VERSES ON THE SUDDEN DRYING-UP OF

ST. PATRICK'S-WELL,

NEAR TRINITY-COLLEGE, DUBLIN, 1726.

BY holy zeal infpir'd, and led by fame,

To thee, once favourite ifte, with joy I came;
What time the Goth, the Vandal, and the Hun,
Had my own native Italy * o'er-run.
Ierne, to the world's remotest parts,

Renown'd for valour, policy, and arts.

Hither from Colchos †, with the fleecy ore,
Jafon arriv'd two thoufand years before.
Thee, happy ifland, Pallas call'd her own,
When haughty Britain was a land unknown:

* Italy was not properly the native place of St. Pa trick, but the place of his education, and where he received his miffion; and because he had his new birth there, hence, by poetical licence, and by fcripture-figure, our author calls that country his native Italy. IRISH ED.

+ Orpheus, or the antient author of the Greek poem on the Argonautic expedition, whoever he be, fays, that Jafon, who manned the fhip Argos at Theffaly, failed to Ireland. IRISH ED.

Tacitus, in the life of Julius Agricola, fays, that the harbours of Ireland, on account of their commerce, were better known to the world than thofe of Britain. IRISH ED.

Her matchlefs fons, whofe valour ftill remains
On French records for twenty long campaigns:
Yet, from an emprefs now a captive grown,
She fav'd Britannia's rights, and loft her own..
In fhips decay'd no mariner confides,

Lur'd by the gilded stern and painted fides;
Yet at a ball unthinking fools delight

In the gay trappings of a birth-day night:
They on the gold brocades and fattins-rav'd,
And quite forgot their country was enflav'd.
Dear veffel, ftill be to thy fteerage just,

Nor change thy courfe with every fudden guft;
Like fupple patriots of the modern fort,

Who turn with every gale that blows from court..
Weary and fea-fick when in thee confin'd,

Now for thy fafety cares diftract my mind;
As thofe who long have stood the ftorms of state.
Retire, yet ftill bemoan their country's fate.
Beware, and when you hear the furges roar,
Avoid the rocks on Britain's angry fhore.
They lie, alas too eafy to be found;
For thee alone they lie the ifland round.

VERSES ON THE SUDDEN DRYING-UP OF

ST. PATRICK'S-WELL,

NEAR TRINITY-COLLEGE, DUBLIN, 1726.

BY holy zeal infpir'd, and led by fame,

To thee, once favourite ifte, with joy I came; What time the Goth, the Vandal, and the Hun, Had my own native Italy o'er-run.

*

Ierne, to the world's remotest parts,

Renown'd for valour, policy, and arts.

Hither from Colchos †, with the fleecy ore,

Jafon arriv'd two thousand years before.
Thee, happy ifland, Pallas call'd her own,
When haughty Britain was a land unknown:

*Italy was not properly the native place of St. Pa trick, but the place of his education, and where he received his miffion; and because he had his new birth there, hence, by poetical licence, and by fcripture-figure, our author calls that country his native Italy. IRISH ED

+ Orpheus, or the antient author of the Greek poem on the Argonautic expedition, whoever he be, fays, that Jafon, who manned the fhip Argos at Theffaly, failed to Ireland. IRISH ED.

Tacitus, in the life of Julius Agricola, fays, that the harbours of Ireland, on account of their commerce, were better known to the world than thofe of Britain. IRISH ED.

From thee, with pride, the Caledonians trace
The glorious founder of their kingly race :
Thy martial fons, whom now they dare despise,
Did once their land fubdue and civilize :

Their drefs, their language, and the Scottish name,
Confefs the foil from whence the victors came *.
Well may they boast that ancient blood, which runs
Within their veins, who are thy younger fons †,

A con

*The argument here turns on, what the author of course took for granted, the prefent Scots being the defcendants of Irish emigrants. This fact, however true, was not in Dr. Swift's time afcertained with any degree of precifion. Ireland even to this day "remains fuperftitiously devoted to her antient history," and " wraps "herself in the gloom of her own legendary annals.” Mr. Whitaker has difplayed an uncommon fund of knowledge on this very curious fubject, both in his Hiftory of Manchefter," and in "The Genuine "Hiftory of the Britons afferted." N.

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The Scots (fays Dr. Robertson) carry their pre"tenfions to antiquity as high as any of their neigh"bours. Relying upon uncertain legends, and the tra"ditions of their bards, ftill more uncertain, they rec"kon up a series of kings feveral ages before the birth "of Chrift; and give a particular detail of occurrences, "which happened in their reigns. In the beginning of "the fixteenth century, John Major and Hector "Boëthius published their Hiitories of Scotland; the "former a fuccinct and dry writer, the latter a copious

" and

A conqueft and a colony from thee.
The mother-kingdom left her children free;
From thee no mark of flavery they felt :
Not fo with thee thy bafe invaders dealt;
Invited here to vengeful Morrough's aid *,
Those whom they could not conquer, they betray'd.

"and florid one; and both equally credulous. Not

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many years after, Buchanan undertook the fame "work; and if his accuracy and impartiality had been "in any degree equal to the elegance of his tafte, and to the purity and vigour of his style, his hiftory might "be placed on a level with the most admired compofi"tions of the ancients. But, inftead of rejecting the "improbable tales of Chronicle-writers, he was at the "utmost pains to adorn them, and hath cloathed with "all the beauties and graces of fiction thofe legends "which formerly had only its wildness and extrava"gance."-On the authority of Buchanan and his predeceffors the historical part of this poem feems founded, as well as the notes figned IRISH ED. fome of which, I believe, were written by the Dean himself. N.

In the reign of king Henry II, Dermot M'Morrough, king of Leinfter, being deprived of his kingdom by Roderick O'Connor, king of Connaught, he invited the English over as auxiliaries, and promised Richard Strangbow earl of Fembroke his daughter and all his dominions as a portion. By this affiftance, M'Morrough recovered his crown, and Strangbow became poffefied of all Leinfter. IRISH ED.