I pity your mother, the beautiful dame,

With her meek mouth, from loved Bally-martyr that

came;

Who is sunk in distress, which no art can allay,
Since her darling is laid in the tomb to decay.

To the house of distress, may our crucified Lord
Who died to save sinners, some comfort afford;
Thro' him, may the soul that is gone be forgiven,
And this night rest with saints and with angels in
heaven.

Blessed Lord, I beseech thee to hear my heart's prayer; And, O Holy Spirit, take thou in thy care

Both Richard and Edmond, and give them thy grace, With Thomas, the tenderest branch of his race.—

KEEN FOR O'SULLIVAN BEAR.

TRANSLATED FROM THE IRISH BY MR. CALLANAN.

THIS was originally printed in Blackwood's Magazine for Feb. 1823 (Vol. xiii. p. 209), and subsequently in the Collection of Callanan's Poems, entitled "The Recluse of Inchidony," 1830. It is thus prefaced:

"In 17-, one of the O'Sullivans, of Bearhaven, who went by the name of Morty Oge, fell under the vengeance of the law. He had long been a turbulent character in the wild district which he inhabited, and was particularly obnoxious to the local authorities, who had good reason to suspect him of enlisting men for the Irish Brigade in the French service, in which, it was said, he held a captain's commission.

“Information of his raising these 'wild geese,' (the name by which such recruits were known), was given by a Mr. Puxley, on whom, in consequence, O'Sullivan vowed revenge, which he executed by shooting him on Sunday, while on his way to church. This called for the interposition of the higher powers, and accordingly a party of military were sent round from Cork to attack O'Sullivan's house. He was daring and well armed, and the house was fortified, so that he made an obstinate defence. At last, a confidential servant of his, named Scully, was bribed to wet the powder in the guns and pistols prepared for his defence, which rendered him powerless. He attempted to escape, but while springing over a high wall in the rear of his house, he received a mortal wound in the back. They tied his body to a boat and dragged it in that manner through the sea, from Bearhaven to Cork, where his head was cut off and fixed on the County gaol, where it remained for several years.

"Such is the story current among the lower orders about Bearhaven. In the version given of it in the rude chronicle of the local occurrences of Cork,* there is no mention made of Scully's perfidy, and perhaps that circumstance might have been added by those by whom O'Sullivan was deemed a hero, in order to save his credit as much as possible. The dirge was composed by his nurse, who has made no sparing use of the energy of cursing, which the Irish language is by all allowed to possess."

Morty, in Irish Muiertach, or Muirchaertach, is a name very common among the old families of Ireland. It signifies expert at sea; Oge, is the younger. Where a whole district is peopled in a great measure by a clan of one name, such distinguishing titles are necessary, and in some cases even supersede the original appellation. I-vera, or Aoi-vera, is the original name of Bearhaven; Aoi, or I, signifying an island or territory.

*The account referred to by Mr. Callanan, occurs in "the Cork Remembrancer, by John Fitzgerald," a volume now rarely to

To Mr. Maurice O'Connell, the Editor is indebted for the following version of the history of Morty Oge, as related to him by his father:

66

Morty Oge Sullivan, was the head of a junior branch of the house of O'Sullivan Bear, and had been a captain of Hungarian grenadiers, in the Austrian service, but on the death of his father had retired to reside on his property. His house was situated at a place called Inch, on the southern shore of the River Kenmare. Smuggling then, as until lately, prevailed to a great extent in that part of the country, and Morty Oge took his full share of the risks and profits of the contraband trade. On returning from one of his expeditions, his vessel, a sloop, or large

be met with, and is as follows. "1754. Thursday, May 9th. The party of soldiers returned, that went in pursuit of Morty Oge O'Sullivan, on Thursday, from Cork to Bearhaven. On Saturday night about 12 o'clock, the party under the command of Lieut. Appleton, arrived at Bearhaven, and in a small time afterwards was discovered by the sentinels belonging to said Sullivan; but the party being too far advanced towards the house, the sentinels had not time to warn the house of their approach, but made the best of their way to save themselves; immediately the party surrounded the house, but Sullivan and his party being alarmed by the barking of a dog which they had in the house, took the alarm directly; Sullivan came to the door and opened it in his shirt, with a blunderbuss in his hand; at the same time they might have taken away his life, but the commanding officer choosing rather to take him alive, did not fire at him. Sullivan and his men fired several blunderbusses out of the house at the party, but finding them too strong, he thought on a stratagem, by sending them out one man at a time, thinking by that means, the party would have left the house to follow them, by which he may get off, but he was prevented by the officer, who only fired at the men as they went off. At length, Sullivan's wife with her child and nurse, came out and asked for quarters, which was

hooker, was attacked by the revenue officers. Morty and his party resisted, fired upon and killed some of the assailants, and drove off the rest. The sheriff for the county of Cork at that period was a Mr. Puxley, the descendant of one of Cromwell's officers, who had obtained large grants of land in Bearhaven. He resided at Dunboy, near the site of the ancient castle of the O'Sullivan Bear, in the neighbourhood of Morty Oge. The defeated revenue men fled to his house and demanded assistance. Though Puxley had surrounded himself with a body guard, in the persons of a number of protestant settlers whom he had brought from Ulster, he did not think himself strong enough to attack Morty Oge; but, in the discharge of his duty, had him outlawed. Morty, as soon as he became aware of Pux

granted. The officer asked her who was in the house, she answered no one but her husband and some of his men, upon which he ordered the house to be set on fire, which they were a long time doing, the men's arms being rendered quite useless from the heavy rains, but the house being at last set on fire, they were obliged to come out. Sullivan behaved with great bravery, as did his men; he stood and snapped his blunderbuss twice at the party, and missed fire; likewise the party snapped at him twice and missed fire, and cocking the third time, they shot him through the heart dead on the spot, with some others; some more were wounded, and only the body of Sullivan was brought away dead, and two prisoners, Sullivan and Connel, alive. The King's boat at the same time went round and sunk the sloop belonging to him. Had it not been for the wetness of the night, the party would have been sooner. He had not his usual sentinels out, as not expecting anything to disturb him. The two prisoners that were brought alive, were put into the South Gaol, and the body of Sullivan was lodged in the Barrack-yard, till further orders; he was afterwards taken to the County Court, his head spiked on the South Gaol, and his remains interred on the Battery in the New Barrack."

ley's proceedings, sent him a challenge, and on the sheriff's refusing to meet him, declared he would force him to fight. Puxley had been in Cork, and on his road homewards on horseback, having his wife on a pillion behind him and followed by a mounted servant, was met by Morty Oge, accompanied by one of his foster brothers, who had been waiting his approach at a forge, not far from the entrance to Dunboy House. Both Puxley and his servant had pistols, and Morty and his companion were similarly armed. Morty stopped Puxley's horse, and saying they were equally armed, called upon him to alight and fight him, adding that his foster brother would fight the servant. The invitation was declined; Puxley saying he would have nothing to do with him, at the same time endeavouring to pass him by, and putting his hand to one of his own pistols. As he drew it from the holster, O'Sullivan fired and shot him through the head. He and his foster brother then withdrew, and left the widow and servant with the body. On the news of this affair reaching Cork, a party was immediately dispatched to seize O'Sullivan, and a price set on his head. However, he was always accompanied by twenty or thirty armed men, and had his spies so posted that he was easily able to remove in time before the military could reach him. Several attempts were made to seize him, but he always either beat off, or avoided the officers of the law ; and continued for some years to live in Bearhaven (as it was termed), 'on his keeping.' The widow Puxley, who was indefatigable in her efforts to revenge the murder of her husband, at length found means to corrupt one of Morty's sentinels, and by his assistance a military party, accompanied by the armed protestant tenants of the late sheriff, were enabled to surround O'Sullivan's house. The garrison were then summoned to surrender; but answered by firing a volley, and a regular battle commenced. During the engagement, some of the soldiers contrived to get close under the wall of the house at the rear, and were preparing to set fire to the thatch, when they were seen from a small window over their heads by one of Morty's foster brothers, who informed him of the fact.

"Let me see," said he, "whether