Page:The best hundred Irish books.djvu/25

 His Irish namesake seems to me to be too true to his name, confining his choice of books too much to history. Towards tlie end indeed he thinks better of it, and stoops to general literature, even to such a minute point as picking out for us the best poem on “The Spirit of the Nation.” Passing over this want of symmetry, and ac- cepting the somewhat arbitrary meaning of “The Hundred Best Irish Books” — “books or parts of books about Ireland and the Irish, written no matter by whom,” and no matter in what number — one is still surprised to find Hume and Froude figuring in the list. In his desire to be impartial “Historicus” has in some cases supplied more poison than antidote. For instance, in the test question of the Rising of 1641, the student who follows his guidance has the sensational story of Hume, who is followed of course by Froude, and even by Mr. Green ; but no reference is given by “Historicus” to the latest authority. Dr John M'Donnell, a Protes- tant, whose “Ulster Civil War of 1641,” pub- lished in 1879, supports the conclusion of Dr Cooke Taylor, another Protestant of Cromwellian family, who in his “Civil Wars of Ireland” says — “After a very careful examination of all the statements, the present writer believes that the number of persons killed by the insurgents was less than 5,000, and that about an equal number was slain by their opponents.” On the Crom- wellian period Carlyle is mentioned but not “Cromwell in Ireland” by the Rev Denis Murphy, S J, whose historical candour edified even the Saturday Review; and, stranger still, the learned Presbyterian, the Rev George Hill, is neglected as an authority on the Plantation of Ulster.

But among the notable books omitted I put first of all Mr. Alfred Webb’s “Compendium of Irish History” — a work of vast research and great impartiality, furnishing in a clear, terse, and un- affected style, sufficiently full and accurate infor- mation about almost every part of Irish history and almost every person connected with Ireland. Mr. Webb’s name reminds me of the mor [sic] practical and more general list of Irish books which he has appended to his comment on “Histo- ricus.” Both he and “Historicus” seem to take poetry and fiction merely as illustrations of Irish history and character. This puts out of conside- ration such graceful writers as Miss author:Julia Kavanagh, Miss Kathleen O’Meara, etc. Even in this view how has Mr. Webb omitted author:Aubrey de Vere’s “Legends of St Patrick,” “Inisfail,” and “The Sisters?” Mr. Alfred Graves deserves praise in this context. The son of a Protestant bishop shows a very commendable sympathy with the feelings of the Irish peasant in such songs as “Father O’Flynn.” So does Mr. Allingham in his “Laurence Bloomfield,” and many of his lyrical pieces.

I hold, however, that “the best Irish book” in any department of literature is the book which, being written by an Irishman, reflects the greatest credit on Ireland, no matter what the theme may be; and I therefore believe Judge O’Hagan’s splendid translation of “The Song of Roland” to be among the very foremost triumphs of Irish talent in our time, or at anytime. On the same principle, making a sudden transition to the depart- ment of biography, I venture, in spite of kinship, to claim a high place for Dr author:C W Russell’s “Life of Mezzofanti, ” which the Italians themselves have adopted as the standard biography of their Polyglot Cardinal As I have mentioned biography, I may emphasise Dr Shaw’s statement that Mr. Lecky holds in high esteem Mrs Atkinson’s admirable “Life of Mary Aikenhead, Foundress of the Irish Sisters of Charity.” Is sufficient credit given hi Dr author:Daniel Griffin for his excellent biography of his brother ?

Gerald Griffin’s “Collegians” is the one book that is never omitted in a list of Irish novels. The other names on a very limited list might perhaps be (Goldsmith’s “Vicar” stands apart) Miss Edg- worth’s “Castle Rackrent,” Banim’s “Father Connell,” Lever’s “Knight of Gwynne,” Miss Keary’s “Castle Daly,” King’s “Wearing of the Green,” Charles Kickham’s “Knocknagow,” author:Richard Dow- ling’s “Mystery of Killard,” Miss Brew’s “Chronicles of Castle Cloyne,” and Miss Mulhol- land’s “Hester’s History,” or, as the last is not easily procurable, “Marcella Grace,” by the same author. A selection of the best and brightest of Carleton’s shorter stories would be a boon; but we cannot name him without adding our belief that with the faith of his childhood he lost much of the refinement, purity, and reverence which are required in an interpreter of Irish character and feeling. I am surprised that so sympathetic an Irishman as Mr. Webb includes in his list tales written in a coarse, cynical spirit that commends them only to English readers; while Mr. Lecky, and even Dr Shaw, praise a very unamiable, not to say atrocious, picture of an Irish peasant mother as true to life as the caricature of Irish dialect, which. Dr Shaw confessed, “ is not very accurate.” Mr. Webb among his poets has omitted Denis Florence MacCarthy, whose best poems are easily procurable in a cheap popular edition. He ought to have found room for the two latest comers — Katherine Tynan’s “Louise la Valliere and other Poems,” and Rosa Mulholland’s “Vagrant Verses” — both of them sure of a permanent place in our Irish literature.

No list of “The Hundred Best Irish Books” should leave out that work of real genius, author:John Mitchel’s “Jail Journal;” and I would claim a place also for the Rev Joseph Farrell’s “Lectures of a Certain Professor.” — Yours truly,

St Mary’s, Maynooth, 24th March.

Dear Sir — Will you kindly allow me to say a few words on the above question. My remarks will not so much refer to particular books as to the general bearings of the subject. 1. It seems to me that the best and most practical thing for one to do who wishes to make himself acquainted with any subject is to begin with the best handbook he can procure on it. Should his time and tastes lead him to rise to higher studies in the same line, he can then proceed to the quartos and folios ; it is all very well to set down in a list such books as “The Four Masters,” “Fyne’s Morrison,” “Harris’s Ware,”&c: but no person who has business to attend to can afford time to study them, so copious, so uninteresting to the general reader. And even if one could be found with courage enough to undertake the task and accom- plish it, he would have only mastered fragments of Irish history after all. In fact, these and such books are not so much intended to be read through as to be referred to as authorities when found necessary. 2. I know desultory reading ii very common in history as in other things; but