Twelve evenings of story-telling at a Wexford fireside. The stories are mostly Ossianic legends, but there are a few fairy tales. They purport to be told by a farmer with all the arts of the shanachie—the quaintness, the directness, the pithy sayings, the delightful digressions, and the gay humour. They are, of course, in dialect.
M’CALLUM, Hugh and John. Ed. an original collection of the poems of Ossian, Orrann, Ullin, and other bards who flourished in the same age. (Montrose). 1816.
M’CARTHY, Justin. B. in Cork, 1830, and ed. there. Began there his literary career of over sixty years. In 1853 he went to Liverpool, and thence to London in 1860. From that time till his death in 1912 he lived almost exclusively in England. But he never lost touch with Ireland. For many years he was a Nationalist M.P., and from 1890-96 was Chairman of the Party. His works number over forty, many of them dealing with Ireland—novels, history, biography, reminiscences, &c.
⸺ A FAIR SAXON. Pp. 386. (Chatto & Windus). 3s. 6d. [1873]; several since. New ed. about 1907.
Main theme: the love of an English girl for Maurice FitzHugh Tyrone, an Irish M.P., famous in the House as a clever and insuppressible opponent of the Government. Much of the story (a complicated one) is concerned with the efforts of another lover of the Fair Saxon to supplant Tyrone, and also to get him to violate the conditions of a legacy. The latter are (1) that Tyrone shall not marry before forty; (2) that he shall not join the Fenians; (3) that he shall not fight a duel. His efforts meet with a wonderful succession of alternate success and failure. Incidentally we have glimpses of Fenian plotting, the Fenian movement being portrayed with little sympathy. The characters are nearly all insipid or vicious worldlings, drawn in a satirical and sometimes cynical vein. Such is Mrs. Lorn, the rich American widow, of fast life. The heroine, and to a certain extent the hero, are exceptions. The precocious young American, Theodore, is one of the best things in the book.
⸺ MAURICE TYRONE. (Benziger). 0.75. The American ed. of A Fair Saxon.
⸺ MONONIA. Pp. 383. (Chatto & Windus). 6s. [1901]. New edition, 1902.
Scene: a large Munster town, presumably Cork. Time: the attempted rising in 1848. The chief interest is the unfolding in action of the various characters. Some of these are strikingly and distinctively portrayed. The treatment of the love element is original, the course of true love being smooth from the start. Here and there are pleasant bits of description. The standpoint is Catholic and nationalist, but without anti-English feeling, several of the principal and most admirable characters being English. A happy love story runs through the book.
M’CARTHY, Justin Huntley. S. of preceding. B. 1860. Ed. University College School, London. Began writing 1881. Nationalist M.P. 1884-1892, during which period he was an ardent politician. Publ. England under Gladstone (1884), and in the same year a successful play, “The Candidate.” Then followed Hours with Great Irishmen, Ireland since the Union, The Case for Home Rule, &c., and a number of books, poems, tales, &c., on Oriental subjects. His knowledge of our myth and legend has been described as comprehensive and exhaustive. He has publ. many other novels and plays and volumes of verse. But of late years the theatrical world has claimed him wholly.