BRUEYRE, Loys. Born in Paris, 1835. A French folk-lorist, Vice-President of the Société des Traditions Populaires. A frequent contributor to French folk-lore periodicals.
⸺ CONTES POPULAIRES DE LA GRANDE BRETAGNE. Pp. 382. (Paris: Hachette).
Contains 100 tales. A very few are English (chiefly Cornish), none are Welsh. The majority are Scotch (largely from Campbell’s collection) but there are a good many Irish, taken from Croker and Kennedy. The book is entirely in French.
BUCHANAN, Robert, 1841-1901. Born in Staffordshire, son of Robert B., “Socialist, Missionary, and Journalist.” Educated at Glasgow. Published many volumes of poetry and several plays, among others a dramatised version of Harriett Jay’s Queen of Connaught (q.v.). In 1876 published his first novel—The Shadow of the Sword. Many others followed. In 1874 he settled at Rosspoint, Co. Mayo, but left Ireland in 1877. Father Anthony was written during this period, but not published till later. See the notice in D.N.B., and the Life, published in 1903, by Harriet Jay, his adopted daughter.
⸺ FATHER ANTHONY. (Long). 6s. Sixteen illustr. Many editions. 1903. New edition, 6d. 1911.
Scene: a country village in the West of Ireland. Father Anthony is a young priest, who for his brother’s sake has sacrificed a career in the world to devote himself to God’s poor. He finds himself called upon in virtue of his sacred office to keep the secret of the confessional when by a word he could save his brother from the hangman’s hands. The pathos of the young priest’s agony of mind is depicted with great power and sympathy. The other priest, Father John, is drawn as the true parish priest of the old type, blood and bone of the people, jovial, homely, lovable and beloved. The Author, though alien in faith and race, tells us that he knew intimately and loved both priests and people during his stay in Ireland.
⸺ THE PEEP-O’-DAY BOY: A Romance of ’98. (Dicks). 6d. n.d.
A conventional sensational tale, little above the “shilling shocker,” with oath-bound societies meeting in under-ground caverns, abductions, informers, an absentee landlord, the Earl of Dromore, whose daughter loves the expatriated owner, The O’Connormore, and soforth. The three chapters on the insurrection are from Cassell’s History of Ireland. The story is scarcely worthy of this Author.
BUCKLEY, William. Born in Cork, and educated there at St. Vincent’s Seminary and the Queen’s College. His first literary work appeared in MacMillan’s Magazine. Resides in Dublin.
⸺ CROPPIES LIE DOWN. Pp. 511. (Duckworth). 6s. 1903.