⸺ THE RIVALS. 1832.
Third series of Tales of the Munster Festivals, q.v.
⸺ TALES OF THE MUNSTER FESTIVALS. (N.Y.: Pratt). 0.50.
Scene: the wild cliffs and crags of Kerry and West Clare. Theme: the play of passions as wild and terrible as the scenes; yet there are glimpses of peasant home-life and hospitality, and many touches of humour. The tales appeared in three series, 1827, 1829, and 1832. The first (Holland Tide) contained the Aylmers of Ballyaylmer, a story about a family of small gentry on the Kerry coast, with many details of smuggling; The Hand and Word, The Barber of Bantry, with its picture of the Moynahans, a typical middle-class family, like the Dalys in The Collegians, and several shorter tales. The second series contains Card-drawing, The Half-Sir, and Suil Dhuv the Coiner, which deals with the “Palatines” of Limerick. The third series contains The Rivals and Tracy’s Ambition. These are sensational stories. The first has an interesting picture of a hedge-school, the second brings out the people’s sufferings at the hands of “loyalists” and government officials. They contain several instances of seduction and of elopement. Perhaps the best of these is Suil Dhuv the Coiner. The characters of the robbers who compose the coiner’s gang are admirably discriminated, and the passion of remorse in Suil Dhuv is pictured with a power almost equal to that of The Collegians.
⸺ TALES OF MY NEIGHBOURHOOD. Three Vols. (Saunders & Otley). 1835.
Vol. 1 contains The Barber of Bantry. Vol. 2. Three sketches and the dramatic ballad The Nightwalker. Vol. 3. Eight short sketches and the poems Shanid Castle and Orange and Green.
⸺ THE DUKE OF MONMOUTH. Pp. 423. (Maxwell). 1842.
A clever historical novel, dealing with this unfortunate nobleman and the battle of Sedgmoor. Two Irish soldiers, Morty and Shemus Delany, supply the comic relief. The fine ballad, The Bridal of Malahide, first appears here, and the song, “A Soldier, A Soldier.”
⸺ TALES OF A JURY ROOM. Pp. 463. (Duffy). 2s. [1842]. Still reprinted.
The scenes of three of these tales are in foreign lands—Poland, the East, France in the days of Bayard. The remaining ten are Irish. Among them are fairy tales, tales of humble life, an episode of Clontarf, a story of the days of Hugh O’Neill, and several, including the Swans of Lir, that deal with pre-Christian times. All are well worth reading, especially “Antrim Jack”—Macalister, who died to save Michael Dwyer.