This, the best and most widely known of the Irish street ballads, dates from the year 1798. Caubeen (l. 15)=hat.
[CLXIII]–[CLXIX]
All from the famous series of Irish Melodies, the publication of which began in 1807, and continued at irregular intervals till 1834.
As to the second,—
l. 3. Mononia. Munster.
4. Kincora. Brien’s Palace.
22. Ossory’s plain. The ancient kingdom of Ossory comprised parts of Queen’s County and Kilkenny.
As to the third,—
l. 1. Tara’s halls. The hill of Tara, in Meath, was the meeting-place for the election of the kings of Ireland; but most writers on Irish antiquities are of opinion that there was no royal dwelling there. It would seem, therefore, that ‘Tara’s halls’ never existed but in the imagination of poets.
As to the fifth, Robert Emmet (1778–1803), United Irishman, the leader of ‘Emmet’s Rising’ (1803), was arrested by Major Sirr (the capturer of Lord Edward Fitzgerald), tried September 19, and hanged next day (1803). He was engaged to be married to Sarah Curran, daughter of the great lawyer, and it was to this lady Moore addressed his famous poem. The lady subsequently (November 24, 1805) married Major Sturgeon of the Royal Staff Corps.
[CLXX]
Minor Poems of Charlotte Elizabeth (1848). Published in the author’s lifetime over the signature ‘Charlotte Elizabeth.’