s education, but to give the
responsibility of freedom.

I have left these papers in order as they were written, with dates
annexed. One of them, _Literature among the Illiterates_, was published
in an earlier volume, _To-day and To-morrow in Ireland_ which is now out
of print. I include it here, because it completes the companion essay,
called _The Life of a Song_.

My acknowledgments are due to the various publications in which they
have all, except the last, previously appeared.

<sc>Dublin</sc>, _March_, 1919.

NOVELS OF IRISH LIFE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

"What Ireland wants," said an old gentleman not very long ago, "is a
Walter Scott." The remedy did not seem very practical, since Walter
Scotts will not come to order, but the point of view is worth noting,
for there you touch the central fact about Irish literature. We desire a
Walter Scott that he may glorify our annals, popularise our legends,
describe our scenery, and give an attractive view of the national
character. In short, we know that Ireland possesses pre-eminently the
quality of picturesqueness, and we should like to see it turned to good
account. We want a Walter Scott to advertise Ireland, and to fill the
hotels with tourists; but as for desiring to possess a great novelist
simply for the distinction of the thing, probably no civilised people on
earth is more indifferent to the matter. At present, indeed, a Walter
Scott, should he appear in Ireland, would be apt to have a cold welcome.
To write on anything connected with Irish history is inevitably to
offend the Press of one party, and very probably of both. Lever is less
of a caricaturist than Dickens, yet Dickens is idolised while Lever has
been bitterly blamed for lowering Irish character in the eyes of the
world; the charge is even repeated in the _Dictionary of National
Biography_. That may be patriotic sentiment, but it is not criticism.

Literature in Ireland, in short, is almost inextricably connected with
considerations foreign to art; it is regarded as a means, not as an end.
During the nineteenth century the belief being general among all classes
of Irish people that the English know nothing of Ireland, every book on
an Irish subject was judged by the effect it was likely to have upon
English opinion, to which the Irish are naturally sensitive, since it
decides the most important Irish questions. But apart from this
practical aspect of the matter, there is a morbid nationa