The Shamrock or, Hibernian Cresses. A Collection of Poems, Songs, Epigrams, &c. Latin as well as English, The Original Production of Ireland. To which are subjoined thoughts on the prevailing system of school education, respecting young ladies as well as gentlemen: with practical proposals for a reformation [by Samuel Whyte] |
 |
 |
|
|
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
|
|
|
|
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. | LETTER V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
|
 | The Shamrock |  |
LETTER V.
INSCRIBED TO MISS DALY.
Silence no more my lonely Spirit grieves;
The Cusipata's Art my Tongue relieves;
The Bar's remov'd that heighten'd my Distress,
And Perseverance meets the wish'd Success;
I'm so proficient in this Language grown,
'Twill soon become familiar as my own:
Even now, attentive, I can comprehend
The Conversation of my pious Friend.
From him I learn, that, in the dreadful Hour,
When my Soul trembled at the Thunder's Roar,
Even then, my Fate was kind, when least I thought,
And the first Means of my Redemption wrought;
That France (the Kingdom where I now reside)
Had sent its Force to curb the Spanish Pride;
Who met, and fought, and that the Power of Spain
Was taken, sunk, or scatter'd o'er the Main;
That in the Engagement, which had caus'd my Fear,
I chang'd my Fortune by the Chance of War;
That I am free; but, that the Vanquish'd bore
Thee, still a Prisoner to the Spanish Shore;
Since when, our Chief, in Charity to me,
Dispatch'd a Chaqui in the Search of thee.
How does my Soul with Expectation burn
For this slow-footed Messenger's Return!
The Cusipata's Art my Tongue relieves;
The Bar's remov'd that heighten'd my Distress,
And Perseverance meets the wish'd Success;
I'm so proficient in this Language grown,
'Twill soon become familiar as my own:
Even now, attentive, I can comprehend
The Conversation of my pious Friend.
397
When my Soul trembled at the Thunder's Roar,
Even then, my Fate was kind, when least I thought,
And the first Means of my Redemption wrought;
That France (the Kingdom where I now reside)
Had sent its Force to curb the Spanish Pride;
Who met, and fought, and that the Power of Spain
Was taken, sunk, or scatter'd o'er the Main;
That in the Engagement, which had caus'd my Fear,
I chang'd my Fortune by the Chance of War;
That I am free; but, that the Vanquish'd bore
Thee, still a Prisoner to the Spanish Shore;
Since when, our Chief, in Charity to me,
Dispatch'd a Chaqui in the Search of thee.
How does my Soul with Expectation burn
For this slow-footed Messenger's Return!
The very Means, my savage Friends employ,
To heal my Woes, embitter all my Joy:
By different Sports they strive to entertain;
Alas! my Heart! they but encrease my Pain.
Alone, most happy; there, when unconfin'd,
My Thoughts can rove, and Aza fill my Mind:
But, yet, how strange! how whimsical must seem
A wish'd Remembrance of the dreadful Theme;
For, while my Aza rises to my View,
Our past Misfortunes find Remembrance too.
No more of this; for this you know too well:
Prepare your Wonder for the Things I tell.
To heal my Woes, embitter all my Joy:
By different Sports they strive to entertain;
Alas! my Heart! they but encrease my Pain.
Alone, most happy; there, when unconfin'd,
My Thoughts can rove, and Aza fill my Mind:
But, yet, how strange! how whimsical must seem
A wish'd Remembrance of the dreadful Theme;
For, while my Aza rises to my View,
Our past Misfortunes find Remembrance too.
No more of this; for this you know too well:
Prepare your Wonder for the Things I tell.
A costly Robe, as in this Country worn,
And form'd to cover, less, than to adorn,
With Gold and Silver, exquisitely wrought,
The Cazique order'd, and my China brought;
A stiffen'd Substance round my Waist she join'd,
Which aukward felt, uneasy, and confin'd;
Next, on my Hips a strange Machine she ty'd,
Which low descended in Circumference wide;
The shining Vest she pins with willing Care;
And forms in sporting Curls my flowing Hair;
A flimsy Covering on my Head she plac'd,
With colour'd Strings and various Flowers grac'd:
When, by her Help, I stood in Pomp array'd,
Pleas'd with her Task and me, the smiling Maid
Brought that mysterious doubling Plain to shew
A Metamorphosis I scarce could know.
The Cazique entering, as in Thought profound,
With reverential Awe survey'd me round;
He gaz'd in Silence; blush'd; then stept aside;
Dismiss'd my China; gaz'd again, and sigh'd;
Then press'd my Hand, and blush'd and sigh'd again,
With all the Tokens of afflictive Pain:
Alarm'd at this, I gently ask'd to know
If I occasion'd all that Depth of Woe;
But he, regardless of my kind Demand,
In Tears repuls'd me with a trembling Hand:
What could this mean? I had again requir'd
The fatal Cause; but sudden he retir'd:
Most sure, he feels Concern for my Distress;
And deeply pities what he can't redress:
Perhaps Resemblance may his Sorrows move;
And he, like me, laments his absent Love:
Perhaps, my Image, in this Dress, revives
The dear Remembrance, for whose Sake he grieves.
It may be so: But I with Pleasure see
His Kindness not the least estrang'd to me.
And form'd to cover, less, than to adorn,
With Gold and Silver, exquisitely wrought,
The Cazique order'd, and my China brought;
398
Which aukward felt, uneasy, and confin'd;
Next, on my Hips a strange Machine she ty'd,
Which low descended in Circumference wide;
The shining Vest she pins with willing Care;
And forms in sporting Curls my flowing Hair;
A flimsy Covering on my Head she plac'd,
With colour'd Strings and various Flowers grac'd:
When, by her Help, I stood in Pomp array'd,
Pleas'd with her Task and me, the smiling Maid
Brought that mysterious doubling Plain to shew
A Metamorphosis I scarce could know.
The Cazique entering, as in Thought profound,
With reverential Awe survey'd me round;
He gaz'd in Silence; blush'd; then stept aside;
Dismiss'd my China; gaz'd again, and sigh'd;
Then press'd my Hand, and blush'd and sigh'd again,
With all the Tokens of afflictive Pain:
Alarm'd at this, I gently ask'd to know
If I occasion'd all that Depth of Woe;
But he, regardless of my kind Demand,
In Tears repuls'd me with a trembling Hand:
What could this mean? I had again requir'd
The fatal Cause; but sudden he retir'd:
Most sure, he feels Concern for my Distress;
And deeply pities what he can't redress:
Perhaps Resemblance may his Sorrows move;
And he, like me, laments his absent Love:
Perhaps, my Image, in this Dress, revives
The dear Remembrance, for whose Sake he grieves.
It may be so: But I with Pleasure see
His Kindness not the least estrang'd to me.
One Morn, before our ever-glorious Sire
Rejoic'd the World with his celestial Fire,
When scarce the glimmering Twilight was return'd,
And the grey Arch of Heaven had re-adorn'd,
My early China beckon'd me to rise;
I straight obey'd, though Sleep still seal'd my Eyes:
The Cazique led me through the outward Door,
Where stood a Form I ne'er had seen before:
By two high Steps a Chamber's Height we gain;
Low was the Roof, and could but few contain;
On either Side, directly opposite,
A large square Void receiv'd the Air and Light;
Through these I look'd with cautionary Care,
And saw the Chamber balanc'd in the Air,
Uplifted high: What Terrors did I prove,
When this strange Prodigy began to move:
By Trees, Fields, Houses, rapidly we pass'd,
Which seem'd to meet us with an equal Haste:
This present Motion to my Memory brought
The floating Mansion, full with Thunder fraught,
Whence first I view'd with Fear the foaming Wave,
And lost all Title, but a Royal Slave.
These sad Reflections, and my new Surprize,
Urg'd the round Tear into my floating Eyes:
The attentive Cazique saw, and, doubtless, guess'd,
In Part, the Pangs of my disorder'd Breast.
At length, he made me, from the Window's Height,
View and observe the Causes of my Fright:
On rolling Orbs the tottering Chamber hung;
Nor mov'd spontaneous, but compell'd along
By Hamas, patient of the painful Thong.
Arts, more than human Genius, unconfin'd,
Declare this Nation bless'd above Mankind:
But, sure, some great Defect intestine reigns,
Or soon the vanquish'd World would own their Chains.
Rejoic'd the World with his celestial Fire,
399
And the grey Arch of Heaven had re-adorn'd,
My early China beckon'd me to rise;
I straight obey'd, though Sleep still seal'd my Eyes:
The Cazique led me through the outward Door,
Where stood a Form I ne'er had seen before:
By two high Steps a Chamber's Height we gain;
Low was the Roof, and could but few contain;
On either Side, directly opposite,
A large square Void receiv'd the Air and Light;
Through these I look'd with cautionary Care,
And saw the Chamber balanc'd in the Air,
Uplifted high: What Terrors did I prove,
When this strange Prodigy began to move:
By Trees, Fields, Houses, rapidly we pass'd,
Which seem'd to meet us with an equal Haste:
This present Motion to my Memory brought
The floating Mansion, full with Thunder fraught,
Whence first I view'd with Fear the foaming Wave,
And lost all Title, but a Royal Slave.
These sad Reflections, and my new Surprize,
Urg'd the round Tear into my floating Eyes:
The attentive Cazique saw, and, doubtless, guess'd,
In Part, the Pangs of my disorder'd Breast.
At length, he made me, from the Window's Height,
View and observe the Causes of my Fright:
On rolling Orbs the tottering Chamber hung;
Nor mov'd spontaneous, but compell'd along
By Hamas, patient of the painful Thong.
Arts, more than human Genius, unconfin'd,
Declare this Nation bless'd above Mankind:
400
Or soon the vanquish'd World would own their Chains.
Four Times, the Sun had rested in the Main,
As oft, return'd to chear the World again;
By his Example, we pursued our Way,
And end our Journey, as he clos'd the Day.
Through all the vast Inquietudes and Pains,
I feel for thee, even now, perhaps, in Chains,
Still, my dear Lord, I blush not to confess,
Some Beams of Pleasure temper my Distress;
Such as, before, to Zilia were unknown,
Immur'd within the Temple of the Sun,
Given to the Mama's venerable Guard,
From every Notion of a World debarr'd.
How do my Eyes with Wonder, now, survey
The glorious Beauties of the rising Day!
How view the Sun emblazoning the Earth,
To give the generative Herbage Birth!
Before his Face the dusky Vapour yields,
And quits, repugnant, the gay teeming Fields:
Next, o'er the Mountain's lofty Summit driven,
The Prospect rises of an azure Heaven;
Now, unconfin'd, the Eye with Wonder roves,
O'er Hills, and Vallies, Rivers, Lawns, and Groves;
We see the regular Confusion lye
In stately, wild, disorder'd Majesty:
Or, in the Evening, when the Sun declines,
How gay the Westward with his Radiance shines!
How can we view that heaven-illumin'd Blaze,
Without Astonishment, Delight, and Praise!
The tinctur'd Clouds, in various Colours shewn,
Adorn'd in Gold, and gathering round the Sun;
Huge Mountains seem to our bewilder'd Sight
Alternate vary'd into Shade, and Light.
Here let me hold: 'Tis wonderous all! and stands,
Confess'd, the Work of Pacha Camac's Hands.
As oft, return'd to chear the World again;
By his Example, we pursued our Way,
And end our Journey, as he clos'd the Day.
Through all the vast Inquietudes and Pains,
I feel for thee, even now, perhaps, in Chains,
Still, my dear Lord, I blush not to confess,
Some Beams of Pleasure temper my Distress;
Such as, before, to Zilia were unknown,
Immur'd within the Temple of the Sun,
Given to the Mama's venerable Guard,
From every Notion of a World debarr'd.
How do my Eyes with Wonder, now, survey
The glorious Beauties of the rising Day!
How view the Sun emblazoning the Earth,
To give the generative Herbage Birth!
Before his Face the dusky Vapour yields,
And quits, repugnant, the gay teeming Fields:
Next, o'er the Mountain's lofty Summit driven,
The Prospect rises of an azure Heaven;
Now, unconfin'd, the Eye with Wonder roves,
O'er Hills, and Vallies, Rivers, Lawns, and Groves;
We see the regular Confusion lye
In stately, wild, disorder'd Majesty:
Or, in the Evening, when the Sun declines,
How gay the Westward with his Radiance shines!
How can we view that heaven-illumin'd Blaze,
Without Astonishment, Delight, and Praise!
The tinctur'd Clouds, in various Colours shewn,
Adorn'd in Gold, and gathering round the Sun;
Huge Mountains seem to our bewilder'd Sight
Alternate vary'd into Shade, and Light.
401
Confess'd, the Work of Pacha Camac's Hands.
Oh Heaven!—What's this?—Impossible!—My Eyes
Must, sure, deceive me; or, new Wonders rise:
A thousand, lofty Spires at once appear;
And a thick Smoak o'ercasts the tainted Air;
A noisome Smell invades my loathing Sense,
And my Breast feels the baneful Influence.
But, now, I find the Spires, within my View,
Rise from the City we are destin'd to:
'Tis, sure, most large; perhaps, the dread Abode,
And favourite Temple of the reigning God.
Must, sure, deceive me; or, new Wonders rise:
A thousand, lofty Spires at once appear;
And a thick Smoak o'ercasts the tainted Air;
A noisome Smell invades my loathing Sense,
And my Breast feels the baneful Influence.
But, now, I find the Spires, within my View,
Rise from the City we are destin'd to:
'Tis, sure, most large; perhaps, the dread Abode,
And favourite Temple of the reigning God.
Could I but hope to meet my Aza there,
To bless my Eyes with what they hold most dear;
Would Heaven, indulgent to my just Request,
Accept the Prayers of Innocence distress'd;
Or, would it, there, in thy Embraces grant
The kind Asylum that my Sufferings want;
'Tis that I seek, 'tis there I wish to lie;
If that's refus'd me, I would ask—to die.
To bless my Eyes with what they hold most dear;
Would Heaven, indulgent to my just Request,
Accept the Prayers of Innocence distress'd;
Or, would it, there, in thy Embraces grant
The kind Asylum that my Sufferings want;
'Tis that I seek, 'tis there I wish to lie;
If that's refus'd me, I would ask—to die.
| The Shamrock | |