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1PTION PAYABLE
squscn ADVANCE, LER
“VOL. XXBo
Seared nae meen ns veneers go
‘ge
“a
2 au
Bee
Truth fs powerful and witl prevatl.
. NEW-YORK,' SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1845,
OFFICE No. 7: BAYARD-
{ Stree, 1N ‘THE REAR.
“NO. 19
"yo eo we _ Poet's € C
of
t Wi ith ie deeploving creach @)s with: the rich plunder
ing
Than whielwinds of Corrin in
Ouran Mor, of the mountain
vg
* To sun the wide wound that
> ni BATTLE OF CALLAN ()~A. D. 126
j
went forth to the slaughter all burning,
it theta by Tra. leigh (2) wait the robber’s return
The altars "best go the rare pearls of the maiden!
vrata down dy ite Ruachia (4) bis lances were lea: | irom
‘wild as a meteor, his branches were streaming case:
he vole vith the spoils of all Diamonds aroun
Bat the vweath of the Gael, in its red vengeance, found ess. sand mere!
ore swift than the eagle from Sellg's (6) beh eyrie,
hostings of
Dark as storm o'er Dun-Mor (6) to the Sicean-tird toiler,
Sunt MacCarte's fierce w rath on the path of the sper!
and valley,
r, the chief.of the tall-masted galley,
Omit the scourge of the Sasa
Lal Cogan’s (7) proud daughter a desolate Wailer 4
nach sailor,
For him that hath none from the gaunt wolf to rave him;
the fierce clansman gave | English.
SE Toweep the lost chief, with his battle-shield riven,
* Cloven down by the war-axe, unhousell'd, unshriven !
th vi.
The saffron -dy'd shirts, by the Cas
a Claim laim thy care at the fountain, fai
, The doom
lear—as rejoic’
(1) During’ the administration
vit.
Chant theedeeds of the warriors in chivalry
o With the blood of the Rievers, that rode to the ear
ay From Maing to Moyalla, (8) the kirtle:
sare gory y—
shin and Can
ir maidens, ton morrow ! !
ing thou lavest. +.
be. Phebe blood- rgouts t ‘hat burst from the breasts | of the bray
of William Den, Lord
to} Justice of Freland, the MacCarties entered Desmond, and
present condition of their country.
the past in order to prepare for the future, ‘acting on the
jaxim of e~—* Those never wil] look forward to
posterity \vho de not look back ward to thele ancestors,”
lime to time we have furnished our readers. with
oviginal sketches of great Trihmen, and with essays on
their works. ’ e most part we have confined our-
selves hitherto to those Irishmen who. have developed
their talents upon their native soil. ‘@ now propose to
examine some Irishmen, the sphere of whose intellectual
activity was Englan nd we. purpose to do so not
from any vague literary taste, or in a mere connoisseur
spirit, but with a direct view to obtaining instruction
their lives. »To add to the laurels of some amongst
them you now be ‘impossible, Their fame in man
's been confirmed by the voice of the whole world.
Mey to praise them would be * wasteful and ridiculous
y to criticise their political lives or
would be work _o!
They have studied
|: be attributed to genius “ racy of the soil ? : an,
to inquite what rishmen may fearn from them.
We begin with Oliver Goldsmith. No Irishman’s ge-
nius is considered so Anj nglicised as that of the author of
The Vicar of Wakefield... His writings are classics of the
language, and his style is admitted to be a standard of
excellence, It is even considered as pecoliarly and dis-
tinetively English, and the character of his fanguage is
suited to the nature of his ‘orale © which. are nearly all
eir fame j is to
My
Conguer, is there a single character from his na-
tive country. In The Traveller he characterises seve
countries, but he makes no reference to Ireland, fithong
he dedicated, it ‘to D his brother. ve De Village
the scenery and the details of whe landseape are a parent
ly those of rural England, such as it, as been deserted
by ‘Addison and Washington Irvi in Vicar
Wakefield, theme, character, wand Tellections, te calla =
parent!y Englis! rman. critic has said qui
|‘ Tf you woke a thousand years hence, you would
| The Vicar still alive, ‘and'you might pronounce Gold-
smith'’s Wakefield to bea picture of English moral life in
the eighteenth century, for that novel is true te- universal
nature, and faithful to the age of its author.”
gain, upon scrutinising “his compesitions, we finda
total absence of provincialiems ; we meet with no glaring
instances of bad taste, and are Hot revolted by vu garity
ee
by means of an de, surprised and sl
: and slew John Fite- lat
olf Thomas ‘i either of sentiment or lan exaggeration in
ice is humour is a cavonable evite ean object. to
ay? natant to the BiGerais and his son, Mau-| fin} il that any receonable erith treet
a ice, at Glanorought, in this county (Kerry), which de- his delightful writings, which, for thi t t.
Sif feito reduced the ‘FitzGeralds that none of that name | 1 his delighifur writings, Which, for the most part, are
dutst put a plough into ground for twelve years, until | Molels of simplicity and elegance o}
Uisensions arising among. the Irish chielsy dhe Figa-Ge- |, Lo gtiking absence of mere Trish ‘peculiarities in his
7 ¢ ne County of Kerry, page
ut haps f mm Rotta,
hse
red water, a tiver in
6 in "Mangerton and its exit in the wey of Ken
talds recovered their former authority ~ Shit History
va-Leigk the, strand of “the Leigh. Tralee, the
» assizes town af the county of Kerry,’ o
a ble'stream, called the Lea, or Leigh.
rt * @) Creach—spoils of cattle.“ -
a) Riclta, from Ruacht, a chase or % descent ; or per-
TY >,
on an inconsidera:
hav ing its
mare.—
Glanorought. ,
at Sealy. i is a stupendous
a
of ves its name ty the barony of
5) Skeldi er,
e i tig. ir are as Scealg. - Islands lying ol
wt
boll =
sat] hokis but two places f
oo yards over vo lo Pthe eae
ig chhay pels that belonged to. an ab
nating founded d here, at an eat
a | gtinages nas “
BP County et : page Se.
accessible, except -in- calm _weathel
afull description of th
ry an
Ona flat, about fifty
f the sca, are the remains of several
ey - of - canons. ee of
ay eviods by int
ZEe
Sie Hiceony of the
tf EO Dua. ‘Mor—the great fortress. - A headland in ‘the
inKery, a
house, and
ait aad that Jol in have.
ven it the same celebrit:
OGroat’s has seceived i in Scot! Hand.
and the most western point
The peasantry name it Ti
igh-mhor, oF
in Ire-
She was the
gan. of Carrigaline, in the county of
of the Ape, so called from
is being carried by a large baboon
uP that the e Datllemente of the castle at ‘Tralee, on the day
‘8 ‘ ,
rh, te Rews Of the defeat at C: "
LT lefeat at Callen had arrived, This
“ us fat aetstor ofthe Earls of Kild Sted
1) Moyalia, The Irish name of Ml low, a town in
vi finn Co mk rhe: he Mai the takin the Carra, are
wt Thai . 7
n “National Gal a Galery
Sy i GOLDSMITH.
(7 ne
o bette elements: by. means of -which’ those who
a? Band foster conduet - thie Nation proposed * to create
the meng pbc opinion in Ireland” was by awakening
ie adesine for al qualities of theit countrymen, and by excitin;
we ing literary education as well as. for-that ‘mnor
OD Persuir og i ther ober itself to the whole man.
= tthe p; tory
LY the of their country, and to m:
af inet sana of dele 8 native land, Foi
the eing too rel
wet fect they have been essential
" Boek with steadfast calmness
In th
“hie ject they have endeavoured to Por tla.
ake Irishmen stu-
50 they
troxpectiv' ‘e, but the ic
ly prospectite—they hav
8 in onder to mend the
style—his freedom from inflation and false ornamen
his purity of taste, have led some English authorities to
assert gravely t! that “Goldsmith must not be considered as
an Irs hman— weh an Englishman as Addison or
» That i 3 to lo say, pecause Goldsmith became a dis-
tinptiched English author, his genuis is to be attributed
to that t country in which he wrote his works, and not. to
that in which he was born and educated. .And it is con-
tended, further, that Goldsmith is not to be reckdued as an
rishman, as he did not write upon Trish subjects or ex-
hibit an patriotic feeling. - The position that Goldsmith's
fame bel Joh to Eng! rland and not to Ireland is plausible,
but nothing nore n assigning any peculiar nationality
to the works of genius we must judge by intrinsie mental
qualities, and not by mere external "sty! fe. It is his
mora] and intellectual qualities, and not by his mode of
manifesting them, that the rationality of any n man of ge-
pins mnst Fe determined. Irishman, who may excel
in’ English composition, is to ‘be, therefore, considered as
an Englishman, and if the land of his birth is to derive no
lustre from his talents, a similar rule must be applied ‘to
Scotland, which, henceforward, should have no_pride in
her Humes and Scotts. historian of England and the
author of Waverley are great writers of the English lan-
guage; but is nothe less true that they’ were admirable
specimens of Scotch character and genius. Hume took
as to free himself from all provincialism,
anil he sedulons} eutivated proficiency in Vinglish com mi
position, with w uccess the whole world knows but
in his caution, industry; and self-denial, his subtlety and
love of reasoning—in all his aya <, both moral and
ntal—he was a decided Scote! man, Burns is not more
‘characteristically a Scotch poet than Hume is a Scotch
philosopher. Thus, also, with “ honest Sir Walter.”
The taste that reigns through the Waverly Novels is
sentially English. The ere is a freedom from false orna-
ment and gaudy color; but who will say that the genius
which produced thse glorious works is to be. considere
English ? ~‘Taste is only a directing, ani nd not a creative
quality; and there ix as mitch difference between style
(the oilepring of aste) and ative talent as there is be-
ody: Cuciulus non facit
Honapaites in rte
ing reverence to Mahomet, was no Turk; n
Inn Ray, in a blue coat with velvet cal become an E
aT And so with the mind of gen Let it dis-
pla in any. particular language, Bind its natural pow-
er, eat its intellect, and its inspiration, must-be attributed,
not tot to the language, as some have idly said, but directly
~FWhen the- Sketch Book first appeared i in England, the
critics said it-was.an imitation of Addison,» On this
ing told hie be an Irish gentieman (who, affer the lapse
z
2
of twenty yeats, is still his intimato friend), Irving laugh.
‘ed, and cake, “Tf the: y had said Goldmith, they would
have bee ke
earer the marke
to the native force of that genius himself, and indirectly
to the country which produ laced him. If the contrai rary rule
were to prevail, how’ absurd would be the consequences ?
Erasmus should have been considered .as
because he wrote stich exquisite Latin; and ‘Thorswal-
den, a’ worl upon aclassic statue, must have been honor-
ed as an Athenian t
So with Goldsmith—he was an English stylist, but he
was an Irish genius. .: British literature has been adorned
by his works, but Ireland may feel an. honest pride in
giving birth to his talents. For if ever one man was dis-
tnctively frish, it was Goldsmith All that is Good and
bat in Irish characte er, he possessed ev
turns in ecstacy ai depression, he was alternately idle
and industrious i improvident and yain, most gen-
rows and affectionate. His Irish virtues were warmth of
heart, courage, and a certain proud fortitude, which ena-
bled him to retain under difficulties the buoyaney of his
nature. . His Irish faults were vanity, rashness, ridiculous
extravagance, and contempt for the modest virtue of pra-
dence. Where, but in a mind and character wholly Irish,
could so mach genuine pathos, vivid wit, and buoyant
spirit it, have been associated and blended with such versa-
tility of talent? The sweet lines of Moore—
“Erin! the tear and the smile in thine eye,
end like the rainbow that hangs i in the sky— ~ :
Shining through sorrow
SadJening through pleasure’ s S eleam” —
may be applied to the character of playful melancholy —
careless—warm hearted, delightful Goldsmith! Consider
him as an Bnalisharan analyse e his character, and you
will find it a heap of contradictions; but look’ on him as
Tishman, associate is native country—
his intonsistencies will vanish, and pis nature wit be
wade plain. ° In faet, the words of Johngon’s epitaph
Dr. Goldsmith, (eo celebrated aot its "ec force), de-
scribe the ideal of an Irishm:
~ « Sine risu essent monendi, :
' ~ Sine Lacrymis.”
*
“ Iagenis, sublimis, vividus, versatilis.”
What are these swords But a pithy condensation of the
Hach of Venison, or like Retaliation? “Surely any one
observing, must perceive that the stron,
Titles ‘it those.works, the pathos and humour so blended
ye huoyaney of spirits, are characteristically ‘racy of
t
Even the iste of Goldsmith is no mote to be attributed
to «Th ,” or to English society than his natural
genius. in early life he was charmed with the eomposi-.
tions of ison, and the style and mode of looking at
nat adopted by that beautiful writer, influenced him.
through all his lifes Long before he left Ireland, he had
studied the pag es of Addison; dong before he quitted his
native countr ry e became an obser server of nature, without,
at the time any distinct purpose of ine
ulging in composition, In all his early letters, we can
trace not merely the intrinsic qualities, but the same modes
years. He had naturally a good taste, an i heeds
was shown in the choice of excellent Srl ve is style.
His own definition of taste in his earliest work is weil
worth observa tion. “Taste in writing,” he observes in
into Polite Literature, «is the exhibitor of
the greatest quantities of beauty and use that may be ad--
mitted into e mposition without counteracting each other.”
n, this principle he wrote most of his works,
and ‘te “aiogted it long before he knew any eminent men
of Letters | in London,
If Goldsmith had lived in Ireland all his hfe, and if he
had inuged in authorship, his style,
wo! ave heen gpite as Englich.” 0
een a pen in his My e would hove carefully con-
formed to the genius of the Tanguage i in which he wrote.
He was notof a bold and innovating---he was nat a friend
to revolution in any shape---to make the best of what he
found existing was the turn of his mind.
most elective puter writer in Tre-
Jand, sand his letters are models of simplicity and purit
Flood was the greatest speaker in the Irish parliament
qualities of Irish
le who doubts t hat Goldsmith was an Irishman in his
churnoter and in his mental qualities, ean know nothing of
his life.. His personal character wes that ef an Irishman,
pat the st yle of his writings was fosmed Gn the best Pog:
lish ut as we said we have no wish in th
papers to examine our authors and orators in a mere con.
nolsseur spirit, we will proceed to draw some useful con-
clusions from his life... And there is one point relative to
Gokismith on which we sincerely desire to say a few plain
ds,
Several of our Irishmen of letters have taken up the
roneous idea that it is impossible for Irishmen to become
eminent writersin the Englis language v unless they shou'd
reside i i En ngland! This opinion, however preposterous,
exists of our young country ‘men, and we
have kuasin some of them attempt ‘6 justify their ii impres-
sions ing to the case of ith. «See,
have head them exclaim, “what Gollemith acquived i in
England, It was there he learned English taste—acquired
English views of literature, and learned from, Johneon and
Reynolds the true taste in literature and art
ne more highly appreciate than we do the advantages
of intercourse with persons eminent io the Fesyective pro-
fessions.. Now e will, more readil jow much the
mind is expanded and the personal, “character improved
by habitual converse with distinguished scholars, artists,
authors, and “men of the world.” et this last class, we
me mean those in many conditions,
aud whose own Characters illustrete that human natu
the study of which genius finds its nobler employment,
But no society of authors —no assemblage of intellectual
persons—ever made a genius, or infused a soul,
the society of prfesna men of letters, or of artists,
more frequently iginality, than expands the
‘buitding mind. Professional men of letters are essentially
diadactic, and they are more prone to consider acqui
tions, than native talent; to set value none ecomp lit
ments rather than to appreciate original pow
ursuit of literature as a band craft—the made of rom ne
y plying the knowledge of other men to any particular
<
as
subject---in plain words, the profession. of letters, may
sometimes ‘he learned from interco: some literary
men. But to iinpart the secret by wv oke are easily
written most of th willing, than to bestow
the genius by which ‘great designs are executed any of
qhem areable---to communicate. To expect the first from.
them is silliness, to hope for the Jatter is ignorance,
novelist i ig. just as“ unwilling to tell his friends the mode
by which he work: sas a painter is to publish the secret
of his colours. And even if they were frankly to confess
their respective methols, the novelist could not bestow
his talent for observing ‘life, and detecting the essentials
of character, any more than the e painter could confer his
fine sense of beauties in visible nature,
By the careful stu dy a deli erate perusal of great works
an author fo is style, but, after all, he must depend
upon his own qualities forsuecess.. David Hume went
previous to the appearance of cater: and his.style was
emphatically English. And, a: should be glad te.
learn what proptieties of the Tanguage vere disregarded,
and what of its graces were overlook the Plunkets
and the Bushes, who were wholly Sincated in Ireland? .
Reflections of this kind might convince.the. reader, that.
if Goldsmith had resided in Ireland his.mode. aot sone ORI
tion would have been just as English.” st na
more than his genius, is to be attributed to, he reridenee
in England.
Again—long before he placed his foot on England, his
mind was at work, observin,
e has immortalized, was his father.
was one “ Paddy Burns.” ~ All th
the Deserted Village were in the inmnediate ne aeeriehood
of his father's residenge...
“The decent church that tops the neighbouriig hil’
was that of- Kilkenny West, where his father officiated.
How closely he was obserying nature wnte i in Ireland,
may be perceived from the exactness with wl ints
ed Lissoy from memory. in the Teak of PWeleple
ie drew from bimsell and from his relatives.
acter of the § , Dr. Primrose, was curtenelt to.
him by his one mn father, his uncle Contarine, and his bro-
ther.” George Primrose is drawn from himself. Even in
Sir Willian Thornhill there i is a strong dash ef the author's.
ow! aracter.* a curious fact concerning Golds
Smith's authorship, that while The Deserted Village and
Vicar of Wakefield embrace many topies and characters,
presented to him by his native country, in The Citizen of
the World and i in The Traveller Ire. wrote and moralised
as a cosmopo!
a varefal examination of Goldsmith's life and
writings, we may draw the following conclusions —1.
That Goldsmith was an English Jiterary artist, but that he
wasan Irish genius. 2. That he was indebted to Eng.
Jand for the example of ‘Aadison, and for the langnage ine
which he wrote. 3. That his humour and pathoss blended
with versatility and buoyancy, prove the Irish qualities
of his.genine * 4. in his personal character, both in
his faulte and in his virtues, he was wholly an Irishman.
hat his taste was not derived’ from wing i in company
w with English men of letters; and if his residence had been
in _Telands that- there is reason. for believing his style
d have been fanchapged. —Nation non.
Gat damit has collected Yatious.proafe.of the fact that,
Freland presented several objects to the poo!
We reader to the econ volume of the biogra-
phy. “By this work Mr. Prior has secured Pimself a niche
in the history of literatue. His Life of Goldsmith is
threngh alinost incredible pain: " transcribing English
authors in order to acquire his style: e writer,
he enceeeded by be trouble and by bis acquisitions, but
a historian and a er, he attained fame by his own
talent for natatene byt the ca acity of bis own under-
senting, and byt the subilety of his Thelaphysical mind.
of Golds: itwas from “The
cat ‘that he ‘required his how ers, why did not Johnson
or the other
produce some novels.as good as the
‘car ofr Wakefi
ike tl
umorous, pieces, full of: sans gaiety, J
members of that deservedly,emingnt fociet Soa Wet d
os gems as exquisitel y patheve as the Deserted: wie “ results,
highly creditable to his talents for patient investigation
itera esearch. When. we consider the lapse. of;
time whic! place between the death of Golf
and the Neral when Mr. Prior commenced collectin;
terials for his work, we are surprised at the avanti POE
on ‘igioal Matter, which he has.2 accumulated. .
alt te meeting of the Society of Arts, London, Mr.
sabed a new method “of manufacturing glass.
for optical p puepases, which is hkely. to lead to surprising
. The great .ifficulty in this nanufacture b has been
to ‘onpeduce giags of ang i teeese of densit roughout,
aesint 4 wate DY Sa
+ Prior, in his most interesting and valuable life of
i
Doverene mastenine we cece,