Page images
PDF
EPUB

THOUGH THE LAST GLIMPSE OF ERIN.

THO 'HO' 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;
Nor dread that the cold-hearted Saxon will tear
One chord from that harp, or one lock from 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 Coulins, (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 preference to her dear Coulin, 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 admired. Walker's Historical Memoirs of Irish Bards.

Mr. Walker informs us also, that about the same period, there were some harsh measures taken against the Irish minstrels.

D2

RICH AND RARE WERE THE GEMS.

ICH and rare were the gems she wore,*

RICH

And a bright gold ring on her wand she bore; But oh! her beauty was far beyond

Her sparkling gems, or snow-white wand.

[ocr errors]

Lady! dost thou not fear to stray

"So lone and lovely through 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 honor and virtue more.”

On she went, and her maiden smile
In safety lighted her round the green isle;
And blest for ever is she who relied
Upon Erin's honor and Erin's pride.

* This ballad is founded upon the following anecdote." The people were inspired with such a spirit of honor, 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 jewels 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 honor, nor was she robbed of her clothes or jewels." Warner's Hist. Ireland, vol i. book x.

AS A BEAM O'ER THE FACE OF THE WATERS.

AS a beam o'er the 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 shades alike o'er our joys and our woes,
To which life nothing darker or brighter can bring,
For which joy has no balm, and affliction no sting-

O! 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, may smile in his light, but it blooms not again.

It

THE MEETING OF THE WATERS.*

THERE is not in the wide world a valley so sweet, As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters

meet; t

Oh the last rays of feeling and life must depart, Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart.

* "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.

[ocr errors]

The rivers Avon and Avoca.

Yet it was 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,

[ocr errors]

Oh no!-it was something more exquisite still.

'Twas that friends, the belov'd of my bosom, were

near,

Who made each 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.

Sweet vale of Avoca! how calm could I rest
In thy bosom of shade with the friends I love best,
Where the storms that we feel in this cold world
should cease,

And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace.

ST. SENANUS AND THE LADY.*

ST. SENANUS.

"OH! 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 by woman's feet be trod."

* In a metrical life of St. Senanus, which is taken from an old Kilkenny MS. and may be found among the Acta Sanctorum Hiberniæ, we are told of his flight to the island of Scattery, and his

THE LADY.

"Oh Father! send not hence my bark,
Through wintry winds and billows dark;
I come with humble heart to share

Thy morn and evening prayer;
Nor mine the feet, O holy saint!
The brightness of thy sod to taint."

The Lady's prayer Senanus spurn'd,
The winds blew fresh, the bark return'd;
But legends hint, that had the maid
Till morning's light delay'd,
And given the saint one rosy smile,
She ne'er had left his lonely isle

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 purpose of introducing her to him. The following was the ungracious answer of Senanus, according to his poetical biographer :

Cui Præsul, quid fœminis

Commune est cum monachis ?
Nec te nec ullam aliam

Admittemus in insulam.

See the Acta Sanct. Hib.' p. 610.

According to Dr. Ledwich, St. Senanus was no less a personage than the river Shannon, but O'Connor and other antiquarians deny the metamorphose indignantly.

« PreviousContinue »