The Poems of Richard Dalton Williams (" Shamrock," of the
Nation). (T. D. Sullivan.)—Some of these poems are humorous, and these are remarkably good ; some are serious, and these are such as one might expect from a writer who signed himself "Shamrock," and wrote in the columns of the Nation. " He pours out his soul in fierce denunciation of the Power which was destroying his country by the combined agency of coercion and starvation," is the description of the intelligent and impartial person who edits this volume. This is the sort of thing in which he "pours out his soul:"—
" Now thou art a sink of evil—a serpent's nest—a tiger's den— An Iron-crowned and armed devil, having power to torture men.' Aged tyrant, crime o'erladen—Moloch! gorged with blood and tears Of martyred brave and ruined maiden! murderer of a thousand years!"
it is scarcely necessary to say that the "thou" of this apostrophe is Eng- land. This is a fair specimen of the verse which Mr. Williams poured forth for some years, without any injury either to that which he attacked or, what is perhaps more curious, to himself. He did not translate his fervent words into actions, but emigrated to America, where he died at an early age in 1863. His last words to England were that "the Gaul was at its gate." Sincerely, it is a pity that all this rubbish has been republished. The comic poems—which, by the way, we should hardly expect this tortured bond-slave would have had the heart to write— are really good.
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