Standing apart now, from the times and circumstances in which Moore wrote, we can see that what Ireland got from him was not all gain. The literature produced so profusely in the days of Young Ireland, and modelled mainly upon him, echoes only too faithfully his declamatory tone; and worse than that, it is flooded by the exuberance of sentiment, which was Moore's besetting weakness. Other models, and, it is to be hoped, better ones, now are rapidly replacing those of Moore and his followers; with the younger generation, even in Ireland, he has lost his hold. But in Ireland his poetry is still, as a matter of course, familiar to all Irishmen of the nationalist persuasion, young and old. And for the older men, he has lost none of his magic. To them such criticism as is found in this book will seem, one must fear, a kind of impiety and certainly of ingratitude; for they remember the days when many and many an Irish peasant, leaving his country for the New World, carried with him two books--_Moore's Melodies_ and the _Key of Heaven_. And certainly it is no small title to fame for a poet that he was in his own country for at least three generations the delight and consolation of the poor. Tattered and thumbed copies of his poems, broadcast through Ireland, represent better his claim to the interest of posterity than whatever comely and autographed editions may be found among the possessions of Bowood and Holland House. APPENDIX DATES OF MOORE'S PUBLICATIONS The kindness of Mr. Andrew Gibson allows me to reprint from a privately circulated pamphlet the following catalogue, compiled by him for his Lecture (delivered in Belfast), on "Thomas Moore and his First Editions"[1]:-- List showing the order in which the various Editions were taken up in the course of Mr. Gibson's Lecture; and giving, together with the sizes, the actual or supposed dates of publication.[2] _Works with music are distinguished by an asterisk._ 1. The Odes of Anacreon. 4to. 1800.[3] 2. The Poetical Works of the late Thomas Little, Esq. 8vo. 1801. 3. Sheet Songs*:[4] (a) Published by F. Rhames, No. 16 Exchange Street, Dublin, before Sir John Stevenson received his knighthood in 1803:-- Buds of Roses, Virgin Flowers, a chearful Glee, for 4 voices, the poetry translated from Anacreon by T. Moore, Esqr. The Music composed (& respectfully dedicated to the Honble. Augustus Barry) by J.A. Stevenson, Mus. D. Price Is. 6d. British. Though Fate, my Girl, a Canzonet with an Accompaniment for the Piano Forte or Harp, the Poetry by Thos. Moore, Esqr. The Music Composed by J.A. Stevenson, Mus. D. Price 1/1.