Mrs. Slattery's Little Romarice.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 5, 1 February 1900, Page 4

Mrs. Slattery's Little Romarice.

Of course we find in Mrs. Slattery's autobiography the impos,--tor's customary asservations of ,' honour bright.' It is part of the game. Thus she says (p. 98) : 'I have a great love for truth and uprightness ; I always had.' Elsewhere she assures us that she has 1 nothing to conceal ' (p. 13), that she is ' not afraid of investigation,' that her ' life will bear the strictest scrutiny,' and there (she adds) ' I give all the names of persons and places connected with my life ' — and this, too, even though (p. 117) 'some of those whose names are mentioned here will bitterly resent it.' Now this is all very pretty and plausible. But, none the less, the woman's severe economy — or rather miserliness — in the matter of truth reminds one of the saying in Hudibras :—: — ' For truth is precious and divine, Too rich a pearl for carnal swine.' As to the names which she promises with so fine a flourish : Those that are alleged to have been ' connected with her life ' are either fictitious or are indicated by initials only § The significance of this fact cannot be overrated. The woman is anxious not to court, but to shun, at all hazards, any ' investigation ' into the facts of her career. Those who have the patience to read on will soon discover the reason why. We now proceed to test the credibility of Mrs. Slattery by a reference to the following statements contained in Convent Life, which she puts forth as her autobiography :—: — 1. She tells us that she was ' born on the 2nd march, 1867, near the town of Cootehill, County Cavan, Ireland ' ; || that her name was Mary E. McCabe : that her father's name was James McCabe * ; and her mother's maiden name Catherine O'Neill. 2 2. We are further informed by her (p. 11) that a relative of hers by marriage, ' John Marlowe, J.P.,' was, at the date of her writing, 11 'living in Tullavin, County Cavan; and that a first cousin of hers, a • Mrs. John Brandon,' was at the same time resident in the town of Cavan (p. 11). 3. Mrs. Slattery likewise informs her readers that she was admitted to the Convent of Poor Clares, Cavan, as postulant, on

*■ She says (p. 68) that she was induced to sign this paper without seeing its contents or knowing 'the legal sense ' of it. This (she alleges) was when she was in the convent She was then, by her own showing, a minor, having been born (p. 3) on March 2,1867. She states (p. 122) that she left England for America on March 22, 1885. This was long atter her alleged departure from the convent. She alleges (p. 68) that through this signature she wes ' robbed ' and that ' the Church of Borne' still holds her property. Have the lawyers all emigrated from the British Isles or left without warning for the Better Land ? t See Slattery's Complete Refutation, p. 13, and Mr. Britten's pamphlet, The Slatterys, p. 20. tßurford, an Orange printer in Melbourne, is the only one in the trade that has dared to give his imprint to one Mrs. Slattery's pamphlets. And he reprinted it in 1899, and yet calls it the ' first edition ' and dates it ' Boston, 1891.' Even Burforl, the publisher of the Victorian Standard apparently finds Mrs. Slattery's pamphlets too strong for his nostrils. § Thus, we have the Convent of C ' and the town of ' C .' (pp. 9, 14 46, 51, 63, 92, etc., etc.) ; Father Pat S '; MissdeL '; ' Eliza M '; > St. J Convent ' ; Mr. JJ. ON ' (123) ; ' Mr. O'tf ' (128) ; 'J Street' (128); * gone toF '(128); and, in the English edition, 'Mrs., now Lady M '(Prer. p 9); 'Reverend Robeit J. M ' (p 22); 'the M family in D , ami his wife, Lady M '; 'Sir Robert M ' (128), etc., etc. Some of the fictition-. names will be dealt with further on. || Convent Lire, p. 1. T Ibid, p. 97. In the preface to a vile pamphlet of hers (now before us she signs herself ' Ma.RT E. faLATTEitx ' ; and she signs the preface to the English edition of Convent Life with the initials ' M.E.S.' i Convent Life, p. 2. ■J lbiil,p.l. » About 1892, as the first edition of Convent Life is stated to be ' copyright August, 1892.'

March 10, 18S3 ; * and that on the following June 29 she ' received the white veil or habit of novice ' (p. 42), and the name of ' Sißter Mary Elizabeth ' (p. 43). There were, moreover, in the same convent — so we are told — a Mother Joseph (p. 35) ; a Sister Loyola (p. 36) — on p. 38 she is called Mother Loyola, but, then, Mrs. Slattery is strong in matters of detail ; a Sister Ursula (p. 54) ; a Sister Justine (p. 19) ; and an Hon. Blanche Ooote, known in religion as Sister Mary Frances (p. •"»!), etc.).f

4. We are next asked to believe that, after staying 1 some time in the convent, ' Sister Mary Elizabeth ' was ' rescued ' from it by her cousin, Lady Morton, who, she tells us, was wife of the Right Rev. Sir Robert Morton, who ' was a bishop in the Episcopal Church in Devonshire, England, and also a baronet.' $ Like the other .sham nun, Margaret Shepherd (alias Parkyn, alias Edgerton, alias Egan, etc.) Mrs. Slattery is 'of excellent family ' — so her handbills assure us. Both exhibit the same weakness for titled connections. In the tenth and eleventh chapter we are told of her voyage to America in March, 1885, of her 'conversion' by the notorious Maonamara,§ and of her marriage, at an unspecified date, to expriest Slattery, whom she now accompanies on his tours. So much for Mrs. Slattery's story. And now for the facts.