Eight stories, six of which are Irish in subject. Seven of the stories are tragedies. “The Doctor’s Joke” is the only comedy. The title story tells how the father, after sixteen years of absence, bread-winning in England, comes home to find that the wife and children of the reality are far other than what his dreams had pictured, and his wife has a similar disillusionment. He is an outsider, and he realises it bitterly. Painful tragedy is the outcome. The 2nd is a tragedy of blighted hopes. The 3rd a lighter story laid in Fenian times. 4. W. of Ireland. Love’s young dream destroyed by the plotting of an ambitious and masterful old woman. Atmosphere of loneliness and terror given to the whole. 5. A London slum tragedy, with Irish characters. 6. A study in character, and a peasant love-tale. All are told in beautiful and refined language, often charged with pathos. The situations are dramatic. The whole manner, the atmosphere, and the sentiment are Irish. =FITZPATRICK, T., LL.D.= Born, 1845, in Co. Down. Became a teacher in early life. He was attached successively to Blackrock Coll., Dublin; St. Malachy’s, Belfast; Athenry, Galway, and Birr schools. Of the last he was headmaster in 1876. Was author of a serious historical work—_The Bloody Bridge and other Studies of 1641._ Died 1912 in Dublin. ⸺ JABEZ MURDOCK, by “Banna Borka.” Two Vols. Pp. 300 + 335. (_Duffy_). 1_s._ 6_d._ (Two vols. in one). [1887]. 1888 still in print. Scene: South Co. Down. The central figure is a rascally Scotch settler who dabbles in poetry, and attains to wealth as “ajint” by unscrupulous means. Between the episodes of his life are interlarded scenes illustrating nearly every aspect of peasant life at the time, all minutely and vividly described, and conversations in which the problems of the times are discussed. A good deal of humorous incident and character. The Author evidently writes from first-hand knowledge. He is on the Catholic and popular side. Period: first quarter of nineteenth century. ⸺ THE KING OF CLADDAGH. Pp. 249. (_Sands_). Frontisp. ancient map of Galway in 1651. 1899. Galway City and County during Cromwellian period. Atrocities of the eight years’ rule of the Roundheads. Forcible and vivid. Point of view: National and Catholic. =FITZSIMON, Miss E. A.= ⸺ THE JOINT VENTURE: A Tale in Two Lands. Pp. 327. (N.Y.: _Sheehy_). 1878. Scene: opens in a valley of the Knockmealdowns, passes to U.S.A. in ch. 7 (p. 109). Was a first novel, and so somewhat immature. High moral and Catholic tone (perhaps somewhat aggressive at times). Attacks Protestant divorce laws. One of the best incidents, perhaps, is Mrs. Ned O’Leary’s conversion to Catholicism.—(_Press Notices_). This was republ. in 1881 under title _Gerald Barry; or, The Joint Venture_. =“FLOREDICE, W. H.”=