A volume of a good popular series which includes vols. on Oriental, English, German, American, and other folk-lores. Thirty-three tales chosen from published collections, chiefly Croker’s. A good selection. Humorous and extravagant element not too prominent. Some in dialect. Some titles:—“Fuin” (sic), “MacCumhal and the Salmon of Knowledge,” “Flory Cantillon’s Funeral,” “Saint Brandon” (sic), and “Donagha,” “Larry Hayes,” and “The Enchanted Man,” “The Brewery of Egg-shells,” “The Field of Boliauns,” &c.
⸺ FORD FAMILY IN IRELAND, THE. Three Vols. (London: Newby). 1845.
Ford, an English merchant comes to the west coast of Ireland to pursue a business speculation in grain, and brings his family. He is imprisoned owing to a misunderstanding, and his daughter marries an officer, Macalbert, who becomes chief of the pikemen, and eventually dies on the scaffold. Period: ’98, soon after the landing of French at Killala. Point of view: very sympathetic towards Ireland and anti-Orange. No religious bias. A pathetic and a dramatic story.
⸺ FRANK O’MEARA; or, The Artist of Collingwood; by “T. M.” Pp. 320. (Dublin: McGlashan & Gill). 1876.
Frank, of the tenant class, falls in love with the landlord’s daughter, Fanny. Their love is discovered, and Frank finds it best to emigrate to Australia. Here he has various adventures—bush-rangers, gold-diggings, and so on. A comic element is afforded by the sayings and doings of his man, Jerry Doolin. Meanwhile F’s father and his friend, another widower, contend for the favours of the widow Daly—rather broad comedy—while Fanny, without losing her place in society, is running a bookshop while waiting for Frank. All is well in the end. A very pleasant story in every respect. “Collingwood” is a village near Melbourne. Part of the story takes place at Bray.
⸺ GERALD AND AUGUSTA; or, The Irish Aristocracy. Pp. 320. (Cameron & Ferguson). 6d. paper.
How Gerald, orphan son of Lord Clangore, is brought up in London to be anti-Irish, while his sister is brought up by a Mr. Knightly (a stay-at-home Irish squire absorbed in Ireland) to love Ireland. How chance brings Gerald to Ireland where he is quite won over to her cause. This chance is a wreck off the W. coast of Ireland resulting in Gerald’s falling temporarily into the hands of “Captain Rock.” Many amusing adventures and situations follow. The author’s sympathies are all for Ireland, but they are not blind or unreasoned sympathies. Very ably written both in style and construction.
⸺ HAMPER OF HUMOUR, A; by Liam. Pp. 176. (Gill). 2s. 1913.
A series of character and genre studies—the shy man, the drunken driver who wakes to find himself in a hearse and thinks it is his own funeral, the returned American, the magistrates who do a good turn for their friends. In this last and in several other sketches (notably in the two concerned with Cork railways) there is a note of satire. There is plenty of genuine humour to justify the title. The Cork accent is cleverly hit off; practically all the sketches are more or less Corkonian.
⸺ HARRY O’BRIEN: a Tale for Boys. (N.Y.: Benziger. 0.25 net. Burns and Lambert). 1859.