Penny Dreadfuls, 1812 · page 225 of 258
Psyche, and other poems — page 225: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 207: Running Prose from a Victorian Penny Dreadful This is a page of running verse narrative (page 207) from what appears to be a serialized melodramatic tale. The text depicts a dialogue about an orphan boy named Byrne of Carrickmure, whose father was murdered. A stranger assumes the father was a "deluded rebel youth," but an elderly man (identified as "Ellen's aged sire") passionately denies this, insisting the father did not die in "Tarah's fight" nor shed blood at the Curragh—locations that suggest Irish historical conflict. The verse emphasizes the boy's tragic circumstances and the father's innocence of rebellion.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
207 - And is there none to guard the child, Save that lone frenzied widow’s hand? These rocky heights, these steep woods wild, Sure some more watchful eye demand.” ‘¢ Ah, well he knows each rock, each wood, The mountain goat not more secure; And he was born to hardships rude, The orphan Byrne of Carrickmure. _ © That boy had seen his father’s blood, Had heard his murdered father’s groan ; And never more in playful mood With smiles his infant beauty shone.” Sad was the pitying stranger’s eye: “Too well,” said he, “I guess the truth ; His father, sure, was doomed to die, Some poor deluded rebel youth.” ‘No rebel he,” with eye inflamed, And cheek that glowed with transient fire, Roused to a sudden warmth, exclaimed The hapless Ellen’s aged sire. | “He did not fall in Tarah’s fight, No blood of his the Curragh stains, Where many a ghost that moans by night Of foully broken faith complains. T 7 Connicloooks.comnn