the very first place, for as a writer in the Athenæum beautifully says, "let the Tennysons be ever so fantastical, the Wordsworths ever so contemplative, the Byrons ever so impassioned; the Irish melodist has his own place, his own pedestal, his own posterity, which will endure so long as any musicians in our land love eloquence and imagination, passion and fancy, when they take forms so sweetly flowing, and so gracefully captivating that the task of the musician appointed to set the song may be described as having been already half done before his spiriting' could begin."

HONOURS PAID TO MOORE'S MEMORY.

THE CHARLEMONT HOUSE MEETING IN 1852.

On the 29th of March, 1852, a meeting was held at Charlemont House, Dublin, for the purpose of adopting measures to secure the erection of a testimonial in honour of Moore.

The Earl of CHARLEMONT presided.

Mr. George Mulvany, Mr. Charles Meara, and Mr. Samuel Ferguson were appointed honorary secretaries.

The Noble Chairman before the proceedings commenced said-When I find the position in which I am placed, and when I look around me and see so many present more likely than myself to fill the chair with credit, and with advantage to the cause which we all have at heart, I can only impute the distinction to which I have been advanced, partly to the place where the meeting is held, and partly to the prestige attached to the name that I have now borne for fifty-one years; and which it delights my

heart to perceive is not yet entirely obliterated from the hearts of the Irish people (applause). To these I am aware I owe the honour I now enjoy (hear, hear). I know that it is quite unnecessary for me in such an assembly as the present, to point out the propriety of keeping ourselves to the one object which brought us together, that object being to do honour to the memory of one who has done honour to us all, one who has exalted the character of Ireland, and by his matchless lyrics has placed the poetry of Ireland on the highest pinnacle for the admiration of the world (applause).

The honorary secretaries read several letters from distinguished parties unable to attend, but promis. ing co-operation. One of these letters was from the sister of Moore's old friend, Thomas Boyse, of Bannow, apologising for her brother's absence from the meeting on account of illness.

Lord Chief Baron Pigot then rose, amid loud applause, to move the first resolution (a resolution of condolence with Mrs. Moore), and said-The resolution is one that requires no argument upon my part to recommend it, in the very front of our proceedings, for the adoption of this meeting; it speaks its own purpose. I am not sure that it would be delicate in him who proposes it to enlarge upon the subject, for everybody here must feel that it is but a graceful tribute to the individual who is alluded to in it, to propose this resolution as the first proceeding of a meeting convened to do honour to her husband's memory (applause). Upon the general objects of our meeting I am not sure that it would become me to enlarge before you, my lord, the hereditary patron of Irish genius (loud applause), or to

those who are here assembled for the special purpose of doing honour to that genius by paying a tribute to the memory of Moore. Perhaps I may be right in asserting that there is not one of those who now hear me, who, at some period of his life, whether it has been a long or a short one, has not owed to the productions of Moore some moments of the highest enjoyment (cheers). Whether we have a mere relish for poetry, for its multiplied attractions, and feel its awakening impulses; or whether we are lovers of music-that kindred art to poetry in which so few poets of modern times have excelled, but the combination of both of which constituted the remarkable excellence of Moore; or whether we are capable of feeling that intense delight which we know some do derive from the union of melody with verse-verse, speaking as Moore made it speak, the meaning of music in the language of poetry; whether we are capable of any or of all these enjoyments, I believe I am right in saying that all of us have at some time or other yielded ourselves to the spells of the muse of Moore (loud applause).

Dr. Petrie, in seconding the resolution, spoke as follows:-My Lord, proud as I should feel of the honour of being selected to second the resolution now moved by the Lord Chief Baron, yet, from a consciousness of my own want of ability to address, in any fitting manner, an assembly so eminently distinguished for intellectual endowments as this is, and on an occasion of so much importance, I should not, I confess, have had courage enough to undertake the duty if I had not been satisfied that a single observation or two was all that would be required, or would, indeed, be proper. I have no

ordinary pleasure in being the seconder of this resolution, because I consider it in every way a proper one, and that it is sincere in the expression of our esteem and respectful regard for our poet's honoured partner and survivor (hear, hear). All those who had the enjoyment of an intimate acquaintance with our poet, will know the delight he took in speaking of his domestic happiness, and the noble qualities of his partner's mind; and it was impossible to hear such a just estimate of the worth of the virtuous female character, and such a grateful sense of its benign influences, without being impressed with a love for the worth of the man even greater than the veneration for the genius of the poet (applause).

The resolution was then put and carried unanimously.

The Right Hon. Maziere Brady then presented himself, and said-My Lord Charlemont and gentlemen, I have great satisfaction indeed in joining in the purpose and objects of the present assembly. I received with great pleasure the invitation to participate in the good work in which we are about to be engaged, and I, with like pleasure, take part in the proceedings of to-day (hear, hear). It would be idle and vain in me, after what has fallen from my friend, the Chief Baron, to expatiate upon the great qualities and the distinguished merits of the departed genius whose memory we have met to honour, and whose fame will live in those verses he has left behind him as long as there shall exist a man competent to understand the English language, and feel it in his heart (cheers). I am called upon to ask this meeting to join me in saying, that

we feel it due to his memory that a public testimonial be raised to him in this his native city, and that for this purpose a subscription be now opened. Where in all the world should there be a monument to the memory of Thomas Moore, if not in Dublin, his native city? Where in all the world should such a memorial be erected, if not in the capital of that country whose genius he has immortalized-to the music of which he has given imperishable existence, by associating with it his unrivalled lyrics, and for whose song he has achieved that great glory and renown which in his hands it has attained (cheers)? I trust the concurrence of this meeting and of the public will ratify the opinions expressed in this resolution; and that not only in Ireland, but wherever the English language is spoken (and that is where the sun never sets), and wherever an Irishman is to be found throughout the world, there will be a responsive echo to this resolution, and a prompt and earnest co-operation in the great work we have undertaken (loud applause).

Mr. O'Hagan, Q.C. (now Lord O'Hagan), having been called on by the chairman, came forward to second the resolution. After some prefatory remarks he said-It appears to me that in addressing an assembly of Irishmen, I need use no argument to induce them to do homage to the man who, for more than half a century, has made his name "familiar as a household word" in every mansion and in every homestead of our country-who has caused our dear old music to resound wherever the English tongue is spoken, or the Irish name is known--who has interpreted every phase of Irish