VI. Strike thy bosom, and weep, thou Fallen One, thou! Then could not now thy fame o'erwhelm thee with shame! Then might the Wreath still bloom, though rent from thy brow! Oft under the stars Would he rest by their graves, And up from their caves His thoughts would arise and pierce him like scymitars! It mourned atween The infant and spouse; And under its boughs Old Wilberic hoped to repose from this weary scene. IX. "And where shall it be? Where wouldst thou it, friend?" "Where the black boughs bend Of the Widowed Yew, in the shade of that woeful tree!" X. Old Wilberic Troll And, arisen, hears Through the stilly air of the dawn the death-bell knoll. XI. With a light and a spade He hies to the ground, Soon to shew a new mound For, alas! a stranger, under the Widowed Yew's shade. XII. "O, woe!" doth he sigh, "That my bones may not rest In the spot I love best, Atween the graves where my Minna and Dietric lie!" But the stranger? Is gone. Gone whither? None know! He returneth no mo, But Wilberic's heart feels faint, and his lips wax wan. XV. And the Widowed Yew, Ere three days had rolled, This tale the villagers tell; and their tale is true. Paul and the Hospodar. (FROM THE SERVIAN OF IWAN TLEFFLIK.) I. Hark, Jeliska! heardst thou not a knock? Though the moon shines bright the hour is late. And the stormy wind, how loud it blows, Blows as though 'twould shake the ocean rock! Go! Some wandering pilgrim, well I guess, Claims from us what every Christian owes 11. So spake Bathski-Dór, the Hospodár, And while yet the words were on his tongue Like a soldier-traveller from afar, Stood before him. Stout he seemed and young, And with fire and lightning in his glance. Word he spake not till the Hospodár Pointed towards the bench beside the hearth, Saying, "Cousin, these are days of dearth; Little cheer save bread and fruit and oil All we have saved from Autumn's golden spoil, Can we tempt thee with-but these are thine. Seat thee on the bench beside the hearth. Would that we could give thee meats and wine!" III. "Thy false hospitality I share not! For thy bread and fruits and oil I care not! Him thy sabre wounded unto death. In my arms he breathed his dying breath. Oft I have tried, and tried in vain to smother The fierce wrath I felt against his slayerFelt and feel-it haunts me even in prayer. Bathski-Dór! we twain must measure swordsNay, man, sleep not! Mine are no child's words! IV. Bathski-Dór upraised his hanging head, On the hill he sleeps this night beneath? Still if thou seek vengeance upon me, V. But, list! hark!-the deep roll of a drum, And the summoning sound of many horns, Up and arm for battle, thou and thine! " * Servia. VI. Bathski-Dór hath donned his warrior-garb. Yet before he mounts his coal black barb, With drawn sword he speaks his kinsman Paul"Paul! thou shouldst have been a Servian, thou, Though thy father fled to far Croatia. Wilt thou clasp my hand, Paul? Wilt thou now Turn, with me, thy sabre against Asia ? Or shall thou and I, like madmen, struggle Here unto the death with one another? Shall we shed each other's blood because Thou hadst once, as I had once, a brother? Perish such a pride-born, hell-born juggle ! Kinsman! thou shalt live to win applause That green soil I have not loved in vain— VIL -"Kinsman! cousin! thou hast spoken well!" Servia's minstrels yet and oft shall tell How Paul stood till death by Bathski-Dór, And how he till death, too, stood by Paul!" Sixteen hundred fifty, tenth of March Such the night and time these words were spoken— J. C. M. A PROVISION FOR THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY CONSIDERED, IN A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF "THE QUARTERLY REVIEW." SIR,-Your high station in the literary world is the cause why I thus address you. You are the conductor of a pub. lication which commands an extensive circulation, and exercises a powerful influence over the national mind. The moral character of your publication is deservedly high; and its judgment upon important and critical subjects often such as to influence the decisions 66 of the legislature in matters seriously affecting the public weal. Of this kind is the much-canvassed question of the payment of the Roman Catholic priests in Ireland. You have not hesitated, again and again, to express a decided opinion that such would be a wise measure; that it would go far towards solving the Irish difficulty" in a safe and satisfactory way; that it is unobjectionable in point of principle; and must interest those who are at present the fomenters of public disturbance to take the side of the cause of order, and use their influence in tranquillizing and reclaiming a turbulent and excitable population. If such effects would follow from the course of policy which you recommend, it is not surprising that it should have received your sanction. But there are others who view it with grave alarm, and to whom it appears only certain to produce the very opposite effects. And you cannot be surprised, neither, I hope, will you be displeased, if they entreat, on your part, a reconsideration of the whole case; and, on their own, enter their solemn protest against a measure, which they believe, upon no doubtful grounds, to be fraught with ruin to the British Empire. You refer, in the commencement of the very able paper, to a pamphlet published nearly forty years ago, and entitled "A Sketch of Ireland, past and present." I well remember that brilliant brochure: characterised by the vigour and the condensation of Tacitus, and not deficient in the penetrating sagacity which distinguished that sage historian. Its etchings of charac A ter are graphic in the extreme. few strokes of the masterly pencil completes the picture. Its outline of Irish misrule, and the bungling of British legislation, is strikingly just and vivid; and, couched in sarcastic asperity, much instruction is conveyed, which the legislator would do well to ponder. Do I err in supposing your reviewer the author of this wellknown production; and that he regards, with a fond, parental partiality, this first promise of his literary renown? Assuredly, he may look back upon it with a just pride; as there are very few opinions which it contains which might not, even at the present day, be adopted and acted upon with advantage. He is but consistent in maintaining now, the judgment to which he gave expression then, respecting the expediency of paying the Roman Catholic priests. And it is not unlikely that, had not this early conviction been thus decisively formed, and maintained its hold, by a sort of prescriptive right, upon that ingenious writer's mind, he would, with increasing years, have seen increasing reasons to doubt the soundness of his first impression, and the cause of truth and of sound policy would now enjoy the benefit of an advocacy which would render it as irresistible as it is important. He It is from no abstract love of Popery that your reviewer advocates the payment of the Roman Catholic priests; neither does he entertain any factious or fanatical hatred of the Established Church, by which but too many who have taken up the same opinion are distinguished. regards Romanism, if not with just abhorrence, at least with grave disapproval, and recognises, in the Irish members of its priesthood, a race of fanatical incendiaries, who have aggravated, if they have not produced, the worst evils of Ireland. And great injustice would be done him, if he did not get credit for a sincere attachment to the Established Church. But he |