Poems and Ballads of Young Ireland(Dublin: Gill & Son, 1888). By permission of the author. Clonmacnois, founded by St. Kieran in the sixth century, was for many generations one of the greatest ecclesiastical establishments and centres of learning in Ireland. It was the chosen burial-place of many royal and noble families.
The Wind in the Trees(Grant Richards, 1898). By permission of the author.
Poems(Elkin Mathews, 1895). By permission of author and publisher.
l. 2.Inisfail(i.e.‘The Isle of Destiny’), an ancient name of Ireland.
Poems(Toronto: Dudley & Burns, 1888). By permission of the author. The Nile Expeditionary Force for the relief of General Gordon was conveyed up the river in flat-bottomed boats navigated by Canadian Indians (voyageurs).
Lays of Canada(Montreal: John Lovell & Son, 1890). By permission of the author.
Laura Second and Other Poems(Toronto, 1887). By permission of the author’s representatives.
A Treasury of Canadian Verse(J. M. Dent & Co., 1900). By permission of the author’s representatives.
Toronto Daily Mail(July 23, 1885). By permission of the author. The call for volunteers was occasioned by the ‘Half-Breed Rebellion’ in North-West Canada (1884–5).
Published separately (McCorquodale & Co., 1900), and sold for the benefit of the Canadian Patriotic Fund. By permission of the author.
In Divers Tones(Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1887). By permission of the author.
Beyond the Hills of Dream(Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1899). By permission of author and publishers. The first had previously appeared inThe Westminster Gazette(August, 1897), and the second inThe Toronto Globe(Christmas Number, 1899).
The first is fromPoems Old and New(Toronto: William Briggs, 1900), and the second fromThe Soul’s Quest and Other Poems(London: Kegan Paul & Co., 1888). By permission of the author.
Canadian Monthly(August, 1897). By permission of the author.
Watchers of Twilight(Montreal: T. H. Warren, 1894). By permission of the author. Line 2 is a quotation from William Watson’sLast Words to the Colonies.
In Various Moods(Toronto: William Briggs, 1894). By permission of the author.
Miscellaneous Verses(Calcutta: Sanders, Cones & Co., 1848).
Gunga(l. 49)=the Ganges.
Cornhill Magazine(September, 1868), andVerses Written in India(Kegan Paul & Co., 1889). By permission of author and publishers.
The massacre which suggested this poem took place near Mohundi, in Oudh (June, 1857). The lives of all the English prisoners would have been spared had they consented to profess Mahometanism by repeating the usual short formula.
Indian Lyrics(Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., 1884). By permission of the author.
The Author’s Note on the second is as follows:—‘Over the well rises a pedestal supporting a statue in white marble—the Angel of Pity. Below is the inscription:Sacred to the perpetual memory of a great company of Christian people, chiefly women and children, who near this spot were cruelly massacred by the followers of the rebel Nana Dhoondoo Punth of Bithoor; and cast, the dying with the dead, into the well below, on the 15th day of July 1857.’
As to thethird,—
l. 7.peepuls.The peepul (or pepul) tree.8.poinsianas.Thepoinciana regia, a flowering shrub introduced from Madagascar.
All three appeared first inThe Times of India, and are included inSoldierin’(Bombay: Indian Textile Journal Co., 1899). By permission of author and publishers.
As to the second,—l. 28.sangared.Sangars are temporary stone shelters for riflemen.
As to the third,—During the operations in Tirah (1897) the pass of Saransar (or Saran Sur) was the retreat of the hillmen known as the Lakka Khels. On November 9, a reconnaissance in force was made up the pass. The firing from the heights was deadly and continuous, and, in the evening, when our troops were retreating down the pass, a small party of the 48th (Northamptonshire Regiment) under Second Lieutenant Macintyre and Colour-Sergeant Luck, were cut off and surrounded by the enemy. It was found impossible to save them, and the following morning their dead bodies were found together.
l. 9.Talavera.The 48th are known as ‘The Talavera Boys,’ having distinguished themselves at the battle of Talavera, in the Peninsular War (July 27 and 28, 1809).
Departmental Ditties(Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., 1886. London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1899). By permission of the author and Messrs. George Newnes, Limited. ‘The Galley-Slave’ is understood to be a mystical name for the Indian Civil Servant.
Ephemerides(London: 1828).
By permission of the author and the editor ofLiterature, in which publication (December 9, 1899) the poem first appeared.
Published in G. W. Steevens’ posthumous volume,Things Seen: with Memoir by W. E. Henley(Blackwood, 1900). By permission of the author. The quatrain is inscribed ‘G. W. S., December 10, 1869—January 15, 1900.’ The lines were written of G. W. Steevens, journalist and war correspondent, who died at Ladysmith during the siege.
England Revisited(Cape Town: J. C. Juta & Co., 1900). By permission of the author.
Cape Argus(May 6, 1901). By permission of the author and the editor of theCape Argus.
Natal: The Land and its Story(Pietermaritzburg: Davis & Sons, Fifth Edition, 1897). By permission of the author.
l. 1.Congella.Hostilities having begun in Natal (1842), Captain Smith led the English forces out of Durban for a night attack on Pretorius’ position at Congella. It was a moonlight night, and the advance was observed. Our men were shot down as they marched along the shore without cover. The survivors retreated to Durban, and the Boers immediately invested the town. A despatch-rider having made his way through the Boer lines, reinforcements were sent by sea, and the siege was raised (June 25, 1842). Natal was annexed the following year, and the Boer was thus headed off from the sea.
FromDampier’s Dream: an Australian Foreshadowing(Melbourne: George Robertson & Co., 1892). By permission of the author’s representatives.
William Dampier (1652–1715), pirate, circumnavigator, and captain in the navy, made several voyages to the South Seas.
Poems(Melbourne: A. H. Massina & Co., 1884). By permission of the publishers.
FromAustralia Federata(The Times, January 1, 1901). This poem appeared the same day in the leading journals of all the States of the Commonwealth of Australia. By permission of Sir Horace Tozer, K.C.M.G., Agent-General for Queensland.
First published in a Tasmanian newspaper. By permission of the author.
In the Days when the World was Wide(Sydney: Angus & Robertson. London: The Australian Book Co., 1895). By permission of Messrs. Angus & Robertson.
Jackeroo(l. 24).
Literature(November 11, 1899). By permission of the author and the editor ofLiterature.
Maoriland and other Verses(Sydney: The Bulletin Newspaper Co., 1899). By permission of the publishers.
l. 2.tussock.‘Tussock’ is a coarse grass.
Fair Girls and Grey Horses(Sydney: The Bulletin Newspaper Co., 1899). By permission of the publishers. This poem first appeared in the SydneyBulletin.
l. 9.Macquarie.The river Macquarie rises in the Blue Mountains, eighty miles west of Sydney. After following a north-westerly course of 280 miles its waters are lost in the Macquarie marshes.
First appeared inThe Brisbane Courier(August 8, 1899).
The first appeared inSongs of the South(Ward, Lock & Co., 1891), and the second is an extract fromThe Commonwealth: an Ode(Melbourne Age, January 1901). By permission of the author.
As to the first,—Matthew Flinders (1774–1814), discoverer and captain in the navy, was one of the first surveyors of the east coast of Australia. He spent many years in exploring the country adjacent to the coast.
Musings in Maoriland(Sydney: Arthur T. Keirle & Co., 1890). By permission of the publishers.
First published in the DunedinSaturday Advertiser(June 22, 1878), and included inFar South Fancies(Griffith, Farran & Co., 1889). By permission of the author.
l. 15.Parakeets’.The parakeet resembles a parrot in appearance, and is one of the native birds of New Zealand.
16.Tui’s.The tui is a mocking-bird, and has two tufts of white feathers on its neck, the rest of its plumage being jet black. It is commonly called the ‘Parson Bird,’ from its supposed resemblance to a clergyman in a white tie.
The first is fromSongs of the Singing Shepherd(Wanganui, New Zealand: A. D. Willis, 1885), and the second fromThe Pilgrim of Eternity(Wanganui: Wanganui Herald Co., 1892). By permission of the author.
As to the second,—Cooee(l. 1). The signal-call of the aborigines of New Zealand (‘cooee’ or ‘cooey’) can be heard at a great distance.