I conjecture nothing. I only relate the incident as unequivocally _matter of fact_: Lord Rossmore _was absolutely dying at the moment I heard his name pronounced_! Let sceptics draw their own conclusions: perhaps natural causes _may_ be assigned; but _I_ am totally unequal to the discovery.
Atheism may ridicule me: Orthodoxy may despise me: Bigotry may lecture me: Fanaticism might _burn_ me: yet in my very faith I would seek consolation. It is in my mind better to believe _too much_ than _too little_, and that is the only theological crime I can be fairly accused of.
Remarks on Lady Morgan’s novel of “The Wild Irish Girl,” &c.—Prince O’Sullivan at Killarney—Miss Edgeworth’s “Castle Rackrent”—Memoir of Jonathan Clerk—“Florence Macarthy”—Comparison between Lady Morgan and Thomas Moore as writers—The author’s knowledge of both—“Captain Rock” condemned—The “Irish Melodies” by Moore—The harmonising of them by Sir John Stevenson injurious to the national music—Anecdote of Mr. Thomas Moore and Mrs. K * * * y.
It is remarkable that the various gradations of habit and society in Ireland have been best illustrated by two female authors,—the one of more imaginative, the other of purer narrative powers; but each, in her respective line, possessing very considerable merit.
Though a fiction not free from some inaccuracies, much inappropriate dialogue, and forced incident, it is impossible to peruse “The Wild Irish Girl” of Lady Morgan without deep interest, or to dispute its claims as a production of true national feeling as well as literary talent.
That tale was the first and is perhaps the best of all her novel writings. Compared with others, it strikingly exhibits the author’s _falling off_ from the simple touches of unsophisticated nature to the _less_ refined conceptions of what she herself styles “fashionable society.”
To persons unacquainted with Ireland, “The Wild Irish Girl” may appear an ordinary tale of romance and fancy; but to such as understand the ancient history of that people, it may be considered as a _legend_. The authoress might perhaps have had somewhat in view the last descendant of the Irish princes, who did not altogether forget the station of his forefathers.