1806.] 



Original Poetry. 



£41 



But, fmote wiili terrifying found, 



Forfook tlie death-polluted ground } 



And never fince, thefe limits neac^ 



Was heard to hymn her vigil clear. 

 This periodic ravage fell, 



How oft our bloody annals tell ! 



But, ah ! how much cf woe untold. 



How many groans of young and old 



Has Hift'ry, in this early age, 



Sunk in the margin of her page. 

 Which, at the heft, but ftampa a name 

 On vice, and mifery, and fhame. 



Thus flow'd in flames, in blood, and tears, 

 A lava of two hundred years ; 

 And iho' fome feeds of fcience hen 

 Shot forth, in heart-enliv'ning green, 

 To cloath the g.ips of civil ftriie, 

 And fmoolh a favage-tempei'd life, 

 Yet foon new torrents black'ning came, 

 V/rapt the young growth in rolling llaiiie, 

 And, asitblafted, left h=hind 

 Dark defolation of the mind. 



But now no more the rugged North 

 Pours half its population forth ; 

 No more that iron- girded coaft 

 (The (keath of many a f*orded hoft) 

 That rulh'd abroad for bloody fpoil. 

 Still won on haplels Erin's foil, 

 Where Difcord wav'd lier flaming brand, 

 Sure g'jide to a devored lanJ ; 

 A land, by fav'ring Nature nuts'd. 

 By human fraud and folly curs'd. 

 Which nev-r foreign frienJ ihall kn8W, 

 While to lierfclf the direft foe. 



Is that a friend, who, fword in hand, 

 Leaps, pona'rous, on the finking ftrand 

 Full-p!um'd, with Anglo-Norman pride, 

 The bafe aduh'rer by his fide. 

 Pointing to Leinfter'i fertile plain, 

 Where (wretch !) he thinks once more to 



reign ? 

 Yes, thou fhalt reign, and live to know 

 Thy own, amid thy country's woe. 

 That country's curfe upon thy head. 

 Torments thee living:, haunts thee riead ; 

 And, howling through the vaults of Time, 

 E'en now proclaims and damns thy crime j 

 Six ccnt'ries paft, her curfe ftill lives. 

 Nor yet forgets, nor ytt forgives, 

 Dermod, who bade the Normans come 

 Tofick and fjioil his native home. 



Sown by this traitor's, bloody hand, 

 Din'e.-ifion routed in th-- land ; 

 Mix'd with the feed of fpringing years. 

 Their hopeful blofiVmia fteep'd in tears j 

 And late pofterity can tell 

 The fi Ullage rotted as it fell. 



Then Defliny wjs heard to wiil. 

 While on black ftone of Ipisfail 

 She mark'd this nation's drcjdful donm, 

 And characlei'd the woes to conic. 

 Ba'tlc, and plague, and fair.inr, pl.ic'd 

 The epochs of th' hidoric wjH;; ; 

 And, crowning every ill of life, 

 Self corijuct'd by domcftic ftiif'c. 



Was this the fcheme of mercy planij'i 

 In Adri.in's heart, thro' Henry's hand. 

 To draw the favage from his den. 

 And train Hibernia's fons to men ; 

 To fertilize the human clay, 

 And turn the ftubborn foil to day .'' 

 No — 'twas two Engllflirnen who play'd 

 The maft'ry of their fep'rate trade : 

 Conqueft was then, and ever fince. 

 The real defign of prieft and prince j 

 And while his flag the king unfurl'd. 

 The father of the Chriftian world 

 Blefs'd it, and hail'd the hallow'd deed. 

 For none butfavages would bleed j 

 Yet when thefe favages bfgan 

 To turn upon their hunter, man, 

 Rulh'd from their forefls to afl'ai] 

 Th' cncroacliing circuit of the pale. 

 The caufe of quarrel ftill was good; 

 The enemy mufl; be fubdueJ. 



Subdued ! The nation ftill was gor'd 

 Ey law more penal than the fword ; 

 Till Vengeance, with a tiger-ftart. 

 Sprang from the covert of the heart. 

 Refiftance took a blacker name. 

 The fcaii'old's penalty and ftiame ; 

 There was the wretched rebel led. 

 Uplifted there the tr.ii'or's head. 



Still there was hope th' avetiging haad 

 Of Heav'n would fpare a haplefs land j 

 That days of ruin, havoc, fpoil. 

 Would ceafe to defolate the foil ; 

 Juftice, though late, begin her courfe. 

 Subdued the lion-law of force ; 

 There was a hnpe that civil hate. 

 No more a policy of ftare ; 

 Religion not the tool of pow'r, 

 A'tr only office — to adore ; 

 That Education here might ftand. 

 The harp of Orpheus in her hand, 

 Cf pow'r t' infufe the focial charm. 

 With love of peace and order warm. 

 The ruder padicns all reprefs'd, 

 And lam'd the tigers of the breaft. 

 By love of country and of kind. 

 And magic of a matter mind. 



As from yon dulKand ftagnant lake 

 The ftreams begin to live and- take 

 Th^ir courfe thro' Clara's wooded vale, 

 Kifs'd by the health-infpiring gale, 

 Heediels of wealth their banks may holl 

 They glide, negleflful of the gold, 

 Yet feem to hope a Shakefpcare's name 

 To give our Avon deathlcfs fame, 

 So, from the favage barren heart, 

 1 he ftreams of fcience and of art 

 May fpread their foft refrefhing green. 

 To vivify the moral fctne. 



Oh, vanifti'd hope ! Oh, tranfient Loaft '. 

 Oh, Country giin'd but to be lofr! 

 (jjiii'd by a nation, raif'.f, infpit'j. 

 By eloquence acid virtue fir'd, 

 By tranfitlantic glory flung. 

 By Gratun's energetic tongue. 

 By parliament thu felt its truftf 

 By 15rit.ua tctiify'dand juft. 



Loll- 



