The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-08-26

His soul might have burned with hoiier hame.
Might have bent pI ond bow to the warriors dart;
And the lip which now orsahes but the song Of desire
Ger the ruin her children in secIe. must sigh
Unpriaed are her ,oEs Till theyv learned to bstray
DndistiDgushed they live If they shame not TIE
And the torch would light them through dignity s
Must be caugh. from the pile where their country
Then blame net the bard II in Peesures soft dream
He should try 10 forget what he never can heal
Through the gloom of his country and mark how
That instant his her shrine would lay down
Like the wreath oil Harmodies should cover his
But though glory be gone. and though hopo fade
Tby name loved Erin shall live in his sopRs.
Not in the hour When his heart is gay
VIII he lose the remembrance of thee and thy
The stranger shall hear thy lament on his plans;
The Sigh of thy harp st all be cent DER the despi
Shall pause at the song Of their captive, and weep
In this there was something more than the
mere imagery of poetioal prophecy; for it is
an undoubted fact that in many of the draw
ingrooms of fashion, in the highest orioles of
the land in England, Moore's singing of some
of the Melodies as he accompanied himself on
the piano, drew tears not only from female
eyes, but from many of the sterner sex, who
were but little used to " the melting mood"
Whilst the poet was engaged in producing
these Melodies, most Of which are instinct
with the true fire of genius, he was also con-
tributing to his friend Power many other
quisite songs which have found lasting place
IN the history of lyric poetry; such as those
beautiful songs set to the SO called "Nationsl
Airs" which were everywhere welcomed with
delight, and W hich will CONTINUE to be popular
as long as the English language is sung or
spoken. Take, for instance, that sparkling
Ia or tn niF
me when daylight SETS which is the very beau
ideal of what love serenade SHOULD be. Then
there is that most poetical of songs, 80 charac.
teIistio of Moore'S brilliant fancy, Flow on,
thou shining river Eet to q Portuguese air
which is always fresh and fragrant for those
who love old friends they Iove old wine.
And who is there with a warm Irish heart in
his bosom, and memory that fondiy treasures
mp the recolleotions Of the loved ones dead aud
gone, well Us the smiles, the teare, of boy
moods years." and recalls with many u sigh
"the words of love then spoken ;" who il there
can hear "Oft in The stlly iRht'-that plain
tive cry of o wounded soul with all the wrecks
of life strewn a:ound-without yielding the
tribute OF sympathy to that most touching
vail of sorroW, set to u Scotch air. itself as sad
rs the words in which the poet has ombalmed
it3 An interesting fact ith regard to these
called " nationai songs IL that Moore him
self composed some of the airs well the
poetry. One day, while Moore WAS seated at
The piano, striking the lords of simple mel
ody, Mr.. Bishop, the well known composer,
to repeat the music, the maestro VINO WAS then
in nigh fame, GeclaIeo that Ge bad not heard
80 pretty an air fox long time. Tho compost
tion wna Moore's own but, tGrOt ( feeling
of dittideuce aud respect for tn. great COM
poser, 10 kept the know Wedge IA soCreC. After
Bishop had left; however, ihe poet observes in
his diary that he thir ks he shall c Al 1t Moor
ash air."
In 1877 appeared his first poem Of any great
length Ealla Roohh the sui bject of which
was specially suited to the Oriental character
of his imag gination. To this brilliant work Moore
devoted bis whole heart and sonl, and ON it he
lavished all the richest embellishments of a
poets fancy, Before line of the poem
was written-in 1914 in faot-an arrangement
was made on behalf of Moore, by Perry, of the
Morning Chronicle, With LonGmans, the pub
lishers, who agreed to give a sum of three
thousand guineas for poem of o certain length
from the pen of Moore. And we'll their
confidence in the poets Henins requited. Al
though the work appeared IN time of unex-
pected depression and almost universal COM
merosl bankruptcy, it passed through seven
editions in the course OF O year, was eagerly
devoured by young and old, passages were re-
peated from lip to lip, and many of its hsppiest
lines have lor & since settled into the household
thou HhtB of Lne language. Oriental scholars
praised it for the mervellous accuracy of its
details, and travellers we'll acquainted with the
East expressed their pleasure end surprise at
the angular fidelity of it's descriptions of In
alan scenery and lie. Heralded by such fame
the poem W as soon translated into every dialect
Of Europe, aud was subsequently reproduced
in some of the languages of the East. There
are passages, indeed" writes his old critic and
Antagonist jeffrey, in the Edinburgh Rcris,U,
land these neither few nor brief, over which
the very genius OF poetry seems to have
breathed his richest enchantment-wheIe the
melody of the verse and the beauty of the
imaRes ccpBpiTe 30 harmoniously with the force
and tenderness of the emotion, that the whole
is blended into one deep and bright stream Of
sweetness and feeling, along which the spirit
of the reader is borne passively awsy through
long reaches of delight
This is high praise from snoh critic, and
further eulogy would be out of place here Let
us, therefore, rather hatk back again to the
idea with which we started. And here we will
6nd that Moore's Irish patriotism is ftesh
and as aggressive as ever Tor his old rebel
1isus blood breaks out in the superb poem of
the "Fire Worshipers"-by many considered
the finest of the series In this exquisite ro-
znanOe, the old poetical name of PeLsia-Irau-I
is made to do duty for Erin; and the stand
made by theSGuebres or Fire Worshipers,
against she foreign tyrants of their country, is
only fapoitnl or Rllegorical picture of the
atx1ERle Of 1rishmen Sighting for life and