IRWIN, Thomas Caulfield. 1823-1892. Is better known as a poet than as a prose-writer. Yet he wrote one hundred and thirty tales of various length, essays on many subjects, and an historical romance “From Cæsar to Christ.” He was of unsound mind for a number of years before his death.
⸺ WINTER AND SUMMER STORIES AND SLIDES OF FANCY’S LANTERN. Pp. 252. Close print. (Gill). 1879.
Contents: 1. “Old Christmas Hall;” 2. “The First Ring”; 3. “An Irish Fairy Sketch”; 4. “The Miser’s Cottage”; 5. “By Moonlight”; 6. “By Gaslight”; 7. “A Visit to a Great Artist”; 8. “Falstaff’s Wake”; 9. “A Scene in Macbeth’s Castle”; 10. “Julio”; 11. “A Death”; 12. “Visions of an Old Voyage from Rome to Asia”; 13. “The Shores of Greece”; 14. “Theocritus”; 15. “A Glimpse of Arcadia”; 16. “A Ballad of Old Dublin” (verse); 17. “Corney McClusky” (verse); 18. “Ethel Maccara”; 19. “Pausias and Glycera”; 20. “Manon and her Spirit Lover”; 21. “An Ancient Aryan Legend”; 22. “A Florentine Fortune”; 23. “Insielle’s Dimple and Fan.”
Miscellaneous sketches and stories. Several are literary jeux-desprit (e.g., 8, 9, 10). Others slight studies of curious little aspects of life, rather imaginary than real. For the most part, however, they are peculiar, weird tales, several touching the preternatural, but not morbid. The prose is poetic, imaginative, and of high literary qualities—at times comparable with those of de Quincey, e.g., in No. 4, p. 72, sq. Here and there are exquisite pen-pictures. Several of the tales have Irish settings. No. 4 has curious pictures of old Dublin, c. 1770.
JACOBS, Joseph.
⸺ CELTIC FAIRY TALES. Pp. xvi. + 274. (Nutt). 6s. Complete edition. [1891]. Third, 1902.
Eight full-page plates and numerous illustrations in the text by J. D. Batten. The pictures are exquisite, and could scarcely be more appropriate. Interesting and valuable Notes and References at end, about 30 pages, giving the source of each tale and parallels. The tales are drawn mainly from previous printed collections. The twenty-six tales include some Scotch and Welsh. Some are hero-tales, as “Deirdre,” and “The Children of Lir”; some folk-tales; some drolls, i.e., comic anecdotes of feats of stupidity or cunning. There are practically no fairy-tales properly so called. The tales are admirably selected, and are told in simple, straightforward language.
⸺ MORE CELTIC FAIRY TALES. Pp. xvi. + 234. (Nutt). 6s. Complete edition.
All that has been said of the first series can be applied to the second, which is in every way worthy of its predecessor. Twenty stories. The two volumes may fairly be said to constitute the most representative and attractive collection of Celtic tales ever issued.