The publication of the popular songs of the modern Greeks,[1] is considered as one of the most remarkable events which have taken place in the literature of our days. The Border and Jacobite ballads of Scotland are long before the world, and have been received with deserved approbation, but the political songs of Ireland, more patrio, have hitherto remained unnoticed and unknown. That these effusions are not, however, inferior to those either of the Scots or Greeks, and particularly in strong expression of national feeling, will it is rather confidently anticipated, appear from the few specimens, now for the first time, laid before the public.
The political situation of the Irish with respect to England, has been frequently compared with that of the Greeks in their relation to Turkey. Lord Byron emphatically called the Greeks, “A kind of Eastern Irish Papists,” thereby intending to convey in the strongest possible manner to an European mind, the idea of Turkish despotism and Grecian slavery.[2] The bards of these devoted nations have nearly in the same manner embodied in their songs the feelings of the conquered and oppressed people of both countries; but the cry of suffering humanity is the same in every age and clime. Whoever shall take the trouble of comparing the histories of Greece and of Ireland, and of observing the systematic conduct of their respective rulers, will find, the difference of condition between the “Eastern Irish Papists,” and the Western Greek Helots, not so great as may at first appear. The former were oppressed by Turks, the latter by Christians, and to the shame of the English Christians be it recorded, that in the exercise of their tyrannic sway in Ireland, they have excelled the most furious followers of Mahomet in Greece.
[1] Hardiman’s footnote refers to Claude Fauriel’s Chants populaires de la Grèce moderne (1824) as noticed in the New Monthly Magazine vol. xi, p.139
[2] Hardiman’s footnote:
The present prime minister of England, Mr. Canning, in a poem entitled The Slavery of Greece, feelingly describes the condition of that suffering country. May the highly gifted author now turn his attention to the oppressed "land of his fathers"; and, as he possesses the power, talents, and disposition, so may he, by one decisive blow, extend civil liberty to Ireland. The bigot may oppose, but every bigot is a coward. Though he talk loud, he trembles and withers before the high resolve of fortitude and virtue. The following passage in Mr. Canning's poem, by mere change of scene, is but too applicable to the state of Ireland.--
“Thy sons (sad change!) in abject bondage sigh;
Unpitied toil, and unlamented die;
Groan at the labours of the galling oar,
Or the dark caverns of the mine explore.
The glitt'ring tyranny of Othman's sons,
The pomp of horror which surrounds their thrones
Has aw'd their servile spirits into fear;
Spurn'd by the foot, they tremble and revere.
The day of labour, night's sad sleepless hour,
Th' inflictive scourge of arbitrary pow'r,
The bloody terror of the pointed steel,
The murd'rous stake, the agonizing wheel,
And (dreadful choice!) the bow-string or the bowl,
Damps their faint vigour, and unmans the soul.
Disastrous fate! still tears will fill the eye,
Still recollection prompt the mournful sigh,
When to thy mind recurs thy former fame,
And all the horrors of thy present shame.”
Word Count: 561
From Hardiman’s Irish minstrelsy: or, Bardic remains of Ireland; with English poetical translations (2 vols., Dublin 1831), preface to part III (“Jacobite remains”), 2: 3-4.
For a full version of Canning’s poem The slavery of Greece, part of which is quoted in a footnote and applied to the condition of Ireland, click here.
Word Count: 52
The publication of the popular songs of the modern Greeks,[1] is considered as one of the most remarkable events which have taken place in the literature of our days. The Border and Jacobite ballads of Scotland are long before the world, and have been received with deserved approbation, but the political songs of Ireland, more patrio, have hitherto remained unnoticed and unknown. That these effusions are not, however, inferior to those either of the Scots or Greeks, and particularly in strong expression of national feeling, will it is rather confidently anticipated, appear from the few specimens, now for the first time, laid before the public.
The political situation of the Irish with respect to England, has been frequently compared with that of the Greeks in their relation to Turkey. Lord Byron emphatically called the Greeks, “A kind of Eastern Irish Papists,” thereby intending to convey in the strongest possible manner to an European mind, the idea of Turkish despotism and Grecian slavery.[2] The bards of these devoted nations have nearly in the same manner embodied in their songs the feelings of the conquered and oppressed people of both countries; but the cry of suffering humanity is the same in every age and clime. Whoever shall take the trouble of comparing the histories of Greece and of Ireland, and of observing the systematic conduct of their respective rulers, will find, the difference of condition between the “Eastern Irish Papists,” and the Western Greek Helots, not so great as may at first appear. The former were oppressed by Turks, the latter by Christians, and to the shame of the English Christians be it recorded, that in the exercise of their tyrannic sway in Ireland, they have excelled the most furious followers of Mahomet in Greece.
[1] Hardiman’s footnote refers to Claude Fauriel’s Chants populaires de la Grèce moderne (1824) as noticed in the New Monthly Magazine vol. xi, p.139
[2] Hardiman’s footnote:
The present prime minister of England, Mr. Canning, in a poem entitled The Slavery of Greece, feelingly describes the condition of that suffering country. May the highly gifted author now turn his attention to the oppressed "land of his fathers"; and, as he possesses the power, talents, and disposition, so may he, by one decisive blow, extend civil liberty to Ireland. The bigot may oppose, but every bigot is a coward. Though he talk loud, he trembles and withers before the high resolve of fortitude and virtue. The following passage in Mr. Canning's poem, by mere change of scene, is but too applicable to the state of Ireland.--
“Thy sons (sad change!) in abject bondage sigh;
Unpitied toil, and unlamented die;
Groan at the labours of the galling oar,
Or the dark caverns of the mine explore.
The glitt'ring tyranny of Othman's sons,
The pomp of horror which surrounds their thrones
Has aw'd their servile spirits into fear;
Spurn'd by the foot, they tremble and revere.
The day of labour, night's sad sleepless hour,
Th' inflictive scourge of arbitrary pow'r,
The bloody terror of the pointed steel,
The murd'rous stake, the agonizing wheel,
And (dreadful choice!) the bow-string or the bowl,
Damps their faint vigour, and unmans the soul.
Disastrous fate! still tears will fill the eye,
Still recollection prompt the mournful sigh,
When to thy mind recurs thy former fame,
And all the horrors of thy present shame.”
Word Count: 561