⸺ ETHNE. Pp. 312. (Wells, Gardner). 3s. 6d. Three or four good Illustr. [1902]. Third edition. 1911.
A tale of Cromwell’s transplantation of the Irish to Connaught. Purports to be taken partly from the diary of Ethne O’Connor, daughter of one of the transplanted, and partly from the “record” of Roger Standfast-on-the-Rock. The former is converted to the religion of the latter by a single reading of the Bible. The interest of the book is mainly religious.
FIGGIS, Darrell. Born Gleann-na-Smol, Co. Dublin, 1882. Was taken to India in infancy and remained there till he was ten years old. Was put into a London business house, and did not abandon this walk of life, in which his fortunes were sometimes low enough, till about 1909, the date of his first volume of poems, A Vision of Life. Since then he has been engaged in journalism and literature. He has taken an active part in the national movement in Ireland. For the past five years he has spent every winter in Achill, where he now lives permanently. Has, among other works, two novels, Broken Arcs and Jacob Elthorne, and is now engaged on an Irish story.
FILDES, H. G.
⸺ “TRIM” AND ANTRIM’S SHORES. Pp. 312. (Greening). 6s. 1904.
Account of holiday trip, supposed to be taken by the writer (an Englishman) and his friend, “Trim,” to the coast of Antrim, also Lough Neagh, and a few other places. Consists mainly of humorous incidents treated more or less in the Three Men in a Boat, or rather the Three Men on the Bümmel style, but much inferior. Little or no description of Antrim.
FINLAY, T. A., S.J., M.A.; “A. Whitelock.” Born 1848. Educated at Cavan College, at Amiens, and at the Gregorian University, Rome. Entered Irish Province S.J., 1866. Commissioner of Intermediate Education, 1900; Vice-President of Irish Agricultural Organisation Society; Ex-Fellow of Royal Univ. of I.; Editor, The Lyceum and then The New Ireland Review (1894-1910); President of Univ. Hall, Dublin, since 1913.—(Cath. Who’s Who).
⸺ THE CHANCES OF WAR. (Gill). [1877]. New edition, 1908, and (Fallon), 2s. 6d. 1911.
Aims (cf. Preface) to indicate the causes that led to failure of Confederation of Kilkenny. Represents in the characters introduced the aims and motives of the chief actors in the events of the period, such as Owen Roe O’Neill, Rinuccini, Sir Charles Coote, &c. There is a spirited description of the first relief of Derry, the Battle of Benburb, Ireton’s siege of Limerick. The hero is an exile returned from a continental army. Between him and the heroine the villain Plunkett interposes his schemes. Scene: chiefly an island in Lough Derg. Though the main aim is historical, this fact in no way detracts from the interest and excitement of the romance. Written in a style above that of the majority of Irish historical novels. Standpoint: Catholic and national, but free from violent partisanship.