McKAY, J. G.
⸺ THE WIZARD’S GILLIE; or, Gille A’Bhuidseir and Other Tales. Ed. and transl. by J. G. McKay. (St. Catherine’s Press). 3s. 6d. 1915.
A selection from the MS. collection of the tales gathered by the late J. F. Campbell, of Islay (q.v.), and preserved in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh. The Gaelic and the translation are given on opposite pages. Some of the titles are “Donald Caol Cameron,” “The Carpenter MacPheigh,” “The Sept of the Three Score Fools.”
MACKAY, William.
⸺ PRO PATRIA: the Autobiography of a Conspirator. Two Vols. (Remington). 1883.
The narrator, Ptolemy Daly, is a weak, conceited youth, given to hysterics and poetry. Full of visions of Robert Emmet, he joins the staff of “The Sunburst,” the organ of an insurrectionary movement led by Phil Gallagher, a fine character, evidently modelled on T. C. Luby. At the critical moment Daly plays the traitor and decamps to England. Isaac Butt and John Rea are introduced, under thinly disguised names. Scene: Dublin and Wicklow. Written in ironical vein: Daly’s only “Speech from the Dock” was on a charge of drunk and disorderly. The Author was one of three brothers, all well-known London journalists. He was born in Belfast in 1846. Wrote also A Popular Idol and Beside Still Waters.
MACKENZIE, Donald A.
⸺ FINN AND HIS WARRIOR BAND; or, Tales of Old Alban. Pp. 248. (Blackie). 2s. 6d. 1910.
Stories, arranged in a connected series, of the Fenian cycle, adapted for children from twelve to fourteen or thereabouts. Told in picturesque language, but perfectly simple and direct. For the most part folklore, full of magic and wonder, nine-headed giants and fire-breathing dogs. But here and there the antique hero-tale appears, as in the Battle of Gavra and the death of Dermaid. Localities mostly Scotch. The illustrations (6 coloured, 34 in black and white) are charming in every way. Picture cover.
MACKENZIE, R. Shelton.