Tydeus, falling at Thebes, long of yore,
Gnaw'd in death, the dead poll of his foe :*
They had striven the moment before;

Yet such fury revolts, even so.

Have ages been rolling in vain?

Five races of men ceased to live?
And shall rage unextinguished remain ?
Must antipathies only survive?

My ancestor fought at the Boyne,
At Aughrim, and Derry, 'tis true:
Against him, it may be, fought thine;
Both bravely and loyally too.†

Your's conquered ; 'tis yours to forgive :
Nor remembrance ought either to have
Of the past, but that those, who now live,
Are sprung from the loyal and brave.

I believe in one God; so do you:
Both on the same Saviour depend:
Shall Christian join hands with the Jew,
And not make of a Brother a Friend?

* Recorded by Statius, (I think :) perhaps elsewhere. † According to their respective opinions.

This statement, of the Versifier, is more or less incorrect. Two of his lineal and paternal ancestors were officers in William's army, and fought and fell upon his side. Audi alteram partem: his maternal family, a very amiable one, was Catholic their politics were Jacobite; and a distinguished member of that family followed, with the Duke of Ormonde, the fortunes of the Pretender.

Of that Shepherd, both claim to be sheep;
And shall we, like wolves fierce and grim,
Our fangs in each other's blood steep,
On our way to salvation, and Him?

Shall the pious and meek-purposed bell,
That summons our Protestant crowd,
Of Charity ringing the knell,

Say to Christians, "be selfish and proud ?"

At the Curfew's now innocent toll,

What Norman would swell with proud ire,
That a Saxon may comfort his soul,

With the brightness and warmth of his fire?

Dissension and feud at an end,

Dagger-drawing, and enmity sore,

To English they've learned to blend;
And are Saxon and Norman no more.

Our Pedigrees mingle in vain :

Still Prejudice, towering sublime,
Disperses; and Bigotry's reign
Tyrannises o'er Nature and Time.

Can England, of Europe the gem,
Longer bear our abasement to see?
Union tells us we're one and the same:

Then while Erin's a Slave-so is She.

When did these stanzas first appear ?

This is their first appearance. They were written about a year before the passing of the

Relief Bill; but never published, or even printed. They were, however circulated in manuscript, amongst friends; some of whom strongly urged a more extensive circulation. One, at least, of these was then, and is still a judge.

O! then you have friends upon the bench.

I hope I have, a few. But the one to whom I have alluded, is only in the loose and popular sense of the word, a friend. If we speak "by the card,"* though "friend, world-yclept," he is but a slight and common acquaintance at the most. We are a sort of "intimate strangers;" as I have seen such relations comically enough described; and I am now resigned to our being no more.

This is exactly as it should be.

Malé verum examinat omnis-corruptus judex. But here your discussions are not pursued inter lances, mensasque nitentes: on the contrary, impransi disquiritis; or at least not feasting at the same convivial board; nor exposed to the dis

* Hamlet.

tractions of turbot and venison; or of a bottle, containing matter more imaginative than hot water.*

Your rule will only apply to cases, where the question for decision is a temperance one.Have not Ministers their cabinet dinners, and their white bait?

I am too little of a politician, to take a cabinet for my model.

You will admit, however, the alluring qualities of bait of every kind; and that ministers, if they would have supporters, must even distribute, and not keep it to themselves.

I will admit that you are much too fond of quibble.

So have been my betters. Shakspeare was so in his day; of whom I need not say quantâ vi TORQUEAT HASTAM.

Nay, you are quite incorrigible. To present me with a pun, in the very face of my expostulation!

Then do not throw away your reprimands. Besides I may frequently say, with Cicero, hæc

* Lord Brougham's Discourse, p. 112.

ego non rideo, quamvis tu rideas; sed de re severissimâ tecum, ut soleo, jocor.*

But I have heard men call you venerable; and as for t'other W. C. S. (your alter idem,) he has, in print, dwindled into a Venerable, of (shall I say the highest, or the lowest ?) class. He has shrunk into such a venerably grasshopperish tenuity,† that I should not wonder if he evaporated into absolute Immaterial.

That perhaps is his affair. I, for my part, am quite as venerable as I wish to be, either in reputation or in fact. Especially because I told you, in our second dialogue, what venerable often means.‡

Senile decrepitude?

Even so.

But allow me to propose a question. Do you consider me as fixed and serious, in my religious opinions?

I do.

* Letter to Trebatius, Epist. ad Famil, Lib. 7, Epist. 11. To deride is not or is not merely-to laugh; and derision may be argument.

+ See Homer's account of Priam, and his aged companions, at the Scœan gate, in the third book of the Iliad.

+ Page 33, Note.