Life
1865-1920 [Frank James Mathew]; b. Bombay, grand-nephew of Fr. Mathew; called ‘the writer we have all been waiting for’ in Pref. to Cabinet [ed. T. P. O’Connor]; wrote Father Mathew, His Life and Times and several historical romances based on Irish wars, incl. The Spanish Wine which is set at Dunluce Castle (1898). CAB IF SUTH DIL2
[ top ]
Works
Father Mathew, His Life and Times (London: Cassell 1980); At the Risisng of the Moon: Irish Stories and Sketches (London: John Lane; Chicago; Way & Williams 1893); The Wood of the Brambles (London: John Lane; Chicago; Way & Williams 1896); A Child in the Temple (London & NY: John Lane 1897); The Spanish Urn (London & NY: John Lane 1897); The Spanish Wine [set at Dunluce Castle] (London & NY: John Lane 1898); One Queen Triumphant (London & NY: John Lane 1899); Defender of the Faith (London & NY: John Lane 1899); Love of Comrades (London & NY: John Lane 1900).
[ top ]
Commentary
W. P. Ryan, The Irish Literary Revival (1894), sketch of Frank Mathew, first wrote a life of his grand-uncle, the Irish apostle of temperance; At the Rising of the Moon, racy, observant, good story-teller; recently abandoned law for literature, and set himself to write a novel of Wexford in the days of ‘98. [115]
[ top ]
References
John Sutherland, The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction (Longmans 1988; rep. 1989), supplies bio-data: b. Bombay, son of civil engineer, and grand nephew Fr. Mathew (Life, 1890); ed. London Univ., grad. 1888; barrister, m. 1899; fiction often with romantic Irish themes and rambling narratives considered charming; novel incl. At the Rising of the Moon (1893), 20 tales in west of Ireland; The Wood of the Brambles (1896), story of 1798; A Child in the Temple (1897); The Spanish Wine (1898); A Defender of the Faith (1899); The Royal Sisters (1901), i.e. Elizabeth and Mary. British Library holds 8 titles.
[ top ]