The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-06-01

At their convivial gatherings, which
We're by no means few and far be-
tween, were to be seen Maginn, the ILL
fated editor; Coleridge, the we'll
known poet; Southey, Lockhart, the
historian, and Carlyle, whose Sartor
Resartus Maginn cut short, and Ma
hony, who could be always seen as the
center of admirers, eagerly drinking in
the knowledge that dripped like honey
from his lips, or enthusiastically hi
larious over the jokes that seemed I'M
consciously to emerge from his prolific
brain. From the moment that Prout
commenced to contribute his articles
always occupied the prominent place
and were heartily relished by the read
ing public in England and Ireland,
who were no less astonished at the
vest amount of learning displayed in
his writings than the keen piercing
wit, the satiric taunt and an occasional
sparkle of pathos, which latter he was
by no means fond of frequently exhib-
iting. His apology for Lent and Fa-
ther Prout's Carousals We're his first
papers, and displayed a degree Of orig
inality rarely surpassed, together with
an intimate acquaintance with human
nature. The following is Father
Prout's eulogy on himself, taken as
specimen of his verse given in those
first papers:
Sweet upland, where like hermit old in
peace sojourned this priest de-
vout;
Mark where beneath thy sod lie deep
Injured the bones of Prout:
Nor deck with monumental shrine or
tapering column his place of
rest,
Whose soul above earth's homage
meek yet solemn sits mid the
blest.
Much was he priced, much loved; his
stern rebuke o'er-awed sheep
stealers,
And rogues feared more the good
mans single look than forty
Peelers.
He's gone and discord soon, 1 ween,
will visit the land with quarrels,
And the foul demon vent with stills
illicit the village morals.
No fatal chance could happen more to
cross the public wishes,
And all the neighborhood deplore his
loss except the fishes,
For he kept Lent most strict and
picked herring preferred to
Cannon.
Grim death has broke his angling rod,
his herring delights the salmon
No more can he look up carp, eel or
trout for fasting pittance.
Arts which st. Peter loved. whose gate
to Prout gave prompt attend
ance,
Mourn not, but verdantly let Sham
iOCkS Keep HIS SsllnCeQ DUST.
The bad mans death it we'll becomes
to weep, not so the just.
1t is almost impossible to give an
accurate idea of Prout's knowledge
His writings abound in classical al
lusions. He had keen perception of
me-
ease the most sublime assume the air
of the ridiculous. His powers of yersi-
tication are exemplified in the 'Groves
of Barney" which he turned into
Latin, Greek, French and Italian verse,
while he turned some of Moore's melo-
dies into French. Latin or Greek
verses, and then in an article entitled
''rhe Rogueries of Tom Moore" tried
to prove to the public, and to the I'M
thinking too, with high degree of
feasibility that the National Bard of
Ireland was a plagiarist and that those
poems which he had declared as the
fruits Of his own fertile imagination
were only TRANSACTIONS from Greek,
Latin or French authors that he had
discovered in his literary researches.
The best critique on Mahony's writings
is that of himself, written as a preface
to BOhn's Edition of the Reliuues,
published in the year 1859: "He
ProuD preferred chewing the cud Of
classic fancies or otherwise approved
and substantial stuff, delighting to in
vest with new and varied forms what
had long gained universal recognition.
He had strict notions as to what really
constitute the Belles-lettres. Brilliancy
of thought, depth of remark, pathos of
sentiment, sprightliness of wit, vigor
and amplitude of style, with some
scholarship, were requisites for his no.
tice, or claim to be held in his esteem
a literary man. 1t is useless to add
how much Of recent growth and how
many of recent growth, and how many
pretenders to that title he would have
eschewed."
Mahony's criticism, as I have al
ready remarked, was like a double
edged sword. He was unsparing in
the use of epithets, which nowadays
would be regarded as Indicative of low
breeding, but the license for the use of
such vocables was, during those times,
not prevented by public opinion, such