TRIFLES: Two women, by noting the significant trifles which the sheriff and the attorney overlook, discover the story of suffering which led to a crime. Speaking of their neglect of neighborly kindness, one says, “That’s a crime too, and who’s going to punish that?”
In Washington Square Plays.
IRISH FOLK-HISTORY PLAYS:
I. THE TRAGEDIES: Stories of the beautiful and potent queens who brought suffering upon themselves and upon others; compare Synge’s and Yeats’s stories of Deirdre.
II. THE TRAGI-COMEDIES: THE WHITE COCKADE: In which James II defeats the gains of his loyal subjects by his abject and ridiculous cowardice.
CANAVANS: A covetous miller, his clever wandering brother, and some pleasant absurdity about the popular worship of Queen Elizabeth by her loyal subjects in Ireland.
THE DELIVERER: Apparently an Irish peasant’s
idea of the story of
WORKHOUSE WARD; HYACINTH HALVEY; THE JACKDAW:
Comedies full of Irish wit, conscious and unconscious comedy, and endless complication of events and hearsay in Cloon.
All in Seven Short Plays, Putnam.
THE BOGIE MAN; THE FULL MOON; COATS:
More about Cloon people, including the rescue of Hyacinth Halvey from his troublesome reputation and from the place by the magic and lunacy of moonlight.
In New Irish Comedies, Putnam.
DAMER’S GOLD: A fortunate rescue from the torments of miserliness and pestilent heirs; the author’s notes on the origin of the play are interesting.
THE GAOL GATE: A brief and effective tragic story of two women who fear that their man has betrayed his mates, but who find that he has been hanged without informing; the mother improvises a psalm of praise of his steadfastness.
In Seven Short Plays.
THE TRAVELING MAN: A peasant woman who has been befriended by a mysterious wanderer expects his return so that she may thank him. She drives away a tramp from her kitchen, and then discovers who he was.
THE GOLDEN APPLE: Many scenes, some excellent fun; of a search for miraculous fruit, of a giant who is high and bloodthirsty only in carefully fostered reputation, and the like matters.
+St. John Hankin+
THE PERFECT LOVER: Delightful dramatic version
In Dramatic Works, Seeker.
RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL: The same young man, or his close image, having managed to be received by his family as a returned prodigal, calmly puts upon them the question of his future.
THE CASSILIS ENGAGEMENT