^ -^^^ .-^^ %• ^"-n^. «ll^-. T* . .«* n^ o J ^ •7 *b ^^ * o » '. " ,c ^* -O' .O^ ■^-. ^%^/~ o'^ A V ■V ■°^ ?!fs^ .V ^^ -.. .0^ % .^ V ^' />€^,C' V .^'^ .n!- ^ c> . -^ o '"^ 0^ : -^^rr L ^4 C3 » 'i: ,^ o^ ^'^ ^ V ^^ ^' :>^f^^ Xc/ /^i^v %.^ ^/^?^^ '^^ ^^0^ , 'bv ^'^ ^?%z/<*-^o''% vO- "^^ vN"^ ->. 'bK .0 ' ' ■• A° r^ * O » ' > Ti[ breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade, Where cold and unhonour'd his relics are laid : Sad, silent, and dark, be the tears that we shed, As the night-dew that falls on the grass o'er his head. But the night-dew that falls, though in silence it weeps, Shall brighten with verdure the grave where he sleeps ; And the tear that we shed, though in secret it rolls, ""^^ 'illTY-v-v Shall long keep his memory green in our souls. ) -^iMi -^^^aiBas^^m m, ®hjp[^ the last glimpse of Erin with sorrow I see, Yet wherever thou art shall seem Erin to me; In exile thy bosom shall still be my home, And thine eyes make my climate wherever we roam. To the gloom of some desert or cold rocky shore. Where the eye of the stranger can haunt us no more, I will fly with my Coulin, and think the rough wind Less rude than the foes we leave frowning behind. And I'll gaze on thy gold hair as graceful it wreathes. And hang o'er thy soft harp, as wildly it breathes ; !N'or dread that the cold-hearted Saxon will tear One chord from that harp, or one lock from that hair/ 35 ^^ Tho' the days of the hero are o'er; yTho' lost to Mononia and cold in the grave He returns to Kinkora no more.* ''"That star of the field, which so often hath pour' Its beam on the battle, is set; {^But enough of its glory remains on each sword light us to victory yet. ! Mononia ! when Nature embellisli'd the tint' Of thy fields, and thy mountains so fair, Did she ever intend that a tyrant should print The footsteps of slavery there? No ! Freedom, whose smile we shall never resign. Go, tell our invaders, the Danes, /(o^t That 'tis sweeter to bleed for an age at thy shrine,, 1^ Than to sleep but a moment in chains. ^^ Forget not our wounded companions, who stood^ ^5f In the day of distress by our side; ^^ While the moss of the valley grew red with their blood, They stirr'd not, but conquer'd and died. That sun which now blesses our arms with his light. 1] --^-r^^vA] ^^^ them fall upon Ossory's plain; — W'4 1 ^^^ 'li ^ M ^^ ■' ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ blush, when he leaves us to-night, ,*CS£i/^ 1 J^^.P-" \i To find that they fell there in vain. I \&\ fy A-rr r. m2i/; *.../, ^'/^";„ ^"^ V ^^' ^I'liiKA, ^ :Ai 'X'" jXlU not yet, 'tis just the hour, When pleasure, like the midnight flower That scorns the eye of vulgar light. Begins to bloom for sons of night. And maids who love the moon. 'Twas but to bless these hours of shade That beauty and the moon were made; 'Tis then their soft attractions glowing Set the tides and goblets flowing. Oh! stay, — Oh! stay, — vv Joy so seldom weaves a chain Like this to-night, that oh, 'tis pain To break its links so soon. V;" Ij,.;'^,^, ^l>^^-,.-. ]J) v]Jr:^i - '^X'^l'^^ i«y^ «5i*^ii j,>^' JEzZi '^^. /, ^ .V-_l - -V "^ItC harp that once through Tara's halls f^K ^^'^^.^ii \^ '^^^ ^^^ ^^ music shed, ''^^m l^ow hangs as mute on Tara's walls, As if that soul were fled. — So sleeps the pride of former days, |,| ^ So glory's thrill is o'er, Xj> I ^ V And hearts, that once beat high for praise, \!^ Now feel that pulse no more. •-£■%. r.v,?,?/*;'^/?. No: — life is a waste of wearisome hours, Which seldom the rose of enjoyment adorns; And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers, Is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns. But send round the bowl, and be liappy awhile — May we never meet worse, in our pilgrimage here, Than the tear that enjoyment may gild with a smile, And the smile that compassion can turn to a tear. The thread of our life would be dark, Heaven knows! If it were not with friendship and love intertwin'd; And I care not how soon I may sink to repose, When these blessings shall cease to be dear to my mind. But they who have lov'd the fondest, the purest, Too often have wept o'er the dream they believ'd; And the heart that has slumber'd in friendship securest. Is happy indeed if 'twas never deceiv'd. But send round the bowl; while a relic of truth Is in man or in woman, this prayer shall be mine, — That the sunshine of love may illumine our youth. And the moonhght of friendship console our decline. cS/ ^j^ -^rr/?>. ill;h^Vi^ is not in the wide world a valley so sweet As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet;* Oh ! the last rays of feeling and life must depart, Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart. Yet it ivas not that nature had shed o'er the scene Her purest of crystal and brightest of green ; 'Twas not her soft magic of streamlet or hill, Oh ! no — it was something more exquisite still. ^ 'Twas that friends, the belov'd of my bosom, were near, Who made every dear scene of encliantment more dear, And who felt how the best charms of nature improve, When we see them reflected from looks that we love. K ^^Vf^ P^m ¥^C K I Sweet vale of Avoca ! how calm could I rest,^:^/3[g In thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best,^^ P^ Where the storms that we feel in this cold world ^Lr^ ^^ should cease, "^' ^'v And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace. ^^'| l^ >^5^ ■^! % n m Km f^ '£=t?^i ^k^ ^*i a beam o'er tlie face of the waters may glow While the tide runs in darkness and coldness below, So the cheek may be ting'd with a warm sunny smile, Though the cold heart to ruin runs darkly the while. One fatal remembrance, one sorrow that throws Its bleak shade alike o'er our joys and our woes. To which life nothinor darker or brighter can brino- o o o For which joy has no balm and affliction no sting — Oh ! this thought in the midst of enjoyment will stay Like a dead, leafless branch in the summer's bright ray ; The beams of the warm sun play round it in vain. It may smile in his lidit, but it blooms not acrain. ^,/ % "Lady! dost thou not fear to stray, "So lone and lovely tlirough this bleak way? "Are Erin's sons so good or so cold, "As not to be tempted by woman or gold?" "Sir Knight! I feel not the least alarm, "No son of Erin will offer me harm: — "For though they love woman and golden store, "Sir Knight ! they love honour and virtue more ! " JA A < V\, '^J ,/- I V SwI i paiv 0ft lui!Si th^ §ett^h^e aiei ^0W oft has the Benshee cried, How oft has death untied Bright Hnks that Glory wove, Sweet bonds entwin'd by Love ! Peace to each manly soul that sleepeth ; Rest to each faithful eye that weepeth ; Long may the fair and brave Sigh o'er the hero's grave. Q ^ F ^ We're fall'n upon gloomy days!^° * Star after star decays, Every bright name, that shed Light o'er the land, is fled. Dark falls the tear of him who mourneth Lost joy, or hope that ne'er returneth; But brightly flows the tear, Wept o'er a hero's bier. li\^^,^^%^^ ^ 4r} Quench'd are our beacon lights — Thou, of the Hundred Fights!" Thou, on whose burning tongue Truth, peace, and freedom hung!'* Both mute, — but long as valour shineth, Or mercy's soul at war repineth L_^^^ So long shall Erin's pride ^^j£-^!j|^ Tell how they liv'd and died mL ty ^b paw Am t0 mt tlu Ixmv. ■cT^ gtOir dear to me the hour when daylight dies, And sunbeams melt along the silent sea. For then sweet dreams of other days arise. And memory breathes her vesper sigh to thee. And, as I watch the line of light, that plays Along the smooth wave tow'rd the burning west, I long to tread that golden path of rays. And think 'twould lead to some bright isle of rest. y <1WuCW lie, who adores thee, has left but the name Of his fault and his sorrows behind, Oh ! say wilt thou weep, when they darken the fame Of a life that for thee was resign'd? Yes, weep, and liowever my foes may condemn. Thy tears shall efface their decree; For Heaven can witness, though guilty to them, I have been but too faithful to thee. With thee were the dreams of my earliest love ; Every thought of my reason was thine; In my last humble prayer to tlie Spirit above, Thy name shall be mmgled with mine. Oh ! blest are the lovers and friends who shall live The days of thy glory to see; But the next dearest blessing that heaven can give Is the pride of thus dying for thee. v^^^ <^ ^3^^. W( r^- £ )G^ ^;^ ,^ ^^/ W s^: ^fe ^'/>\ r f r/n5f^ r*"^ ^^:,.! w/:^( T- t • ^ Wry? .^-i '^^1 m ^/^f^%V^ m M. trf' ^j(s^ S m'mm WRITTEN ON RETURNING A BLANK BOOK. ifiiHlt^ back the virgin page, White and unwritten still ; Some hand, more calm and sage, The leaf must fill. Thoughts come, as pure as light, Pure as even you require : But, oh ! each word I write Love turns to fire. Yet let me keep the book : Oft shall my heart renew, When on its leaves I look. Dear thoughts of you. Like you, 'tis fair and bright, Like you, too bright and fair To let wild passion write Haply when from those Far, far away I roam Should calmer thoii2:hts Tow'rds you and home ; Fancy may trace some line, Worthy those eyes to meet, Thoughts that not burn, but shine. Pure, calm, and sweet. And as, o'er ocean far. Seamen their records keep, Led by some hidden star Through the cold deep; So may the words I write Tell thro' what storms I stray You still the unseen lights Guiding my way. "@hl haste and leave this sacred isle, ^ "Unholy bark, ere morning smile; " For on thy deck, though dark it be, "A female form I see; "And I have sworn this sainted sod "Shall ne'er bv woman's feet be trod." iXt may roam thro' this world, like a child at a feast, Who but sips of a sweet, and then flies to the rest ; And, when pleasure begins to grow dull in the east. We may order our wings and be ofl" to the west ; But if hearts that feel, and eyes that smile. Are the dearest gifts that heaven supplies. We never need leave our own green isle. For sensitive hearts, and for sun-bright eyes. Then remember, wherever your goblet is crown'd, Thro' this world, whether eastward or westward you roa: When a cup to the smile of dear woman goes round, .Oh I remember the smile that adorns her at home. Tl, Oh ! they want the wild sweet-briery Which round the flowers of Erin dwells ; Which warns the touch, while winning the sense,, Nor charms us least Vv'hen it most repels. Then remember, wherever your goblet is crown'd Thro' this world, whether eastward or westward you roani , When a cup to the smile of dear woman goes round, ^ Oh ! remember the smile that adorns her at home. In France, when the heart of a woman sets sail. On the ocean of wedlock its fortune to try, Love seldom goes far in a vessel so frail, — .But just pilots her oflf, and then bids her good-bye.PI AVhile the daughters of Erin keep the boy, Ever smiling beside his faithful oar, Through billows of woe, and beams of joy, S/ The same as he look'd when he left the shore. Then remember, wherever your goblet is crown'd. Thro' this world, whether eastward or westward you roam, When a cup to the smile of dear woman goes round. Oh ! remember the smile that adorns her at home. \( ^p r wm^^m % ^^x:^^_^ ©U ! weep for the hour, .^;^&>--^^=^ "^ When to Eveleen's bower The Lord of the Valley with false vows came ; The moon hid her light From the. heavens that night, And wept behind her clouds o'er the maiden's shame. The clouds pass'd soon From the chaste cold moon, And heaven smil'd a2;ain with her vestal flame: But none will see the day, When the clouds shall pass away, Which that dark hour left upon Eveleen's fame. The white snow lay On the narrow path-way, AVlien the Lord of the Valley crost over the moor ; And many a deep print On the white snow's tint Show'd the track of his footstep to Eveleen's door. ^ ' nn The next sun's ray Soon melted away Every trace on the path where the false Lord came ; But there's a light above. Which alone can remove That stain upon the snow of fair Eveleen's fame. y,--- <\ ii'!i 'li n K. \d\m pe, if all tUu m&mm^ ^ni^-^ me, if all those endearing young charms, Which I gaze on so fondly to-day, Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms, Like fairy-gifts fading away, Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art, Let thy loveliness fade as it will. And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart Would entwine itself verdantly still. /;.ift^ii>j,>jj..^.-^x>»»> j:,v-fl^ rTrrfr. ■ 64 <.m«j;M«,m^.^iim>ui»u..|j|„,^ ;rt ^xin xmmhx tht Mp d M. ^t\ Erin remember the days of old, Ere her faithless sons betray'd her ; When Malachi wore the collar of gold/® Which he won from her proud invader, When her kings, with standard of green unfurl'd, Led the Red-Branch Knights to danger ; — ' * Ere the emerald gem of the western world Was set in the crown of a stranger. On Lough Neagh's bank as the fisherman strays, When the clear cold eve's declining, He sees the round towers of other days In the wave beneath him shining ; Thus shall memory often, in dreams sublime; Catch a glimpse of the days that are over ; Thus, sighing, look through the waves of time For the long-faded glories they cover. ^ ' ^mtttt oh Moyle, be the roar of thy water, Break not, ye breezes, your chain of repose, While, murmuring mournfully, Lir's lonely daughter Tells to the night-star her tale of woes. When shall the swan, her death-note singing, Sleep, with wings in darkness furl'd? When will heaven, its sweet bell ringing. Call my spirit from this stormy world? Sadly, oh Moyle, to thy winter-wave weeping, Fate bids me languish long ages away ; Yet still in her darkness doth Erin lie sleeping, Still doth the pure light its dawning delay. Wlien will that day-star, mildly springing, Warm our isle with peace and love? yWhen will heaven, its sweet bell ringing. Call my spirit to the fields above? &0mtf MtiA x0mA the Wxnt (t^OVAtf send round tho wine, and leave points of belief To simpleton sagos, and reasoning fools ; This moment's a flower too fair and brief, To be wither'd and stain'd by the dust of the schools. Your glass may bo purple, and mine may be blue. But, while they are fill'd from the same bright bowl, Tho fool, who would -quarrel for difference of hue. Deserves not the comfort they shed o'er the soul. Shall I ask the brave soldier, who fights by my In the cause of mankind, if our creeds agree' Shall I give up the friend I have valued anc If he kneel not before the same altar with From the heretic girl of my soul should I fly, To seek somewhere else a more orthodox No, perish the hearts, and the laws that try Truth, valour, or love, by a standard like ■p^-\ w t3 "cX? - ^ '/^v^ I, \i t '.ifiPi u % ^ttblim^ vcu i\xt Warning. ^Ubtittt^ was the warning that Liberty spoke, And grand was the moment when Spaniards awoke Into Hfe and revenge from the conqueror's chain. Oh, Liberty ! let not this spirit have rest, Till it move, like a breeze, o'er the waves of the west- Give the light of your look to each sorrowing spot, Nor, oh, be the Shamrock of Erin forgot While you add to your garland the Olive of Spain If the fame of our fathers, bequeath'd with their rights, Give to country its charm, and to home its delights, If deceit be a wound, and suspicion a stain, Then, ye men of Iberia, our cause is the same ! And oh! may his tomb want a tear and a name. Who would ask for a nobler, a holier death. Than to turn his last sigh into victory's breath. For the Shamrock of Erin and Olive of Spain! .^i m Ye Blakes and O'Donnels, whose fathers resign'd )Tlie green hills of their youth, among strangers to find That repose which, at home, they had sigh'd for m vain, Join, join in our hope that the flame, which you light, -J) May be felt yet in Erin, as calm and as bright, And forgive even Albion while blushing she draws. Like a truant, her sword, in the long-sHghted cause Of the Shamrock of Erin and Olive of Spain! God prosper the cause! — oh, it cannot but thrive, While the pulse of one patriot heart is alive, Its devotion to feel, and its rights to maintain; Then, how sainted by sorrow, its martyrs will die ! The finger of Glory shall point where they lie; While, far from the footstep of coward or slave, The young spirit of Freedom shall shelter their grave Beneath Shamrocks of Erin and Olives of Spain l^c3tfaE»«*irf5?*i'»'y^ irmn'l mhw TT^KTm ^iu. ifmntOt^t^m' ■ ' n \r II rTf 'Tl Xht the bright lamp, that shone in Kildare's holy fane/ And burn'd thro' long ages of darkness and storm, Is tlie heart that sorrows have frown'd on in vain, AVhose spirit outlives them, unfading and warm Erin, oh Erin, thus bright thro' the tears Of a long night of bondage, thy spirit appears. The nations have fallen, and thou still art young, Thy sun is but rising, when others are set ; And tho' slavery's cloud o'er thy morning hath hung The full noon of freedom, shall beam round thoe yet ,i^- ^r^ ^/^ j;> %: '^ .A ^^^^" •>=F=?=dL> V,. ^/^ twi x-= / ( J i.-J' 4^X' .-^ \ r T'^--- :CTV/' ii I J:^ dJkf^.ji i 0tt I blame not the bard, if he fly to the bowers/^ Where Pleasure lies, carelessly smiling at Fame ; He was born for much more, and in happier hours His soul might have burn'd with a holier flame. The string, that now languishes loose o'er the lyre. Might have bent a proud bow to the warrior's dart ; And the lip, which now breathes but the song of desire, ^ Might have pour'd tlie full tide of a patriot's heart. 2^ '^^ "^ ^^ 7r\ T"b), S^. But alas foz his country ! — her pride is gone by, And that spirit is broken, which never would bend; O'er the ruin her children in secret must sigh, For 'tis treason to love her, and death to defend. Unpriz'd are her sons, till they 've learned to betray ; Undistinguish'd they live, if they shame not their sires ; Jlj And the torch, that would light them thro' dignity's way, \K^ Must be caught from the pile, where their country expires Then blame not the bard, if in pleasure's soft dream. He should try to forget, what he never can heal : Oh ! give but a hope — let a vista but gleam Thro' the gloom of his country, and mark how he'll feel ! That instant, his heart at her shrine would lay down Every passion it nurs'd, every bliss it ador'd ; While the myrtle, now idly entwin'd with his crown, Like the wreath of ITarmodius, should cover his sword." d _ But tho' glory be gone, and tho' hope fade away, O^iThy name, loved Erin, shall live in his songs; Not ev'n in the hour, when his heart is most gay, Will he lose the remembrance of thee and thy wrongs. The stranger shall hear thy lament on his plains ; The sigh of thy harp shall be sent o'er the deep, Till thy masters themselves, as they rivet thy chains, "^'lall pause at the song of their captive, and we With golden key Wealth thought To pass — but 'twould not do: While Wit a diamond brought, Which cut his bright way through So here's to her, who long Hath wak'd the poet's sigh, The girl, who gave to song What gold could never buy. The love that seeks a home A\Tiere wealth or grandeur shines, Is like the gloomy gnome, That dwells in dark gold mines. But oh! the poet's love Can boast a brighter sphere; Its native home's above, Tho' woman keeps it here. Then drink to her, who long Hath wak'd the poet's sigh, The girl, who gave to song ^Miat gold could never buy. ^^.^v'^"*-' ./ ^tthjte gating 0\x Wh p^ou';^ light 'WhtlC o-azino; on the moon's lio-ht, A moment from her smile I turn'd, To look at orbs, that, more brio;ht. In lone and distant glory burn'd. But too far Each proud star, For me to feel its warmino; flame ; Much more dear That mild sphere, Which near our planet smiling came ;'* Thus, Mary, be but thou my own ; While brighter eyes unheeded play, I'll love those moonlight looks alone, That bless my home and guide mv wav. ''Hn rJi -^)1=^^. A ^^ ^'V The clay had sunk in dim showers, But midnight now, with lustre meet, Illumin'd all the pale flowers. Like hope upon a mourner's cheek. I said (while The moon's smile Play'd o'er a stream, in dimpling bli "The moon looks "On many brooks, "The brook can see no moon but this;" And thus, I thought, our fortunes run, For many a lover looks to thee. While oh ! I feel there is but one, One Mary in the world for me. ^ liss I^.M 1.' t w >u, it/ Ifc MH -xfi r%\ Wr^' & /-^ ^^•^rV'SW M ^J.c m m 13^ '<^ n 70 / V r;.i., ^vIVCW daylight was yet sleeping under the billow, And stars in the heavens still Hngerino- shone, Young Kitty, all blushing, rose up from her pillow, The last time she e'er was to press it alone. For the youth whom she treasured her heart and her soul in Had promised to link the last tie before noon ; And when once the young heart of a maiden is stolen The maiden herself will steal after it soon. As she look'd in the glass, which a woman ne'er misses, v^ Nor ever wants time for a sly glance or two, A butterfly,^* fresh from the night-flower's kisses, Flew over the mirror, and shaded her view. Enracr'd with the insect for liidino; her graces, She brush'd him — ^he fell, alas; never to rise: "Ah ! such," said the girl, "is the pride of our faces, "For which the soul's innocence too often dies." While she stole thro' the garden ease was growing, She cull'd some, and kiss'd off its nig And a rose, further on, look'd so tempting and glowing, That, spite of her haste, she must gather it too : But while o'er the roses too carelessly leaning. Her zone flew in two, and the hearts-ease was lost : Ah ! this means, ' ' said the girl (and she sigh'd at its meaning), "That love is scarce worth the repose it will cost!" iJJ the hope within us springing, Herald of to-morrow's strife ; By that sun, whose Hght is bringing Chains or freedom, death or hfe — Oh! remember hfe can be No charm for him, who Hves not free Like the day-star in the wave, Sinks a hero in his grave, Midst the dew-fall of a nation's tears. O'er his watch-fire's fading embers jl Now the foeruan's cheek turns white, When his heart that field remembers, Where we tamed his tyrant might. Never let him bind again o A chain, like that we broke from then. Hark ! the horn of combat calls — Ere the golden evening falls, May we pledge that horn in triumph round!" Many a heart that now beats high In slumber cold at night shall lie, Nor waken even at victory's sound : — But oh, how blest that hero's sleep. O'er whom a wond'ring world shall weep The last sad hour of freedom's dream, And valor's task, moved slowly by, Wliilo mute they watch' d, till morning's beam Should rise and give them light to die. There's yet a world, where souls are free, Where tyrants taint not nature's bliss; — If death that world's bright opening be, Oh! who would live a slave in this? B! Q^ . ^ ^"^ '^> ^"■^ ^ »S ©bl tod m mwt briglit little fisile of mx aim, C9lli I had we some bright little isle of our own, In a blue summer ocean, far off and alone, • AVhere a leaf never dies in the still blooming bowers, And the bee banquets on through a whole year of flowers ; AVhere the sun loves to pause With so fond a delay, That the night only draws A thin veil o'er the day; AVliere simply to feel that we breathe, that we live. Is worth the best joy that life elsewhere can give. There, with souls ever ardent and pure as the clime, We should love, as they lov'd in the first golden time ; The glow of the sunshine, the balm of the air. Would steal to our hearts, and make all summer there. With affection as free From decline as the bowers, And, with hope, like the bee, Living always on flowers. Our life should resemble a long day of light, And our death come on, holy and calm as the night. ^ ^fi-i %^ ^J ^t'k^ M '\f=mi Wu §xU\x §tmmi U W ^x^ixm. WhXtJiXimX grief and tlirougli danger tliy smile liatli cheer 'd my way, Till hope seem'd to bud from each thorn that round me lay; The darker our fortune, the brighter our pure love burn'd. Till shame into glory, till fear into zeal was turn'd ; Yes, slave as I was, in thy arms my spirit felt free, And bless'd even the sorrows that made me more dear to thee. s>^,. -^^ '^. ^^ ML^% S>S? ^ ^ Thy rival was lionour'd, while thou wert wrong'd "^^ and scorn'd, _^ Thy crown was of briers, while gold her brows ^^ ;^^ adorn'd ; ^ Sho woo'd me to temples, while thou lay'st hid in caves, Her friends were all masters, while thine, alas ! were slaves; Yet cold in the earth, at thy feet, I would rather be, Than wed what I lov'd not, or turn one thought from thee. They slander thee sorely, who say thy vows are frail — Hadst thou been a false one, thy cheek had look'd less pale. They say, too, so long thou hast worn those lingering chains, That deep in thy heart they have printed their servile stains — j Oh! foul is the slander, — no chain could that soul I subdue — Where shineth % spirit, there liberty shineth too!'' ^ .^ "^ /■ ^ \3 -^j. ^lu (9vij)itt of the ^m\i I itX^ believ'd that this Harp, which I wake now for thee, Was a Siren of old, who sung under the sea; I And who often, at eve, thro' the bright watersrov'd, — . |3^o meet, on the green shore, ayouth whom she lov'd,-{ But she lov'd him in vain, for he left her to weep, . And in tears, all the night her gold tresses to steep ; Till heav'n look'd with pity on true-love so warm, MM And chang'd to this soft Harp'' ' ■" ' " '~'' A t ii 'f i Still her bosom rose fair — still her cheeks smil'd the same- While her sea-beauties gracefully form'd the light | frame ; And her hair, as, let loose, o'er her white arm it fell, Was chang'd to bright chords utt'ring melody's spell. Hence it came, that this soft Harp so long hath been known To mmgle love's language with sorrow's sad tone ; "^^ Till ikou didst divide them, and teach the fond lay To speak love when I m near thee, and grief when away. ~M(, ~e >.! J @h I the days are gone, when Beauty bright My heart's chain wove; When my dream of life, from morn till night, Was love, still love. New hope may bloom, And days may come, Of milder, calmer beam, But there's nothing half so sweet in life As love's young dream: No, there's nothing half so sweet in life As love's young dream. Tho' the bard to purer fame may soar. When wild youth's past; Tho' he win the wise, who frown'd before, To smile at last; He'll never meet A joy so sweet. In all his noon of fame. As when first he sung to woman's ear His soul-felt flame, And, at every close, she bliish'd to hear The one lov'd name. \C i?r .i.lP^J^^^o. — that hallow'd form is ne'er forgot Which first love trac'd ; Still it lingering haunts the greenest spot^ ^^ ^^- On memory's waste. 'T was odour fled As soon as shed; y 'Twas morning's winged dream; ^ T was a light, that ne'er can shine again ^^ 1^^^ On life's dull stream : .„ ^^ i .|^ Oh ! 't was light that ne'er can shine again \X|< ■s^I b a it ho* dark are our sorrows, to-daj we '11 forget them, And smile tlirougli our tears, like a sunbeam in showers : There never were hearts, if our rulers would let them, More form'd to be grateful and blest than ours. But just when the chain Has ceas'd to pain. And hope has enwreath'd it round with flowers, There comes a new link Our spirits to sink — Oh 1 the joy that we taste, like the light of the poles, Is a flash amid darkness, too brilliant to stay ; But. though 'twere the last little spark in our souls. We must Hght it up now, on our Prince's Dav. Contempt on the minion, who calls you disloyal ! Tho' fierce to your foe, to your friends you are true; jVnd the tribute most high to a head, that Is love from a heart that loves liberty i. ^ (i While cowards, who blight Your fame, your right, Would shrink from the blaze of the battle array, The standard of Green In front would be seen, — Oh, my life on your faith I were you summon'd this minute. You'd cast every bitter remembrance away, And show what the arm of old Erin has in it. When rous'd by the foe, on her Prmce's Dav. He loves the Green Isle, and his love is recorded In hearts, which have suffer'd too much to forget ; And hope shall be crown'd, and attachment rewarded. And Erin's gay jubilee shine out yet. The gem may be broke By many a stroke, But nothing can cloud its native ray; Each fragment will cast A light to the last, — And thus, Erin, my country tho' broken thou art, There's a lustre within thee, that ne'er will decay ; A spirit, which beams through each suffering part, And now smiles at all pain on the Prince's Day. /:^'i i (l Lesbia wears a robe of gold, But all so close the nymph hath lac'd it, Not a charm of beauty's mould Presumes to stay where nature plac'd it. Oh ! my Nora's gown for me, That floats as wild as mountain breezes. Leaving every beauty free To sink or swell as Heaven pleases. Yes, my Nora Creina, dear, My simple, graceful Nora Creina, Nature's dress Is loveliness — The dress you wear, my Nora Creina. Lesbia hath a wit refin'd, But, when its points are gleaming round us, AVho can tell if they're design'd To dazzle merely, or to wound us? Pillowed on my Nora's heart, In safer slumber Love reposes — Bed of peace! whose roughest part Is but the crumpling of the roses. 1^ % R'CHCS I CO y- 'Twas from. Kathleen's eyes he flew, — Eyes of most unholy blue! She had lov'd him well and long, Wish'd him hers, nor thought it wrong. Wheresoe'er the Saint would fly. Still he heard her light foot nigh; East or west, where'er he turn'd, Still her eyes before him burn'd. On the bold cliff's bosom cast, Tranquil now he sleeps at last; Dreams of heav'n, nor thinks that e'er Woman's smile can haunt him there. But nor earth nor heaven is free From her power, if fond she be : Even now, while calm he sleeps, Kathleen o'er him leans and weeps. Fearless she had track 'd his feet To this rocky, wild retreat; And when morning met his view, Her mild glances met it too. Ah, your Saints have cruel hearts! Sternly from his bed he starts. And with rude, repulsive shock, Hurls her from the beetling rock. n I RICHE^-CO. 100 ■-Xi Glendalough, thy gloomy wave Soon was gentle Kathleen's gravel Soon the saint (yet ah! too late,) Felt her love, and mourn'd her fate. When he said, "Heaven rest her soul!" Round the Lake light music stole; And her ghost was seen to glide, Smiling o'er the fatal tide. tIF/J lA ''%Ji u •-.ttwtiJ^'^*"*''^-*" ':?-^\- "^m^ m '^' m gt fe not tht Un at thb mt^mtni isibd.- 1ft is not the tear at tliis moment shed, When the cold turf had just been laid o'er hiin, That can tell how belov'd was the friend that 's fled, Or how deep in our hearts we deplore him. 'Tis the tear, thro' many a long day wept, 'Tis life's whole path o'ershaded; 'Tis the one remembrance, fondly kept, When all lighter griefs have faded. .■V) V'M-'M ^ f%^. Thus his memory, like some holy light, Kept alive in our hearts, will improve them, For worth shall look fairer, and truth more bright. When we think how he liv'd but to love them. And, as fresher flowers the sod perfume Where buried saints are lying, So our hearts shall borrow a sweet' ning bloom P.lT From the image he left there in dying! ^i ^^ ijj -^^ g ^Jlttt thy form in youthful prime, Nor thought that pale decay Would steal before the steps of Time, And waste in bloom away, Mary ! Yet still thy features wore that lic^ht. Which fleets not with the breath; And life ne'er look'd more truly bright Than in thy smile of death, Mary As streams that run o'er golden mines. Yet humbly, calmly glide, Nor seem to know the wealth that shines Within their gentle tide, Mary! So veil'd beneath the simplest guise, Thy radiant genius shone. And that which charm'd all other eyes, ,,:;4^^. i:,'^ %\, X\u wW 'hm tA Uigljt. (^t the mid hour of night, when stars are weeping, I fly- To the lone vale we lov'd, when life shone warm in thine eye ; And I think oft, if spirits can steal from the regions of air. To revisit past scenes of delight, thou wilt come to me there, And tell me our love is remember'd, even in the sky. Then I sing the wild song 't was once such pleasure to hear ! When our voices commingling breath'd, like one, on the ear ; And, as Echo far off through the vale my sad orison rolls, I think, oh my love ! 't is thy voice from the Kingdom of Souls, ^' Faintly answering still the notes that once were so dear. ir\ \r' ^'^"rWBl young May moon is beaming, love, ,i -^ h The glow-worm's lamp is gleaming, love, ^f^^ -Xj How sweet to rove .^^Jl^A^^y \\'^ Through Morna's grove,"" **^ '' "^"^t^ When the drowsy world is dreaming, love ! ! Then awake ! — the heavens look bright, my dear, I'Tis never too late for delight, my dear, And the best of all ways To lengthen our days. Is to steal a few hours from the night, my dear ! 1^2 113 ®W^ UU fe all jch^jjmtJ'd with ®hfe life is all chequer'd with pleasures and woes, That chase one another like waves of the deep, — Each brightly or darkly, as onward it flows, Reflecting our eyes, as they sparkle or weep. So closely our whims on our miseries tread. That the laugh is awak'd ere the tear can be dried; And, as fast as the rain-drop of Pity is shed. The goose-plumage of Folly can turn it aside. But pledge me the cup — if existence would cloy. With hearts ever happy, and heads ever wise. Be ours the light Sorrow, half-sister to Joy, And the light, brilliant Folly that flashes and dies. When Hylas was sent with his urn to the fount. Thro' fields full of light, and with heart full of play 114 IIG -"^ r Says Valour, "See, "They spring for me, "Those leafy gems of morning!" — ^ Says Love, "No, no, "For me they grow, " My fragrant path adorning." But Wit perceives The triple leaves. And cries, " Oh ! do not sever^ "A type, that blends "Three godlike friends, »"Love, Valour, Wit, for ever!"t h <^0U remember Ji,ilen, our hamlet s pride, rr\ •.^^ How meekly she blessed her humble lot, When the stranp;er, William, had made her his bride, /'WS And love was the light of their lowly cot. Together they toil'd through winds and rains, Till William, at length, in sadness said, 4^^ "We must seek our fortune on other plains ;"- ^^ ^';w«^/§ Then, sisihincr she left her lowly shed. , 1/1 C:^> 0^^ They roam'd a long and a weary way, 'Hov much was the maiden's heart at ease, \il\fiw)ll When now, at close of one stormy day, They see a proud castle among the trees. "To-night," said the youth, " we'll shelter there; "The wind blows cold, the hour is late:" So he blew the horn with a chieftain's air, And the Porter bow'd, as they pass'd the gate. "Now, welcome, Lady," exclaim'd the youth, — "This castle is thine, and these dark woods all !" She believ'd him crazed, but his words were truth, For Ellen is Lady of Eosna Hall! And dearly the Lord of Rosna loves What William the stranger woo'd and wed ; And the light of bliss, in these lordly groves. Shines pure as it did in the lowly shed. ^Tv m^ « qI)\$ the last rose of summer Left blooming alone ; All her lovely companions Are faded and gone ; No flower of her kindred, No rose-bud is nigh, To reflect back her blushes Or give sigh for sigh. I '11 not leave thee, thou lone one To pine on the stem ; Since the lovely are sleeping, Gro, sleep thou with them. Thus kindly I scatter Thy leaves o'er the bed, Where thy mates of the garden Lie scentless and dead. ^m \% ®u ^\m. ^X>\M, tliro' life unblest we rove, Losing all that made life dear, Should some notes we used to love. In days of boyhood, meet our ear. Oh! how welcome breathes the strain Wakening thoughts that long have slept ; Kindling former smiles again In faded eyes that long have wept. Like the gale, that sighs along Beds of oriental flowers. Is the grateful breath of song, That once was heard in happier hours; Fiird with balm, the gale sighs on, Though the flowers have sunk in death ; So, when pleasure's dream is gone, memory lives in Music's breatl \ \ X \ 125 ®b^ §liw^trrt-§0j}. Minstrel-Boy to the war is gone, In the ranks of death you'll find him; His father's sword he has girded on, And his wild harp slung behind him. — "Land of song!" said the warrior-bard, "Tho' all the world betrays thee, " One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard, " One faithful harp shall praise thee!" '^<:>(v«s-t« ne Minstrel fell : — but the foeman's chain ^^ /f. 1 .=^^/^ . ^M =\. r^^ r^ :). '®fe ^xcut U tlunlt. '®i)S sweet to think, that, where 'er we rove, We are sure to find something bUssful and dear, And that, when we're far from the lips we love. We've but to make love to the lips we are near.*' The heart, like a tendril, accustom' d to cling. Let it grow where it will, cannot flourish alone, But will lean to the nearest, and loveliest thing, It can twine with itself, and make closely its own. Then oh ! what pleasure, where'er we rove. To be sure to find something, still, that is dear, And to know, when far from the lips we love, We've but to make love to the lips that are near. ^^: '-AT t- '^ s.-^ 'Twere a shame, when flowers around us rise, To make light of the rest, if the rose is n't there ; And the world's so rich in resplendent eyes, 'T were a pity to limit one's love to a pair. Love's wing and the peacock's are nearly alike, They are both of them bright, but they 're changeable And, wherever a new beam of beauty can strike, It will tincture Love's plume with a different hue. Then oh ! what pleasure, where 'er we rove. To be sure to find something, still, that is dear. And to know, when far from the lips we love. We' ve but to make love to the lips we are near. too, V^ ^:^. Si -.^A, Wr" .^ --^ A S^ B? "^ 5^(.yi»M m t 7 • f Sweet voice of comfort ! 't was like the stealing Of summer wind thro' some wreathed shell — Each secret winding, each inmost feeling «, Of all my soul echoed to its spell, "T was whisper'd balm — 't was sunshine spoken^ I 'd live years of grief and pain To have my long sleep of sorrow broken By such benign, blessed sounds again. ^-o r ■ _ jj^ w c kD ® W0U0U humble the banquet to which I invite thee, ^ ;\\ Thou 'It find there the best a poor bard can command : Eyes, beaming with welcome, shall throng round, to light thee, And Love serve the feast with his own willing hand And though Fortune may seem to have turn'd from the d wellin ' Of him thou regardest her favouring ray, Tliou wilt find there a gift, all her treasures excellintr, ^(^ Which, proudly he feels, hath ennobled his way. (^ 'T is that freedom of mind, which no vulgar dominion Can turn from the path a pure conscience approves ; Which, with hope in the heart, and no chain on the pinion. Holds upwards its course to the light which it loves. ([ t 'Tis this ixiakes the pride of his humble retreat, ^ And, with this, though of all other treasures bereaved. The breeze of his garden to him is more sweet Than the costliest incense that Pomp e'er received. Then, come, — if a board so untempting hath power To win thee from grandeur, its best shall be thine ; And there's one, long the light of the bard's happy bower. Who, smiling, will blend her bright welcome with mine. c^. know not my lieart, who believe there can One stain of this earth in its feehngs for thee ; Who think, while I see thee in beauty's young hour As pure as the morning's first dew on the flow'r, I could harm what I love, — as the sun's wanton ray But smiles on the dew-drop to w^aste it away. No — beaming with light as those young features are, There's a light round thy heart which is lovelier far : It is not that cheek — 'tis the soul dawnincj clear Thro' its innocent blush makes thy beauty so dear ; As the sky we look up to, though glorious and fair, Is look'd up to the more, because Heaven lies there History's Muse the memorial was / keepmg Of all that the dark hand of Destiny weaves, Beside her the Genius of Erin stood weeping, For hers was the story that blotted the leaves. But oh ! how the tear in her eyelids grew bright. When, after whole pages of sorrow and shame. She saw History write, With a pencil of light That illum'd the whole volume, her Wellino-ton's name "1: 157 Hail, Star of my Isle!" said the Spirit, all sparkling With beams, such as break from her own dewy skies — Thro' ages of sorrow, deserted and darkling, " I've watch'd for some glory like thine to arise. For, tho' Heroes I've niimber'd, unblest was their lot, And unhallow'd they sleep in the cross- ways of Fame ;— "But oh! there is not ' ' One dishonouring blot ' On the wreath that encircles my Wellington's name. ' Yet still the last crown of thy toils is remaining, " The grandest, the purest, ev'n thou hast yet known ; ' Tho' proud was thy task, other nations unchaining, "Far prouder to heal the deep wounds of thy own. '" At the foot of that throne, for whose weal thou hast stood;' " Go, plead for the land that first cradled thy fame, "And, bright o'er the flood " Of her tears and her blood, " Let the rainbow of Hope be her Wellington's name !"i A - a \ N '®i^ %mty mi Ux txtx. -=^r-^fm' ^%\^ gone, and for ever, the ligbt we saw breaking. Like Heaven's first dawn o'er the sleep of the dead — *^^ When Man, from the slumber of ages awaking, Look'd upward, and bless'd the pure ray, ere it fled. 'Tis gone, and the gleams it has left of its burning But deepen the long night of bondage and mourning. The dark o'er the kingdoms of earth is returning, ^ x\nd darkest of all, hapless Erin, o'er thee. For high was thy hope, when those glories were darting Around thee, thro' all the gross clouds of the world ; When Truth, from her fetters indignantly starting, (J At once, like a Sun-burst, her banner unfurl'd.*' 'M'. r m% eartli see a moment so splendid ! Then, then — had one Hymn of Dehverance blended The tongues of all nations — how sweet had ascended^ The first note of Liberty, Erin, from thee ! But, shame on those tyrants, who envied the blessing ! And shame on the light race, unworthy its good, AVho, at Death's reeking altar, like furies, caressing The young hope of Freedom, baptiz'd it in blood. Then vanish'd for ever that fair, sunny- vision, Which, spite of the slavish, the cold heart's derision, Shall long be remember'd, pure, bright, and elysian, As first it arose, my lost Erin, on thee. UbOlU^, rest in this bosom, my own stricken deer, Tho' the herd-have fled from thee, thy home is still here, Here still is the smile, that no cloud can o'ercast, And a heart and a hand all thy own to the last. Oh ! what was love made for, if 'tis not the same Thro' joy and thro' torment, thro' glory and shame? /<^^ I know not, I ask not, if guilt's in that heart, ji ■I but know that I love thee, whatever thou art. 161 Thou hast call'd me thy Angel in moments of bliss, And thy Angel I'll be, 'mid the horrors of this, — Thro' the furnace, unshrinking, thy steps to pursue, And shield thee, and save thee, — or perish there too g0xpi mt tht gxM. W 11^^ 1^ £(iX(itt not the field where they perish'd, The truest, the last of the brave, All gone — and the bright hope we cherish'd Gone with them, and quench'd in their grave Oh ! could we from death but recover ^Pl Those hearts as they bounded before, In the face of high heav'n to fight over That combat for freedom once more;— Could the chain for an instant be riven Which tyranny flung round us then, No, 'tis not in Man, nor in Heaven, To let Tyranny bind it again ! But 'tis past — and, tho' blazon'd in story The name of our Victor may be, Accurst is the march of that glory Which treads o'er the hearts of the free Far dearer the grave or the prison, Illumed by one patriot name. Than the trophies of all, who have risen On Liberty's ruins to fame. J} g^wtk ^mp. JJ gentle Harp, once more I waken The sweetness of thy slumbering strain ; In tears our last farewell was taken. And now in tears we meet again. 'No light of joy hath o'er thee broken. But, like those Harps whose heav'nly skill Of slavery, dark as thine, hath spoken, Thou hang'st upon the willows still 163 And yet, since last ttiy chord resounded, An hour of peace and triumph came, And many an ardent bosom bounded With hopes — that now are turn'd to shame Yet even then, while Peace was singing Her halcyon song o'er land and sea, Tho' joy and hope to others bringing. She only brought new tears to thee. Then, who can ask for notes of pleasure. My drooping Harp, from chords like thine • Alas, the lark's gay morning measure As ill would suit the swan's decline Or how shall I, who love, who bless thee, Invoke thy breath for Freedom's strains. When ev'n the wreaths in which I dress thee, Are sadly mix'd — half flow'rs, half chains? But come — if yet thy frame can borrow One breath of joy, oh, breathe for me, And show the world, in chains and sorrow, How sweet thy music still can be ; How gaily, ev'n mid gloom surrounding. Thou yet canst wake at pleasure's thrill- Like Memnon's broken image sounding, ' Mid desolation tuneful still ! Ifi4 ±^==1 ip""^^^^ a When, round tlie bowl, of vanish'd years We talk, with joyous seeming, — With smiles that might as well be tears, So faint, so sad their beaming ; While mem'ry brings us back again Each early tie that twined us. Oh, sweet's the cup that circles then To those we've left behind us. h And when, in other climes, we meet Some isle, or vale enchanting, Where all looks flow'ry, wild, and sweet. And nouo;ht but love is wanting • We think how great had been our bliss, If Heav'n had but assign'd us To live and die in scenes like this, With some we've left behind us ! As trav'llers oft look back at eve, When eastward darkly going. To gaze upon that light they leave Still faint behind them glowing, — So, when the close of pleasure's day To gloom hath near consign'd us. We turn to catch one fading ray Of joy that's left behind us. i 1, ^- v\. ^. u gtt the morning of life, when its cares are unknown, And its pleasures in all their new lustre begin. When we live in a bright-beaming world of our own, And the light that surrounds us is all from within ; Oh 'tis not, beheve me, in that happy time We can love, as in hours of less transport we may ;— Of our smiles, of our hopes, 'tis the gay sunny prime. But affection is truest when these fade away. When we see the first glory of youth pass us by. Like a leaf on the stream that will never return ; When our cup, which had sparkled with pleasure so high, First tastes of the other, the dark-flowing urn ; Then, then is the time when affection holds sway With a depth and a tenderness joy never knew ; Love, nursed among pleasures, is faithless as they. But the love born of Sorrow, like Sorrow, is true. 167 168 i^t- hCU cold in the earth lies the friend thou hast loved, Be his faults and his follies forgot by thee then ; Or, if from their slumber the veil be removed, Weep o'er them in silence, and close it again. And oh 1 if 'tis pain to remember how far From the pathways of light he was tempted to roam, Be it bliss to remember that thoa wert the star That arose on his darkness, and guided him home. .\; -^ '^1 Sv»-^ From thee and thy innocent beauty first came The reveaUncfS, that taught him true love to adore To feel the bright presence, and turn him with shame^ From the idols he blindly had knelt to before. O'er the waves of a life, long benighted and wild/ Thou earnest, like a soft golden calm o'er the sea ; And if happiness purely and glowingly smiled On his ev'ning horizon, the light was from thee. And tho', sometimes, the shades of past folly might rise, And tho' falsehood again would allure him to stray, ■He but turn'd to the glory that dwelt in those eyes. And the folly, the falsehood, soon vanish'd away. As the Priests of the Sun, when their altar grew dim, At the. day-beam alone could its lustre repair, So, if virtue a moment grew languid in him. He but flew to that smile and rekindled it there. [%, N^ % \ gAWW^'M'^'^.\\m^\'^'J.WW?^ "^^^-'Mf/f/ r/^ r/^rrf^'-fN rmiWJWHMWWW As V ®0 EmW (B\its. W0 Ladies' eyes around, boy, We can't refuse, we can't refuse, Tho' brig-lit eyes so abound, boy, 'Tis hard to choose, 'tis hard to choose. For thick as stars that hghten Yon airy bow'rs, yon airy bow'rs, The countless eyes that brighten This earth of ours, this earth of ours. But fill the cup — where'er, boy, Our choice may fall, our choice may fall We're sure to find love there, boy, So drink them all ! so drink them all Some looks there are so holy, They seem but giv'n, they seem but giv'n As shining beacons, solely, To light to heav'n, to light to heav'n. A.y'lyAVV/M ^'Wi'Um \ N While some — oli ! ne'er believe them — With tempting ray, with tempting ray, Would lead us (God forgive them !) The other way, the other way. But fill the cup — where'er, boy, Our choice may fall, our choice may fall We 're sure to find Love there, boy. So drink them all ! so drink them all In some, as in a mirror, Love seems pourtray'd. Love seems pourtray'd. But shun the flattering error, 'Tis but his shade, 'tis but his shade. Himself has fix'd his dwelling Li eyes we know, in eyes we know, And lips — but this is telling — So here they go ! so here they go ! Fill up, fill up — where 'er, boy. Our choice may fall, our choice may fall, We're sure to find Love there, boy. So drink them all ! so drink them all ! Then, wreath the bowl With flowers of soul, The brightest Wit can find us; We '11 take a flight Tow'rds heaven to-night. And leave dull earth behind us; 'Twas nectar fed Of old, 'tis said, Their Junos, Joves, Apollos; And man may brew His nectar too, The rich receipt 's as follows : Take wine like this, Let looks of bliss Around it well be blended, Then bring Wit's beam To warm the stream, And there's your nectar, splendid So wreath the bowl With flowers of soul. The brightest Wit can find us; . We'll take a flight Tow'rds heaven to-night. And leave dull earth behind us. 174 Say, why did Time His glass sublime Fill up with sands unsightly, When wine, he knew. Runs brisker through. And sparkles far more brightly ? Oh, lend it us. And, smiling thus. The glass in two we '11 sever, Make pleasure glide In double tide. And fill both ends for ever Then wreath the bowl With flowers of soul The brightest AVit can find u? We'll take a flight Tow'rds And leave dul -^-=^-5^^^ m« m^ mfnt Mt ^ may rail at this life — from the hour I began it, found it a life full of kindness and bliss ; , until they can show me some happier planet, social and bright, I "11 content me with this. ng as the world has such lips and such eyes, before me this moment enraptured I see, may say what they will of their orbs in the skies, : this earth is the planet for you, love, and me. Mercury's star, where each moment can bring them ;unshine and wit from the fountain on high, nymphs may have livelier poets to sing them,'"' ve none, even there, more enamour'd than I. as long as this harp can be waken M to love, i that eye its divine inspiration shall be, may talk as they will of their Edens above, s earth is the planet for you, love, and me. /?Q^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^® beautiful dream ^^ ,j.% \^ Xn Quj. eyes— if thou wilt be mine, love 'r}p^ M m And thoughts, whose source is hidden and hio-h Like streams, that come from heaven-ward hills, Shall keep our hearts, like meads, that lie To be bathed by those eternal rills. Ever green, if thou wilt be mine, love! All this and more the Spirit of Love Can breathe o'er them, who feel his spells ; That heaven, which forms his home above, He can make on earth, wherever he dwells. As thou 'It own, — if thou wilt be mine, love ! N .> fc-^' /Sv 0, t*^— - If^ ^ilhcttfVr ^ Site ilmt omiling tgt$. i^s t^ HVhCUC'tt I see those smiling eyes, So full of hope, and joy, and light, As it no cloud could ever rise, To dim a heavn so purely bright — I sigh to think how soon that brow In grief may lose its every ray, And that light heart, so joyous now. Almost forget it once was gay. 'V For time will come with all its blights. The ruined hope, the friend unkind, And love, that leaves, where 'er it lights, A chiird or burning heart behind: — While youth, that now like snow appears, Ere sullied bv the dark'ning rain. When once 'tis touch'd by sorrow's tears Can never shine so bright again. m ."> 18-i ©h for the ^irortl^ of former time @h for the swords of former time ! Oil for tlie men who bore them, When arm'd for Right, they stood subUme, And tyrants crouch'd before them : When free yet, ere courts began With honours to enslave him, The best honours worn by Man Were those which Virtue gave him. Oh for the swords, &c.. &c. Oh for the Kings who flourish'd then ! Oh for the pomp that crown 'd them, When hearts and hands of freeborn men Were all the ramparts round them. When, safe built on bosoms true. The throne was but the centre, Round which Love a circle drew, That Treason durst not enter. Oh for the Kings who flourish'd then ! Oh for the pomp that crown 'd them, When hearts and hands of freeborn men Were all the ramparts round them ; B/ ^ml 0% ml m. ^Wil on, sail on, thou fearless bark — Wherever blows the welcome wind. It cannot lead to scenes more dark, More sad than those we leave behind. Each wave that passes seems to say, "Though death beneath our smile may be, " Less cold we are, less false than they, "Whose smiling wreck'd thy hopes and thee." Sail on, sail on, through endless space — Through calm — through tempest — stop no more The stormiest sea 's a resting place To him who leaves such hearts on shore. Or — if some desert land we meet. Where never yet false-hearted men Profaned a world, that else were sweet, — Then rest thee, bark, but not till then. ^fc- S) iQi ,/ ''^ It is true, it is true, we are shadows cold and wan ; And the fair and the brave whom we lov'd on earth are crone ; But still thus ev'n in death ; So sweet the living breath Of the fields and the flowers in our youth we wan- der'd o'er, That ere, condemn'd, we go To freeze 'mid Hecla's snow. We would taste it awhile, and think we live once more ®to goxtmxt'UlUx. ^ 3J0tVtt in the valley come meet me to-night, And I '11 tell you your fortune truly As ever 'twas told, by the new-moon's light, To a young maiden, shining as newly. .:y CP'J^^ C>-s&. .M^j^^i:^ _Q_ Udi •c ,v (..^ But, for the world, let no one be nish. Lest haply the stars should deceive me ; Such secrets between you and me and the sky Should never go farther, believe me. If at that hour the heav'ns be not dim, My science shall call up before you A male apparition, — the image of him Whose destiny 't is to adore you. And if to that phantom you '11 be kind, So fondly around you he '11 hover. You '11 hardly, my dear, any difference find 'Twixt him and a true living lover. Down at your feet, in the pale moonlight. He '11 kneel, with a warmth of devotion — An ardour, of which such an innocent sprite You 'd scarcely believe had a notion. What other thoughts and events may arise, As in destiny's book I 've not seen them, Must only be left to the stars and your eyes To settle, ere morning, between them. 1% It^ Oft banquet not in those shining bowers, Where Youth resorts, but come to me; For mine 's a garden of faded flowers, More fit for sorrow, for age, and thee. And there we shall have our feast of tears, And many a cup in silence pour; Our guests, the shades of former years. Our toasts, to lips that bloom no more. There, while the myrtle's withering boughs Their lifeless leaves around us shed. We '11 brim the bowl to broken vows, To friends long lost, the changed, the dead Or, while some blighted laurel waves Its branches o'er the dreary spot, We '11 drink to those neglected graves'. Where valour sleeps, unnamed, forgot 192 193 /p^ %" V. ^: "^^ Wxu, t\m, onhj thtt ^IXt dawning of morn, the diivlight's sinking, The night's long hours still find me thinking \^ Of thee, thee, only thee. When friends are met, and goblets crown 'd, And smiles are near, that once enchanted, Unreach'd by all that sunshine round, My soul, like some dark spot, is haunted By thee, thee, only thee. L^f m j\^hatever in fame's high path, could wakem fte /l^^^^'' ^^y spi^i^ once, is now forsaken ^^^^^^ For thee, thee, only thee. Like shores, by which some headlong bark To th' ocean hurries, resting never. Life's scenes go by me, bright or dark, I know not, heed not, hastening ever To thee, thee, only thee. /fl /j)=^ie ^VitMl' js^^ N^V)A^^^ w I have not a joy but of thy bringincr, c And pain itself seems sweet when springing ' From thee, thee, only thee. Like spells, that nought on earth can break, Till lips, that know the charm, have spoken, This heart, howe'er the world may wake Its grief, its scorn, can but be broken By thee, thee, only thee. \i^ V ,• _^ ' l';'';v«=i ia.^ A m rv.T> -^ V ^ '^^ s^ m *% 'iV iM mi .A /J ^® 'J A, ^. m /=^ ?%■ r % ^^ (^uicfe ! m )xut but a mmt ©Ui^b I we have but a second, Fill round the cup, while you may ; For Time, the churl, hath beckon'd, And we must away, away! Grasp the pleasure that 's flying. For oh, not Orpheus' strain Could keep sweet hours from dying, Or charm them to life again. Then, quick! we have but a second. Fill round the cup, while you may ; For Time, the churl, hath beckon'd, And we must away, away ! See the glass, how it flushes. Lik( Heb( e some young Jtieoe s iip, 3^^, A0^ And half meets thine, and blushes ,-\> ^ That thou shouldst delay to sip. r ^ 1^ jy.^i^ 19« «>^vot.^-- r^^ ^-^ «g^^ Shame, oh shame unto thee, If ever thou see'st that day, When a cnp or a hp shall woo thee, And turn untouch'd away ! Then, quick ! we have but a second. Fill round, fill round, while you may; For Time, the churl, hath beckon'd, And we must away, away i m\\ g mi htj that Urn pU ^ tVijSill I was by that dim Lake, Where sinful souls their farewell take Of this vain world, and half-way lie In death's cold shadow, ere they die. There, there, far from thee. Deceitful world, my home should be ; Where, come what might of gloom and pain. False hope should ne'er deceive again. 7^ ^-^. - g^C ^"^ ^^-^ The lifeless sky, the mournful sound Of unseen waters falling round ; The dry leaves, quiv'ring o'er my head, Like man, unquiet ev'n when dead! These, ay, these shall wean My soul from life's deluding scene. And turn each thought, o'ercharged with g Like willows, downward tow'rds the torn loom. As they, who to their couch at night Would win repose, first quench the light, So must the hopes, that keep this breast Awake, be quench'd, ere it can rest. Cold, cold, this heart must grow, , ^Unmoved by either joy or woe, ; JLike freezing founts, where all that's throw: :^ 1%^ Within their current turns to stone. S^ i>w: e^A ^ --v" ''^,. ^ 1^8 ^Wttt Innisfallen, fare thee well, May calm and sunshine long be thine How fair thou art let others tell, — To feel how fair shall long be mine. Sweet Innisfallen, long shall dwell In memory's dream that sunny smile, Which o'er thee on that evening fell When first I saw thy fairy isle. 'T was light, indeed, too blest for one, Who had to turn to paths of care — Through crowded haunts again to run. And leave thee bright and silent there: No more unto thy shores to come, But, on the world's rude ocean tost, ^ Dream of thee sometimes, as a home Of sunshine he had seen and lost. 199 J %M% \% Vl^ n Far better in thy weeping hours To part from thee, as I do now, When mist is o'er thy blooming bowers, Like sorrow's veil on beauty's brow. For, though unrivall'd still thy grace, Thou dost not look, as then, too blest. But thus in shadow, seem'st a place Where erring man might hope to rest — Might hope to rest, and find in thee A gloom like Eden's, on the day He left its shade, when every tree, Like thine, hung weeping o'er his way. Weeping or smiling, lovely isle! And all the lovelier for thy tears — For tho' but rare thy sunny smile, 'T is heav'n's own glance when it appears. Like feeling hearts, whose joys are few. But, when indeed they come, divine — The brightest light the sun e'er threw Is lifeless to one gleam of thine ! 200 (yU the sight entrancing, ^T^fe^ Mr When morning's beam is glancing ^ "^'"^:)iP^ /w^, O'er files array'd,^.4> A^'^0) **' ' ''^^^T^' ^A^^ With helm and blade]/ ' ^ And plumes, in the gay wind dancing.L^ When hearts are all high beating. And the trumpet's voice repeating ,>^ Wy f That song, whose breath':;;;;-'^^^^^^\^j lAIay lead to death, 1^ Oh the sight entrancing, When morning's beam is glancing O'er files array'd With helm and blade, And plumes, in the gay wind dancing. Yet, 'tis not helm or feather — For ask yon despot, whether His plumed bands Could bring such hands And hearts as ours together. Leave pomps to those who need 'em — Give man but heart and freedom, And proud he braves The gaudiest slaves That crawl where monarchs lead 'em. The sword may pierce the beaver, Stone walls in time may sever, 'Tis mind alone. Worth steel and stone. That keeps men free for ever. Oh that sight entrancing. When the morning's beam is glancing O'er files array'd With helm and blade. And in Freedom's cause advancing ^® WHjS one of those dreams, that by music are brought, Like a bright summer haze, o'er the poet's warm thought- When, lost ia the future, his soul wanders on, And all of this life, but its sweetness, is gone. The wild notes he heard o'er the water were those He had taught to sing Erin's dark bondage and woes, And the breath of the bugle now wafted them o'er From Dinis' green isle, to Glena's wooded shore. // He listen'd — while, high o'er the eagle's rude nest, { '' The lingering sounds on their way loved to rest; And the echoes sung back from their full mountain quire. As if loth to let song so enchanting expire. It seem'd as if ev'ry sweet note, that died here. Was again brought to life in some airier sphere, Some heav'n in those hills, where the soul of the strain That had ceased upon earth was awaking again ^«i\\5.- 203 Oh forgive, if, while li^teiiing to nui-^ic, who've breath Seem'd to circle his name with a charm against death, lie hhould feel a proud Spirit within him proclaim, "Even so shalt thou live in the echoes of Fame: %£v 'TT' i ■1:S\ JatolSiti puton awhile fi These pinions of light I bring thee, And o'er thy own green isle In fancy let me wing thee. Never did Ariel's plume, At golden sunset hover O'er scenes so full of bloom, As I shall waft thee over. Fields, where the Spring delays And fearlessly meets the ardour Of the warm Summer's gaze, With only her tears to guard her. Rocks, through myrtle boughs In grace majestic frowning; Like some bold warrior's brows That Love hath just been crowning. 'Si a \ - <=fc ,,^M^_ mw."i- 205 ^r M Islets, so freshly fair, That never hath bird come nigh them. But from his course thro' air He hath been won down by them ; — '' ' Types, sweet maid, of thee, Whose look, whose blush inviting, Never did Love yet see From Heav'n, without alighting. Lakes, where the pearl lies hid,'' And caves, where the gem is sleeping, Bright as the tears thy lid Lets fall in lonely weeping. Glens,'* where Ocean comes, To 'scape the wild wind's rancour. And Harbours, worthiest homes Where Freedom's fleet can anchor. Then, if, while scenes so grand. So beautiful, shine before thee, Pride for thy own dear land Should haply be stealing o'er thee. Oh, let grief come first, O'er pride itself victorious — Thinking how man hath curst What Heaven had made so glorious ! t^ vm^- i06 w^ ^'^''^ Jittd Mix mt n parting liltc i\\b. ^ttU doth not a meeting like tliis make amends, For all the long years I 've been wand'ring away — To see thus around me my youth's early friends, As smiling and kind as in that happy day? Though haply o'er some of your brows, as o'er mine, The snow-fall of time may be stealing — what then ? Like Alps in the sunset, thus lighted by wine. We'll wear the gay tinge of youth's roses again. What soften'd remembrances come o'er the heart, /H^f) In gazing on those we've been lost to so long! iff'^L The sorrows, the joys, of which once they were part, Still round them, like visions of yesterday, throng. [As letters some hand hath invisibly traced, When held to the flame will steal out on the siglitT/ So many a feeling, that long seem'd effaced. The warmth of a moment like this brings to light. And thus, as in memory's bark we shall glide, To visit the scenes of our boyhood anew, Tho' oft we may see, looking down on the tide, The wreck of full many a hope shining through ; Y^t still, as in fancy we point to the flowers. That once made a garden of all the gay shore, Deceived for a moment, we '11 think them still ours, And breathe the fresh air of life's morning once more/' So brief our existence, a glimpse, at the most, Is all we can have of the few we hold dear; And oft even joy is unheeded and lost. For want of some heart, that could echo it, near. Ah, well may we hope, when this short life is gone, To meet in some world of more permanent bliss. For a smile, or a grasp of the hand, hast'ning on. Is all we enjoy of each other in this/* L^ But, come, the more rare such delights to the heart, ^^,^^e^ The more we should welcome and bless them the more ; They're ours, when we meet, — they are lost when we part, Like birds that bring summer, and fly when 'tis o'er. U 2U9 (^it^II the Harp then be silent, when he who first gave To our country a name, is withdrawn from all eyes? Shall a Minstrel of Erin stand mute by the grave Where the first — where the last of her Patriots lies? No — faint tho' the death-song may fall from his lips, Tho' his Harp, like his soul, may with shadows be crost Yet, yet shall it sound, 'mid a nation's eclipse, And proclaim to the world what a star hath been lost ; What a union of all the affections and powers By which life is exalted, embellish'd, refined, Was embraced in that spirit — whose centre was ours, While its mighty circumference circled mankind. 210 9 i> Oh, who that loves Erin, or who that can see, Through the waste of her annals, that epoch sublime — Like a pyramid raised in the desert — where he And his glory stand out to the eyes of all time ; That one lucid interval, snatch'd from the gloom And the madness of ages, when fill'd with his soul, A Nation o'erleap'd the dark bounds of her doom, And for one sacred instant, touch'd Liberty's goal? Who, that ever hath heard him — hath drank at the source Of that wonderful eloquence, all Erin's own, In whose high-thoughted daring, the fire, and the force. And the yet untamed spring of her spirit are shown ? An eloquence rich, wheresoever its wave Wander'd free and triumphant, with thoughts that shone through, As clear as the brook's "stone of lustre," and gave. With the flash of the gem, its solidity too. Who, that ever approach'd him, when free from the crowd, In a home full of love, he delighted to tread 'Mong the trees which a nation had giv'n, and which bow'd, As if each brought a new civic crown for his head — Is there one, who hath thus, through his orbit of hfe But at distance observed him — thro' glory, thro' blame, In the calm of retreat, in the grandeur of strife. Whether shining or clouded, still high and the same, — Oh no, not a heart, that e'er knew him, but mourns Deep, deep o'er the grave, where such glory is shrined — O'er a monument Fame will preserve, 'mong the urns Of the wisest, the bravest, the best of mankind ! 212 213 Love came, and brought sorrow Too soon in his train ; Yet so sweet, that to-morrow 'T were welcome again. Though misery's full measure My portion should be, I would drain "it with pleasure, If pour'd out by thee. You, who call it dishonour To bow to this flame. If you 've eyes, look but on her And blush while you blame. Hath the pearl less whiteness Because of its birth ? Hath the violet less briglitness For growing near earth? No — Man for his glory To ancestry flies ; But Woman's bright story Is told in her eyes. While the Monarch but traces Thro' mortals his line, Beauty, born of Graces, Ranks next to Divine 214 |>.a I'll seek, to whisper it in thine ear, Some shore where the Spirit of Silence sleeps; Where summer's wave unmurmuring dies, Nor fay can hear the fountain's gush; Where, if but a note her night-bird sighs, The rose saith, chidingly, "Hush, sweet, hush There, amid the deep silence of that hour. When stars can be heard in ocean dip. Thyself shall, under some rosy bower, Sit mute, with thy finger on thy lip: Like him, the boy,"' who born among The flowers that on the Nile-stream blush Sits ever thus, — his only song To earth and heaven, "Hush, all, hush!" • /"l' Wu §\m\\im ^\mtt ^J ^tt Yond?r valley there dwelt, alone, [ J A youth, whose moments had calmly flown, ^^Till spells came o'er him, and, day and night. He was haunted and watch'd by a Mountain Sprite.^ As once, by moonlight, he wander'd o'er The golden sands of that island shore, A foot-print sparkled before his sight — 'T was the fairy foot of the Mountain Sprite ! Beside a fountain, one sunny day. As bending over the stream he lay, There peep'd down o'er him two eyes of light. And he saw in that mirror the Mountain Sprite. He turn'd, but, lo, like a startled bird. That spirit fled — and the youth but heard Sweet music, such as marks the flight Of some bird of song, from the Mountain Sprite. One night, still haunted by that bright look, The boy, bewilder'd, his pencil took, And, guided only by memory's light. Drew the once-seen form of the Mountain Sprite. 'f\tHLi 216 V ^^ vmtiwWA (Bxxn %^ vanquish'd Erin wept beside The Boyne's ill-fated river, She saw where Discord, in the tide. Had dropp'd his loaded quiver. "Lie hid," she cried, "ye venom'd darts, "Where mortal eye may shun you; <'Lie hid — the stain of manly hearts, "That bled for me, is on you." But vain her wish, her weepmg vain, — As Time too well hath taught her — Each year the Fiend returns again. And dives into that water; And brings, triumphant, from beneath His shafts of desolation, And sends them, wing'd with worse than death, Through all her madd'ning nation. Alas for her who sits and mourns, Ev'n now, beside that river — Unwearied still the Fiend returns. And stored is still his quiver. "When will this end, ye Powers of Good?" She weeping asks for ever ; But only hears, from out that flood, The Demon answer, " Never!" H :^ ^itt0, mut §iavjr. ^j!>^ j^itttj. sweet Harp, oh sing to me Some song of ancient days. Whose sounds, in this sad memory, Long buried dreams shall raise ; — Some lay that tells of vanish 'd fame. Whose light once round us shone; Of noble pride, now turn'd to shame, And hopes for ever gone. — Sing, sad Harp, thus sing to me ; Alike our doom is cast. Both lost to all but memory. We live but in the past. 219 How mournfully the midnight air Among thy chords doth sigh, As if it sought some echo there Of voices long gone by ; — Of Chieftains, now forgot, who seem'd The foremost then in fame ; Of Bards who, once immortal deem'd, Now sleep without a name. — In vain, sad Harp, the midnight air Among thy chords doth sigh ; In vain it seeks an echo there Of voices long gone by. Could' st thou but call those spirits round. Who once, in bower and hall. Sate listening to thy magic sound, Now mute and mouldering all ;— But, no ; they would but wake to weep Their children's slavery; Then leave them in their dreamless sleep, The dead, at least, are free ! — Hush, hush, sad Harp, that dreary tone, That knell of Freedom's day ; Or, listening to its death-like moan. Let me, too, die away. M 220 :V^, ?tl ^1 # Hit sung of Love, while o'er her lyre The rosy rays of evening fell, As if to feed with their soft fire The soul within that trembling shell. o The same rich light hung o'er her cheek, And play'd around those lips that sung And spoke, as flowers would sing and speak. If Love could lend their leaves a tongue. i.^ But soon the West no longer burn'd, Each rosy ray from heav'n withdrew ; And, when to gaze again I turn'd, The minstrel's form seem'd fading too. (;3^ As if ker light and heav'n's were one, The glory all had left that frame; And from her glimmering lips the tone, As from a parting spirit, came."* i() o-i '^^' ed, but had the thought and all he loved must part ? this fear, I flew and caught image to my heart — Oh Love ! is this thy doom ? " Oh light of youth's resplendent day ! Must ye then lose your golden bloom, " And thus, like sunshine, die awav ? " Mt plight §ma. ^txiflit the gay harp! see the moon is on high, And, as true to her beam as the tides of the ocean, Young hearts, when they feel the soft light of her eye, Obey the mute call, and heave into motion. Then, sound notes — the gayest, the lightest, That ever took wing, when heav'n look'd brightest! Again ! Again ! r -^ e. Oh ! could such heart-stirring music be heard In that City of Statues described by romancers, So wakening its spell, even stone would be stirr'd, And statues themselves all start into dancers ! Jl Why then delay, with suoh sounds in our ears, And the flower of Beauty's own garden before us, — While stars overhead leave the song of their spheres, And list'ning to ours, hang wondering o'er us? Again, that strain! — to hear it thus sounding Might set even Death's cold pulses bounding — Again ! Again ! Oh, what delight when the youthful and gay. Each with eye like a sunbeam and foot like a feather, Thus dance, like the Hours to the music of May, And mingle sweet song and sunshine together ! '1^ 228 ^XmtiX this hour the pledge is given, From this hour my soul is thine : Come what will, from earth or heaven. Weal or woe, thy fate be mine. When the proud and great stood by thee. None dared thy rights to spurn ; And if now they 're false and fly thee, Shall I, too, basely turn? No; — whate'er the fires that fay thee, In the same this heart shall burn. Tho' the sea, where thou embarkest, Offers now no friendly shore, , Light may come where all looks darkest, Hope hath life, when life seems o'er. And, of those past ages dreaming. When glory deck'd thy brow. Oft I fondly think, though seeming So fall'n and clouded now, Thou 'It again break forth, all beaming, None so bright, so blest as thou! kr^-^ The minstrels have seized their harps of gold. - sing such thrilling numbers, — ^ " ' ^ of the Brave, of old, rom their place of slumbers ! .^^ .:kler rang, As the minstrel sang, Ajid the Son-burst " o'er them floated wide; While rememb'ring the yoke WTiich their fiathers broke, "On for liberty, for liberty ! " the Jinians cried Idke clouds :: :iie nignt ice ZSorthmen came, O'er the vallev of Almhin lowering; While on\surd moved, in the light of its fame. That banner of Erin, towering. With the mingling shock. Rung cliff and rock, While, rank on rank, the invaders ic- And the shout, that ^ast O'er the dying pass'd. Was " victorv ! victorv ! " — the Finian's ctv. Q JZ ■; 1 u^ S $au* from the 2cach. a! SaiT from the beach, when the morning was shining, A bark o'er the wateK move gloriously on ; I came when the snn o'er that beach was declinincr. The bark was still there, but the waters were gone. : ^N And such is the fate of our Hfe's early promise. So passing the spring-tide of joy we have known Each wave, that we danc d on at morning, ebb? from us And leaves us, at eve, on the bleak shore alo 'Ne'er tell me of dories, serenelv adomino- The close of our dav. the calm eve of our nio-ht ■ — Give me back, give me back the wild freshness of Morning. Her clouds and her tears are worth Evening's best lit»ht. KVSf Oh, who would not welcome that moment's returning, When passion first wak'd a new life thro' his frame. And his soul, like the wood, that grows precious in burning. Gave out all its sweets to love's exquisite flame. T^P ^ 3 - i Shf 5rfam of those |1ati$. U hf dream of those days •wi.cii nrst I sxi-iig liiee is o er, Ilx t-ntrmph Kath Btain'd the charm thT sorrows then wore ; Arid er'n of the light which Hope once shed o'er thv cha::- - Als.?. not a ^learn to ^ace thv freedom remains. Sar, is it that =]aTerT sunk so deep in thv heart. That stil- t'lr iark trand is there, tho' diainless ihon art ; ' ^ \ And Freedom 5 sweet fmit, for which thy spirit long bum'd, / 1 ii 2s ow. reaching at last thy lip, to ashes hath tom'd ? "* -- Up liberty's steep by Troth and Eloquence led, Willi eyes on her temple fix'd, bow proud was thy tread ! Ah, better thon ne'er had'st lived that summit to gain. Or died in the porch, than "dms dishonour the fane. n v4 2S m?. m 'if 'Tis true, in manliest eyes A passing tear will rise, When we think of the friends we leave lone; But what can wailing do? See, our goblet's weeping too AVith its tears we'll chase away our own, boy, our own ; With its tears we '11 chase away our own. But daylight's stealing on; — The last that o'er us shone Saw our children around us play; The next — ah ! where shall we And those rosy urchins be? But — no matter — grasp thy sword and away, boy, away; No matter — grasp thy sword and away Let those, who brook the chain Of Saxon or of Dane, Ignobly by their fire-sides stay; One sigh to home be given. One heartfelt prayer to heaven. Then, for Erin and her cause, boy, hurra! hurra! hurra! Then, for Erin and her cause, hurra 230 ^ @V all the fair months, that round the sun In light-link'd dance their circles run, Sweet May, shine thou for me; For still, when thy earliest beams arise, That youth, who beneath the blue lake lies, Sweet May, returns to me. Of all the bright haunts, where daylight leaves Its lingering smile on golden eves, Fair Lake, thou 'rt dearest to me ; For when the last April sun grows dim. Thy Naiads prepare his steed for him " Who dwells, bright Lake, in thee. Of all the proud steeds, that ever bore Young plumed Chiefs on sea or shore, White Steed, most joy to thee; Who still, with the first young glance of spring. From under that glorious lake dost bring My love, my chief, to me. -:^^ RICHES J^ . ^ '( c <^A l^. ~J 1" f dJ^^ '" ■';il" \ '»! ii^' ®h^ Witnil^tingi §afil. ^" «itj«ilt life like that of the bard can be, — The wandering bard, who roams as free As the mountain lark that o'er him sings, And, like that lark, a music brings Within him, where'er he comes or goes, — A fount that for ever flows ! The world's to him like some play-ground. Where fairies dance their moonlight round ;- If dimm'd the turf where late they trod, The elves but seek some greener sod; So, when less bright his scene of glee. To another away flies he! ,0l 4-.' ,^ %, ('' 'A, ^'- v7; 238 ^ ,^A>. %\\l %^ '^^^^ A: Oh, what would have been young Beauty's doom, Without a bard to fix her bloom? They tell us, in the moon's bright round, Things lost in this dark world are found ; So charms, on earth long pass'd and gone, In the poet's lay live on. — Would ye have smiles that ne'er grow dim? You've only to give them all to him, Who, with but a touch of Fancy's wand, Can lend them life, this life beyond, And fix them high, in Poesy's sky, — Young stars that never die ! Then, welcome the bard where'er he comes, For, though he hath countless airy homes. To which his wing excursive roves. Yet still, from time to time, he loves To light upon earth and find such cheer As brightens our banquet here. No matter how far, how fleet he flies, You 've only to light up kind young eyes. Such signal-fires as here are given, — And down he'll drop from Fancy's heaven, The minute such call to love or mirth ^Proclaims he's wanting on earth! ^ittjj — sing — MUSIC was given, To brighten tlie gay, and kindle the loving ; Souls liere, like planets in Heaven, By harmony's laws alone are kept moving. Beauty may boast of her eyes and her cheeks, But Love from the lips his true archery wings ; And she, who but feathers the dart when she speaks, At once sends it home to the heart when she sings. Then sing— sing— Music was given. To brighten the gay, and kindle the loving ; Souls here, like planets in Heaven, By harmony's laws alone are kept moving. When Love, rock'd by his mother, Lay sleeping as calm as slumber could make him, "Hush, hush," said Venus, "no other "Sweet voice but his own is worthy to wake him." Dreaming of music he slumber'd the while Till faint from his lip a soft melody broke, And Venus, enchanted, look'd on with a smile, While Love to his own sweet singing awoke. U" Then sing — sing — Music was given, To brighten the gay, and kindle the loving^ Souls here, like planets in Heaven, fc,^ By harmony's laws alone are kept moving. ^ s..^ at^^ 235 ®foVt are sounds of mirth in the night-air ringing,' And lamps from every casement shown ; While voices blithe within are singing, That seem to say "Come," in every tone. Ah ! once how Kght, in Life's young season, My heart had leap'd at that sweet lay ; Nor paus'd to ask of greybeard Reason Should I the syren call obey. And, see — the lamps still livelier glitter. The syren lips more fondly sound ; No, seek, ye nymphs, some victim fitter To sink in your rosy bondage bound. Shall a bard, whom not the world in arms d bend to tyranny's rude controul, quail, at sight of woman's charms, yield to a smile his freeborn soul 23G V? ^m% tA f ttttii^Wl V Ul^U^ came from a land beyond the sea, And now o'er the western main Set sail, in their good ships, gallantly, From the sunny land of Spain. "Oh, where 's the Isle we've seen in dreams, "Our destin'd home or grave?" ^^ Thus sung they as, by the morning's beams. They swept the Atlantic wave. /\ And, lo, where afar o'er ocean shines A sparkle of radiant green. As though in that deep lay emerald mines, Whose light through the wave was seen. "'Tis Innisfail— 't is Innisfail!"" Rings o'er the echoing sea; While, bending to heav'n, the warriors hail That home of the brave and free. \ Then turn'd they unto the Eastern wave. Where now their Day-God's eye A look of such sunny omen gave As lighted up sea and sky. L, 288 Nor frown was seen through sky Nor tear o'er leaf or sod, When first on their Isle of Destiny Our great forefathers trod. ^\mt in (Rx0xc&^ U wmtkx m. ^Wtit in crowds to wander on, And feel that all the charm is gone Which voices dear and eyes beloved Shed round us once, where'er we roved — This, this the doom must be Of all who 've loved, and lived to see The few bright things they thought would stay Wu't For ever near them, die away. Tho' fairer forms around us throng. Their smiles to others all belong, And want that charm which dwells alone Round those the fond heart calls its own. U y5 Where, where the sunny brow? The long-known voice — where are they now? Thus ask I still, nor ask in vain. The silence answers all too plain. Oh, what is Fancy's magic worth, If all her art cannot call forth One bliss like those we felt of old From lips now mute, and eyes now cold? No, no, — her spell is vain, — As soon could she bring back again Those eyes themselves from out the grave. As wake again one bliss they gave. ©Ill Arranmore, loved Arranmore, How oft I dream of thee, And of those days when, by thy shore, I wander'd young and free. ^■m "Tfr Full many a path I've tried, since then, Through pleasure's flowery maze, ^ But ne'er could find the bliss again I felt in those sweet days. How blithe upon thy breezy cliffs At sunny morn I 've stood. With heart as bounding as the skiffs That danced along thy flood ; Or, when the western wave grew bright With daylight's parting wing, Have sought that Eden in its light Which dreaming poets sing; — "' That Eden where th' immortal brave Dwell in a land serene, — Whose bowers beyond the shining wave, At sunset, oft are seen. Ah dream too full of sadd'ning truth I Those mansions o'er the main Are like the hopes I built in youth, — As sunny and as vain. fe.iV @h, could we do with this world of ours As thou dost with thy garden bowers, Reject the weeds and keep the flowers, What a heaven on earth we 'd make it ! So bright a dwelling should be our own, So warranted free from sigh or frown, That angels soon would be coming down. By the week or month to take it Like those gay flies that wing thro' air, And in themselves a lustre bear, A stock of light, still ready there, Whenever they wish to use it ; So, in this world I 'd make for thee. Our hearts should all like fire-flies be. And the flash of wit or poesy Break forth whenever we choose it. While ev'ry joy that glads our sphere Hath still some shadow hovering near, In this new world of ours, my dear, Such shadows will all be omitted : — Unless they 're like that graceful one, Which, when thou 'rt dancing in the sun, Still near thee, leaves a charm upon Each spot where it hath flitted ! Mtna fe in mx ^tM palfe/' ^ileUCC is in our festal halls,— Sweet Son of Song ! thy course is o'er ; In vain on thee sad Erin calls. Her minstrel's voice responds no more ; — All silent as th' Eolian shell Sleeps at the close of some bright day,' When the sweet breeze, that waked its swell At sunny morn, hath died away. Yet, at our feasts, thy spirit long, Awaked by music's spell, shall rise; For, name so link'd with deathless song Partakes its charm and never dies; And ev'n within the holy fane, When music wafts the soul to heaven, One thought to him, whose earliest strain Was echoed there, shall long be given. But, where is now the cheerful day, The social night, when, by thy side, He, who now weaves this parting lay. His skilless voice with thine allied; And sung those songs whose every tone, When bard and minstrel long have past, Shall still, in sweetness all their own, Embalm'd by fame, undying last. Yes, Erin, thine alone the fame, — Or, if thy bard have shared the crown. From thee the borrow'd glory came. And at thy feet is now laid down. Enough, if Freedom still inspire His latest song, and still there be. As evening closes round his lyre. One ray upon its chords from thee. - ^\ M a** ■^•*,5K5^;,!(l'Pm!11ffi)m« ^ v- ."i ■•'^^^■"- " ^■itev^^^^^^P^^S*^ ^HJJ his sword by his side, — it hath served him too well Not to rest near his pillow below; To the last moment true, from his hand ere it fell Its point was still turn'd to a flying foe. Fellow-lab'rers in life, let them slumber in death. Side by side, as becomes the reposing brave, — That sword which he loved still unbroke in its sheath, And himself unsubdued in his grave. M Yet pause — for, in fancy, a still voice I hear, As if breathed from his brave heart's remains ; — Faint echo of that which, in Slavery's ear, Once sounded the war-word, "Burst your chains!" And it cries, from the grave where the hero lies deep, "Tho' the day of your Chieftain for ever hath set, "Oh leave not his sword thus inglorious to sleep, — "It hath victory's life in it yet! '"Should some alien, unworthy such weapon to wield, "Dare to touch thee, my own gallant sword, "Then rest in thy sheath, like a talisman seal'd, "Or return to the grave of thy chainless lord. " But, if grasp'd by a hand that hath learn'd the proud use "Of a falchion, like thee, on the battle-plain, — "Then, at Liberty's summons, like lightning let loose, "Leap forth from thy dark sheath again!" r^i A CHOICE COLLECTION OF MOORE'S MELODIES, ARRANGED AS SOLOS, DUETS, TRIOS, AND QUARTETS, IVITH PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT, SIR JOHN STEVENSON, AND OTHERS. #0 whtxt glovjj mife tlm. FOR ONE OR TWO VOICES. - ^2ziiz5_ :i Go where glory waits thee, But while fame elates thee, Oh ! still remember me. s^=i:: ^=^: ;f^ r-^ idzzzirz^r—z: ^^•— V— t^-- 1- 5;:^=^-*- - -^^-?-? Go where glory waits thee, But while fame elates thee. Oh! still remember me. I — I ^ J — ^^ ^-— • ^ 4r :* ^ -^ -0- ^V 4-5-^- •>ym. -t^h .espress. lentindo. izMi i-?-?— When the praise thou meetest To thine ear is sweetest. Oh ! then remember me. -^ '^^m ^w i^^^^--mm ^^^ m^ m When the praise thou meetest To thine ear is sweetest, Oh ! then remember me. S^H=;=SiE^^^ -^feSiic^i:: /|§:s:=J=:3:=f 1^BEE=^===^ -*— c * ». * -#-,h 45li.«q =|S£^ 248 _J_.. Other arms may press thee,Dearer friends caress thee, All the joys that bless thee , Sweeter far muy be; Other arms may press thee, Dearer friends caress thee, All the joys that bless thee, Sweeter far may be; lentandv. I But when friends are nearest, And when joys are dearest, Oh ! then remember me ! :i^ But when friends are nearest. And when joys are dearest, Oh ! then remember me ! 5:*- ♦ T* ^_p,. ^^» 9-1^9 ^.^^'9. ^^ ■ .^— - ili^^si^i When, at eve, thon rovest By the star thou lovest, Oh ! then remember me. Think, when home returning, Bright we've seen it burning, Oh ! thus remember me. Oft as summer closes, When thine eye reposes On its ling'ring roses, Once so loved by thee, Think of her who wove them, Her who made thee love them, Oh ! then remember me. 3 When, around thee dying, Autumn leaves are lying. Oh ! then remember me. And, at night, when gazing On the gay hearth blazing. Oh ! still remember me. Then should music, stealing All the soul of feeling, To thy heart appealing. Draw one tear from thee ; Then let mem'ry bring thee Strains I used to sing thee, — Oh ! then remember me. 249 Wiht ^m^ that owe thmtgb ©ara'is hatfe. J S/ow ,^s"i L - IS ^F * •— r»— §-• — ■-- f re-t — • »-T — « B»-* 1 9ife IE I V\> — \- -» -'- — ; ■ -:^- t=±-^ =?=:^: :^=t^ ::^ a_tz ? — g ♦ * Jz: aizd fe ^>— ? The Harp that once thro' Ta - ra's halls The soul of Mu - sic shed, Now zK: ^1.2==±ztz ^ :»zz«: ?:|2: ^^^^^=i=^=J=|i^^=fe: -7 — f- hangs as mute on Ta - ra's walls, As if that soul were fled. — So 250 ^^^^^m ^^SE^. sleeps the pride of fur - incr d;ij's, So glo - ry's thrill is o'er, And 9ii?: ■I M I -J i 1 mm 'B feg^ ii&= ^ hearts, that once beat high for praise, Now feel that pulse no more. "rz S F*: \ii^.± 7 ■' — ^ — #" ^ ^ r~ ^ s ^~" '^"^ BHa^ — '""' — 'M~' — ' "j H ^ — ^—-^ « «-M; — I ^ 1 1 «,-# — 5— a i r I ,11 "^^^^ n^ ■*■ " ' If: i^ 1- ■•" 'I 2 No more to chiefs and ladies bright The harp of Tara swells ; The chord alone, that breaks at night, Its tale of ruin tells. Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes, The only throb she gives. Is when some heart indignant breaks To show that still she lives ! 2.^1 With fceliii£r. \t\mt ^t, if alt Wmt mkmxk^ louug ffifcamisi^ HAEMONIZED FOR TWO VOICES. --8-- "m Jfc Fy-^ y — H- :=[d: -d=:^F± — ' — « — r* — r*-!- :d: r-J i~T^-s-^ -tT^H — ' 1— •*-" — — ^ — r\-> -^ ' — I — 4t mT^s ^^^^^^^^^ ^:^M ^^ 1. Believe me, if all those endearing young charms, Which I gaze on so fondly to - day, .... Were to h— >--t^ 3^^m^^^^^^- 2. It is not while beauty and youth are thine own, And thy cheeks unprofan'd by a tear, .... That the J^"7— f3=== ^v ■5-1 -^ -*• . -»■ •*■ -^ ■*•■ ■»•■ -«"•"•• •♦.-»■ 5- ^^ -«-i- — #-. — 1 K r « L n. V-?=^e=2: -^i:?v=:^i^t^i=? change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms, Like fai-ry gifts fading a - way,Thou wouldst ^—^~ p::] _i ti_ li'l?i§ fer - vor and faith of a soul can be known, To which time willbut make thee more dear; No, the _ — _ — . — I — 9 — n^: 3^ :?=S^?= 7 #- z:5=#=:2n=t:4::=2: 252 ;!i=i still be ador'd, as this moment thou art. Let thy love-liness fade as it ■will,.... And a - &--— -#-• •- heart that has tru - ly lov'd never forgets, But as tru - ly loves ou to the close, As the ^• is Ji-\-Z- H — Z- %- -• '■ — • '^- -t \ £ round the dear ruin each wish of my heart Would entwine itself verdantly still . . ==5zzfe.z=3-?=: : ;^=^=fes^i^^£s=ip^EP3^ 1/ i? > storm and snows ; Seasons may roll, But the true soul Burns the same, where'er it goes. Ltt IzmZX-z. ^'~'r~B-^ *i~^ *rTT i*-"^ **♦ fl^ I I '" fl^' I 1 i ! I ( eiiEf^=g^= i I M J ! i M I I ! i I .ip . F^-^q: Tp — znp 254 fate frown on, so we love and part not; 'Tis life where thou art, 'tis death where thou art not. Then -#■-* ^ -#• -#--•• •*■■«• w»- -w^ ^»- -»»■ ■»»- come o'er the sea, Maiden, with me, Come wherever the wild wind blows; Seasons may roll, =]-^,— *-^-T-* — ^ — ^— *-»-#=i^,^ d d S d d \ ^ II 11 I ^0- I I I I I EE=L'=E'=S!EEZL=i=?Ea3pEE=zi 'F^ But the trne soxil Burns the same, where'er it goes. II igi&^liiiB — H- ^1 T- — ^. — =F— ^#-T #-v— ij-:-*-^— ^j:-j».-:-il-.5-J^ 2 Was not the sea Made for the Free, Land for courts and chains alone ? Here we are slaves, But, on the waves, Love and Liberty's all our own. No eye to watch, and no tongue to wound us, All earth forgot, and all heaven around us — Then come o'er the sea. Maiden, with me, Mine through sunshine, storm and snows ; Seasons may roll. But the true soul Burns the same, where'er it goes. 255 '®fe tk^ la^t $m 0i ^mnmtx. Accomp. ( M Uf Feelingly. agifa r'-^ir^— #^ i-^*— ^ •— .r* ( « P ii 'Tis the ii^iilf^gei^;^.@^ii 3=1^ last rose of summer Left bloom - ing a - - lone ; All her Ifesi^ ,-i|:di#--;-=l-#:t:1-j_#-it-=^rd^-#-tr^*-j-_-#-d__^-irzl Hr^-T-^*— I — •^J r-^ -^T^ iLfe ---f2- =?=^ ■m rm_L! 1 1 1 _^ 1 — A--g — \-0 — s=:*^-«i-«-^-y — I- n^: =1=5: m love - ly com - panions Are fad - ed and gone ; No Lz£=it5^3^3'33^fE5^£d^53^i-^tt-'3^ ■jr ■»>• ailigiEEEEEEE?: 1^ =3=f^iE 256 flow'r of her kin - dred. No rose - bud is nigh To re - 3==: -St rpii:^: ^^fe -A -j -s=*-^#-f • — -1 ? ^-*'- — I -«^^ '-^H 1 — +— f fleet back her blushes, Or give sigh for sigh. ;|*i==E^^EfeE: :?:*rp: ij «-«'-«- ^ ^ ^ L^llll^ L *»^ Irfllll^ L^l ^ Irffl^ k^ ^ sSjs^ 2 I'll not leave thee, thou lone one ! To pine on the stem ; Since the lovely are sleeping. Go, sleep thou with them. Thus kindly I scatter Thy leaves o'er the bed, Where thy mates of the garden Lie scentless and dead. 3 So soon may / follow, When friendship's decay. And from Love's shining circle The gems drop away. When true hearts lie witherd, And fond ones are flown, Oh ! who would inhabit This bleak world alone ? 257 ^ati^urrtll-Irut wh<^«i-^ »-0 blest, if it tells me, that mid the gay cheer Some kind vi.iice h:ul luiuuiiui'd,--! wish Le was here!" tA.|_o 1 — . a ■ ITS! j=q Tl=a *- » — » :?c:: 11? ==^1^3] 3 Let Fate do ber worst, there are relics of joy. Bright dreams of the past, which she cannot destroy ; Which come in the nipiht-time of soriow and care. And bring back the features that joy us"d to wear. Long, long be my heart with such memories fiil'd ! Like the vase, in which roses have once been distill'd — You may break, you may shatter the vase, if j'ou will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still. 259 She meeting of the iratcr^.* THERE IS KOT IX THIS WIDE XK-OELD, efe^^ ^-*-* , \ 0*: ^^^ ^^-\ l^ =^^^^^^T^^^~ TT Bkff ^ »- _* « K_ • * - \ \r m >^-^ / . < —'^— •—m — 0- :^_. V ^' V — '^ 1. There is not in the wide world a val - ley so sweet As that vale in whose bosom the 2. Yet it vas not that na - tare had shed o'er the scene Her purest of crystal and 9=5 '.^'"s- Gi^ * N 1 — S 1 y-"} — • — ' — ^ — -, ~^r — *~ —0 — — m '^j m ^^-^ ^ * % ir- -^ -V — — „S;-^ # ^ ? — ? — 1-- bright wa - tere meet.t Oh I the last bright - est of green ; 'Twas not ravs her of soft —^ feel - ma - ing gic and of \ ^'^ " • 0-, ^} * ^ \ "^—^ , ^ ^^ •- -,-0- ^ -#- / ^. - — # -s — - •See Xote 7, Page 422. t See Xote 8, Page 425. 260 lenlando. ^h?^ life must de - part. Ere the bloom of that vaUty shall fade from my heart. Ere the streamlet or hill. Oh ! no— it was something more ex - qTii5-it'e still, Oh ! 0m -^— r- bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart no — it was something more ex - quis-ite stilL 3|ilir / m^^ GS^ r^> ■m^s^} P 3 "Twas that friends, the belov'd of my bosom, were near. Who made every dear scene of enchantment more dear. And who felt how the best charms of nature improve, When we see them reflected from looks that we love. 4 Sweet vale of Avoca ! how calm could I rest In thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best. Where the storms which we feel in this cold world should cease, \jid our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace. •261 ^t'hctt iu AtMx f $M\ calmtjj xtdim. THE LEGACY. With ' Feeling and i Gaiety. I « _- -f: .:?: .„*< ---f! .^-^r! -^ «_ g^g^^EEgiji^ 1. When in death I shall calmly re - cline, jE=EiE«1^3=gii^=5=^Egg^ ■P ^* # — J — *-\~, H^#- — ii — F — • s ' a-}-* m — * a — -* *— « bear my heart to my mis - tress dear ; Tell her it liv'd up - on smiles and \vine Of the ^ It ^^ J ^ ^ ^ :Ed£S=d=: ^•"^ -^ ?=g ?-|^ »-r-?- J2 = ?-=ip T {- ?-^ 9 1 -2 9 1 9 - N , 7 : 9 * r ^- - ' 1- * ,, * — y- bright - est hue, while it lin - ger'd here. Bid her not shed one tear of sorrow To -#■-*■ ^ m^=^ -I— . 262 sul-ly a heart so brilliant and light ; But balm-j- drops of the red grape borrow, To G-: r''^'!^^^^—0 #— T-s — = ■ ^-^0 . w I .N- p^=f^-=r^-=t-iZ0^=J- ^—0 *- r:*=^=g^:T:zr-:>Tzj|^z;3=;j:zz==^ 3iir bathe the re - lie from mom till night. -,jr-«-^ 9iS^ -^ ^ 35^^ • Se« Xote 13, Page 424. i^fa^^^l^^] 2 When the light of my song is o'er, Then take my harp to your ancient hall ; Hang it up at that friendly door Where weary travellers love to call. * Then if some bard, who roams forsaken, Revive its soft note in passing along, Oh ! let one thought of its master waken Your warmest smile for the child of song. 3 Keep this cup, which is now o'erflowing. To grace j'our revel, when I'm at rest ; Never, oh ! never its balm bestowing On lips that beauty hath seldom blest. But when some warm devoted lover To her he adores shall bathe its brim, Then, then my spirit around shall hover, And hallow each drop that foams for him. 263 ^iUnt, 0b pagk, ht t\xt torn of tbij tvakt THE SONG OF FIOKNUAIiA. Mourn- fully. ^^^g^ij:-fegg^^g^ ^♦r:*-^: jl ggg ggpji Ej^ip |i^3jxi;rf ^^=^ '^^H— ff « C f « 0-1. 1- j; — 1. Silent, oh Moyle, be the roar of thy water, Break not,yebreezes,your chain of repose, While, -*-•-• — —'rw—r :tiz?i£j=iS: 9--=t^=? =^,y^^ ^ ^ ?- £Hf: ^=t=J^ ^-#-? - — P H W-l=:» ^ # ^ — «- — — -d—^-^- — A ^- -g *-.—»- ^-» — m~»-T~\ mur - mur- ing mourn - ful - ly, Lir's lone-ly daughter Tells to the night-star her 9lEE^3^ -r ^ «^ See Note 18, Page 426. 264 p ^ — ^* z:|:_-=f^=3-.T=i^5z=:i=.:* — ^_|-f^r*T^=*zz^siziz=Tz:^:==i.Nz=*-^ — , -v-v- ^ — tale of woes. When shall the swan.her death-note singing, Sleep, with win^s in §iE£ 3^^ &3E • ,_i — «- ^V^- :&=; f=F- >— M— i-f :pzT:r, -fv-^— V— t^- 11^ darkness furl'd? "When will heav'n, its sweet bell ringing. Call my spirit from this 9^-?=Sf^ --?" -r—?— --*—?■ :?^^r= i :i* ;^] stormy world? --I — « — \-'-^-» ^— -L — i i=d=q^z=^=r:^q-^i=q-:i=i ;»? ^- :i!==:^q P]| ^1 I ' b>«> I 2 Sadly, oh Moyle, to thy winter-wave weeping. Fate bids me languish long ages away ; Yet still in her darkness doth Erin lie sleeping. Still doth the pure light its dawning delay. When will that day-star, mildly springing, Warm our Isle with peace and love ? When will heav'u, its sweet bell ringing. Call my spirit to the fields above ? 265 (&0mt, xt^t in tbfe U^onu By KlALJ.MAEK. A ndartte. .N L ' — ^~ IrcdJ^=^^"T — — ^xd ' — S '— r-i 1 *— ^ *^# • tf -i^* — — * — L^ 3i^t=?-b ♦•^■*- •♦•^■#- -*- -#- ■♦- -•- ■0-^-0- -#- -#• -»f«- -#'[7-, -J , — •-r-| 1 — »-' F-»-< — I —0-i 1 — #-l-| t-;.«-i-i^«_#- fc __ p:==:^ p p, . ,^_^p, :^— ^. ^f ■ - - - V ? ' -* » . -» 1. Come, rest in this -•-i » ^ ^ '-^ =;7^i !^-'p ^I^:?^ — *^ 0-*'-\—j-m- t-' ■ 6 -«• 6 ;^:^/^^4#-^:#: gPllg lp^gg^g ^ p^^ lirn :^^ a^ Pg g=ggEgp3=^ | ^£^.^ .^g^ bo - som, My owu stricken deer, Tho' the herd have fled from thee, Thy ^ ^ I, ^ ^ ^_J^ ^ ^ ^ I, ^ ^ ,J,^ ^ ^ ^ I. . «3 — ^"— eg 1 — c»" e» — r — «5 — ^"**~"iT "ZJ^f ~zzz:i«'~ru_:^Vrf H*_zq S3 I I I ^XS I'll Mil I I I k^MU I I I 2ife— »- pi ri =!•: 266 -!>\-K-A home is still here, Here still is the smile, That uo cloud can o'er - I \j—- - 6* ^-Oji 1 0* Z^'f^ir — <5# G* T — 0# G» 1 6i 0= 1 ^ §i^=^H ■ « izi3z; 9 i ",7_«- =$? cast, And a heart and a hand All thy own to the last. ^ ^ ^ F=|^— =- F^^ =] • ~'~1 =F*- 6 — 2 Oh! what was love made for, If 'tis not the same Through joy and throuG[h torment. Through glory and shame ? I know not, I ask not. If guilt's in that heart, I but know that I love thee, Whatever thou art. 13] 3 Thou hast called me thy Angel, In moments of bliss. And thy Angel I'll be, Mid the horrors of this, — Through the furnace, unshrinking, Thy steps to pursue, And shield thee, and save the«, — Or perish there too ! 267 mu pitt^tol §0ij» With strength an,I Spirit. §ipEi^EE=^=f^^^^EE^=|^^=3=|;E3^^?= iii 1. The #— 5- — >— 5r ^^ «# * « J « • • -•—* f - — = K — e_x_« — ff — I • 1 1 1 ■ -•- I . — 1 -^• ff \20. n — 1-^— I *— ^ — 1| ^1===^^ =1: ^=gz^ >z.^=^=gjd=^,^-j Mill - strel - Boy to the war is gone, In the ranks of death you'll find him ; His -A — I -^ Ei^Si^^rj^f^==iS=?Ei^s;fi^-=^ ^ — »-i — « — 0- C» • 1 — i — * 0- ll^iil 5= ggi g gI^^g^ggri^^i^ BS|gp=^pN^ fa - ther's sword he has gird - ed on, And his wild harp slung be- hind him. :V^: g^; rr* t^::— ^ --? 268 0- ?^ .^ tr Tendalij. £ "Land of song !" said the war - rior - bard, "Tho' all the world be - trays thee, One i7 ^~ — ~ — - • *~ '0-' — ff — • ^- 9:.=fEEE ,—^-^' iiEE: -o # — ~ li-linziEz: ' v«v 'S- sword, at least, thj' rights shall guard, Une faith - ful harp shall praise thee !" ^? -9- :^ ' u III fHI] 2 The Minstrel fell !— but the foeruan's chain Could not bring his proud soul under ; The harp he lov'd ne'er spoke again, For he tore its chords asunder ; And said, "No chains shall sully thee. Thou soul of love and bravery ! Thy songs were made for the jiure and free, They shall never sound in slavery." 269 ^Vlmx ttougb \iU mxhk^t vet xovt. ON MUSIC. Slow, and with feeling. His ^ .S«W ■«-■•- ' .EEJ^'ggE^^ -I- =:^-[^,,g^-, , 1- ^,-, ^g::-! -*-*■-#■-* -5--5--5--5--5--i--*--#--#- — I 1^ w— 1 1 — *- :3=: 1. When thro' life un - blest we rove, -»-'^-0- ^==^p=i-Z_^_^_^_c:-_p«— -P-— 5— — 5- ^^iiii I ' 1 ' — ' .«_• — « — ^L^-H- f:= -^ — b-- P=gEg£^^ Los - ing all that made life dear, Should some notes we us'd to love, In ^ 1.1 ^. r „- -n"-! "": — ^_ _ 270 days of boy - hood, meet our ear, Oh ! how wel - come breathes the strain ! ^t vH il r#z*: -A- Wak'iiing thouL^hts that long have slept ; Kind-ling form-er smiles a - gain In fad - ed eyes that long have wept ! ^ -0- • -e- -#■ -J- •«»• _^^^ _r^^^ r r I -?— •— ^ 1 Eil^l^lJ 2 Like the gale, that sighs along Beds of oriental flowers, Is the grateful breath of song, That once was heard in happier hours ; Fill'd with balm, the gale sighs on. Though the flow'rs have sunk in death So, when pIpaRv^re's dream is gone, Its memrv lives in Music's breath. 3 Music, oh how faint, how weak. Language fades before thy spell ! Why should Feeling ever speak. When thou canst breathe her soul so well? Friendship's balmy words may feign. Love's are ev'n more false than they ; Oh ! 'tis only music's strain Can sweetl}' soothe, and not betray. 271 ;rt (Sxm xmmhtK t\xt Mp ^f 0\L Grand and Spirited. e- ^ — z^-l • — 9±z ^— i-#^s— #^-^=1— j—r-^t--— ---5 — I — i: — I I ^uE^fhfE^^EEzl^^^ ^ ^^—' •#- -^ e^eee: ^— -1- [ — 1 J— --I ; ^— I ^E^E^:: ^E^ -(-- i^ ::; — » ^ *» I * • g « j -J— ^- V— ^ — ; Itiprii^si^a^lPillt^ll^ Let E - rin remem - ber the daj's of oLi Ere lier faith - less sons be - 4 I r-^~-r-A ^^- P ;=]: --i- "^~v-f — *, a~-~ S — T~a -^---a- *. p r' <^—T-A -\' — I -1 ::=]: -i^-v- l^^iPii^s^liili^lli=S-^ tray'd her ; When Mala-chi wore the collar of gold, *Which he won from her proud invader, ^ — • ^ — J/ #i« ^J— # — ,— • »See Note 15, Page 425. i :t£ =^^^^=^ When her kings, wit?i standard of green nu - furl'd. Led the Eed Branch Knights* to *^ I ' — -* S-* • i \^^ .g=;2=^£E=^z=E=z/=:>zi7£=:^=^ — Li=zfzizzzfzz:*AZzd^^^J. dan-ger ; — 'Ere the emerald gem of the western world Was set in the crown of a stranger. gg=gE=p|^J= i=g|^ 3=g^^gpig g3^^}5^:j 3^^zi5zz'3 rP— n r s • ■ — ?- zziL ^ziz=:g=^p: ^ izfziz^g=zz^=:zHJ 2ip t- 2 On Lough Neagh's bank as the fisherman strajs, When the clear cold eve's declining, He sees the round towers of other daj'S In the wave beneath him shining ; Thus shall memory often, in dreams sublime ; Catch a glimpse of the days that are over ; Thus, sighing, look through the waves of time For the long-faded glories thy cover, f • See Note 16, Page 425. t Seo Note 17, Page 425. 273 =E ^\ mt'^ jl^mtg Axmn. HABMONIZED FOB THEEE VOICES. H— -«. ■#- i-v ^— ^^ — .#. -#i *-^ -•• r J P I 1^1 . I II Soprano. :?^ii^^iEi^^^^?^i=?eii2=^ I. Oh! the days are gone,when Beauty hright My heart's chain wove;When my dream of life, from morn till night, Was Tenor. Jv j h i i — b it y — #--, — *-j ^ |_ — |— ^:* — *-- * — 9* — * > — *-» — *- j 2. Tho' the hard to purer fame may soar, When wild youth's past ; Tho' he win the wise,who frown'd hefore,To Bass. .-^:— I — [/-T# — ff—0 — P-T0 — 0-0 nT^ P fJ — r — *-T» — •-• — •-!• — •-• — -r^ 3. No,— that hallow'd form is ne'er forgot Which first-love trac'd; Still it jing'ring haunts the greenest spot On .—4 MmmEmi^m^m=00^m^t^ 274 :t=1: m^^^i^mmmmi^m^ love, still love. New hope may bloom, And days may come, Of milder, calmer beam But there's nothing half so smile nt last ; He'll no - ver meet A joy so sweet, In nil his noon of fame. As when first he sung to y-'r- mein'ry's waste, 'Twas odor fled As soon as shed,"Twas morning's winged dream ; 'Twas a lijjht that ne'er can r--!-'-,. — I — rJ 1 — tJ 1 — T-i ,-t:,'_.s^ ._» slrnlandn a tempo. rilardando. ^-^ :Q: sweet in life As love's young dream : No, there's nothing half so sweet in life As love's young dream. ~ . J=:-i; -^.— „--_ TirT:r-j^i.ri ; t--K- Oman's ear His soul • felt flaiue, And, at ev -'ry cloje, she bhish'dto hear The one lov'd name. slcnlando a irmpo. i^ ^^^ ;0; '.:Ay-q=zti^=I:^^3===5^riII=:a==:I^T;^=^=•=AT^===^=^?=^h— '**"»^^ shine a - gain On life's dull stream : Oh ! 'twas light that ne'er can shine a-gaiu On life's dull stream. ^ 1 , ^ -VS: J rilardando. Dal Segno for Si/ in. 275 Sht i$ fat from the land. ^m HABMONISZD FOE ONE, TWO OB THEEE TOICES. Ftt.st Yoicx. 1 fc^ S I ^ ^=^.: r-i^-i=±--Jt 1. She is far from the land "where her Tesoe Yoicz. (8valo-wer. ) 1. She IS far from the land where her Bass Yoice. ^^^^fe=^ ^=I±2* \ / / ^ V TYj/A mdancholy expression • «- -V- -V— ^-^"^T^a young he - ro sleeps, And lov-ers are round her, sigh - ing : But P IZHtl ?:2=z .0 ^ \ 4 #-i^ — — ' ■— - — ^ ^# # -r— r— »— A -'-V 9^; .,^- # — * 276 ■g;;fcrr.-vzii:ra= f— 8 ZZ7--T =v-^ . s5£ =tFt coldly she turus from their gaze, and weeps, For her heart iu his grave is ly - ing. b=A-=^r:fc ^2-± — !j— K — ^- -: — Is-r i^ — s^ 1 ^ — ^n— T — N— ^2 — ^i ^ ^-— . — — coldly she turns from their gaze.and weeps.For her heart in his grave is ly - ing. =^-0~ -A -^^: "< "> ' I] _] V ^U^^-^. -0 — « i?=^ s=^^^; i; T 5? 2 She sings the wild song of her dear native plains, Ev'ry note which he lov'd awaking ; — Ah ! little they think who delight in her stniins, How the heart of the ilinstrel is breaking. 3 He had lived foy his love, for his country he died, They were all that to life had entwined him ; Nor soon shall the tears of his country be dried. Nor long will his love stay behind him. 4 Oh ! make her a grave where the sunbeams rest, "When they promise a glorious morrow ; They'll shine o'er her sleep like a smile from the West, From her own loved island of sorrow. 277 ANDANTE. Words and Music by Mooke. It 7~ ^ ^n F. ^=~=^- — ^" ~^" ^ H^ i^ ._d 1. Faiut-ly as tolls the [j- 1 : ! 1 y-1 * # # ev' - ning chime, Our — 9~ voi- ces keep tune and our ■— ■ 1 n 1 , |s J 5-_5 -5 _ ?|-.i 5 -| fp:;- — — — 0— -] v^-n ,; — - _ ^ *■ ■0- i3= /s i^^= -,— - — -A — — — :^i:z=i:fei=— — h ' 0— ^ - ^ ^~]~; * '~ • * — oars keep time, '=9-: \ /b^g^Eg^ Our voi - ces keep tune and our oars keep time. . . »"• ? — 0' ^- J — 9—]—% —0 - S - =_i — ff_ --N- * >- -^=*=S=^ a — , * — ^ *— p- ^- Soon as the ■woods on shore look dim, We'll sing at St. Ann's our part - ing hymn. 278 i — ^ — V — -"- ^: --> 4- m Eow, brothers row, the stream runs fast, The Rap - ids are near, and the —'-# — '-& — -# -^J-#— ^9 rvT'* — 9 — -0--^-0 ——w — ~#- _ — — — — ^ — » — r» — * 9 a ^ ^ _ # — #^ # — » — * — » — r» — # — # — g — g g — :C^^ :?-• Jg^g^EJE^gjg^ ^ 1 ^ : #— 1-* — . — - — /— i— t ^' day - light's past, The Rap - ids are near, and the day - light's past. £J: ^. ^_=^zzr^r=:==^m=z?:^=5 -= ^L.z=j=:^L_^ >_z=j=;| sf */ TP -«-7- •S I- ■ I ^J__ —I --TS I 7 — *~;"~ ~ — T'. g • 1 — 9 "^ 1 ~ — 7 « — »- 2 Why should we yet our sail unfurl ? There is not a breath the blue wave to curl. But, when the Ts-ind blows oflF the shore, 0, sweetly we'll rest our weary oar ; Blow, breezes, blow, the stream runs fast. The Rapids are near, and the daylight's past. 3 Utawas' tide, this trembling moon Shall see us float o'er thy surges soon ; Saint of this green isle! hear our prayers, 0, grant us cool Heavens and favoring airs ; Blow, breezes, blow, the stream runs fast. The Rapids are near, and the daylight's past. 279 I I MOORE'S American Poems. ILLUSTRATED BY William Riches. POEMS RELATING TO AMERICA. PR.EFAOE. likHE Poems suggested to me by my visit to Bermuda, in r the year 1803, as well as by the tour which I made sub- sequently, through some parts of North America, have been hith- erto very injudiciously arranged; any distinctive character they may possess having been disturbed and confused by their being mixed up not only with trifles of a much earlier date, but also with some portions of a classical story, in the form of Letters, which I had made some progress in before my departure from England. In the present edition, this awkward jumble has been remedied ; and all the Poems relating to my Transatlantic voy- age will be found classed by themselves. As, in like manner, the line of route by which I proceeded through some parts of the States and the Canadas, has been left hitherto to be traced confusedly through a few detached notes, I have thought that, to future readers of these poems, some clearer account of the course 281 POEMS RELATING TO AMERICA. of that journey might not be unacceptable, — together with such vestiges as may still linger in my memory of events now fast fading into the background of time. For the precise date of my departure from England, in the Phaeton frigate, I am indebted to the Naval Recollections of Captain Scott, then a midshipman of that ship. " We were soon ready," says this gentleman, "for sea, and a few days saw Mr. Merry and his suite embarked on board. Mr. Moore likewise took his passage with us on his way to Bermuda. We quitted Spithead on the 25th of September (1803), and in a short week lay becalmed under the lofty peak of Pico. In this situation, the Phaeton is depicted in the frontispiece of Moore's Poems." During the voyage, I dined very frequently with the officers of the gunroom ; and it was not a little gratifying to me to learn, from this gentleman's volume, that the cordial regard these social and open-hearted men inspired in me was not wholly unreturned, on their part. After mentioning our arrival at Norfolk, in Vir- ginia, Captain Scott says, " ISIr. and Mrs. ]Merry left the Phaeton, under the usual salute, accompanied by Mr. ISIoore;" — then, adding some kind compliments on the score of talents, &c., he concludes with a sentence which it gave me tenfold more pleasure to read, — " The gunroom mess witnessed the day of his departure with genuine sorrow." From Norfolk, after a stay of about ten days, under the hospitable roof of the British Consul, Colonel Hamilton, I proceeded, in the Driver sloop of war, to Bermuda. 282 POEMS RELATING TO AMERICA. There was then on that station another youthful sailor, who has since earned for himself a distinguished name among English Avriters of travels, Captain Basil Hall, — then a midshipman on board the Leander. In his Fragments of Voyages and Travels, this writer has called up some agreeable reminiscenses of that period; in perusing which, — so full of life and reality are his sketches, — I found all my own naval recollections brought freshly to my mind. The very names of the different ships, then so familiar to my ears, — the Leander, the Boston, the Cambrian, — transported me back to the season of youth and those Summer Isles once more. The testimony borne by so competent a witness as Captain Hall to the truth of my sketches of the beautiful scenery of Bermuda is of far too much value to me, in my capacity of trav- eller, to be here omitted by me, however conscious I must feel of but ill deserving the praise he lavishes on me, as a poet. Not that I pretend to be at all indiiferent to such kind trib- utes; — on the contrary, those are always the most alive to praise, who feel inwardly least confidence in the soundness of their own title to it. In the present instance, however, my vanity (for so this uneasy feeling is always called) seeks its food in a different direction. It is not as a poet I invoke the aid of Captain Hall's opinion, but as a traveller and observer; it is not to my inven- tion I ask him to bear testimony, but to my matter of fact. "The most pleasing and most exact description which I know 283 POEMS RELATING TO AMERICA. of Bermuda," says this gentleman, '4s to be found in Moore's Odes and Epistles, a work published many years ago. The reason why his account excels in beauty as well as in precision that of other men probably is, that the scenes described lie so much beyond the scope of ordinary observation in colder cli- mates, and the feelings which they excite in the beholder are so much higher than those produced by the scenery we have been accustomed to look at, that, unless the imagination be deeply drawn upon, and the diction sustained at a correspondent pitch, the words alone strike the ear, while the listener's fancy remains where it was. In Moore's account there is not only no exagger- ation, but, on the contrary, a wonderful degree of temperance in the midst of a feast which, to his rich fancy, must have been peculiarly tempting. He has contrived, by a magic peculiarly his own, yet without departing from the truth, to sketch what was before him with a fervor which those who have never been on the spot might well be excused for setting down as the sport of the poet's invention." ^ How truly politic it is in a poet to connect his verse with well- known and interesting localities, — to wed his song to scenes already invested with fame, and thus lend it a chance of sharing the charm which encircles them, — I have myself, in more than one instance, very agreeably experienced. Among the memorials of this description, which, as I learn with pleasure and pride, still keep me remembered in some of those beautiful regions of 284 POEMS EELATING TO AMEEICA. the West which I visited, I shall mention but one slight in- stance, as showing how potently the Genius of the Place may- lend to song a life and imperishableness to which, in itself, it boasts no claim or pretension. The following lines, in one of my Bermudian Poems, 'Twas there, in the shade of the Calabash Tree, With a few who could feel and remember like me, still live in memory, I am told, on those fairy shores, connecting my name with the picturesque spot they describe, and the noble old tree which I believe still adorns it. One of the few treas- ures (of any kind) I possess, is a goblet formed of one of the fruit shells of this remarkable tree, which was brought from Bermuda, a few years since, by Mr. Dudley Costello, and which that gentleman, having had it tastefully mounted as a goblet, very kindly presented to me; the following words being part of the inscription which it bears: — "To Thomas Moore, Esq., this cup, formed of a calabash which grew on the tree that bears his name, near Walsingham, Bermuda, is inscribed by one who," &c. &c. From Bermuda I proceeded in the Boston, with my friend Captain (now Admiral) J. E. Douglas, to New York, from whence, after a short stay, we sailed for Norfolk, in Virginia; and about the beginning of June, 1804, I set out from that city on a tour through part of the States. At Washington, I passed 285 POEMS RELATIiS'G TO AMERICA. some days with the English minister, Mr. ;Merry ; and was, by him, presented at the levee of the President, Jefferson, whom I fomid sitting with General Deai'born and one or two other offi- cers, and -in the same homely costume, comprismg slippers and Connemara stockings, in which ]Mr. Merry had been received by him — much to that formal minister's horror — when waiting upon him, in full dress, to deliver his credentials. ]\Iy single inter- view with this remarkable person was of very short duration; but to have seen and spoken with the man who drew up the Declaration of American Independence was an event not to be forgotten. At Philadelphia, the society I was chiefly made acquainted with, and to which (as the verses addressed to " Delaware's green banks" sufficiently testify) I was indebted for some of my most ao-reeable recollections of the United States, consisted entirelv of persons of the Federalist or Anti-Democratic party. Few and transient, too, as had been my opportunities, of judging for my- self of the political or social state of the country, my mind was left open too much to the influence of the feelings and prejudices of those I chiefly consorted with ; and, certainly, in no quarter was I so sure to find decided hostility, both to the men and the principles then dominant throughout the Union, as among officers of the British na\y, and in the ranks of an angry Federalist opposition. For any bias, therefore, that, under such circum- stances, my opinions and feelings may be thought to have re- 286 POEMS EELATING TO AMERICA. ceived, full allowance, of course, is to be made in appraising the weight due to my authority on the subject. All I can answer for, is the perfect sincerity and earnestness of the actual impres- sions, whether true or erroneous, under which my Epistles from the United States were written ; and so strong, at the time, I confess, were those impressions, that it was the only period of my past life during which I have found myself at all skeptical as to the soundness of that Liberal creed of politics, in the pro- fession and advocacy of which I may be almost literally said to have begun life, and shall most probably end it. Reaching, for the second time, Xew York, I set out from thence on the now familiar and easy enterprise of visiting the Falls of Niagara. It is but too true, of all grand objects, whether in nature or art, that facility of access to them much diminishes the feeling of reverence they ought to inspire. Of this fault, however, the route to Niagara, at that period — at least the portion of it which led through the Genesee country — could not justly be accused. The latter part of the journey, which lay chiefly through yet but half-cleared wood, we were obliged to perform on foot; and a slight accident I met with, in the course of our rugged walk, laid me up for some days at Buffalo. To the rapid growth, in that wonderful region, of, at least, the materials of civilization, — however ultimately they may be turned to account, — this flourishing town, which stands on Lake Erie, bears most ample testimony. Though little better, zm POEMS EELATIKG TO AMERICA. at the time when I visited it, than a mere village, consisting chiefly of huts and wigwams, it is now, by all accounts, a popu- lous and splendid city, with five or six churches, town hall, theatre, and other such appurtenances of a capital. In adverting to the comparatively rude state of Buffalo at that period, I should be ungrateful were I to omit mentioning, that, even then, on the shores of those far lakes, the title of " Poet," — however unworthily in that instance bestowed, — bespoke a kind and distinguishing welcome for its wearer; and that the Captain who commanded the packet in which I crossed Lake Ontario,^ in addition to other marks of courtesy, begged, on parting with me, to be allowed to decline payment for my passage. When we arrived, at length, at the inn, in the neighborhood of the Falls, it was too late to think of visiting them that even- ing; and I lay awake almost the whole night with the sound of the cataract in my ears. The day following I consider as a sort of era in my life; and the first glimpse I caught of that wonderful cataract gave me a feeling which nothing in this world can ever awaken again.^ It was through an opening among the trees, as we approached the spot where the full view of the Falls was to burst upon us, that I caught this glimpse of the mighty mass of waters folding smoothly over the edge of the precipice ; and so overwhelming was the notion it gave me of the awful spectacle I was approaching, that, during the short interval that followed, imagination had far outrun the reality; and, vast and POEMS RELATING TO AMERICA. wonderful as was the scene that then opened upon me, my first feeling was that of disappointment. It would have been impos- sible, indeed, for any thing real to come up to the vision I had, in these few seconds, formed of it; and those awful scriptural words, "The fountains of the great deep were broken up," can alone give any notion of the vague wonders for which I was prepared. But, in spite of the start thus got by imagination, the triumph of reality was, in the end, but the greater ; for the gradual glory of the scene that opened upon me soon took possession of my whole mind; presenting, from day to day, some new beauty or wonder, and, like all that is most sublime in nature or art, awakening sad as well as elevating thoughts. I retain in my memory but one other dream — for such do events so long past appear — which can in any respect be associated with the grand vision I have just been describing; and, however different the nature of their appeals to the imagination, I should find it diffi- cult to say on Avhich occasion I felt most deeply affected, when looking on the Falls of Niagara, or when standing by moonlight among the ruins of the Coliseum. Some changes, I understand, injurious to the beauty of the scene, have taken place in the shape of the Falls since the time of my visit to them ; and among these is the total disappearance, by the gradual crumbling away of the rock, of the small leafy island which then stood near the edge of the Great Fall, and 289 POEMS RELATING TO AMERICA. whose tranquillity and unapproachableness, in the midst of so much turmoil, lent it an interest which I thus tried to avail myself of, in a Song of the Spirit of that region : * There, amid the island sedge, Just above the cataract's edge, "Where the foot of living man Xever trod since time began, Lone I sit at close of day, &c. &c. Another characteristic feature of the vicinity of the Falls, which, I understand, no longer exists, was the interesting settle- ment of the Tuscarora Indians. With the gallant Brock,^ who then commanded at Fort George, I passed the greater part of my time during the few weeks I remained at Niagara; and a visit I paid to these Indians, in company with him and his brother officers, on his going to distribute among them the cus- tomary presents and prizes, was not the least curious of the many new scenes I witnessed. These people received us in all their ancient costume. The young men exhibited for our amuse- ment in the race, the bat game, and other sports, while the old and the women sat in groups under the surrounding trees; and the whole scene was as picturesque and beautiful as it was new to me. It is said that West, the American painter, when he first saw the Apollo, at Eome, exclaimed instantly, "A young Indian warrior ! " — and, however startling the association may appear, 290 POEMS EELATING TO AMERICA. some of the graceful and agile forms which I saw that day among the Tnscaroras were such as would account for its arising in the young painter's mind. After crossing "the fresh- water ocean" of Ontario, I passed down the St. Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec, staying for a short time at each of these places ; and this part of my journey, as well as my voyage on from Quebec to Halifax, is sufficiently traceable through the few pieces of poetry that were suggested to me by scenes and events on the way. And here I must again venture to avail myself of the valuable testimony of Captain Hall to the truth of my descriptions of some of those scenes through which his more practiced eye followed me; — taking the liberty to omit in my extracts, as far as may be done without injury to the style or context, some of that generous surplusage of praise in which friendly criticism delights to indulge. In speaking of an excursion he had made up the River Ot- tawa, — " a stream," he adds, " which has a classical place in every one's imagination from ISIoore's Canadian Boat Song," Captain Hall proceeds as follows : — " While the poet above alluded to has retained all that is essentially characteristic and pleasing in these boat songs, and rejected all that is not so, he has contrived to borrow his inspiration from numerous surrounding circumstances, presenting nothing remarkable to the dull senses of ordinary travellers. Yet these highly poetical images, drawn in this way, as it were carelessly and from every hand, he has combined with 291 POEMS KELATI^'G TO AMERICA. such graphic — I had ahnost said geographical — truth, that the effect is great even upon those who have never, with their own eyes, seen the ' Utawa's tide,' nor ' flown down the Rapids,' nor heard the 'bell ot St. Anne's toll its evening chime;' while the same lines give to distant regions, previously consecrated in our imagination, a vividness of interest, when viewed on the spot, of which it is difficult to say how much is due to the magic of the poetry, and how much to the beauty of the real scene." ^ While on the subject of the Canadian Boat Song, an anecdote connected with that once popular ballad may, for my musical readers at least, possess some interest. A few years since, while staying in Dublin, I was presented, at his own request, to a gen- tleman who told me that his family had in their possession a carious relic of my youthful days, — being the first notation I had made, in penciling, of the air and words of the Canadian Boat Song, while on my way down the St. Lawrence, — and that it was their wish I should add my signature to attest the authen- ticity of the autograph. I assured him with truth that I had wholly forgotten even the existence of such a memorandum; that it would be as much a curiosity to myself as it could be to any one else, and that I should feel thankful to be allowed to see it. In a day or two after, my request was complied with, and the following is the history of this musical "relic." In my passage down the St. Lawrence, I had with me two travelling companions, one of whom, named Harkness, the son 292 POEMS RELATING TO AMERICA. of a wealthy Dublin merchant, has been some years dead. To this young friend, on parting with him, at Quebec, I gave, as a keepsake, a volume I had been reading on the way, — Priestley's Lectures on History; and it was upon a flyleaf of this volume I found I had taken down, in penciling, both the notes and a few of the M'ords of the original song by which my own boat glee had been suggested. The following is the form of my memo- randum of the original air: — .i* ^s ''^z^-*lY-^Lr,-'—^--\''-^-^^ S=i=^=-^^^^S~=r*^=-rT5-- Then follows, as penciled down at the same moment, the first verse of my Canadian Boat Song, with air and words as they are at present. From all this it will be perceived, that, in my own setting of the air, I departed in almost every respect but the time from the strain our voyageurs had sung to us, leaving the music of the glee nearly as much my own as the words. Yet, how strongly impressed I had become with the notion that this was the identical air sung by the boatmen, — how closely it linked itself in my imagination with the scenes and sounds amidst which it had occurred to me, — may be seen by reference to a 293 POEMS RELATING TO AMEEICA. note appended to the glee as first published, which will be found in the following pages. To the few desultory and, perhaps, valueless recollections I have thus called up, respecting the contents of our second volume, I have only to add, that the heavy storm of censure and criticism, — some of it, I fear, but too well deserved, — which, both in America and in England, the publication of my "Odes and Epistles" drew down upon me, was followed by results which have far more than compensated for any pain such attacks at the time, may have inflicted. In the most formidable of all my censors, at that period, — the great master of the art of criticism, in our day, — I have found ever since one of the most cordial and highly valued of all my friends; while the good will I have experienced from more than one distinguished American sufficiently assures me that any injustice I may have done to that land of freemen, if not long since wholly forgotten, is now remembered only to be forgiven. As some consolation to me for the onsets of criticism, I re- ceived, shortly after the appearance of my volume, a letter from Stockholm, addressed to " the author of Epistles, Odes, and other Poems," and informing me that " the Princes, Nobles, and Gen- tlemen, who composed the General Chapter of the most Illus- trious, Equestrian, Secular, and Chapteral Order of St. Joachim," had elected me as a Knight of this Order. Notwithstanding the grave and official style of the letter, I regarded it, I own, at 29-i POEMS RELATING TO AMERICA. first, as a mere ponderous piece of pleasantry ; and even suspected that in the name of St. "Joachim" I could detect the low and irreverent pun of St. Jokehim. On a little inquiry, however, I learned that there actually ex- isted such an order of knighthood; that the title, insignia, &c., conferred by it had, in the instances of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Bouillon, and Colonel Imhoff, who were all Knights of St. Joachim, been authorized by the British court; but that since then, this sanction of the order had been withdrawn. Of course, to the reduction thus caused in the value of the honor was owing its descent in the scale of distinction to " such small deer " of Parnassus as myself. I wrote a letter, however, full of grateful acknowledgment, to Monsieur Hansson, the Vice Chancellor of the Order, saying that I was unconscious of having entitled my- self, by any public service, to a reward due only to the benefac- tors of mankind ; and therefore begged leave most respectfully to decline it. 295 POEMS EELATING TO AMEEICA. TO FRANCIS, EARL OF MOIRA, GENERAL IN HIS MAJESTY'S FORCES, MASTER GENERAL OF THE ORDNANCE, CONSTABLE OF THE TOWER, ETC. My Lokd : — It is impossible to think of addressing a Dedi- cation to your Lordship without calling to mind the well-known reply of the Spartan to a rhetorician, who proposed to pronounce a eulogium on Hercules. " On Hercules ! " said the honest Spartan, ''who ever thought of blaming Hercules?" In a sim- ilar manner the concurrence of public opinion has left to the panegyrist of your Lordship a very superfluous task. I shall, therefore, be silent on the subject, and merely entreat your in- dulgence to the very humble tribute of gratitude which I have here the honor to present. I am, my Lord, With every feeling of attachment and respect, Your Lordship's very devoted Servant, Thomas Moore. 27, Bury Street, St. James s, April 10, 1806. 296 POEMS EELATING TO AMERICA. preface; HE principal poems in the following collection were writ- ten during an absence of fourteen months from Europe. Though curiosity was certainly not the motive of my voyage to America, yet it happened that the gratification of curiosity was the only advantage which I derived from it. Finding myself in the country of a new people, whose infancy had promised so much, arid whose progress to maturity has been an object of such interesting speculation, I determined to employ the short period of time, which my plan of return to Europe afforded me, in travelling through a few of the States, and acquiring some knowledge of the inhabitants. The impression which my mind received from the character and manners of these republicans, suggested the Epistles which are written from the city of Washington and Lake Erie. How far I was right, in thus assuming the tone of a satirist against a people whom I viewed but as a stranger and a visitor, is a doubt POEMS RELATING TO AMERICA. which my feelings did not allow me time to investigate. All I presume to answer for is the fidelity of the picture which I have given; and though prudence might have dictated gentler lan- guage, truth, I think, would have justified severer. I went to America with prepossessions by no means unfavor- able, and indeed rather indulged in many of those illusive ideas, with respect to the purity of the government and the primitive happiness of the people, which I had early imbibed in my native country, where, unfortunately, discontent at home enhances every distant temptation, and the western world has long been looked to as a retreat from real or imaginary oppression ; as, in short, the elysian Atlantis, where persecuted patriots might find their visions realized, and be welcomed by kindred spirits to liberty and repose. In all these flattering expectations I found myself completely disappointed, and felt inclined to say to America, as Horace says to his mistress, ^'intentata nites." Brissot, in the preface to his travels, observes, that " freedom in that country is carried to so high a degree as to border upon a state of nature ; " and there certainly is a close approximation to savage life, not only in the liberty which they enjoy, but in the violence of party spirit and of private animosity which results from it. This illib- eral zeal embitters all social intercourse ; and, though I scarcely could hesitate in selecting the party, whose views appeared to me the more pure and rational, yet I was sorry to observe that, in asserting their opinions, they both assume an equal share of 298 POEMS EELATING TO AMEEICA. intolerance; the Democrats, consistently with their principles, exhibiting a vulgarity of rancor, which the Federalists too often are so forgetful of their cause as to imitate. The rude familiarity of the lower orders, and indeed the un- polished state of society in general, would neither surprise nor disgust if they seemed to flow from that simplicity of character, that honest ignorance of the gloss of refinement which may be looked for in a new and inexperienced people. But, when we find them arrived at maturity in most of the vices, and all the pride of civilization, while they are still so far removed from its higher and better characteristics, it is impossible not to feel that this youthful decay, this crude anticipation of the natural period of corruption, must repress every sanguine hope of the future energy and greatness of America, I am conscious that, in venturing these few remarks, I have said just enough to offend, and by no means sufficient to con- vince ; for the limits of a preface prevent me from entering into a justification of my opinions, and I am committed on the sub- ject as effectually as if I had written volumes in their defence. My reader, however, is apprised of the very cursory observation upon which these opinions are founded, and can easily decide for himself upon the degree of attention or confidence which they merit. With respect to the poems in general, which occupy the fol- lowing pages, I know not in what manner to apologize to the 299 POEMS EELATING TO AMEEICA. > public for intruding upon their notice such a mass of uncon- nected trifles, such a world of epicurean atoms as I have here brought in conflict together. To say that I have been tempted by the liberal offers of my bookseller, is an excuse which can hope for but little indulgence from the critic; yet I own that, without this seasonable inducement, these poems very possibly would never have been submitted to the world. The glare of publication is too strong for such imperfect productions: they should be shown but to the eye of friendship, in that dim light of privacy which is as favorable to poetical as to female beauty, and serves as a veil for faults, while it enhances every charm which it displays. Besides, this is not a period for the idle oc- cupations of poetry, and times like the present require talents more active and more useful. Few have now the leisure to read such trifles, and I most sincerely regret that I have had the leisure to write them. 300 POEMS RELATING TO AMERICA. ADDRESS. N presenting this new and revised edition of the present Great Work to the American Public, containing the Irish Melodies, illustrated by the matchless pencil of Maclise, and the American Poems, now for the first time illustrated in any country, the subscriber would most respectfully state that the great success of the first edition of this work, has encouraged him to still greater efforts in producing more highly-finished engravings than those contained in the earlier editions; but, as to their merits, he will express no opinion, simply leaving that to an enlightened and refined public taste. The genuine admirers of Moore will estimate the value of this new edition, by the simple fact that it contains, in addition, the American poems highly illustrated. Many condemn Moore for his sharp criticisms upon our country, as being ungenerous and ill-natured, and as showing a great want of acuteness in obser- vation; but he, in later years, when Washington Irving was visiting him, expressed himself in the fullest and strongest man- 301 POEMS EELATI^*G TO AMEEICA. ner, on the subject of his writings on America, as being the greatest sin of his early life. To the press of the country, I return my most sincere thanks for the invariably kind and very liberal notices, with which they have been pleased to greet it, thus assisting in bringing the work prominently before the public, and thereby making it a complete success. And to all my friends and patrons, who have taken a deep interest in the successful termination of mv many years' " labor of love," I tender my warmest thanks. William Eiches. 302 /? ■S^' The reveries of fond regret, The promise, never to forget, And all my heart and soul would send To many a dear-lov'd, distant friend. How little, when we parted last, I thought those pleasant times were past, Forever past, when brilliant joy Was all my vacant heart's employ : When, fresh from mirth to mirth again, We thought the rapid hours too few; Our only use for knowledge then To gather bliss from all we knew, Delicious days of whim and soul ! When, mingling lore and laugh together, We lean'd the book on Pleasure's bowl. And turn'd the leaf with Folly's feather. Little I thought that all were fled. That, ere that summer's bloom was shed, My eye should see the sail unfurl'd That wafts me to the western world. fell— .V %-s And yet, 'twas time; — in youth's sweet days, To cool that season's glowing rays, ^&k4^ 30(1. The heart a while, with wanton winor. May dip and dive in Pleasure's spring; But, if it wait for winter's breeze, The spring will chill, the heart will fi-eeze. And then, that Hope, that fairy Hope, 0, she awak'd such happy dreams. And gave my soul such tempting scope For all its dearest, fondest schemes, That not Verona's child of sonor. When flying from the Phrygian shore, With lighter heart could bound along, Or pant to be a wanderer more ! ' Even now delusive hope will steal Amid the dark regrets I feel. Soothing, as yonder placid beam Pursues the murmurers of the deep, And lights them with consoling gleam. And smiles them into tranquil sleep. 0, such a blessed night as this, I often think, if friends were near. How we should feel, and gaze with bliss Upon the moon-bright scenery here ^.^ ,^*i ^ ^ The sea is like a silvery lake, And, o'er its calm the vessel glides Gently, as if it fear'd to wake The slumber of the silent tides. The only envious cloud that lowers Hath hung its shade on Pico's height,^" Where dimly, 'mid the dusk, he towers, And scowling at this heav'n of light, Exults to see the infant storm Cling darkly round his giant form ! Now, could I range those verdant isles, Invisible, at this soft hour, And see the looks, the beaming smiles, That brighten many an orange bower ; And could I lift each pious veil, And see the blushing cheek it shades, — 0, I should have full many a tale, To tell of young Azorian maids/ ^ Yes, Strangford, at this hour, perhaps, Some lover (not too idly blest, Like those, who in their ladies' laps May cradle every wish to rest,) 308 Warbles, to touch his dear one's soul, Those madrigals, of breath divine, Which Camoen's harp from Rapture stole And gave, all glowing warm, to thine.'" 0, could the lover learn from thee, And breathe them with thy graceful tone Such sweet, beguiling minstrelsy- Would make the coldest nymph his own. But hark ! — the boatswain's pipings tell 'Tis time to bid my dream farewell : Eight bells — the middle watch is set; Good night, my Strangford ! — ne'er forget That, far beyond the western sea Is one, whose heart remembers thee. cftansa^. ©v/i05 6f not f U05 /.K ripoapuivti ta.5(. JEscHYL. Fragmeyit. ^ UtHUt of tranquillity srail'd in the west The storms of the morning pursued us no I I more ; And the wave, while it welcom'd the moment of rest, J^i ? Still heav'd, as rememberino; ills that were "^-'-^ w*> er. heart took the hue of the hour, were sleeping, were mute as the UQ beealm'd but remember'd their ow the force of the gale that was fled ose days, when to pleasure alone er granted a wish or a sigh ; est emotion my bosom had known, those who were wiser than I. I reflected, how soon in the cup of Desire The pearl of the soul may be melted ^?v away; | How quickly, alas, the pure sparkle of fire We inherit from heav'n, may be quench'd in the clay ; And I pray'd of that Spirit who lighted the flame. That Pleasure no more might its purity dim; ^^ So that, sullied but little, or brightly the same.'^ fet I might give back the boon I had borrow'd ' from Him. How blest was the thought! it appear'd as if Heaven Had already an opening to Paradise shown ; As if, passion all chasten'd and error forgiven, My heart then began to be purely its own. 'I look'd to the west, and the beautiful sky Which morning had clouded, was clouded no more : "0, thus," I exclaimed, "may a heavenly eye "Shed light on the soul that was darken'd before." '^.- m ^ ViV- f ,^^^^^^^»jsr ^5^^.-€i?"^--T^Y ®0 Wxt |l}jJ«g gi^k' ^Vlittl I bave seen thy snow-white wing the blue wave at evening spring, show those scales of silvery white, ayly to the eye of light, thy frame were form'd to rise, live amid the glorious skies; has made me proudly feel, like thy wing's impatient zeal e pure soul, that rests not, pent thin this world's gross element, takes the wing that God has given, -^ rises into light and heaven ! I IT T ri *.^^->wlv>l-s to: For hearth and shrine, for sire and son, Smiles on the dusky webs that hide His sleeping sword's reciTiizfr d pride. While Peace, with sonny cheeks of toil. Walks o'er the free, unlorded soil, Efl^ng with her splendid share The drops that war had sprinkle • : rre Thrice happy land! where he vr _; - rs From the dark ills of other ££::e5 From scorn, or wants unnerviL^ ~:t5. May shelter him in proud repose : Hope sings ai^- -Ir rellow sand His welcome t: itland; The mighty woca, TTiin pomp, receives The stranger in its world of leaves, J^ Which soon their barren glory yield To the warm shed and cultur'd field; id he, who came, of all b^efl. To whom malignant £a^ had left c nor firiends nor country :. e and friends and country tss Sach is the picture, warmiy such, That Fancy long, with florid touch. Had painted to my sanguine eye Of man's new worid of Hberty. 0, ask me not, if Truth have yet Her seal on Fancy's promise set; If ev'n a glimpse my eyes behold Of that imagin'd age of gold : — Alas, not yet one gleaming trace!** Never did youth, who lov'd a £ace As sketch'd by some fond pencil's skill And made by fancy loveUer stall. Shrink back with more of sad surprise When the live model met his eyes. Than I have felt, in sorrow felt. To find a dream on which I've dwelt From boyhood's hour, thus fade and flee At touch of stern reality ! But, courage, yet. my wavering heart I Blame not the temple's meanest part," -'^ Till thou hast traced the fabric o'er: — As yet, we have beheld no more r^ s:fJ! ^.Ar r T^ /^ ^N r^^^: ^ /I #..\ Than just the porch to Freedom's fane ; And, though a sable spot may stain The vestibule, 'tis wrong, 'tis sin To doubt the godhead reigns within! So here I pause — and now, my Kate, To you, and those dear friends, whose fate Touches more near this homesick soul Than all the Powers from pole to pole, One word at parting, — in the tone Most sweet to you, and most my own. The simple strain I send you here,^" Wild though it be, would charm your ear, Did you but know the trance of thought In which my mind its numbers caught. 'T was one of those half-waking dreams. That haunt me oft, when music seems To bear my soul in sound along, And turn its feelings all to song. I thought of home, the according lays „r) Came full of dreams of other days ; l\^ V /V". ^-s^^iS" K^ ■^ 343 no — on earth there 's only one Could bind such faithless folly fast; sure on earth but one alone Could make such virtue false at last Nea, the heart which she forsook, For thee were but a worthless shrine — Go, lovely girl, that angel look Must thrill a soul more pure than mine. 0, thou shalt be all else to me, That heart can tell or tongue can feign ; I '11 praise, admire, and worship thee. But must not, dare not, love again. That little Bay, wliere turning in From ocean's rude and angry din, As lovers steal to bliss, The billows kiss the shore, and then Flow back into the deep again. As though they did not kiss. Remember, o'er its circling flood In what a dangerous dream we stood — The silent sea before us, Around us, all the gloom of grove, That ever lent its shade to love, No eye but heaven's o'er us ! I saw you blush, you felt me tremble. In vain would formal art dissemble All we then look'd and thought; 'T was more than tongue could dare reveal, 'Twas ev'ry thing that young hearts feel. By Love and Nature taught. I stoop'd to cull, with faltering hand, A shell that, on the golden sand, Before us faintly gleam'd; I trembling rais'd it, and when you Had kiss'd the shell, I kiss'd it too — How sweet, how wrong; it seem'd. ^4 34b 0, trust me, 't was a place, an hour, The worst that e'er the tempter's power Could tangle me or you in; Sweet Nea, let us roam no more Along, that wild and lonely shore, Sucn walks ma}^ be our ruin. m§Tm Heard you the wish I dar'd to name, To murmur on that luckless night, When passion broke the bonds of shame, And love grew madness in your sight? Divinely through the graceful dance, You seem'd to float in silent song. Bending to earth that sunny glance. As if to light your steps along. 0, how could others dare to touch That hallow'd form with hand so free, When but to look was bliss too much. Too rare for all but love and me ! With smiling eyes, that little thought How fatal were the beams they threw, My trembling hands you lightly caught. And round me, like a spirit, flew. Heedless of all, but you alone, — And you, at least, should not condemn, If, when such eyes before me shone, My soul forgot all eyes but them, — g^ B I dar'd to whisper passion's vow, — For love had ev'n of thought bereft me,- Nay, half way bent to kiss that brow, But, with a bound, you blushing left me. Forget, forget that night's offence, Forgive it, if, alas ! you can ; 'T was love, 't was passion — soul and sense- 'Twas all that's best and worst in man. IV That moment, did th' assembled eyes Of heaven and earth my madness view, I should have seen, through earth and skies, But you alone — but only you. Did not a frown from you reprove. Myriads of eyes to me were none ; Enough for me to win your love. And die upon the spot, when won. 01 m !^^= -.--t> -^^ '"■¥, ^ Before I laid me down to sleep, A while I from the lattice gaz'd Tjpon that still and moonlight deep, With isles like floating gardens rais'd,^/ For Ariel there his sports to keep; While, gliding 'twixt their leafy shores The lone night fisher plied his oars. I felt, — so strongly fancy's power Came o'er me in that witching hour, — As if the whole bright scenery there Were lighted by a Grecian sky, And I then breath'd the blissful air That late had thrill 'd to Sappho's sigh. Thus, waking, dreamt 1, — and when Sleep Came o'er my sense, the dream went on: Nor, through her curtain dim and deep, Hath ever lovelier vision shone. I thought that, all enrapt, I stray'd Throudi that serene, luxurious shade." Epicurus taught the Loves To polish virtue's native brightness. 4!^. Q 3 As pearls, we 're told, that fondling dove Have play'd with, wear a smoother whiteness/^ 'Twas one of those delicious nights So common in the climes of Greece, When day withdraws but half its lights And all is moonshine, balm, and peace. And thou wert there, my own belov'd, And by thy side I fondly rov'd Through many a temple's reverend gloom, And many a bower's seductive bloom. Where Beauty learn'd what Wisdom taught And sages sigh'd and lovers thought; Where schoolmen conn'd no maxims stern. But all was form'd to soothe or move, To make the dullest love to learn, To make the coldest learn to love. And now the fairy pathway seem'd To lead us through enchanted ground, Where all that bard has ever dream'd Of love or luxury bloom'd around. 0, 't was a bright, bewildering scene. Along the alley's deepening green 852 % Soft lamps, that hung like burning flowers, 'And scented and illum'd the bowers, ^j^Seem'd, as to him, who darkling roves ^| 1^3^ Amid the lone Hercynian groves, Appear those countless birds of light, That sparkle in the leaves at night, And from their wings diffuse a ray- Along the traveller's weary way/^ 'T was light of that mysterious kind. Through which the soul perchance may roam, When it has left this world behind. And gone to seek its heavenly home. And, ISTearthou wert by my side, Through all this heo.v'nward path my guide. %/ But, lo, as wand'ring thus we rang'd That upward path, the vision chang'd; And now, methought, we stole along Through halls of more voluptuous glory Than ever liv'd in Teian song, Or wanton'd in Milesian story.'* And nymphs were there, whose very eyes Seem'd soften 'd o'er with breath of sighs; a/CMEs-co. i 0n y ...-H Whose ev ry ringlet, as it wreath'd, A mute appeal to passion breath'd. Some flew, with amber cups, around, Pouring the flowery wines of Crete ;'^ And, as they pass'd with youthful bound, The onyx shone beneath their feet/* While others, waving arms of snow Intwin'd by snakes of burnish'd gold,^' And showinor charms, as loath to show, Through many a thin Tarentian fold,^' Glided amono- the festal throng Bearincr rich urns of flowers alono-. o o Where roses lay, in languor breathing, And the young bee grape, '^ round them wreathing. Hung on their blushes warm and meek, Like curls upon a rosy cheek, 0, Nea! why did morning break The spell that thus divinely bound me? Why did I wake? how could I wake With thee my own and heaven around me 864 iA. WtW — pcHce to tltjj heart. 'iVtW — peace to thy heart, though another's it be, And health to that cheek, though it bloom not for me To-morrow I sail for those cinnamon groves,*** Where nightly the ghost of the Carribee roves, And, far from the light of those eyes, I may yet Their illurements forgive and their splendor forget. Farewell to Bermuda,*^ and long may the bloom Of the lemon and myrtle its valleys perfume; May spring to eternity hallow the shade, Where Ariel has warbled and Waller*^ has stray'd. And thou — when, at dawn, thou shalt happen to roam Through the lime-cover'd alley that leads to thy home. Where oft, when the dance and the revel were done. And the stars were beginning to fade in the sun, I have led thee along, and have told by the way What my heart all the night had been burning to say — 0, think of the past — give a sigh to those times, And a blessing for me to that alley of limes. ¥ -^. ^'-//. 356 aj«4J>*^i<^7''^ _ f I were yonder wave, my dear, And thou the isle it clasps around, I would not let a foot come near My land of bliss, my fairy ground. If I were yonder couch of gold, And thou the pearl within it plac'd, I would not let an eye behold The sacred gem my arms embrac'd. If I were yonder orange tree, And thou the blossom blooming there, I would not yield a breath of thee To scent the most imploring air. 0, bend not o'er the water's brink. Give not the wave that odorous sigh, Nor let its burning mirror drink The soft reflection of thine eye. That glossy hair, that glowing cheek, So pictur'd in the waters seem. That I could gladly plunge to seek Thy image in the glassy stream. Blest fate ! at once my chilly grave And nuptial bed that stream might be ; I '11 wed thee in its mimic wave. And die upon the shade of thee. y^-^^ /Behold the leafy mangrove, bending O'er the waters blue and bright, Like Nea's silky lashes, lending Shadow to her eyes of light. 0, my belov'd ! where'er I turn, Some trace of thee enchants mine eyes; In every star thy glances burn ; Thy blush on every flow'ret lies. Nor find I in creation aught Of bright, or beautiful, or rare, Sweet to the sense, or pure to thought, But thou art found reflected there. gi0, ne'er did the wave in its element steep An island of lovelier charms ; It blooms in the giant embrace of the deep. Like Hebe in Hercules' arms. The blush of your bowers is light to the ey And their melody balm to the ear ; But the fiery planet of day is too nigh. And the Snow Spirit never comes here 357 ^*#J The down from his wing is as white as the pearl That shines through thy hps when they part, And it falls on the green earth as melting, my girl. As a murmur of thine on the heart. 0, fly to the clime, where he pillows the death, As he cradles the birth of the year ; Bright are your bowers and balmy their breath, But the Snow Spirit cannot come here. How sweet to behold him, when borne on the gale. And brightening the bosom of morn, He flings, like the priest of Diana, a veil O'er the brow of each virginal thorn. Yet think not the veil he so chillingly casts In the veil of a vestal severe : No, no, thou wilt see, what a moment it lasts, Should the Snow Spirit ever come here. But fly to his region — lay open thy zone, And he '11 weep all his brilliancy dim, To think that a bosom, as white as his own, Should not melt in a daybeam like him, 0, lovely the print of those delicate feet O'er his luminous path will appear — Fly, my beloved ! this island is sweet, But the Snow Spirit cannot come here. g j^tale ^\mx^ t\xt tbvctx^ Evravda 6e KaOupfiiOTai ■^/niv. Km b, ti fiEV ovofza t] vTjauy. Xpvarj «J' av npog ye cfiov ovofia^oiro. Philostrat. Icon. ■S'^'^^B ^ ^Ult along the flowery bank While many a bending seagrape The sprinkle of the feathery oar That wing'd me round this fairy T was noon : and every orange bud Hung languid o'er the crystal flood, Faint as the lids of maiden's eyes When love thoughts in her bosom rise 0, for a naiad's sparry bower, To shade me in that glowing hour! A little dove, of milky hue. Before me from a plantain flew, And light alono- the water's brim, I steer" d my gentle bark by him ; For fancy told me, Love had sent This gentle bird with kind intent To lead my steps where I should meet- I knew not what, but something sweet. And — bless the little pilot dove ! He had indeed been sent b}' Love, To guide me to a scene so dear As fate allows but seldom here; One of those rare and brilliant hours. That, like the aloes** lingering flowers, May blossom to the eye of man But once in all his weary span. Just where the margin's opening shade V- A vista from the waters made, " ^- V My bird repos'd his silver plume Upon a rich banana's bloom. sO vision bright! spirit fair! What spell, what magic rais'd her there? 'Twas Nea! slumbering calm and mild, And bloomy as the dimpled child, Whose spirit in elysium keeps Its playful sabbath, while he sleeps. The broad banana's green embrace Hung shadowy round each tranquil grace; One little beam alone could win The leaves to let it wander in, And, stealing over all her charms. From lip to cheek, from neck to arms, New lustre to each beauty lent, — Itself all trembling as it went Dark lay her eyelid's jetty fringe Upon that cheek whose roseate tinge Mix'd with its shade, like evening's light Just touching on the verge of night. Her eyes, though thus in slumber hid, Seem'd glowing through the ivory lid, And, as I thought, a lustre threw Upon her lip's reflecting dew, — Such as a night lamp, left to shine Alone on some secluded shrine, ^ ^ /^Z- i^\ May shed upon the votive wreath, Which pious hands have hung beneath '^ ''^ Was ever vision half so sweet Think, think how quick my heart pulse beat, As o'er the rustling bank I stole ; — 0, ye, that know the lover's soul. It is for you alone to guess. That moment's trembling happiness. gi ^tudg torn ttu gintiqut ^^U0lUt niy love, the curious gem Within this simple ring of gold ; 'Tis hallow'd by the touch of them Who liv'd in classic hours af old. Some fair Athenian girl, perhaps. Upon her hand this gem display 'd. Nor thought that time's succeeding lapse Should see it grace a lovelier maid. Look, dearest, what a sweet design ! The more we gaze, it charms the more Come — closer bring that cheek to mine, And trace with me its beauties o'er. u seest, By some enamour'd nymph embrac'd; Look, as slie leans, and say in sooth Is not that hand most fondly plac'd? Upon his curled head behind It seems in careless play to lie,** Yet presses gently, half inclin'd To bring the truant's lip more nigh. happy maid ! too happy boy ! The one so fond and little loath, The other yielding slow to joy — rare, indeed, but blissful both. Imagine, love, that I am he, And just as warm as he is chilling; Imagine, too, that thou art she. But quite as coy as she is willing: So may we try the graceful way In which their gentle arms are twin'd, And thus, like her, my hand I lay Upon thy wreathed locks behind : And thus I feel thee breathing sweet, As slow to mine thy head I move ; And thus our lips together meet, :iss thee, love Z6i ?■ ^"^ 42^ -Xi6avoTO) emaaev, oti aTvoXkvfievov trxppaivei. Aristot. Rhetor, lib. iii. cap. 4. 'n, 4^p\ ^cm :^ I %\ktXt% not a look, a word of thine, My soul hath e'er forgot; Thou ne'er hast bid a ringlet shine, Nor giv'n thy locks one graceful twine Which I remember not. '^i There never yet a murmur fell A^^^ From that beguiling tongue, W§ Which did not, with a lingering spell, Upon my charmed senses dwell, Like songs from Eden sung. P Ah! that I could, at once, forget All, all that haunts me so — And yet, thou witching girl, — and yet, To die were sweeter than to let The lov'd remembrance go. No ; if this slighted heart must see Its faithful pulse decay, let it die, remembering thee, And, like the burnt aroma, be Consum'd in sweets away. 'V[ 364 Hi ®0 f 0^qrlt §itfem^0tt, (&^. FROM BERMUDA. *'• "©hie daylight is gone — but before we depart "One cup shall go round to the friend of my. heart, "The kindest, the dearest — 0, judge by the tear "I now shed while I name him, how kind and how dear." 'T was thus in the shade of the Calabash Tree, With a few, who could feel and remember like me. The charm that, to sweeten my goblet, I threw Was a sigh to the past and a blessing on you. 0, say is it thus, in the mirth-bringing hour. When friends are assembled, when wit, in full flower. Shoots forth from the lip, under Bacchus's dew, . In blossoms of thought, ever springing and new — Do you sometimes remember, and hallow the brim Of your cup with a sigh, as you crown it to him \ Who is lonely and sad in these valleys so fair. And would pine in elysium, if friends were not there ! Last night, when we came from the Calabash Tree, When my limbs were at rest and my spirit was free. The glow of the grape and the dreams of the day Set the magical springs of my fancy in play. And 0, — such a vision as haunted me then I would slumber for ages to witness again. The many I like, and the few I adore, The friends who were dear and beloved before. But never till now so beloved and dear. At the call of my Fancy, surrounded me here; And soon, — 0, at once, did the light of their smiles To a paradise brighten this region of isles; More lucid the wave, as they look'd on it, flow'd. And brighter the rose, as they gather'd it, glow'd. Kot the valleys Heraean (though water'd by rills Of the pearliest flow, from those pastoral hills,*' Where the Song of the Shepherd, primeval and wild, Was taught to the nymphs by their mystical child,) Could boast such a lustre o'er land and o'er wave As the magic of love to this paradise gave. .£>;■ magic of love! unembellish'd by you, ,^^^ Hath the garden a blush or the landscape a hue? ^ Or shines there a vista in nature or art, Like that which Love opes through the eye to the heart' Alas, that a vision so happy should fade ! That, when morning around me in brilliancy play'd. Y While the friends who had seem'd to hang over the ^ ■t stream, And to gather the roses, had fled with my dream. But look, where, all ready, in sailing array, The bark that's to carr}^ these pages away,** Impatiently flutters her wing to the wind. And will soon leave these islets of Ariel behind. What billows, what gales is she fated to prove. Ere she sleep in the lee of the land that I love ! Yet pleasant the swell of the billows would be, And the road of those gales would be music to me. Xot the tranquillest air that the winds ever blew, Xot the sunniest tears of the summer eve dew, Were as sweet as the storm, or as bright as the foam Of the surge, that would hurry your wanderer home. ®lte ^tmmm'^ ^m^. ■WRITTEN ABOARD THE BOSTON FRIGATE, 28TH APRIL.<» -^^^ 3HtllCW freshly blows the northern gale, And under courses snug we fly ; «>- Or when light breezes swell the sail, ^^N And royals proudly sweep the sky ; 'Longside the wheel, unwearied still I stand, and, as my watchful eye Doth mark the needle's faithful thrill, I think of her I love, and cry. Port, my boy ! port. When calms delay, or breezes blow. Right from the point we wish to steer ; When by the wind close haul'd we go, And strive in vain the port to near; I think 't is thus the fates defer ?^''i My bliss with one that's far away, And while remembrance springs to her, I watch the sails and sighing say. Thus, my boy! thus. But see the wind draws kindly aft, All hands are up the yards to square, ] And now the floating stu'n sails waft Our stately ship through waves and air. 0, then I tliink that yet for me Some breeze of fortune thus may spring, Some breeze to waft me, love, to thee — And in that hope I smiling sing, Steady, boy ! so. m t\u gmUxj." ^ t morning, when the earth and sky Are glowing with the light of spring, We see thee not, thou humble fly ! JSTor think upon thy gleaming wing. But when the skies have lost their hue, And sunny lights no longer play, then we see and bless thee too For sparkling o'er the dreary way. Thus let me hope, when lost to me The lights that now my life illume, Some milder joys may come, like thee, To cheer, if not to warm, the gloom. SG9 ®0 i\\t ^mt\ Wxmxnxt goxh^. FROM THE CITY OF WASHINGTON. h alt former times had never left a trace Of human frailty in their onward race, Nor o'er their pathway written, as they ran, One dark memorial of the crimes of man ; If every age, in new unconscious prime, Rose, like a phoenix, from the fires of time, To wing its way unguided and alone. The future smiling and the past unknown ; _J ardent man would to himself be new, I Earth at his foot and heaven within his view : I Well might the novice hope, the sanguine scheme Of full perfection prompt his daring dream, Ere cold experience, with her veteran lore. Could tell him, fools had dreamt as much before. But, tracing as we do, through age and clime, The plans of virtue 'midst the deeds of crime, The thinking follies and the reasoning rage Of man, at once the idiot and the sage; When still we see, through every varying frame Of arts and polity, his course the same, And know that ancient fools but died, to make I A space on earth for modern fools to take ; 'T is strange, how quickly we the past forget ; That Wisdom's self should not be tutor'd yet. Nor tire of watching for the monstrous birth Of pure perfection 'midst the sons of earth ! 0, nothing but that soul which God has given, Could lead us thus to look on earth for heaven ; O'er dross without to shed the light within. And dream of virtue while we see but sin. Even here, beside the proud Potowmac's stream, Might sages still pursue the flattering theme V ^^ X)f days to come, when man shall conquer fate, Rise o'er the level of his mortal state, Belie the monuments of frailty past, And plant perfection in this world at last! "Here," might they say, "shall power's divided reign "Evince that patriots have not bled in vain. "Here godlike liberty's herculean youth, "Cradled in peace, and nurtur'd up by truth "To full maturity of nerve and mind, "Shall crush the giants that bestride mankind." " Here shall religion's pure and balmy draught "In form no more from cups of state be quaff'd, "But flow for all, through nation, rank, and sect, "Free as that heaven its tranquil waves reflect. "Around the columns of the public shrine "Shall growing arts their gradual wreath intwine, "Nor breathe corruption from the flowering braid, "Nor mine that fabric which they bloom to shade. "No longer here shall Justice bound her view, "Or wrong the many, while she rights the few; "But take her range through all the social frame, "Pure and pervading as that vital flame "Which warms at once our best and meanest part. "And thrills a hair while it expands a heart!" golden dream ! what soul that loves to scan The bright disk rather than the dark of man, ^vt 372 good, while smarting with the ill, And loves the world with all its frailty still,- What ardent bosom does not spring to meet The generous hope, with all that heavenly heat, Which makes the soul unwilling to resign The thoughts of growing, even on earth, divine! Yes, dearest friend, I see thee glow to think The chain of ages yet may boast a link Of purer texture than the world has known. And fit to bind us to a Godhead's throne. But, is it thus? doth even the glorious dream Borrow from truth that dim, uncertain gleam. Which tempts us still to give such fancies scope, As shock not reason, while they nourish hope? No, no, believe me, 't is not so — ev'n now. While yet upon Columbia's rising brow The showy smile of young presumption plays, Her bloom is poison'd and her heart decays. Even now, in dawn of life, her sickly breath Burns with the taint of empires near their death ; ^ And, like the nymphs of her own withering clime She's old in youth, she's blasted in her prime. ^" Already has the child of Gallia's school The foul Philosophy that sins by rule. With all her train of reasoning, damning arts, Begot by brilliant heads on worthless hearts, .^^3. 373 Tlie venom'd birth of sunshine and of mu Ah^ady has she pour'd her poison here O'er every charm that makes existence dear; Already bhghted, with her blackening trace, The opening bloom of every social grace, And all those courtesies, that love to shoot Round virtue's stem, the flowrets of her fruit. 'S And, were these errors but the wanton tide Of young luxuriance or unchasten'd pride ; The fervid follies and the faults of such As wrongly feel, because they feel too much; Then might experience make the fever less, Nay, graft a virtue on each warm excess. But no; 'tis heartless, speculative ill, All youth's transgression with all age's chill; The apathy of wrong, the bosom's ice, A slow and cold stagnation into vice. Long has the love of gold, that meanest rage, And latest folly of man's sinking age. Which, rarely venturing in the van of life, While nobler passions wage their heated strife. Comes skulking last, with selfishness and fear, And dies, collecting lumber in the rear, — Long has it palsied every grasping hand And greedy spirit through this bartering land; 374 set the demon gold loose aoroaa tnat virtue's self is sold, iscience, truth, and honesty are made and fall, like other wares of trade." Already in this free, this virtuous state, Which, Frenchmen tell us, was ordain'd by fate, To show the world, what high perfection springs Fi-om rabble senators, and merchant kino-s, — Even here already patriots learn to steal Their private perquisites from public weal, And, guardians of the country's sacred fire. Like Afric's priests, let out the flame for hire. Those vaunted demagogues, who nobly rose From England's debtors to be England's foes,'^* Who could their monarch in their purse forget, And break allegiance, but to cancel debt," Have prov'd at length, the mineral's tempting hue, Which makes a patriot, can unmake him too.' 0, Freedom, Freedom, how I hate thy cant! Not Eastern bombast, not the savage rant Of purpled madmen, were they number'd all, From Roman Nero down to Russian Paul, Could grate upon my ear so mean, so base. As the rank jargon of that factious race. Who, poor of heart and prodigal of words, Form'd to be slaves, yet struggling to be lords, 376 Strut forth, as patriots, from their negro marts, n^ And shout for rights, with rapine in their hearts. Who can, with patience, for a moment see The medley mass of pride and misery,- Of whips and charters, manacles and rights, Of slaving blacks and democratic whites," And all the piebald polity that reigns In free confusion o'er Columbia's plains? To think that man, thou just and gentle God! Should stand before thee with a tyrant's rod O'er creatures like himself, with souls from thee, Yet dare to boast of perfect liberty ; Away, away — I'd rather hold my neck By doubtful tenure from a sultan's beck. In climes, where liberty has scarce been nam'd. Nor any right but that of ruling claim'd, Than thus to live, where bastard Freedom waves Her fustian flag in mockery over slaves; Where — motley laws admitting no degree Betwixt the vilely slav'd and madly free — Alike the bondage and the license suit The brute made ruler and the man made brute. But, while I thus, my' friend, in flowerless song,- So feebly paint, what yet I feel so strong. 376 Where treason's arm by royalty was nerv'd, And Frenchmen learn'd to crush the throne they serv'd — Thou, calmly lull'd in dreams of classic thought, By bards illumin'd and by sages taught, Pant'st to be all, upon this mortal scene, That bard hath fancied or that sage hath been. Why should I wake thee? why severely chase The lovely forms of virtue and of grace, That dwell before thee, like the pictures spread By Spartan matrons round the genial bed. Moulding thy fancy, and with gradual art Brightening the young conceptions of thy heart. Forgive me, Forbes — and should the song destroy One generous hope, one throb of social joy. One high pulsation of the zeal for man. Which few can feel, and bless that few who can,^^ 0, turn to him, beneath whose kindred eyes Thy talents open and thy virtues rise, Forget where nature has been dark or dim, And proudly study all her lights in him. Yes, yes, in him the erring world forget. And feel that man may reach perfection yet. ®0 Wtmu §iume, (B^. p» §. FROM THE CITT OF WASHINGTON. AiyyT}ao/iai duj-yTifiara laug aniCTa. KOivuva cjv Trenovda ovk e^oyv. Xenophont. Ephes. Ephesiac. lib. v. '® fe evening now ; beneath the western star Soft sighs the lover through his sweet cigar, And fills the ears of some consenting she With puffs and vows, with smoke and constancy. The patriot, fresh from Freedom's councils come, Now pleas'd retires to lash his slaves at home; Or woo, perhaps, some black Aspasia's charms, And dream of freedom in his bondmaid's arms/* In fancy now, beneath the twilight gloom. Come, let me lead thee o'er this "second Rome!' Where tribunes rule, where dusky Davi bow. And what was Goose Creek once is Tiber now;^° This embryo capital, where Fancy sees Squares in morasses, obelisks in trees; Which second-si crh ted seers, ev'n now. adorn With shrines unbuilt and heroes yet unborn, JSj-^g^raJ^Sa Though naught but woods*' and J Where streets should run and sages ought to be. And look, how calmly in yon radiant wave, The dying sun prepares his golden grave. mighty river ! ye banks of shade ! Ye matchless scenes, in nature's morning made, While still, in all th' exuberance of prime, She pour'd her wonders, lavishly sublime, Nor yet had learn'd to stoop, with humbler care, From grand to soft, from wonderful to fair; — Say, were your towering hills, your boundless floods, Your rich savannas and majestic woods. Where bards should meditate and heroes rove. And woman charm, and man deserve her love, — say, was world so bright, but born to grace Its own half-organized, half-minded race*^ Of weak barbarians, swarming o'er its breast. Like vermin gender'd on the lion's crest? Were none but brutes to call that soil their home. Where none but demigods should dare to roam? Or, worse, thou wondrous world ! 0, doubly worse, Did heaven design thy lordly land to nurse The motley dregs of every distant clime, Each blast of anarchy and taint of crime Which Europe shakes from her perturbed sphere, In full malignity to rankle here? But hold, — observe yon little mount of pines, Where the breeze murmurs and the firefly shines. There let thy fancy raise, in bold relief. The sculptur'd image of that veteran chief** Who lost the rebel's in the hero's name, And climb'd o'er prostrate loyalty to fame ; Beneath whose sword Columbia's patriot train Cast off their monarch, that their mob might reign How shall we rank thee upon glory's page? Thou more than soldier and just less than sage Of peace too fond to act the conqueror's part, Too long in camps to learn a statesman's art, Nature design'd thee for a hero's mould, But, ere she cast thee, let the stuff grow cold. While loftier souls command, nay, make their fate, Thy fate made thee and forc'd thee to be great; Yet Fortune, who so oft, so blindly sheds Her brightest halo round the weakest heads, Found thee undazzled, tranquil as before, Proud to be useful, scorning to be more ; Less raov'd by glory's than by duty's claim, Renown the meed, but self-applause the aim; All that thou wert reflects less fame on thee, Far less, than all thou didst /orJea?- to be. Nor yet the patriot of one land alone, — For, thine 's a name all nations claim their own ; And every shore, where breath 'd the good and brave, Echo'd the plaudits thy own country gave. Now look, my friend, where faint the moonlight falls On yonder dome, and, in those princely halls,- — If thou canst hate, as sure that soul must hate, AVhich loves the virtuous, and reveres the great,- If thou canst loathe and execrate with me The poisonous drug of French philosophy. That nauseous slaver of these frantic times, With which false liberty dilutes her crimes, — If thou hast got, within thy free-born breast. One pulse that beats more proudly than the rest, 'i MS.' '-'BVtffrfNiT^aaj-ig 881 With honest scorn for that inglorious soul, Which creeps and winds beneath a mob's control, Which courts the rabble's smile, the rabble's nod. And makes, like Egypt, every beast its god, There, in those walls — but, burning tongue, forbear Rank must be reverenc'd, even the rank that's there: So here I pause — and now, dear Hume, we part: But oft again, in frank exchange of heart, Thus let us meet, and mingle converse dear, By Thames at home, or by Potowmac here. O'er lake and marsh, through fevers and through fogs, 'Midst bears and yankees, democrats and frogs. Thy foot shall follow me, thy heart and eyes With me shall wonder, and with me despise While I, as oft, in fancy's dream shall rove. With thee conversing, through that land I love. Where, like the air that fans her fields of green, Her freedom spreads, unfever'd and serene; And sovereign man can condescend to see The throne and laws more sovereign still than he 882 RIGHES 883 V Xor long did the soul of the stranger remain Unblest by the smile he had languish'd to meet; Though scarce did he hope it would soothe him again, Till the threshold of home had been press'd by his feet. But the lays of his boyhood had stol'n to their ear, And they lov'd what they knew of so humble a name; And they told him, with flattery welcome and dear, That they found in his heart something better than fame. Nor did woman — woman! whose form and whose soul Are the spell and the light of each path we pursue ; Whether sunn'd in the tropics or chill'd at the pole, If woman be there, there is happiness too : — // Nor did she her enamouring magic deny, — That magic his heart had relinquish'd so long,- Like eyes he had lov'd was Aer eloquent eye, Like them did it soften and weep at his song. ..s.:!^' 0, blest be the tear, and in memory oft May its sparkle be shed o'er the wanderer's dream ; Thrice blest be that eye, and may passion as soft, As free from a pang, ever mellow its beam! The stranger is gone — but he will not forget, When at home he shall talk of the toils he has known, To tell, with a sigh, what endearments he met. As he stray'd by the wave of the Schuylkill alone. Residence of tfie lale Thomag .Jfoore, on ilie bnnJis of Ihe SchujlJiill. Oa RICHES 080 A ^ WRITTEN AT THE COHOES, OR FALLS OP THE MOHAWK RIVER." Gia era in loco ove s' udia '1 rimbombo Deir acqua . Dante. MXtaXCHt rise of morn till set of sun I 've seen the mighty Mohawk run ; And as I mark'd the woods of pine Along his mirror darkly shine, Like tall and gloomy forms that pass Before the wizard's midnight glass; And as I view'd the hurrying pace With which he ran his turbid race, Rushing, alike untir'd and wild, Through shades that frown'd and flowers that smil'd, l^ 386 yx/" Flying by every green recess That woo'd him to its calm caress, Yet sometimes turning with the wind As if to leave one look behind, — Oft have I thought, and thinking sigh'd, How like to thee, thou restless tide, May be the lot, the life of him Who roams along thy water's brim; Through what alternate wastes of woe And flowers of joy my path may go; How many a shelter'd, calm retreat May woo the while my weary feet, While still pursuing, still unblest, I wander on nor dare to rest; But, urgent as the doom that calls Thy water to its destin'd falls, I feel the world's bewildering force Hurry my heart's devoted course From lapse to lapse, till life be done, And the spent current cease to run. '/ One only prayer I dare to make, As onward thus my course I take; — 0, be my falls as bright as thine ! May heaven's relenting rainbow shine Upon the mist that circles me. As soft as now it hangs o'er thee! i^^^^ fliT' ^V^^-^ A ^oiig of the (Bi-il '^vn=v spirit baskingly reclines, itbout efFoi while it shines, t, restin^^ There still He roves, and laughing loves to see How modern priests with ancient rakes agree ; How, 'neath the cowl, the festal garland shines, And Love still finds a niche in Christian shrines. There still, too, roam those other souls of song, With whom thy spirit hath commun'd so long, That, quick as light, their rarest gems of thought. By Memory's magic to thy lip are brought. But here, alas ! by Erie's stormy lake, As, far from such bright haunts my course I take, No proud remembrance o'er the fancy plays, No classic dream, no star of other days Hath left that visionary light behind. That lingering radiance of immortal mind, Which gilds and hallows even the rudest scene. The humblest shed, where Genius once has been ! All that creation's varying mass assumes Of grand or lovely, here aspires and blooms. Bold rise the mountains, rich the gardens glow, Bright lakes expand, and conquering^ ^ rivers flow But mind, immortal mind, without whose ray, This world's a wilderness and man but clay, 1 r<^ cc^l ^ Mind, mind alone, in barren, still repose, Nor blooms, nor rises, nor expands, nor flows. Take Christians, Mohawks, democrats, and all From the rude wigwam to the congress hall, From man the savage, whether slav'd or free. To man the civiliz'd, less tame than he, — 'T is one dull chaos, one unfertile strife Betwixt half-polish'd and half-barbarous life; Where every ill the ancient world could brew Is mix'd with every grossness of the new ; Where all corrupts, though little can entice, And naught is known of luxury, but its vice ! Is this the region then, is this the clime For soaring fancies? for those dreams sublime, Which all their miracles of light reveal To heads that meditate and hearts that feel? Alas ! not so — the Muse of Nature lights Her glories round ; she scales the mountain heights And roams the forests; every wondrous spot Burns with her step, yet man regards it not. She whispers round, her w^ords are in the air. But lost, unheard, they linger freezing there,'" Without one breath of soul, divinely strong. One ray of mind to thaw them into song. m w Yet, yet forgive me, ye sacred few, Whom late by Delaware's green banks I knew; Whom, known and lov'd through many a social eve, 'T was bliss to live with, and 'twas pain to leave. '^ Not with more joy the lonely exile scann'd The writing trac'd upon the desert's sand, Where his lone heart but little hop'd to find One trace of life, one stamp of humankind, Than did I hail the pure, th' enlighten'd zeal, The strength to reason and the warmth to feel, The manly polish and the illumin'd taste, Which, — 'mid the melancholy, heartless waste My foot has travers'd, — you sacred few! I found by Delaware's green banks with you. Long may you loath the gallic dross that runs Through your fair country and corrupts its sons; Long love the arts, the glories which adorn g Those fields of freedom, where your sires were born 0, if America can yet be great, Tf neither chain'd by choice, nor doom'd by fate To the mob mania which imbrutes her now. She yet can raise the crown'd, yet civic brow Of single majesty, — can add the grace Of Rank's rich capital to Freedom's base, Nor fear the mighty shaft will feebler prove For the fair ornament that flowers above; — A* 394 '^^ l^ If yet releas'd from all that pedant throng So vain of error and so pledg'd to wrong, Who hourly teach her, like themselves, to hide Weakness in vaunt, and barrenness in pride. She yet can rise, can wreath the Attic charms Of soft refinement round the pomp of arms, ,<^And see her poets flash the fires of song, To light her warriors' thunderbolts along; — It is to you, to souls that favoring heaven Has made like yours, the glorious task is given! 0, but for such, Columbia's days were done; Rank without ripeness, quicken 'd without sun. Crude at the surface, rotten at the core, Her fruits would fall, before her spring were o'er. Believe me, Spencer, while T wing'd the hours Where Schuylkill winds his way through banks of flowers, Though few the days, the happy evenings few, So warm with heart, so rich with mind they flew, That my charm 'd soul forgot its wish to roam And rested there, as in a dream of home. And looks I met, like looks I 'd lov'd before. And voices too, which, as they trembled o'er The chord of memory, found full many a tone Of kindness there in concord with their own. 895 <^ Yes, — we had nights of that communion free, That flow of heart, which I have known with thee So oft, so warmly; nights of mirth and mind, Of whims that taught, and folHes that refin'd. When shall we both renew them? when, restor'd To the gay feast and intellectual board, Shall I once more enjoy with thee and thine Those whims that teach, those follies that refine? Even now, as, wandering upon Erie's shore, I hear Niagara's distant cataract roar, I sigh for home, — alas ! these weary feet Have many a mile to journey, ere we meet. il HATPIS, 'i22 20T KAPTA NYN MNEIAN EX«. EUEIPIDES. 396 ^ UUCtV by the smoke that so gracefully curl'd Above the green elms, that a cottage was near, And I said, "If there's peace to be found in the world, " A heart that was humble might hope for it here! " It was noon, and on flowers that languish'd around In silence repos'd the voluptuous bee ; Every leaf was at rest, and I heard not a sound But the woodpecker tapping the hollow beech tree. And, "Here in this lone little wood," I exclaim'd, " With a maid who was lovely to soul and to eye, " Who would blush when I prais'd her, and weep if I blam'd, "How blest could I live, and how calm could I die! "By the shade of yon sumach, whose red berry dips "In the gush of the fountain, how sweet to recline,,; " And to know that I sigh'd upon innocent lips "Which had never been sigh'd on by any but rame ! ^U>\L%— \Hl(l»t. ^ (^rnxUm §ut ^m^. WRITTEN ON THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE.'* Et remigem cantus hortatur. QUINTILTAN. ^^itttljj as tolls the evening chime Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time. Soon as the woods on shore look dim, We'll sing at St. Ann's our parting hymn." 398 Row, brothers, row, the stream runs fast, The Rapids are near and the daylight's past. Why should we yet our sail unfurl? There is not a breath the blue wave to curl. But, when the wind blows off the shore, 0, sweetly we '11 rest our weary oar. Blow, breezes, blow, the streann runs fast. The Rapids are near and the daylight's past. Utawas' tide : this tremblino; moon Shall see us float o'er thy surges soon. Saint of this green isle ! hear our prayers, 0, grant us cool heavens and favoring airs. Blow, breezes, blow, the stream runs fast. The Rapids are near and the daylight's past. 399 400 ..-^^^^z^::::;^^^ ^ ■■TA^yW'Vvvw. ^fw^m^\ Our boat glides swiftly past these wooded shores, Saw me where Trent his mazy current pours, "^^ And Donington's old oaks, to every breeze, Whisper the tale of by-gone centuries ; — Those oaks, to me as sacred as the groves. Beneath whose shade the pious Persian roves, And hears the spirit voice of sire, or chief, Or loved mistress, sigh in every leaf/* There, oft, dear Lady, while thy lip hath sung My own unpolish'd lays, how proud I 've hung On every tuneful accent ! proud to feel That notes like mine should liave the fate to steal, As o'er thy hallowing lip they sigh'd along, Such breath of passion and such soul of song. Yes, — I have wondered, like some peasant boy Who sings, on Sabbath eve, his strains of joy. And when he hears the wild, untutor'd note Back to his ear on softening echoes float, Believes it still some answering spirit's tone, And thinks it all too sweet to be his own ! A\ [& V 401 ^ I dreamt not then that, ere the roUing year Had fill'd its circle, I should wander here In miisincf awe; should tread this wondrous world, See all its store of inland waters hurl'd In one vast volume down Niagara's steep, Or calm behold them, in transparent sleep, Where the blue hills of old Toronto shed Their evenins; shadows o'er Ontario's bed; Should trace the grand Cadaraqui, and glide Down the white rapids of his lordly tide Through massy woods, 'mid islets flowering fair, And blooming glades, where the first sinful pair For consolation might have weeping trod. When banish'd from the garden of their God. 0, Lady! these are miracles, which man, Cag'd in the bounds of Europe's pigmy span, Can scarcely dream of, — which his eye must see To know how wonderful this world can be! But lo, — the last tints of the west decline. And night falls dewy o'er these banks of pine. J. \ 402 S Vj Among the reeds, in which our idle boat /f Is rock'd to rest, the wind's complaining note Dies like a half-breath'd whispering of flutes ; Along the wave the gleaming porpoise shoots, ( And I can trace him, like a watery star," Down the steep current, till he fades afar Amid the foaming breakers' silvery light. Where yon rough rapids sparkle through the night. Here, as along this shadowy bank I stray, And the smooth glass snake,'* gliding o'er my way, Shows the dim moonlight through his scaly form. Fancy, with all the scene's enchantment warm. Hears in the murmur of the nightly breeze Some Indian Spirit warble words like these : — A \ From the land beyond the sea, Whither happy spirits flee; Where, transform'd to sacred doves,'' Many a blessed Indian roves Through the air on wing, as white As those wondrous stones of light,*" ^ -OS / ^• Which the eye of morning counts On the Apallachian mounts, — Hither oft my flight I take Over Huron's lucid lake, Where the wave, as clear as dew, Sleeps beneath the light canoe, Which, reflected, floating there, Looks as if it hung in air." Then, when I have stray 'd a while Through the Manataulin isle,"" Breathing all its holy bloom, Swift I mount me on the plume Of my Wakon Bird,^^ and fly Where, beneath a burning sky, . O'er the bed of Erie's lake Slumbers many a water snake, Wrapp'd within the web of leaves, Which the water lily weaves,** Next I chas'd the flow'ret king Through his rosy realm of spring; See him now, while diamond hues Soft his neck and wings suffuse, / \ In the leafy chalice sink, Thirsting for his balmy drink; Now behold him all on fire, Lovely in his looks of ire, Breaking every infant stem, Scattering every velvet gem, Where his little tyrant lip Has not found enough to sip. J. \ Then my playful hand I steep Where the gold thread*^ loves to creep. Cull from thence a tangled wreath, Words of magic round it breathe. And the sunny chaplet spread O'er the sleeping flybird's head,*® Till, with dreams of honey blest. Haunted, in his downy nest. By the garden's fairest spells, Dewy buds and fragrant bells. Fancy all his soul embowers In the flybird's heaven of flowers. / 405 / loar and silvery flakes Melt along the ruffled lakes, When the gray moose shed his horns, When the track, at evening, warns Weary hunters of the way To the wigwam's cheering ray, Then, aloft, through freezing air. With the snow bird*' soft and fair As the fleece that heaven flings O'er his little pearly wings. Light above the rocks I play. Where Niagara's starry spray. Frozen on the cliff", appears Like a mant's startino- tears. There, amid the island sedge. Just upon the cataract's edge. Where the foot of living man Never trod since time began, Lone I sit, at close of day. While, beneath the golden ray, Icy columns gleam below, Feather'd round with falling snow, i''n n i n / / 406 .-S^^ic;:^^;^^%. \ And an arch of glory springs, Sparkling as the chain of rings Round the necks of virgins hung, — Virgins/* who have wander'd young O'er the waters of the west To the land where spirits rest! Thus have I charm'd, with visionary lay, The lonely moments of the night away ; And now, fresh daylight o'er the water beams! Once more, erabark'd upon the glittering streams, Our boat flies light along the leafy shore, Shooting the falls, without a dip of oar Or breath of zephyr, like the mystic bark The poet saw, in dreams divinely dark, Borne, without sails, along the dusky flood,*" While on its deck a pilot angel stood, And, with his wings of living light unfurl'd, Coasted the dim shores of another world ! Yet, 0, believe me, 'mid this mingled maze Of nature's beauties, where the fancy strays A\ /\ Vaa.v/// v'W'AM'>> -'^nwava'/av.vt; ^1 M 10^ \ I Hath something strange, and every leaf is new,— I never feel a joy so pure and still, So inly felt, as when some brook or hill, Or veteran oak, like those remember'd well, Some mountain echo or some wild-flower's smell, (For, who can say by what small fairy ties The mem'ry clings to pleasure as it flies?) Reminds my heart of many a sylvan dream I once indulg'd by Trent's inspiring stream ; Of all my sunny morns and moonlight nights On Donington's green lawns and breezy heights. Whether I trace the tranquil moments o'er When I have seen thee cull the fruits of lore. With him, the polish'd warrior, by thy side, A sister's idol and a nation's pride! When thou hast read of heroes, trophied high In ancient fame, and I have seen thine eye Turn to the living hero, while it read. For pure and brightening comments on the dead;- |} •408 ■rlMi-f'^ \\m v^^^\W^W^ VAW/AV<^ 'Or whether memory to my mind recalls The festal grandeur of those lordly halls, When guests have met around the sparkling board, And welcome warm'd the cup that luxury pour'd ; When the bright future Star of England's throne. With magic smile, hath o'er the banquet shone. Winning respect, nor claiming what he won, But tempering greatness, like an evening sun Whose light the eye can tranquilly admire, Radiant, but mild, all softness, yet all fire; — AVhatever hue my recollections take, Even the regret, the very pain they wake Is mix'd with happiness ; — but, ah ! no more — Lady ! adieu — my heart has linger'd o'er Those vanish'd times, till all that round me lies. Streams, banks, and bowers have faded on my eyes ! '""iiiiiiii i7 AFTER A VISIT TO MKS. , OF jrOyTItEAL, ®tVH!5" but for a moment — and yet in that time She crowded th' impressions of many an hour : Her eye had a glow, like the sun of her clime, Which wak'd every feeling at once into flower, 0, could we have borrow'd from Time but a day, To renew such impressions again and again, The things we should look and imagine and say Would be worth all the life we had wasted till then. What we had not the leisure or language to speal- We should find some more spiritual mode of re- vealing, And, between us, should feel just as much in a wee! As others would take a millennium in feeling. 410 WW« — VSMW. Say, what doth that vessel of darkness hear? The silent calm of the grave is there, Save now and again a death knell rung, And the flap of the sails with night fog hung. There lieth a wreck on the dismal shore Of cold and pitiless Labrador ; Where, under the moon, upon mounts of frost Full many a mariner's bones are toss'd. Yon shadowy bark hath been to that wreck, And the dim blue fire, that lights her deck, Doth play on as pale and livid a crew As ever yet drank the churchyard dew. To Deadman's Isle, in the eye of the blast, To Deadman's Isle, she speeds her fast; By skeleton shapes her sails are furl'd, And the hand that steers is not of this world! 0, hurry thee on — 0, hurry thee on. Thou terrible bark, ere the night be gone, Nor let morning look on so foul a sight As would blanche forever her rosy light! For they tell me I soon shall be wafted, in thee, To the flourishing isle of the brave and the free J And that chill IsTova Scotia's unpromising strand Is the last I shall tread of American land. Well — peace to the land ! may her sons know, at length, That in high-minded honor lies liberty's strength. That though man be as free as the fetterless wnid, As the wanton est air that the north can unbind, Yet, if health do not temper and sweeten the blast. If no harvest of mind ever sprung where it pass'c !^Then unblest is such freedom, and baleful its might, — Free only to ruin, and strong but to blight! Farewell to the few I have left with regret; May they sometimes recall, what I cannot forget The delight of those evenings, — too brief a delight! When in converse and song we have stol'n "W/k on the night; When they 've asked me the manners, the mind, or the mien. Of some bard I had known, or some chief I had seen. Whose glory, though distant, they long had ador'd, Whose name had oft hallow 'd the wine cup they pour'd. And still as, with sympathy humble but true, (\^' I have told of each bright son of fame all I knew. They have listen'd, and sigh'd that the powerful stream Of America's empire, should pass, like a dream. Without leaving one relic of genius, to say How sublime was the tide which had vanish'd away ! Farewell to the few — though we never may meet On this planet again, it is soothing and sweet To think that, whenever my song and my name ■ ^^ Shall recur to their ear, they'll recall me the same w h> r4^i I have been to them now, young, un thought- ful, and blest, Ere hope had deceived me or sorrow depress'd. But, Douglas ! while thus I recall to my mind The elect of the land we shall soon leave behind I can read in the weather-wise glance of thine eye, As it follows the rack flitting over the sky, That the faint coming breeze will be fair for our (K^. flight. And shall steal us away, ere the falling of night. y%!^^^J Dear Douglas ! thou knowest, with thee by my --^J^^. side, ^ With thy friendship to sooth me, thy courage to guide, There is not a bleak isle in those summerless seas, ^ Where the day comes in darkness, or shines but to freeze. Not a tract of the line, not a barbarous shore, That I could not with patience, with pleas- |n,,^ . ure explore ! \^| think then how gladly I follow thee '~^7k,^.^ now, ^\m When Hope smoothes the billowy path of our prow, APPENDIX, COSTAIMSO NOTES MOORE'S MELODIES AMEEICA^^ POEMS. ! i NOTES TO THE MELODIES. XoTE 1. page 35. Ortc chord from that harp, or one loch Jr^,m that hair. "In the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Henry VIII. an Act was made respecting the habits, and dress in general, of the Irish, whereby all persons were restrained from being shorn or shaven above the ears, or from wearing Glibbes, or CouKns (long locks), on their heads, or hair on their upper lip, called Crommeal. On this occasion a song was written by one of our bards, in which an Irish virgin is made to give the prefer- ence to her dear CouHn (or the youth with the flowing locks) to all strangers (by which the English were meant), or those who wore their habits. Of this song the air alone has reached us, and is universally ad- mired." — Walker's Historical Memoirs of Irish Bards, p. 134. Mr. Walker informs us, also, that about the same period there were some harsh measures taken against the Irish Minstrels. Note 2, page 36. REirEMBER THE GLORIES OF BRIEX THE BRAVE. Brien Borombe, the great Monarch of Ireland, who was killed at the battle of Clontarf, in the beginning of the 11th century, after having de- feated the Danes in twenty-five engagements. XoTE 3, page 36. The' lost to MOXONIA and cold in the grave. Munster. 4-21 IRISH MELODIES. Note 4, page 36. He returns to KiNKORA no more .' The palace of Brien. • Note 5, page 38. Forget not our wounded companions, who stood. This alludes to an interesting circumstance related of the Dalgais, the favourite troops of Brien, when they were interrupted in their return from the battle of Clontarf, by Fitzpatrick, prince of Ossory. The wounded men entreated that they might be allowed to fight with the rest. — "Let stakes (they said) be stuck in the ground, and suffer each of us, tied to and supported by one of these stakes, to be placed in his rank by the side of a sound man." "Between seven and eight hundred wounded men (adds O'Hal- laran), pale, emaciated, and supported in this manner, appeared mixed with the foremost of the troops; — never was such another sight exhib- ited." — History of Ireland,, Book XII. Chap. i. Note 6, page 39. In times of old through Ammon's shade. Solis Fons, near the Temple of Amnion. Note 7, page 44. THE MEETING OP THE WATERS. "The Meeting of the Waters" forms a part of that beautiful scenery which lies between Rathdrum and Arklow, in the county of Wicklow; and these lines were suggested by a visit to this romantic spot, in the summer of the year 1807. 422 NOTES. Note 8, page 44. As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet. The rivers Avon and Avoca. Note 9, page 47. RICH AND RARE WERE THE GEMS SHE WORE. This ballad is founded upon the following anecdote : — " The people were inspired with such a spirit of honour, virtue, and religion, by the great example of Brien, and by his excellent administration, that, as a proof of it, we are informed that a young lady of great beauty, adorned with jew- els and a costly dress, undertook a journey alone, from one end of the kingdom to the other, with a wand only in her hand, at the top of which was a ring of exceeding great value ; and such an impression had the laws and government of this monarch made on the minds of all the people, that no attempt was made upon her honour, nor was she robbed of her clothes or jewels." — Warner's History of Ireland, Vol. I. Book x. Note 10, page 49. We 're fallen, upon gloomy day?. I have endeavoured here, without losing that Irish character which it is my object to preserve throughout this work, to allude to the sad and ominous fatality, by which England has been deprived of so many great and good men, at a moment when she most requires all the aids of talent and integrity. Note 11, page 50. Thou, of the Hundred Fights ! This designation, which has been applied to Lord Nelson before, is the title given to a celebrated Irish Hpro, in a Poem by O'Guive, the 4-J.S IRISH MELODIES. bard of O'Xid, wMch is quoted in the '* Pliilosopliical Survey of the South of Ireland," p. 433. "Con, of the hundred Fights, sleep in thy grass-grown tomb, and upbraid not our defeats with thy Tictoriesl" Note 12, page 50. Truth, peace, and freedom htmgl Fox, "Komanorum ultimus," XoTE 13, page 53. Where weary travellers love to caU. '' In every house was one or two harps, free to all travellers, who wfere the more caressed the more they excelled in music.'" — O H^t t.opax. Note 14, page 57. ST. sEXA^rrs. In a metrical life of St, Senanus, which is taken from an old Kil- kenny MS., and may be found amor.g the Ada Sanctorum Hibernice, we are told of his flight to the island of Scattery, and his resolution not to admit any woman of the party ; he refused to receive even a sister saint, St Cannera, whom an angel had taken to the island for the express pur- pose of introducing her to him. The following was the ungracious answer of Senantis, according to his poetical biographer: — Cui Prcesul, quid foeminis Commune est cum m^onaehisf Nee te nee uUam alr'am Admitfemug in intulam. See the Acta Sa^tct. Hib. p. 610. According to Dr. Ledwicht, St Senanus was no less a personage than NOTES. the river Shannon ; but O'Connor and other antiquarians deny the meta- morphose indignantly. Note 15, page 66. When Malachi wore the collar of gold, " This brought on an encounter between Malachi (the Monarch of Ire- land in the tenth century) and the Danes, in which Malachi defeated two of their champions, whom he encountered successively, hand to hand, taking a collar of gold from the neck of one, and carrying off the sword of the other, as trophies of his victory." — "Wae^tee's Hiitcry of Ireland, Vol. I. Book ix. Note 16, page 66. Led the Red-Branch Knights to danger. "Military orders of knights were very early established in Ireland; long before the birth of Christ we find an hereditary order of Chivalry in Ulster, called Curaidhe na Craiohhe ruadh, or the Knights of the Eed- Branch, from their chief seat in Emania, adjoining to the palace of the Ulster kings, called Teagh na Craiohhe ruadh, or the Academy of the Eed- Branch; and contiguous to which was a large hospital, founded for the sick knights and soldiers, called Bronbhearg, or the House of the Sorrow- ful Soldier." — 0'Halloea>''s Introduction, dec, Part I. Chap. v. Note 17, page 66. For the long-faded glories they cover. It was an old tradition, in the time of Greraldus, that Lough Neagh had been originally a fountain, by whose sudden overflowing the country was inundated, and a whole region, like the Atlantis of Plato, overwhelmed. He says that the fishermen, in clear weather, used to point out to strangers 425 lEISH MZLODIES. the tall ecclesiastical towers under the water. Piscaiora aqxuB iUiut turres exxlesiastieas, qtuz more patriae arcta sunt et altct, necnon et rotunda, iub undis wiam/ale tererw tempore confpidunt, et exiraneis transeuntibus, reique causas admirantibus, frequenter osiendunt. — ToPOGiL HxB., Dist. ii. c. 9. Note 18, page 67. THE SOS^G OF FIOySTALA. To make this story intelligible in a song would require a much greater number of verses than any one is authorised to inflict upon an audience at once; the reader must therefore be content to learn, in a note, that Fionnuala, the daughter of Lir, was, by some supernatural power, trans- formed into a swan, and condemned to wander for many hundred years, over certain lakes and rivers in Ireland, till the coming of Christianity, when the first sound of the mass-bell was to be the signal of her release. — I found this fanciful fiction among some manuscript translations from the Irish, which were begun under the direction of that enlightened firiend of Ireland, the late Countess of Moira, Note 19, page 71. Liix the bright lamp, that shone in Ktldabe's holy feme. The inextinguishable fire of St Bridget, at Kildare, which Giraldus mentions, "Apud Kildariam occurrit Ignis Sanctee Brigidae, quern inex- tinguibilem vocant ; non quod extingui non possit, sed quod t^tm soUcite moniales et sanctse mulieres ignem, suppetente materia, fovent et nutri- unt, ut a tempore viiginis per tot annorum curricula semper mansit inex- tinctus." — Girald, Camb. de Mirabit. Hibem., Dist. ii. c. 34. Note 20, page 72. And daylight and liberty bless the young flower. Mrs. H. Tighe, in her exquisite lines on the lily, has applied this image to a still more important object. 426 NOTES. Note 21, page 73. OH I BLAME NOT THE BARD. "We may suppose this apology to have been uttered by one of those wandering bards, whom Spenser so severely, and perhaps truly, describes in his " State of Ireland," and whose poems, he tells us, " were sprinkled with some pretty flowers of their natural device, which have good grace and comeliness unto them, the which it is great pity to see abused to the gracing of wickedness and vice, which, with good usage, would serve to adorn and beautify virtue." Note 22, page 73. Might have bent a proud bow to the wamor's dart. It is conjectured, by Wormius, that the name of Ireland is derived from Yr, the Eunic for a bow, in the use of which weapon the Irish were once very expert. This derivation is certainly more creditable to us than the following : " So that Ireland (called the land of Ire, from the constant broils therein for 400 years) was now become the land of concord." — Lloyd's State Worthies, art. The Lord Grandison. Note 23, page 74. lAie the wreath of Harmoditjs, should cover his sword. See the Hymn, attributed to Alcseus Ev jxvprcyv xXa5t to ^i^o; ^opi^aw — "I will carry my sword, hidden in myrtles, like Hannodius and Aristogiton," &c. Note 24, page 78. Which near our planet smiling came. " Of such celestial bodies as are visible, the sun excepted, the single moon, as despicable as it is in comparison to most of the others, is much more beneficial than they all put together." — Whiston's Theory, &c. 427 IRISH MELODIES. In the enfrefiens cTAriste, among other ingenious emblems, we find a starry sty without a moon, with these words, Hon milie, quod absens. Note 25, page 79. " 7^« brooi can see no moon but this." This image was suggested by the following thought, which occurs some- where in Sir "William Jones's works : " The moon looks upon many night- flowers, the night-flower sees but one moon." Note 26, page 80. A butterfly fresh from the night-floirer' s hisses. An emblem of the soul. Note 27, page 83. May we pledge that horn in triumph round ! " The Irish Coma was not entirely devoted to martial purposes. In the heroic ages our ancestors quaffed Meadh out of them, as the Danish hunters do their beverage at this day." — "SValkee. XoTE 28, page 86. THE lEISH PEASA>~r TO HIS MISTKESS. Meaning, allegorically, the ancient church of Ireland. Note 29, page 87. Where shineth thy spirit, there liberty shineth too ! "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" — St. Paul, 2 Cor. iii. 17. 428 NOTES. Note 30, page 91. The cold chain of Silence had hung ffer thee long. In that rebellious but beautiful song, " When Erin first rose," there is, if I recollect right, the following line : — " The dark chain of Silence was thrown o'er the deep." The Chain of Silence was a sort of practical figure of rhetoric among the ancient Irish. Walker tells us of " a celebrated contention for pre- cedence between Finn and Gaul, near Finn's palace at Almhaim, where the attending bards, anxious, if possible, to produce a cessation of hos- tilities, shook the Chain of Silence, and flung themselves among the ranks." See also the Ode to Gaul, the Son of Jlomi, in Miss Brooke's Beliques of Irish Poetry. XoTE 31, page M. THE PEDfCE'S DAY. This song was written for a fete in honour of the Prince of Wales's birthday, given bv mv friend, Major Brvan, at his seat in the county of Kilkenny. Note 32, page 99. BY THAT T.AKT:, whose GLOOMY SHORE. This ballad is founded upon one of the many stories related of St. Kevin, whose bed in the rock is to be seen at Glendalough, a most gloomy and romantic spot in the county of Wicklow. Note 33, page 99. aty-tark never varbles oW. There are many other curious traditions concerning this Lake, which may be found in Giraldus, Colgan, &c. 429 IRISH m;elodies. Note 34, page 102. IT IS XOT THE TEAK AT THIS MO>rE>'T SHED. These lines were occasioned by the loss of a very near and dear relative, who died lately at Madeira. Note 35, page 104. Than to remember thee, ;Makt ! I have here made a feeble effort to imitate that exquisite inscription of Shenstone's, " Heu ! quanto minus est cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse ! " Note 36, page 106. Avenging and bright fall the swift sword of Erin. The words of this song were suggested by the very ancient Irish story called " Deirdri, or the Lamentable Fate of the Sons of Usnach," which has been translated literally from the Gaelic, by Mr. O'Flaxagax (see Vol. I. of Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Dublin), and upon which it appears that the " Darthula of Macpherson " is founded. The treachery of Conor, King of Ulster, in putting to death the three sons of Osna, was the cause of a desolating war against Ulster, which terminated in the destruction of Eman. " This story (says Mr. O'Flas'agax) has been, from time immemorial, held in high repute as one of the three tragic stories of the Irish. These are, 'The death of the children of Touran;' ' The death of the children of Lear' (both regarding Tuatha de Danans) ; and this, 'The death of the children of Usnach,' which is a Milesian story,'' It will be recollected that, in the Second Number of these Melodies, there is a ballad upon the story of the children of Lear or Lir ; " Silent, oh Movie I " &c. TVhatever may be thought of those sanguine claims to antiquity, which Mr. O'ELAKAGAy and others advance for the literature of Ireland, it 4V.' IT would be a very Li^ti-? r^pr'-.ach cpon onr -.i:::z-L--r-. :: -.^ : "- : - .: re- searches of tiiia gentlema did noc i::^5€t "^liii al^ uie L-z-ir^ ^^ : . -rage- ment ihej nierit. XoTE 37, page 106 ^ iie fof tbrnd that bamg oner Co:ros;'3 dark imdEnj. " Oh Xaai ! Tiew Asl dood tiist I here see in the aky '. I >ee ov^ EmaD-greeB a driTHi^ doad ef Uood-dBged led.' — Dairu Samg. NosK 38^ page IML W2et Ut.at/3 three dHoafieme lag wkr^imj m jmpb. Ulster. S'orrs 39, page III. lOiai, ekwof beef tit Oaf wmetjrtm Oe I m gAm efmab. "There are cotnitries." says Mostaigxe:, "wiae ftey lM£eve &e soTxb of the happj lire in all vuaner of Hboty, in drf^htfal fields; aad that it is those aoaH a q peaiMg Ae wondi «e attar vMdi ve eaD EdhoL* yoTK 40, page lli Ti r em gi k Moxsa's s^^ee. " Steab sakattr ^ Mania% gnyre^" See a t ntnal a twin from dte limb, ia Me. Boatzng's adketkn, b^ Josir R£0'fr!!r, one of b^ eaiBeaft eoB^e c namaBM BS. and fnendst ; whose deat& ■was as sinznlarir melaadbofy aad aafixtaaate as Us fife kad beea i honourable, and eiemplairy. Note 41, page 115. JadmegbeCeiJm took ^Hejbmere em tke wag. Proposito flonaa poBta^ offion.-^P!BonB3rr. lib. L Meg. 20. IKISH MELODIES. Note 42, page 116. A triple grass. St. Patrick is said to have made use of that species of the trefoil, to which in Ireland we give the name of Shamrock, in explaining the doc- trine of the Trinity to the Pagan Irish. I do not know if there be any- other reason for our adoption of this plant as a national emblem. IIope, among the Ancients, was sometimes represented as a beautiful child, standing upon tip-toes, and a trefoil, or three-coloured grass, in her hand. Note 43, page 119. PEIXCE OF BKEFFXI. These stanzas are founded upon an event of most melancholy impor- tance to Ireland ; if, as we are told by our Irish historians, it gave Eng- land the first opportunity of profiting by our divisions and subduing us. The following are the circumstances, as related by O'Ualloran : — "The king of Leinster had long conceived a violent affection for Dearbhorgil, daughter to the king of Meath, and though she had been for some time married to O'Ruark, prince of Breffni, yet it could not restrain his pas- sion. They carried on a private correspondence, and she informed him that O'Ruark intended soon to go on a pilgrimage (an act of piety fre- quent in those days), and conjured him to embrace that opportunity of conveying her from a husband she detested to a lover she adored. Mac Murchad too punctually obeyed the summons, and had the lady conveyed to his capital of Ferns." — The monarch Roderick espoused the cause of O'Ruark, while ]Mac Murchad fled to England, and obtained the assist- ance of Henry II. " Such," adds Giraldus Cambrensis (as I find him in an old translation), " is the variable and fickle nature of woman, by whom all mischief in the world (for the most part) do happen and come, as may appear by Marcus Antonius, and by the destruction of Troy." 432 NOTES. NoTK 44, page 121. YOU REMEMBER ELLEX. This ballad was suggested by a well-known and interesting story told of a certain noble family in England. Note 45, page 129. We've but to riiake love to the lips we are near. 1 believe it is Marmontel who says, " Quand on n' a pas ce que Con aime, il/aut aimer ce que I' on a."— Thdre are so many matter-of-fact people, who take such Jeux d' esprit as this defence of inconstancy to be the actual and genuine sentiments of liim who writes them, that they compel one, in self-defence, to be as matter-of-fact as themselves, and to remind them, that Domocritus was not the worse physiologist for having playfully con- tended that snow was black ; nor Erasmus in any degree the less wise for having written an ingenious encomium of folly. Note 46, page 140. Been lihe our Lagenian mine. Our Wicklow gold-mines, to which this verse alludes, deserve, I fear, but too well the character here given of them. Note 47, page 140. Has Hope, like tlie bird in the story. "The bird, having got its prize, settled not far off, with the talisman in his mouth. The prince drew near it, hoping it would drop it ; but as he approached, the bird took wing, and settled again," &c.— Arabian K'tghls — Story of Kummir at Zummaiin and the Princess of China. 433 lEISH MELODIES. . Note 48, page 148. Like him the Sprite. This alludes to a kind of Irish fairy, which is to be met with, they say, in the fields at dusk ; — as long as you keep your eyes upon him, he is fixed, and in your power ; but the moment you look away (and he is in- genious in furnishing some inducement) he vanishes. I had thought that this was the sprite which we call the Leprechaun ; but a high authority upon such subjects, Lady Morgan (in a note upon her national and in- teresting novel, O'Donnel), has given a very different account of that goblin. Note 49, page 159. At once, like a Sun-hirst, her banner unfurVd. "The Sun-burst" was the fanciful name given by the ancient Irish to the royal banner. Note 50, page 164. ^Mid desolation tuneful still 1 "Dimidio magicse resonant ubi Memnone chordae." — JuvEiirAL. • Note 51, page 176, Tho' the nymphs may have livelier poets to sing them. " Tons les habitans de Mercure sont vifs." — Plurality des 3fondes. Note 52, page 177. And look, in their tioilights, as lovely as you. " La Terre pourra etre pour Venus I'etoile du berger et la mSre des amours, comme Venus Test pour nous." — Ibid. 434 NOTES. Note 53, page 185. Yes, sad one of Siox, if closely resembling. These verses wore written after the perusal of a treatise by Mr. Hamil- ton, professing to prove that the Irish were originally Jews. Note 54, page 185. And " while it is day yet, her sun hath gone down." " Her sun is gone down while it was yet day." — Jer. xv. 9. Note 55, page 186. Ah, well may we call Iter like thee " the Forsahen.'* " Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken," — Isaiah, Ixii. 4. Note 56, page 186. Wlien that cup, which for others the proud Golden City. " How hath the oppressor ceased ! the golden city ceased I " — IsAlAH, xiv. 11. Note 57, page 186. And, a ruin, at last, for the earth-worm to cover. "Thy pomp is brought down to the grave and the worms cover thee." — Isaiah, xiv. 4. Note 58, page 186. The Lady of Kingdoms lay loio in the dust. "Thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdoms."— Isaiah, xlvii. 5. 435 lEISH MELODIES. Note 59, page 189. Oh, ye Dead I oh, ye Dead ! whom ice know by the light you give. Paul Zealand mentions that there is a mountain in some part of Ire- land, where the ghosts of persons who have died in foreign lands walk about and converse with those they meet, like living people. If asked why they do not return to their homes, they say they are obliged to go to Mount Hecla, and disappear immediately. Note 60, page 197. I wish I was by that dim Lake, These verses are meant to allude to that ancient haunt of superstition, called Patrick's Purgatory. "In the midst of these gloomy regions of Donegal (says Dr. Campbell) lay a lake, which was to become the mystic theatre of this fabled and intermediate state. In the lake were several islands ; but one of them was dignified with that called the Mouth of Pur- gatory, which, during the dark ages, attracted the notice of all Christen- dom, and was the resort of penitents and pilgrims from almost every coun- try in Europe." " It was," as the same writer tells us, '•' one of the most dismal and dreary spots in the North, almost inaccessible, througli deep glens and rugged mountains, frightful W-th impending rocks, and the hollow mur- murs of the western winds in dark caverns, peopled only with such fan- tastic beings as the mind, however gay, is, from strange association, wont to appropriate to such gloomy scenes." — Strictures on the Ecclesiastical and Literary History of Ireland. Note 61, page 203. 't was oxe of those deeams, that by music are brought. "Written during a visit to Lord Kenmare, at Killarney. 436 NOTES. Note G2, page 206. He hath been won down by iJiem. In describing the Skeligs (islands of the Barony of Forth), Dr. Keating sayg, "There is a certain attract! s-e virtue in the soil which draws down all the birds that attempt to fly over it, and obliges them to light upon the rock." Note 63, page 206. La/:es, tvhere the pearl lies hid, "Xennius, a British writer of the ninth century, mentions the abun- dance of pearls in Ireland. Their princes, he says, hung them behind their ears ; and this we find confirmed by a present made, A. C. 1094, by Gilbert, Bishop of Limerick, to Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, of a considerable quantity of Irish pearls." — O'IIalloran". Note 64, page 206. Glens, tvhere Ocean comes. Glen":ariff. Note 65, page 208. And breathe the fresh air of lifers morning once more. Jours charmans, quand je songe a vos heureux instans, Je pense remonter le fleuve de mes ans ; Et mon coeur enchantesur sa rive fleurie Respire encore Fair pur du matin de la vie. Note Q>Q, page 208. Is all we enjoy of each other in this. The same thought has been happily expressed by my friend Mr. Wash- ington Irving, in his Bracebridge Hall, Vol. I. page 213. The pleasure 487 IRISH MELODIES. which I feel in calling this gentleman my friend, is much enhanced by the reflection that he is too good an American to have admitted me so readily to such a distinction, if he had not known that my feelings to- wards the great and free country that give him birth have long been such as every real lover of the liberty and happiness of the human race must entertain. Note 67, page 210. And proclaim to the world ivhat a star hath been lost! It is only the two first verses that are either fitted or intended to be sung. Note 68, page 213. DESMOND'S SONG. " Thomas, the heir of the Desmond family, had accidently been so en- gaged in the chase, that he was benighted near Tralee, and obliged to take shelter at the Abbey of Feal, in the house of one of his dependents, called Mac Cormac. Catherine, a beautiful daughter of his host, instantly in- spired the Earl with a violent passion, which he could not subdue. He married her, and by this inferior alliance alienated his followers, whose brutal pride regarded this indulgence of his love as an unpardonable de- gradation of Ms family." — Leland, Vol. II. Note 69, page 215. Like him, the boy, who born among. The God of Silence, thus pictured by the Egyptians. 438 NOTES. Note 70, page 221. As from a parting sjnrit, came. The thought here was suggested by some beautiful lines in Mr. Rogers's Poem of Human Life, beginning — " Now in the glimmering, dying light she grows Less and less earthly." I would quote the entire passage, but that I fear to put my own humble imitation of it out of countenance Note 71, page 225. The wine-cup is circling in Almhin's hall. The palace of Fin Blac-Cumhal (the Fingal of Macpherson) in Lcinster. It was built on the top of the hill, which has retained from thence the name of the Hill of Allen, in the County of Kildare. The Finians, or Fenii, were the celebrated National Militia of Ireland, which this chief commanded. The introduction of the Danes in the above song is an anarchronism common to most of the Finian and Ossianic legends. Note 72, page 226. And the Sun-burst o'er them floated wide. The name given to the banner of the Irish, Note 73, page 231. Thy Na/iads prepare his steed for him. The particulars of the tradition respecting O'Donohue and his White Horse may be found in Mr. "Weld's Account of Killarney, or more fully detailed in Derrick's Letters. For many years after his death, the spirit of this hero is supposed to have been seen on the morning of May-day, 439 r T If - :: ±r =-:zriof sweefc ^ e Lakes^ it is said :_ 4iva3 9oim- '. : - - , : .incied licxsdf iz T Mav-moming, XoxE 74, p^ge 233. When T.nrfr iaaad^d, tig Img wmte emrb. ~"-^ "-. :all those wxves vUdi eone OB a viadr - ^3, " (rDoBolne^ wkite hoEses." Xuu^ 73, page 2S7. Wat Bie UtM nei tfiie Drmii rwrr. DKnd,iA> sesotofa W< Xotk7«, OmrJeM&^diameargnwef the iiwiiliTili pgedictitm of the principal Oat the poElerity of GaUns ahoold obtain the p<^ Idaad (whidh was Irelaiid), a^ there inhaUt''— ^OiJ:. <<, fSP "Tit Bud^ul—^tu tuu^aar XheldaadofDeEti^, ooeofOe anci.-: zj^ni. 44U 50TZS. Koxz 73; poTr f:4L Wiidk dnrnxu..'. ~ zr^tA r'j- "Tke iakaliifcnti «f AraBBOR are itill . ^CT en aee frim &■ cant H7 &;Kfl,'ar tte PanidiK of Oe Rigm IriA, ad *— *— J-g «Uek Ocj XoTZ 79, pase 243^ XoTE SO, pa^ 245. ""rrdhf JuM ri d e i t . imik mrri kim to9 wdL r J*^A >■ I of tfeir koses aloK wi& J I AMERICAN POEMS. NOTES TO AMERICAN POEMS. Note 1, page 284. Fragments of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II. Chap. vi. Note 2, page 288. The Commodore of the Lakes, as he is styled. Note 3, page 288. The two first sentences of this paragraph, as well as a passage that oc- curs in a subsequent paragraph, stood originally as part of the Notes on one of the American Poems. Note 4, page 290. Introduced in the Epistle to Lady Charlotte Eawdon. Note 5, page 290. This brave and amiable officer was killed at Queenstown, in Upper Canada, soon after the commencement of the war with America, in the year 1812. He was in the act of cheering on his men when he fell. The inscription on the monument raised to his memory, on Queenstown Heights, does but due honor to his manly character. Note 6, page 292. ■' It is singularly gratifying," the author add.?, " to discover that, to this hour, the Canadian voyageurs never omit their offerings to the shrine of 442 NOTES. St. Anne, before engaging in any enterprise; and that, during its per- formance, they omit no opportunity of keeping up so propitious an inter- course. The flourishing village which surrounds the church on the 'Green Isle' in question owes its existence and support entirely to these pious contributions." Note 7, page 297. This Preface, as well as the Dedication wbich precedes it, were prefixed originally to the miscellaneous volume entitled "Odes and Epistles," of which, hitherto, the poems relating to my American tour have formed a part. Note 8, page 305. Sweet Moon ! if, Uhe Cp.OTOXA's sage. Pythagoras; who was supposed to have a power of writing upon the moon by the means of a magic mirror. — See Bayle, art. Pijthag. Note 9, page 807. Or pant to be a wanderer more! Alluding to these animated lines in the 44th Carmen of Catullus:— Jam mens prtetrepidans avet vagari. Jam laeti studio pedes vigescunti Note 10, page 308. Hath hung its shade on Pico's height. A very high mountain on one of the Azores, from which the island derives its name. It is said by some to be as high as the Peak of Ten- erifle. 443 AMERICAN POEMS. yoTE 11, page SOS. To tell of young Azorian maids. I believe it is Gutkrie who savs, that the inhabitants of the Azores are much addicted to gallantry. This is an assertion in which even Guthrie mar be credited. XoTE 12, page 309. And gav€, all gloicing tcarm, to thine. These islands belong to the Portuguese. XoiT 13, page 312. TO THE FLYING FISH. It is the opinion of St. Austin upon Genesis, and I believe of nearly all the Fathers, that birds, like fish, were originally produced from the waters; in defence of which idea they have collected every fanciful cir- cumstance which can tend to prove a kindred similitude between them; ev/ yirttar roij jiiToutrois rtpoj ■ro tnrxra. With this thought in our minds, when we first see the Flying Fish, we could almost fancy, that we are present at the moment of creation, and witness the birth of the first bird from the waves. Note 14, page 323. Aku, not yet one gleaming trace ! Such romantic works as "The American Farmer's Letters," and the account of Kentucky by Imlay, would seduce us into a belief, that inno- cence, peace, and freedom had deserted the rest of the world for Martha's Vineyard and the banks of the Ohio. The French travellers, too, almost all from revolutionary motives, have contributed their share to the diffu- sion of this flattering misconception. A visit to the country is, however, quite sufficient to correct even the most enthusiastic prepossession. 444 NOTES. Note 15, page 323. Blame not the tempU^i meanest part. Norfolk, it must be owned, presents an unfavorable specimen of Amer- ica. The characteristics of Virginia in general are not such as can delight either the politician or the moralist, and at Norfolk they are exhibited in their least attractive form. At the time when we arrived the yellow fever had not yet disappeared, and every odor that assailed us In the streets very strongly accounted for its visitation. } I Note 16, page 324, The simple strain I send you here. A trifling attempt at musical comp)osition accompanied this Epistle, Note 17, page 325. ShaU light me to my destined isle. EJermuda. Note 18, page 326. ''And ghe's gone to the LaJx of the Dismal Swamp." The Great Dismal Swamp is ten or twelve miles distant from Norfolk, and the Lake in the middle of it (about seven miles long) is called Drum- mond's Pond. Note 19, page 330. Where mazy LnfTH his lingering current lead?. Lady Donegall, I had reason to suppose, was at this time still in Swit- zerland, where the well-known powers of her pencil must have been fre- quently awakened. 445 AMERICAN POEMS. Note 20, page 830, Mark the last shadow on that holy shrine. The chapel of William Tell on the Lake of Lucerne. Note 21, page 332. Eir happy spirits in th' Atlantic waste ? M. Gebelin says, in his Monde Primifif, " Lorsque Strabon crut que les anciens theologiens et poetes placoient les champs elysees dans les isles de V Ocean Atlantique, il n'entendit rien a leur doctrine." M. Gebelin's supposition, I have no doubt, is the more correct; but that of Strabo is, in the present instance, most to my purpose. Note 22, page 332. The fairy harbor woo'd us to its arms. Nothing can be more romantic than the little harbor of St. George's. The number of beautiful islets, the singular clearness of the water, and the animated play of the graceful little boats, gliding forever between the islands, and seeming to sail from one cedar grove into another, formed altogether as lovely a miniature of nature's beauties as can well be im- agined. Note 23, page 333. 77i.e flowery capital, the shaft, the porch. This is an allusion which, to the few who are fanciful enough to indulge in it, renders the scenery of Bermuda particularly interesting. In the short but beautiful twilight of their spring evenings, the white cottages, scattered over the islands, and but partially seen through the trees that surround them, assume often the appearance of little Grecian temples; and a vivid fancy may embellish the poor fisherman's hut with columns 446 NOTES. such as the pencil of a Claude might imitate. I had one favourite object of this kind in my walks, which the hospitality of its owner robbed me of, by asking me to visit him. He was a plain good man, and received me well and warmly, but I could never turn his house into a Grecian temple again. Note 24, page 335. TO GEORGE MORGAN, ESQ., OF NORFOLK, VIRGINIA. This gentleman is attached to the British consulate at Norfolk. His talents are worthy of a much higher sphere ; but the excellent dispositions of the family with whom he resides, and the cordial repose he enjoys amongst some of the kindest hearts in the world, should be almost enough to atone to him for the worst caprices of fortune. The consul himself, Colonel Hamilton, is one among the very few instances of a man, ardently loyal to his king, and yet beloved by the Americans. His house is the very temple of hospitality, and I sincerely pity the heart of that stranger, v.ho, warm from the welcome of such a board, could sit down to write a libel on his host, in the true spirit of a modern philosophist. See the Travels of the Duke de la Rouche/oucault Liancourt, Vol. II. Note 25, page 335. Forsook me in this rude alarm. "We were seven days on our passage from Norfolk to Bermuda, during three of which we were forced to lay-to in a gale of wind. The Driver sloop of war, in which I went, was built at Bermuda of cedar, and is ac- counted an excellent sea boat. She was then commanded by my very regretted friend Captain Compton, who in July last was killed aboard the Lilly in an action with a French privateer. Poor Compton! he fell a vic- tim to the strange impolicy of allowing such a miserable thing as the Lilly to remain in the service; so small, crank, and unmanageable, that a well-manned merchantman was at any time a match for her. 447 AMERICAN POEMS. Note 26, page 336. Sweet is your /dss, my Lais dear. This epigram is by Paul the Silentiary, and may be found in the Ana- lecta of Brunck, Vol. III. p. 72. As the reading there is somewhat dif- ferent from what I have followed in this translation, I shall give it as I had it in my memory at the time, and as it is in Heinsius, who, I believe, first produced the epigram. See his Poemata. 'H(5u fit* tan (piXriiia to AaiSog- r)Sv 6e avToii llTnoitvi]TeaTs tiiat in rery splendid mansions, the floor or payement was I frequently of onyx. Thus Martial: " Calcatosqne tuo sub pede lucet onyx." — Epig. 50. lib. xiL XoTE 37, page 354. Iniirm'd by snakes of burnished gold. Bracelets of inis shape were a farotirite ornament among the women of antiquity. Oi «n:iap:tiot co?tj xai al j^pijat ritbai ©ai6oj xwt A - 1 jroyopaj xoA. Aotioj eof/iQio. — Phik^ftrat. Epist. xl. Lncian, too, tells tis of the 450 i( NOTES. ^faztot» ifoxorrte. See bis Amores, where he describes the dressing room of a Grecian ladv, and we find the "dlyer rase," the roage, the tooth powder, and all the " mv=tic order" of a modem toilet. Note ZS, page 354. Tkroiigh many a thin Tarfntian fold, xa* rf.'Vpi;;. — Pollux. Note 39, page 354. And the young bee grape, round them vreathing. Apiana, mentioned by Plinv, Lib. XTV. and " now called the MoscateU (a mascarum telis)," says Pancirolius, Book L Sect. 1, Chap. 17. Note 40, page 35at Tj-^:iorTO'£ I izilfor thaae gi'ni>i» o» gnmea. I had, at this time, s-.m^ il-ea of paying a Tisrt to the West Indies. Note 41, page 355. Ibrewen to Be&kuda, and lomg may tie bbom. The inhabitants pronounce the name as if it were wrinen Bermooda. See the commentators on the words "still- vexd Bermooth^/' in the Tempest. — I wonder it did not occur to some of those all-reading gen- tlemen that, possibly, the discoverer of this " island of hogs and deTils "' might have been no less a personage than the great John Bermndez, who, about the same period (the beginning of the sixteenth century u was sent Patriarch of the Latin church to Ethiopia, and has left us most wonderful stories of the Amazons and the Griffins which he encountered. — Trijrreh of the Jesuits, Vol. L I am afraid, however, that it would take the Patriarch rather too much out of his wav. -tol AMERICAN POEMS. Note 42, page 355. Where Ariel has warbled and Waller has strayed. Johnson does not think that Waller was ever at Bermuda; but the "Account of the European settlements in America" affirms it confidently. (Vol. II.) I mention this work, however, less for its authority than for the pleasure I feel in quoting an unacknowledged production of the great Edmund Burke. Note 43, page 359. While many a bending seagrape drank. The seaside or mangrove grape, a native of the West Indies. Note 44, page 360. That, like tlie aloe^s lingering flowers. The Agave. This, I am aware, is an erroneous notion, but it is quite true enough for poetry. Plato, I think, allows a poet to be "three removes from truth;" tptraroj orto trji aXriOsLas. Note 45, page 363. It seems in careless play to lie. Somewhat like the symplegma of Cupid and Psyche at Florence, in which the position of Psyche's hand is finely and delicately expressive of aifection. See the Museum Florentinum, tom. ii. tab. 43, 44. There are few subjects on which poetry could be more interestingly employed than in illustrating some of these ancient statues and gems.- Note 46, page 365. TO JOSEPH ATKINSON, ESQ., FROM BERMUDA. Pinkerton has said that "a good history and description of the Bermu- das might afford a pleasing addition to the geograpical library;" but 452 NOTES. there certainly are not materials for such a work. The island, since the time of its discovery, has experienced so very few vicissitudes, the people have been so indolent, and their trade so limited, that there is but little which the historian could amplify into importance; and, with respect to the natural productions of the countiy, the few whicli the inhabitants can be induced to cultivate are so common in the West Indies, that they have been described by every naturalist who has written any account of those islands. It is often asserted by the transatlantic politicians that this little colony deserves more attention from the mother country than it receives, and it certainly possesses advantages of situation, to which we should not be long insensible, if it were once in the hands of an enemy. I was told by a celebrated friend of Washington, at New York, that they had formed a plan for its capture towards the conclusion of the American War; "with the intention (as he expressed himself) of making it a nest of hornets for the annoyance of British trade in that part of the world." And there is no doubt it lies so conveniently in the track to the West Indies, that an enemy might with ease convert it into a very harassing impediment. The plan of Bishop Berkeley for a college at Bermuda, Avhere American savages might be converted and educated, though concurred in by the gov- ernment of the day, was a wild and useless speculation. Mr. Hamilton, who was governor of the island some years since, proposed, if I mistake not, the establishment of a marine academy for the instruction of those children of West Indians, who might be intended for any nautical em- ployment. This was a more rational idea, and for something of this nature the island is admirably calculated. But the plan should be much more extensive, and embrace a general system of education ; which would re- lieve the colonists from the alternative to which they are reduced at present, of either sending their sons to England for instruction, or intrust- ing them to colleges in the states of America, where ideas, by no means fiivourable to Great Britain, are very sedulously inculcated. The women of Bermuda, though not generally handsome, have an affec- tionate languor in their look and manner, which is ahvavs interesting. 4.^3 AMERICAN' POEMS. What the French imply by their epithet aimante seems very much the character of the young Bermudian girls — that predispositiou to loving, which, without being awakened by any particular object, diffuses itself through the general manner in a tone of tenderness that never fails to fascinate. The men of the island, I confess, are not very civilized; and the old philosopher, who imagined that, after this life, men would be changed into mules, and women into turtle-doves, would find the met:i- raorphosis in some degree anticipated at Bermuda. Note 47, page 366. Of the pearliest flow, from those pastoral hills. Mountains of Sicily, upon which Daphnis, the first inventor of bucolic poetry, was nursed by the nymphs. See the lively description of these mountains in Diodorus Siculus, lib. iv. 'Hpaia yap op^^ xara tr^v StxsXtai' Note 48, page 367. The bark that's to carry these pages away. A ship, ready to sail for England. Note 49, page 368. THE STEEESMAK'S SOXG. I left Bermuda in the Boston about the middle of April, in company with the Cambrian and Leander, aboard the latter of which was the Ad- miral, Sir Andrew Mitchell, who divides his year between Halifax and Bermuda, and is the very soul of society and good fellowship to both. We separated in a few days, and the Boston after a short cruise proceeded to New York. 454 lsOTE3. Note 60, page 369. TO THE FIEEFLY. The lively and varying illumination, with which these fireflies light up the woods at night, gives quite an idea of enchantment, "Puis ces mouches se develloppant de I'ob scurite de ces arbres et s'approchant de nous, nous les voyjons sur les orangere voisin.?, qu'ik mettoient tout en feu, nous rendant la vue de leurs beaux fruits dores que la nuit avoit ravie," &c. &c. — See VHbitoire de» Antilleit, art. 2, chap. 4, liv. i. Note 51, page 372. "Shall crush the giant* thai bestride mankind." Thus Morse. "Here the sciences and the arts of civilized life are to receive their highest improvements : here civil and religious liberty are to flourish, unchecked by the cruel hand of civil or ecclesiastical tyranny: here genius, aided by all the improvements of former ages, is to be ex- erted in humanizing mankind, in expanding and enriching their minds with religious and philosophical knowledge," &c. &c. — P. 569. Note 52, page 373. She '» old in yotdh, the '» blasted in her prime. " "What will be the old age of this government, if it is thus early de- crepit ! " Such was the remark of Fauchet, the French minister at Phil- adelphia, in that famous dispatch to his government, which was inter- cepted by one of our cruisers in the year 1794. This curious memorial may be found in Porcupine's "Works, voL i. p. 279. It remains a striking monument of republican intrigue on one side and republican profligacy on the other; and I would recommend the perusal of it to every honest politician, who may labor under a moment's delusion with respect to the purity of American patriotism. AMEKICAN POEMS. Note 53, page 375. To rise and fall, like other ivares of trade. " Nous voyons que, dans les pays oii 1' on n' est affecte que de 1' esprit de commerce, on trafique de toutes les actions liumaines et de toutes les vertus morales." — Montesquieu, de V Esprit des Lois, liv. xx. chap. 2. Note 54, page 375. From England's debtors to be England's foes. I trust I shall not be suspected of a wish to justify those arbitrary steps of the English government which the colonies found it so necessary to re- sist; my only object here is to expose the selfish motives of some of the leading American demagogues. Note 55, page 375. And break allegiance, but to cancel debt. The most persevering enemy to the interests of this country, amongst the politicians of the western world, has been a Virginian merchant, who, finding it easier to settle his conscience than his debts, was one of the first to raise the standard against Great Britain, and has ever since en- deavored to revenge upon the whole country the obligations which he lies under to a few of its merchants. Note 56, page 375. Which makes a patriot, can unmake him too. See Porcupine's account of the Pennsylvania Insurrection in 1794. In short, see Porcupine's works throughout, for ample corroboration of every sentiment which I have ventured to express. In saying this, I refer less to the comments of that writer than to the occurrences which he has re- lated and the documents which he has preserved. Opinion may be sus- pected of bias, but facts speak for themselves. 466 iJOTES. Note 57, page 376. Of slaving blacks and democratic whites. In Virginia the effects of this system begin to be felt rather seriously While the master raves of liberty, the slave cannot but catch the conta- gion, and accordingly there seldom elapses a month without some alarm of insurrection amongst the negroes. The accession of Louisiana, it is feared, will increase this embarrassment; as the numerous emigrations, which are expected to take place, from the southern states to this newly- acquired territory, will considerably diminish the white population, and thus strengthen the proportion of negroes, to a degree which must ulti- mately be ruinous. Note 58, page 378. And dream of freedom in his bondmaid's arms. The "black Aspasia" of the present * * * * of the United States, inter Avernales baud ignotissima nymphas, has given rise to much pleas- antry among the anti-democrat wits of America. Note 59, page 378. Come, let me lead thee o'er this "second Borne/" " On the original location of the ground now allotted for the seat of the Federal City (says Mr. Weld) the identical spot on which the capitol now stands was called Rome. This anecdote is related by many as a cer- tain prognostic of t!ie future magnificence of the city, which is to be, as it were, a second Rome." — Weld's Travels, letter iv. Note 60, page 378. And what xoas Goose Creek once is Tiber now. A little stream runs through the city, which, with intolerable affectation, they have styled the Tiber. It was originally called Goose Creek. 457 AMERICAN POEMS. Note 61, page 379. Though nought but woods and J- n they see. "To be under the necessity of going through a deep wood for one or two miles, perhaps, in order to see a next-door neighbor, and in the same city, is a curious, and, I believe, a noA'el circumstance." — Weld, letter iv. The Federal City (if it must be called a city) has not been much in- creased since Mr. Weld visited it. Most of the public buildings, which were then in some degree of forwardness, have been since utterly sus- pended. The hotel is already a ruin; a great part of its roof has fallen in, and the rooms are left to be occupied gratuitously by the miserable Scotch and Irish emigrants. The President's house, a very noble struct- ure, is by no means suited to the philosophical humility of its present possessor, who inhabits but a corner of the mansion himself, and aban- dons the rest to a state of uncleanly desolation, which those who are not philosophers cannot look at without regret. This grand edifice is encir- cled by a very rude paling, through which a common rustic stile intro- duces the visitors of the first man in America. With respect to all that is within the house, I shall imitate the prudent forbearance of Herodotus, and say, to. hs tv artofpr^ti^. The private buildings exhibit the same characteristic display of arro- gant speculation and premature ruin ; and the few ranges of houses which were begun some years ago have remained so lojig waste and unfinished that they are now for the most part dilapidated. Note 62, page 379. Its own half-organized, half-minded race. The picture which BuflJbn and De Pauw have drawn of the American Indian, though very humiliating, is, as far as I can judge, much more correct than the flattering representations which Mr. Jefferson has given us. See the Notes on Virginia, where this gentleman endeavors to dis- 458 NOTES. prove in general the opinion maintained so strongly by some philosophers that nature (as Mr. Jeiferson expresses it) beliitles her productiops in the western world. M. de Pauw attributes the imperfection of animal life in America to the ravages of a very recent deluge, from whose effects upon its soil and atmosphere it has not yet sufficiently recovered. — Eecherches sur les Anuricains, Part I. torn i. p. 102. Note 63, page 380. The sculptured image of that veteran chief. On a small hill near the capitol there is to be an equestrian statue of General Washington. Note 64, page 382. With me shall wonder, and with me despise. In the ferment which the French revolution excited among the demo- crats of America, and the licentious sympathy with which they shared in the wildest excesses of jacobinism, we may find one source of that vul- garity of vice, that hostility to all the graces of life, which distinguishes the present demagogues of the United States, and has become indeed too generally the characteristic of their countrymen. But there is another cause of the corruption of private morals, which, encouraged as it is by the government, and identified with the interests of the community, seems to threaten the decay of all honest principle in America. I allude to those fraudulent violations of neutrality to which they are indebted for the most lucrative part of their commerce, and by which they have so long infringed and counteracted the maritime rights and advantages of this country. This unwarrantable trade is necessarily abetted by such a system of collusion, imposture, and perjury, as cannot fail to spread rapid contamination around it. 459 AMERICAN POEMS. XoTE 65, page 3S6. LINIS WRITTEN' AT THE COHOES, OR FALLS OF THE MOHAWK RIVEK. There is a dreary and savage character in the country immediately about these Falls, which is much more in harmony with the wildness of such a scene than the cultivated lands in the neighborhood of Niagara. See the drawing of them in Mr. Weld's book. According to him, the per- pendicular height of the Cohoes Fall is fifty feet; but the Marquis de Chastellux makes it seventy-sLs. The fine rainbow, which is continually forming and dissolving, as the spray rises into the light of the sun, is perhaps the most interesting beauty which these wonderful cataracts exhibit. Note 66, page 388. SO:S^G OF THE EYIL SPIRIT OF THE WOODS. The idea of this poem occurred to me in passing through the very dreary wilderness between Batavia, a new settlement in the midst of the woods, and the little village of Bufllilo upon Lake Erie. This is the most fatiguing part of the route, in travelling through the Genesee country to Niagara. Note 67, page 388. Think, 'twas once the Indian's home! The Five Confederated Nations (of Indians) Avere settled along the banks of the Susquehannah and the adjacent country, until the year 1779, when General Sullivan, with an army of 4000 men, drove them from their country to Niagara, where, being obliged to live on salted provisions, to which they were unaccustomed, great numbers of them died. Two hun- dred of them, it is said, were buried in one grave, where they had en- camped." — Morse's American Geography. 460 NOTES. Note 68, page 389. And (he cayman loves to creep. The 'alligator, who is supposed to lie in a torpid state all the winter, in the bank of some creek or pond, having previously swallowed a large uumber of pine knots, which are his only siistenance during the time. Note 69, page 389. And the shuddering murderer sits. This was the mode of punishment for murder (as Charlevoix tells us) among the Hurons. "They laid the dead body upon poles at the top of a cabin, and the murderer was obliged to remain several days together, and to receive all that dropped from the carcass, not only on himself but on his food." Note 70, page 390. To the Fiend presiding there/ "We find also collars of porcelain, tobacco, ears of maize, skins, &c. by the side of difficult and dangerous ways, on rocks, or by the side of the falls; and these are so many offerings made to the spirits which preside in these places." — See Charlevoix's Letter on the Traditiom and the Re- ligion of the Savages of Canada. Father Hennepin too mentions this ceremony; he also says, "We took notice of one barbarian, who made a kind of sacrifice upon an oak at the Cascade of St. Antony of Padua, upon the river Mississippi." — See Hennepin's Voyage into North America. Note 71, page 392. Bright lahes expand, and conquering rivers flow. This epithet was suggested by Charlevoix's striking description of the confluence of the Missouri with the Mississippi. " I believe this is the 461 I AMERICAN POEMS. finest confluence in the world. The two rivers are mucli of the same breadth, each about half a league; but the Missouri is by far the most rapid, and seems to enter the Mississippi like a conqueror, through which it carries its white 'waves to the opposite shore, without mixing them : afterwards it gives its color to the Mississippi, which it never loses again, but carries quite down to the sea." — Letter xxvii. Note 72, page 393. But lost, unheard, they linger freezing there. Alluding to the fanciful notion of " words congealed in northern air.'' Note 73, page 394. ' Twas bliss to live with, and 't was pain to leave. In the society of Mr. Deunie and his friends, at Philadelphia, I passed the few agreeable moments which my tour through the states afforded me. Mr. Dennie has succeeded in diffusing through this cultivated little circle that love for good literature and sound politics, which he feels so zealously himself, and which is so very rarely the characteristic of his countrymen. They will not, I trust, accuse me of illiberality for the picture which I have given of the ignorance and corruption that surround them. If I did not hate, as I ought, the rabble to which they are opposed, I could not value, as I do, the spirit with which they defy it; and in learning from them what Americans can be, I but see with the more indignation what Americans are. Note 74, page 398. A CANADIAK BOAT SONG. I wrote these words to an air which our boatmen sung to us frequently. The wind was so unfavorable that they were obliged to row all the way, 462 NOTES. aud we were five days in descending the river from Kingston to Montreal, exposed to an intense sun during the day, and at night forced to take shelter from the dews in any miserable hut upon the banks that would receive us. But the magnificent sceneiy of the St. Lawrence repays all such difficulties. Our voyageurs had good voices, and sung perfectly in tune together. The original words of the air, to which I adapted these stanzas, appeared to be a long, incoherent story, of which I could understand but little, from the barbarous proimnciution of the Canadians. It begins, Dans mon chemin j'ai rencontr6 Deux cavaliers tres-bien months; And the refrain to every verse was, A I'ombre d'un bois je m'en vais jouer, A I'ombre d'un bois je m'en vais danser. I ventured to harmonize this air, and have published it. Without that charm which association gives to every little memorial of scenes or feel- ings that are past, the melody may, perhaps, be thought common and tri fling; but I remember when we have entered, at sunset, upon one of those beautiful lakes, into which the St. Lawrence so grandly and unexpectedly opens, I have heard this simple air with a pleasure which the finest com- positions of the first masters have never given me; and now there is not a note of it which does not recall to my memory the dip of our oars in the St. Lawrence, the flight of our boat down the Eapids, and all those new and fanciful impressions to which my heart was alive during the whole of this very interesting voyage. These stanzas are supposed to be sung by those voyageurs who go to the Grand Porta^^e by the Utawas Kiver. For an account of this wonderful undertaking, see Sir Alexander Mackenzie's General History of the Fur Trade, prefixed to his Journal. AMERICAN" POEMS. XOTE 75, page 398. We 'II sing at St. A^t^s "s our parting hymn. "At the Eapid of St. Ann they are obliged to take out part, if not the whole, of their lading:. It is from this spot the Canadians consider they take their departure, as it possesses the last chtirch on the island, which is dedicated to the tutelar saint of voyagers." — Mackx>'zie, General His- fory of the I\ir Trade. Note 76, page 401. Or loved mistress, sigh in every leaf. "Avendo essi per costume di avere in venerazione gli alberi grandi et antichi, quasi che siano spesso ricettaccoli di anime beate." — Pietro deUa ValJe, part, second., lettera 16 da giardini di Sciraz. yoTE 77, page 403. And I can trace him, like a watery ?far Anbttrey, in his Travels, has noticed this shooting illumination which porpoises diffuse at night through the river St. Lawrence. — Vol. I. p. 29. XoTE 78, page 403. And the smooth glass snaJx, gliding o'er my way. The glass snake is brittle and transparent. Note 79, page 403. Where, transform'd to sacred doves. "The departed spirit goes into the Country of Souls, where, according to some, it is transformed into a dove." — Charlevoix, -upon he Traditions and the Religion of the Savages of Canada. See the ctirious fable of the American Orpheus in Lafitau, tom. i. p. 402. 4»i4 KOTES. Note 80, page 403. As those wondrous stones of light. "The mountains appeared to be sprinkled with white stones, which glistened in the sun, and were called by the Indians manetoe aseniah, or spirit stones." — Mackenzie's Journal. Note 81, page 404. IjOoliS as if it hung in air. These lines were suggested by Carver's description of one of the Amer- ican lakes. "When it was calm," he says, "and the sun shone bright, I could sit in my canoe, where the depth was upwards of six fathoms, and plainly see huge piles of stone at the bottom, of different shapes, some of which appeared as if they had been hewn; the water was at this time as pure aud transparent as air, and my canoe seemed as if it hung suspended in tliat element. It was impossible to look attentively through this limpid medium, at the rocks below, without finding, before many minutes were elapsed, your head swim and your eyes no longer able to behold the daz- zling scene. Note 82, page 404. Through the Manataulin isle. Apres avoir traverse plusieurs isles pen considerables, nous en trou- vames le quatrieme jour une fameuse nommee I'lsle de Manitoualin. — Voyages du Baron de Lahoxtax, toin. i. let. 15. Manataulin signifies a Place of Spirits, aud this island in Lake Huron is held sacred by the Indians. Note 83, page 404. Of my Wakon Bird, and fly. "The Wakon Bird, which probably is of the same species with the bird of Paradise, receives its name from the ideas the Indians have of its su- 4'j.'. AMERICAN POEMS. perior excellence; the Wakon Bird being, in their language, the Bird of the Great Sioirit." — Mouse. Note 84, page 404. Which the water lily weaves. The islands of Lake Erie are surrounded to a considerable distance by the large pond lily, whose leaves spread thickly over the surfixce of the lake, and form a kind of bed for the water snakes in summer. Note 85, page 405. Where the gold thread loves to creep. "The gold thread is of the vine kind, and grows in swamps. The re ots spread themselves just under the surface of the morasses, and are easily drawn out by handfuls. They resemble a large entangled skein of silk, and are of a bright yellow." — Morse. Note 86, page 405. O'er the sleeping flybird's head. "L'oiseau mouche, gros comme un hanneton, est de toutes couleurs, vives et changeantes: il tire sa subsistence des fleurs commes les abeilles; son nid est fait d'un cotton tros-fin suspendu a une branche d'arbre." — Voy- ages sur Indes Occidentales, par M. BossTJ, secoude part, let. xx. Note 87, page 406. With the snow bird soft and fair. Emberiza hyemalis.— See Imlay's Kentucky, p. 280. 4t56 NOTES. Note 88, page 407. Virgins, who have wander'd young. Lafitau supposes that there was an order of vestals established among the Iroquois Indians. — Bkmrs des Smivages Amhicains, &c. torn. i. p. 173. Note 89, page 407. BiTne, without sails, along the duskij fin(,d. Vedi che sdegna gli argomenti iinuini; Si che remo non vuol, ne altro velo, Clie Tale sue tra liti si lontani. Vedi come I'ha dritte verso '1 cielo Trattando Paere con I'eterne penne: Che non si mutan, come mortal pelo. Dakte, Pargafor. cant. ii. Note 90, page 411. WRITTEN ox passing DEADMAN'S ISLAND. This is one of the Magdalen Islands, and, singularly enough, is the property of Sir Isaac CofSn. The above lines were suggested by a super- stition very common among sailors, who call this ghost ship, I think, "the flying Dutchman." We were thirteen days on our passage from Quebec to Halifax, and I had been so spoiled by the truly splendid hospitality of my friends of the Phaeton and Boston, that I was but ill prepared for the miseries of a Canadian vessel. The weather, however, was pleasant, and the scenery along the river delightful. Our passage through the Gut of Canso, with a bright shy and a fair wind, was particularly striking and romantic. 407 AMEKICAK POE:!dS. Note 91, page 413. TO THE BOSTON FRIGATE, (Commanded by Captain J. E. Douglas, witli whom I returned to Eng- land, and to whom I am indebted for many, many kindnesses. In truth, I should but offend the delicacy of my friend Douglas, and, at the same time, do injustice to my own feelings of gratitude, did I attempt to say how much I owe to him. XoTE 92, page 414. And thai chill XovA Scotia's unpromising strand. Sir John "Weutworth, the Governor of Xova Scotia, very kindly allowed me to accompany him on his visit to the College which they have lately established at Windsor, about forty miles from Halifax, and I was indeed most pleasantly surprised by the beauty and fertility of the country which opened upon us after the bleak and rocky wilderness by which Halifax is surrounded. — I was told that, in travelling onwards, we should find the soil and the scenery improve, and it gave me much pleasure to know that the worthy Governor has by no means such an "inamabile regnum" as I was, at first sight, inclined to believe. 41 -,8 A CRITICAL REVIEW OF LYRIC POETS, DR. R. SHELTOX MACKENZIE, ACTHOE OF THE '"LIFE OF CHAKLES DICKERS." i69 A CRITICAL REVIEW or LYRIC POETS. " I knew a very wise man who believed that, if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation." Andrew FUUJtfr of SalttMn. So, nearly two centuries ago, wrote a sagacious Scottish. Statesman. The songs of Robert "Rurns, his countryman, which justify the remark, exercise an influence wherever the English language is spoken, greater than even tlie law, in its majesty, has ever possessed or exercised. Almost contemporaneous have been three other song- writers : Be- ranger, in France, whose patriotism was seasoned with wit ; Charles Dibdin, whose sea-songs very successfully aroused the mariners of England, during the stirring war events towards the close of the last century; and Thomas Moore, a native of Ireland, whom Shelley calls " The sweetest lyrist of her saddest wrong." 471 A CBITICAL REVIEW As jet, America can scarcely be said to possess ballads of national value. " Home, sweet Home," by John Howard Payne, does not express any patriotic feeling, and even its music was made by an English composer. " The Star-Spangled Banner." a stirring lyric of the highest merit, is set to an old English tune. In France, the chansons of Beranger went out of fashion years ago, and are not committed to memory by the rising generation. In England, Dibdin's sea-songs are equally out of date. Burns and Moore alone are lyrists, who being dead yet speak, and are not likely to pass into obli^aon. Though these poets wrote more particularly for their own country- men, their songs are universally popular, have survived their more ambitious works, and have grown, as it were, into the literature of the world. Burns may now be more popular than Moore : bat who will contend that he was a better song- writer ? The fact is, Burns' songs were for his own people, while Moore, though he also wrote for his own country, gained his poyjularity out of it, for the most part. The ballad-poetry of England and Scotland has been the growth of centuries. Dryden has said that " man- kind, even the most barbarous, have the seeds of poetry implanted in them." Music, also, had an early origin. Song and melody are the most antique forms of poetry. 472 OF LYRIC POETS. The bards, the ininatrels, were the fathers of romance, preserved in memory long before printing was invented. There are English ballads composed as early as the thir- teenth century — tte subjects being rural life, courting, battle, feasting, and the chase. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, which was graced by the Nvritings of Shakspere, poetry set to music was very popular. Besides " The Swan of Avon,'" other bards were at work — iXIarlowe, Wither, Jonson, Herrick, and Lovelace. From the death of Oliver Cromwell down to the present time, crowds of hTists have appeared. Contemporary with Moore himself were Scott, Barry Cornwall, and Lover. A few of Bul- wer's and Tennyson's songs have been " wedded to im- mortal music," but it may be fairly claimed that Moore's Melodies have obtained higher and more permanent popu- larity than any other songs during the present century. They have been characterized as '• all but unequalled for elegance of expression and subtlety of thought, flowing along in the same time in exactest harmony." There is scarcely one bad rhyme in all the Melodies, and they exhibit sense as well as sound. For the most part, the Scottish are more natural than any other songs. In EngHsh love-songs, the writers ap- pear more anxious to express their passion well than warmly, while the Scottish poets evidently are bent upon 4T3 A CRITICAL REVIEW letting the cliarmers know how deeply, how tenderly, how engrossingly they love them. An English song gen- erally contains a single conceit or sentiment, but the Scottish gives a little story in addition. One is an attempt to make a charming poem : the other, to pour the soul out into musical utterance. In the English song we find sentiment and description : in the Scottish, senti- ment and story. Thanks to the labor and perseverance of Bishop Percy and Sir Walter Scott, many fine old ballads and songs have been rescued from oblivion. Percy hunted out old manuscripts, while Scott would travel many a weary mile to take down old ballads from the lips of peasants who had committed them to memory in their childhood. Many of these record incidents of national history; others, of later date, were the production of even royal authors. Allan Kamsay, himself a poet, was a reviver and restorer of Scottish songs, in the last century. The Jacobite lyrics of that time are sung to this hour. Eo- bert Bums, himself the very Lord of Song, whether in pathetic, jovial, or afiectionate mood, may be said to have breathed life and youth, grace and beauty, into the fragments of old verse which he undertook to restore. Tannahill and Ferguson, Walter Scott and Allan Cun- ningham, Lady Anne Lindsay with her " Auld Kobin 474 OF LYRIC POETS. Gray," and Lady Nairne with her " Land o' the Leal," James Hogg and Thomas Campbell, William Motherwell and Joanna Baillie, have contributed largely to Scottish minstrelsy, and, even in the present unpoetical days of hard work and low wages, there are more songs written in Scotland in one year, than in the rest of the English- speaking world in five. These productions, too, are racy of the soil — stamped with nationality of feeling and lan- guage. Thomas Moore, thanks to an admirable mother, at once affectionate and ambitious, received not only a sound class- ical education, but obtained a competent knowledge of French and Italian, It was by his mother's liberality, and good sense, too, that, despite his comparatively hum- ble station, he was enabled to enter the University of Dublin. "When he was very popular, in London, in his early manhood, on account of his poetry, he dined with the Prince of Wales, afterwards George lY., as an hon- ored guest. In the course of conversation, the Prince asked, " I suppose, Mr. Moore, that you are a kinsman of the Marquis of Drogheda ? He is head of the Moore family, I think." The poet, too proud to claim kindred with the mere nobility of rank, instantly replied: " Your Eoyal Highness is mistaken. My family is very humble ; my father, whose ordinary title is ' Honest Jack Moore,' 475 A CRITICAL REVIEW keeps a grocer's shop at the corner of Aungier Street, Dublin." The Prince answered, " Ton have every reason to be proud of such a title in jour family. Gen- tlemen," addressing the guests, " I propose that we di'ink the health of * Honest Jack Moore,' who has such a gifted son." In music — an accomplishment rarely acquired by gen- tlemen in the last century — Thomas Moore was at home. In the fragment of his autobiography which remains, he says of Music, that it was " the only art for which, in my own opinion, I was born with a real natural love ; my poetry, such as it is, having sprung out of my deep love for music." Under an instructor, almost as young as himself, he acquired little more than " the power of playing two or three tunes, on an old lumbering harpsi- chord, with the right hand only." But it was discovered that he had an agreeable voice and taste for singing, and his talent was often called into practice. In private theatricals, too, he sang with great spmt. He was fif- teen years old when, fascinated by Haydn's music, having many musical associates, he suddenly began to teach him- self. His instrumental performance did not then extend beyond playing an accompaniment to a song, but he subsequentl}' acquired a knowledge of the scientific ele- ments of the art. — so thorouorh, indeed, that wlien he 476 OF LYRIC POETS. first met Sir Henry Bishop, who encceeded Sir John Stevenson in arranging the music for the Melodie?, among the airs he produced to him, was one his (Moore's) own, which he had called a Swedish air. He wrote in his Diary: "It was the last I bronght forward, and he had scarcely played two bars of it when he exclaimed, ' Delicious ! ' and when he had finished it said, ' This is the sweetest air you have selected yet.' " Considering that Bishop (who composed the air of " Home, Sweet Home,'-) was then the most eminent composer of the Eng- lish school, Moore must have been very clever, thus pleas- antly to deceive him. Moore declared that he had never received any regular lessons in playing, yet standing often to listen when his Bister was being tauglit, " and endea- voring constantly to pick out tunes — or 'make them — when I was alone, I became a pianoforte-player (at least sufficiently so to accompany my own singing) before almost any one was in the least aware of it." In short, the theory and practice of music came unconsciously to him, preparing him for the great work on which his fame will chiefly rest. — for it is as the greatest song-writer of his time, and not as the author of " Lalla Eookh," or the gay satirist of society, or the biographer of Sheridan and Byron, that Thomas Moore will live in literature. At the age of sixteen, Moore wrote a dramatic masque, 477 A CBITICAL RETIE"W in which were sereral songs, which his sister's teacher eet to music, and which the poet sang with applause. Many of his College mates were musical. With one of them, Edward Hudson, afterwards an exile on account of politics, he spent many hom^ — " now trying over the sweet melcKiies of our country, now talking with indignant feeling of her suffering? and wrongs." About this time, Mr. Edward Bunting published the first volume of the Ancient Music of Ireland, which may be said to have first made Moore acquainted with the beauties of the native music. It was not until ten years later, how- ever, that he made use of the treasures thus revealed, and produced the first number of the Irish Melodies. After the publication of his Anacreon, in 1800 ; of Little's Poems, in 1801 ; and of the American Epistles and Odes, in 1806, Mr. Moore made an arrangement with James and William Power, music-sellere in Dublin, to supply words to which Sir John Stevenson, then the great musical composer of that city, was to adapt Irish airs. He had previously supplied music to several of Moore's son^, which Messre. Power had published, and which the author — who, under the wing of Lord Moira, the Lord Rawdon of our War of Independence, had been introduced into the firet society in London — had literally warbled into popularity. The first number, like 478 OF LTEIC POETS. each of its successors, contained twelve Melodies, with a Preface from the Publisher, and giving part of a letter from Moore to Stevenson, stating, " Our National Music has never been collected ; and whUe the composers ot the Continent have enriched their Operas and Sonatas borrowed from Ireland — very often without the honesty of acknowledgment — we have left these treasures in a great degree unclaimed and fugitive. Thus our Airs, like too many of our countrymen, for want of protection at home, have passed into the service of foreigners." The truth of this was illustrated six years after Moore's death, when Frederic de Flotow, the German composer, took the air known as *' The Last Eose of Summer," and made it the principal gem in his opera of " Martha." The second number of the Irish Melodies appeared towards the close of 1807. A long Preface, prepared by Moore, and actually printed, was suppressed — Mr. Power being alarmed at the freedom of the Poet's political comments upon his country's wrongs and sorrows. It is said that these opening numbers were sold to Mr. Power for fifty pounds ($250) ; and, indeed, there is a sentence in a letter from Moore to his mother, dated August, 1808. — " I quite threw away the Melodies : they will make the little smooth fellow's fortune,"' — which goes far to confirm this statement. The third number appeared -iTO A CRITICAL REVIEW in 1810, in which year Moore made England his place of residence ; the fourth in ISll ; the fifth in 1813 ; and the sixth in 1815. This was announced as the last of the series ; but the Poet, when bidding adieu to the Irish Harp forever, confessed that it might be, perhaps, " only one of those eternal farewells which a lover takes of his mistress occasionally." Accordingly, though the last of these Melodies was a farewell to the dear Harp of his Country (p. 91), declaring — " If the pulse of the patriot, soldier, or lover, Have throbb'd at our lay, 'tis thy glory alone ; I was but as the wind passing heedlessly over, And all the wild sweetness I wak'd was thy own," — no one was surprised when, in 1818, the seventh num- ber appeared, as the first of a new series, opening, as the last had closed, with an address to his Harp. The eighth number, written in Paris, was published in 1821 ; the ninth, in 182-1 ; and the tenth, closing the work, was delayed until the summer of 1834. It contained four Supplementary Airs, and a Dedication of the entire work to the Marchioness of Head fort, daughter of his friend Sir John Stevenson, of Dublin, who had arranged the music for the Melodies from 1807 to 1819 — that task being confided to Sh- Henry Bishop from the latter date to 1831:. Moore was the author, also, of numerous 480 OF LYRIC POETS. Sacred Songs, National Airs, and separate Lyrics, most of which obtained great popularity. The adage, " Easy writing is often very hard reading," means that rapid execution, usually careless, is less effect- ive than that on which requisite labor has been be- stowed — though the skillful artist will not leave the mark of his chisel on the marble. During his long connexion with Mr. James Power, extending over thirty years, Moore wrote over twelve hundred letters to him. Of these, only fifty-seven were used in Lord John Russell's biography of the Poet. Over one thousand were sold by public auction in London, in 1853, for the benefit ot Mr. Power's family, and thus irretrievably scattered through the world. But there is an excellent catalogue, containing copious extracts from the more important of these letters, and reference to this manifests what labor, thouo;ht, and severe criticism Moore bestowed on the composition and revision of the Melodies. He was not what is called a rapid writer, though his works occupy many volumes ; but he was very industrious, and, except when he lived in Paris (1819-1822), seems rarely to have wasted his time. Even in his annual visits to London, though he wrote little, and chiefly fluttered about in fashionable society, he was advancing his own interests, for, being greatly admired as a vocalist, he availed him- 481 A CBITICAL EEVIEW self of the oppormnitv to sing his new forthcoming songs, in faTor of which he thus created a furore in advance of their publication. It was a mode of advertising them, which gave him pleastire as well as prolit. His cor- respondence with Power shows his anxions desire to make his Melodies as perfect as possible. Sometimes he wonld order particular songs to be kept back until the verj last minute, because, being " very anxious " about them, he was hesitating in his choice even of single words. He wrote in 1S15, when, at the age of thirtv-sis, he was in foil vigor of mind and body, *' I am never done touching and retouching while the things Ke by me ; " but even after they had passed into the printers hands, he would send letter after letter to his publisher, suggesting the substitution of one word for another, or an alteration in the rhyme, or, sometimes, even the canceling of an entire stanza, and the insertion of a new one more per- fectly expressing his meaning. The result was, that scarcely an indifferent rhyme occurs in his poetry, and, from his musical ear. the rhythm is almost as unexcep- tionable. The success of Moore's Songs may be said to have created a squadron of imitators — good, bad, and indifferent — few of whom are now remembered. Samuel Lover, whose " Angel's Whisper " and '' Rory O'More "' are fair 482 OP LYRIC P0BT8. specimens of his sentiment and humor, did not appear among the song-writers until Moore was writing his latest verses. There was another Ivrist, popular to a consider- able d^ree some forty years ago, when Moore was in the fullness of his fame, who wrote verses with great facility (and carelessne^), and was even able to compose music for them, occasionally. Mr. Haynes Bayly, who began as a man of fortune and fashion, writing songs for his amusement, was finally compelled to produce them for a livelihood. One or two, such as a touching ballad — ^be- ginning, " Oh, no, we never mention her,'' — were truthful and pathetic ; but his attempt to compete with Moore's Melodies, by a series of versicles, entitled " Loves of the Butterflies," was not permanently successfuL For a few seasons, however, sensitive lady-vocalists warned their au- ditors that '* The Butterfly was a gentleman of no very good repute ; " and plethoric amateurs of the other sex might be heard asthmatically to warble Td be a baiterflv, bom in a bowei^ Where roses, and lilies, and violets meet , I would not langoish for wealQi or for power, I would not sigh to see slaves at my feet, rd be a bntteiflj, bom in a bower. And sacking all bads that are prettj and sweeL** Moore's Melodies, whose popularity is as great in America, since their authors death, as it was in Europe F A CRITICAL R E V I E ^^' while he lived, have been translated into vai'ious lan- guages — into Latin. Italian, French, Knssian, Polish, and German ; and Mere admirably rendered into the Irish language bv Archbishop McIIale. Posterity may be said already to have passed its sen- tence upon Moore's Melodies. They manifest a very deep love of country, and an indignant spirit of indignation at the misgovern ment which so long oppressed her. Senti- ment, love, and geniality also pervade them. Like the rest of his writings, they abound in similes ; and it has been said they constitute a treasury of gems and a con- servatory of tlowei*s. Still, their expression is not mere- tricious, and their musical harmony has never been equaled, or even approached. Their poetic excellence was not fully appreciated until the words were published separate from the music — to be read rather, than sung. Then it was discovered by the world, what honest critics had already declared, that they were full of intelligence as well as of melody. Lord Byron, after reading one or two of the numbers of the Irish Melodies, then recently published, selected four of the songs, which, he said, " are worth all the epics that ever were composed.'' ITazlitt, a severe critic, who declared that Moore ought not to have written Lalla Kookh, even for three thousand guineas, said, " His muse is like Ariel — as light, as tricksy, as inde- 484 OF LYRIC POETS. fatigable, and as humane a Bpirit. II ;> fancy is ever on the wing; it flutters in the gale, gi iters in the sun. Everything lives, moves, and sparkles in his poetry ; and, over all, Love waves his purple wings. His thoughts are as many, as restless, and as bright as the insects that people the sun's beam." Lord John Russell's opinion was, that fancy and feeling were " the two qualities in which Moore was most rich Never has the English lan- guage, except in some few songs of the old poets, been made to render such melody ; never have the most re- lined emotions of love, and the most ingenious creations of fancy, been expressed in a language so simple, so easy, 60 natural." Alison, the historian, pronounced that the Melodies "have the deKcacy of refined life without its fastidiousness — the warmth of natural feeling without its rudeness." Professor Wilson, fur more enthusiastic, de- clared, " Of all the song-writers that ever warbled, or chanted, or sung, the best, in our estimation, is verily none other than Thomas Moore Burns some- times wrote like a mere boor — Moore has, too, written like a mere man of fashion. But take them both at their best, and both are inimitable. Both are national poets — and who shall say that if Moore had been bom and bred a peasant, as Bums was, and if Ireland had been such a land of knowledge, and virtue, and religion, as 485 A CRITICAL REVIEW Scotland is — and surely, without offence, we maj say that it never was and never will be — though we love the Green Island well — that with his fancy, warm heart, and exquisite sensibilities, he might not have been as natural a lyrist as Burns ; while, take him as he is, who can deny that in richness, in variety, in grace, and in the power of art, he is superior to the ploughman." Mention having here been made of the very effective manner in which Moore sang his own lyrics, it may be in place to give, in this desultory essay, some description of it. We find Mr. Edmund D. Griffin, a young American clergyman, who visited England over forty years ago, mentioning that he had met Thomas Moore, Lockhart, Washington Irving, and other eminent men of letters, at a dinner given by Murray, the London publisher. The poet, then in his fiftieth year, was to be remarked for " the height of the bald crown, the loftiness of the re- ceding pyramidical forehead, the marked yet expanded and graceful lines of the mouth ; above all, when you catch the bright smile and the brilliant eye-beam, which accompanies the flashes of his wit and the sallies of his fancy, you forget, and are ready to disavow, your formei impressions " — not favorable, on first sight of his unpoeticai figure and small stature. After the party had adjourned to the drawing-room, " Mr. Moore," he tells us, " was in- 486 OF LYRIC POETS. diiced to seat himself at tlie piano, and indulged his friends with two or three of his own Irish melodies. I cannot describe to you his singing : it is perfectly unique. The combination of music and of poetic sentiment, ema- nating from one mind, and glowing in the very counte- nance, and speaking in the very voice which that same mind illuminates and directs, produces an effect upon the eye, the ear, the taste, the feeling, the whole man in short, such as no mere professional excellence can at all aspire to equah His head is cast backward, and his eyes upward, with the true inspiration of an ancient bard. His voice, though of little compass, is inexpressibly sweet. He realized to me, in many respects, my conceptions of the poet of love and wine ; the refined and elegant, though voluptuous Anacreon." Mr. Willis, who met him six years later (in the autumn of 1834), thus set down, in his Pencilings by the Way, his impressions of Moore. " To see him only at table," Willis says, " you would think him not a small man. His principal length is in his body, and his head aiui shoulders are those of a much larger person. Conse- quently, he sits tall, and, with the peculiar erectness of head and neck, his diminutiveness disappears I have no time to describe his singing. It is well known, however, that its effect is only equaled by tlie 487 A CRITICAL RETIEW beauty of liis own words He makes no attempt at music. It is a kind of admirable recitative, in which every shade of thought is syllabled and dwelt upon, and the sentiment of the song goes through your blood, warming you to the very eyelids, and starting ycur tears, if you have soul or sense in you. I have lieard of women fainting at a song of Moore's ; and if the bur- den of it answered, by 'chance, to a secret in the bosom of the listener, I should think, from its comparative eflect upon so old a stager as myself, that the heart would break with it. We all sat round the piano He rambled over the keys awhile, and sang ' When first I met thee,' [page l-i3 in this volume], with a pathos that beggars description. When the last word had faltered out, he rose and took Lady Blessington's hand — said good- night, and was gone before a word was uttered. For a full minute after he had closed the door, no one spoke. I could have wished, for myself, to drop silently asleep where I sat, with the tears in my eyes and the softness in my heart." These descriptions may appear exaggerated, but, having heard Moore sing — always with the little trick of silently gliding away the moment he had producel his greatest effect— I can answer for their truth. Poets of the highest order do not usually do justice, in singing, or even in 488 OP LYRIC POETS. reading, to their own lyrics. Bums sang very well but, rarely attempting ballads of sentiment or love, con- iined himself to his more jonal eflfusions. Lover, like Moore, rather spoke than sung his own songs, and some times touched his listeners' hearts. The remuneration which Moore received for his Melo- dies was very considerable. Compared with the payments to Burns, it might be called enormous. There are some two hundred and fifty lyrics, written or amended by Bums, for which he received only five pounds ($25) at the beginning of his task, and as much more sent to him, when he was on his death-bed, when, if needed, it was not used. Moore received five hundred pounds a vear for nearly thirty years, during which he wrote the Melodies, — the hundred and twenty-four contained in this volume. This annuity makes a total of fifteen thousand pounds Sterling ($70,000) — which shows a payment of nearly $605 for eich song I Scott, Byron, Bulwer, Macaulay, and Dickens had magnificent remuneration for their writings, but nothing approaches the rate of payment given to Moore for his Melodies. For " Lalla Rookh," a collection of poems, set, as it were, in th • framework of a prose narrative — like Orient pearls strung upon a thread of eold — Moore also received a very large sum. The friend who negotiated the sale of that work, one line of which the 489 A CRITICAL REVIEW intending pnLlisliers and purchasers had never read, at the time, simply declared " that Moore ought to receive for his poem the largest price that has ever been given, in our da}', for such a work." That was three thousand guineas ($16, £00), and this was the sum paid to the negotiator, on Moore's part, (Mr. Perry, then editor of a leading Liberal newspaper in London.) to whom the grateful poet addressed some verses, not to be found in any collection of his writings ; but he personally acknowledged to me that though he had forgotten and lost, he certainly had written them. I have pleasure in reproducing them here. They are as follow : — To , to whose interference I chiefly oioe the very liberal price given for ♦•Lalla llOOKlI." " Wlica they shall tell, ia future times. Of thousands given for idle rhymes, Like these — the pastime of an hour, They'll wonder at the lavish taste That could, like tulip-fanciers, waste A little fortune on a flower I "Yet wilt not thou, whose friendship set Such value on tlie bard's renown, — Yet, wilt thou not, my friend, regret The golden shower thy spell brought down ; 490 OF LYRIC POETS. " For thou dost love the free-born Muse Whose flight uo curbing chain pursues ; And thou dost think the song, that shrines That image, — so ador'd by thee. And spirits like thee, — Liberty, Of price beyond all India's mines I " It only remains to add a few particulars concerning the present edition of Moore's Melodies, which also con- tains his Poems, written in America, at the commencement of his life of authorship. Tlie illustrations of the Mel- odies were designed by Moore's countryman and friend, the late Mr. Daniel Maclise, who died suddenly in Lon- don, in April, 1S70, and for thirty-five years had been a distinguished member of the British Academy of Fine Arts, — one of the most poetical -historical painters of the age, and unsurpassed as a brilliant colorist. Like Moore, he was the son of parents who belonged, in Ireland, not to the aristocracy of rank or wealth, but to that ot industry and honesty. Like him, too, he ventured upon the troubled and dangerous ocean of London life, at a very early age. Still continuing the parallel, Maclise speedily obtained an early recognition of his genius. Every honor, in the way of his profession, that Maclise contended for he obtained, with apparent ease, over 491 A CRITICAL REVIEW numerous and gifted competitors. In 1833, when lie was only twenty-two years old, among other fine paintings of his in the Royal Academy Exhibition, was a master- piece entitled " Mokanna," illustrating the efiective story, " The Veiled Propliet of Khorassan," in Moore's " Lalla Eookh." The wonderful productiveness and rich imagina- tion of this great painter were assisted by remarkable skill and clear judgment. When it was determined that the new Houses of Parliament, in London, should be enriched by the sister Muses of Painting and Sculpture, a commission was given to Mr. _Maclise to execute, in fresco, several of the illustrations of British history, representing war-scenes on sea and land, and his " Death of Nelson " and " Meeting of Blucher and Wellington after the Battle of Waterloo,"' are among the most illustrious triumphs of Art in that national gallery. In 1866, he refused the presidency of the Eoyal Academy, the highest honor that, as a Painter, he could receive. He devoted years of study and labor to the production of his pictorial edition of Moore's Melodies, and Moore gratefully spoke of his good fortune in having " the rich imaginative powers of Mr. Maclise employed in its adornment." It is not too much to say that never before was Poetry waited upon by such a lovely hand-maiden as Art. Beauty and grace pervade every 492 OF LYRIC POETS. page, and bring out, as it were, the deeper and more subtle meaning of the bard. Mr. William Kiches, one of our own artists, has com- pleted this volume, by illustrating, for the first time in any country, Moore's American Poems, and his designs, characteristic and national, will bear, though they do not challenge, comparison with those which Maclise produced for the Melodies. They chiefly illustrate the scenery and natural objects which Moore admired on this side of the Atlantic, and are a graceful and appropriate tribute to his genius. Philadelphia, March 21, 1871. 498 CONTENTS. Paue Publishers' Dedication 5 Life op Thomas Moore, with Portrait, Views of Birthplace akd English Residence 7 Preface to Melodies 21 Illustrated Title to Melodies 25 Frontispiece to AIelodies 27 Moore's Melodies, with Illustrations 29 Collection of Melodies, arkakged as Solos, Duets, Tkios, and Quartets, with Piano Accompaniment 248 Preface — Moore's Visit to America 281 Dedication of American Poems to Francis, Earl of Moira 296 Preface to American Poems 297 A rtist's Address 301 Frontispiece to American Poems 303 American Poems, with Illustrations 305 Notes to Melodies 421 Notes to American Poems 442 A Critical Review of Ltric Poets 471 Index to Melodies 496 to 500 Index to American Poems 501 to 504 495 INDEX TO THE MELODIES. PAGB Alone in crowds to wander on 239 And doth not a meeting like this make amends 207 As a beam o'er the face of the waters may glow 46 As slow our ship her foamy track 165 As vanquish'd Erin wept beside 218 At the mid hour of night, when stars are weeping, I fly Ill Avenging and bright fall the swift sword of Erin 106 Believe me, if all those endearing young charms 64 By that Lake, whose gloomy shore 99 By the Feal's wave benighted 213 By the hope within us springing 82 Come o'er the sea 141 Come, rest in this bosom, my own stricken deer 161 Come, send round the wine, and leave points of belief. 68 Dear Harp of my Countryl in darkness I found thee 91 Down in the valley come meet me to-night 190 Drink of this cup; — you'll find there's a spell in 187 Drink to her who long 75 Erin! the tear and the smile in thine eyes 83 Fairestl put on awhile 205 Farewell 1 — but whenever you welcome the hour 131 496 IRISH MELODIES. PAGE Fill the bumper fair 150 Fly not yet, 'tis just the hour 39 Forget not the field where they perish'd 162 From this hour the pledge is given 224 Go where Glory waits thee 29 Has sorrow thy young days shaded 139 Here we dwell, in holiest bowers 104 How dear to me the hour when daylight dies 60 How oft has the Benshee cried 49 How sweet the answer Echo makes 193 I'd mourn the hopes that leave me ; 135 If thou 'It be mine, the treasures of air 181 In the morning of life, when its cares are unknown 167 In yonder valley there dwelt, alone 216 I saw from the beach, when the morning was shining 227 I saw thy form in youthful prime 103 I wish I was by that dim Lake 197 It is not the tear at this moment shed.. 102 I've a secret to tell thee, but hush! not here 215 Lay his sword by his side — it hath serv'd him too well 245 Lesbia hath a beaming eye 96 Let Erin remember the days of old 66 Like the bright lamp, that shone in Kildare's holy fane 71 My gentle Harp, once more I waken 163 Nay, tell me not, dear, that the goblet drowns 109 Ne'er ask the hour — ^.what is it to us 179 Night clos'd around the conqueror's way 84 No, not more welcome the fairy numbers 153 407 INDEX. PAGE Of all the fair months, that round the sun 231 Oh! Arranmore, lov'd Arranmore 240 Oh banquet not in those shining bowers 192 Oh! blame not the bard, if he flies to the bowers 73 Oh! breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade 34 Oh! could we do with this world of ours 242 Oh! doubt me not — the season.... 133 Oh for the swords of former time 183 Oh! had we some bright little isle of our own 85 Oh! haste and leave this sacred isle 57 Oh! the days are gone, when Beauty bright 92 Oh, the sight entrancing 201 Oh! think not my spirits are always as light 42 Oh, ye Dead! oh, ye Dead! whom we know by the light you give... 189 Oh! weep for the hour 62 Oh! where's the slave so lowly 146 One bumper at parting! — the' many 137 Quick! we have but a second 196 Remember the Glories of Brien the Brave 36 Remember thee; yes, while there's life in this heart 32 Rich and rare were the gems she wore 47 Sail on, sail on, thou fearless bark 184 Shall the Harp then be silent, when he who first gave 210 She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps 108 She sung of Love, while o'er her lyre 221 Silence is in our festal halls 243 Silent, oh Moyle! be the roar of thy water 67 Sing — sing — Music was given 235 Sing, sweet Harp, oh sing to me 219 Strike the gay harp! see the moon is on high 222 -tf)8 IRISH MELODIES. PAGE Sublime was the warning that Liberty spoke 69 Sweet Innisfallen, fare thee well 199 Take back the virgin page 55 The dawning of morn, the daylight's sinking 194 The dream of those days when first I sung thee is o'er 228 The harp that once through Tara's halls 41 The Minstrel-Boy to the war is gone 127 The time I've lost in wooing 147 The valley lay smiling before me 119 The wine-cup is circling in Almhin's hall 225 The young May -moon is beaming, love 112 There are sounds of mirth in the night-air ringing 236 There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet 44 They came from a land beyond the sea 238 They know not my heart, who believe there can be 156 They may rail at this life — from the hour I began it 176 This life is all chequer'd with pleasures and woes 114 Tho' dark are our sorrows, to-day we'll forget them 94 Tho' the last glimpse of Erin with sorrow I see 35 Though humble the banquet to which I invite thee 154 Through Erin's isle 116 Through grief and through danger thy smile hath cheer'd my way.... 86 'Tis believ'd that this Harp, which I wake now for thee 88 'Tis gone, and for ever, the light we saw breaking 159 'Tis sweet to think, that, where'er we rove 129 'Tis the last rose of summer 123 To Ladies' eyes around, boy 171 To-morrow, comrade, we 229 'Twas one of those dreams, that by music are brought 203 We may roam thro' this world, like a child at a feast 69 Weep on, weep on, your hour is past 89 4f!!t INDEX. rxGE What life like that of the bard can be , 233 What the bee is to the floweret 107 When cold in the earth lies the friend thou hast loved 169 When daylight was yet sleeping under the billow 80 When first I met thee, warm and young 143 When he, who adores thee, has left but the name 51 When in death I shall calmly recline 52 When thro' life unblest we rove 125 Whene'er I see those smiling eyes 182 While gazing on the moon's light '. 78 While History's Muse the memorial was keeping 157 Wreath the bowl I73 Yes, sad one of Sion, if closely resembling 185 You remember Ellen, our hamlet's pride 121 500 AMERICAN POEMS. INDEX TO AMERICAN POEMS. PAGE At Night — "At night, when all is still around" 314 A Dream of Antiquity — "I just had turn'd" 350 A Canadian Boat Song — "Faintly as tolls the evening chime" 398 A Study from the Antique — " Behold, my love, the curious gem "... 362 Ballad Stanzas — "I knew by the smoke" 397 "I pray you let us roam no more" 345 "If I were yonder wave, my dear" .*. 356 "I stole along the flowery bank" 359 Lines written in a Storm at Sea — "That sky of clouds" 340 Lines written at the Cohoes — "From rise of morn" ' 386 "Nay, tempt me not to love again" 342 On leaving Philadelphia — "Alone by the Schuylkill" 383 Stanzas — "A beam of tranquillity smiled" 310 Song of the Evil Spirit of the Woods — "Now the vapor" 388 To Lord Viscount Strangford—" Sweet Moon" 305 To the Flying Fish— "When I have seen" 312 The Life Boat— "'T is sweet to behold" 315 The Tear— "On beds of snow" 317 To Miss Moore — "In days, my Kate, when life" 319 501 PAGK The Lake of die Dismal Swamp — "Thev made her a grare" 3ii6 To the Marchioness Dowager of DonegaL^ 330 To George Moigsn, Esq. — "Oh, what a sea of storm" 335 The &0W Spirit — "Xo, ne'er did the ware" 357 "Them's not a look, a word of thine" 364 To Josej-h Atkinson, Esq. — "The daylight is gone" 365 The Steersman's Song — "When freshly blows" 36S To the Firefly — "At morning, when the earth" 369 To Lord Viscount Forbes — "K former times had never" 370 To Ili. ^°-^^ V •" ^ ,, °^' 'oV" Ao '% ^^ ^;^^' •>°-n^. • . •> • V 9^ * o , o ' C, vP ' . . « -0 '-^ -v. ^°-;^, ^^ 0. •• o « o ' > --l~0€y f '> ^v s • • .0 v\ - '>^' -"i^r >, .^^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 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