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Life
1783-1858; [Aeneas or Eneas] b. Westport, Co. Mayo; ed. Tuam and Maynooth; qualified at law but did not practise; strongly supported Daniel O’Connell and the Catholic Association in many pamphlets; ed. Dublin Chronicle, 1815; imprisoned for 6 months on libel charges for attacks on government; author of a novel set in Mayo, The Hermit of Glenconella: A Tale (1820), in which “Glenconella” stands for “Connemara”; d.
Laragh, Co. Wicklow. RAF DIH DIL
Works
The Hermit of Glenconella (London: G. Cowie 1820).
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Commentary
Patrick Rafroidi, Irish Literature in English: The Romantic Period, 1789-1850 (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe 1980), Vol. 1: notes that Aeneas MacDonnell, in The Hermit of Glonconella (1820), making prefatory claim to ‘illustrate the habits and character of the peasantry of Ireland, and the peculiarities of a remote portion of that interesting country [i.e., Connemara].’ (Preface, Hermit of Glonconella [q.p.];
cited in Rafroidi, op. cit., p.132.)
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