⸺ NIGHTSHADE. (Belfast: Aicken). 2s. Portrait. [c. 1870]. Many editions; the last c. 1902.
The hero, Charles Annandale, a young Ulster landlord and an Oxfordman, returns to Ireland in the thick of the agrarian agitation. His agent is shot by Ribbonmen, who had been previously absolved by the priest. He is an unsuccessful candidate for Parliament. The election is well described, the Author probably drawing on his experiences at Downpatrick in 1857. Among the characters is Rev. Mr. Werd (Dr. Drew, of Belfast). The sister of Charles’s betrothed is entrapped by a Jesuit, who poses as her guardian, and immured in a Paris convent, but is released after a lawsuit. There is much denunciation of “prowling Jesuits,” “Liberal Protestants,” and “Puseyite Traitors.”
⸺ UNDER WHICH KING. Pp. 308. (Tinsley). 1873.
A plain historical narrative, with little plot, and no character drawing of the various events of 1688-91—Derry, the Boyne, &c. Very strong Williamite bias.
JONES, T. Mason.
⸺ OLD TRINITY: a Tale of real life. Three Vols. 1867.
Period, c. 1850. Scene: T.C.D., Ossory, and Co. Limerick. Career, told by himself of a brilliant young Trinity man, including a love story. A fine piece of narrative. But the chief source of interest, perhaps, is the account of the land troubles of the day, as the very sympathetic picture of the sufferings of the peasantry during and after the Famine years. It includes portraits, drawn with feeling and admiration, of an Ossory P.P., and of a dissenting minister. There are pointed criticisms of educational methods and a study, none too favourable, of life in T.C.D. The Author ran The Tribune in Dublin in the fifties, and was afterwards well-known in England as a lecturer of the Reform League.
JOYCE, James A. B. of Galway parentage about thirty years ago. Was a student of Clongowes Wood College and of University Coll., Dublin. Published some years ago a small book of verse that has been much admired, entitled Chamber Music. Is at present in Trieste.
⸺ DUBLINERS. Pp. 278. (Grant, Richards). 3s. 6d. 1914.
Seventeen genre studies in the form of stories picturing life among the Dublin lower-middle and lower classes, but from one aspect only, viz., the dark and squalid aspect. This is depicted with almost brutal realism, and though there is an occasional gleam of humour, on the whole we move, as we read, in the midst of painful scenes of vice and poverty. His characters seem to interest the author in so far as they are wrecks or failures in one way or another. He writes as one who knows his subject well.