CURRENT LITERATURE.
Baldearg O'Donnell ; a Tale of 1690-91. By the Hon. Albert S. G. Canning. 2 vols. (Marcus Ward and Co.)—Baldearg O'Donnell is an officer in the service of the King of Spain, who makes his way over to Ireland during the troubles that followed the Revolution of 1688, with the idea of making a position for himself out of the honour which belonged to him as the head of.his house. But be finds Ireland a very different place from what he had exptected. The O'Donnell who by right of kinship should have been his vicegerent is a blood- thirsty and irreclaimable savage, and the adventurer finds good reason materially to alter his plans. There has evidently been some careful study on the part of Mr. Canning of the authorities from which he draws, and though the story is not particularly interesting, there is some effectiveness in the picture of Ireland, distracted as it was between the claims of the Stuarts, the ambition or patriotism of the native chieftains, and the Roman Church, careless of either, so long as its own predominance were secured.
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