Poems Joseph Sheridan Le Panu

P O E M S JOSEPH SHERIDAN LE PANU ED ITED B Y ALERED PER CEVAL GRAVES ‘y WITH A P OR TRAIT OF S LE FAN . H LOND ON D NEY L OW CO. IMITED 1 2 Y OR K STR E E n COVENT GAR D EN 1 896 I NTRODUC TION. WH EN' in the year 1 8 80 I wrote a memoir of F n u hi Joseph Sheridan Le a , as a Preface to s “ P P urcell apers, published by Bentley and Son , I was not aware that, besides being the author of the I rish poems contained in that collection of I rish “ ’ O B rie n stories and of the celebrated Shamus , ‘ Le Fardl had anonymously contributed half- a- dozen otherp oems to the D uéliiz Un iversity M ag az in e w 1 8 6 1 866 bet een the years 3 and ; two of which , “ The Legend of the Glaive, and Beatrice, ex bibit Le Fanu’s genius in a new and unexpected light . They show him to have been capable of dramatic and lyrical creation on a distinctly higher plane than he had hitherto reached, although the forms in which the drama and the legend are cast are clearly experimental and not always successful . The same magnetic attributes of superhuman iii v INTROD UCTION . r mystery, g im or ghastly humour and diabolic horror which characterize the finest of his prose fictions n meet us again . But these qualities are often co ve e d y with a finer touch , and at times with a direct ness ofsuggestion that is overwhelming. Again, the lurid terror of these narratives is happily relieved by interludes of such haunting beauty of colour and u so nd, that we cannot but lament the lateness of r this discove y of his highest artistic self. I ndeed , our literature c an ill afford to lose lyrical drama with such a stamp of appalling power as is impressed “ ” - so on Beatrice, or old world idylls full of “ ” Gaelic glamour as The Legend of the Glaive . Their excellence has decided me to undertake the ’ task of collecting and editing Le Fanu s poems . I n its prosecution I have been encouraged and ’ P so n aided by Mr . Brinsley Le anu, the author s , his P and nephew, Mr . Thomas Le anu, and the publication o f this volume practically completes ’ the brilliant series of Le Fanu s works . Cordial acknowledgment is moreover due to the pub E lishe rs . , Messrs Bentley and dward Arnold, for C NTE T O N S. BEATR I CE — D UAN NA CLAEV THE LEGEN D OF TH E GLAI VE ’ SHAMUS O B R I EN PHAUD H RIG CR OHOOR E M OLLY Y E R , M D A W ‘ z -‘ B HUID EIL SONG M EMORY THE STREAM A D OGGREL IN A DOR MAN T-W IN DOW APPEN D I ! xi INTROD UCTION . ’ ’ C ’ ’ I f you d eat, I m a rabbe if you d cut, I m your Steel , As sharp as you’d get from the cutler I ’ C ’ ’ m your otton whene er you re in want of a reel , ” And your livery carry, as Butler . ' He had also an early eye for a humorous situation , for on another occasion an elderly woman , whom he had never seen before and never s w she . a after, looked at him as if recognized him N 0 M asthe r R is WOMA . then , ichard, that ” ye rself ? PH Who J Ofi r Of course it is myself. else shOu‘ld I be ’ M h r N. ast e R WOMA Ah , then, ichard, it s proud se e . I am to you I hardly knew you at first , ’ ' you re grown so much . And how is the mistress and all the family ? ” S H JO EP . All quite well, thank you . But why ’ can t you ever come to s e e us P “ ’ — M asthe r R WOMAN. Ah , ichard, don t you know I daren ’t face the house since that affair of the spoons ? xii U INTROD CTION . ’ JOSEPH . Don t you know that is all forgotten and forgiven ’ N. WOMA I f I knew that, I d have been up to the house long ago . ’ JOSEPH . I ll tell you what to do come up to dinner with the servants . You know the hour, and ” you will be surprised at the welcome you will get . N M s h r . e a t e WOMA W ll, please God, I will , ” Richard . ’ O D o n o hu The tone of g e , an unfinished poem “ his written at fifteen, and of later I rish National ” Ballads, was due to his mother, who , as a girl , had she been in her heart more or less of a rebel , and , not the Dean, was the critic of his boyish verse . ’ She told him o f the hard fate which in 98 befell sh many of those e knew and admired, including the brothers Sheares , and bequeathed to William Le Fann a very interesting letter written , just before his execution, by John Sheares to her father, D r. Dobbin , in which he defends himself from the charge of connivance at assassination for which he was about to suffer death . The character of N D N ix I TRO UCTIO . permission to incorporate in the introduction to this volume, extracts from Joseph Sheridan Le ’ “ ” ’ Fanu s Purcell Papers , and William Le Fanu s Seventy Years of I rish Life . P “ P Le anu, as the readers of the urcell Papers, and more recently of Seventy Years of I rish Life his by brother, will know, showed unusual talent for verse as a boy of fifteen years of age, as witness these lines, in which, although the thought is evidently as secondhand as that pervading Tenny ’ is son s boyish lyrics, the medium of its expression ' ’ dis in l t g t y poetical . There is an hour of sadness all have known , That weighs upon the heart we scarce know why ; f We feel un riended, cheerless and alone, We ask no other pleasure but to sigh , An d muse on days of happiness gone by A ain ul lo n e l lea sure p f , y p which imparts A calm regret, a deep serenity, i ’ That soothes the rankl ng of misfortune s dart, And kindly lends a solace even to broken hearts . F Young Le anu was naturally a student, and ’ made good use of his father s excellent library, T T IN RODUC ION . But though of a dreamy and evidently unmethodical hi disposition, he had s wits about him when they w ere wanted , as the following anecdote chronicled by his brother will show One thing that much depressed the D ean was his habitually being late for prayers . One morn ing, breakfast was nearly over, and he had not appeared . My father, holding his watch in his hand , said in his severest tones, I ask you , Joseph , I ask ’ ’ ? sir you seriously, is this right No , , said Joe , ’ ’ glancing at the watch , I m sure it must be fast . This was an instance of precocious wit further exemplified by the brilliant piece of doggerel sent as a valentine to a very pretty Miss K a few years later, from which we may quote the following Your frown or your smile make me Savage or Gay I n action , as well as in song ; ’ And if tis decreed I at length become Gray, E ’ xpress but the word, and I m Young . And if in the Church I should ever aspire With friars and abbots to cope , can P By a nod, if you please, you make me a rior, By a word you c an render me Pope . INTRODUCTION . xv and advice ; I have often seen more than twenty with her of a morning . Our parish priest also was o f o r a special friend ours , a constant visitor to u home . I n the neighbouring parishes the same kin dlyre latio n s existed between the priest and the 1 8 1 flock and the Protestant clergyman . But in 3 all this was suddenly and sadly changed , when the ” Tithe War came upon us . A cousin of the Le Fanus , the Rev . Charles C R oote, the ector of the neighbouring parish of ’ o fi e n ce t Doon , g ave at the very commencemen of the agi tation by taking active measures to enforce the payment of his tithes . Wherever he or any of O his family went they were received with pprobrium , R and as frequent visitors to the ectory at D oon , the Le Fanus soon came to be treated in a similar way . ’ Returning to Abingdon after a few years ab o n sence, the young Le Fanus met a steamboat, Ga rr Ow en the y , plying between Limerick and ’ P O Ne ill Kilrush, a famous character, one addy , whose music and song, fiddling and playing on the v x i INTRODUCTION . bagpipes cheered the passengers on the trip . He was, moreover, a poet , and sang his own songs to h is own accompaniments . As showing the friendly feeling again existing between Joseph and the peasants, his brother relates the following “ One summer evening my brother, who was a prime favourite of his, persuaded Paddy to drive u across with him from Kilr sh to Kilkee, and there ’ R e ade s they got up a dance in Mrs .

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