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376 JAMES STUART (1764–1811–1840) James Stuart was born in Armagh and educated at Trinity College Dublin. Much of the verse in his 1811 Poems on Various Subjects is concerned with Armagh and its surroundings, and it is valuable for the light it throws on contemporary Ulster. He subsequently edited the Newry Telegraph and the Newry Magazine, a journal containing interesting literary and political material. His main historical work was the Historical Memoirs of the city of Armagh. (1819). He moved to Belfast in 1821 and continued his connection with newspapers, becoming joint owner of a conservative, protestant newspaper, The Guardian and Constitutional Advocate. The ‘sadly-pleasing, melancholy joy’ of Stuart’s description of Armagh was praised by Geoffrey Taylor in The Emerald Isle (1952). from: Morna’s Hill ... As round the pine-clad top of Morna’s hill1 Slowly I wind, what varied scenes appear In glorious prospect? Whether o’er the plains Mantled in green, the eye delighted roves, Or where yon spires peep o’er the sloping hills And glitter in the sun; or where aloft, Thy column, Rokeby,2 lifts its head in air, High o’er the verdant pines, transmitting down To latest years, thy friendship and thy name! Or thine, O Molyneux, that stands sublime,3 10 With form majestick, o’er thy waving woods, Raised to thy country’s glory in the day Of Erin’s fame! How lovely bloom the groves Whose bending tops play wanton in the gale, Mingling their varied hues! Bright through the vales It is now difficult to say where Morna’s Hill was 1 ‘as so many changes have taken place since 1811’ (see William Reeves, ‘The Ancient Churches of Armagh …’, Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Second Series, IV, 4 (1896), 228). During his period in Armagh (1765–94), Archbishop Robinson (1709–94) rebuilt the cathedral and many public buildings, as well as erecting an archiepiscopal palace and supervising the reconstruction of the town itself. The ‘column’ referred to was an obelisk, 114 feet high, designed by Francis Johnston and erected by Primate Robinson in 1783 on Knox Hill to commemorate his friendship with the Duke of Northumberland. This (second) obelisk was 60 feet high and was erected on his lands at Castle Dillon by 3 Sir Capel Molyneux in 1782 to commemorate the granting of limited legislative independence to the Irish parliament. 377 James Stuart The streams soft gliding, wind their devious course, Deepening the tender verdure of the fields, And mantling every blossom of the spring In robes of humid lustre. Round the hills Dwell Innocence and rural Industry, 20 And Peace, and jocund Health, and sinewy Toil, The sire of Plenty, though the child of want. … Nor wants the glowing landscape many a charm, Transmitted down through Time’s revolving years, To dignify the scene. The sacred mound, Where waves the wild grass o’er the prostrate heads Of heroes now no more. The convex cairne That crowns the heath-clad hill, where silent sleeps The mighty Fion; and the antique rath Within whose circular intrenchments stood 30 Secure embattled hosts;4 ere Science taught The sons of war to sweep the tented field With murd’rous cannon. Contemplation loves To dwell upon these objects; and the soul, Deep-musing, turns to deeds of ancient days, And snatches, from the annals of the world, A sadly-pleasing, melancholy joy. … The reference is to the cairn and mound marking the site of the royal palace of the kings 4 of Ulster at Emain Macha or Navan Fort, near Armagh. ...

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