THE NATIVE MUSIC OF IRELAND.

JULY.

No. XXI.

To this air from our own Miscellaneous Collection, nj mealfar me’aris, "I will not be deceived again," we have put the following beautiful lines by our countryman, J. J. Callanan, which might have been written for it.

AND MUST WE PART?

And must we part? then fare thee well!

But he that wails it-he can tell

How dear thou wert, how dear thou art,

And ever must be, to this heart;

But now 'tis vain,-it cannot be;

Farewell! and think no more on me.

Oh! yes this heart would sooner break,
Than one unholy thought awake;

I'd sooner slumber into clay

Than cloud thy spirit's beauteous ray;
Go, free as air-as angel free,

And, lady, think no more on me.

Oh! did we meet when brighter star

Sent its fair promise from afar,

I then might hope to call thee mine;

The minstrel's heart and harp were thine;
But now 'tis past-it cannot be;
Farewell! and think no more on me.

Or do but let it be the hour
When Mercy's all-atoning power
From His high throne of glory hears
Of souls like thine, the prayers, the tears;
Then, whilst you bend the suppliant knee,
Then-then, oh Lady! think on me.

No. XXII.

In the 14th volume of Sir Walter Scott's edition of Swift's works, p. 141, that celebrated man thus introduces

"THE DESCRIPTION OF AN IRISH FEAST."

"O'Rourke, a powerful chieftain of Ulster in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was induced to make a visit to the court of that sovereign; and, in order to take leave of his neighbours with becoming splendour, he assembled them in the great hall of his castle, which was situated in the county of Leitrim, and still exists as a ruin. He entertained his numerous guests with such a profusion of the rude hospitality of the period, that the memory of his feast long survived in tradition; the longer perhaps on account of the tragical fate of O'Rourke himself, who was put to death in England. Hugh Mac

k

The

Guaran, Esq. of Leitrim, a cotemporary of the celebrated Carolan, composed, upon this traditionary foundation, the celebrated song of Plearaca na Ruarcach. fame of the ditty having reached Dean Swift, he was supplied, at his own request, with a literal version, from which he executed the following very spirited translation. It was afterwards translated by Mr. Charles Wilson, who published Irish poems in 1782, from whose scarce and forgotten, though very curious collection, I have transferred the original Irish words, for the benefit of the curious in Hibernian antiquities." At the present moment we cannot undertake to do more than to edit the Irish of this fine song with a strictly literal translation, and with the poetical versions as given by Sir Walter.

The reader will perceive that the original is in four stanzas, each divided into six quatrains, as Carolan's air requires. Dean Swift, it would seem, was furnished with three only out of the four. These three are to be found at the end of General Vallancey's Irish grammar, pp. 128-130, almost literatim as they are in Scott. We have hitherto been unable to meet with Wilson's collection. The spelling of the Irish text, both in Vallancey and Scott, is in part antiquated, in part evidently corrupt; and we have proceeded—we acknowledge, with trembling and fear,—to restore it to its correct shape, using such lights as we happened to be masters of, and endeavouring to follow the directions for printing Irish so lucidly given by Mr. O'Donovan, in his introductory remarks to the first volume of the Tracts relating to Ireland, printed for the Irish Archæological Society, pp. 18, &c., which it is our desire, for the sake of the perspicuity which they afford to the Irish reader, to see carried out to their fullest extent. We have not ventured on change, except where we felt we should be able to vindicate it; most of our alterations were rendered requisite, evidently by the carelessness of transcribers, and we have sought none but those which are in accordance with fixed and the best standards. The antiquarian cannot be balked by what we have done, for he can have easy access to the copies published by Scott and Vallancey.

1 Da d-tiocfad.] Instead of Da ttiucaidh. This dropping of the though used in conversation, is condemned by the grammarians.

2 Da b-feicfead.]

Instead of da bhaicfeadh. The spelling with e1 in the

first syllable seems absolutely requisite for the sounds both of the consonants and vowels; and is conformable to the root féuċ.

3 Do'n Ġasrard.] quære? do'n 11-gasraj8,—not aspirating, but eclipsing, in the subjective (dative or ablative) case after the article. The grammarians disagree herein so much from one another, and from themselves, that we must refer this doubt to the disquisition of the learned. Of course, we do not refer to instances of nouns beginning with or t, as the reader will find below do'n diġ, do'n talaṁ, neither aspirated nor eclipsed.

4 Ód'imċiż ar g-caraid.] Instead of O dimigh na gaireid; we take the pro

verbial expression to be meant, and so seems Swift to have been instructed when he used a similar English phrase, "The de'el take the searcher;" not a translation.

5 Air an g-clairs.] See above note (3). N.B.—O'Reilly makes this word

masculine; quære.

6

Troipleasg.] A word not found in the dictionaries. See pleasg and com

pleasg.

7 Air leaċ-lajṁ] i. e. upon one hand.

Do'n cóp.] See above, note (3),—do'1) g⋅cójp quære?

III.

Ag stabad.] This is probably a mistake for the Celtic saċad.

D' eirże na brartre

Do torail na braojne sin,

To hushing of-the fight, that—

'S-do fágad an t-aċair Gairdjan And was left the father guardian

Ar naċajr añs na grjosaċa.

5.

“M-uair a bi mi-se żall,

"A glacad na n-gslada “ A b-foċair an Papá, “Tall añs a Rójṁ.

Our father in the burning-embers.

5.

"In-the-hour, in which was my self beyond

"(At) receiving the degrees

"In presence of the Pope,

"Beyond in (the) Rome.

10 Forras.] Vernacularly, perhaps, rather fjafrujɔ̃.

11

Stramad.] Not found in the dictionaries.

12 Bog-lan.] Ditto; lan full.

13 Laibliorr.] We have air na cuibreanusb, to the guests, John vi. 11. O'Reilly gives cuirean, a portion, a share, a messing or eating together. 14 Trasna.] O'Reilly at the word tarsna cites this line.

15 Do corail.] From the sound. See O'Reilly at the words tord—thisd. 16 Braoine.] Bożarr na Braone, (the road of the fight), vulgarly written Bohernabreena, in the county of Dublin, is well known.

17 Grrosaċa.] See this word, John xxi. 9.