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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Literature.
than fiction , " and in many of the nobles and commoners' family traditions there are some of the most romantic legends to be found —legends ivhich far outstrip the romance of the novelist . We remember in daj's long gone by , ivhat a mine of wealth to us there Avas in Playfair ' s British Family Antiquity , Dugdale's Baronage , and much later in Craik ' s Curiosities of Family History , and the two series of Burke ' s Family Romance . From these sources
Sir Bernard Burke has re-issued some of the tales incorporated in his former volumes , as ivell as those of the other authors before indicated , but this has been done in this instance in the pursuit of an uniform plan , viz ., to trace the misfortunes that have befallen the great and mig hty . These Vicissitudes of Families are narrated in a garb in ivhich Ave could scarcely expect to find them coming from a King at Arms . They are not the mere dull chronicle ,
with dates and facts huddled together in close proximity , but readable by the fireside or in the home circle . To bear out our assertion we shall offer our readers a feAv extracts , and commence with the decadence of the CroniAvells : —
"Thomas Cromivell , the Lord Protector ' s great grandson , AA-as a grocer on Snow Hill , and his son , Oliver Cromwell , the last male heir of the family , an attorney of London . But it AA-as in the female line that the fall was most striking . Several of the Lord Protector's granddaughter ' s children sank to the loivest class of society . One , after seeing her husband die iu the workhouse of a little Suffolk town , died herself a pauper , leaving two daughters ; the elder , the Avife of a shoemaker , and the younger , of . a butcher ' s sou , AA-IIO had been her felloiv servant . Another of Oliver Cromwell ' s great granddaughters hadtivo children , ivho earned their scanty bread by the humblest industry ; the son , as a small working jeweller , and the daughter as a mistress of a little school at Mildeuhall . "
Sir Bernard Burke , as a true Irishman , as we take him to be , is , of course , a firm believer in the royalty of the various kings , and petty lords that took the name of kings in Ireland , and ol whose deeds Ave have such stirring pictures in The Annals of the Four Masters , and such like works , and accordingly he favours us with the following account of the representative of the royal race of the O'Neills , a name more familiar to Saxon ears , from the recollections of the dramatic veteran , than the sceptered monarch ; hoivever , let us introduce
" Sergeant-Major Bryan O ' iSTeill , youngest son of Sir Francis O'Neill , the sixth baronet , is now in his seventy-fifth year , and is a tall and distinguished looking man , in Avhose appearance and manners , notivithstandmg his ago and poverty , and the ordeal througb . Avhich he has passeel , may bo traced the high lineage and noble blood of Clanaboy . " "And thus I close tin ' s sketch of the decadence of a branch of'the royal house of O'jYoill , in n-liicli the mutability of fortune is signally displayed . The descendant of Prince Niul of Scythia aud Egypt , of
^ Milosius , King of Spain ; of the royal author , C'ormac Udfadha ; of Con of' the hundred battles , ' and Niall the Great ; of the chivalrous Niall Caille , and Hugh Boy , and Brian Balv , and Henry Coach , and the gallant and dashing Colonel of Charles the First ' s dragoons at the battle of Edge Hill , the cousin of three peers aucl of a duke , and the lineal descendant of a hundred kings , is reduced to the humble lot of a discharged pensioner of the Crown , at two shillings and twopence a day , and occupies a room in a small shop in an obscure street , whore his eldest sou is a coffinmaker . "
The struggles of great men have always been a theme to hang a moral on , but the endurance of woman has not commanded such applause , because their sufferings have been mostly of a domestic and private character , yet ivhen this has not been the case , and the story of their AVOCS have been made knoAvn , then it is that the old maxim , " sutler and be strong , " is fully exemplified . Sir Bernard Burke tells his stories so tersely , and yet luminously , that AVC prefer letting him do so in his own language , rather than offer our readers an abridgment . The folloiving is a grand picture of a suffering , yet determined , woman : —
" The year of famine came on , Government works were commenced , nnd the tenants soon ceased to pay any rents whatever , aud as a natural consequence the owners of so many thousand acres ivere no longer able to pay up the instalments due upon their mortgages . Men acting iu large bodies are seldom so merciful as when they are individually responsible for their deeds , and the Laiv Life Assurance Society formed no exception to this rule of general experience . They insisted upon the due performance of their bond , aud that being under the circumstances
impossible , this vast Connemara property came into the Encumbered Estates Court , and the famous old race of Martin of Balliuahinch was sold out : the times ivere the ivorst possible for au advantageous sale ; and the assurance company bought in almost the entire of the estate , at a sum immeasurably below its real value , and quite inadequate , even with tlie produce of the remnant of the lands bought by other parties , to tlie liquidation of its heavy liabilities . Not a single acre remained for the poor heiress of what AV .-IS once a princely estate , and ivhile others were thus fattening upon her ancient inheritance , the 'Princess of tonnejnnra , " without any fault of her own , became an absolute pauper
The home of her fathers had passed aivay to strangers , leaving nothing behind but debts aud the bitter recollection of what she had lately been . "In this total Avreck of all her fortunes the ill-starred ' Princess of Connemara' retired to Fontaine 1 'Eveque , in Belgium , ivhere for a short ivhile she supported herself by her pen ; but so scanty ivere the means thus obtained that she at length resolved to abandon the continent for America , hoping to find iu the new world an ampler field for her exforward ivith small
ertions . Some friends of the family now came a subscription to enable her to carry out this object . Much it could not have been , for AVO find her embarking on the voyage in a sailing vessel , although she was far advanced in pregnancy . A premature confinement AA-as the result in this den of misery , without medical attendant , without a nurse , AA'ithout any one of the aids so indispensable at such a moment of danger and suffering . Can it be a matter of surprise to anyone that she died soon after she touched the shoreor , as some will have it ,
, before she left the boat 1 " "With her has perished the last direct representative of her race , though even now the echo of their name has not passed away among the peasants . The people of Conuemava yet speak of the Martins as being the legitimate lords of the soil , and never mention them but with affectionate regret . " " It only remains to add that this unfortunate lady has left behind her several ivorks that her to havo possessed more than tho
ordiprove nary degree of accomplishments belonging even to her elevated condition . Of these the most popular are ' Canvassing , ' ivhich AA-as published in connection wifch Banim ' s ' Mayor of Windgap , ' aud a work in three volumes called ' St . Etienne . ' She ivas also said to have been a good Greek and Latin scholar , aud must certainly have been familiar with French , since sho contributed to French periodicals during her residence in Belgium . But , beyond all this , she ii-as kind hearted and of a
most independent character . " Sir Bernard Burke ' s last Essay in the Vicissitudes of Families , is devoted to inculcating a love for the study of Heraldry . From ivhat ive have Avritten on this subject , in a late number , presume none of our readers will be surprised if ive advise them to peruse Sir Bernard Burke ' s essay for themselves , as AVO hold heraldry to be one of the most useful , and certainly one of the most graceful accomplishments a ivell read person can possess .
Robert . Mornay . A Novel by MAX FERRER . 8 VO . Messrs . Chapman and Hall . AVE have tales and novels to suit all classes , and shades of opinion from the evcrythingarian down to thc anythingarian , but from those of a metaphysical turn we are almost always too anxious to escape . On taking up Robert Mornay AVC stumbled over some four or more pages of dry reflections , and found ourselves face to face
ivith two characters , Robert Mornay and Harry AVinsome , of course they Ai'ere " as wide as the poles asunder" in treatment . The one ivas metaphysical , of shining ability , but uncertain of purpose ; tbe other a happy-go-lucky sort of individual , always contented and making thc best of everything . Our author's aim is sound , and points out the necessity of self denial and self control by illustrating thc unfortunate effects of a ivant of these
qualities . Thc story , as we are promised a sequel , it would be unfair to give an outline of , but there are , in spite of the philosophical tendencies of the book , some delightful episodes , one of whicli is so irresistible that wc shall conclude our notice by thc extract , whether fact or fiction ive say not : — " One clay , Avhen Ave ivere coming in from one of these sails , just barely gliding iu , almost becalmed , I observed a lot of human heads approaching along the water towards the yacht . They turned out to bo
a swimming party , men and Avomeu ( ladies , my dear folloiA' ) sAvimiiimg altogether . They came alongside our yacht , and Fry offered them refreshment , ivhich , as they had swum two miles , he thought might be acceptable . ' If you havo any coffee ive should bo glad to have it , ' replied an English male head . It was our minister from Monaco , rather a fat man , who floated on his back remarkably ivell . Fry knew him slightly . ' Won't you come on board V ' Thank you , but I don't think we are quite cu regie '—( the ladies had ou a sort of very light bathing goivn ) . Coffee
AA-as handed , therefore , to each of them from the gangway steps . ' Good coffee , ' continued the male head . The nymphs had been helped first . Fry , meantime , wa . s entirely occupied watching one of them float on her back , ivhich the lady observing , said , suddenly , ' Won't you join us t ' Thank you , ' be replied ; ' there seems to be a certain amount ot novelty in the proceeding , and , in such company , I don't see how I can refuse . But how far are you going to journey thus ? ' ' To that village , ' said a very pretty English girl , in reply , who was ' treading water , ' her
long hair having escaped the net , streaming clown her back . ' What , that one there V She pointed to one nearly three miles off . ' Yes ; Avhy not ? ' 'Because I should simply go down before I got there . ' ' Why , it ' s nothing ; we sivam five miles tlie other clay . Yon can come halfAViiVj then . * ' The invitation was irrcsii iible . Fry bolted down to the cabin , aud presently reappeared iu lighter but still decent apparel . In a moment he ivas also treading Avater by tire syren who had enticed him to her element . ' Come along , Frankland , ' ho cried ; hut I resisted both
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Literature.
than fiction , " and in many of the nobles and commoners' family traditions there are some of the most romantic legends to be found —legends ivhich far outstrip the romance of the novelist . We remember in daj's long gone by , ivhat a mine of wealth to us there Avas in Playfair ' s British Family Antiquity , Dugdale's Baronage , and much later in Craik ' s Curiosities of Family History , and the two series of Burke ' s Family Romance . From these sources
Sir Bernard Burke has re-issued some of the tales incorporated in his former volumes , as ivell as those of the other authors before indicated , but this has been done in this instance in the pursuit of an uniform plan , viz ., to trace the misfortunes that have befallen the great and mig hty . These Vicissitudes of Families are narrated in a garb in ivhich Ave could scarcely expect to find them coming from a King at Arms . They are not the mere dull chronicle ,
with dates and facts huddled together in close proximity , but readable by the fireside or in the home circle . To bear out our assertion we shall offer our readers a feAv extracts , and commence with the decadence of the CroniAvells : —
"Thomas Cromivell , the Lord Protector ' s great grandson , AA-as a grocer on Snow Hill , and his son , Oliver Cromwell , the last male heir of the family , an attorney of London . But it AA-as in the female line that the fall was most striking . Several of the Lord Protector's granddaughter ' s children sank to the loivest class of society . One , after seeing her husband die iu the workhouse of a little Suffolk town , died herself a pauper , leaving two daughters ; the elder , the Avife of a shoemaker , and the younger , of . a butcher ' s sou , AA-IIO had been her felloiv servant . Another of Oliver Cromwell ' s great granddaughters hadtivo children , ivho earned their scanty bread by the humblest industry ; the son , as a small working jeweller , and the daughter as a mistress of a little school at Mildeuhall . "
Sir Bernard Burke , as a true Irishman , as we take him to be , is , of course , a firm believer in the royalty of the various kings , and petty lords that took the name of kings in Ireland , and ol whose deeds Ave have such stirring pictures in The Annals of the Four Masters , and such like works , and accordingly he favours us with the following account of the representative of the royal race of the O'Neills , a name more familiar to Saxon ears , from the recollections of the dramatic veteran , than the sceptered monarch ; hoivever , let us introduce
" Sergeant-Major Bryan O ' iSTeill , youngest son of Sir Francis O'Neill , the sixth baronet , is now in his seventy-fifth year , and is a tall and distinguished looking man , in Avhose appearance and manners , notivithstandmg his ago and poverty , and the ordeal througb . Avhich he has passeel , may bo traced the high lineage and noble blood of Clanaboy . " "And thus I close tin ' s sketch of the decadence of a branch of'the royal house of O'jYoill , in n-liicli the mutability of fortune is signally displayed . The descendant of Prince Niul of Scythia aud Egypt , of
^ Milosius , King of Spain ; of the royal author , C'ormac Udfadha ; of Con of' the hundred battles , ' and Niall the Great ; of the chivalrous Niall Caille , and Hugh Boy , and Brian Balv , and Henry Coach , and the gallant and dashing Colonel of Charles the First ' s dragoons at the battle of Edge Hill , the cousin of three peers aucl of a duke , and the lineal descendant of a hundred kings , is reduced to the humble lot of a discharged pensioner of the Crown , at two shillings and twopence a day , and occupies a room in a small shop in an obscure street , whore his eldest sou is a coffinmaker . "
The struggles of great men have always been a theme to hang a moral on , but the endurance of woman has not commanded such applause , because their sufferings have been mostly of a domestic and private character , yet ivhen this has not been the case , and the story of their AVOCS have been made knoAvn , then it is that the old maxim , " sutler and be strong , " is fully exemplified . Sir Bernard Burke tells his stories so tersely , and yet luminously , that AVC prefer letting him do so in his own language , rather than offer our readers an abridgment . The folloiving is a grand picture of a suffering , yet determined , woman : —
" The year of famine came on , Government works were commenced , nnd the tenants soon ceased to pay any rents whatever , aud as a natural consequence the owners of so many thousand acres ivere no longer able to pay up the instalments due upon their mortgages . Men acting iu large bodies are seldom so merciful as when they are individually responsible for their deeds , and the Laiv Life Assurance Society formed no exception to this rule of general experience . They insisted upon the due performance of their bond , aud that being under the circumstances
impossible , this vast Connemara property came into the Encumbered Estates Court , and the famous old race of Martin of Balliuahinch was sold out : the times ivere the ivorst possible for au advantageous sale ; and the assurance company bought in almost the entire of the estate , at a sum immeasurably below its real value , and quite inadequate , even with tlie produce of the remnant of the lands bought by other parties , to tlie liquidation of its heavy liabilities . Not a single acre remained for the poor heiress of what AV .-IS once a princely estate , and ivhile others were thus fattening upon her ancient inheritance , the 'Princess of tonnejnnra , " without any fault of her own , became an absolute pauper
The home of her fathers had passed aivay to strangers , leaving nothing behind but debts aud the bitter recollection of what she had lately been . "In this total Avreck of all her fortunes the ill-starred ' Princess of Connemara' retired to Fontaine 1 'Eveque , in Belgium , ivhere for a short ivhile she supported herself by her pen ; but so scanty ivere the means thus obtained that she at length resolved to abandon the continent for America , hoping to find iu the new world an ampler field for her exforward ivith small
ertions . Some friends of the family now came a subscription to enable her to carry out this object . Much it could not have been , for AVO find her embarking on the voyage in a sailing vessel , although she was far advanced in pregnancy . A premature confinement AA-as the result in this den of misery , without medical attendant , without a nurse , AA'ithout any one of the aids so indispensable at such a moment of danger and suffering . Can it be a matter of surprise to anyone that she died soon after she touched the shoreor , as some will have it ,
, before she left the boat 1 " "With her has perished the last direct representative of her race , though even now the echo of their name has not passed away among the peasants . The people of Conuemava yet speak of the Martins as being the legitimate lords of the soil , and never mention them but with affectionate regret . " " It only remains to add that this unfortunate lady has left behind her several ivorks that her to havo possessed more than tho
ordiprove nary degree of accomplishments belonging even to her elevated condition . Of these the most popular are ' Canvassing , ' ivhich AA-as published in connection wifch Banim ' s ' Mayor of Windgap , ' aud a work in three volumes called ' St . Etienne . ' She ivas also said to have been a good Greek and Latin scholar , aud must certainly have been familiar with French , since sho contributed to French periodicals during her residence in Belgium . But , beyond all this , she ii-as kind hearted and of a
most independent character . " Sir Bernard Burke ' s last Essay in the Vicissitudes of Families , is devoted to inculcating a love for the study of Heraldry . From ivhat ive have Avritten on this subject , in a late number , presume none of our readers will be surprised if ive advise them to peruse Sir Bernard Burke ' s essay for themselves , as AVO hold heraldry to be one of the most useful , and certainly one of the most graceful accomplishments a ivell read person can possess .
Robert . Mornay . A Novel by MAX FERRER . 8 VO . Messrs . Chapman and Hall . AVE have tales and novels to suit all classes , and shades of opinion from the evcrythingarian down to thc anythingarian , but from those of a metaphysical turn we are almost always too anxious to escape . On taking up Robert Mornay AVC stumbled over some four or more pages of dry reflections , and found ourselves face to face
ivith two characters , Robert Mornay and Harry AVinsome , of course they Ai'ere " as wide as the poles asunder" in treatment . The one ivas metaphysical , of shining ability , but uncertain of purpose ; tbe other a happy-go-lucky sort of individual , always contented and making thc best of everything . Our author's aim is sound , and points out the necessity of self denial and self control by illustrating thc unfortunate effects of a ivant of these
qualities . Thc story , as we are promised a sequel , it would be unfair to give an outline of , but there are , in spite of the philosophical tendencies of the book , some delightful episodes , one of whicli is so irresistible that wc shall conclude our notice by thc extract , whether fact or fiction ive say not : — " One clay , Avhen Ave ivere coming in from one of these sails , just barely gliding iu , almost becalmed , I observed a lot of human heads approaching along the water towards the yacht . They turned out to bo
a swimming party , men and Avomeu ( ladies , my dear folloiA' ) sAvimiiimg altogether . They came alongside our yacht , and Fry offered them refreshment , ivhich , as they had swum two miles , he thought might be acceptable . ' If you havo any coffee ive should bo glad to have it , ' replied an English male head . It was our minister from Monaco , rather a fat man , who floated on his back remarkably ivell . Fry knew him slightly . ' Won't you come on board V ' Thank you , but I don't think we are quite cu regie '—( the ladies had ou a sort of very light bathing goivn ) . Coffee
AA-as handed , therefore , to each of them from the gangway steps . ' Good coffee , ' continued the male head . The nymphs had been helped first . Fry , meantime , wa . s entirely occupied watching one of them float on her back , ivhich the lady observing , said , suddenly , ' Won't you join us t ' Thank you , ' be replied ; ' there seems to be a certain amount ot novelty in the proceeding , and , in such company , I don't see how I can refuse . But how far are you going to journey thus ? ' ' To that village , ' said a very pretty English girl , in reply , who was ' treading water , ' her
long hair having escaped the net , streaming clown her back . ' What , that one there V She pointed to one nearly three miles off . ' Yes ; Avhy not ? ' 'Because I should simply go down before I got there . ' ' Why , it ' s nothing ; we sivam five miles tlie other clay . Yon can come halfAViiVj then . * ' The invitation was irrcsii iible . Fry bolted down to the cabin , aud presently reappeared iu lighter but still decent apparel . In a moment he ivas also treading Avater by tire syren who had enticed him to her element . ' Come along , Frankland , ' ho cried ; hut I resisted both