The Irish standard., 1888-08-11
IRISH GRAVES IN ENGLAND.
BY MICHAEL MAcDONAGH.
MRS. S. c. HALL.

known and admired IN speaking
countries than Mr.. and Mrs. s. G.. Hail.
The works they have written, separately
and in collaboration, are legion. A look
at the ''H'' in the catalogue of the Brit
ish Museum Library will demonstrate
the truth of this assertion. AS many as
thirty pages OF the huge catalogue are
devoted to al enumeration Of books by
the Halls, and the we'll thumbed condi-
ton of these pages shows how greatly IN
demand are the works among visitors to
that great literary store-house. l do not
think / exaggerate when say that to the
average reader most--illdeed, with the
exception of d few books on the temper
ance question. may say all-of what
the Halls have produced is entertaining
and instructive. ssMen OF the Time''
mentions that Mr.. Hall has written $40
volumes; and I find il another quarter
$50 volumes set down to the credit OF
Mrs. Hall. 1t is, Of course with the
books of the latter we are interested, and
more especially with her books relating
o Ireland.
Mrs. Hall was garner in the same
harvest field as Maria Edgewortb, Lady
Morgan, Carleton, the Banirns, Griffin,
Lever, aud Lover. [ Will not now wait
to discuss the rank she occupies in this
galaxy Of novelsts, who have painted
for us in enduring co'ors the habits and
customs Of our iorefat}ers But OIL in.
terasting fact will mention here. Mrs.
Hall was for half century iaborer in
the fields Of Irish fiction, and during
that period all the writer's / have men,
t1one,}--with each Of whom she enjoyed
personal neutrality-suspicious. their
best works. The fist to discover the
s*ici. and almost iuexhaustible ores of
fancy, pathos, and hu1nor, OF comedy,
drama, and tragedy, ot all the elements
and materials fer the noyolist which run
through I~:sh peasant life, was Miss
Edgeworth Who, by the way it was that
suggested the idea of the Waverly Nov
els to Scott), and after her, Eezt in point
of time, but not in Importance, carne
Lady Morgan. BoSh Of these writer's
had published m1st Of their Irish novels
prior TO l824--the year III which Mrs.
Hail wrote her first sketch---but they
did deal cf good work after that year.
The Baniros produced the first of The
s'1,'ales OF the O'Hara Family il 1885,
Carleton the first OF his ''Stories Of the
Irish Peasantry' i'll 1928, Griffin wrote
about 1855. Levers t'Harry Lorrequer'
The first of his no7els--appeared in
1897; and "Rory O'Alore''- initial
effort of the pen OF Loyer-was published
in 1886. Mrs. Hall survived them all.
She died eight years ago, in 1881, aged
81 years. Next to her il longevity was
Michael Ba.im, who WAS in his 18th
year when he died IA 1874. Lover lived
to be II years Of age and Carleton 70
years Miss Edgewortb also lived to
ripe old age; and as for Lady Morgan,
she was SO successful iu her efforts TO
conceal her age that we can only hazard
The opinion that she 1ntsst have been we'll
over 70 when she died IN 1859. Griffin.
John Banim, and Lever died at compar-
atively early ages.
On January 9Th, 1900, Anna Maria
Fielding was born in Anne-street, Dub
lin. She, however, only spent couple
OF weeks in the Irish metropolis. At
1raigue, on the seaside, near Bannow,
county Wexford, she lived in the house
of her mothers step-father, George Carr,
until her fifteenth year. The scenes Of
all the stories in her first book
"sketclaes OF Irish Character, published
in 1S28--are laid in the lovely district in
which she grew up to girlhood. and
which IL remarkable in Irish history as
the place where the Norman invader
hrst set his foot on the soil of Ireland.
IN 1915 she removed with her mother
aud Mr.. Carr 80 London. Seven years
subsequently she met Mr.. Samuel Garter
Hall, young reporter on one of the
London papers, and in the following
wear, on the Goth Of September, 1894,
they were married. Mr.. Hall was also
in his tweoty-fourth year when this event
(Which proved a most happy one for
both) took place, having been born at
Geneva Barracks, in the county Water
ford, OH May 9th, 1900. His father, al
native Of Exeter, was a
colonel in the 72nd Regiment, which
from 1894 to 1902 was stationed in Ire
land. Mr.. Hall tells lis in his Retro.
spect of 8 Long Life" that
in 1894 Ireland WIS almost as much
terra incogn1ta to the people OF Devon
as the Fiji Islands are to them now.
The order that the regiment raised by
nv father should embark for the Green