglements, and unravels them again in the strangest way. There is just a little study of national characteristics, but no politics nor problems.

⸺ GARRYOWEN: The Romance of a Racehorse. Pp. 352. (Fisher Unwin). 6s. 1910.

“A rattling good story ... Moriarty the trainer is a gem—Mickey Free redivivus, as full of tricks as a bag of weasels. The Author knows his Irish peasantry inside and out, and the only blot on an exceptional book is a needless disquisition on the rights and wrongs of ‘cattle-driving.’”—(I.B.L.).

⸺ FATHER O’FLYNN. Pp. 245. (Hutchinson). 1s. 1914.

The idea of the book, which is dedicated to Sir E. Carson and Mr. Redmond, is (see Pref.) to show the Catholic priest as the chief factor in present-day Irish life. The priest in question is represented in a favourable and friendly spirit, though perhaps hardly “at his best,” as the Author suggests. The chief interest is perhaps a love affair, conducted chiefly on horseback, which is told in a lively and spirited way.

STAVERT, A. A. B.

⸺ THE BOYS OF BALTIMORE. Pp. 212. (Burns & Oates). 2s. 6d. 1907.

A splendid boy’s story. Rich in the vein of adventure, of sport and fight by land, of war by sea, of captivity and slavery. With this there is a solid, but not too obtrusive, lesson of the value of faith and piety in a boy’s life. The piety of the young heroes has nothing mawkish about it. The tone is Catholic. The brogue is very badly imitated.—(N.I.R.). Scene changes from Cork to Africa, and thence to London. Strafford, Wentworth, Laud, and Charles I. appear in the story.

STEPHENS, James. B. Dublin, 1884. Worked for some years in a solicitor’s office, but has definitely taken to literature. His first published volume was Insurrections, since which two other volumes of verse have appeared, and a fourth is about to appear. Has resided principally in Paris for the past two years, but is now living in Dublin, where he holds the position of Registrar at the National Gallery of Ireland. His writings have met with an enthusiastic reception from the critics.