On her who, in thy fortune's fall, With smiles had still received thee, And gladly died to prove thee all Hate cannot wish thee worse Than guilt and shame have made thee. WHILE HISTORY'S MUSE. AIR-Paddy Whack. WHILE History's Muse the memorial was keeping 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 illumed all the volume her WELLINGTON'S name. "Hail, Star of my Isle!" said the Spirit, all sparkling With beams such as break from her own dewy skies; "Through ages of sorrow, deserted and darkling, "I've watch'd for some glory like thine to arise. And still the last crown of thy toils is remaining, The grandest, the purest, e'en thou hast yet known; Though 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!" THE TIME I'VE LOST IN WOOING. AIR-Pease upon a Trencher. THE time I've lost in wooing, The light that lies In Woman's eyes, Has been my heart's undoing. Though Wisdom oft has sought me, I scorn'd the lore she brought me; My only books Were Woman's looks, And Folly's all they've taught me. Her smile when Beauty granted, Like him the Sprite' Whom maids by night Oft meet in glen that's haunted. Was turn'd away. O! winds could not outrun me. And are those follies going? For brilliant eyes Again to set it glowing? 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 ingenious 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 interesting novel, O'Donnel") has given a very different account of that goblin. |