⸺ THE RED LEAGUERS. Pp. 315. (Methuen). 6s. (N.Y.: Pratt). 0.75. 1904.
Scenes from an imaginary rebellion in Ireland, purporting to be related by a Protestant who has sided with the rebels and captains the men of Armoy, a barony a little to the north of the Woodford River (the Thrasna of the story), which enters Lough Erne about two miles to the west of where the River Erne flows into the same. England having left Ireland almost without a garrison, the Protestants are all (except in a few places) killed or taken, the Irish Republic triumphs. Then the country gives itself up to an orgy of thoughtless rejoicing and more or less drunken revelling. In “a handful of weeks” the “land is hungry, wasted, lawless, disorganized, an Ireland gone to wrack.” The story closes with the news of English troops landing in Cork and Derry and Dublin. The author does not write simply from the standpoint of the dominant class, much less is he merely anti-Catholic and anti-Irish. He merely lacks faith in the wisdom and staying power of Irish character. He tries to show the actualities of the rebellion in their naked realism, eschewing all romance. He succeeds in being strangely vivid and realistic without apparent effort. Of the leaders on the Irish side one is a coward and a swaggerer, another is bloodthirsty, all are selfish and vulgar. The heroes are in the opposite camp.
N.B.—The scene of this story is also the scene of the Author’s other North of Ireland studies and sketches.
⸺ THE CUBS. Pp. 349. (Werner Laurie). 6s. 1906.
A story of life in an Irish school, recognized by old schoolfellows of the Author as bearing a strong resemblance to the Author’s old school of Farra, near Mullingar. It is naturally thought to be partly autobiographical. It is the history of a great friendship. It includes also some scenes of home life.
⸺ DAN THE DOLLAR. (Maunsel). 3s. 6d. [1906]. New edition. 1908.
A study of national character and of human nature in which the touch is delicate, sure, and true. The whole study is concentrated on five persons. First there is the picture of the neglected farm of the happy, easy-going Felix. His wife is a contrast with him in all, yet they agree perfectly. Then there is Mary Troy, a Catholic girl living with them, a beautifully-drawn character, and Felim, the dreamer of dreams. Into their lives suddenly comes Dan, who after years of hard, sordid striving in the States, has made his pile. He brings his hard, practical American materialism to bear on the improvement of “this God-forsaken country,” with what result the reader will see. There is a love story of an exceptional kind, handled with much subtlety and knowledge of human nature. There is much pathos and moral beauty in the story.
⸺ MASTER JOHN. Pp. 281. (Werner, Laurie). 6s. 1909.
Master John is a strong man, who makes his way in the world and returns wealthy to settle in Fermanagh. The place he buys has a curse upon it, and strange things happen. The story is told by an old retainer—now a car-driver—whose verbosity and ramblingness are very quaint and amusing.