WAR SONG. WARRIORS! see th' Invader near ! Grasp the sabre-point the spear. By the Hero's hallow'd fame; Warriors! rise. By the Coward's deathless shame; By Ireland's injur'd honour'd name; By Borhoime's shade, whose dying hand, On the bloody Clontarf strand, Swept the wild Dane from the land, Warriors! rise. Onward! to the battle go, Warriors! rise. By all the Hero's heart holds dear- Warriors! rise, When did the Frenchman learn to spare Warriors! rise, See! yonder see his banners wave! To shield the Temple and the Throne Warriors! rise. By the Captive's galling chain, Brace the helm, the standard rear, United!-what have ye to fear ? DUBLIN. Warriors! be brave. FRATER. TO CYNTHIA. WITH A PRESENT OF CROW QUILLS. BY THE LATE REV. R. POTTER. THOSE wings, with art Dedalean taught to bear Arms all his golden shafts, and gives them wings to fly. VERSES, ON THE DEATH OF WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM*. BY MASTER T. ROMNEY ROBINSON. HARK! 'midst the gloom of Lagan's winding shores, While freed from life, a much lov'd Spirit soars, * The self-taught Poet, to whose memory this tribute is paid, died at Magherabeg, near Dromore, in Ireland, the 27th of December, 1804, having nearly completed the 24th year of his age, for he was born the 19th of March, 1781. While he was a poor weaver boy, having received the rudiments of his education at one of the Bishop of Dromore's Sunday Schools, he had, by reading such books as he could borrow, made so considerable a progress, that in the Autumn of 1800 he presented his Lordship with a copy of verses, requesting the loan of books. The Bishop being struck with the marks of genius displayed in this poem rescued him from the loom, and placed him at the Diocesan School of Dromore, where his application was so diligent that in little more than two years he had read the principal Latin and Greek Classics. Being thus qualified to superintend the education of youth, which had been the object of his wishes, he was received early in the year 1804 as an Assistant Teacher in the Academy of the Rev. Dr. Bruce, of Belfast, where he was distinguished for his diligence and skill in preparing the boys under his care to be examined before the last Summer vacation. But by this time such strong symptoms of a consumption had appeared in bis tall, thin, and slender frame, that he could not any more return to his charge, and his declining health confined him to the house of his poor mother, near the turnpike-gate between Hillsborough and Dromore, where he continued to experience the kindness of his former patron, See, dark December tears his robes of snow, In Fancy's wreath no gem resplendent shines- In his pure mind the flow'rs of Genius sprung, And Truth inspir'd him from her heav'nly throne, But now no more that vocal lyre shall charm- New fledg'd with radiant plumes of heav'nly fire, BELFAST, DECEMBER 31, 1804. patron, and was most generously attended by Sir George Atkinson, an eminent Physician, cian, in Hillsborough; but his case was beyond the reach of medical aid, and terminated fatally on the day above-mentioned. Cunningham, though very unlike in his bodily frame to Dr. Goldsmith, who was short, and not slender, so strongly resembled him in the face, that when he stood near the profile of the Doctor his portrait seemed to have been drawn for him. Many of his poetical compositions have been printed in the Gentleman's Magazine, and other periodical publications, subscribed by his proper signature; but he sometimes assumed the fictitious names of Alonzo and Colin. |