Cormac, a youth of Pictish royal blood, has a mission from his dying father to rescue from the Saxons the mother of his intended bride. His adventures in carrying out this mission bring him from Damnonia (between the Yeo and the Axe) to Ireland (Glendalough, Tailltenn, Donegal). He is present at the half-pagan festival of Beltaine, and at the Convention of Drumceat. At the latter he meets St. Columba, who is sympathetically described. The story deals largely with the lingerings of Paganism in Ireland. Several battles between Saxons and Britons are described. The savage manners of the time are pictured with realistic vividness. The wild scenes of adventure follow one another without a pause. Intended for “boys and others.” =[GETTY, Edmund].= ⸺ THE LAST KING OF ULSTER. Three Vols. (LONDON: _Madden_). 1841. Ostensibly a tale, in reality a kind of historical miscellany of Elizabethan times, containing memoirs, anecdotes, family history, &c., of the O’Neills, O’Donnells, and other Irish chiefs. The Author was one of the best of our Northern antiquaries. =GIBBON, Charles.= ⸺ IN CUPID’S WARS. Three Vols. (_F. V. White_). 1884. The scene is laid in Kilkenny in 1798 or thereabouts, but both the topographical and historical settings are of the vaguest—there is very little local colour, and practically no depiction of historical events, though there is much about rebellion and secret societies. The story is thoroughly melodramatic: it has no serious purpose, but the tone is wholesome. The characters of the story are all represented as Catholics. This Author wrote upwards of thirty other novels. =[GIBSON, Rev. Charles Bernard].= (1808-1885). Was chaplain at Spike Island, and sometime minister of the Independent congregation at Mallow, Co. Cork, but afterwards joined the Church of England. He was made M.R.I.A. in 1854. He wrote a _History of Cork City and County_ (1861), and five or six other works, including _Historical Portraits of Irish Chieftains and Anglo-Norman Knights_, 1871. ⸺ THE LAST EARL OF DESMOND. Two Vols. (_Hodges & Smith_). 1854.