* * * * *
CHARLES O'CONOR.--"He went to Ireland and visited the seat of his
ancestors at Belanagre, in Connaught, the result of which was that upon
his return he changed the orthography of his name. Before that time he
and his father had spelled Conor with two n's, but he then dropped one
of the n's upon discovering that the family name was anciently spelled
in that way. I was once asked if I knew why he had changed the spelling
of his name from two n's to one, and I answered that he was descended
from the Irish kings, and found, when he visited Ireland, that they
spelled the name in that way, which information Mr. Nathaniel Jarvis,
the witty Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, who was present,
supplemented with the remark that he supposed that the Irish kings had
always been so poor that they had never been able to make both n's
meet."
Echoes from the Pines.
"----, This, nor gems, nor stores of gold,
Nor purple state, nor culture can bestow,
But God alone, when first His active Hand
Imprints the secret bias of the soul."
The palm, the laurel, and all the fountains of Pindus, Helicon and
Parnassus, were sacred to the muses. The deep and dark pine woods of
Maine, if not sacred to the muse of the author of "Echoes from the
Pines," seem at times to have been a source of inspiration to her. We
say "at times," and in a relative sense only, for assuredly, Margaret E.
Jordan, the gifted author of the beautiful volume of poems, with the
above title, sought her sources of inspiration at a higher fount than
this, or any named in the pages of ancient mythology. Of her, indeed, it
may be truly said,--
"His active hand
Imprints the secret bias of the soul."
These poems, about fifty in number, are scattered throughout the work
like wild flowers o'er mead and hill, in copse and glen. They are, to
some extent, artless in composition, free and flowing in style,
garnished with pure and holy thoughts, and most of them, while stamped
with the royal sign of deep religious thought,--truest source of all
poetic inspiration,--are free of the namby-pambyism common to what are
sometimes called "religious" poems.
Nearly all these poems are written in words of one syllable; that, at
least, is a chief characteristic of them. This simple beauty of
composition is oftener felt than observed. Thus, in our immortal lyrics,
the Irish Melodies, Moore deals largely in this style.