MURPHY, James. B. Glynn, Co. Carlow, 1839. Ed. locally. He entered the teaching profession, and was for some years Principal of the Public Schools at Bray, Co. Wicklow, being appointed in 1860. He was successively Town Clerk of Bray and Prof. of Mathematics in Cath. Univ. and in Blackrock Coll. He resides in Kingstown. He has written more than twenty-five novels, eleven of which have been published. Others he hopes to publish in the near future.
⸺ THE HAUNTED CHURCH. (Lond.: Spencer Blackett). 4 eds.
The story of a treasure buried by buccaneers in an old graveyard near Dublin, telling how the chief characters of the tale, after many exciting adventures in Peru at the time of the revolution there, eventually find the treasure and also the heir to the earldom of Glenholme.
⸺ THE SHAN VAN VOCHT: a Tale of ’98. Pp. 347. (Gill). 2s. 6d. n.d. [1883]. Several since.
A melodramatic story, full of hairbreadth escapes, related with a good deal of dash, and at times of power. Tells of Tone’s negotiations in Paris leading to the various attempted French invasions of Ireland, with a detailed and vivid account of that in which Admiral Bompart was defeated in Lough Swilly and Tone himself captured, also details of the latter’s trial and execution.
⸺ THE FORGE OF CLOHOGUE. Pp. 332. (Sealy, Bryers, and Gill). [1885]. 5th ed., 1912.
The story opens on Christmas Eve, 1797, and ends with the battle of Ross, including very stirring descriptions of the battle there and at Oulart. As is usual with this Author, the plot is somewhat loose, there are improbabilities, and the love interest is of a stereotyped kind; yet the reader is carried along by the quick succession of exciting incident. Of course the standpoint is national. A good idea is given of the state of the country at the time.
⸺ THE HOUSE IN THE RATH. Pp. 291. (Sealy, Bryers). 2s. [1886]. Fifth ed., 1909.
Has the usual qualities of this Author’s stories: plenty of exciting and dramatic incident, and stirring descriptions—among the latter the battle of Camperdown. Deals with Wolfe Tone’s efforts to obtain aid from France for the United Irishmen and with the plans of the latter at home. Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Oliver Bond appear. There are pictures, too, of the atrocities of the yeomanry. Interwoven with these events there is a romance of private life centering in the cleverly drawn characters of Teague, the Fiddler, and Kate Hatchman. As usual, the Author makes much use of “the long arm of coincidence.”