Original.
"Abide In Me."
"I am the vine, you the branches."
"I AM the Vine."
"'Tis true, dear Lord, and yet the fruit,
And cool, green leaves that cast the grateful shade,
Are mine."
"Fie, silly branch! Without a root
Deep hidden in the lowly earth,
Thy fruit or leaves would ne'er had birth.
How quickly would thy coronal of leaves,
Which now from men such flattery receives,
Lose all its glory in their sight, and fade
And die;
Thy fruit for tastelessness be spurned;
Thyself be cast into the fire and burned,
If I
Who am, of all thou hast, the source,
Did not with living sap the force
Supply."
"Lord! pardon me my foolish pride;
Too much in my own strength I do confide.
Decree
That henceforth I shall bare and barren be,
If I give not all glory unto thee;
And chide
My wayward spirit when it turns aside,
And thinks to live and flourish, and yet not abide
In thee."
Abridged from The Dublin University Magazine.
The Invasions Of Ireland By The Danes.
A knowledge of history is considered an essential portion of the mental acquirements of every gentleman and lady, but it is for the most part a disagreeable, and, in many respects, a slightly immoral study, if we apply the same criterion to it which we do to its relative, romance. Moral lecturers on fiction instruct us that any novel or romance which centres its chief interest in wicked men or women, and devotes the greater portion of its pages to their proceedings, is an immoral, or, at least, an unedifying book. We need not waste pages or lines here in pointing out what sort of designs or deeds enter into the tissue of historical narrative, but as (the above reasoning notwithstanding) history is, and will continue to be, a popular and engrossing study, it is of importance that we be acquainted with the true nature of past events.
Desiderata for a Good Irish History.
With regard to our own country we have not in this case been well favored. Those histories which have appeared in print rest for their authority on hitherto inedited MSS., many portions which are of a legendary and romantic character. It is evident that it is only when all these MS. chronicles, that are worth the trouble and expense, are published and compared with each other and with foreign contemporary history, we can arrive with any certainty at the truth or probability of past events, the existence or otherwise of some semi-mythic heroes, or truthful chronological arrangement.
For the coming history of Ireland we are thankful that preparations have been making. We have had Keating's history badly translated for three half-centuries. He compiled it in the seventeenth century from MS. documents, some of which are unhappily not now in existence. Dr. O'Connor was enabled, through the munificence of the Duke of Buckingham, to get into print, accompanied by a Latin translation, the Annals of Tighernach, a monk of Clonmacnois, in the eleventh century, and a portion of the Annals of Ulster, but these books are nearly as inaccessible as the original MSS. The Annals of the Four Masters, (the O'Clerys of Donegal Abbey, early part of the seventeenth century,) edited by the late Dr. O'Donovan, have been issued in a costly style by the firm of Hodges & Smith. For about a quarter of a century our Archaeological and Celtic Societies have been publishing, with translations, papers of great value, and at last, though at the eleventh hour, government has lent a hand in bringing before the public valuable materials for the future historian of Ireland. These consist of a portion of the ancient Irish code: the Senchus Mhor, the Chronicum Scotorum, edited by Mr. Hennessy, and the Wars of the Gael with the Foreigners, [Footnote 275] (with translation,) edited by Rev. Dr. Todd. This, we trust, is only an earnest of what government means to do. We hope to see in succession the Annals of Tighernach, of Lough Cé, of Ulster, [Footnote 276] and others issued at the moderate price adopted.