Verses on Various Occasions
John Henry Newman

Contents
Background
Dedication
Title Page

Revised July, 2002.
Contributions of Paul Zadik are gratefully acknowledged—NR.

Works | Home


Contents

{ix} Title Page
    1. Solitude      3.
    2. My Birthday      5.
    3. Paraphrase of Isaiah, ch. lxiv      9.
    4. To F. W. N. on his Birthday    12.
    5. Nature and Art    16.
    6. Introduction to an Album    20.
    7. Snapdragon    21.
    8. The Trance of Time    24.
    9. Consolations in Bereavement    26.
  10. A Picture    29.
  11. My Lady Nature and her Daughters    33.
  12. Opusculum    38.
  13.  A Voice from afar    40.
  14. The Hidden Ones    42.
  15. A Thanksgiving    45.
  16. Monks    48.
  17. Epiphany-Eve    52.
  18. The Winter Flower    56.
  19. Kind Remembrances    57.
  20. Seeds in the Air    59.
{x}
  21. The Pilgrim    61.
  22. Home    62.
  23. The Brand of Cain    63.
  24. Zeal and Love    64.
  25. Persecution    65.
  26. Zeal and Purity    67.
  27. The Gift of Perseverance    68.
  28. The Sign of the Cross    69.
  29. Bondage    70.
  30. The Scars of Sin    72.
  31. Angelic Guidance    73.
  32. Substance and Shadow    74.
  33. Wanderings    75.
  34. The Saint and the Hero    77.
  35. Private Judgment    78.
  36. The Watchman    80.
  37. The Isles of the Sirens    82.
  38. Absolution    83.
  39. Memory    85.
  40. The Haven    86.
  41. A Word in Season    87.
  42. Fair Words    88.
  43. England    89.
  44. Moses    91.
  45. The Patient Church    92.
  46. Jeremiah    94.
  47. Penance    95.
  48. The Course of Truth    96.
  49. Christmas without Christ    98.
{xi}
  50. Sleeplessness  100.
  51. Abraham  101.
  52. The Greek Fathers  102.
  53. The Witness  104.
  54. The Death of Moses  106.
  55. Melchizedek  108.
  56. Corcyra  109.
  57. Transfiguration  110.
  58. Behind the Veil  111.
  59. Judgment  112.
  60. Sensitiveness  113.
  61. David and Jonathan  115.
  62. Humiliation  117.
  63. The Call of David  118.
  64. A Blight  121.
  65. Joseph  122.
  66. Superstition  123.
  67. Isaac  124.
  68. Reverses  125.
  69. Hope  127.
  70. St. Paul at Melita  128.
  71. Messina  129.
  72. Warnings  130.
  73. Dreams  131.
  74. Temptation  132.
  75. Our Future  133.
  76. Heathenism  134.
  77. Taormini  135.
  78. Sympathy  136.
{xii}
  79. Relics of Saints  138.
  80. Day-Labourers  139.
  81. Warfare  141.
  82. Sacrilege  143.
  83. Liberalism  144.
  84. Declension  146.
  85. The Age to Come  148.
  86. External Religion  149.
  87. St. Gregory Nazianzen  151.
  88. The Good Samaritan  153.
  89. Reverence  155.
  90. The Pillar of the Cloud [Lead, Kindly Light]  156.
  91. Samaria  158.
  92. Jonah  159.
  93. Faith against Sight  161.
  94. Desolation  162.
  95. Zeal and Patience  164.
  96. The Religion of Cain  166.
  97. St. Paul  168.
  98. Flowers without Fruit  169.
  99. Zeal and Meekness  170.
100.  Vexations  171.
101. The Church in Prayer  173.
102. The Wrath to Come  175.
103. Pusillanimity  176.
104. James and John  177.
105. Hora Novissima  179.
106. Progress of Unbelief  181.
107. Consolation  182.
{xiii}
108. Uzzah and Obed-Edom  184.
109. The Gift of Tongues  185.
110. The Power of Prayer  186.
111. Semita Justorum  187.
112. The Elements  188.
113. Apostasy  190.
114. Judaism  192.
115. Separation of Friends  195.
116. The Priestly Office  197.
117. Morning  198.
118. Evening  199.
119. A Hermitage  200.
120. The Married and the Single  202.
121. Intercession of the Saints  208.
122. Waiting for the Morning  210.
123. Hymn for Matins, Sunday  212.
124. Hymn for Matins, ditto  214.
125. Hymn for Matins, Monday  215.
126. Hymn for Matins, Tuesday  217.
127. Hymn for Matins, Wednesday  218.
128. Hymn for Matins, Thursday  220.
129. Hymn for Matins, Friday  222.
130. Hymn for Matins, Saturday  224.
131. Hymn for Lauds, Sunday  226.
132. Hymn for Lauds, ditto  229.
133. Hymn for Lauds, Monday  230.
134. Hymn for Lauds, Tuesday  233.
135. Hymn for Lauds, Wednesday  235.
136. Hymn for Lauds, Thursday  237.
{xiv}
137. Hymn for Lauds, Friday  239.
138. Hymn for Lauds, Saturday  241.
139. Hymn for Prime  243.
140. Hymn for Terce  245.
141. Hymn for Sext  246.
142. Hymn for None  247.
143. Hymn for Vespers, Sunday  248.
144. Hymn for Vespers, Monday  250.
145. Hymn for Vespers, Tuesday  252.
146. Hymn for Vespers, Wednesday  254.
147. Hymn for Vespers, Thursday  256.
148. Hymn for Vespers, Friday  258.
149. Hymn for Vespers, Saturday  260.
150. Hymn for Compline  261.
151. Hymn for First Vespers, Advent  262.
152. Hymn for Matins, ditto  264.
153. Hymn for Lauds, ditto  266.
154. Hymn for Matins, Transfiguration  268.
155. Hymn for Lauds, ditto  270.
156. Hymn for a Martyr  272.
157. Hymn for a Confessor Bishop  274.
158. Ethelwald  276.
159. Candlemas  279.
160. The Pilgrim Queen  281.
161. The Month of Mary  284.
162. The Queen of Seasons  287.
163. Valentine to a Little Girl  290.
164. St. Philip Neri in his Mission  293.
165. St. Philip in himself  296.
{xv}
166. St. Philip in his God  298.
167. Guardian Angel  300.
168. The Golden Prison  303.
169. Heathen Greece  305.
170. A Martyr Convert  307.
171. St. Philip in his School  310.
172. St. Philip in his Disciples  312.
173. For the Dead  315.
174. To Edward Caswall  317.
175. The Two Worlds  319.
176. St. Michael  321.
177. The Dream of Gerontius
    Firmly I believe ...
    Praise to the Holiest ...
 323.


Appendix I.

1. Ad Vesperas  371.
2. Ad Laudes  373.


Appendix II.

1. Prologus in Phormionem  375.
Translation of the above  377.
2. Prologus in Pinceram  379.
3. Prologus in Andriam  381.

Index of first lines (under Guides)
Index of Titles (under Guides)

Top | Works | Home


Background

    Dublin Review, April 1868

Top | Works | Home


Dedication

TO EDWARD BADELEY, ESQ.

MY DEAR BADELEY,
{v} I have not been without apprehension lest in dedicating to you a number of poetical compositions, I should hardly be making a suitable offering to a member of a grave profession, which is especially employed in rubbing off the gloss with which imagination and sentiment invest matters of everyday life, and in reducing statements of fact to their legitimate dimensions. And, besides this, misgivings have not unnaturally come over me on the previous question; viz., whether, after all, the contents of the volume are of sufficient importance to make it an acceptable offering to any friend whatever.

And I must frankly confess, as to the latter difficulty, that certainly it never would have occurred to me thus formally to bring together {vi} under one title effusions which I have ever considered ephemeral, had I not lately found from publications of the day, what I never suspected before, that there are critics, and they strangers to me, who think well both of some of my compositions and of my power of composing. It is this commendation, bestowed on me to my surprise as well as to my gratification, which has encouraged me just now to republish what I have from time to time written; and if, in doing so, I shall be found, as is not unlikely, to have formed a volume of unequal merit, my excuse must be, that I despair of discovering any standard by which to discriminate aright between one poetical attempt and another. Accordingly, I am thrown, from the nature of the case, whether I will or no, upon my own judgment, which, biassed by the associations of memory and by personal feelings, and measuring, perhaps, by the pleasure of verse-making, the worth of the verse, is disposed either to preserve them all, or to put them all aside.

Here another contrast presents itself between the poetical art and the science of law. Your profession has its definitive authorities, its prescriptions, {vii} its precedents, and its principles, by which to determine the claim of its authors on public attention; but what philosopher will undertake to rule matters of taste, or to bring under one idea or method works so different from each other as those of Homer, Ęschylus, and Pindar; of Terence, Ovid, Juvenal, and Martial? What court is sitting, and what code is received, for the satisfactory determination of the poetical pretensions of writers of the day? Whence can we hope to gain a verdict upon them, except from the unscientific tribunals of Public Opinion and of Time? In Poetry, as in Metaphysics, a book is of necessity a venture.

And now, coming to the suitableness of my offering, I know well, my dear Badeley, how little you will be disposed to criticize what comes to you from me, whatever be its intrinsic value. Less still in this case, considering that a chief portion of the volume grew out of that Religious Movement which you yourself, as well as I, so faithfully followed from first to last. And least of all, when I tell you that I wish it to be the poor expression, long-delayed, of my gratitude, never {viii} intermitted, for the great services which you rendered to me years ago, by your legal skill and affectionate zeal, in a serious matter in which I found myself in collision with the law of the land. Those services I have ever desired in some public, however inadequate, way to record; and now, as time hurries on and opportunities are few, I am forced to ask you to let me acknowledge my debt to you as I can, since I cannot as I would [See Ward's Life of Cardinal Newman, chapter 10NR.].

We are now, both of us, in the decline of life: may that warm attachment which has lasted between us inviolate for so many years, be continued, by the mercy of God, to the end of our earthly course, and beyond it!

I am, my dear Badeley,
Affectionately yours,
J. H. N.

THE ORATORY,
December 21, 1867.

Top | Works | Home


Title Page

VERSES

ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS

 BY

JOHN HENRY CARDINAL NEWMAN

                          "cui pauca relicti
Jugera ruris erant; nec fertilis illa juvencis
Nec pecori opportuna seges, nec commoda Baccho..
Hic rarum tamen in dumis olus, albaque circum
Lilia, verbenasque premens, vescumque papaver,
Regum ęquabat opes animis."

 

NEW IMPRESSION

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK AND BOMBAY

1903

All rights reserved

Top | Works | Home


Newman Reader — Works of John Henry Newman
Copyright © 2007 by The National Institute for Newman Studies. All rights reserved.