“A tale of ‘far off things and battles long ago,’ when King Heremon the Beautiful, who reigned at Tara over Milesian and Phoenician ..., fought with his Golden Guard against the Northern Barbarians. Lady Cromartie gives fire and passion to the shadowy figures, filling her imaginative pages with crowded hours of love and fighting, toil, pleasure, and vigorous life.”—(T. Lit. Suppl.).
CROMIE, Robert. Born at Clough, Co. Down, the son of Dr. Cromie. Was on the staff of Belfast Northern Whig, and died suddenly about ten years ago.
⸺ THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS. Pp. 326. (Ward & Locke). 6s. 1902.
A sympathetic study of Ulster Presbyterian life is the background for the romance, ending in tragedy, of a young minister. Besides the occasional dialect (well handled) there is little of Ireland in the book, but the story is told with much skill, and never flags. Bromley, an unbeliever, almost a cynic, but a true man and unselfish to the point of heroism, is a remarkable study. The author has also published The Crack of Doom, The King’s Oak, For England’s Sake, &c.
CROMMELIN, May de la Cherois. Born in Ireland. Daughter of late S. de la Cherois Crommelin, of Carrowdore Castle, Co. Down, a descendant of Louis Crommelin, a Huguenot refugee, who founded the linen trade in Ulster. Educated at home. Early life spent in Ireland; resided since in London; has travelled much. Publ. more than thirty novels.—(Who’s Who). Queenie was the Author’s first novel. A Jewel of a Girl deals with Ireland and Holland.
⸺ ORANGE LILY. Two Vols., afterwards One Vol. (Hurst & Blackett). 1879.
The story of Lily Keag, daughter of a Co. Down Orangeman, who, to the disgust of her social circle, falls in love with her father’s servant boy. The latter goes to America, and thence returns, a wealthy man, to claim Lily. The scenery is well described and the dialect well rendered. A healthy and high-toned novel.
⸺ BLACK ABBEY. Pp. 447. (Sampson, Low). [1880]. 1882.
We are first introduced to a delightful circle, the three children of Black Abbey (somewhere in Co. Down) and those about them, their German governess and Irish nurse and their playmate Bella, born in America, granddaughter of the old Presbyterian minister. The picture of their home-life is pleasant and life-like, with a vein of quiet humour. Then they grow up and things no longer run smoothly. Bella, by her marriage, well-nigh wrecks four lives, including her own, but things seem to be righting themselves as the story closes. The dialect of the Northern servants is very well done. The tone of the book is most wholesome though by no means “goody-goody.”
⸺ DIVIL-MAY-CARE; alias Richard Burke, sometime Adjutant of the Black Northerns. Pp. x. + 306. (F. V. White). 6s. 1899.