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CRITICAL OPINIONS

ON

MR. FITZPATRICK'S PREVIOUS WORKS.

Just ready, New Edition, in two richly bound volumes, large 8vo, with additional Letters, Anecdotes, Plates, and Alphabetical Index, published by James Duffy, Sons, & Co.,

THE LIFE, TIMES, AND CORRESPONDENCE

OF

THE RIGHT REV. DR. DOYLE,

BISHOP OF KILDARE AND LEIGHLIN (J. K. L.)

The Press, when the organ of the Right Hon. B. Disraeli, said:

"It is impossible for us to notice, even in the most cursory manner, a hundredth part of the interesting subjects embraced in these volumes. A more graphic, impartial, and truthful picture of a man and his times has seldom been produced. It is perfectly Boswellian in effect; and neither pains nor labour has been spared to render the work complete in every respect, and thoroughly trustworthy.Nothing is taken for granted, the best and most reliable evidence being always produced to substantiate even every apparently trifling incident. The result is an historical painting of a most interesting and stirring period, drawn to the very life-a painting which is as much distinguished for its breadth of design, its noble proportions, and its skilful execution, as for the exact nicety and studied minuteness of every detail."

The New Monthly Magazine, when edited by W. Harrison Ainsworth, said:

"The task has, indeed, fallen to able and worthy hands. With an industry truly indefatigable, with an accuracy wholly unimpeachable, and with a skill and discrimination of no common order, Mr. Fitzpatrick has woven the scattered and tangled materials in his possession into an admirable and truly fascinating biography. He shines, most justly, in the light reflected from the illustrious dead, and his name shall descend to future times linked with that of him to whose glorious memory he has paid this earnest and grateful tribute."

The Morning Herald, when the organ of the late Lord Derby,

said:

"Mr. Fitzpatrick has chosen a good subject, has devoted much time and much labour to it, and has produced a valuable book, which contains much information upon a critical time in both Irish and English history. We have said that Mr. Fitzpatrick has done his work well. More than that, he has done it con amore. The result is the addition to our national libraries of one of the most admirable histories that modern times have seen-a history which claims for its author no ordinary meed of praise, and demands the attention of his contemporaries as Dr. Doyle challenged the admiration of those who lived in the same age."

The Morning Post, when the organ of the late Lord Palmerston, said:

"Of this distinguished man Mr. Fitzpatrick has published the 'Life, Times, and Correspondence,' after having accumulated ample materials by unwearied personal investigations and epistolary inquiries extending through several years. In these researches he was courteously assisted by several members of both Houses of Parliament, and by other eminent public men, to whom he applied with the view of collecting reminiscences of Dr. Doyle and opinions of his character and attainments. The work of Mr. Fitzpatrick is not, however, like many voluminous biographies, a dry detail of facts minutely chronicled, with little regard to their importance or their suggestive value, and relieved only by dovetailed correspondence, the extent of which exonerates the compiler from the trouble of composition. On the contrary, Mr. Fitzpatrick's 'Life of Dr. Doyle' is in every respect an original work, tracing the intellectual progress, examining the motives and policy, and illustrating the character and habits of by far the ablest Roman Catholic prelate of recent times." [Three columns of eulogy followed.]

From The Weekly Register.

"Every one interested in the cause of the Catholic Church, or that of Ireland, should buy and read Mr. Fitzpatrick's volumes. His labours have been well, carefully, and conscientiously performed. He has taken great pains to collect his materials, and to omit nothing that can throw light upon this subject. A good,

great, and important work."

From The Athenæum.

"Mr. Fitzpatrick has rendered ample justice to all the virtues and abilities of this once redoubtable prelate and politician.

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We readily render to the biographer the justice that is due to him. Among the attractions of these volumes, the bishop's letters to and from women will, probably, be counted the most striking. They remind us of those of Sulpicius Severus to Sister Claudia. They are

marked by the many beauties which distinguish the latter, and are, at the same time, entirely free from the absurdities by which those of the elegant Sulpicius are disfigured. We must now take our leave of Mr. Fitzpatrick, with all commendation for his zeal and industry. He has done his utmost to afford a true portraiture of the great Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, and in this he has succeeded, no doubt."

From The Spectator.

"Mr. Fitzpatrick, whose previous biographical works have been favourably received, has published a Life of Dr. Doyle,' full of amusing and instructive matter. We cannot but express our regret that so good a man and so sincere a patriot should not have survived to our own happier times. A lively, gossipping, and sensible biography."

From The Dublin University Magazine.

"The author has succeeded so well, that the names of Johnson and Boswell are not more indissolubly united than the names of Doyle and Fitzpatrick will be henceforth. We cannot give the able and learned author greater praise than to say that he has presented to the world a work every way worthy the memory of' J. K. L.'"

From The Union.

"It has been a rare thing to find the temporal and spiritual swords wielded effectively by the same hand. Yet that it has been possible to unite ardent political and religious zeal and activity, without the faculties becoming mutually destructive, is proved to demonstration by the biography before us. Mr. Fitzpatrick has done a wise thing in selecting such a subject for a biography, and has earned no slight title to the gratitude of his countrymen for the manner in which he has executed it. A book which will henceforth be indispensable to every one who desires to familiarize himself with the political history of the present century. Dr. Doyle's correspondence is of the most varied nature.

From The Caledonian Mercury.

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"Comprehensive research, laborious arrangement, and minute analyzation. Mr. Fitzpatrick has a commendable patriotic desire to do and have justice done to the more eminent of Ireland's sons. He entertains the belief that Ireland, unlike most other nations, idolizes her great men while they live, and neglects their memory when they are dead. He cannot help regretting that neither by storied urn or monumental bust,' nor in the written pages of the world's history, have illustrious Celts received that measure of justice and honour to which they are entitled. He has, therefore, in these, as in previous volumes, furnished satisfactory evidence of his own determination, if not to do the whole work required, at least to lay the foundation upon which the temple of Irish worth and genius may be

reared, and its niches becomingly filled. For this he is entitled to the gratitude of every true patriot. There is an immense treasury of political knowledge to be gleaned from this book— some curious secrets also."

AMERICAN OPINIONS.

"The Life of Dr. Doyle" has been republished in America. A few notices from upwards of a hundred are subjoined:

The Canadian Freeman.

"Sincerely do we rejoice at the publication of this much desired work, and we are quite sure it will be read with the greatest avidity; for the name of the illustrious Dr. Doyle is a household word amongst the seadivided children of Erin. Mr. Fitzpatrick has given a finished portrait of this patriot prelate, and is entitled to a prominent place among the best of biographers."

The Toronto Mirror.

"This book, which we have carefully perused, after some application, is really the most deserving that has reached this province for the last ten years. It is a splendid chapter in the history of the Irish Church, and the political history of the Irish people from 1800 upwards."

The Boston Pilot.

"Our words may sound extravagant. We can only repeat the motto in Doyle's coat of arms-Tolle lege.' Take up the book which narrates his life, times, and correspondence, and read. We appeal to the monuments of history, so beautifully, so accurately, so eloquently displayed before us by the great historian of one of the greatest men. The book before us is a monument of Mr. Fitzpatrick's skill, of his knowledge of men and events, and of his great power of discernment, of his faithfulness, of his impartiality, of his herculean labour, of his exalted Christianity."

The Herald and Visitor (Philadelphia).

"Boswell's celebrated Biography of Dr. Johnson' is not a superior work to this of Dr. Doyle. It presents the whole man-his letters, his conversation, his labours, his genius, his virtues, his early life, his temper-everything of interest appertaining to him; and the arrangement, style, and spirit of the work are all that an enlightened nation could demand from a graceful, accomplished writer. 'J. K. L.' has found as good a historian as the 'great grim lion of British literature.' These two volumes are the best volumes ever published in America."

Published by W. B. Kelly, 8 Grafton-street, and sold everywhere, price 2s. 6d., 5th Edition, greatly enlarged,

IRELAND BEFORE THE UNION.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE SHAM SQUIRE."

From The Leader.

"We are not surprised that Mr. Fitzpatrick's Ireland Before the Union' should have gone through a fifth edition. That it deserves its popularity and that that popularity has not yet reached, by a long way, the limits of its duration-will only be denied by those who are ignorant of its nature, and who are therefore incapable of appreciating the skill of selection and the labour of research which have been employed in its composition. Mr. Fitzpatrick is one of those writers of whose diligence historians are more fond of availing themselves than confessing the merits. They are authors whose minute industry pierces the black background of unrecorded times, and illumines by perforation. Mr. Fitzpatrick illustrates a period in Irish history of which very little, comparatively speaking, is known. His notes are copious and interesting; and to those who have not yet seen his book we cannot commend a volume better calculated to excite and to instruct."

66

From The Morning Post.

Remarkably rich, thanks to Mr. Fitzpatrick's unpretending art in collecting curious light reading. There is an anecdotage to keep the tabletalker lively for half a season. It would require a vivid imagination in the romance writer to invent fiction stranger than some of the facts here revealed. But we must refer the historical student, who would know something more than the historian has yet deigned to tell us, to this remarkable production of patriotic industry. Wonderfully clear, and vivid, and varied, is the portraiture interspersed in the illustration of the man and his times, and very often illumined by bright flashes of wit and humour. Mr. Fitzpatrick has been called the Irish Boswell, but he includes all the best qualities of his best editors added to Boswell. This volume alone would make a reputation for patient industry in scenting out facts as savoury but as deeply buried as the truffle. It ought to have a place in every historical library."

From Notes and Queries.

"Curious and valuable, for which the future historian will be as much indebted to Mr. Fitzpatrick as his readers of the present day."

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