⸺ THE QUARTERCLIFT: or, the Adventures of Hudy McGuiggen. (Belfast), c. 1841. In shilling monthly parts. Illustrated.
An amusing story founded on the old Co. Derry folk tale of a “gommeral” named Hudy McGuiggin, who didn’t see why he couldn’t fly. So he made himself wings out of the feathers of a goose. Arrayed in these, he jumped off a high mountain (still shown by the peasantry), and of course came to grief. Strange to say, he recovered and lived to be an old man. This and other incidents are related with great verve and truth, and many well pourtrayed characters are introduced. See GREER, Tom.
[HARRIS, Miss S. M.]; “Athene.” Fourth daughter of a Co. Down farmer, the late William Harris, of Ballynafern, Banbridge. The family has been long resident in Belfast.
⸺ IN THE VALLEYS OF SOUTH DOWN. Pp. viii. + 155. (Belfast: M’Caw, Stevenson, & Orr). 1898.
Rupert Stanwell is kept apart from Mabel Mervyn, for his parents want him to marry a rich American heiress; but the two are joined in the end, and all is well. Conventional and unobjectionable, without any special local colour.
⸺ GRACE WARDWOOD. Pp. 269. (Duffy). 2s. 6d. Tasteful binding. 1900.
A domestic tale of middle class folk in Co. Down. Several love stories intertwined. Gracefully written but “feminine,” and not very mature in style. Contains little that is characteristically Irish, except some legends introduced incidentally.
⸺ DUST OF THE WORLD. Pp. vi. + 293. (Allen). 6s. 1913.
Sub-t.: “An historical romance of Belfast in the 17th century.” Introduces the Earl of Donegall, the lord of the soil; Lady Donegall who, to the annoyance of Bp. Jeremy Taylor, has hankerings after Presbyterianism; George Macartney, the Sovereign or Mayor; and other Belfast townsfolk of the day. Swift is an anachronism in this story, and there are no grounds in history for the portrait given of Patrick Adair, an early Presbyterian minister. Lord Donegall is made to talk with a brogue, while a butcher’s wife talks in the best of English.