Part 15

"Before the sun rose at yesterdawn." Original in Walsh's _Irish Popular Songs_, 2nd ed. (Gill & Son, Dublin), p. 146. Edward Walsh, who translated into English verse a great number of Irish popular songs, lived between the years 1805-50.

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"The Blackthorn." One of those favourite old songs of which there are many versions, and verses in one that are not in another. Like many another Irish song, it seems to be a colloquy between a maid and her lover, and it is often difficult to tell if it is the lad or the girl who is speaking. My version is the one printed in Miss Borthwick's _Ceól Sidhe_, ii. p. 18 (an excellent collection of old Irish songs), with two verses added from the version in Dr. D. Hyde's _Love-Songs of Connacht_ (T. Fisher Unwin, 1893), p. 30. The poem is sad and troubled. Dr. Hyde says, "There was an old woman in it, long ago, who used to sing it to me, and she never came to the verse--

'Although the rowen-berry tree is high, &c.,'

that she used not to shed tears from her eye." We can well believe it. Hardiman (i. p. 234) has published a different version, and Miss Brooke another in her _Reliques_ (1816), p. 306.

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"Pastheen Finn," or "Fair little Child." Original in Hardiman's _Irish Minstrelsy_, i. p. 217. Dr. Hyde gives a quite different version in his _Love-Songs_, p. 65. We find the _curfa_ or chorus attached to different songs. Sir Samuel Ferguson's version will be found in his _Lays of the Western Gael_ (Sealy, Bryers, Dublin, 1888), p. 152. Hardiman considers that it is an address to the son of James II, under a secret name.

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"She." Original in Miss Brooke's _Reliques of Irish Poetry_, p. 232.

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"Hopeless Love." Given as an example of an old Irish metre called _Dibide baise fri toin_, but this poem was not actually written in this metre.

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"Would God I were." Original in Hardiman, i. p. 344. Mrs. Hinkson's setting of the Irish words will be found in her _Irish Love-Songs_ (T. Fisher Unwin, Cameo Series, 1892).

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"Branch of the sweet and early rose." William Drennan, M.D. (_b._ 1754), died in Belfast in 1820.

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"'Tis a Pity." Original in _Cláirseach na n-Gaedhil_, Part ii., 1902 (Gaelic League Publications). _Ceól-sídhe_ (p. 92) gives a different version. There are several other verses.

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"The Yellow Bittern" (_An bunán buidhe_). Original in _Cláirseach na n-Gaedhil_, Part v., and _Ceól-sídhe_, p. 12. This translation appeared in the _Irish Review_, Dublin, November 1911.

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"Have you been at Carrack?" Original in Mangan's _Poets and Poetry of Munster_ (J. Duffy), p. 344. Walsh thinks it is a song from the South of Ireland.

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"Cashel of Munster." There are various versions of this popular song, set to its air "Clár bog déil." One used by Walsh was, he tells us, given to him by a lady of Co. Clare. Ferguson's version is taken from Hardiman, i. p. 238.

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"The Snowy-breasted Pearl." Original in Petrie's _Ancient Music of Ireland_, p. 11. Petrie was born in Dublin in 1789 and died in 1866.

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"The Dark Maid of the Valley" (_Bean dubh an Gleanna_). There are two versions and airs of this name. The original of Mr. P. J. McCall's poem is to be found in Miss Brooke's _Reliques_, p. 319. His own rendering was published in his _Irish Nóinins_ (Sealy, Bryers & Walker, 1894), p. 59.

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"The Coolun." Original in Hardiman, i. p. 250. Two other versions will be found in Dr. Hyde's _Love-Songs of Connacht_ (1893), pp. 71-3. One of these beginning, "A honey mist on a day of frost, in a dark oak wood" is very tender and sweet. Its air is among the most beautiful that Ireland has produced. The "Coolun" was a lock of hair which, having been forbidden by statute, it became a mark of national sentiment to adopt. It was usually worn by youths, but in these poems the address is to a woman.

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"Ceann dubh dileas," or the "Beloved Dark Head." Original in Hardiman, i. p. 262. Dr. Hyde gives an additional verse in his _Love-Songs_. Burns claimed the air for Scotland, and Corri published it under the name of "Oran Gaoil," but it is undoubtedly Irish.

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"Ringleted Youth of my Love." From Dr. Hyde's _Love-Songs of Connacht_ (T. Fisher Unwin, 1893), p. 40.

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"I shall not die for you." Original, _ibid._. p. 138.

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"Donall Oge." This pathetic song and the one following it, "The Grief of a Girl's Heart," seem to be portions of one long song, to the original nucleus of which quatrains have been added from time to time. Six stanzas were published by Dr. Hyde in his _Love-Songs_ (pp. 4-6) under the title, "If I were to go West"; it would seem that his "Breed Astore" (p. 76) may also be a portion of the same poem. Mr. P. H. Pearse, who published several other stanzas under the title of "Donall Oge," or "Young Donall," in the _Irish Review_ of August 1911, tells us that he wrote it down from the words of Denis Dorgan of Carrignavar, Co. Cork. The Irish will be found printed in his and Mr. Tadhg O'Donoghue's _An t-Aithriseóir_ (Gaelic League, 1902), p. 7. In all these versions there are some stanzas alike and some different to the others. We have printed nearly the whole of them here under the two titles of "Donall Oge" and "The Grief of a Girl's Heart." Both are full of the most heartrending expression of loss and loneliness. Lady Gregory, in her _Poets and Dreamers_, published a literal translation of the latter poem.

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"Death the Comrade." Original in Dr. Hyde's _Religious Songs_, ii. pp. 288-90.

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"Muirneen of the Fair Hair." Original in Dr. Hyde's _Love-Songs_, pp. 10-12. _Cf._ another Munster version on p. 16, and one given by Hardiman, i. p. 354.

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"The Red Man's Wife." A popular theme on which there are many variations. We give two, the originals of both being taken from Dr. Hyde's _Love-Songs_, pp. 92 and 94. The first is a Galway version, the second from Co. Meath. The latter was first printed in the _Oban Times_. Yet another version is given in Dr. Hyde's edition of _Raftery's Poems_, p. 210.

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"My Grief on the Sea." Original in Dr. Hyde's _Love-Songs_. It was taken down by him from an old woman named Biddy Cusruaidh or Crummy, living in the midst of a bog in Co. Roscommon.

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"Oró Mhór, a Mhóirín." Original in Petrie's _Ancient Music of Ireland_, p. 120. It was obtained by him from Teigue MacMahon, a peasant of Co. Clare. Mr. P. J. McCall's poem was printed in his _Pulse of the Bards_ (Gill & Son, 1904), p. 50. * * * * *

"The Little Yellow Road." Original taken down by Prof. John MacNeill in Co. Mayo in July 1894, and printed by him in the _Gaelic Journal_ for that year (vol. v., No. 6), p. 91. There are several versions of _An Bóithrín buidhe_; see for another, Petrie's _Ancient Music_, p. 24. Mr. Campbell's translation, kindly contributed to this collection, has not been published before.

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"Reproach to the Pipe" (_Másladh an Phíopa_). The original, taken down in Galway, will be found in the _Gaelic Journal_ (vol. vi., No. 5), p. 73.

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"Modereen Rue." Mrs. Tynan-Hinkson's poem is not a direct translation, but a spirited free version of the favourite Gaelic song of this name; it was published in _The Wind in the Trees_ (Grant Richards, 1898), p. 98.

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"The Stars Stand Up" (_Táid na realta 'n-a seasadh ar an aer_). Original in _Ceól-sídhe_, Part iv., p. 50, among other places. I have altered the last four lines.

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"The Love Smart." Original in Dr. Hyde's _Love-Songs_, p. 22.

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"Well for Thee." Original, _ibid._, p. 130.

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"I am Raftery the Poet." From Dr. Hyde's edition of _Raftery's Poems_ (H. M. Gill & Son, Dublin, 1903), p. 40.

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"Dust hath closed Helen's eye." Original, _ibid._, p. 330. Mr. W. B. Yeats has slightly worked over Lady Gregory's rendering. Mary Hynes, who "died of fever before the famine," has left a tradition of beauty behind her in her own country. "She was the finest thing that was ever shaped," said an old fiddler who remembered her well. Baoile laoi (Ballylee) is a little village of some half-dozen houses in the barony of Kiltartan. Lady Gregory's beautiful rendering was published in an article by Mr. W. B. Yeats in _The Dome_, New Series, vol. iv. p. 161.

"The Shining Posy" or "Mary Stanton," _ibid._, p. 320. We must remember that poor Raftery, who praises so warmly the beauty of women, saw them only with the eyes of his imagination, for he was blind. His verses seem to have been impromptu compositions. The classical allusions are very characteristic of the wandering bards, who liked to show off their acquaintance with the heroes of bygone ages.

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"Love is a Mortal Disease" (_Is claoidhte an galar an grádh_). Original in _Smoílín na Rann_, a collection of Connaught songs made by Mr. Fionan McCollum, "Finghin na Leamhna" (Gaelic League, 1908).

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"I am watching my young calves sucking." This and the two following poems, "The Narrow Road" and "Forsaken," are translated from Dr. Douglas Hyde's little collection of original Irish songs called _Ubhla de'n Chraoibh_, or _Apples of the Bough_ (Gill & Son, Dublin).

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"I Follow a Star." Translated by Seosamh mac Cathmhaoil (James Campbell) from his own Irish poem, and published by him in _The Gilly of Christ_ (Maunsell & Co., Dublin).

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"Nurse's Song." Published by Mr. Alfred M. Williams in his _The Poets and Poetry of Ireland_ (Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York). The song is traditional, and its author is unknown.

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"A Sleep Song." Original in _Gaelic Journal_, May 1911, p. 141. The song was partly taken down from Mr. McAuley Lynch in West Cork, and partly recollected from childhood by Mr. P. H. Pearse, the translator.

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"The Cradle of Gold." From Mr. Alfred P. Graves' _Irish Poems_, ii. p. 117 (Maunsel & Co.). Original in Petrie's _Ancient Music of Ireland_, p. 146. "Rural Song." Original in Petrie's _Ancient Music of Ireland_, p. 43. Joyce's _Irish Music_ gives some extra stanzas.

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"Ploughing Song." Original, _ibid._, p. 30.

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"A Spinning-wheel Ditty." _Ibid._, p. 85.

THE END

Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. at Paul's Work, Edinburgh

Transcriber's notes:

Inconsistent use of accents across text, titles and poems in the original has been retained.