New-York tribune., 1876-01-21

10 feeling Of intense dissatisfaction with his own
performances He congratulates himself or having
abstained, to q great degree, from lnhlc'"s
ON the world burden of bad poetry Tho pro-
nensitv at certain seasons, however was TOO
strong IL walk" says he, land pour iorth
premeditated verse, which 1T takes me SIX OF nine
months to lay by and resume to ma IL good iof
nothing. 1t never appears so to me wheh eoihpoSo
il. In few instances have suffered the pubhca-
ton of my efusions, and am accredited as one Oh
the smallest poets of my country. Very short fuge
pieces and translations are the only rhymes nave
ever committed to the press. One of these rhyming
fts is now upon me- brought on by the inilamina-
ton Of my eyes, which debarred me from readlng
and writing and threw me back upon my own
scapty resources. write every morning one stanza
of uaraphrase from the Bible, and in my morning
walk from two to three stanZas of q tale which
have undertaken, far beyond my depth, and when
shall obviously never get through, but 30 totaiiy
does il absorb my attention while engaged upon IL
that in my morning walk round the Capitol
Square / go out and return almost without
consciousness of the passage of tirne-the mel
anchoy madness of poetry without the Inspiration.
He complains, Iii the composition OF Dermot, OF MS
want of vivacity, humor poctical invention, and
large command of language" No one VIII question
the truth of his soniber description Of himself II
lack the faculty of invcntlng and deneating char
acter. of naturalizing familiar dialogue, and OF
spicing my treat with keen and cutting satire.
want the faculty Of picturesque description OF pen
ctrating into the nmost recesses OF human nature
of moralizing in harmonious verse, OF touching the
chords Of sympathy with the tender ana supiiihe'
Invention is precisely the portion OF poetlcal COM
postion that never before attempted to any con-
siderable extent, and in which nJy find myself
sailing without chart or compass. II wears out my
powers of application and oppresses my CONSCIOUS
ness with the continual thought OF having under
taken more than can perform" " lhe unapproach-
able difference between Beppo and Dermot Is the
difference between Tokay and small beer" stiii ne
Nodded through this ungrcious task 70 its compile
ton. and on reaching it's close. he writes - hnis
This morning the fair copy of my poem of Dermot
MacMorrogh. and have now the measure of my own
poetical power. Beyond this | shall never attain,
and now II il an important question whether shall
throw this. and almost all the other verses have
,ar yxritten into the fire. 1t las amused
and occupied two months of my life and leaves me
now like q pleasant dream to duh and distressing
realities To sense of wasted time and O. the hunil-
alton Of enterprise ashamed Of performance
II would DE well for lit raturc if every aspirant
for poetic fame felt the keen sense of his own
dement's, and would refrain from nolestlng inno-
cent readers with the ciIsons Of an unwilling muse
Mr. Adauss Conquest of ireland has long since
been covered ly thc waters of Lethc, but his stern
yrliiy Of character and hissuhime devotion 10 pr-
ciplc IL the darkest hours of hls eOuntrgS peril, VIII
hAd an enduring monument in her history Each sue
cr-syc volume of his memoirs, ~ 1t issues IRON TIE
press confirms tine IMPRESSION which has Ions been
accented hv publ,c opinion. that his career as
.tattsuau II not marked by any briiliancy OF eN-
t,ud suceCss. for integrity and NlgOr has Ldd lew
parallels in the records OF the nation.