The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-07-02
A CASE OF WHOLEsA1E ErrEsARY
PIRACY.

A recent incident confirms the shrewd
remark that It Ia perilous for writer's fame to
have produced but a single masterpiece. BY
universal consent, the familiar lines ON the
''Burial Of Sir John Moore have been ranked
among the finest short poems In our language.
In their sustained nobility Of sentiment, rbyth-
mic melody, and the exquisite finish Of their
workrn anship, we cannot but recognize the hand
OF a consutnmate artist. 1t is indis putabie, how
ever, that these qualities are not conspicuous or
even Appropriated in other performances Of
the Rev. Charles Wolfe, whose authorship Of the
lines in question has been generally scknowl-
edgec by hts countrymep. For this reason the
obstinate suspicion witch attaches TO an iso
lated achievement has from time to time found
vent in vague suggestions Of piracy, aud that
charge has lately been repeated In a distinct and
Impressive form.
In more than one instance the verses have
been attributed to Byron by French writer's. who
were swayed probably by Goethes authority.
The latter's opinion seems to have been based
on the priorf grounds which Schiller once for
INFLATED In verse:
Never believe me. appear the immortals.
Never alone.
Postulating that Lord Byron was the only Eng
lishman then living who had proved himself
capable Of writing the lines, Goethe resolutely
maintained that be did write them. This the
ory was never supported by an explanation Of
the motives which could have muzzled some
what arrogant man, like the author OF "Childe
Harold" while another was usurpine the honors
ola poem crowned with prompt and unqualified
applause. Under these circumstances. Goethe's
whimsical assertion was not received with
Difference In England, whose critics substan-
TALLY agree that the Burial OF Sir John Moore"
ho ~ ~ ,If In,
been y raphrased from some foreign elegy, the
product OF anonymous or obscure hands. Now
that is precisely what took place, according to
writer In the Europa, well-known leipzig re-
view, and the public has been Invited 20 exam
Inc the German lines from which It is claimed
the Irish clergyman transferred his admirable
lyric rhyme for rhyme. and word for word.
Before submitting the alleged original, or
rather some fragments OF II, to the reader, we
may mention that a similar discovery was pro-
claimed about fifteen years ago but on that oc-
casion the eeay was traced to French source.
In the memoirs OF the Comte de Lally. pub
llshed by his son In vindication of that officer.
some one lighted on eight stsnzas inscribed to
the memory of Col. de Beaumanoir, whom the
French soldiers, constrained to embark In haste
like the English at Corunna-had scarcely time
to bury at the foot Of bastion. The verses pur
port TO have been written by one OF the fugi.
tives. who witnessed the carrying Of his chiefs
body to the ramparts Of Pondicherry, and depict
the funeral convoy hling silently through the
night. and the ditch dug by bayonets wherein
the corpse. unshrouded and uncofined, is left
without epitaph or stone. II may De worth
while to place the concluding stanzs beside the
familiar English words:
Et dams sa fosse alors lie mines lentement
rres dn champ on 90 slolre eye eonsommee;