From those he wept for; well did he foresee The hands of health; how oft beneath his wing Then, seraph! where thy first descent on earth? Say, could our father boast one day's obedience?——— The last-last breeze that blew from thee upon him?— 'Twas not alone because thy fruits were sweet— Thy groves were music-and thy fountains, health Thy breezes balm-thy valleys, loveliness ; But that they were the first his ear, eye, taste, Or smell, or feeling had perceived or tasted, Heard, seen, inhaled;-because thou wert his country! Yes, frail and sorrowing sire, thy sons forgive thee! True, thou hast lost us Eden and its joys, Let no foul traitor grasp at fruits which thou Roused it to frenzy, taught me to forget Distance, and time, and place, and wo, and exile, And hear no more the clanking of my fetters,- Should Heaven but teach me to display my heart, To be the "tenth just man," to save thee, Erin! With heaven one thought of earth,-I'll think of thee. The fragments of the speech delivered from the chair, in the Historical Society, which shall now be presented to the reader, can give but an imperfect idea of its merits as a whole; however, they may serve to exhibit the character of his mind at that early period of his life, and afford an interesting ground of comparison between his juvenile efforts as a speaker, and his graver exertions in maturer years, when the sublime realities of religion had more fully engaged those sensibilities which were now so keenly alive to the romance of poetry and the charms of general literature. After a modest and appropriate introduction, and a high panegyric on the objects and constitution of the society he was addressing, the speaker thus proceeds: She (the Historical Society)' sends her ambassador, to recall the wavering and disaffected to their allegiance, by displaying the beauties of her constitution; that you may not desert the station for which nature and education have designed you; that you should not dare to frustrate a nation's hope, which looks to you for the guardians of her laws and the champions of her political prosperity; that you should not presume to neglect the voice of your God, who demands from among you the supporters of his church; that a portion of mind, a mass of concentrated intellect, may issue from these walls, and overshadow the land; and that, at length, after a glorious career of enlightened and diffusive utility, you may retire with dignity from the part you have acted, and Ireland command posterity to imitate your example. Such are the objects to which you are now invited, from low pursuits and sordid gratifications. Poetry* demands no laborious intellectual intensity to imbibe her angelic counsels; it is upon the hours of our pleasures she descends; it is our recreation she exalts. Thus, she makes our hours of rapture or enjoyment, the hours of our greatest elevation of soul: our The introductory part of the subject of Poetry (which those who heard the speech delivered can recollect as peculiarly happy) is not to be found amongst the loose papers from which these fragments are transcribed. This will account for the abruptness with which this part commences.— EDITOR. |