J827.J [ 633 ] 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN. 



The O'Briens and the ffflahcrtys. 4 vols. 

 By Lady Morgan; 1827. With all Lady 

 Morgan's powers observing well, and 

 painting well with truth and vigour often 

 fixing, and rarely wearying with all the 

 warmth of her countrywomen, and dealing 

 with the heated spirits of her countrymen 

 she does not take to the extent we 

 think she deserves to do. Of this failure 

 there are some obvious causes Ireland, 

 and her rights and her wrongs -the fa- 

 vourite subjects of Lady Morgan's muse 

 are not popular with the classes which sup- 

 ply the novel writer with readers. Besides 

 this, she is a radical in politics, a liberal 

 in theology, and a materialist in metaphy- 

 sics ; and there are readers who shrink 

 from allowing the merit they cannot but 

 feel, through fear of being suspected of ad- 

 miring what is at least neither very fa- 

 shionable, nor perhaps very feminine. 



The production before us, however, is a 

 performance of much too a high a character 

 not to break through the impediments which 

 are thus thrown in the way by its fair crea- 

 tor. The O'Briens and the O'Flahertys, 

 have for generations been connected in love 

 or in hatred. They are Connaught fami- 

 lies, and, by the common fate of the coun- 

 try, have both been ruined by forfeitures. 

 The representative of the O'Briens emerges 

 from pauperism, and becomes a thriving 

 Protestant attorney. The heir of the O'Fla- 

 hertys was a general in the French service. 

 The attorney detects a flaw in the claims of 

 the possessor of the O' Flaherty property ; 

 and himself finally makes good his claim to 

 the barony of Annanmore but the estate is 

 gone beyond recovery ; and, in grasping at 

 the shadow, he loses the substance he had 

 laboriously gathered in the practice of his 

 profession. He relapses to Catholicism, 

 and takes his first vows among the Jesuits. 



But the drama opens properly at a review 

 of the Irish Volunteers, where we are in- 

 troduced to the leading characters of the 

 vice -regal court and of the novel. The 

 court is plainly that of the Rutlamls. The 

 Knockloftys are a family of overpowering 

 influence, and high in the confidence of the 

 government the Earl, indeed, is the lead- 

 ing personage in the management of Irish 

 affairs on the orange principle of course. 

 Of the ladies on the ground, the most con- 

 spicuous is the Countess Knocklofty, a very 

 charming and fascinating woman a mix- 

 ture of coquetry and romance none of the 

 youngest - driving a pair of splendid greys 

 in a beautiful curricle, and drawing the at- 

 tentions of the young officers, and dispensing 

 distinction and delight, by her smiles and 

 her levities, on all around her. Beside her 

 sits a rival beauty, nearly her equal in 

 charms, and her superior in wit at least 



Af.M. New Series. VOL. IV, No. 24. 



in readiness of speech. In the course of 

 the review, Lady Knocklofty is struck with 

 the appearance of the young gentleman who 

 commands the University Corps, and her 

 inquiries to discover who he can be are all 

 in vain. She manoeuvres to keep near him, 

 and by degrees catches his attention, and 

 at last his services, by contriving to drop 

 her shoe, which he of course picks up, and 

 wins the privilege of putting it on again. 

 By a dextrous move, during the sham fight, 

 he gains a particular position, and with it 

 the approbation of the commander-in-chief ; 

 and, before the day is over, the lady's greys 

 take flight at an explosion, and the young 

 hero of course rescues her from destruction. 

 In the evening, in his way to college, he 

 gets into a row ; the military are called out 

 as usual ; a shot is fired no body knows 

 by whom, and he is taken to the guard- 

 house. Towards midnight, however, a mes- 

 senger arrives with an order to take him 

 forthwith somewhere or other for examina- 

 tion ; and this messenger he follows, through 

 long-winding passages and noble apart- 

 ments, some dark and some light, till sud- 

 denly a door is thrown open, and in an in- 

 stant they are in the midst of a magnificent 

 saloon, full of company the vice-regal 

 drawing-room in short ; and his guide, 

 throwing off the disguise, proves to be Lady 

 Knocklofty herself. This was one of the 

 freaks of the castle. Astounded as the 

 young gentleman is, he as the hero of the 

 piece is not driven from his propriety ; he 

 acquits himself admirably, and the vice- 

 queen treats him with the courtesy that be- 

 came her. The youth turns out to be the 

 Honourable Murrogh O'Brien, the heir of 

 Lord Annanmore. He is introduced on all 

 sides ; and among others, Lord Walter 

 Somebody that is, Lord Edward Fitz- 

 gerald, not at all disguised makes hand- 

 some speeches, and overtures of friend- 

 ship. 



In the midst of these exhilarating atten- 

 tions, comes in the Lord Lieutenant, in a 

 state of ebriety, with his bottle companions, 

 and the prisoner is obliged to be smuggled 

 off, but not before Lady Knocklofty con- 

 trives to put a ring of remembrance on his 

 finger. The officer, under whose super- 

 vision it is understood he is to place him- 

 self, is out of the way ; and he, in the 

 meanwhile, throws himself on a bench, 

 where, indulging in a reverie on the amaz- 

 ing events that had occurred through the 

 day, he drops into something like a nap, 

 from which he is at last awakened by a 

 strange tingling sensation about the fingers, 

 occasioned partly by his having made a pil- 

 low of his arm. As he wakes, a tall gaunt 

 figure and a sedan are still in view. 

 The officer now makes his appearance j they 

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