W h e n ye your gracious task have done, Heap not the rock above his dust; The angel of the Lord alone Shall guard the ashes of the just! But ye shall heed, with pious care, T h e mem'ry of that spot to keep ; A n d note the marks that guide m e where M y virtuous friend is laid to sleep ! For Oh ! bethink, in other times . (And be those happier times at hand) W h e n Science, like the smile of God, Comes bright'ning o'er that weary land ; H o w will her pilgrims hail the power, Beneath the drooping myall's gloom, T o sit at eve, and mourn an hour, A n d pluck a leaf on Leichardt's tomb !
—B. LYND. Sydney Barracks, 2nd July, 1845
DEATH OF DANIEL O'CONNELL.
The intelligence of the demise of this distinguished Irishman reached Melbourne on the 18th September, 1847, and the Herald immediately issued an extraordinary in deep mourning communicating the fact, which caused a profound sensation a m o n g the Irish residents. T h e two R o m a n Catholic, clergymen then here (the Revs. P. B. Geoghegan and N . J. Coffey) convened a public meeting at St. Francis' Schoolrooms on the 22nd "to determine the best means of testifying reverence for the memory of the Liberator of Ireland." There was a very large attendance, principally of the Irish residents, though many English and Scotch were also there. T h e Rev. M r . Geoghegan w h o presided, pronounced an eloquent and impassioned eulogium upon the deceased, and was followed by the Rev. Dean Coffey and M r . John O'Shanassy. T h e other speakers were Messrs. W m . O'Farrell, Robert Hayes, Bernard Reynolds, James Wallace, and M . J. M'Culla, and the following resolution was agreed to : — " T h a t as a mark of our solemn reverence for the memory of our deceased illustrious hero, we adopt, for the present, simple crape mourning for three months commencing on the 28th instant, the day of solemn dirge to be celebrated in St. Francis' Church." T h e Obituary Demonstration in the church was conducted with all the gloomy solemnity of such occasions. T h e interior was shrouded in black drapery, and long before 11.30 the period of commencement, standing room could not be found within the edifice. More than two thousand persons had congregated inside and outside, and amongst them were some members of other religious persuasions—Episcopalians and Wesleyans, Jews and Presbyterians. A large number of the deceased's countrymen wore the mourning crape prescribed at the recent meeting. A requiem mass was offered, Dean Coffey officiating as celebrant, and Fathers Geoghegan and Kenny (of Geelong) as Deacon and Sub-deacon. T h e musical arrangements were presided over by Mr. Megson, the theatrical orchestra conductor of the time, assisted by Mrs. Clarke, one of the corps dramatique of the Queen's Theatre, and several amateurs. Mrs. Clarke's singing being described as "singularly pathetic." T h e panegyric delivered by Father Geoghegan, of more than an hour's duration, has not been since excelled, as an effort of pulpit eloquence, in the colony. It was a comprehensive and luminous lesume of O'Connell's life and labours on behalf of the Irish race and the R o m a n Catholic faith from a compatriot's point of view ; and as the preacher was an orator as well as an Irishman, speaking straight from the heart, for point and pathos, rhetorical adornments and logical solidity, h.stoncal illustration, ancient and modern, interwoven with consummate skill and garbed in language of classic beauty, this was an intellectual feat, which, from its rarity, even in a temple of religion, might be not inaptly classed with those "Angels' visits" of which the poet sings as appearing "few and far between." T h e posthumous homage so paid to O'Connell by those to w h o m he was an object of true hero-worship, can find no parallel in the annals of Victoria.
