  July 9, 1798. The following popular song is said to be in great vogue among the loyal troops in the North of Ireland. The air and the turn of the composition are highly original. It is attributed (as our correspondent informs us) to a fifer in the Drumballyroney Volunteers. BALLYNAHINCH.[300]
A NEW SONG. A certain great Statesman [301] whom all of us know, In a certain assembly, no long while ago, Declared from this maxim he never would flinch, “That no town was so loyal as Ballynahinch”. The great statesman, it seems, had perused all their faces, And been mightily struck with their loyal grimaces; While each townsman had sung, like a throstle or finch, “We are all of us loyal at Ballynahinch”. The great statesman return’d to his speeches and readings; And the Ballynahinchers resumed their proceedings; They had most of them sworn, “ We’ll be true to the Frinch,” [302]So loyal a town was this Ballynahinch! Determined their landlord’s fine words to make good, They hid pikes in his haggard, cut staves in his wood; And attack’d the king’s troops—the assertion to clinch, That no town is so loyal as Ballynahinch. O! had we but trusted the rebels’ professions, Met their cannon with smiles, and their pikes with concessions; Tho’ they still took an ell when we gave them an inch, They would all have been loyal—like Ballynahinch. Si vobis hocce poematium, de navali laude BritanniÆ, paucis annis ante conscriptum, nuperrimÈ recensitum atque emendatum, fortÉ arrideat, quÆrite in proximis vestris tabulis locum quendam secretum atque securum, ubi repositum su sorte perfruatur. Quod si in me hanc gratiam contuleritis, devinctus vobis ero et astrictus beneficio. DE NAVALI LAUDE BRITANNIÆ. Successu si freta brevi, fatisque secundis, EuropÆ sub pace vetet requiescere gentes, Inque dies ruat ulteriÚs furialibus armis Gallia, tota instans À sedibus eruere imis Fundamenta, quibus cultÆ Commercia vitÆ Firmant se subnixa;—tuisne, Britannia, regnis Ecquid ab hoste times; dum te tua saxa tuentur, Dum pelagus te vorticibus spumantibus ambit? Tu medio stabilita mari, atque ingentibus undis Cincta sedes; nec tu angusto, Vulcania tanquam Trinacris, interclusa sinu; nec faucibus arctis Septa freti brevis, impositisque coercita claustris. Liberiora Tibi spatia, et porrecta sine ullo Limite regna patent (quanto neque maxima quondam Carthago, aut Phoenissa Tyros, ditissima tellus Floruit imperio) confiniaque ultima mundi. Ergone formidabis adhuc, ne se inferat olim, Et campis impunÉ tuis superingruat hostis? Usque adeone parÚm est, quod latÉ litora cernas PrÆruptisturrita jugis, protentaque longo Circuitu, et tutos passim prÆbentia portus? PrÆsertim australes ad aquas, Damnoniaque arva, Aut ubi Vecta viret, secessusque insula fidos Efficit objectu laterum; saxosave Dubris Velivolum latÉ pelagus, camposque liquentes Aeria, adversasque aspectat desuper oras. Nec levibus sanÈ auguriis, aut omine nullo Auguror hinc fore perpetuum per secula nomen: Dum nautis tam firma tuis, tam prodiga vitÆ Pectora, inexplet succensa cupidine famÆ, Nec turpi flectenda metu; dum maxima quercus, Majestate excelsa suÂ, atque ingentibus umbris, Erigitur, vasto nodosa atque aspera trunco; Silvarum regina. HÆc formidabilis olim Noctem inter mediam nimborum, hyemesque sonantes, Ardua se attollit super Æquora; quam neque fluctÛs Spumosi attenuat furor, aut violentia venti Frangere, et in medio potis est disrumpere ponto. Viribus his innixa, saloque accincta frementi, Tu media inter bella sedes; ignara malorum, QuÆ tolerant obsessÆ urbes, cÚm jam hostica clausas Fulminat ad portas acies, vallataque circÚm Castra locat, sÆvisque aditus circumsidet armis. Talia sunt tibi perpetuÆ fundamina famÆ, Ante alias diis cara, Britannia! PrÆlia cerno Inclyta, perpetuos testes quid maxima victrix, Quid possis preclara tuo, maris arbitra, ponto. HÆc inter, sanctas Ætern laude calendas Servandas recolo, quibus illa, immane minata Gentibus excidium, totum grassata per orbem Ausaque jam imperiis intactum amplectier Æquor, Illa odiis lymphata, et libertate recenti Gallia, disjectam ferali funere classem Indoluit devicta, et non reparabile vulnus. Tempore quo instructas vidit longo ordine puppes Rostrat certare acie, et concurrere ad arma, Ætheraque impulsu tremere, Uxantisque per undas Lugubre lumen agi, atque rubentem fulgere fumum. Cerno triumphatas acies, quo tempore IberÛm Disjectos fastus, lacerisque aplustria velis Horruit Oceanus:—quali formidine Gades Intremere, ut fract classem se mole moventem Hospitium petere, et portus videre relictos! Quid referam, nobis quÆ nuper adorea risit, Te rursÚs superante, die quo decolor ibat Sanguine Belgarum Rhenus, fluctusque minores Volvebat, frustra indignans polluta cruore Ostia, et Angliaco tremefactas fulmine rupes. Cerno pias Ædes procÚl, et regalia quondam Atria, cÆruleis quÆ preterlabitur undis Velivolus Thamesis; materno ubi denique nautas Excipis amplexu, virtus quoscumque virilis Per pelagi impulerit discrimina, quÆlibet ausos Pro PatriÂ. HÍc rude donantur, dulcique senescunt Hospitio emeriti, placidÂque quiete potiti Vulnera prÆteritos jactant testantia casus. Macte ideÓ decus Oceani! macte omne per Ævum Victrix, Æquoreo stabilita Britannia regno! Litoribusque tuis ne propugnacula tantÚm PrÆsidio fore, nec saxi munimina credas, Nec tantÚm quÆ mille acies in utrumque parantur, Aut patriam tutari, aut non superesse cadenti; InvictÆ quantÚm metuenda tonitrua Classis, AngliacÆ Classis;—quÆ majestate verend Ultrix, inconcussa, diÚ dominabitur orbi, Hostibus invidiosa tuis, et sÆpe triumphis Nobilitata novis, pelagi Regina subacti. [TRANSLATION OF THE PRECEDING POEM.[303] By the late A. F. Westmacott, Esq. If by chance the following little poem, on the naval glory of Britain, written a few years since, and very lately revised and corrected, please you, look in your nearest tablets for some private and secure place, where it may be placed to enjoy its good fortune. Should you confer on me this favour, I shall be bound to you by the obligation of your kindness. ON THE NAVAL GLORY OF BRITAIN. If buoy’d by short success and fav’ring chance, Wide Europe’s peace-destroyer, restless France, Each day still onward rush with fresh alarms, And threaten ruin with her furious arms; Ruin to all whereon is based the throne That life’s sweet charities have made their own; Fearest thou, Britain, for thy rock-girt realm, With seas that foam around and whirlpools to o’erwhelm? Still in the midst of ocean firmly placed, Circled by mighty waves thy seat is based! Not by a strait enclosed, as that fair soil Where Fabled Vulcan plies his fiery toil; Within no narrow bay thy waters roll, No yawning gulf, no barrier rocks control. Wider thy space, thy realm no limit knows, Not Tyre so rich, not Tyrian Carthage rose. Wilt thou yet fear, lest here the haughty foe, Thy fields o’er-run, and still unpunished go! Is it then nought to view th’ extended strand O’er which stern crags like beetling turrets stand, And countless ports in safe embrace expand? Look to thy southern waves, to Devon’s fields, Or where green Vectis [304] trusty harbour yields, Spreading her friendly arms; or Dover’s height Looks on the sea with widespread canvas white, And, perched on high, the liquid plain surveys, And adverse cliffs that bound the wat’ry ways. Not by vague augury, nor omen slight, I view thy name through endless ages bright; While thy firm crews still prodigal of life Insatiate burn for fame and dare the strife. No coward fear they know, while stands erect The mighty oak with boughs umbrageous decked; Majestic, high, with knotted trunk, the Queen Of woods! Hereafter, o’er the waters seen ’Mid the dim midnight of the sounding storm Aloft ’twill rear the terrors of its form; In vain the roaring surges round it break, In vain the winds their uncurbed vengeance wreak, Throned on such pow’rs, surrounded by the sea, The circling waves have scarce one fear for thee. Thou know’st not ills that towns besieged await, When hostile columns thunder at the gate; Pitch their dread camp with fatal ramparts round, And with fierce arms enclose the leaguered ground. Such is to thee the base of lasting fame, To Heav’n Britannia still the dearest name! Gladly I view the glories of the fight, Perpetual witnesses of deathless might, To show, bright conqueress, nations yet to be, What dared, what did the mistress of the sea. ’Mid these the day with praise eternal blest Earns memory’s tribute most, when, direful pest, Denouncing ruin to the world, while she Dared grasp the sceptre of the unconquer’d sea, Wild with new license, mad with hatred’s heat France, grieved and humbled, viewed her ruined fleet! Saw how all hopes one fatal wound could mar When well-manned squadrons armed their prows for war! When the sky trembled, and o’er Ushant’s tide Red glared the smoke and sickly light supplied. I see the conquered lines, what time proud Spain With tattered sailcloths thickly strewed the main; How Cadiz quailed when back the shattered fleet Sought, in the port it left, a safe retreat. Why should I tell what smile of Vict’ry beamed, When Rhine’s fair wave with Belgic slaughter gleamed; When humbled waters tow’rds the sea it sped, Mad that its mouths with native blood were red, While England’s thunders rolled above its rocky bed? I see afar the domes that crown the tide, Where Thames uncounted sails in triumph glide: Here, the brave souls whom manly courage drove Through the deep’s perils in a holy love Of country, find in thy maternal breast Their toil rewarded and their daring blest! Dismissed at length from duty nobly done They wane in quiet ’neath the noontide sun, Recal the dangers of their byegone wars, And boast appealing to their manhood’s scars. On in thy race of glory, conqueress, on! For every age thy sea-girt realm is won! Think not the fortress which thy shores uprear, Nor thy rock bulwarks shall inspire such fear, Nor the brave thousands who obey thy call, With thee to rise, or not survive thy fall, As the dread thunders of that untamed host: Thy fleet, Britannia, is thy proudest boast; Awful, majestic, firm; its flag unfurl’d Shall long wave lordly o’er the conquered world; Hateful to foes for triumphs yet to be, The rightful Sovereign of the subject sea.—Ed.]
|
  |
