Part 16 (1/2)

58. Galway Bay.

59. These stanzas are a paraphrase of the hymn ”Ave Maris Stella.”

60. An angel was said to have presented her with three precious stones, which, he explained, were emblematic of the Blessed Trinity, by whom she would be always visited and protected.

61. The blue bird.

62. The cedar bird.

63. The golden-crowned thrush.

64. The scarlet sparrow or tanager.

65. The Baltimore oriole or fire-bird.

66. The ruby-crowned wren.

67. Peac.o.c.ks.

68. The white peac.o.c.k.

69. The yellow bird or goldfinch.

70. The gold-winged woodp.e.c.k.e.r.

71. Humming birds.

72. The Carolina parrot.

73. The grosbeak or red bird, sometimes called the Virginia nightingale.

74. The mocking-bird.

75. See the ”Lyfe of Saynt Brandon” in the Golden Legend, published by Wynkyn de Worde, 1483; fol. 357.

76. ”Nonne cognoscitis in odore vestimentorum nostrorum quod in Paradiso Domini fuimus.”--Colgan.

THE FORAY OF CON O'DONNELL.

A.D. 1495.

[Con, the son of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, with his small-powerful force,--and the reason Con's force was called the small-powerful force was, because he was always in the habit of mustering a force which did not exceed twelve score of well-equipped and experienced battle-axe-men, and sixty chosen active hors.e.m.e.n, fit for battle,--marched with the forementioned force to the residence of MacJohn of the Glynnes (in the county of Antrim); for Con had been informed that MacJohn had in possession the finest woman, steed, and hound, of any other person in his neighbourhood. He sent a messenger for the steed before that time, and was refused, although Con had, at the same time, promised it to one of his own people. Con did not delay, and got over every difficult pa.s.s with his small-powerful force, without battle or obstruction, until he arrived in the night at the house of MacJohn, whom he, in the first place, took prisoner, and his wife, steed, and hound, and all his property, were under Con's control, for he found the same steed, with sixteen others, in the town on that occasion. All the Glynnes were plundered on the following day by Con's people, but he afterwards, however, made perfect rest.i.tution of all property, to whomsoever it belonged, to MacJohn's wife, and he set her husband free to her after he had pa.s.sed the Bann westward. He brought with him the steed and great booty and spoils, into Tirhugh, and ordered the cattle-prey to be let out on the pasturage.--”Annals of the Four Masters,” translated by Owen Connellan, Esq., p. 331-2. This poem, founded upon the foregoing pa.s.sage (and in which the hero acts with more generosity than the Annals warrant) was written and published in the Dublin University Magazine before the appearance of Mr. O'Donovan's ”Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland,”--the magnificent work published in 1848 by Messrs. Hodges and Smith, of this city. For Mr. O'Donovan's version of this pa.s.sage, which differs from that of the former translator in two or three important particulars, see the second volume of his work, p. 1219. The princ.i.p.al castle of the O'Donnell's was at Donegal. The building, of which some portions still exist, was erected in the twelfth century. The banqueting-hall, which is the scene of the opening portion of this ballad, is still preserved, and commands some beautiful views.]

The evening shadows sweetly fall Along the hills of Donegal, Sweetly the rising moonbeams play Along the sh.o.r.es of Inver Bay,[77]

As smooth and white Lough Eask[78] expands As Rosapenna's[79] silvery sands, And quiet reigns all o'er thy fields, Clan Dalaigh[80] of the golden s.h.i.+elds.

The fairy gun[81] is heard no more To boom within the cavern'd sh.o.r.e, With smoother roll the torrents flow Adown the rocks of a.s.saroe;[82]

Securely, till the coming day, The red deer couch in far Glenvay, And all is peace and calm around O'Donnell's castled moat and mound.

But in the hall there feast to-night Full many a kern and many a knight, And gentle dames, and clansmen strong, And wandering bards, with store of song: The board is piled with smoking kine, And smooth bright cups of Spanish wine, And fish and fowl from stream and shaw, And fragrant mead and usquebaugh.

The chief is at the table's head-- 'Tis Con, the son of Hugh the Red-- The heir of Conal Golban's line;[83]

With pleasure flushed, with pride and wine, He cries, ”Our dames adjudge it wrong, To end our feast without the song; Have we no bard the strain to raise?

No foe to taunt, no maid to praise?