Page:Irish minstrelsy, vol 2 - Hardiman.djvu/169

Rh dictates of justice and humanity, and approached nearer in their practice to the divine maxims of the Christian faith, than the Irish Parliament of the eighteenth. The remainder of this appalling picture is left to the imagination of the reader:—but it should never be forgotten that the Christian of Jerusalem, in imitation of his Divine Master, freely forgave his enemies and prayed for them. To the Irish Catholic we would say, "Go thou and do likewise."—The day of persecution has gone by, and a hope remains (notwithstanding some chimerical reformation endeavours now in progress,) that the mild spirit of the gospel may at length revisit this island, and that the people of all religious denominations, without distinction of sect or party, may finally forget their differences, and cordially unite in promoting the prosperity of the Country, and upholding the glory of the Empire.

To return to our poem, I find it was composed by Owen O'Sullivan, a Munster bard, who died at Knockanure, in the County of Kerry, about the year 1784. He has indulged much in compound epithets of which the Irish language is so capable, but of which it was found impossible to convey any idea in an English version. This may account to the reader for the apparent disproportion in length between the translation and the original.

$1$Fearflatha O'Gnive, the author of this ode, was family Ollamh, or poet laureat of the O'Nials of Claneboy, and he formed one of the train of the celebrated Shane a Diomas, (or the proud) O'Nial, prince of Ulster, who visited the court of Elizabeth, in 1562. Camden describes O'Nial's appearance on that occasion, and tells us, "the Londoners marvelled much at the strange sight." He was attended by Mac Sweeny the