Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland;: A modern poem

by William Allingham

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1869 edition. Excerpt: ... To jolt along in lumbering luxury; Men, women, pigs, cows, sheep, and horses tend One way, and to the Harvest Fair they wend; Jack Doran with the rest, with sorry cheer, 15 Condemn'd at Pigot's Office to appear, -- To him a place of awe, and doubt, and fear. 'Tis where the road-side rivulet expands, And every stone upon its image stands, The country maidens finish their attire, 20 Screen'd by the network of a tangled briar; On grassy bank their shapely limbs indue With milk-white stocking and the well-black'd shoe, And court that mirror for a final grace With dazzling ribbons nodding round their face. 25 Behold our Bridget tripping to the fair; Her shawl is splendid, but her feet are bare; Till, quick the little bundle here untied, The shoes come forth, the skirts are shaken wide, And Biddy enters Lisnamoy in pride; 30 Nor be it long ere Denis she espies, To read her triumph in his joyful eyes. But first of all, with calm submissive face, Beads in her hand, within the Holy Place She kneels, among the kneelers who adore 35 In silent reverence on that mystic floor; Then with a curtsey, and with symbol meet On brow and breast, returning to the street. Crowds push through Lisnamoy, shop, street, and lane, Archway, and yard, corn-store, and butter-crane. 40 Say, as we push, could anywhere be found A Town more ugly, ev'n on Irish ground?-- With dwellings meanly low or meanly tall, With ragged roads, and harsh straight workhouse wall, With foul decrepit huts, and here and there 45 A roof half-stript and smoky rafters bare; With churches that on rival mounts encamp, One praised for neatness, one admired for pomp; This, which combines the gaudy and the mean, (Alas! the white old chapel on its green) 50 With misplaced ornament that leads...

290 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2015

About the author

William Allingham was an Irish poet, diarist and editor. He wrote several volumes of lyric verse, and his poem 'The Faeries' was much anthologised; but he is better known for his posthumously published Diary, in which he records his lively encounters with Tennyson, Carlyle and other writers and artists.


Librarian Note: For the English physician go to William Allingham.