Page:Irish minstrelsy, vol 2 - Hardiman.djvu/143

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This is one of the contemptuous epithets before alluded to. The following Epigrammatic stanza is expressive of the feelings conveyed in the text.—

May banishment and desolation light on him, may the plague
 * and pains without remedy seize his veins and bones,

Who would wish well to the English race, They who exiled the offspring of Ir and Heremon.

$7$Ben-Edar. The ancient name of the hill of Howth.—The English, although as a Nation they might truly say with reference to Ireland,

have ever been more ready to censure than to praise both ourselves and our country. This is a deplorable national failing, and one which a high minded and "thinking" people should be ashamed of, for to say the least, it is somewhat ungrateful. But it is hoped, that time may, in its own good season, overcome this rather ungenerous propensity. Our "Bulls" and "Brogue" have always proved inexhaustible sources of merriment to our English friends, and even the simple sounds of our old language have been particularly obnoxious to their "ears polite." Of