The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-05-21
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
AUTHORS OF IRISH BIRTH.

ton Of a paper for a magazine instead
of a shor article in a newspaper we
would essay a discussion at length
treating of Irish literature in general,
50 deserving and entertaining. 1t is a
fruitful theme to n who has leisure
and information and ability to pursue
it. A more rapid glance is all that we
a attempt here.
We begin with Burke and Sheridan
the two great orators briefly referred
to last Sunday. Both were successful
uthor Burke was the foremost OF
British political writer's. not excepting
Lord Bolingbroke's four octavos con-
tanning his once very famous histori-
cal pamphlets, and much of which this
writer read in his early manhood, for
he bought the works of a man so much
under discussion in the history of Eng
land, n whose writings were so Of
ten referred to by we'll read men in the
first. half of the last century. Burke
began authorship by initiating Boiling
Droke's style with THE Vindication OF
Natural Society,"" Later he wrote,
while still young, his once very famous
VIZ 4loooy oh NhS oD@A-A otA
Beautiful" He wrote later a two vol
-ume sketch of American History"
that ought to still possess historic
value and interest. His next produc-
tor was the Annual Register" which
appeared in several volumes. beginning
with 1853. He was writing hard for
his daily bread then, but always look
ing ahead for fame. In 1890, he pub
lished the greatest of his books, Re
Elections on the Revolution in France"
II attracted marked attention. He
wrote in much ~eloquence and power to
warn England against "cherishing at
home the fatal seeds that were bear
ing a terrible harvest across the chan
mel" He wrote a most inspiring pro-
"duction not long before he died-"Let-
ter 10 a Noble Lord" 1t is in noble
style and most scathing. 1t was a re-
ply to two noblemen. Duke Of Bedford.
and Earl of Lauderdale, who sought
to worry the old lion nearing his end,
and to prevent him from dying in
peace. "They thought that he was
toothless, until he rose with gnashing
fangs and tore the wretches limb by
limb" Other most notable works in
his last days on earth were Letters
on a Regicide Peace and "Observa-
lions or the Conduct of the Minority"
When his most promising son died, the
heart of the great orator and philoso-
lphic statesman was broken. and in a
few months he too passed out, and his
body lay encoffined in the alabaster
arms of DEATH" to quote the fine line
of James r. Randall, author of My
Maryland a gifted Marylander.
tSichard Brinsley Sheridan, born in
Dublin in 1851, at twenty-four. produc-
Led his famous comedy The Rivals, -
and in 1777, produced a greater work,
The School for Scandal" both OF
which are played to this time. 1t is re-
garded by many cultured people "as
the finest comedy of the later litera-
sture." He also wrote an opera called
THE Duenna," of which we know
nothing. a witty farce called THE
Critic" and an adoption Of "Pizarro''
by Kotzebue. He died in 1916.
Let us turn next, and briefly, to some
very eminent authors all of Irish birth.
DCdi JOLdludH 0"lIt 10 III VI III
very greatest men in English history
OF the Eighteenth Century. He was
born in Dublin in 1867, of English pa
rents and ancestors. He was educated
in Ireland, and lived there for a good
many years. We give nothing Of his
history. He was a tremendous force
in English politics and was par excel
lence the greatest of Political pamph-
letters. He wrote that immortal book
with it's hidden political meaning all
~2through, "Gulliver's Travels" He wrote
another work, one of his very great
est. that will long ~survive-"Tale of a
Tub. He was replying to Hobbies.
His was a ferocious nature and re-
yelled in excoriation and f1aying alive.
His verse was strong, unadorned, ner-
III coarse, graphic, even powerful
His probably best poetic compositions
are entitled Morning" THE City
Shower" Rhapsody or Poetry" and
Verses on My Own Death" One OF
mis- four greatest prose efforts was
Battle Of the Books" and "Drapiers
Letters" He had a robust and Pro-
digious intellect and was of striking
originality and great energy.
In history, Ireland has given the
world the very best military history
since the great Caesar wrote his i'm
moral Commentaries" which, by the
way, have just been freshly edited
with much elaboration Of scholarship
Sir Charles Napier's 1.-THE History Of
the Peninsular War is a great credit
to any country and will long be read
In fiction Ireland has produced 6
considerable number Of successful au'
thors. While among them there is nc
Scott or Thackeray or Dickens OF
George Eliot. it has had a Laurancs