young people of the company's acquaintance. These themes are worked out according to a simple formula, the singers in turn contributing a verse. To give space for a moment's reflection, between each verse of real matter, a nonsense verse of Gaelic syllables, like the "Down derry down" of old English ballads or the "Fal lal la " of the madrigal, is introduced. In this simple way the gossip of a neighborhood is turned into song. The keener the wits of the singers, the sprightlier will be the song. O'Curry noted down a couple of typical examples. But it must be borne in mind that the words in either case are only casual; the formula alone is permanent. The essence of the spinning song lies in its impromptu character.

In O'Curry's first example one of the company begins by singing the refrain:

Mallo lero is im bo nero

which is nothing more than a metrical group of syllables, like the "Hey nonino" of Shakespeare. Another girl starts the song proper with some such statement as:

I traversed the wood when day was breaking.

The refrain is again heard, being sung twice, to end the first verse and begin the second. Then a companion darts a shaft of insinuation:

For John O'Carroll you wandered so early.

The merry controversy will last as long as the girls

have the fancy and mischief to carry on the fence of repartee. Of course, the first singer will none of O'Carroll. Her mate knew as much and threw out the name in pure wantonness. She is not disap

pointed in her expectation of a breezy answer:

With gads begirt let him plow through Erinn.

Another girl joins in with:

You mannerless girl, he's your match for a husband.

But a match is just what he is not, as the first singer's disavowal shows:

I care not. Leave off. Get me my true love.

So they suggest another name:

Thomas O'Maddigan take and be blessed with.

Thomas is more to the lady's taste:

I take and hail and may I well wear my husband,

she exclaims, and the girl who has teased her adds, so that there may be no hard feeling:

To the East or the West may you never be parted.

Now another girl invites the malicious lightning with the challenge:

Go Westward: go Eastward and find me my true love.

She does not ask in vain:

Donnell O'Flaherty take and be blessed with,

says a saucy gossip. But Donnell is already bespoken and the girl addressed well knows it:

It's Joan O'Kelly that would strike me in the face.

But the tease is not silenced:

If the man is worth it, don't let her take him.

But the first girl is a philosopher. She rejoins: There is no tree in the wood that I could not find its equal.

Obviously the war of wits may go until all the girls present have been at the firing line and all the young men who happen to be present have been prodded with the goad of satire.

Providing for a young couple is another formula frequently employed in spinning songs. The name of some girl is first broached as a candidate for marriage. If the leader does not approve of the selection, she says:

Who is the young man that is struck with misfortune?

and another choice is made. As in the first example, the song begins with a refrain:

Oro, thou fair loved one, and ioro, thou fair dear one,

which begins and, slightly modified, ends every verse, to give the participants the time to think of an apt and rhythmic line. The name of the lady determined

upon and her lover chosen, the singers offer suggestions for the furnishing of the home, what cheer there shall be, and the kind of company that will be found there. Sometimes an individual singer, with a ready imagination and the knack of thinking in meter, will run on with a dozen suggestions, repeating the middle part of the melody-which divides naturally into three parts-ending at last with the concluding part of the melody. In order that the manner of singing may be clearly understood, the song is given in its entirety, refrain and all:

Oro, thou fair loved one, and ioro, thou fair dear one,
Who's the young woman that's to be married this Shrovetide?
Oro, thou fair loved one, thou lamb and thou love.

Oro, thou fair loved one, and ioro, thou fair dear one,
Mary O'Cleary, according as I understand.

Oro, thou fair loved one, thou lamb and thou love.

Oro, thou fair loved one, and ioro, thou fair dear one,
Who is the young man that is struck at so luckily?
Oro, thou fair loved one, thou lamb and thou love.

Oro, thou fair loved one, and ioro, thou fair dear one,
John O'Kennedy, according as I understand.

Oro, thou fair loved one, thou lamb and thou love.

Oro, thou fair loved one, and ioro, thou fair dear one,
What nuptial suit shall be found for the couple?
Oro, thou fair loved one, thou lamb and thou love.

Oro, thou fair loved one, and ioro, thou fair dear one,
A twelve hundred tick with white feathers filled;
White linen sheets and white blankets abundant;

A quilt of fine silk, the dearest in Limerick;

Candlesticks of gold upon tables a glistening;
Good gold and silver in their pockets a jingling;
A plentiful board and a cheerful gay company;
And I fervently pray that they gain the victory;
Oro, thou fair loved one, thou lamb and thou love.

Here is a good example of the spinning-song melody. Its simplicity is typical; for here music is the medium of story and repartee and there can be no departure from square-cut regularity of form. Daintily miniature though the air is, the singers. themselves are not more characteristically Irish.

Ex. 26. Spinning Song.

1st Voice.

6

8

2nd Voice.

It would be a sad omission to pass on from this branch of our theme without making some reference to the part played by the spinning wheel in Irish poetry. The maiden at the spinning wheel is part of the tradition of the race. Poets have sung her;