Matheson Collection > Gleanings from Irish manuscripts

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VERSUS HIBERNICI D. GORDONO
O NEIL PRO LINGUA
HIBERNICA
A PAPER leaf preserved in the library of the
Franciscan Convent, Merchants' Quay, Dublin,
contains the verses printed below, and is endorsed
with the words at the head of this page. Grórdún
Néill, to whom the piece was addressed, was
born about 1650, and was the son of Sir Félim
Néill, who perished at the hands of the Crom-
wellian Government on March loth, 1652-3. He
became a Captain in the army of King James II's
reign, and raised a regiment for that monarch
at the Revolution. He fought in Ulster, at the
Boyne, and was left for dead on the field of
Aughrim. He was, however, picked up by some
Scotch Williamite officers who recognised him
(his mother was a Scotchwoman) and sub-
sequently recovered. He brought his regiment
across the seas after the capitulation of Limerick,
and continued to lead it in France, where it was
known as the ** Regiment of Charlemont.'* Our
poem would seem to have been addressed to him
before the stirring times of his last years in Ireland.
He was still alive in 1704.
The text is given as it stands in the manuscript,
except that accents over diphthongs are omitted,
as is also the punctuation of the scribe. A few
accents have been supplied.