Excerpt from The Poems of Richard D'alton Williams: Shamrock of the Nation There is a sense in which biographical detail gives light to criticism yet, although it might be interesting to trace the influence of pedigree on his poetry, still for the purpose of this narrative it is suflicient to state that Williams was born in Dublin on the 8th of October, 1822. It was, however, in Grenanstown, a romantic spot, meet nurse for a poetic child, at the foot of the Tipperary mountains, that his child hood and early youth were passed. Here, although he never knew a father's love, a mother's tender care watched over him, and he in turn loved her deeply. She it was who instilled into his young mind those excellent principles of goodness and truth, and that solid piety, the soul's securest guard, for which he was so remarkable all through life. He was first sent to the J osuit School of St. Stanislalis, at Tullabeg, where, he tells as, he was sufficiently acquainted with the ferula of the then prefect, Father Meagher, uncle of Thomas Francis Meagher. Here his master was the Rev. Dr. Taylor, a very distinguished professor, who subsequently became Parish Priest of Maryborough, where he died in 1876. Having completed his preparatory course, Williams Passed to St. Patrick's College, Carlow, which 59 enteredin 1839, at which time the Very Rev. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.