In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

233 presumably a reference to Shepherd’s 1740 poem on Leixlip. 1 The rocks at which the salmon leap was situated were known as St Woolstan’s rocks. 2 3 ANONYMOUS (1746) Though it has been suggested (by Douglas Hyde and D.J. O’Donoghue in their catalogue of the Gilbert Library [1918]) that this poem is the work of Rev. Samuel Shepherd, rector of Leixlip and prolific poet – for whom see above – this seems unlikely as it was not included by his daughters in their edition of his poems (Dublin, 1790) and it is considerably less accomplished than Shepherd’s acknowledged work. In any case, the reference to the author’s ridiculous fear that the clergyman of line 39 might object if the poet described Leixlip church reflected upside-down in the river water suggests a non-clerical author. This servile and obsequious poem is included here not for its poetic merit but because it suggests what contemporary taste might expect in an Irish landscape painting – and specifically because the scene described in the early part of the poem was frequently painted, drawn and engraved in the late eighteenth century. The most surprising of these representation is that of Francis Wheatley whose ‘The Salmon Leap at Leixlip with nymphs bathing’ (1783) is famous for depicting improbably naked nymphs sporting voluptuously on rocks from which several bathers had drowned. The second part of the poem describes the estate, grounds and gardens of Leixlip castle and proposes totally implausible motives for the improvements carried out in the area by William Conolly (1706–54). from: Leixlip: a Poem To a Young Gentleman, on his painting a prospect of the River Liffy at Leixlip The Muse, tho’ conscious of her feeble Lays, Ventures on thine and Leixlip’s further Praise;1 Well has thy Pencil touch’d the Canvass o’er, Where Surges rough in rumbling Torrents roar, Along St. Woolstan’s Rocks and craggy Mead, To where the Salmon are by Wiles betray’d;2 Contemptuously they view th’impending Rock, Nor dread the headlong-tumbling liquid Shock, Right up the Foam the scaly Coursers ply, Disdain to stop, but by disdaining die: 10 The sounding Cataract’s impetuous Weight Confutes their Pride, and hurls them back to Fate. So the proud Gaul, vain insolence!3 of late Disdaining Limits to his mighty State, 234 Pour’d forth his Troops, his Empire to enlarge, Where Britain’s CHIEF and Britons claim’d the Charge; Tho’ firm their Ranks, and Gleams from horrid Steel Foretold the Fate ten Thousand Gauls must feel, Still they press’d on, till by the British Spear Transfix’d, they learn superior Force to fear, 20 While Heaps of Carnage moor the slimy Plain, Or choak the Windings of the purpled Maine.4 Here roll the Waves precipitately hoarse, As fond to finish their long-labour’d Course, ’Till within Sight of Anna’s Bow’r5 they flow, Then stop their Rage, and creep discreetly slow, Check’d by the River God, in Wonder lost, To view the Beauties of the neighb’ring Coast:6 In wide Expanse they stretch from Side to Side, Move smoothly on, and with Reluctance glide, 30 Till quite serene, they seem at once to rest, To stamp the lively Landskip on their Breast. Within the Flood7 see pompous Turrets rise, Their Heads pursuing the invaded Skies; The stately Pine, the wide-branch’d swelling Oak, Chimnies inverted, downward puffing Smoak; Low in the Wave the lofty Mansion falls, And sporting Trouts bound o’er the Castle Walls. Here I cou’d more, but dread the hallow’d Gown, Should I describe the Church turn’d up-side-down, 40 The Battle of Dettingen, at which the ‘Pragmatic’ Army of British, Hanoverians and 4 Austrians (led in person by the British King George II) defeated the French, took place on 27 June 1743 on the banks of the River Main in South West Germany. Loyalist references to ‘British’ victories overseas are fairly frequent in eighteenth-century verse written in Ireland. 5 The (absurd) idea that the river god persuades the water to slow down at this point – i.e. 6 where Lady Conolly’s riverside teahouse is situated – so that it can view the beauties of the river bank, occurs in other eighteenth-century Irish ‘prospect’poems describing slowmoving reaches of rivers. i.e. as a reflection in the still water. 7 [3.22.181.209] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 02:08...

Share