on a longer acquaintance with You.




HONESTY REWARDED (1892).

I have always regarded with wonder and awe
The conception of Justice embodied in Law:
For it dealt in a highly remarkable way
With Cornelius Molloy and with Peter O'Shea.

Now, Peter O'Shea was by nature a serf,
And he paid (when he could) for his land and his turf:
But Cornelius, his friend, was a broth of a boy--
The Sassenach's scourge was Cornelius Molloy.

Cornelius adopted the Plan of Campaign,
And he tried to tempt Peter, but tempted in vain.
"'Twas the masther, not thim, I conthracted to pay:
'Tis a quare kind of business," said Peter O'Shea.

But the Plan of Campaign, as its authors confess,
Was not, on the whole, a decided success:
And the blackguardly minion whom tyrants employ
Evicted at last great Cornelius Molloy.

The Saxon oppressor, still potent for harm,
Gave Peter a lease of Cornelius' farm:
Which Peter accepted with virtuous joy--