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New Series.

POETRY.

[From Bentley’s Miscelliany.} THE FOREST TREE

Hatt to the lone old forest tree, Though. past his leafy prime! A type of England’s past is he— A tale of her olden time. He has seen her sons for a thousand years, Arouna hitn rise and fall; Bat well his green old age he wears, And still survives thei all. Then long may his safeguard the pride and care Of our children’s children be; And long may the axe and tempest spare The lone old forest tree !

The Norman baron his eteed has rein’d, And the pilgrim his journey stay’d;

Aad the toil-worn serf brief respite gain'd, In his broad and pleasant shade.

The friar and forester loved it wel]; And hither the jocund horn,

And ‘the solemn tone of the vesper bell, On the evening breeze was borne.

Friar and forester, Lord and slave, Lie mouldering, side by side, In the the dreamless sleep of a nameless grave, Where revelling earth-worms hide; Aud Echo no longer wakes at the sound Of the bugleor vesper chime; For castle and convent are ivy-bound, By the ruthless hand of time.

But gentle rnd few, with the stout old tree, Have the spoiler’s dealings been: And the brook, as of old, is clear and free, And the turf beneath as green, Thus nature has scattered, on every hand, Her lessons since earth began ; And long may her sylvan teacher stand, A check to the pride of man. And fong may his safeguard the pride and care Of our children’s children be; Long, long may the axe and tempest spare The lone old forest tree.

BELEGT TAL.

trom Blackwood’s Magazine for February, 1850. The Siege of Dunbeg; or, the Stratagems of War.

(Continued from last No.)

But Cormack, who well knew how to work upon the feelings of his kindred, took advantage ofthe first slack- ening in their ardour to address them thus :—

“Sons of Dempsey, you hear how you have been tandled. Sir ‘Tibbot is by this time in the camp of the Malienants; a trumpeter will be at your gates, perhaps, -nmiorrew morning, to call on your noble warden to tnder up his keys to some Puritan corporal or Saxon immmer. Boys, gossips, sons of my heart! will you tnder up this royal castle, to be garrisoned by cheese- wongers and porkers, fora rebel parliament, or will you low those noble lords and kindly gentlemen of your own race and country by the path of honour to the field of glory? Will vou stand by arms rusting in your bunds, while the great Earl of Fingal, the bold lords of

Gormanstown and Dunsaney, the valiant barons of Mount Garret, Trimblestown, and Slane, are fighting in the open field for churchand country? While Roger bioore, Hugh Byrne, and Phelimn O'Neill, are bearing iheaway througnout Leinster, Meath and Ulster, will | You ie here like nails driven into a wall, or stones sunk {at the bottom of a draw-well? No, my sons; 1 knew twas not in your natures to hang back at the call of

‘onour or religion, Come forward, then, like true men, vad tl his nobleness our honourable warden, to lead Yorte glory in the name of God and the blessed Virgin’ Cormack’s oration had ‘the effect cesired. loa moment, a hundred barrads sought the sky, andon hundred yeices proclaimed, * Long life to O’ Dempsey ! “Dempsey and the Catholic cause for ever.”

“By alt the bells in Treland,” cried the flattered | “idea, leaping up on the carriage of one of his favour- | “Saas, “Tam prouder to be chosen your captain, in

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—MAY SP

CHARLOTTETOWN, JULY 3, 1850.

~ Che Examiner.

AND SEMI-WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER.

Sree ee

EAK FREE.’—Miiton’s Eunipipes.

Vol. 1: No. 44

this cause, than to hold a general's commission under the boddaglh justices, And sure, my sons, it is my natural right to be the captain and leader of my country, as my father was before me. Dar m’ anim, I’ve been too long depending on a shred of sheepskin, for the rank that is my own, both by right and by election! {[ will take the command you offer me, sons of Dempsey; I'l) no longer be warden, nor deputy-warden to any man; but I'll carry my patent this very night to Trim, where the Catholic leaders are assembled, where [ wi!l give it up to those who have the dest right to grant mea better ; and it I come not back by to-morrow night with & commission from the general-in-chief, worthy the chieftain and head of the kinel Dempsey, why, by all the dlessed bells in Ireland! I wish I may never drink success to the good old cause, nora health to Rogér Moore again!—Cormack, the meather.” So saying, O’Dempsey took off a copious draught of aqua vite, and, mounting his korse soon after, rode off, attended by his trusty lieutenant, to render up his patent as warden of Dunmore, to the rebel leaders of Trim.

At Trim, the representatives of the clan Dempsey were received with intoxicating honours. Roger Moore, one of the most polite men of his age, himself met them at the gates, and introduced them to the council—rejoiced at so important an accession to the strength and reputation of the Catholic army, and con- gratulated himself and his friends on their good fortune in securing two so honourable allies, adding, as he turned to the raptured, Captain, “Had we but your cousins O’Dunn and M‘Coghlan joined wiih us in this gallant enterprise, we might fairly boast of all the best blood of Leix and Offaly.”

“ By my hand of valour!” replied O’Dempsey, “the clan Dempsey «are no children; it is no lie. [ am not myself given to boasting, but I will! say this much, that there is not a man of the kindred that is not able fur three ; and if they make not good what I say, the first | time that God sends the Saxons in their road, I wish | may never drink success to the good old cause, nor a health to Roger Moore again.!”

“ You do me much honour, O’Dempsey,” said Moore with a smile.

“ And for my part,” said Cormack, “though I am but a humble gentleman of the clan, yet ] can assure your lordships, that, when the kindred know how honourably their chieftain has been received, it will sharpen their swords against the enemies of the Catholic cause better than twenty scythe-stones.”

“1 doubt not.” said Moore, “ they will do their divoer very bravely. What effective force of men do you bring to our aid, O’Dempsey ?”

“ Men enough to scatter a!l the enemies of the good cause in Leix,” replied the warden; “ three or foal hese dred that are nochildren, I’}! answer for it.”

* And of guns and military stores, O’ Dempsey ?”

“ Twelve-pounders enough to blow all the stone walls between this and Banagher off their foundations,” re- plied the warden—“ a gun itself on every flanker of my bawn,”

“And the number of your bastions, Master Demp- sey °”

“Some half-a-dozen or so—four that is,” said the warden, correcting himself.

* Four twelve-pounders, and from three to four hun- dred able men,” repeated Moore: “it is an effective force—a very effective force. Youcan undertake, then, to hold Dunmore against all comers ?”

“ Doubtless, O’Moore; and could think but little of my father’s son if I could not do the cause some pretty service in the field besides.”

“There is a neighbouring strength of the Malignants, held by one Brabazon, if I mistake not?”

* Dunbeg; | know it well, Dar m’ anim. Say but the . word, and [’I| have fifty of the kindred quartered by the old knave’s hearth before sunset to-morrow night.”

“It is a place that I would much desire to see in the

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ceed in securing us the castle and the pass of Dunbeg, you shall be created Viscount O’ Dempsey by letters patent, the moment a regular Government shall be established.” .

On this announcement, Lieutenant Cormack, who had been standing by an attentive listener, made as if he would have leaped a yard off the floor ; while O’Demp- sey, swelling with pride and confidence, swore devoutly that, if the bodd’gh Saxon did not open his gates at the first blast of Cahile-na-pioba’s trumpet, there should not be one stone of Dunbeg upon another by the next sunset. Moore, smiling at his vehemence, but much too polite to allow his smile to betray either contempt or ridicule, rang a small silver bell that lay upon the table, and, committing his guests and allies to the care of his chamberlain, returned to the arduous duties of the council table.

When the now Colonel Dempsey and his adjutant were left alone, before retiring to rest, a deep and earnest consultation was entered into. “You must ride for Dunmore by day-bresk, Cormack,” said the Colonel. ‘The kindred will need to be apprised of the exploit, to give them time to get their matchlocks and great guns in order; and, now that I think ofwt, how are we ever to get our heavy cannon across the bog ?”

“By my hand! it is too rash you were entirely, O’Dempsey,” replied Cormack. “ Did you not see me looking at you, and shutting one eye, when you talked of sitting down by Sir Simon’s hearthstone as yott did? I would not wonder if it took mea week to make a breach in Dunbeg wall, with the rusty commodities which you dignify with the title of twelye-pounders. They went all into honeycombs and red rust, that last time I was in Munster,” '

“Tut, man! the very sight of them will frighten the old knave into a surrender. He dare no more stand a salvo of such metal than he dare be hanged !”

“The sight of them, well mounted on a battery under his nose, might move his fears, go deo ; but how they are to frighten the stubborn old iraitor, at a distance of a good three quarters of a mile, isa great puzzle to me entirely.’

“It is clear we must find a way to carry them ‘over the bog: either that, or draw them round by the woods.”

“The bog, so help my heaven! is as soft as the cream-crock. The woods are clean impassable.” —

“By all the blessed bells of Ireland! I care not though the bog was as soft as the cream in the churn. { will have my artillery across it, though I make a causeway through it with the bodies of the best men of my clan! After the promises I made to Roger Moore. | would not, for all the cattle in Leinster, go back in iy undertaking.” a

“ Mo vrone, O’Dempsey ! it was the foolish promise to make at this time of the year; but the hdnour of the name is pledged to it now, and, come what will, I'l] never be the man to ask my chief to go back in his word. What I can do,I will; there is my hand upon it.”

“ Cormack astore, I knew you would not fail me at a pinch. May I never drink success to the good old cause, if I don’t make vou governor of Dunbeg the minute it is taken! D'ar m’ anim man! you shall inarry old Brabazon’s, widow: she is a lady of gentle blood, Cormack ; she will be better than houses and lang to you.”

“ We'll be two happy men, O’Dempsey, myself and my son-in-law.”

“I’m your chief and your foster brother already. Cormack; but when I’m married to Lucy of the curls. I’!] be your son and your friend as longas | have breath to draw. We'll make,a road across the Luilymore. from the one gateway to the other, and we'll dine with one another the alternate days, afier hunting in the morning——you in Coolmartin ‘woods to-day ; myself in the Craggan woods to-morrow.”

“They will be great days for us, surely, O’ Dempsey : hut this devil of a governor mast first be got out

hands of friends: it commands the passes from Slieve Bloom to Tullamore. It is indeed a post of great im- portance, and takirg it will be a service of proportionate | moment.”

“ Never say the word twice —I'll have him summoned | before brenkfast bel! to-morrow.”

“There is no need, O’Dempsey, to fatigne yourself! by so great a haste: you will stay and see somewhat of our prospects, and the dizposition of our forces, for an- other day; and in the meanwhile, our secretary can make out your patent as captain of your country. T do not mean to say that we can prudentiy pive you a higher commission than that of colonel, for the present, with a captaincy of gallogiass for your honourable

cousin; but [ may with exfety promise tle!, of you eue-

of Dunbeg. But never fear: | have it in my head what to do. Make yourself easy about the guns. I'l puta blind on the old knave will] prevent any suspicion. The eans shail be on the edge of his ditch, behind a good bank of wattles and sand-bags, before he’s two davs older. It will be the first sight he'll see after’ he hac rabbed his eyes in the morning.”

“ We}l, Cormack, [ trnst ¢verything to you: yon have : a better head for devising plans and means than IT have ; and | know of oid that what you undertake you will go through with. So [ will just take another draught, Cormack derr, 2 honour of God and Roger Moore. and then td bed.” (Te be ccatinned.}

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