I. Sons of Erin, march on-grasp your swords, shields, and lances Whirl around the swift sling-draw the death-shafted bow- And spur the bold steed, that impatiently prances The "SUN-BURST," resplendently blazing on high! Their loud notes around, That call on the valiant to conquer or die! II. On, on, to the charge-Lochlin's chiefs set in motion, But, though countless, the waves of that vast raging ocean Shall meet with the rocks they've been dashed from before: Maolmorda may bring, 'Gainst his country and king, Yon barbarous invaders that darken the field; Their glory, ere night, Shall vanish in flight, For Freedom's our spear and Religion our shield. 'The signal for engaging, among the ancient Irish, was given by elevating the royal standard, called Gall-grena, or the "blazing-sun." Bright waving from its staff on air, With gems that India's wealth declare, In radiant pomp it blazed. Miss Brooke's Reliques of Ancient Irish Poetry, p. 58. 2 "The word Alba, not Albin, is the Irish name for Scotland."O'Reilly, Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xvI. part ii. p. 186. 3 Thule, or Iceland, according to the opinion of many eminent authorities, was well known to, and visited by, the Irish, even so early as the fifth century. They called it Inis-Thyle, the island of Thyle.-See Lanigan, Eccles. Hist. vol. 1. p. 401, and vol. 111. p. 220, and 224 to 228. III. Hark! that wide-clashing signal!—the foe calls on Odin !(Grim fiend, on whose altars what thousands have bled!)2 But Erin still boasts the same valour that glowed in Her sons, when by Brian to victory led: 'Tis true, that no more The king we adore Can lead us, to scatter the Infidel's might; And, what heart can know fear, While that "sword of his country" is brandished in fight? IV. In vain, to his chieftains, dark Broder engages I Mallet, speaking of the ancient Scandinavians, says, "When they were going to join battle, they raised great shouts, they clashed their arms together, they invoked with a great noise the name of Odin, and sometimes sung hymns in his praise."-Northern Antiquities, vol. 1. chap. ix. p. 237. 2 For an account of the human sacrifices of the Heathen Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes, see Mallet, vol. 1. chap. vii. p. 132 to 139. 3 The following vivid and characteristic description of the famous Broder, who slew the monarch Brian, is literally translated from an old Scandinavian annalist. "Broder, after having embraced Christianity, and having been advanced even to deacon's orders, had apostatized, and, turning a blasphemer of God, became a worshipper of the deities of the Gentiles. He far surpassed every other person in the knowledge of magic, and, when arrayed in military armour, he was able to ward off any weapon. Moreover, he was of great stature and powerful strength; and his hair, the black colour of which darkened his countenance, he wore of such a length that he could have covered it with his belt."(Johnstone's Antiquitates Celto-Scandicæ, p. 113.) Of the sanguinary and rapacious resolution of the Pagan Danes, in case of success, with regard to the Milesian Irish, the following account is given from a Latin chronicle of a contemporary French writer, Ademar, a monk of St. Eparchius of Angouleme. "About this period," says the annalist, "the Northmen already mentioned, undertaking an enterprise, the victorious conclusion of which their forefathers never presumed upon, invaded, with an innumerable fleet, and accompanied with their wives, their children, and their Christian captives, whom they reduced to be their slaves, the island Hibernia, likewise called Irlanda, in order that, THE IRISH BEING EXTERMINATED, THEY MIGHT COLONIZE THAT MOST OPULENT COUN TRY FOR THEMSELVES."-Labbe, Nov. Bibl. MSS. libr. tom. 2, ap. Lanigan, Eccles. Hist. vol. 111. p. 423. Our fathers defied, And humbled the pride Of Rome's haughty legions that vanquished the world;1 Then, Canute ! send forth All the powers of the North! Thy spell-woven RAVEN to earth shall be hurled !" V. Oh THOU! Who this day upon Calvary suspended, O'er Gibéon's bright hill, Till the hosts of the Gentile lay writhing in dust;3 Fill yon Heathens with shame, For in THEE is our refuge, our hope, and our trust! 1 According to the combined testimony of Irish and Roman history, the numerous defeats and final expulsion of the "lords of the world" from Britain, were chiefly attributable to the valour of the Irish, then styled Scots, in conjunction with their dependent allies, the Picts. Opposed to their united attack, the enormous barrier of the Roman wall, which stretched from sea to sea across the island, proved unavailing; and, while their Saxon confederates ravaged the coasts of England by sea, the Scots and Picts extended their predatory incursions through the interior of the province. Nor are the maritime invasions of Britain and Gaul by several of the ancient kings of Ireland-especially those of Crimthan or Criomthan I., Nial the Great, and Dathy-less celebrated. -See O'Conor's Introduction to Dissertations on the History of Ireland, sect. xiv. p. 23. 2 The ensign of the ancient Danes was a raven. On the defeat of Hubba, the Dane, in the reign of the great Alfred, Hume relates that Oddune, Earl of Devonshire, captured "the famous Reafen, or enchanted standard, in which the Danes put great confidence. It contained the figure of a raven, which had been enwoven by the three sisters of Hinguar and Hubba, with many magical incantations, and which, by its different movements, prognosticated, as the Danes believed, the good or bad success of any enterprise." The same ill-omened bird continued to be the Danish ensign in the age of Brian Boru. "At their disembarkation on the English coast," says M. Thierry, of Sweyn's successful expedition against England, "the Danes, formed into battalions, displayed a banner of white silk, in the centre of which was embroidered a raven opening his beak and spreading his wings."-Hist. of the Norman Conquest, vol. 1. p. 136. 3 Joshua, chap. x. VI. Sons of Erin, march on-grasp your swords, shields, and lances Whirl around the swift sling, draw the death-shafted bow And spur the bold steed, that impatiently prances How gloriously shines The "SUN-BURST," resplendently blazing on high! Their loud notes around, That call on the valiant to conquer or die! FAREWELL TO MY BOOK. Here goes for a swim on the stream of old Time, My dear little volume, it seems you are grown Well, take your own way, since no effort can stop But, as soon as yourself and your parent are slandered, And others, to still meaner uses, apply you ;1 1 From dusty shops neglected authors come, You'll think on the silly career you have run, 1 See the Odyssey, book xxii. v. 510, &c., by Pope, whose modest paraphrase of the original Greek is preferable to the more literal indelicacy of Cowper's version. 2 Sad was the hour, and luckless was the day, COLLINS'S Hassan, or the Camel-Driver. |