Oh, he drives it far off from the green sunny shore,
Like the reptiles which fled from his curse in dismay;
And Erin, when error’s proud triumph is o’er,
Will still be found keeping Saint Patrick’s Day.
Edward Caswall (1814-78), who resigned his Anglican living in 1847, was received into the Roman Church in 1850. He is a more successful translator than composer, his best original hymn being ‘Days and moments quickly flying.’ His translations from the Latin and German are in all our hymnals.
Romish hymnals contain many prayers for the reconversion of England. There is something pathetic in such lines as these in a hymn of Father Potter’s—
Oh! yet once more, o’er English fields,
The glorious Cross shall wave;
The solace of the broken heart,
The standard of the brave.