The Buried Life of Deirdre, by Eva Gore-Booth (Longmans, Green,
21s.), was written in 1908. The theme of the play is the working out of the sins of a past life, knowledge of which is granted to Deirdre in her most famous incarnation, in which she became the destruction of the Red Branch. The didacticism is very thinly covered in the veil of the legend —this is, in fact, less a play than an idea for a play—and it is not clear why Deirdre attributes knowledge of the sorrow to come particularly to women, since her own sorrow was foretold by the bard Cathvah when she-was born. There is, however, a certain charm about some of the songs, and the conflict of Angus and Mannantin is well conceived. Very charming, • too, are the sketches by the author, who had never learnt to draw—for an illustrated edition. They are here reproduced, though they intensify the impression of something unfinished —perhaps beyond the author's capacity to execute fully.
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