This alludes to an interesting circumstance related of the Dalpole the favourite troops of Brien, when they were interrupted in thelp return from the battle of Clontarf, by Fitzpatrick, Prince of The wounded men entreated that they might be allowed to Right 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 round man. Between seven and right hundred wounded mene (adds O'Halloran), « pale, emaciated, and supported in this manner, ap; eared mixed with the foremost of the traps never was such another sight exhibited. -History of ERIN! THE TEAR AND THE SMILE IN THINE EYES. AIR-Aileen Aroon. ERIN! the tear and the smile in thine eyes Blend like the rainbow that hangs in thy skies! Erin! thy silent tear never shall cease, Till, like the rainbow's light, Thy various tints unite, And form, in Heaven's sight, OH! BREATHE NOT HIS NAME. AIR-The Brown Maid. On! breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade, As the night-dew that falls on the grass o'er his head! But the night-dew that falls, though in silence it weeps, WHEN HE WHO ADORES THEE. WHEN he who adores thee has left but the name Oh! say, wilt thou weep, when they darken the fame For Heaven can witness, though guilty to them, With thee were the dreams of my earliest love- In my last humble prayer to the Spirit above Oh! blest are the lovers and friends who shall live But the next dearest blessing that Heaven can give Is the pride of thus dying for thee! THE HARP THAT ONCE THROUGH TARA'S THE harp that once through Tara's halls Now 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, And hearts that once beat high for praise No more to chiefs and ladies bright The chord alone, that breaks at night, Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes, The only throb she gives Is when some heart indignant breaks, To show that still she lives! FLY NOT YET. FLY not yet, 't is just the hour And maids who love the moon! 'T was but to bless these hours of shade That beauty and the moon were made; "T is then their soft attractions glowing Set the tides and goblets flowing. Oh! stay-Oh! stay.— Joy so seldom weaves a chain Fly not yet, the fount that play'd In times of old through Ammon's shade,' To burn when night was near: OH! THINK NOT MY SPIRITS ARE ALWAYS AS LIGHT. AIR-John O'Reilly the Active. OH! think not my spirits are always as light, And as free from a pang, as they seem to you now; Nor expect that the heart-beaming smile of to-night Will return with to-morrow to brighten my brow. 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 happy awhile; May we never meet worse, in our pilgrimage here, Than the tear that enjoyment can gild with a smile, And the smile that compassion can turn to a tear. The thread of our life would be dark, Heaven knows, 1 Solis Fons, near the temple of Ammon. Sweet vale of Avoca! how calm could I rest No. II. 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. And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace. 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, page 134. Mr Walker informs us also, that, about the same period, were some harsh measures taken against the Irish Minstrels. 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 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 honour, nor was she robbed of her clothes or jewels.-WARNER'S History of Ireland, Vol. 1, Book 10. ST SENANUS AND THE LADY. « On! haste, and leave this sacred isle, 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 1807. The rivers Avon and Avoca. In a metrical life of St Senanus, taken from an old Kilkenny MS. and which may be found among the Acta Sanctorum Hiberniæ, we are told of his flight to the island of Scattery, and his resolution not But none will see the day, We may roam through this world like a child at a feast, And Heaven smiled again with her vestal flame; 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, Through this world whether eastward or westward you roam, When a cup to the smile of dear woman goes round, Which that dark hour left upon Eveleen's fame. The white snow lay On the narrow path-way, Where the Lord of the valley cross'd over the moor; Show'd the track of his footstep to Eveleen's door. Oh! remember the smile which adorns her at home. Every trace on the path where the false Lord came; In England, the garden of beauty is kept By a dragon of prudery, placed within call; But so oft this unamiable dragon has slept, That the garden's but carelessly watch'd after all. Oh! they want the wild sweet briery fence, Which round the flowers of Erin dwells, When a cup to the smile of dear woman goes round, In France, when the heart of a woman sets sail, 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. This designation, which has been applied to Lord Nelson before, is the title given to a celebrated Irish hero, in a poem by O'Gnive, the bard of O'Niel, which is quoted in the Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland, page 433. Con, of the hundred fights, sleep in thy grass-grown tomb, and upbraid not our defeats with thy vic tories. Fos, ultimus Romanorum.. But there's a light above That stain upon the snow of fair Eveleen's fame. LET ERIN REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD. AIR-The Red Fox. LET Erin remember the days of old, Ere her faithless sons betray'd her; Which he won from her proud invader; This brought on an encounter between Malachi (the Monarch of Ireland 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 carTying off the sword of the other, as trophies of bis victory.-WARNER's History of Ireland, vol. 1, book 9. 2. 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 Craoibhe ruadh, or the knights of the Red Branch, from their chief seat in Emania, adjoining to the palace of the Ulster kings, called Teagh na Craoibhe ruadh, or the Academy of the Red Branch; and contiguous to which was a large hospital, founded for the sick knights and soldiers, called Bronbhearg, or the house of the sorrowful soldier.»-O'HALLOran's Introduction, etc. part. i, chap. 5. |