"Twill not avail, when thy strong sides are broke,* That thy descent is from the British oak; Or, when your name and family you boast, From fleets triumphant o'er the Gallic coast, Such was Ierne's claim, as just as thine, Her sons descended from the British line; Her matchless sons, whose valour still remains On French records for twenty long campaigns; Yet, from an empress now a captive grown, She saved Britannia's rights, and lost her own. In ships decay'd no mariner confides, † Lured by the gilded stern and painted sides: Yet at a ball unthinking fools delight, In the gay trappings of a birth-day night: They on the gold brocades and sattins raved, And quite forgot their country was enslaved. Dear vessel, still be to thy steerage just, Nor change thy course with every sudden gust; Like supple patriots of the modern sort. Who turn with every gale that blows from court. Weary and sea-sick when in thee confin'd, Now for thy safety cares distract my mind; As those who long have stood the storms of state Retire, yet still bemoan their country's fate. Beware, and when you hear the surges roar, Avoid the rocks on Britain's angry shore. They lie, alas! too easy to be found; For thee alone they lie the island round. VERSES ON THE SUDDEN DRYING UP OF ST PATRICK'S WELL, NEAR TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. 1726. By holy zeal inspir'd, and led by fame, Ierne, to the world's remotest parts, *Italy was not properly the native place of St Patrick, but the place of his education, and whence he received his mission; and because he had his new birth there, by poetical licence, and by scripture figure, our author calls that country his native Italy. Dub. Ed. + Orpheus, or the ancient author of the Greek poem on the Argonautic expedition, whoever he be, says, that Jason, who manned the ship Argos at Thessaly, sailed to Ireland. And Adrianus Junius says the same thing, in these lines: Illa ego sum Graiis, olim glacialis Ierne Dicta, et Jasonic puppis bene coguita nautis.-Dub. Ed. Tacitus, in the life of Julius Agricola, says, that the harbours of Ireland, on account of their commerce, were better known to the world than those of Britain. § Fordun, in his Scoti-Chronicon, Hector Boethius, Buchan Thy martial sons, whom now they dare despise, Their dress, their language, and the Scottish name, The mother-kingdom left her children free; Freedom and virtue in thy sons I found, an, and all the Scotish historians, agree that Fergus, son of Ferquard, king of Ireland, was the first king of Scotland, which country he subdued. * In the reign of Henry II. Dermot M'Morrough, king of Leinster, being deprived of his kingdom by Roderick O'Connor, king of Connaught, he invited the English over as auxiliaries. 496 ON THE DRYING UP OF ST PATRICK'S WELL. The shepherd in his bower might sleep or sing,* Where is the holy well that bore my name? Fled to the fountain back, from whence it came ! Fair Fredom's emblem once, which smoothly flows, And blessings equally on all bestows. * There are no snakes, vipers, or toads in Ireland; and even frogs were not known here till about the year 1700. The mag. pies came a short time before; and the Norway rats since.Dub. Ed. These plagues are all alluded to in this and the subsequent stanzas. Here, from the neighbouring nursery of arts, O! had I been apostle to the Swiss, A * The university of Dublin, called Trinity College, was founded by Queen Elisabeth in 1591.-Dub. Ed. + Wood's ruinous project against the people of Ireland, was supported by Sir Robert Walpole in 1724. Dub. Ed. The absentees, who spent the income of their Irish estates, places, and pensions, in England.-Dub. Ed. |