And each abode is In their straw-built sty. 'Tis there the turf is, And lots of Murphies,* Dead sprats and herrings, And oyster-shells; Nor any lack, oh! Of good tobacco, Though what is smuggled There are ships from Cadiz, And from Barbadoes, But the leading trade is In whisky-punch; And you may go in Where one Molly Bowen Keeps a nate hotel For a quiet lunch. But land or deck on, You may safely reckon, Whatsoever country You come hither from, On an invitation To a jollification With a parish priest, That's called "Father Tom."t * A popular name for potatoes. + The reverend concoctor of this song, who would palm it upon Barry the painter, observes, on the mention of "Father Tom,"— Of ships there's one fixt The hake and salmon, Swim for divarsion All round this hulk; There "Saxon" jailors Who soon with sailors Must anchor weigh. From th' em'rald island, Ne'er to see dry land, Until they spy land In sweet Bot'ny Bay. THE FAIR MAID OF PASSAGE. From a manuscript in the autograph of the late Mr. Millikin. The Editor has received a copy of this song from Mr. Edward Quin, between which and the version "This cannot possibly refer (without a flagrant anachronism) to the present incumbent, the Rev. Thomas England, P.P., known to the literary world by a life of the celebrated friar, Arthur O'Leary, chaplain to a club which Curran, Yelverton, Earls Moira, Charlemont, &c. &c., established in 1780, under the designation of 'the monks of the screw.' * See page 146. now given, the only material variation occurs in the first lines. According to Mr. Quin, they are "My dear Molly Mogg, In a note (1838) he adds, "I assure you, from my own recollection, the song is known in my family upwards of thirty-five years. I have no doubt that it originated in Cork, though I do not know its author." So nimble, so frisky, One kiss from her cheek, 'Tis so soft and so sleek, That 'twould warm me like whisky. So I sobs and I pine, And I grunts like a swine, No rest can I take, All asleep or awake, Your hate, then, give over, Or, faith, Dermuid must die, Like a pig in a stye, Or the snuff of a candle. THE ENTRENCHMENT OF ROSS. The ballad on the entrenchment of New Ross, in 1265, which is here given as a specimen of ancient local song, was first printed in the "Archæologia," vol. xxii., having been communicated to the Society of Antiquaries in 1829 by Sir Frederic Madden, with the following introductory observations: 66 Among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, is preserved a highly curious volume, written at the commencement of the fourteenth century, containing a miscellaneous collection of pieces in verse and prose, appa rently the production of an Irish ecclesiastic, and chiefly of a satirical description. Most of these pieces are in English or Latin; and there is great reason to conclude that they are from the pen of Friar Michael Kyldare,* who is expressly named as the author of a ballad, fol. 10, and who is erroneously assigned by Ritson, in his 'Bibliographia Poetica,' to the fifteenth, instead of the beginning of the preceding century. But towards the close of this MS. (which, from the folios having been strangely misplaced, is very difficult to follow in the order of contents), occurs an extremely interesting poem, written in the ancient or Norman-French language, contributing in a remarkable degree to throw illustration on the early topography and history of the town of New Ross in Ireland. "The poem in question is thus described in the Harleian Catalogue, No. 913, Art. 43,—‹ Rithmus facture ville de Rosse, being a French poem upon the quarrel which happened there, between Sir Morice . . . . and Sir Wauter . . . . a.d. 1265.' This is not a very accurate description, since the object of the writer (who was an eye-witness, and therefore of undoubted authority) was not to relate a quarrel between two anonymous knights, but to give a detailed and highly interesting narrative of the erection of the walls and fortifications of the town of Ross; occasioned by the dread felt by the inhabitants, lest the unprotected and open situation of the place might cause * In Bishop Tanner's "Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica" (a dictionary of all the English and Irish authors previous to the seventeenth century) this article occurs. "Kildare [Michael] monachus vel frater Mendicans, scripsit Anglice carmen pium. Pr. 'Sweet Jesu hend and fre.' M. S. Norwic. More, 784."-ED. |