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With His gold arm-chair and His table of silver,

Far brighter than amber, our souls to delight. Then all wicked creatures will be shaking and shivering,

For hell will be open ready to swallow them.

"The great accounting day will be on Mount Calvary.

On Monday morning at a trembling hour,
The trumpet will sound to awake our slum-
bers,

All at the age of thirty-three years old.
The blazing planets will fall from the firma-
ments,

The earth will be shaken with earthquakes
and whirlwinds,

But small numbers are branded to stand on the right.'

As a rule, religious topics, or matters connected with them, are not made the subjects of the popular ballads. The only exception to the practice is to be observed in association with the Pope and his political troubles. His Holiness is to depend for the restoration of the provinces he has lost upon Marshal MacMahon.

"The Christian faith by great Saint Patrick
To us was preached in days of yore,
The cross he planted to be our standard,
Under which we'll die for the Church

Rome.

Our Holy Father, Christ's vicar, told us
That the Church of Rome cannot be defied,
For the hand of God it is her protection,
And McMahon brave will our Pope rein-

state."

"In deeds of bloo he took delight,
He thought too long he had been quiet;
I think the Pope I'll put to flight,

Said General Garibaldi!

"With this design, as you may see,
Sardinia's King would not agree;
Proclaimed a rebel for to be

Was General Garibaldi!

"The knave resolved to have his way, The King's command would not obey, And then, without much more delay,

He fought against Sardinia!

"The battle raged with sword and gun, There he was wounded with his son, We hear his glass is nearly run.

Alas! poor Garibaldi!

"Now, of his wounds if he should die,
We'll dress in black, you may rely,
And rub an onion to each eye,

As we weep for Garibaldi!"

The

The side taken by the Irish people with reference to the late war has been consistently French, and the peasantry would not believe in the disasters of the nation, which they always regarded as in possession of an invincible army. The Germans are hated. Martin Luther was a German, of and the Hessian troops imported into Ireland in '98 committed excesses, the recollection of which has been preserved in a proverb. The finer lines of politics are not considered in the matter at all; the Irish hold to their sympathies with, and admiration for, the French, through good report aud evil report, never wavering in Garibaldi is an object of supreme dis- faith, hoping against hope, reading victolike and execration to the Irish peasantry. ries backwards in the most loyal adhesion The general impression about him is that to their sentimental attachment. he is a renegade Roman Catholic, and an prowess of Sarsfield's brigade, the names assassin and blasphemer by trade. When of MacMahon, O'Reilly, Kavanagh, and he lost favour with the Italian Government, Dillon, in the French service; the weak the Irish street minstrel seized the oppor- and probably dishonest efforts at invasion tunity at once, and came out with "The of Ireland by Napoleon; the French aid Downfall of Garibaldi: ". to the Irish during the famine; the influence of the St. Omer-trained priests, who have almost now died off, but whose culture and manners were thoroughly appreciated by their flocks, - these circumstances, taken together, will assist the reader in estimating the measure of partisan feeling for France which exists in Ireland. The failure of MacMahon was felt almost as profoundly in Dublin amongst certain classes as it was in Paris. The number of pieces of occasion on the war, and their singular confusion of facts, would defy classification. The minstrels usually descend into the theological drift at the close of their performances.

"You Roman Catholics, now attend
Unto these verses I have penned;
It's joyful news, you may depend,
Concerning Garibaldi!

"This traitor he is caught at last,
And into prison he is cast:
He'll surely pay for what

past,

The villain Garibaldi!
CHORUS.

"Let us rejoice, both one and all,
From Kerry unto Donegal,
While I relate the sad downfall,
Of General Garibaldi!

"If other Powers don't give them aid,

I'm sure the French are not afraid;
We wish them well may they succeed,
For they believe the Roman Creed!

"And now to end my warlike theme,

During the siege of Paris, the street minstrels continued to prophesy victory for the French, and defeat to the Prussians constantly.

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They think to conquer Paris, but its walls are very strong,

Brave Trochu and his army will die there to

a man;

He's sworn that the Crown Prince and his army he will defeat,

And what won't die outside the walls will fall in the retreat."

"A new Song on the Recapture of Orleans by the French," by John O'Callaghan, had a great run of popularity last year. The chorus, "Fagimind suir mar a Ta shea," is not easily translatable; it signifies literally "leave things as they are,' but it has an aside meaning implying a threat and punishment.

The French and Irish are the same; And for their welfare now we hope, Because they love the present Pope!" Prize-fighting has never flourished in Ireland. An Irishman is never mercenary where hard hitting is concerned, and the system and organization of the Ring is virtually unknown in the island. The transplanted Irishman, however, occasionally distinguishes himself in the profession of slogging, and his foreign reputation is at once seized upon in his native country as a fact to be proud of from a national and patriotic rather than from a P. R. aspect. Tradition and ballads inform us of a tremendous set-to on the Curragh of Kildare,« between Cooper of England and Donnelly of Ireland, when Donnelly won the victory and the heart of a countess who saw him fight. The giant Baldwin, or O'Baldwin, who two years ago was, from stress of police and the unaccommodating disposition of railway directors, unable to bring off his tussle for the belt in London, paid a visit to Ireland, where he met with a warm reception from the peasantry of his natal parish, and a local poet laid the following tribute of rhymes at his feet: :

"You lovers all of manly art and self defence, attend

The praises of a hero brave that lately I have penned.

His name is Edward Baldwin, from the town of sweet Lismore;

He now has challenged England for 1,000l. and more.

"Now, to conclude and finish, and end my
fighting-song,

Let us drink unto brave Baldwin and Dan
Donnelly that's gone;

War to the knife now in France is the cry;
Onward to glory, to conquer, or die.
The Prussians and Germans in turn do fly,
I'm told they are falling in swarms;
I think they had better get ready in time,
And make no delay, but run back to the
Rhine,

For as shure as the sun in the heavens do
shine,

They'll get Fagimind suir mar a Ta shea. "Here's a health to the French, who were never afraid,

And that fortune may learn the young Irish brigade.

My curse on the blackguards who basely be-
trayed

The soldiers of France and its people.
When the Prussians are beaten and peace is

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He'll get Fagimind suir mar a Ta shea."

It will be understood that all the extracts in the foregoing pages are strictly

For so true and brave two Irishmen ne'er taken from the common street ballads.

fought on British shore,

Not forgetting brave John Morrissey, a native of Templemore."

The dog-tax has inspired a bard to proprotest against it in the following fash

ion:

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They may serve to give the English reader a novel insight into certain obscure phases of Irish humour and sentiment. The airs to which the verses are sung are almost invariably in minor keys, and are often, I suspect, the inspirations of a moment espeunattached by tradition to a popular melcially when the ballad is bran-new and ody. The singer walks slowly along while performing the ditty, and offers copies for sale without interrupting his chant. crowd strolls after him, and for one who comes to buy, twenty stay to listen. You might safely purchase the entire contents of the minstrel's portfolio or wallet with

A

316

On one

out finding a single verse of a coarse de- and become his concubines. scription. The good time for the bard is memorable night he was seized with

the season of the contested election. He is then regularly retained and has his selected opponent, with whom he may probably attempt conclusions in the style of the pipers in the "Fair Maid of Perth." These election lyrics are ferocious and eloquent in denunciation, to a degree that often verges on what might be termed the poetry of unlimited abuse; but the street minstrel is decidedly most amusing when he treats of sporting, religion, war, love, and politics in the original fashion which the reader has just had an opportunity of inspecting.

From The Pall Mall Gazette.
THE BUDDHIST HTEE.

RANGOON, Nov. 1.

satiety.

In a

He had been alarmed at the sight of a corpse, an old man, and a leper. In the evening he had fallen asleep at the banquet, while the damsels of the Court were dancing before him. He awoke amid all the disorders of a drunken feast, and gazed around him with disgust. moment he became conscious of the worthlessness of such pleasures; and, leaving his palace, his wife, his child, and his zenana, he fled to the jungle. Henceforth, he led the life of a religious mendicant, and his preaching attracted vast crowds. At this period it was the belief throughout Asia that the soul was immortal; that animal existence was immortal; that the soul simply passed after death into the body of some other man or animal, higher or lower, according to its merits or demerits in a former life or lives. The royal mendicant preached that this THE Htee has arrived at Rangoon at succession of lives was a series of miseries, last. It is accompanied by a Minister of and that man could only escape at once State, a Minister of Public Works, a treas- into the repose known as nirvana by beurer, and a commissariat officer, and some- coming a monk, crushing out all his pasAt sions, and living the life of a mendicant what fewer than a hundred followers. every station on the river Irrawaddy, at upon such food as the people chose to give He is the which it halted on its way from Mandalay him. This prince is now known as Sakya Among to Rangoon, the people came in crowds to Muni, or Gotama Buddha. prostrate themselves before it, and perform apostle of modern Buddhism. the act of worship known as shekho. In other disciples some merchants from BurAva territory they also brought presents mah eagerly accepted his religion. of flowers, gold, and jewels; but these return he gave them eight of his hairs, demonstrations were chiefly confined to which they carried as sacred relics to Ranthe dominions of his Majesty the King of goon and buried in the hill on which the Ava. True piety, according to Buddhist great Shwe Dagon Pagoda now stands. ideas, is dying out in British Burmah, This pagoda is famous throughout the much to the regret of the old Woondouk, or world of Buddhism. The first thing which Minister of State; and while the people strikes the visitor on landing at Rangoon are willing to offer flowers, they are not so is its golden dome. generally moved to give money.

Htee literally means "umbrella;" and, according to Oriental ideas, the umbrella is the emblem of royalty. In Burmah it is placed on the summit of every pagoda; but in that case it is shaped more like a bell than an umbrella. Why the King has sent the present Htee to Rangoon, and why it has caused some excitement, should be explained.

Some four-and-twenty centuries ago there lived a great rajah, who reigned in Hindustan over a rich territory between Oude and Bengal, then known as Magadha. This rajah had a son named Sakya. The young prince was bred in every luxury. He was married to a beautiful young princess, by whom he had a fair son; but the loveliest daughters of the nobles were proud to dance and sing before him

In

In what age this pagoda was built, with its long cloistered entrance covered with pictures of the adventures of Buddha in his endless transmigrations, and its surrounding chapels with huge statues of Gotama, is a question that defies the zeal of the most enthusiastic Pali antiquarian. In all probability it is a growth, like the great temple of Vulcan at Memphis. King after king of the old Taline dynasty of Pegu no doubt gave something in turneither a great statue of Gotama, or a big bell, or a new Htee; or some portion of the edifice was built, repaired, painted, or gilded, according to circumstances. The last time a new Htee was put up is said to have been about a century ago, in the reign of Alompra, the founder of the present dynasty of the kings of Ava, or perhaps by one of his immediate succes

sors. And when it was announced last and Rangoon was a wretched Burmese year that the present King of Ava pro- seaport seated in a swamp. Then he had posed sending a new Htee from Mandalay, accompanied the late King Tharawaddi, a strange excitement spread among the who had marched to Rangoon at the head people, and the wildest rumours ran of forty thousand ragamuffins with the through British Burmah like wild fire; so laudable object of driving the English out some delay occurred in sending down the of Tenasserim, and then conquering British Htee. But the excitement passed away, India.

and the Itee has at last been brought But to return to the Htee. The reason down the river from Mandalay, and landed for this official recognition requires some at Rangoon without the slightest disturb-explanation. The placing of the Htee on the pagoda, although in some respects a

ance.

It is a round framework tower of seven religious ceremony, is yet invested in Burdifferent terraces, each one of diminished mah with peculiar political significance. diameter as it approaches the top. Above It is supposed to be the prerogative of the all is the umbrella ornament surmounted ruling power. The advisers of the King by a metal flag of gold and jewels. The were astute enough to perceive that if various sections of the tower are made of they could only induce the British Goviron bands covered with thin gold plating, ernment to permit the pagoda to be The interlacings of the bands are covered crowned by his Majesty of Ava, much with gold plates set with jewels, while at would be done towards keeping up his several corners streamers of talc and other prestige in British Burmah. Hopeless as nondescript ornaments float in the air. it may appear, it is yet the chief aspiration The golden flag which is to be fixed on of the present King to recover Pegu. the summit is studded with some really There is a sort of prophecy that the valuable rubies, pearls, emeralds, and pagoda shall be crowned only by the ruldiamonds, some of which were contributed ing power. Therefore to have let the by the queens. The height of the Htee people of British Burmah see their pagoda is thirty-five feet. crowned by the King would have gone far Nothing can be done in Burmah without to persuade them that his Majesty still posthe greatest possible ceremony. So on sessed paramount authority in British Monday the Chief Commissioner received territorty. This was the main cause of a visit from the officials who accompanied the excitement which prevailed during the the Htee. One of the wings of Govern- past year. People who had amassed ment House forms a durbar hall, which money under British rule began to bury it is intended for such receptions. The secretly with fear and trembling; while officials appeared in Court costume, plain those who had assisted our Government white jackets, with an indescribable nether garment, something between a pair of trousers and a petticoat, made of rich coloured silk. Those of the highest rank wore the Burmese order of the Tsalway over their breasts and shoulders, consist-conduct, and robber chiefs who were uning of golden plates hanging together by able to exercise their calling under British golden chains. Of course there were also rule, did their utmost to keep up the idea present the Chief Commissioner and his that the native government was to be secretaries, the Commissioner of Pegu, the restored to Pegu. Indeed, it would be inspector-general of police, and other difficult to exaggerate the state of unnotables. After the proper amount of settlement and alarm which existed for conversation the reception broke up, and the eighteen months during which the the Burmese gentleman adjourned to preparation_of_the_new Htee has been Government House, where they were en- going on. Under these circumstances, it tertained with tea, and gratified by the became necessary to thwart this little insight of curiosities, Indian and European. trigue. Accordingly, the King was inThe oldest man of the party, the Minister formed that, though his offering to the of State, must have been nearly seventy Shwé Dagon Pagoda would be allowed to years of age. He was very talkative, come down to Rangoon, it could not be intensely official, and yet very anxious to placed on the pagoda in his name, but please the Chief Commissioner, but the would be received and made over to a world had turned round since he was committee of the Buddhist elders there young. His last visit to Rangoon was in for the purpose of being elevated to its 1840, when Pegu still belonged to Ava, destined position. This difficulty was

looked with dread upon the possible contingency of the King's power returning to Rangoon. On the other hand, all the intriguers and malcontents including native officials, who had been dismissed for bad

arranged by the Political Agent, Captain | was carried at intervals with banners and Strover, at Mandalay, with considerable tall white umbrellas sparkling in the sun

tact.

shine. The sight was splendid. The Friday and Saturday, the 27th and 28th upper portions of the Htee were bright of October, were the great days of with pictures and golden ornaments; while festival. People from all the country the seven terraces, each like a vast golden round about had been crowding into Ran- circular basket, three or four feet in goon some days before, to shekho before height, sparkled with gold and jewels. the Htee, and to go to the pagoda in Everywhere people danced and shouted; grand procession. Yellow-robed phoon- and in some of the larger pieces of the gyees, with shaven heads; Burmese tower four boys were placed, to represent nymphs in white jackets and bright silken the gods of the four quarters of the unipetticoats, with their glossy hair decked verse, who were supposed to exult in the with flowers; young gallants with head-passage of the Htee. But heavy as were dresses of silk handkerchiefs stuck know- these great pieces of framework, none ingly on one side; people of all ages and were drawn along on wheels, but all were both sexes, nearly all smoking, not exclu- borne by the people themselves one sive of boys and girls of tender years. piece alone needing two hundred men and there they were as happy as they could women to carry it. Long bamboos were reasonably be. Saturday was the great placed beneath each piece in every direcday of the ceremony; the day when the tion, and crowds flocked to support the Htee was to be carried from its temporary bamboos and their golden burden. lodging on the river strand to the great pagoda, about two miles distant. This road was covered with white cloths, and from early morning girls and matrons were to be seen going out in their best clothes, with silver jars on their heads, scattering flowers and perfumes over the road and over the pagoda hill. From eight or nine o'clock in the morning people thronged the roadway. Amongst these people were doubtless many roughs and bad characters, but so orderly were they all that not a drunken man was to be seen; nor did any foot, save perhaps that of a dog or a child, venture to tread upon the white cloths. About nine o'clock the procession began to move slowly towards the pagoda, with frequent halts for music, dancing, and other performances. Every available house on the line was crowded, and the Chief Commissioner, Mr Ashley Eden, entertained a large company at one of the best positions in the neighbourhood of the pagoda. But whilst every one was orderly, every one was joyous. The young men danced gaily as they went along the road. Flags and indescribable streamers of all kinds, and all of them pretty and graceful, floated in the air. There was a great clangour of music, and songs were chanted on all sides by companies of singers and dancers. Not till noon did the procession make its appearance at the house occupied by the Chief Commissioner and his party; but it may be remarked that, unlike Asiatic processions generally, the most exact time was kept from its commencement to its close. Each of the seven portions that compose the Htee had its own group of singers and dancers, and

Meantime, while the procession was gaily moving over the white road, the bands or choruses of singers, each of them representing some particular village or some quarter of Rangoon, carried on their several performances; and each in turn left the road for the compound of the house in which the Chief Commissioner and his party were staying, and performed under the portico. These companies consisted of some twenty-five or thirty young men each, all of whom wore a peculiar uniform. Thus one party had white jackets and red nether garments, with white handkerchiefs on their heads. Another wore yellow silk handkerchiefs on their heads. Another wore red or pink silk handkerchiefs. Some wore figured blue silk handkerchiefs, and another party wore orange silk handkerchiefs. Some were arrayed in white gowns with silver edgings, having a large necklace of beads round their throats and hanging down their backs. Each band had its leader, who commenced the chant, and led the swaying to and fro of arms and legs, and other postures which make up these strange performances. In one instance the band represented what was supposed to be life on board the steamer, and the dance took the form of making sail, looking through telescopes, paddling, and other curious mimicries. At first all this was entertaining enough; but after a few hours the European eye and ear became wearied with the measured movements and incessant chanting and jingling. About three o'clock the whole pageant had passed away to the pagoda; and by evening time Rangoon was silent and

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