⸺ TERRE D’EMERAUDE.
BOWLES, Emily.
⸺ IRISH DIAMONDS: A Chronicle of Peterstown. Pp. 219. (Richardson). 1864.
A story of landlord and tenant, of illicit distilling, and of proselytising. A Bible reader, an agent, and the sister of a landlord are the villains of the piece. Tone strongly Catholic and anti-Protestant. There is a love interest and a certain amount of adventure, which are not made subordinate to the pictures of Souperism. In 1878 a writer in the Dublin Review said of it: “It has not been surpassed since it was written.... The characters are so well drawn that even those in barest outline are interesting and individual.... Told in the brightest, most natural, and most quietly humorous way.” Miss B. published more than a dozen other books, largely translations.
BOYCE, Rev. John, D.D. [From Inishowen and Tirconnell, by W. J. Doherty]. Born in Donegal, 1810. Ordained, Maynooth, 1837. Emigrated to U.S.A., 1845. Died 1864. Besides the three novels mentioned in the body of this work, he published lectures on the Influence of Catholicity on the Arts and Sciences, Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Elizabeth, Charles Dickens, Henry Grattan, &c.
⸺ SHANDY MAGUIRE; or, Tricks upon Travellers. (N.Y.: Pratt). 1.75. [1848]. Also (Richardson) 1855, and Warren, Kilmainham, n.d.
“First appeared in a Boston periodical, with the pen-name of Paul Peppergrass. It attracted at once the attention of Bishop Fenwick of Boston. Dr. Brownson, in his Quarterly Review, pronounced upon the book the highest eulogium, and assigned to the writer a place equal if not superior to any writers of Irish romance. Shandy Maguire was recognised by the London Press and the Dublin Review as a work of great merit. It has been successfully dramatized and translated into German” (from Inishowen and Tirconnell, by W. J. Doherty).
⸺ THE SPAEWIFE: or, The Queen’s Secret. [1853]. Still in print. (Boston: Marlier). 1.50.
Begins at Hampton Court. The facility with which Father Boyce makes Nell Gower, the Scotch Spaewife (a woman gifted with second sight), discourse in broad Scotch dialect, in contrast with the stately and imperious language of Elizabeth, displays an unusual power of transition. No finer character could be depicted than Alice Wentworth, daughter of Sir Geoffrey Wentworth, the representative of an old English Catholic baronetage, who suffered persecution under Elizabeth; whilst Roger O’Brien, attached to the Court of Mary Queen of Scots, affords an opportunity of presenting the high-spirited and brave qualities that ought to belong to an Irish gentleman. Elizabeth appears in anything but a favourable light.