Scene: Wicklow, whose scenery is well described. Rebellion seen from Protestant and loyalist standpoint. Rebels appear as recklessly brave savages. Battles of New Ross and Hacketstown described. Characters well brought out. Some aspects of the life of the times described, notably stage-coach travelling and illicit distilling. Brogue not well reproduced. Based, says the Pref., chiefly on Lecky, but also on Maxwell, Musgrave, and Hay. There is a good deal about gold-mining in Co. Wicklow.
YEATS, William Butler. B. 1865, at Sandymount, Co. Dublin. Son of J. B. Yeats, R.H.A., a distinguished Irish artist. Ed. Godolphin School, Hammersmith, and Erasmus Smith School, Dublin. Went to London in 1888, and there, in 1889, publ. his first volume of verse. Since then many others have appeared, and he is now known as one of the foremost poets of the day, perhaps the only Irish poet whose name is familiar to students of European literature outside of Ireland, and it is true to say with Mrs. Hinkson in her Reminiscences, “All the world that cares about literature knows of his work to-day.” He was for a number of years actively interested in spiritism and magic, and there is more of this than of genuine folk-lore in his writings. What there is of folklore in them seems to have been gleaned during visits to his mother’s people in Sligo. His prose is that of a poet full of changing colour and strange rhythm and vague suggestion.
⸺ FAIRY AND FOLK-TALES OF THE IRISH PEASANTRY. Pp. 326. (W. Scott). 3s. 6d. and 1s. [1888]; often republ.
Introd. and notes by Ed. The Tales, sixty-four in number, are selected from previously published collections (Croker, Lover, Kennedy, Wilde, &c.), including several examples of poetry about the fairies. They are classed under these heads:—The Trooping Fairies, The Solitary Fairies, Ghosts, Witches, Tir na-n-óg, Saints and Priests, The Devil, Giants, &c. Each class is introduced by some general remarks. There is nothing objectionable but it is hardly a book for children. The weird and grotesque element largely predominates.
⸺ IRISH FAIRY AND FOLK-TALES. Twelve full page illustr. by James Torrance. (W. Scott). 3s. 6d.
⸺ JOHN SHERMAN, and DHOYA. Pp. 195. (Fisher Unwin). 1891.
John Sherman is not wild and fantastic like The Secret Rose, &c., but a pleasant narrative dealing with life in Ballah (Sligo), the scene at times shifting to London. The descriptions both of scenery and character are full of quaint little touches of very subtle observation. The style is remarkable for a dainty simplicity, lit up now and then by a striking thought or a brilliant aphorism. Dhoya (last 25 pp.) is a wild Celtic phantasy.—(I.M.). Published under the pen-name of “Ganconagh.”
⸺ IRISH FAIRY TALES. Ed. with Introd. by. Pp. 236. 16mo. (Fisher Unwin). 2s. 6d. Illustr. by J. B. Yeats. Third impress. 1892.
A dainty little volume, very popular with children. None of the stories included in it are to be found in the same Author’s Irish Fairy and Folk-tales.—(W. Scott).
⸺ THE SECRET ROSE: Irish Folk-lore. Illustr. by J. B. Yeats. Pp. 265. (Maunsel). 3s. 1898. (N.Y.: Dodd & Mead). 2.00.