8 MAY 1830, Page 10

LITERARY SPECTATOR.

TRAITS AND STORIES OF THE IRISH PEASANTRY.*

WHEN we say that these are volumes overflowing with talent, we beg to say that we write under no apprehension of the shillelah, which the author, in his preface, brandishes in terrorem over the critical world. Pictures of the Irish have been of late numerous and fashionable. It would seem that this highly civilized country kept in petto a little corner of savagery, in order to supply it with entertainment. Rich men force exotics for their pleasure, and kings in their wisdom used to keep fools by way of relieffrom councils of state : in like man- ner,. we suppose, the very grave country miscalled merry England (but assuredly as merry as France is la belle) purposely makes a pre- serve of Ireland for her especial relaxation. It is true that Eng- land pays the taxes, but Scotland supplies romance, and Ireland fun —is not the partition just ? The Emerald Isle pays in kind—her staple commodity is web of the brain—her people go a wool-gather- ing. Scarcely one of the recent Irish authors, though numerous, and possessed of various degrees of merit, have been unworthy of respect. The author of To-day in Ireland gave us admirable sketches of their po- litical condition. The O'Hara Family tell us of Irishmen in the clouds, the wilder and more wayward characters and events of their strange land. The writer of the Munster Festivals is simply a clever novelist or tale-teller, whose scenes happen to lie in Ireland and among Irishmen. Lady MORGAN is a person of great vivacity of genius, who happens to have been born a wild Irish girl. Miss EDGEWORTH is the person who hits studied the Irish character and turned it to the best account ; she has amused us with its peculiarities, but pointed out its errors. Her pictures are admirable in every sense ; and yet when the other authors who have succeeded her have most resembled her, they have been best. The author now before us is one who has taken a very different line from any of his predecessors : if any one has drawn a faithful and accurate picture of the lower orders of Irish in their native land, it is he ; and that without varnish or ornament of any description whatever beyond the native truth—the natural playfulness, impetuosity, and shrewdness peculiar to the extraordinary race lie describes. The author gives us to understand that he is not only well acquainted with the peasantry of his country, but we infer that he is one of them—certainly among them. Be this as it may, we do not hesitate to affirm that one of the cle- verest and the most. lively sketches of character in literature, may be found in the tale entitled "Larry M'Farlane's Wake." It has the moral truth of the Cottagers of Glenburnie, with the pathos of Mrs. OPIE, and the characteristic traits so forcibly drawn by the creator of Aby Nowlans. Entitled to similar, but far from equal- praise, are the introduction called "Ned M'Keown," and the "Factions," in the first volume. The second volume is unequal to the first,—partly, perhaps, from a mitigation of spirit and facility, caused by the advice of some good-natured friend, who persuaded the author that he ought to keep down the brogue. We do not mean that the absence of the Doric is the reason of the interiority, but the effort to speak a lan- guage different from his ordinary one has certainly controlled and shackled his genius. A similar result has been frequently observed in the English poems of BURNS. We exhort the writer to continue : we do not flatter him that he will ever write-anything better than "Larry M'Farlane's Wake." It is usual to speak of a first work as a promise of future excellence : it is so in matters of labour and those depending upon order and method, but generally in works of imagination the first fruits of the virgin mind are the best. They comprise, ordinarily, the choicest observations and the most precious experience of the freshest and most vigorous portion of existence. We had designed making several extracts from these volumes, but we find that they grow too numerous on our hands, and that their length exceeds our limits. We request that those who have any confidence in our judgment will take some interest in these tales ; otherwise it is extremely pro- bable they will not meet with the notice they deserve. They are pub- lished in Ireland, and, for aught we know, by persons who do not, like our fashionable publishers, understand the art of pushing or puffing. We say this with perfect recklessness of being suspected of any partial motive : our rigid and unbiassed administration of critical justice is surely by this time recognized and allowed.

4, Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry. With Etchings by IV. H. Brooke, Esq. 2 vols. Dublin, 1830.