Chapter VI (4)

The work before us, for a copy of which we are indebted to "The Catholic Publication Society," makes a handsome octavo volume of over 600 pages, divided into 36 chapters, prefaced by an admirably written and very timely disquisition on the Irish land and church questions, the most vital questions of reform in Ireland in our time; and supplemented by a very full index. {857} It is illustrated by ten full-page historical engravings, from designs by Mr. Henry Doyle, a worthy son of the noble Irish Catholic artist, Richard Doyle, who refused to prostitute his genius in the interests of the assailants of his church through the columns of the London _Punch_; and by over one hundred very beautiful sketches on wood of the scenery, antiquities, sites of remarkable events, etc. etc. The illustrations, woodcuts and all, are in the very best style of the art which they represent. Mr. Doyle's contributions of themselves would form an attractive collection. The emblematic title-page, suggestive of all that is grand and noble in the period of the independence of the nation, is an exquisite picture. Of rare merit, likewise, are most of the other designs furnished by Mr. Doyle. The Emigrant's Farewell, opposite page 571, is a truthful, characteristic, and painfully suggestive sketch.

The narrative itself is as fine a specimen of comprehensive analysis and condensation as we have any knowledge of. It faithfully reflects the present advanced state of historical research in and relating to the country. It embodies all the ascertained facts of the history of Ireland. The character of its early inhabitants; their social, civil, and religious habits and customs; their martial, legal, literary, and--noblest, most glorious, most enduring of all--their missionary triumphs; all are accurately, though succinctly, portrayed. The tragic eras of the history of the nation, from the Invasion to the achievement of Catholic Emancipation--more than 650 years--are also limned in vivid colors. No available source of information has been unheeded by the writer, who seems to have not merely read, but studied earnestly, every published work of value or interest, down to the very latest publication, bearing directly or indirectly on the subject, not even excepting the driest and most abstruse of the several society tracts and monograms of the archaeologists. The sketches of early Celtic literature are worthy of even O'Donovan or O'Curry, brief, precise, and satisfactory. The book is trustworthy in all its peculiarities, eminently so in its text and notes, which are presented in a clear, unaffected, but most interesting style, and with a conscientiousness which is not obtrusive, but which is recognizable in every line of the writer.

We have been so interested in the details of the history, and so delighted by the more purely narrative parts, that we find we have marked for citation several peculiarly striking passages, for which we have no room. One passage which we give will serve as the meetest conclusion to our notice of the work; as well as to indicate the spirit of the history, and illustrate the flowing, artless, and pathetic style of the writer. In treating of the extant memorials of St. Patrick, it is thus beautifully remarked:

"One prayer uttered by St. Patrick has been singularly
fulfilled. 'May my Lord grant,' he exclaims, 'that I may never
lose his people, which he has acquired in the ends of the
earth.' From hill and dale, from camp and cottage, from
plebeian and noble, there rang out a grand 'Amen.' The strain
was caught by Secundinus and Benignus, by Columba and
Columbanus, by Brigid and Brendan. It floated away from
Lindisfarne and Iona to Iceland and Tarentum. It was heard on
the sunny banks of the Rhine, at Antwerp and Cologne, in
Oxford, in Pavia, and in Paris. And still the old echo is
breathing its holy prayer by the priest who toils in cold and
storm to the 'station' on the mountain-side, far from his
humble home. By the confessor who spends hour after hour, in
the heat of summer and the cold of winter, absolving the
penitent children of Patrick. By the monk in his cloister. By
noble and true-hearted men, faithful through centuries of
persecution. And loudly and nobly, though it be but faint to
human ears, is that echo uttered also by the aged woman who
lies down by the wayside to die in the famine years, because
she prefers the bread of heaven to the bread of earth, and the
faith taught by Patrick to the tempter's gold. By the emigrant,
who with broken heart bids a long farewell to the dear island
home, to the old father, to the gray-haired mother, because his
adherence to his faith tends not to further his temporal
interests, and he must starve or go beyond the sea for bread.
Thus, ever and ever, that echo is gushing up into the ear of
God, and never will it cease until it shall have merged into
the eternal alleluia which the often-martyred and ever faithful
children of the saint shall shout with him in rapturous voice
before the Eternal Throne."

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{858}

Legends Of The Wars In Ireland.
By Robert Dwyer Joyce, M.D.
1 vol. 12mo, pp. 352.
Boston: James Campbell. 1868.

This handsome little volume is, we believe, the first contribution of Dr. Joyce to Irish-American literature since his arrival in this country. We have read several of his sketches, years ago, in the Irish periodicals, and one of them, the "Building of Mourne," appeared in one of the first numbers of this magazine.

The stories Dr. Joyce has collated in this volume are told in an
easy, racy style, and make pleasant reading for a winter's
evening. They please us better than the majority of the sketches
and stories about Ireland which have frequently appeared here and
in England, as they are, with a few exceptions, free from that
exaggeration of plot and detail which take away the moral effect
of too many of the so-called legends. The book contains the
following stories:
A Batch of Legends;
The Master of Lisfinry;
The Fair Maid of Killarney;
An Eye for an Eye;
The Rose of Drimmagh;
The House of Lisbloom;
The White Knight's Present;
The First and Last Lords of Firmoy,
The Chase from the Hostel;
The Whitethorn Tree;
The White Lady of Basna;
The Bridal Ring;
The Little Battle of Bottle Hill.

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Verses On Various Occasions.
By John Henry Newman, D.D.
London: Burns, Gates & Co.
For sale at the Catholic Publication House.

Dr. Newman has conferred a long-expected favor upon many friends in the collection and publication of his poems under the present form. Those who have known and honored his course will appreciate the thoughtfulness which prompted him to subjoin the dates of their composition, as also the names of places where they were written. To such also those poems will, of course, be of the greater interest, which are, in fact, the sighs of his troubled heart as God led him step by step toward the church. These were composed between 1830 and 1833, and make up a large part of the volume. In the _Apologia_ we get an insight into the trials of his mind, as he faithfully held fast to truth, and fought for it, even against his own, for conscience' sake. Here we look into his heart, and witness the communion of his spirit with God. Dr. Newman had many to doubt the sincerity of his course, the purity of his motives, and the singleness of his purpose. Who can read these spoken thoughts, spoken rather to God than to man, and doubt him still? We cannot refrain from transcribing one already well known, which is remarkable for the expression it conveys of the deep emotions of his soul at a time when his mind was torn with anxious doubt concerning the truth of Anglicanism. He felt, as most converts feel in their journey to the Home of Faith and Truth, that they are on the way to a promised land, led by the cloud of desolation that God raises in the desert, and yet know not where that Home is nor of what sort or fashioning it may be. The poem we allude to is entitled,

"THE PILLAR OF THE CLOUD.

"Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home--
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene--one step enough for me.

"I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldst lead me on,
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will; remember not past years.

"So long thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on,
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone:
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since and lost awhile."

We think some one has said--and if not, we say it ourselves--that the next difficult thing to writing a book is to give it a name. What every one has not failed to notice, who is conversant with the sermons of Dr. Newman, we find equally true of these poems, the felicity of his choice of titles. {859} It is the touch of genius; and we venture to assert that Dr. Newman excels in this all living writers. There is no evidence that these "Verses" were written or are published now for poetic fame, and yet no one can help but accord to them the praise due to poetry of a high order of merit; revealing at the same time, as they do, what a great deal of true poetry does not and need not necessarily show, the mind of the scholar and of the master of language. The volume closes with the remarkable poem entitled, "The Dream of Gerontius," which our readers have already enjoyed from the pages of _The Catholic World_.

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The Blessed Eucharist Our Greatest Treasure.
By Michael Müller,
Priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
Baltimore: Kelly & Piet.

This work is written in plain and unaffected style to promote the noblest, best, and most useful of objects, the devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar. Catholics are taught and believe this great mystery of love; but many, though they believe, do not seem to realize sufficiently what it is they believe. They have not thought much upon it. They have, not penetrated its depths. Their knowledge is superficial, and their devotion consequently is cold. And this for many reasons is particularly the case in this country. Here we have immense congregations and few priests, and they loaded down with the building of churches, and a variety of work which has been already done in other countries. The people often are either out of reach of the church, or struggling for the means of living, and therefore have grown careless, and failed to receive the instruction which they require. Hence there is need, and great need, of all the means of instruction which can be brought to bear, and good books on the grand doctrines of religion are calculated to do an incalculable amount of good. This book of Father Müller's is intended to supply much needed instruction on the Blessed Sacrament, and we hope it will receive an extensive circulation. In reading it, we are reminded of the _Visits to the Blessed Sacrament_ by Saint Alphonsus, which have been so acceptable and useful throughout the whole church, and we do not doubt many souls will derive great edification and pleasure from its perusal.

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The Cromwellian Settlement Of Ireland.
By John P. Prendergast, Esq. With three maps.
1 vol. pp. 228.
New York: P. M. Haverty. 1868.

This is the most thorough _exposé_ of the wholesale plunder and robbery of the unfortunate Irish by the English soldiers under Cromwell yet published. It quotes the documents by the authority of which the land was taken from its rightful owners, and parcelled out to the jail-birds of the "protector."

Mr. Prendergast is a Dublin lawyer. He was in the circuit in the counties of Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, and Tipperary for ten years, when he received a commission to make pedigree researches in the latter county. His search for documents relating to Ireland was not confined to that country alone. He visited England, and examined the extensive Irish documents in the libraries there. But, he tells us, it was in the castle of Dublin he found the most important ones. These, along with extracts from others, found elsewhere, make up his book. It is full of historical materials on the confiscation of Ireland, never before published, which make it an important work to be studied by every student in Irish history. It throws a flood of light on the manner in which the Irish were robbed, exiled, murdered, and for no other purpose but to get their property for the invaders. It tells a sad and sickening story of wrong and outrage, unknown in the history of any other country in Europe, much of which has been kept hidden, because the guilty parties did not wish such things should see the light. But truth, like murder, will out, and Mr. Prendergast, who, it is well to observe, is not a Catholic, has done a good service to the cause of truth, in the volume before us.

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{860}

Manual Of Physical Exercises.
By William Wood.
With one hundred and twenty-five illustrations.
New York: Harper & Brothers. 1867.

That physical education is absolutely necessary to a full and perfect development of the intellectual faculties, is now universally conceded. In this connection, therefore, we have but to add that the manual now before us gives, in simple phrase, aided by, numerous appropriate illustrations, a vast amount of information by which our health may be preserved, our strength increased, our mental powers as a consequence improved, and therefore, not only our individual comfort promoted, but our general usefulness as members of the body politic very materially enhanced.

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Lives Of The Queens Of England, From The Norman Conquest.
By Agnes Strickland, author of
_Lives of the Queens of England_.
Abridged by the author.
Revised and edited by Caroline G. Parker.
New York: Harper & Brothers. 1867.

This excellent abridgment presents us with a series of pen-portraits, strikingly and impartially depicted, of the Queens of England, from Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, to the present queen-regnant, Victoria. While giving, in a modified form, the more delicate facts of their history, it carefully retains all that is essential to a complete knowledge of their lives, public and domestic, their political triumphs and reverses, their private joys and sorrows.

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Home Fairy Tales.
By Jean Macé.
Translated by Mary L. Booth.
With Engravings.
New York: Harper & Brothers. 1868.

In its illustrations, binding, and typographical excellence, this volume ranks first amongst the many which, during the holiday season just passed, have attracted the favorable regard of the rising generation. But, while cheerfully according this meed of praise to the Messrs. Harper, and no less acknowledging the merit of Miss Booth's translation, a vivid remembrance of what best pleased ourselves, in days gone by, compels us to add, that these tales, unlike many others we might enumerate, will never become household words with children. Fairy tales intended, as these evidently are, to convey a moral, may be likened to sugar-coated pills. The fault with these tales is, that the coating, so to speak, is too thin, and, consequently, the unpalatable though sanative globule too easily detected.

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The Lovers' Dictionary.
A Poetical Treasury of Lovers' Thoughts, Fancies, Addresses,
and Dilemmas, indexed with ten thousand references, as a
Dictionary of Compliments, and Guide to the Study of the Tender
Science.
New York: Harper & Brothers. 1867.

Of this anonymous volume, if the author's judgment and good taste had equalled his industry, mere mention on our part would suffice. But even a cursory examination compels us to add that, while it contains many beautiful poems and elegant extracts, we found very many indifferent, not a few objectionable from a want of appositeness, and some that should not have been inserted.

Should the author compile another volume, intended for the impressible of both sexes, we heartily wish him, in consideration of his zeal, "a little more taste," the more fully to carry out his good intentions.

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"The Catholic Publication Society"
has the following books in press, and
will publish them as follows:
March 10, _The Diary of a Sister of Mercy_;
April 1, _In the Snow; or, Tales of Mount St. Bernard_,
by Rev. Dr. Anderdon;
April 20, _Nellie Netterville; or, A Tale of
the Times of Cromwell_, by Miss Caddell;
May 10, _Problems of the Age_.