A wild story, in which historical names (O’Ruarc of Breffny, Dermod MacMurrough, Strongbow, Eva, Devorgilla) are given to the personages, but which has no foundation in history. The incidents are supposed to take place some short time after the Norman invasion, but the book bristles with anachronisms. It is a series of thrilling adventures, fighting, revenge, murders, hairbreadth escapes, and so forth. Highly melodramatic, sentimental, and extravagant.
⸺ BIANCA: a Tale of Erin and Italy. Two Vols. 660 pp. (N.Y.: Harper). 1852.
An outlandish sort of story, full of murders, perhaps a dozen, if not more. Nearly all the characters have some terrible secret connected with their past; hardly any of them are legitimate children. A duel between two brothers, and banshees, and mysterious ladies with dark prophesyings, etc., and all the fee-faw-fum of the times when all this was popular.
MAXWELL, W. Hamilton. 1792-1850. He was a clergyman of the Church of Ireland, with a parish at Ballagh, in the wilds of Connaught, but was largely relieved of pastoral duties by the absence of a flock. He divided his leisure between field sports of all kinds and the writing of books. Wild Sports of the West, Stories of Waterloo, and The Bivouac were the most successful of these; they are still much read. He tells a story capitally, with verve and spirit, and his situations are as exciting as those of any modern novelist. Maxwell was the first writer of military novels: he is the forerunner and even the inspirer of Lever. Mr. Baker describes his Stories of Waterloo as “A farrago of Irish stories, sensational, with a dash of Hibernian character and local colouring.” This book is still to be had (Routledge, 2s.), and a new ed. publ. by The Talbot Press, Dublin (Every Irishman’s Library), and ed. by Lord Dunraven, has recently (Sept., 1915) appeared of his Wild Sports.
⸺ O’HARA. Two Vols. (Andrews). [1825].
A Protestant landowner casts in his lot with the United Irishmen. The Government attaints him of treason; he is tried by a jury of drunken bigots, and hanged as a traitor. His son, the hero of the tale, then throws himself heart and soul into the rebellion. The interest centres in the accounts of the fighting in the North. The hero is a leader at the battle of Antrim. Some light is thrown on the nature of the friction between the Catholic and the Protestant commanders, which constantly threatens the disruption of the rebel forces.—(Krans). Publ. anon.
⸺ THE DARK LADY OF DOONA. [1836]. Also (Smith, Elder) 1837. Pp. 306. (Belfast) 1846. (Lond.) 1854. (Warne). 6d. 1891.
“A weak historical novel, in Scott’s manner, which attempts a picture of sixteenth-century life.”—(Krans). The heroine is Grace O’Malley. The story opens in 1601, but there is a retrospective portion going back to tell the early life of the heroine. A tale of love and wild vengeance. In the story figure the heir of the Geraldines (who marries Grace’s granddaughter), Hugh O’Neill, and Sir Richard Bingham. Grace joins the latter against O’Neill. Well written on the whole.
⸺ LA DAME NOIRE DE DOONA. Roman historique traduit par Pâquis. Two tom. (Paris). 1834(!).