Because an essayist is something more than that, most of the essayists of the Revival have been already treated under other headings. There are, however, a few who deserve separate mention. Very Rev. Canon Patrick A. Sheehan (1852-1913) wrote three very remarkable books of essays, 'Under the Cedars and the Stars,' and 'The In tellectuals.' Thomas Michael Kettle (1880 1916) joined the British army in 1914 soon after the outbreak of the great war, and became a second lieutenant in the Dublin Fusiliers. He died from wounds received at Ginchy on 8 Sept. 1916, during the Somme advance. He translated 'Contemporary Ireland' (1908) from the French of L. Paul-Dubois. He also pub lished a volume of essays, 'The Day's Burden) (1910), dealing with politics, literature, and economics, and two booklets, 'Home Rule Finance' (1911) and 'The Open Secret of Ire land' (1912). 'Criticism and Courage,' by Fredenck Ryan, author of 'The Laying of the Foundations,) contains some remarkable views, vigorously expressed. Sir Horace Plunkett's 'Ireland in the New Century' (1904) drew forth many angry protests, especially from Irish priests. None of these were abler than Right Rev. Monsignor Michael O'Riordan's 'Catholicity and Progress in Ireland) (1905). Here mention should also be made of 'The Glories of Ireland' (1914), a series of essays by some of the leading writers of the Revival and other scholars and litterateurs, setting forth in a unique way and in a manner never before attempted the various activities of the Irish race during 2,000 years. The most distinctive essayist of the Revival is perhaps "John Eglin ton" (W. K. Magee). He is known to and ap preciated by the elect, but he is assuredly rather caviare to the general. He was described by Moore in 'Ave) as "a sort of lonely thorn tree," and in his attitude toward some of the manifestations of the Revival he was as the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Sceptical and ironically detached, he was apparently out of touch with the movement of which, never theless, he was an important component part. The distinction he draws between the Modern Irishman (that is, the Anglo-Irishman) and the Mere Irishman, his allusion to Brian Boroimhe, an incontestably great historic figure, as a shadowy person, his flippant and patronis ing attitude toward what he calls "the grand old tongue," and his denial that the Island of Saints ever produced a saint, by which term he understands a religious genius, would certainly tend to jar the sensibilities of the great majority of his fellow-countrymen, and cause one to doubt whether. "John Eglinton" is exactly the man to accomplish the task he proposes, namely, "to introduce new and unassailable ideals of nationality, to sink the wells of thought beneath the barren surface of tradition, and to bring Ireland into political and spiritual unity." He has, however, much to say that Irishmen may find it useful to ponder. His style is beautiful: in the words of Yeats, it is full of "orchestral harmonies." His matter is not so much literary or social—although it is something of both — as it is philosophical. Both for style and matter he makes delightful reading, even for those who may not agree with his tenets. He wrote poems, some of which, of consider able merit, are to be found in 'The Book of Irish Verse' (1895), but he did not attempt either the novel or the drama, and it is as an essayist that he will go down to posterity. His books are 'Two Essays on the (1896), 'Pebbles from a Brook> (1901), 'Some Essays and Passages). (1905, edited by. Yeats), 'Bards and Saints' (1906), 'Anglo-Irish Es says) (1917). He also edited the review Dana during its brief existence from March 1904 to April 1905, and contributed to 'Literary Ideals in Ireland) (1899), there taking his stand, as he does elsewhere also, in favor of cosmopolitanism as against nationalism in liter ature. He has been called "an Irish Emerson,"
and from many points of view the appellation is an apt one. Stephen Lucius Gwynn (b. 1864), distinguished as poet, novelist, and critic, was elected member of Parliament for Galway in 1906. During the war he joined the British army as a commissioned officer. Two volumes of his verse are 'The Queen's Chronicler and other Poems' (1901) and 'A Lay of Ossian and Saint Patrick' (1903). He collaborated with Thomas M. Kettle in producing 'Songs of the Irish Brigade.' One of his noted novels is 'The Old Knowledge.' 'To-day and To-mor row in Ireland) (1903) is a collection of his essays on Irish subjects. He wrote the mon ograph on Thomas Moore in the 'English Men of series, as well as 'Highways and Byways in Donegal and Antrim,' The Decay of Sensibility and other Essays,' 'Tennyson: a Critical Study,' 'Memorials of an Eighteenth Century Portrait Painter,' Repentance of a Private Secretary,' and 'Robert Emmet.) Ever since John Mitchel by his 'Jail Jour nal' popularized that form of writing, there have not been wanting imitators (teste, for ex ample, Michael Davitt), and what may be called In Vinculis literature has its recognized place in the history of Ireland. Recent events have stimulated productivity of this type. We have, among other books, 'With the Irish in Frongoch' (1917), by W. J. Brennan Whit more, Frongoch being the Welsh hamlet where some 1,800 Sinn Fein prisoners were confined after the rising of 1916; 'Memories of Mount joy) (1917), by Sean Milroy, Mountjoy being the name of a Dublin prison which has had an unenviable notoriety thrust upon it; and 'A Chronicle of Jails' (1917), by Darrell Figgis, full of hiatuses caused by the deletions of the censor, but nevertheless brimful of experiences, because the author suffered three political im prisonments in rapid succession in the short space of two years.
Bibliography.— Hardiman, J., 'Irish Min strelsy, or Bardic Remains of (Dub lin 1831) ; Joyce, P. W., Introduction to 'Old Celtic Romances' (London 1879) ; Larminie, William, Introduction to 'West Irish Folk Tales and Romances> (ib. 1893) ; Ryan, W. P., 'The Irish Literary Revival: Its History, Pio neers and Possibilities' (ib. 1894) ; Siger son, Geo., Introduction to 'Bards of the Gael and Gall' (London 1897) ; Gwynn, S. L., 'To day and To-morrow in Ireland' (ib. 1903) ; Yeats, W. B., 'Ideas of Good and Evil' (ib. 1903) and (The Cutting of an Agate' (New York 1912) ; Borsa, M., 'II teatro inglese con temporaneo' (Milan 1906) ; Paul-Dubois, L., 'L'Irlande contemporaine' (Paris 1907) ; Kell ner, L., 'Die englische Literatur im Zeitalter der Konigin Viktoria> (Leipzig 1909) ; Moore, G., 'Hail and Farewell) (New York 1911-14); O'Donoghue, D. J., 'The Poets of Ireland: a Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary' (Dublin 1912) ; Gregory, Lady, 'Our Irish Thea tre) (New York 1913) ; Weygandt, C., Plays and Playwrights) (Boston 1913) ; Jack son, H., 'The Eighteen Nineties> (New York 1914) ; Mayle, J., 'La litterature irlandaise con temporaine' (Paris 1913) ; Monahan, M., (Nova Hibernia' (New York 1914) ; Dunn, J. and Lennox, P. J., Glories of Ireland) (Wash ington 1914) ; Joy, M., 'The Irish Rebellion of 1916 and its Martyrs' (New York 1916) ; Boyd, E. A., Literary Renaissance' (ib. 1916), (The Contemporary Drama of (Boston 1917), and and Depre ciations' (New York 1918) ; Morris, L. R., 'The Celtic Dawn' (ib. 1917) ; The Irish Book Lover, a Monthly Review of Irish Literature and Bibliography (London 1909-18).