SWEET VALE OF AVOCA!"

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1575, 19 October 1912, Page 9

SWEET VALE OF AVOCA!"

A little book just modestly put forth by: tho Rev. P. Dempsey, C.C., Avoca, gives'a history of- the Wicklow Vale, which found immortality in Tom Moore's celebrated poem: 1 - - Sweet' Villa of Avoca! how calm conld I ■ • rest, In thy bosom of shade, with the friends " I love best, '■ Where the storms which we feel in this ' cold world would cease, 1 And our hearts,-liko thy water,, be mingled .' in peace. .. . .... The compilation l bf-'-th6' i: hahd-biiok, : ..it is quite ; clear (says the "Westminster, Gazette") has been a labour of love. Tho story it has to tell is full of interest, and there are many reproductions, although some of thoso mamly industrial in character scarcely strike the lover of the picturesque as a carrying out of .His ideal. • The publishers, by the way, are Messrs: Browne and Nolan, Dublin, and the price of the booklet is not knownto us.

In addition to tracing the gradual development'of the Vale, and recording certain of .the, grim deeds of the rising in 1798, tho author, alluding to ' the poem quoted above, says: ' "Tho poet received his inspiration quilt) close to the widely-known and traditional 'Tom Moore's Tree.' On account of old age, and also through the taking awayof pieces as souvenirs by a constant stream of visitors,. tfie treo fell to the ground on August 31, 1911." Expert advice was taken, and the remains of the tree have been given_ a cerItain kind of mechanical preservation: "All this contrivance is necessarily of a temporary nature; hence tho public will not rest satisfied until a permanent momorialto tho poet Moore be erected at the far-famed Meeting of the Waters." Every Irishman, and every lover of Moore's Irish melodies, is enjoined _to lend a helping hand to a scheme which can only benefit from boasting so eloquent and enthusiastic an advocate as the author- of this little work. .

So far local opinion on the subject <>f the sccne of Moore's poem. Where it was written may be matter 'of controversy.- Hero is Mri J. P. Meehaii, of Bath, writing in the current number of the "Beacon," on Mrs. Samuel Carter Hall:

"Mr. Hall narrates that, sitting with Thomas Moore and his wifo at Sloperton Cottage, their Wiltshire home, ho asked tho poet where he wrote the lines on 'The Meeting .of the Waters' (The Sweet Vale of Avoca). It was pointed out to Moore th'at there were two 'sweet vales' where the waters 'meet,' and • one particular spot was pointed out, under an umbrageous tree, as the place where the poet was said to have written them. 'I should much' like'to know,' said Hall, 'where they wcrei written,' The poet shook ilis head, and, with an assumed solemn look and tone, said, 'Ah! that is a secret I never tell to anyone.' But Mrs 1 . Moore whispered, 'It was in an attic at Brompton!'" '. 1 Maria Edgeworth relates that Scott, when asked by some visitors to go and see Melros'o "by pale moonlight," observed, "Yes, let us make up a party ; I have never yet seen it so myself!" Pcetic license is exceedingly elastic. As Father Dcinpsey says •of Moore's poem and its connection with Avoca, "composition is one thing, inspiration another, and tho latter he. certainly received at this romantic spot."