every muse, and became master of them all-sighing at length for some higher and holier source of poetical feeling, he turns to the east, and listens with rapture to its prophetic melodies-subdued by the strain, he lets fall the lyre, seizes the harp of Sion and of Erin, at once the emblem of piety and patriotism, and gives its boldest and most solemn chords to his own impassioned inspirations of country and of religion." SACRED SONGS. Moore wrote, besides the Irish Melodies, a large number of songs, many of which are still the delight of the social circle. His prolific muse also produced, in 1816, a volume of Sacred Songs, of exquisite poetical beauty and high devotional feeling. The following are amongst the most favourable specimens of this portion of his works: REPENTANCE. Were not the sinful Mary's tears When bringing every balmy sweet, She o'er her Saviour's hallow'd feet And wip'd them with that golden hair, Where once the diamond shone; Though now those gems of grief were there, Were not those sweets, so humbly shed- Thon, that hast slept in error's sleep, VIRTUE TRUE HAPPINESS. The bird let loose in eastern skies, But high she shoots through air and light, Where nothing earthly bounds her flight, So grant me, God, from every care To hold my course to thee! GOD-THE SOURCE OF CONSOLATION. O Thou! who dry'st the mourner's tear, The friends, who in our sunshine live, And he who has but tears to give, But Thou wilt heal that broken heart, When joy no longer soothes or cheers, Come brightly wafting through the gloom, Then sorrow, touched by Thee, grows bright, ISRAEL'S SONG OF TRIUMPH. Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! His chariots, his horsemen, all splendid and brave. Praise to the Conqueror, praise to the Lord! Of those she sent forth in the hour of her pride? For the Lord hath looked out from his pillar of glory, And all her brave thousands are dash'd in the tide. Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! Jehovah has triumph'd-his people are free. EVENINGS IN GREECE. Moore's volume bearing the above-mentioned title is a deservedly popular production. The scene is laid in the Island of Zea. A poetical narrative forms a link for many beautiful melodies. Some of these, such as "The sky is bright," and "The Balaika," are well known in the world of song. The lines on Memory, and the hymn to Mary, Star of the Sea, are exquisitely poetical. MEMORY. O Memory, how coldly But, Memory, too truly Thou paintest grief that's past; Joy's colours are fleeting, But those of sorrow last. And, while thou bring'st before us But makes them darker still. MARY, STAR OF THE SEA. And lutes, their echoes blending, Are heard from isle to isle; LALLA ROOKH. In 1817 Moore published "Lalla Rookh." This beautiful poem was warmly welcomed by the literary world, and has lived down Hazlitt's cynical remark that, "Moore ought not to have written it even for three thousand guineas." There may, perhaps, be too much ornament in this poem, but a greater critic than Hazlitt (the late Lord Jeffrey) thus writes of Lalla Rookh, in the Edinburgh Review of November, 1817: "There is a great deal of our recent poetry derived from the east, but this is the finest orientalism we have had yet. The Land of the Sun has never shone out so brightly on the children of the north, nor the sweets of Asia been poured forth, nor her gorgeousness displayed so profusely to the delighted senses of Europe. The beauteous forms, the dazzling splendour, the breathing odours of the East seem at last to have found a kindred poet in the Green Isle of the West.'" |