Venter puellæ bajulat, Secreta, quæ non noverat. IV. Domus pudici pectoris, Templum repente sit Dei: Intacta nesciens virum, Concepit alvo Filium. V. Enititur puerpera, Quem Gabriel prædixerat : Baptista clausum senserat. VI. Fæno jacere pertulit, Præsepe non abhorruit: Et lacte modico pastus est, Per quem nec ales esurit. VII. Gaudet chorus cœlestium, VIII. Jesu tibi sit gloria, Qui natus es de virgine, Cum Patro, et almo spiritu, In sempiterna sæcula. HYMN. I. From where the glorious sun doth spring, To where he sinks his bright work done Let all to Christ in praises sing, The blessed Virgin's Son. How proud that humble maiden's doom, Who bears a secret in her womb, IV. The humble dwelling of her breast V. She travails with that royal boy, Of whom the angel Gabriel spoke For whom the Baptist leaped with joy, Ere yet on earth he woke. VI. Within a wretched crib he lies A shivering, weak, unwelcome guest And milk alone His wants supplies Who fills the young bird's nest. VII. But angels guard that humble throne, And joyful hymn the Man-God's birth And first to shepherd men is shown The Shepherd of the Earth! VIII. Let earth's weak race, and heaven s great host, To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost- Perhaps we cannot have a better opportunity than the present, of giving some idea of the structure of versification adopted not only by the Irish writers who made use of their vernacular language, but also by those who, like Sedulius, introduced into the Latin tongue, the peculiar cadence and harmony of their native dialect.According to some writers, Irish poetry was as abundant in the variations of its lyric measures, as the Irish language itself was copious, flowing and harmonious, there being anciently, according to them, one hundred varieties of verse among the Hibernian bards. On the other side it has been stated, that in all the more ancient specimens which have reached our times, there is great simplicity and uniformity. The rythm consists in an equal distance of intervals, and similar terminations, each line being divisible into two, that it may be more easily accommodated to the voice and the music of the bards. It is not formed by the nice collocation of long and short syllables, but by a certain harmonic rythm adjusted to the voice of song by the position of words which touch the heart and assist the memory. In every ancient Irish verse, a pause in the very middle of it may be discovered, from which the succeeding clause of the same verse commences, and making harmony with the preceding, is completed in the same space of time, and with a similar termination. Hence, each verse consists of two lines, determinating with a like cantilena, and making two verses as to sound. Of this form of rhyme which appears to have been peculiar to Ireland, there are several examples in our ancient writers; the earliest instance of its introduction into Latin poetry being the hymn of Sedulius already given. A solis ortus cardine, ad usque terræ limitem, Christum canamus principem, natum Maria virgine. This mode of versification was afterwards used by our great St. Columbkille, (to whose poems * By Dr. Drummond. we shall allude more particularly immediately,) by St. Columbanus and others, until, in the seventh century, it became naturalized among the Anglo Saxons. Adhelm (who was educated by our countryman Maidulph, and who was the earliest writer of that race who composed in the Latin language,) having introduced occasional rhymes into his prose treatise on Virginity. So far for description. The reader may, however, prefer to have an example of an English poem written according to the rules of Irish versification, and this we are enabled to offer.In the Book of Invasions is a poem on the spoils and treasures brought into Ireland by the Tuatha de Danans. There is a literal translation of it in the folio edition of Keating's History. In the first volume (the only one published) of a new translation of that work by Mr. Halliday, in Dublin, in 1811, (which death prevented him from completing,) is the following metrical version: Thuha true their treasures bring, Jarvanel ag'd, prophet prime, |