Homer, were sung, very probably, to the same melody, which he himself composed. We have the respectable authority of the celebrated Bishop Percy, to assert, that the lyric poets, Alcæus, Sappho, Anacreon, and Pindar, set their own poems to music, and sung them to the lyre, at the public contests. Poor, impassioned, and too fondly Joving Sappho ! the tenth muse, breathed out in her lyrical strains, her enthusiastic attachment to the ingrate Phaon, on the precipice of the Leucadian promontory, the moment before she precipitated herself into the sea.

True poetry, embraces in its grasp, eloquence, painting and music; so that we are not to wonder at its magical attributes; it can raise the passions or allay themtemper joy and grief, excite love and fear, or even turn fear into boldness, and love into indifference. It was the vestal flame of genuine poetry, that communicated itself to the spirit of the disheartened Spartans, when they were reanimated, and recovered their lost courage, by the songs of Tyrtaeus, who, with the lyre in one hand, and the sword in the other, led them to victory. The odes of Sterichorus changed the rage and desire of revenge, which actuated Phalaris, into kindness and esteem, and the impassioned songs of Sappho, so full of heart, feeling, and tenderness, gained for her, more lovers than even her fascinating beauty. The famous Dr. Hervey used to say, "that the Eclogues of Virgil, had the tendency of imparting inspiration;" and the learned Meric Casaubon, often observed, that his mind was "rapt in pleasure and enthusiasm," whenever he read his favourite Lucretius. Who can wonder that Octavia sunk down in a swoon, at the recital made by Virgil, of the celebrated verses allusive to the death of Marcellus, in the sixth book of the Eueid-who has so frigid a mind as not to be melted by the pathos and sorrow, that are so forcibly pictured in Shakspeare's tragedies-who, with any feeling and sensibility, can peruse those soulentrancing stanzas, on which the sublime Byron has impressed the stamp of genius and the charms of unfading poesy, without partaking of that inspiration of which he drank so deeply-who, with a spark of patriotism glowing in his bosom, can listen to the songs of the impassioned Moore, which are all fire, heart and soul, without weeping for the sufferings of his country-who, we say, can have such Gothic prejudices, and contempt of letters, as not to admire the splendid emanations of a "Muse of fire,' from which imagination, passion, and harmony, flow in a swelling confluence of poetry and eloquence, in which every thing moves and sparkles, bright as the insects that people the sunbeam.

The achievements of Eloquence are still more grand and glorious than those of Poetry and Music, for it has ever been the nurse of liberty, which is the most essential good of man. It was eloquence armed Greece against Philip, fired the soul of Leonidas with unconquerable valour in the pass of Thermopylæ, and armed Brutus against the tyrant Tarquin. As to the force and power of this divine gift of genius, which has so often raised and appeased the violence of popular commotions, every reading person must be convinced of and acknowledge it, when he considers Julius Cæsar, the greatest man of his age, and possessed of the most magnanimous mind, taking his seat on the tribunal full of hatred and vindictive malevolence, and stimulated by these unworthy feelings to condemn Lygarius; yet, by the potency and charm of Cicero's famous oration, in the defence of the accused, the mighty Conqueror is disconcerted, losing his wonted energies, becoming so pale and agitated that he dropped some papers which he held in his hand, as if he had been terrified with words, who never feared an enemy in the field, till at length all his anger changing into clemency, he pronounced the acquittal of the noble prisoner, whom he afterwards distinguished by his kindness and friendship. We could adduce many other instances from modern history, of the miracles wrought by eloquence, even in this country; but it is time that we should revert to music.

Dr. Burney conjectures that the first instruments of music were of the pulsatile kind, and that rhythm, most probably, preceded the observation of the intervals of sound, which are so pleasing to the ear. According to Moses, stringed instruments preceded the deluge, as he gives the credit to Tubal, the sixth descendant from Cain, of being the "father of all such as handle the lyre and organ."

We should think that the invention of musical instruments has been purely casual; wind instruments owing their discovery to the observation of the tones which the wind produced among the hollow reeds, while the originality of chorded instruments is attributable to the observations of men upon the different vibrations of sound produced from wires or strings. The Greeks, who arrogate to themselves the honour of being the original discoverers of all the fine arts, impute the invention of the lyre, the parent of

In the first ages of music," says the Doctor, "the art could have been little more than metrical; as no other instruments, except those of percussion, were known. When the science was first discovered, of combining the charms of melody and harmony, the power of music over mankind was, probably, irresistible, from the agreeable surprise which soft and lengthened sounds must have occasioned."

VOL. I.-3.

musical instruments, to Mercury, who, as he was loitering one day on the strand, saw a shell of a tortoise, that was dried up, and nothing but the sinews remained, which he observed, when breathed upon by the breeze, to emit musical sounds; and hence he borrowed the idea of that charming instrument of harmony, which was no less the constant companion of the bard, than the grateful appendage of the philosopher and the hero. The immortal Plato, resigned himself to its sounds; to those tender and dissolving murmurs of melody, which, softening his heart, inspired his imagination and gave him perceptions, and ideas that have contributed so einently to the instruction, improvement, and happiness of mankind. In this soul-lulling resource was the inexorable Achilles employed, when interrupted by the ambassadors of Agamemnon, and soothing his perturbed breast, indignant at the death of his friend, and forgetting his anger and revenge, in the soft soothing strains of his lyre.

Music is the personified voice of human nature-the eloquence of the passions that kindles love in the busom of the virgin, and martial ardour in the soul of the young warrior. The coldest heart is melted to tenderness and sensibility, by its touching pathos and affecting harmony. Its soft strains solace the anguish of sorrow, and recall to our recollection the pleasing and moving association of other days of joy, which are consecrated by memory.

When the Irish exile, in a far distant clime, hears the music of his native land, his heart feels transport; the image of his country floats on every note, and its voice speaks audibly in every sound. Music has an assuasive charm for the desponding lover, and its sounds, when borne on the wing of the breeze to the depth of the captive's dungeon, alleviate his painful agony of feeling, and light up, in his languishing hopes, the bright torch of imaginative liberty. The poetic muse is inspired by its melody, when its sweet thrilling harmony awakens her passions and enthusiasm, and laps her fancy in the Elysium of imagination. It is music that fires the soul of the hero and the minstrel. It was it, perhaps, that touched the latent springs of Napoleon's genius-of Byron's gigantic sublimity, and raised the splendid renown of those master-spirits, whose refulgence dims the luminaries of antiquity, so high in the cloudless hemisphere of immortal fame. The sublime Dante, in bis poem on Purgatory, makes a wandering spirit meet the soul of one of the best singers of his time, in that abode of probationary sinners, and requesting some of his melodious airs, the ravished ghosts forgot their sufferings in listening to its sweet strains.

The Christians, as well as the Pagans, believe that music is one of the joys of heaven. We may consider harmonious sound as pleasing, consolatory or depressing'; as acting on our passions and enjoyments. As acting upon our passions, when it excites us to great and noble daring, and inflames the soul with magnanimity and courage. Upon our enjoyments, when the heart is tranquil and serene-when it is open to the tender impressions of love and friendship-when it is taught to glow by the finer affections of our nature-when it is touched by pity as it beats in unison with the mournful chorus of the passing bell, that swells upon the breeze, and knells to the grave the mortal remains of genius, virtue and beauty. With the joys that melody excites, there is united a plaintive, melancholy pensiveness, to which neither poetry nor eloquence can give an adequate expression. It speaks the language of sensation to the attentive heart. Poetry and music are not, like painting and sculpture, imitative aris. Poetry can, it is true, imitate certain sounds; and music, by its vivid expression, has the power to exbilirate and cheer the mind, or depress it with the weight of sorrow, being at once a voluptuous and intellectual pleasure, as it gladdens the ear, and conveys delight to the mint The union of poetry and music penetrates into the deepest recesses of the soul. The inspired and glowing stanzas of BYRON, MOORE and CAMPBELL, set to music, can interest the affections, as well as rouse the passions and the imagination. Frigid and petified indeed must that bosom be, which is not affected by the inspired verse of these Bards of love and liberty; for the fancy that is not warmed, the understanding which is not enlightened and exalted by it, is not qua ified to partake of the joys of human felicity, or the pleasures of social intercourse.

The history of the world informs us, that in proportion as nations have emerged from anarchy and barbarity, so has music proportionably been studied and cultivated. The mind of man, in a state of primitive barbarity, is unsusceptible of the impression of the nobler passions of humanity: but in the gradual progress in education and refinement, the soul will throw off the incubus of ignorance, and expand under the rays of knowledge to the influence of sympathy and sensibility. Now as music addresses itself entirely to the feelings of men, in proportion as those feelings have become refined and ennobled by intellect, so has the science been improved and carried to perfection by the enlightened nations of Europe.

In number VI. of the Irish Shield, in our article headed "IRISH MUSIC," we have

shown, that in the early ages the Irish were unrivalled in the art of vocal and instrumental harmony. The great degree of perfection which the charming science attained in our country, and the wide-spread fame of its professors, furnish indubitable criterions of the learning and refinement of the ancient Irish, and must, in the opinion of all in telligent and candid men, serve to refute the unfounded calumnies which English and Scottish writers have endeavoured to propagate, against our primitive character.

We are warranted in asserting, that the peculiar temperament and disposition of each nation may be traced from the peculiar style of their musical compositions; and this is strongly exemplified and illustrated by the plaintive melody and affecting pathos which pervade most of the original Irish airs. Italian music is the music of love; but trish music barmonises with every feeling of the soul, gives expression to the passions of the heart, and sublimates and exalts its tenderness. Let it not, however, be supposed, that we mean to attribute to the ancient or modern Irish a saturnine or melancholy cast of disposition: No, we only wish to prove, that the exquisite and pathetic melody of such airs as have descended to us, unchanged and undestroyed by the vandal barbarity of Danish and English invaders, exhibit the traits of sorrow and depression of spirits inseparable from the calamities which befel the land of "song and story," and remain monuments of her early refinement, as well as authentic records of the flourishing state of literature and the arts in Ireland, when the other nations of Europe were benighted in the darkness of barbarity.

Alas, ill-fated and suffering Country! where is the host of minstrels that raised "music's voluptuous swell" in the gorgeous halls of Tara, where the flower of chivalry and beauty that graced their banquets, ere yet thy pastoral meadows and fertile fields had marked thee as the prey of invading despoilers; when thy gallant warriors carried the terror of thy arms to the foot of the Alps? In the triumphant days of thy Nials, thy Cons, thy Fingals, and thy Ossians, thy valiant sons lived but to defend thy rights, bled to spread thy glory through the martial fields of Europe, while the "sun-burst of battles," the harp-emblazoned banner of Fingal, blasted the gaze of the Roman eagles in Caledonia. Yes, when thy brave warriors, after curbing the insolence of bold invaders, returned to their hospitable halls, the venerable bard, upon his ancient harp, swept the strings to their fame, and with dulcet strains would soothe the conqueror's heart, and bend to softest pity and affection the rugged breast that just before had wildly panted in the battle's conflict; and as the hero melted in the thrilling strain, again the minstrel, by music's maddening power, would rouse him from the tender and gentle emotion, and again would fire his soul to glorious deeds-kindling the ardour of the hero, making him emulate the glorious death of those, wao, in their country's cause, had nobly fallen. Such were thy days, Oh "Erin of sounding harps," ere the despoiling Anglo Saxons devastated thy fair fields, destroyed the halls of thy chieftains, and compelled thee to bow to the blood-stained Moloch of their oppressive subjection. But the fame of thy gallant sons still illuminates the historic page, their genius beams in cloudless glory in the hemisphere of literature and science: thy Moores, thy Plunkets, thy O'Connells, and thy Sheils, are the theme of Europe's praise, and the object of America's wonder. With Moore, O'Connell, and Sheil, love of country is the predominant feeling in their bosoms, in which it, rises superior to every other consideration.It is patriotism that generates magnanimity in the mind, and stimulates man to actions which almost rival the divinity. It was for this that Cocles fought and Scipio conquered-for this CorioJanas bled and Brutus perished-for this Curtius leaped into the gaping abyss, and Regulus suffered torture-and it was the love of country that heralded the gigantic ambition of Napoleon through the Russian snows, and the flames of Moscow-and raised Washington from the vale of obscurity to the lofty eminence of military renown. All in communion feel its ennobling fire, and when liberty elevates its banner to the sky, the icon sceptre drops from the palsied arm of withering despotism, it crumbles into dust, and the standard of freedom, its basis resting in the hearts of men, its top imbosomed in the gladdened heavens, sheds, like another sun, its dazzling light, and illuminates its territories with refulgent radiance.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE IRISH SHIELD AND MONTHLY MILESIAN.

IRISH TOPOGRAPHY.

SIR, I am glad that you design publishing your paper in a more permanent form han the fugitive sheets of a newspaper. The literary and historical essays, which tyou have given us, should not be lost in an ephemeral publication...

20

Descriptive Sketches of the Ecclesiastical Edifices of Dublin.

From the specimens you have exhibited of historical research, we may anticipate a history of Ireland, that will reflect credit on your country and yourself.

I will thank you, if you can spare room, to publish the annexed descriptive sketch of Cahir, in the county of Tipperary. I am Sir, &c. TIPPERARY. CAHIR, formerly called Caher, is beautifully situated on the pastoral banks of the picturesque river Suir, which is so famous for excellent salmon and trout. Under the auspices of Lord Cabir, the town is rapidly improving in architecture, wealth, and trade. His Lordship's mansion is acknowledged to be the finest specimen of modern architecture in Ireland. It stands on au eminence, surrounded with wood-clad rocks, which are at once bold and romantic. A lawn of emerald verdure extends from the grand front of the mansion, to the margin of the river, which is planted with ornamental trees, and flowery shrubs.

The town has some handsome buildings, particularly the protestant church, Catholic chapel, and market-house. Adjoining the town are the magnificent ruins of an abbey, amid which, the late Lord Cahir erected a very superb tomb for the sepulchre of his family. I cannot say by whom the abbey was founded. At a little distance from the town, on the banks of the river, a venerable ivy-mantled castle stands, the appearance and insulated position of which, add effect and beauty to the features of the landscape. The verdant mountains that encompass it, some near, and others, in a distant horizon, impart to the prospect a diversity and charm characteristic of the grand and picturesque. A range of these mountains, called the Galties, commence near Čahir, and extend westward through the county of Limerick. Indeed the variety of the scenery which this part of the country exhibits, has excited the admiration of travellers. The road from Cahir to Mitchell's town, on the verge of the counties of Tipperary and Cork, leads to the foot of the Galties, which form the most romantic boundary imaginable; the sides of the mountains are almost perpendicular, and reach a height that pierces the clouds. At Mitchell's town is the magnificent house and cultivated domain of the late Lord Kingsborough.

If this appears I shall give you a description of the cave of Skeheewrinky, at Mitchell's town, for your next number.

DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL EDIFICES OF DUBLIN.

ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL.

This magnificent cathedral, according to that erudite antiquarian, RAYMOND, was built by St. Patrick, in 449, after the pious Missionary had converted Alphin, the King of Dublin, and all his family to the Christian creed. Bishop Usher and Sir James Ware mention; that the walls were built of chiselled lime stone, and that the order of architecture, observed in the edifice, was a mixture of the Gothic and Norman. The building of the cathedral, if we can credit Jocelyn and Colgan, was attended by a signal miracle, that had the effect of causing the incredulous Druids to conform to the new faith. The workmen complained to the saint, that the water of the Liffey was so brackish and disagreeable, that they could not drink it, whereupon the holy man told them, that the God to whom they were dedicating this church would give him the power of opening a fountain of clear and balmy water for them. Having offered up a prayer to the most High, he struck the rock, like the second Moses, with his crosier, and immediately a limpid spring gushed forth. No sooner was this miracle known, than the Druids hastened to saint Patrick, (so say our authorities,) by whom they were baptised in this fountain, which bears to this day the name of "Patrick's well." man, the Danish King of Dublin, built in the ninth century, some stone-roofed vaults adjoining the cathedral, which served as oratories for patron saints. In 1161, Dermod McMurrough, King of Leinster, caused a crypt to be erected over the tomb of one of his sisters, who was buried near the chancel of the cathedral. The same monarch caused the steeple to be sheeted with copper, as Harris relates.

Ost

Archbishop O'Tool, in 1163, erected a spacious chantry in this cathedral, and a superb archiepiscopal throne, at his own charge, as the registry, called the Black Book, mentions.

*We shall always be glad to enrich our columns with the topographical sketches of Tipperary. For the information of our Correspondent, we have to state, that the abbey of Cabir was founded in 1207, by Partrick McCarthy, for regular canons under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, as appears by Harris, Archdall and Ware.

After the submission of the Irish, their English task masters, to mask their enmity to the natives, under the guise of piety, assumed great devotion. Their rage for building abbeys, became boundless.

Archbishop Comyn, an Englishman, caused. St. Patrick's Cathedral to be rased to the foundation, and the present edifice to be erected on its scite. Wright, in his history of Dublin, states, that several magnificent tombs belonging to the Milesian nobles, were destroyed, in making room for the new edifice. This English Prelate, made St. Patrick's a collegiate church, and placed in it thirteen prebendaries.

King John, during his stay in Ireland, confirmed the see of Dublin, in the possession of thirty-seven manors, which was sanctioned by the Pope. Henry de Londres next succeeded to the see of Dublin, and changed St. Patrick's into a Cathedral, appointing William Fitguy its first Dean, with a chapter, chancellor, prebendaries, and treasurer. This prelate built a chapel adjoining the Cathedral, which ke dedicated to the B. V. Mary. In 1370, this Gothic pile was nearly destroyed by fire; but was rebuilt with more architectural grandeur than ever, by Archbishop Minot. The steeple was composed of dove coloured marble, which remained without a spire until 1750, when Dean Stearne raised one that towers in elevation above the loftiest spires in the kingdom. In 1538, Archbishop Brown, the first protestant prelate, on being inducted, caused the paintings and beautiful specimens of sculpture in the church to be destroyed, and the "holy Vandal," also ordered a marble statue of St. Patrick to be broken in pieces. Queen Elizabeth seized on the treasury and immense possessions of the Cathedral, which she bestowed on Essex and Perriot, and her other infamous underlings. Cromwell's rapacious troopers made a barrack of this Cathedral, in 1649.

Contiguous to the church, Archbishop Marsh, in 1764, built a spacious library, and filled it with an extensive collection of books, to which the citizens of Dublin have access, at stated times. When the present King of England visited Ireland, in 1822, there was a grand installation of the Knights of St. Patrick, held in this Cathedral, which assembled, in its pillared aisles, draped pews, and crimson-canopied stalls, the rank, beauty, and respectability of Ireland. This gorgeous ceremony exhibited a splendid pageant, which exceeded any thing of a similar nature ever presented in Ireland. Nothing was offered to the eye or the ear, but that which was calculated to afford gratification to a monarch, who asserted that "his heart was Irish." Every thing that art could invent, that taste could devise, or that wealth could procure, seemed combined to produce a tout ensemble, which could fascinate the fancy, or astonish the mind. It would, indeed, require the highest flight of a Byron's glowing fancy, to describe the enchanting scene, which resembled altogether, something of that visionary grandeur, pictured by oriental poets. It was the brilliant magnificence of Asia, chastened and enriched by the refinement of Europe. Astonishment was visible on the countenance of the monarch, and delight seemed to beam in his eyes. His Majesty declared that the spectacle surpassed in beauty and splendour, the installation of the Knights of the garter, which he had witnessed at Windsor, in 1805. Lord Fingall, and the other Knights elect, received from the King's hands, the collar and robes of the order. The antique colonnade, and Gothic pilasters, wbich adorn the front of the noble pile, give it an air and aspect of solemn grandeur. There are some fine monuments, adorned with the combined embellishments of sculpture, and architecture in the Cathedral; among the most interesting, though not the most elegant, is that to the memory of our illustrious countryman, DEAN SWIFT, a man whose fame shall not be extinguished, until TIME dips the torch of immortality in the waters of oblivion.

THE RUINED CASTLE OF DALKY."

A FRAGMENT, FROM THE IRISH.

Osmar O'Toole, who was chieftain of the Island of Dalky, in 1816, enlisted himself under the banner of Edward Bruce, and followed his fortunes, until the defeat and death of that prince, at the battle of Dundalk. To avoid the vengeance of the English

* The Island of Dalky is situated in the Bay of Dublin, at a distance of seven miles from the city. Its scenery is so wild, and yet so romantic, that a Calypso, on seeing its sequestered glens and flower-spangled meadows, would select it for her residence.

The sound that divides it from the base of a lofty mountain, is, even at the lowest tide nine fathoms of water in depth, so that ships of the greatest burden, may safely lie at anchor in the harbour, perfectly screened from the N. E. winds, and ready to sail at any hour. The soil is rich and luxuriant, so that its verdure and herbage spring up in great abundance. In the twelfth century, when Dublin was visited with a plague, the citizens retreated to this salubrious Island, in order to