The love story of Stella Mertoun, who is a Royalist, and Philip Venn, who is on the Parliamentary side in the Civil War. Only a small portion of the action takes place in Ireland. The author’s sympathies are with the Puritans, but the bias is not pronounced.
⸺ SIEGE OF MAYNOOTH, THE; or, Romance in Ireland. Two Vols. (Chelsea: Ridgeway). 1832.
A very long novel with a rather confused plot, but containing good scenes. Purports to be a MS. given to her descendant by the old Countess of Desmond, who has fallen on evil days, and relating stirring incidents of the Desmond wars and of the rebellion of Silken Thomas, including the attack on Desmond castle by the Butlers, the defeat and capture of Lord Grey in Glendalough, the escape of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald from the Black Castle of Wicklow, and the siege and betrayal of the Castle of Maynooth. Written on the whole from the Irish point of view.
⸺ SIR ROGER DELANEY OF MEATH; by “Hal.” Pp. 228. (Simpkin, Marshall). 6s. 1908.
The Sir Roger of the story (he is “10th baron Navan”) is an elderly married man, blustering, cursing, lying, cheating, but described in such a way that one does not see whether the author means him for a hero or not. He falls in love with Lady Kitty, who is in love with somebody else. Sir Roger tries to get the latter into disreputable situations. They fight a duel, and the curtain falls on Sir Roger mortally wounded. The book is quite devoid of seriousness.
⸺ SMITH OF THE SHAMROCK GUARDS; by “An Officer.” (Stanley Paul).
⸺ STORIES OF IRISH LIFE, PAST AND PRESENT; by “Slieve Foy.” Pp. 160. (Lynwood), 1s. 1912.
Ten stories, amusing and pathetic, some of which have appeared in the Weekly Freeman and the Irish Emerald.
⸺ STORY OF NELLY DILLON, THE; by the author of “Myself and my Relatives.” Two Vols. (London: Newby). 1866.
Nelly Dillon, daughter of a Tipperary farmer, is abducted in suspicious circumstances by a former lover, who is a Ribbonman and illicit distiller. She is disowned by her parents but befriended and sheltered by Bet Fagan, a fine character. The latter prevails upon the abductor, when under sentence of death, to clear Nelly Dillon’s character in presence of the parish priest, who afterwards tells the facts from the altar. The parents wish to receive Nelly back, but she rejects their advances and dies. A sad story, well told, and with a healthy moral.