Why are so many Auburns doomed to groan? Whither are Equity and Pity flown? Are all the virtues melted down in one, Of neutral colour much resembling none? A large, loose, LIBERALITY of mind, True to no faith, not generous, just, nor kind. Time was, each Virtue was distinctly known, And Faith and Justice sat beside the throne; Time was, when Justice owned prescriptive right, And Policy disdained to side with spite, Not hounding on the envious pack which pant To tear away the bone they do not want, Ere yet she summed each ancient grievance up, As if they all still mantled in the cup, And loved by antiquated tales to shew, How Britain always has been Erin’s foe; Till Erin dreams she feels a present grief, And seeks in self-inflicting blows relief. Behold! a glorious band by Heaven inspired, By many hearts revered, by all admired; In Erin’s sky as burning lights they shone; Will Erin cease to claim them for her own? Will she no more repeat her Usher’s[7] name, Of old ascendant on the rolls of fame? Will she her Bedell’s[8] pious memory blot, With the blest book he gave the Irish cot? Will it grate harshly on her altered ear, Of Taylor’s[9] golden eloquence to hear? Will she no longer boast that God had given “To Berkeley[10] all the virtues under heaven?” Deems she what was, and is, should ne’er have been, The Norman Conquest, and the British Queen? Are these the thoughts that vex the Celtic heart? Beneath such wrongs do Erin’s millions smart, The signs and records of an alien band, Which troubles with its rule a peaceful land? “It is not we who troubling Liffey’s stream Foul it with blood,” the threatened sheep exclaim; “It was your fathers then that fouled it so,” Retorts the wolf “a hundred years ago.” The shepherd comes; he hears the distant howl Of the wild beasts that o’er the country prowl; In his right hand he wields a butcher’s knife, And bids the lamb lie still and yield its life, An offering to peace, a needful feast, To stay the hunger of the savage beast. The neighbouring swains, to whom for help it cries, Applaud the prudence of their Chief’s device, The struggles of the bleeding victim mock, And join the wolf in ravaging the flock.