The Irish standard., 1888-08-11

yOuLlS OF TIE TeRlQeut were ualI1eu
men.
The regiment was in Kerry during the
rebellion of 1898, and Mr.. Hall men
tons with pride that under the consider
ate and humane sway of his father not
single life was taken in the district over
which he ruled with autocratic power,
and on the other hand not an officer nor
man Of the Fencib es vas as much as ILL
treated by the peasantry. A striking
contrast was this, indeed, to the conduct
of the two other Fencible regiments
then in Ireland-the Infamous ''Ancient
Britons" (Walsh) and the Caithness
Fencibles (Scorch), who, as readers OF
the times know. carried havoc wherever
they went, end massacred, mutilated,
outraged, old men, women OF all ages,
and children, and burned the homesteads
of the unfortunate Pleasantly with ruth
less purpose.
It is no wonder, then, that the Halls
Mrs. Hall being thorough Oelt ana
MIR. Hall an Irishman by birth--wrote
much about Ireland, and always had the
most sympathetic interest in the country
Up to the time of her marriage Mrs.
Hall had written nothing, nor does she
appear to have even suspected the rich
wealth Of the noyelist's Imagination and
dramatic power with which she was en-
lowed. Her husband writes;-
::Her first essay was brought about
thus One evening in 1825-she was
telling me some anecdotes OF her Old
Irish sohoolmatas, Master Ben Said
T, e wish you would write about that
just as you tell it, She did SO. l
printed her story in The Spirit and Man
ners of the Age. monthly periodical I
then edited, and from that day dates her
career as an author. Other tales OF the
friends and acquaintances OF her child
hood and girlhood followed Eventually
they were collected into & volume en-
titled, Sketches OF Irish Character, and
she became an author by profession.
The s'i3ketches Of Irish Character are
a very entertaining collection Of por-
traitures. They are drawn with skill
full, and at the same time sympathetic,
hand. s'In these Sketches" she writes
in an introduction to she third edition Of
the work,
tI have aimed at higher object than
mere amusement desiring so to picture
the Irish character as to make it more
justly appreciated, more rightly esti-
mated, and more respected in England;
at the same tl1ne / haye studied, but I
trust in kindly and aHnectionate spirit,
SO to notice The errors and faults that
prevail most among my countrymen and
countrywomen as to bs Of some use in
inducing removal of them. There are
none powerless to effect good. except
those who persuade themselves that at
tempts TO produce it are hopeless. It
has been my steady purpose and Jealous
wish to do justice to the many est,mable
qualities OF the Irish peasantrY, Of whom
It has been truly said, their virtues are
heir own, but their vices have been
:orced upon them.''
In this ''Confesslon Of Faith" Mrs.
Hall tells us the spirit in which her Irish
books were written; and she repeats it
though in different forns-in all her
works. In the preface to
Tight and Shadows of Irish Life, pub
ished in 1888, she says her ambition
vas to do for ireland what Scott had
lone for Scotland; and her aim--''to
make the character OF the Irish more ex-
known and better understood;
10 1ncite a generous sympathy for their
a kind indulgence towards
;ileir faults, and a just appreciation of
heir virtues.'' Again she says in the
same preface
''It has been always impressed upon
ny mind that ought to write for the
Irish as we'll as for the English reader;
with this feeling I have never hesitated
10 exhibit and condemn in my country
men and women that which I consider
wrong and capable Of alteration. To
approve is always easy--to censure sell
lom agreeab le-if I have at times seemed
% adhere too slightly to the old caution,
BE to their faults little blind I trust
It cannot be said Of me I have been ought
out TO their virtues very kind 80
She dedicates her 'FStories of the Irish
peasantry," published in 1910, to the
landlords and tenants of ireland, and
SAID the object of the work was to show
hat their interests we're both mutual
Ind inseparable In the introduction
he says
81 shall indeed heartily rejoice if I
lave contributed to the social and moral
Of those for whom my