AN GAODHAL.
79
llan artifice of her captors ; her every appeal ans-
wered with a repressive reply, or a contemptuous
silence ; and that slow, silent, but sure and steady
influence from Westminster and Dublin Castle en-
tering every pore, vein and artery of Irish existence,
with nothing distinctively or genuinely Irish to off¬
set it, No speech, no lectures, no music, no any¬
thing of an Irish character to strengthen the vital¬
ity or to infuse new life into the dying nation.
What can come of all this? First overwhelming
despair, and then a gradual acceptance of anything
and everything from the hands of her destroyer.
Why cannot Ireland Call forth that pity and
commiseration for her condition which was lavish¬
ly bestowed on Captive Greece, or unstinted ap¬
plause as was given to the South-American Repub¬
lics in their revolution? Why is it indifference and
curiosity which meet the heroic attempts for liber¬
ation in the Western Green Isle? Ah, sad but
nevertheless true, the cause and wherefore rest
with the Irish people themselves. What is known
of Ireland on the Continent? Nothing, but as be¬
ing a province of England. When she lifts up
her voice to make known her wrongs ’tis with the
same indifference her master treats her; it is the
English tone that reach the listening and unin-
formed ears of the nations, and stamp her as no¬
thing but a rebellious, pretentious province ; not as
a nation crying out heart and soul in her own na¬
tive language of the past against the unatoned
crime of centuries. They hear her not as a sister
nation — their equal — tho, captive, according to the
laws of God and nature, appealing to them for
succor with every known principle of justice and
right. No. But listening, they seem to hear the
voice of one with more pretension than right whose
speech betray her as an unruly portion of the em¬
pire which she seeks to break from. No, not as a
sister but as a strange pretentious child do they
list to her. And so shall it be until Erin awakes
from her lethean slumber and imbrue with vitality
everything within her that is Irish ; until she fans
to new life the surely dying characteristics of her
people ; until she leaves off using those English
made tools which are continually cutting her very
vitals : and last, tho’ not least, to forget to cry in
the language of the Briton, as, alas! too many are
doing, “God save the Queen," and learn, and nev-
er, never forget to shout in that tongue of tongues
that knows no equal — the Language of the Celt —
buail síos an Sasanach;
then, and not until then will Ireland take her place
among the Nations of the Earth.
Any one can have the GAEL mailed to his resi¬
dence for a year by sending Sixty Cents' worth of
postage stamps to this office. Send one, two, or
three cent stamps ; larger ones are inconvenient.
Sixty cents a year is only a fraction over a cent
a week ! What Irishman would be without a Gael¬
ic library for his children on that account?
TOM. MOORE.
Thomas Moore was born in Aungier Street, Dub-
lin, on May 28, 1779. His father was a grocer and
spirit-dealer and both of his parents were Catholics.
Thomas received an education such as was called
for by his extraordinary youthful talents. Being a
Catholic, many of the ways to public distinction
were then closed to him by the envious laws that
oppressed his country and religion. In 1793, by
act of Parliament the doors of Dublin University
were partly opened to Catholics, and Moore entered
there, where he greatly distinguished himself, and
then passed over to London, with the intention of
studying law at the Temple; but he soon began
his career as a poet. He first appeared as the
translator of the Odes of Anacreon. This work
was published by subscription, and dedicated to the
Prince Regent : this act of Moore’s immediately in¬
troduced him into gay and fashionable life. In
1801 his first volume of original verses was publish-
ed under the title of “The Poetical Works of the
late Thomas Little." In 1803 he obtained a small
government post in the island of Bermuda. In
1804 he arrived at his post. In a few months, how-
ever, he left a deputy to perform his duties, and
began a tour of the United States, Canada and the
Antiles, which tour drew from him some of the
most beautiful of his early poems. Neglecting the
duties of his station, he became responsible on ac¬
count of the dishonesty of a subordinate, for a con-
siderable sum of public money : this he afterwards
discharged by his literary labor.
In 1806 he published his “Epistles, Odes, and
other Poems,” Lord Jeffrey, in the Edinburg Re-
view, treated the book with merciless severity.
Moore took offence and challenged Jeffrey ; a duel
was the result, but the seconds put no lead in the
pistols, and there was nothing but smoke ; the
combatants laughed aud then shook hands, and from
that time forth, there were no firmer friends than
Thomas Moore and Lord Jeffrey.
Lord Byron in his “English Bards and Scotch
Reviewers” sneeringly alluded to Moore ; Moore
demanded an apology, and this was nearly the cause
of another duel ; but a dinner and some explanations
made the affair all right.
In 1807 Moore began his “Irish Melodies.” There
are about one hundred and twenty five songs in this
collection ; they were composed in order to furnish
appropriate words to a great number of beautiful
national airs, some of which were very old.
On March 25, 1811, Moore married a Miss Dyke.
He now settled down to literature as a profession.
"Lalla Rookh," appeared in 1817. After this appear¬
ed the “Life of Sheridan,” The Epicurean,” “Life
of Byron,” "Memoirs of Captain Rock,” and various
other productions.
During the last twenty-nine years of his life
Moore lived in the quiet seclusion of Sloperton Cot-
