580 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 13&. 



hearer, by no means exalts, though the effects 

 on his parliamentary audience appear to have 

 been so extraordinary. " At present," writes 

 Hume (Essay xiii.), " there are above half-a-dozen 

 speakers in the two houses, who, in the judgment 

 of the public, have reached very nearly the same 

 pitch of eloquence, and no man pretends to give 

 any one a preference over the next. This seems 

 to me a certain proof that none of them have 

 attained much beyond mediocrity in this art." 

 Hume's Essays first appeared in 1742, when the 

 elder Pitt was, indeed, young in parliament ; but 

 he survived till 1776, during which interval Chat- 

 ham's fame reached its culminating point. Yet, 

 in all the ensuing editions, the author never 

 thought it necessary to modify his depreciation of 

 British eloquence. 



O'Connor, it is said, published his father-in-law 

 Condorcet's collective works ; . but whether the 

 edition of 1804 in 21 volumes is meant, I cannot 

 determine, though I know no other ; nor does this 

 contain his mathematical writings. While out- 

 lawed in 1793 with the Girondist faction, he 

 evaded, from October to March, 1794, the revo- 

 lutionary search, when he poisoned himself, un- 

 willing, he said, in some verses addressed to his 

 wife, the sister of Marshal Grouchy, further to 

 participate in the horrors of the period, though he 

 had been most instrumental in preparing the way 

 for them. He chose, however, the better side, in 

 his conception, of the proposed alternative or 

 dilemma : 

 " lis m'ont dit : Cholsis d'etre oppresseur ou victime ; 

 J'embrassai le malheur, et leur lalssai le crime." 



Madame O'Connor, a child of five years old at 

 her father's death, had a very faint recollection of 

 him; but I perfectly remember him, with his 

 ardent look, and, while still young, a gray head, — 

 " a volcano covered with snow," as was observed 

 of him. O'Connor's only child, a mild gentle- 

 manly young man, but certainly not the inheritor 

 of his parent's talents, predeceased him, so that 

 no descendant, either of Condorcet or O'Connor, 

 now survives. J. R. (of Cork). 



INEDITED POETRY. 



(Vol. v., pp. 387. 435.) 



By way of concluding my notes upon the MS. 

 volume of poetry, from which I have already 

 transcribed two pieces (inserted at pages 387. 485. 

 of your present volume), I now send you the 

 short poem referred to in my first communication : 

 " February ] 5tli, past two in the morning. 

 Going to bed very ill. 

 Oh, when shall I, from pain and sorrow free, 

 Enjoy calm rest, and lasting peace with thee ! 

 When will my weary pilgrimage be o'er, 

 When shall my soul from earth to heav'n soar. 

 And, freed from flesh, the God of Gods adore. 



::} 



Oh thou who only knowest what is best. 



Give me, oh give me, peace, content, and rest ! 



In life and death, oh be thou ever nigh, 



And my great weakness with thy strength supply. 



If on the bed of sickness I am laid, 



Tiien let me find that thou can'st give me aid. 



My drooping soul may thy blest Spirit chear, 



And dissipate disponding gloomy fear. 



May the bright angels watch around my bed, 



And keep my timorous soul from fear and dread. 



And should excess of agony or pain, 



Or fever's rage o'er reason longest gain ; 



Even then protect me by thy mighty power. 



Oh save me, save me, in that dreadful hour ! 



Make every thought such as thou mayst approve, 



And every word show I my Maker love. 



If void of reason I should think, or say, 



Ought that's improper, wash such staines away. 



Resign'd unto thy will let me submit. 



With joy to whatsoeuer thou think'st fit. 



In peace let me resign my latest breath. 



And, void of fear, meet the grim tyrant death. 



My parting soul let me to God entrust. 



And hope a Resurrection with the just." 



The devotional feeling displayed in these lines^ 

 and the circumstances under which they were 

 composed, will probably render them interesting' 

 to some of your readers. The other poems in the 

 little volume relate chiefly to the death of her 

 beloved husband. I should have sent one of these 

 had I thought them suitable to your columns. 

 Suffice it to say, that her grief for her bereave- 

 ment seems only to have been equalled by her 

 affectionate reminiscences of the piety and excel- 

 lence of the departed bishop, and only to have* 

 been assuaged by the "sure and certain hope'* 

 which filled her mind. The Queries which X 

 would found upon the MS. are two in number : 



1. What is the precise date of the author's 

 death ? 



2. The meaning (if any) of the subscription to 

 the piece printed at page 435.? 



Permit me to notice a trifling error of the 

 press, p. 387. col. 2. 1. 21., for then read them^ 

 and to thank you for the space given to these- 

 three communications. 



W. Spaekow Simpson, B.A, 



P. S. — Since writing the above I have seen the 

 observation of your correspondent C. B., p. 523. t 

 I cannot think the meaning of the signature so 

 evident as he implies. His reason for the use 

 of the name Juba is evidently correct : I am in- 

 debted to him for the suggestion, and must confess 

 that the coincidence had escaped me. With re- 

 gard to the word Isshara, had it been intended to 

 signify that the former name was " assumed, or 

 false," it would certainly have been written I-sham, 

 as C. B. evidently feels. It is possible that this 

 part of the signature may have no meaning : this 

 I must leave for some other correspondent to 

 determine. 



