400 Suggestion for the Celebration of Shakspeare 1 s Birth- day. [APRIL, 



with some verses of my own, were they not offered, as the writer of the 

 songs from which I have just quoted, remarks, in the hope that they 

 may elicit better. I have had the gratification more than once of 

 hearing them sung, adapted to an Irish air, by one of the ablest drama- 

 tists and truest Shaksperians of the age. 



SONG FOR SHAKSPEARE^S BIRTH-DAY. 



Ever since the dawn of time 



Have poets told their sylvan stories, 

 Gemming life with truths sublime, 



And crowning man with living glories. 

 Sweet their strains, but far less dear 



Than his to whom all shapes were given 

 Now a breathing violet here, 



And now a streaming star in heaven. 

 Oh ! the vast, the varied mind, 



The all-encircling line of Shakspeare ! 

 Nature yet must feel regret 



At losing him the gentle Shakspeare ! 



Oh ! the brighest flame of life, 



It burns in those who best adore him ; 

 Gloom and doubt, despair and strife, 



Like snow melt all away before him. 

 All his mighty mind was love ! 



Yes, sure his pen was once a feather 

 In the wing of Noah's dove 



It links us so in peace together. 

 Oh ! the sweetness of his song, 



The music and the mirth of Shakspeare ! 

 Golden word was never heard 



Like thy all-echoed name, my Shakspeare ! 



O'er the mind his magic breathed, 



And still it leaves a charm within it ; 

 As Apollo's harp bequeathed 



Its music where it laid a minute. 

 Time shall never still the tone, 



Nor e'er of radiant wreaths deprive him ; 

 Nature was his nurse alone, 



And Nature only can survive him. 

 Oh ! the green, the glorious page, 



The everlasting line of Shakspeare ! 

 Millions meet, with praises sweet, 



Around thy sunny shrine, my Shakspeare ! 



I repeat my prayer to the reader, to Shakspereanize on the coming 

 23d of April. Let him try the experiment he will find it a pleasant 

 and proper starting-point for his summer enjoyments. " To conclude," 

 in perfectly original phrase if the suggestion I have thrown out should 

 be the parent only of one meeting if it should tempt only one lover of 

 humanity to pay a hearty homage to its great Friend and Illustrator 

 my object will be attained. L. B. 



