A potent force in the same direction was that of Dr. George Sigerson (b. 1839), a man of protean intellect, who was both a herald of the new movement and an active participator in it when it came. His special standing is as a translator of the old Gaelic poets. As far back as 1860 be published the text of some 50 Irish poems, with a metrical rendering into English, the whole forming the second part of the 'Poets and Poetry of Munster,) the first volume of which, contributed by Mangan, had made its posthumous appearance in 1850. Dr. Robert Dwyer Joyce (1830-83) was also early in the field. His 'Ballads, Romances, and Songs) came out in 1861. His 'Deirdre,' a blank verse poetical rendering of the sorrowful fate of the children of Usna, which appeared at Boston, Mass., in 1876, had an enormous success, and was followed by (Blanid) in 1879. His brother, Dr. Patrick Weston Joyce (1827-1914), a splen did Gaelic scholar, published in 1879 'Old Cel tic Romances,' translated from the Gaelic into English prose. The 11 tales which make up this collection, some of which were then for the first time turned into English, proved a wonderful source-book for later corners. Per haps, however, the work which was destined to exercise the greatest influence of all was the 'History of Ireland,) by Standish O'Grady (b. 1846), the first volume of which, 'The Heroic Period,' appeared in 1878, and the second, 'Cuculain and his Contemporaries,) in 1880. Nothing more unlike what is generally understood by the term history could be well conceived than O'Grady's book. He accepts, or appears to accept, myth, legend, and tradi tion with a positively childlike faith; for him the gods and demigods, the visionary heroes and kings, are instinct with life, and he gives us as sober historical fact all the incidents of the epic entitled 'The Cattle-Spoil of and of the titanic war waged by Queen Maeve of Connacht against King Conchobar and the Red Branch Knights of Ultonia, introducing in cidentally all sorts of myth and folk-lore, as well as the story of Deirdre and the sons Usna. In these pages the past is made to live again, and Fergus and Ferdiad, Conchobar and Laeg, Maeve and Emer are brought before us, so vividly that we forget, in the sweeping, breathless, and fascinating narrative, the many improbabilities which surround the story. The greatest figure of all is Cuculain, whose whole astonishing career is set before us, and the book comes .to a close with his death. The critics, as a matter of course, fell foul of this romance masquerading as history; but the seed had been sown, and it was to bloom and ripen into a wonderful harvest. So great was the subsequent effect of this Bardic history on literary production that in virtue of it, O'Grady is sometimes styled the Father of the Irish Literary Revival, and, to judge by the obliga tions afterward expressed to him by some of its principal exponents, the title seems not wholly undeserved.
Hitherto the literary labor in the field of Ireland's past had been largely individual: soon it was to take on a more concerted form. Among the Irish in exile there is often a stronger national feeling than among the Irish at home. It is not, therefore, surprising that i it is in the centre of English power, in London itself, that we find the first nucleus of an abiding literary organization. Out of the Southwark Junior Irish Club, which in the early 80's had achieved more than local fame because of the interest taken in it by a few enthusiastic young Irishmen settled in the world's Metropolis, there was developed in 1883 the Southwark Irish Literary Club. True
to its motto, °Spread the light' this body carried on for several years a highly successful propaganda, and attracted to its meetings many of the leading literary workers of the day. In January 1892, it was formally decided to en large the scope of the organization, and accord ingly the Irish Literary Society of London came into being and, under the new name, began in that year its eventful career, Its inaugural lecture, however, was not delivered until March 1893. The lecturer was Rev. Stop ford Augustus Brooke (1832-1916), and he chose as his subject "The Need and Use of Getting Irish Literature into the English Tongue.° This discourse, afterward published as a booklet, is a manifesto of the object and aims of the Society. Sensing the future, Brooke laid emphasis on the necessity of trans lation, so that the coming Ireland might have ready to her hand all the materials for an Irish literature, written in English, and thus be able to °send another imaginative force on earth which may (like Arthur's tale) create Poetry for another thousand years?) Thereafter the Society was very active. One effect of Brooke's advice was the formation of the Irish Texts Society and the Irish Folk Song Society, be sides the enterprise of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy in publishing the books which constitute the °New Irish Library.° Not only to Greater London but also to other parts of Great Britain did the passion for literary organization spread. Similar, 'though smaller, Irish literary societies were set up in rapid succession at different British centres. Ireland itself was not behind hand. At Belfast, the Young Ireland Society, established in 1883, rendered notable service. At Cork, the Historical and Archeological So ciety, founded in 1891, regularly produced a monthly Journal, which was a marvel of re search. A similar society was organized at Waterford in 1894. At Dublin, the Pan-Celtic Society was founded in 1888, and speedily secured a band of earnest workers. 'The Lays and Lyrics of the Pan-Celtic Society,) con taining contributions from many of its mem bers, made its appearance in 1889. The Pan Celtists held together for a few years. Eventu ally, most of them joined the National Literary Society, originated by John T. Kelly and Wil liam B. Yeats, and formally established at Dub lin in June .1892. In August, the inaugural ad dress, on 'Irish Literature: its Origin, Environ ment, and Influence,' was delivered by Dr. George Sigerson, and gave the keynote of the purpose of the organization.
The year 1892, which saw the foundation of the two great societies at London and at Dub lin, may be taken as the definite date of the focus of Irish co-operation for literary objects. By that time the events following the fall (1890) and the death (1891) of Parnell had abstracted the Irish mind from that all-absorb ing attention to politics in which for the previous years it had been almost exclusively engrossed, and things literary and artistic had therefore a fairer chance of receiving due con sideration.
Already, however, as we have seen, there was very definite evidence of concerted action in 1889, when the Pan-Cellists brought out their book, and the year before that, 1888, had seen the publication of the 'Poems and Ballads of Young Ireland,' which may be regarded in a sense as one of the first fruits of the revival. The latter-mentioned little book, dedicated to John O'Leary and the Young Ireland societies, contained pieces by Sigerson, Hyde, Todhunter, T. W. Rolleston, Katherine Tynan, Ellen O'Leary, Rose Kavanagh, and Yeats.