From the "Helleniad" (1850) by George McHenry
George McHenry was President of the Philadelphia Board of Trade, Southern sympathizer, florid poet, and delegate
to the 1860 Democratic convention who went to England and arranged for shipments to go through the Union
blockade. His book The Position and Duty of Pennsylvania makes reference to "this atrocious war upon the south"
and quotes Wirts Life of Patrick Henry "If this be treason, make the most of it". His positions were repudiated and
controversial even in his own time.
Before the Civil War, he owned the property in Darby he called Woodbourne.(Little Flower, aka Scott Estate), which
was taken in 1862. He also wrote epic poetry including "The Helleniad, an Epic Poem Founded on the Events
Connected with the Successive Invasion of Ancient Greece by the Persians"
After the war, he evidently returned to Pennsylvania because he is buried at St. James Church Kingsessing in
Philadelphia . There is a volume of Poetry published by George Mac-Henry in 1871 called Time and Eternity
which may also be his work. He died in 1880
to the 1860 Democratic convention who went to England and arranged for shipments to go through the Union
blockade. His book The Position and Duty of Pennsylvania makes reference to "this atrocious war upon the south"
and quotes Wirts Life of Patrick Henry "If this be treason, make the most of it". His positions were repudiated and
controversial even in his own time.
Before the Civil War, he owned the property in Darby he called Woodbourne.(Little Flower, aka Scott Estate), which
was taken in 1862. He also wrote epic poetry including "The Helleniad, an Epic Poem Founded on the Events
Connected with the Successive Invasion of Ancient Greece by the Persians"
After the war, he evidently returned to Pennsylvania because he is buried at St. James Church Kingsessing in
Philadelphia . There is a volume of Poetry published by George Mac-Henry in 1871 called Time and Eternity
which may also be his work. He died in 1880
(1) peristrephic Turning around; rotatory; revolving.
ie: a peristrephic painting of a panorama)
(2) Brugmansia A type of flower
ie: a peristrephic painting of a panorama)
(2) Brugmansia A type of flower
When man was savage, if the thunder growled
He hid his face in dust, and thought the fire
An angry god, who for a victim howled,
And sacrificed his first-born on the pyre;
For ignorance of cruelty is sire.
Then slave of all the elements; but now
Become their master, they at his desire
Serve his best needs, and to his orders bow,
And Hermes' peristrephic (1) rod on him bestow.
XLIV.
For knowledge he has gained, and knowledge is
Not only power, but virtue, love, and joy;
And. perfect science is but perfect bliss,
Since God is wisdom. Till his mental eye
Be oped, man is a child of misery;
A pupil at great Nature's normal school,
The heart but acts just as 'the soul doth see ;
If unenlightened, he's a knave or fool !
But if the vision's clear, he's good and beautiful !
XLV.
A league of friendship binds the beasts : the Lord
Will break the murderous gun, and shaft, and bow
To plowshares beaten is the rusty sword,
Nor fears the timid brute his ravenous foe;
The grizzly bear shall feed beside the cow,
No more the wolf the gentle lambkin slay,
The leopard round the kid shall but and bow,
And a boy with a string of flowers in play
The calf and lion yoked together lead away.
VII.
The winds had bid "good night," and gone to sleep,
And all was hushed, except the drowsy hum
Of some swinkt thrifty bees, that in the deep
Brugmansia's bells (2) the floury pollen scum,
The last load of their honeyed harvest home;
And now they're silent. Past the Kedron's rill,
Where the gilt pinnacles of the Temple loom,
A glimpse of white-frocked boys the altars fill
With guirlandes, and the lamps light round Moriah's Hill.
He hid his face in dust, and thought the fire
An angry god, who for a victim howled,
And sacrificed his first-born on the pyre;
For ignorance of cruelty is sire.
Then slave of all the elements; but now
Become their master, they at his desire
Serve his best needs, and to his orders bow,
And Hermes' peristrephic (1) rod on him bestow.
XLIV.
For knowledge he has gained, and knowledge is
Not only power, but virtue, love, and joy;
And. perfect science is but perfect bliss,
Since God is wisdom. Till his mental eye
Be oped, man is a child of misery;
A pupil at great Nature's normal school,
The heart but acts just as 'the soul doth see ;
If unenlightened, he's a knave or fool !
But if the vision's clear, he's good and beautiful !
XLV.
A league of friendship binds the beasts : the Lord
Will break the murderous gun, and shaft, and bow
To plowshares beaten is the rusty sword,
Nor fears the timid brute his ravenous foe;
The grizzly bear shall feed beside the cow,
No more the wolf the gentle lambkin slay,
The leopard round the kid shall but and bow,
And a boy with a string of flowers in play
The calf and lion yoked together lead away.
VII.
The winds had bid "good night," and gone to sleep,
And all was hushed, except the drowsy hum
Of some swinkt thrifty bees, that in the deep
Brugmansia's bells (2) the floury pollen scum,
The last load of their honeyed harvest home;
And now they're silent. Past the Kedron's rill,
Where the gilt pinnacles of the Temple loom,
A glimpse of white-frocked boys the altars fill
With guirlandes, and the lamps light round Moriah's Hill.
From Time and Eternity