A GRACEFUL PROPOSAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 22, 18 March 1892, Page 15

A GRACEFUL PROPOSAL.

(From the Melbourne Advocate.)

A FEW of the many friends of Mr Gerald H. Supple, B.L, from whom that gentleman parted some years past when he went to New Zealand, propose to publish a selection of his poems in a rich and handsome binding, as a meanß of raising a substantial testimonial to his excellent qualities as a friend, and to his abilities as a litterateur. From the very long and intimate acquaintance we have had with Mr Supple as a friend and a valued contributor to this journal we fe°l assured that be has no wish that a step of this kind would be taken ; but as his sight has for some years failed him, and he has consequently been unable to keep his income up to an adequate figure, it has been thought well to overlook any objections he might offer to the proposal now made. la bringing it under the notice of our readers, we may appropriately mention that from the time he reached man's estate, Mr Supple has been an able Jadvocate of Irish nationality. At the most brilliant period in tbe modern history of the Irish struggle Mr Supple devoted his splendid talents to th^ cause in Dublin, and as an associate of its leaders, shared with them all tbe perils they incurred. He was amongst those who left their native land with heavy hearts when it was thought by some of th^ exiles that the corpse of Irish nationality was on the dissecting tabla ; but when famine, plague, and caercion had done their worst, and there was again a glimmering of the old spirit, Mr Supple was among the first of Ireland's sons abroad to gladly hail tbe revival. And he subsequently did all in his power to advance the cause to which in his younger days he was so unselfishly and bravely devoted. To this journal be was naturally attracted at a very early stage of its existence, and contributed to its pages a series of very able philological articles in which the source o£ many words in the Irish language was traced to an eastern origin. 111-health and other circumstances obliged Mr Supple to withhold from us for a time his valuable co-operation ; but when he became free again to follow the bent of his inclinations, he once more became a contributor to our pages, and we may now venture to divulge, to his credit, that he is the writer of those much prized contributions to our columns entitled " Some Notes on Irish Subjects." There was no more beautiful writer on the Prees of this colony than Mr Supple when he was attached to it, and that his splendid intellectual gifts are not impaired by the visitation with which he is bfflic ed is very evident from tbe high esteem in which bis literary efforts are still held. We have had some hesitation in writing thus frankly on a delicate subject, but our reluctance has been overcome by motives of friendship and national considerations.