Next fair day I'll get a fairing from my hand- Twenty bright kisses from my own darling Confuse them, consume them that say I'm not Through green groves and lofty mountains I'll My love is far fairer than a fine summer day, sun, He is fair as the blossom of the Drinane Dhun. He is gone and he's left me in grief for to tell, I wish I had a small boat on the ocean to float, I'd follow my darling wherever he did resort; I'd sooner have my true love to roll, sport and play, Than all the golden treasure by land or by THE WEDDING OF BALLYPOREEN. DESCEND, ye chaste nine, to a true Irish bard, "Twas a fine summer's morn, about twelve in the day, They were soon tacked together, and home did return, To make merry the day at the sign of the churn; And pedlers, and smugglers, and sailors, assembled at Ballyporeen. There was Bryan MacDermot and Shaughnessy's brat, Now the bridegroom sat down to make an oration, Then the bride she got up to make a low bow, Now they sat down to meat-Father Murphy said grace, There was bacon and greens, but the turkey was spoiled, THE COOLUN. THE scene is beside where the Avonmore flows'Tis the spring of the year, and the day's near its close; 64 THE WEDDING OF BALLYPOREEN.-Continued. Now the whisky went round, and the songsters did roar, Tim sung "Paddy O'Kelly," Nell sung "Molly Asthore; Till a motion was made that their songs they'd forsake, And each lad take his sweetheart, their trotters to shake. Then the piper and couples advancing, Pumps, brogues, and bare feet fell a-prancing; And an old woman sits with a boy on her knee Such piping, such figuring and dancing, was ne'er known at Ballp- She smiles like the evening, but he like the poreen. lea! Her hair is as white as the flax ere it's spun It is brown as yon tree that is hiding the sun! 66 Beside the bright river The calm, glassy river, That's sliding and gliding all peacefully on. Come, granny," the boy says, "you'll sing me, I know, The beautiful Coolun, so sweet and so low; For I love its soft tones more than blackbird or thrush, Though often the tears in a shower will gush From my eyes when I hear it. Dear granny, say why, When my heart's full of pleasure, I sob and I smooth! And it brings back the old woman, kindly and dear If her spirit, dear Oonagh, is hovering near, "Twill glad her to hear the old melody rise Warm, warm, on the wings of our love and our sighs "O! sing me the Coolun, The beautiful Coolun! Is the dew or a tear-drop is moistening his eyes? There's a change on the scene far more grand. far less fair By the broad rolling Hudson are seated the pair; And the dark hemlock-fir waves its branches above, As they sigh for their land, as they murmur their love; Hush!-the heart hath been touched, and its musical strings SONGS AND BALLADS OF IRELAND. THE COOLUN.-Continued. They think of the bright stream they sat down beside, When he was a bridegroom and she was his bride; The pulses of youth seem to throb in the strain Old faces, long vanished, look kindly againKind voices float round them, and grand hills are near, Their feet have not touched, ah, this many a And, as ceases the Coolun, Not the air, but their native land faints Long in silence they weep, with hand clasped in hand Then to God send up prayers for the far-off And while grateful to Him for the blessings They know 'tis His hand that withholdeth con- For the Exile and Christian must evermore sigh For the home upon earth and the home in the So they sing the sweet Coolun, That murmurs of both homes-they sing Heaven bless thee, Old Bard, in whose bosom were nurst Emotions that into such melody burst! And brightest of beams nurse its grass and its Oft, oft, be it moist with the tear-drop of love, And may angels watch round thee, forever above! Old Bard of the Coolun, The beautiful Coolun, CUSHLA-MO-CHREE.* By the green banks of Shannon I wooed thee, dear Mary, I heed not if snow falls or flow'rets are springing, O! bright shone the morning when first as my bride, love, Wear the night-watches, still thinking on thee; O, my loved one! my lost one! say, why didst thou leave me O! would thy cold arms, love, might ope to receive me Ah, Mary! wherever thou art is my home, love, THE pig is in the mire, and the cow is in the grass, My mother likes the ducks, and the ducks likes the drakes. My Judy she's as fair as the flowers on the lea, CHORUS. Arrah! cushla mavourneen, will you marry me? That's sobbing, like Eire, with Sorrow and And I'll dig to my knees in the old bog hole. BARNEY O'HEA. Now let me alone, though I know you won't, It makes me outrageous when you're so con- You'd better look out for the stout Corney Fine children we will have, for you must mind that, Till once I have as many as there's days in Lent; By the hokey, says she, I can scarcely refuse, say, And she gave her consent by the old bog hole. 1 BARNEY O'HEA.-Continued. I hope you are not going to Brandon fair, For Corney's at Cork, and my brother's at And my mother sits spinning at home all the So no one will be there, of me to take care, Impudent Barney, none of your blarney, When I got to the fair, sure the first I met The first I met there, the first I met there- Till at last-oh! the saints-what will poor But I think the boy's honest, so on Sunday I've For better or worse to take Barney O'Hea. blarney, CORMAC. THE BIRTH OF IRELAND. "WITH due condescension, I'd call your attention to what I shall mention of Erin so green, And, without hesitation, I'll show how that nation became, of creation, the gem and the queen. ""Twas early one morning, without any warning, that Vanus was born in the beautiful Say, And, by the same token, and sure 'twas provoking, her pinions were soaking, and wouldn't give play. "Old Neptune, who knew her, began to pursue her, in order to woo her-the wicked old Jew And almost had caught her atop of the water-great Jupiter's daughter!-which never would do! 66 "A star that was flying hard by him espying, he caught with small trying and down let it snap; It fell quick as winking on Neptune a-sinking, and gave him, I'm thinking, a bit of a rap. "That star it was dryland, both lowland and highland, and formed a sweet island, the land of my birth: Thus plain is the story that, sent down from glory, old Erin asthore is the gem of the earth! OCH! Cormac O'Grady, do cease your wild talk-"Upon Erin nately jumped Vanus so stately, but fainted kase ing, Your likes at the blarney I niver did see; Your tongue's a machine that is always a-goin', And grindin' out nonsinse you're givin' to lately so hard she was pressed; Which much did bewilder, but, ere it had killed her, her father distilled her a drop of the best. AN Irish girl, and proud of it, a word I'd like to say Oh! is the good time coming when the land shall be our own? CHORUS. For John Bull lives in England, Taffy lives in Wales, I've seen the big ship crowded and ready for to start, In days gone by, they tell us, in story-book and rhyme, |