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? CONNAUGHT: a Tale of 1798. Pp. 394. . 1830.

The Author was "from infancy in the habit of hearing details of 'the time of the Frinch'" ... and has "had an opportunity of frequently hearing the insurrectionary scenes described by some of the Actors themselves." The Author is loyalist, but not bitterly hostile to the rebels. The rebellion is not painted in roseate colours, but it is not misrepresented. Humbert's campaign is vividly described, but history does not absorb all the interest. The love story is told with zest, and there is abundance of exciting incident. Quite well written.

A tale of the Penal times.

A series of sketches exhibiting the humorous side of village life in the North County Dublin district, or thereabouts. Quite free from caricature; in fact tending to set the people described in a favourable light, and to make them more appreciated. There is a portrait of a priest, earnest, persevering, and wholly taken up with his people's good. Thoroughly hearty, wholesome humour.

? OLIVE LACY. Pp. 365. . 1874, and earlier editions.

? THE DUCHESS. .

Scene: mainly in Donegal. Standpoint: Protestant and English. Not unfair to peasantry. A pleasantly told little story. The hero implicated in Fenian movement, and arrested, escapes from prison through the cleverness of his little daughter, "the Duchess."

? RATHLYNN. Three Vols. . 1864.

A young Englishman, son of "Admiral Wyville," takes up and works a property in a remote district in Ireland. Told in first person. The chief interest seems to lie in jealousies and consequent intrigues arising out of love affairs.

P. J. Kenedy, of New York, publishes an edition of the Banims' works in ten volumes at seven dollars the set.

? JOHN DOE; or, The Peep o' Day. 1825.

? THE FETCHES. . .

A gloomy story, turning on the influence of superstitious imaginations on two nervous and high-strung minds. The fetch is the spirit of a person about to die said to appear to friends. The story is somewhat lightened by the introduction of two farcical characters.

? THE NOWLANS. Pp. 256 . , 1853, &c.

The temptation and fall of a young priest, resulting in misery which leads to repentance. Contains some of Banim's most powerful scenes.

? PETER OF THE CASTLE. Pp. 191. . .

A sensational and romantic tale. The opening chapters give a detailed description of country matchmaking and marriage festivities at the time, c. 1770.

Opens in London. Several members of Anglo-Irish Society are introduced--the Minister and the Secretary . There are long disquisitions on Emancipation, the conversion of the peasantry, &c. Gerald Blount, younger son of an Irish peer, has all the anti-Irish bias of this set. Flying after a duel he reaches Ireland, where he has many exciting adventures with the Rockites. Finally he succeeds to the title and settles down. The "double" plays a part in this story, as in so many of Banim's. A meeting of the Catholic Association with O'Connell and Shiel debating is finely described, also a Dublin dinner-party, at which Scott's son appears. The early part is somewhat tedious, but the later scenes are powerful.

? THE CONFORMISTS. Pp. 202. . .

? THE DENOUNCED; or, The Last Baron of Crana. Pp. 235. . . . 1830. . 0.75.

Deals with the fortunes of two Catholic families in the period immediately following the Treaty of Limerick. Depicts their struggles to practise their religion, and the vexations they had to undergo at the hands of hostile Protestants. The tale abounds in incident, often sensational. There is a good deal in the story about the Rapparees.

? THE CHANGELING. Three Vols. Pp. 315 + 350 + 414. . 1848.

? CROHOORE OF THE BILLHOOK. . .

Has been a very popular book. The action lies in one of the darkest periods of Irish history, when the peasantry, crushed under tithe-proctor, middleman, and Penal laws, retorted by the savage outrages of the secret societies. One of these latter was the "Whiteboys," with the doings of which this book largely deals. The Author does not justify outrage, but explains it by a picture of the conditions of which it was an outcome. A dark and terrible story. The scene is Kilkenny and neighbourhood. It must be added that most of the characters savour strongly of what is now known as the "stage Irishman."

Opens with a long and serious historical introduction. There follow many pages of a love story of the better classes which is, perhaps, not very convincing. Samples of the outrages by which the people were driven to revolt are given. Then there are many scenes from the heart of the rebellion itself, some of them acquired from conversation with eye-witnesses. The attitude is that of a mild Nationalist, or rather Liberal, contemplating with sorrow not unmixed with contempt the savage excesses of his misguided countrymen. The rebellion is shown in its vulgarest and least romantic aspect, and there are harrowing descriptions of rebel outrages on Vinegar Hill and elsewhere. The one noble or even respectable character in the book, Sir Thomas Hartley, is represented as in sympathy with constitutional agitation, but utterly abhorring rebellion. The other chief actors in the story are unattractive. They have no sympathy with the insurgents, and the parts they play are connected merely accidentally with the rebellion. There is much movement and spirit in the descriptive portions.

? THE MAYOR OF WINDGAP. Pp. 190. . .

Romantic and sensational--attempted murders, abductions, &c. Not suitable for the young. Interest and mystery well sustained. Scene: Kilkenny in 1779. There was a Paris edition, 1835.

? THE BIT O' WRITING.

? FATHER CONNELL. Pp. 358. .

The scene is Kilkenny. The hero is an Irish country priest. The character, modelled strictly on that of a priest well known to the author, is one of the noblest in fiction. He is the ideal Irish priest, almost childlike in simplicity, pious, lavishly charitable, meek and long-suffering, but terrible when circumstances roused him to action. Interwoven with his life-story is that of Neddy Fennell, his orphan prot?g?, brave, honest, generous, loyal. Father Connell is his ministering angel, warding off suffering and disaster, saving him also from himself. The last scene, where, to save his prot?g? from an unjust judicial sentence, Father Connell goes before the Viceroy, and dies at his feet, is a piece of exquisite pathos. There is an element of the sombre and the terrible. But the greater part of the book sparkles with a humour at once so kindly, so homely, and so delicate, that the reader comes to love the Author so revealed. The episodes depict many aspects of Irish life. The character-drawing is masterly, as the best critics have acknowledged. There is Mrs. Molloy, Father Connell's redoubtable housekeeper; Costigan, the murderer and robber; Mary Cooney, the poor outcast and her mother, the potato-beggar; and many more. The Author faithfully reproduces the talk of the peasants, and enters into their point of view. Acknowledged to be the most pleasing of the Banims' novels.

? THE GHOST HUNTER AND HIS FAMILY. . . 1852.

Still published by P. J. Kenedy, New York: 75 cents. An intricate plot skilfully worked out, never flagging, and with a mystery admirably sustained to the end. Gives curious glimpses of the life of the times , as seen in a provincial town . But the style often offends against modern taste. The book soon turns to rather crude, if exciting, melodrama. Moreover, though the Author is always on the side of morality, there is too much about abduction, &c., and too many references to the loose morals of the day to make it suitable reading for certain classes.

? THE TOWN OF THE CASCADES. Two Vols. Pp. 283 + 283. . 1864.

Scene: sea-board town in West. A powerful story in which the chief interest is a tragedy brought about by drink. The town seems to be Ennistymon, Co. Clare. The characters belong to the peasant class, and of course are drawn with thorough knowledge. The work could easily go in one not very large volume.

? THE IRISH ORPHAN BOY IN A SCOTTISH HOME. Pp. 87. . . 1872.

"A sequel to 'The Way Home,' &c." A little religious tract in story form.

? THE DEAD-WATCHERS. Pp. 83. . 1891.

"And other Folk-lore Tales of Westmeath." The author is a member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries. Intended as a contribution to folk-lore. But the title-story is a fantastic story told in melodramatic modern English, and has little or no connexion with folk-lore. The remainder consists of ghost stories, spirit-warnings, superstitions, chiefly of local interest. Appended are a few explanatory notes of some value.

Doings at Lisconnell, a poverty-stricken little hamlet, lost amidst a waste of unlovely bogland. These sketches have been well described as "saturated with the pathos of elementary tragedy." Yet there is humour, too, and even fun, as in the story of how the shebeeners tricked the police. The illustrated edition contains about thirty exceptionally good reproductions of photographs of Western life and scenery.

In this story the peasants only appear incidentally. The main characters are Martin Kerrigan, a returned Irish-Australian; the invalid Lady O'Connor; her son, Sir Ben; and her niece, Merle. The story is one of intense, almost hopeless, sadness, yet it is ennobling in a high degree. It is full of exquisite scraps of description.

A second series of Irish Idylls, showing the Author's qualities in perhaps a higher degree even than the first. A more exquisite story than "A Good Turn" it would be hard to find. Throughout there is the most thorough sympathy with the poor folk. The peasant dialect is never rendered so as to appear vulgar or absurd. It is full of an endless variety of picturesqueness and quaint turns. No problems are discussed, yet the all but impossibility of life under landlordism is brought out . There are studies of many types familiar in Irish country life--the tinkers; Mr. Polymathers, the pedagogue ; Mad Bell, the crazy tramp; and Con the "Quare One." It should be noted that, though there is in Miss Barlow's stories much pathos, there is an entire absence of emotional gush.

? MAUREEN'S FAIRING. Pp. 191. . Six Illustr., of no great value. . . 0.75.

Eight little stories reprinted from various magazines in a very dainty little volume. Like all of Jane Barlow's stories, they tell of the "tear and the smile" in lowly peasant lives, with graceful humour or simple, tender pathos. The stories are very varied in kind.

"Seven stories, chiefly of a light and humorous kind, very tender in their portrayal of the hearts of the poor. There is a touching sketch of child-life and a police-court comedy."--.

The first six of this collection of fifteen stories are tales of foreign lands--Arabia, Greece, and others. The remainder deal with Irish peasant life. They tell of the romance and pathos that is hidden in lives that seem most commonplace. "The Field of the Frightful Beasts" is a pretty little story of childish fancies. "An Advance Sheet" is weird and has a tragic ending.

Fourteen stories, some humorous, some pathetic, including some of the author's best work. There is the usual sympathetic insight into the eccentricities and queernesses of the minds of the peasant class, but little about the higher spiritual qualities of the people, for that is not the author's province. Among the most amusing of the sketches is that which tells the doings of a young harum-scarum, the terror of his elders.

Seventeen stories up to the level of the author's best, the usual vein of quiet humour, the pathos that is never mawkish, the perfect accuracy of the conversations, and the faithful portrayal of characteristics. The study in "A Money-crop at Lisconnell," of the struggle between the Widow M'Gurk's deep-rooted Celtic pride and her kind heart, is most amusing. As usual, there are delightful portraits of children.

? IRISH NEIGHBOURS. Pp. 342. . 1907.

Seventeen stories of Irish life, chiefly among the peasantry. They have all Miss Barlow's wonted sympathy and insight, her quiet humour and cheerful outlook.

Embroidered upon an exceptionally involved plot--four times we are introduced to a wholly new set of characters--we have the author's usual qualities, minute observation and depiction of curious aspects of character, snatches of clever picturesque conversation, an occasional vivid glimpse of nature. But in this case the caste is made up of spiteful, petty, small-minded and generally disagreeable personages. They are nearly all drawn from the middle and upper classes in the South of Ireland, Protestant and Anglicized. The snobbishness, petty jealousies, selfishness of some of these people is set forth in a vein of satire. The incidents include an unusually tragic suicide.

Thirteen stories, all but one dealing with peasant life in the author's wonted manner. Perhaps scarcely so good as some of her earlier collections.

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