The literal translation of the second stanza runs as follows:—
"No one knows my case, or how I may find life,
But only the woman who has made me ill;
My cure is not on sea or shore, nor in herb or skill of hand,
My cure is only in the Flower of Youth.
I know not hen from cuckoo, I know not heat from cold,
At no time do I know my friends;
I know not night from day,—but my heart would know its love,
Should she come in time to save me."
"The Cruiskeen Lawn." Dr. Sigerson's version (ibid., p. 258), here reproduced, shows that this popular air, better known in connection with O'Keeffe's rollicking drinking song, was also used as a Jacobite political poem. The chorus and name of the air, i.e. "The little full jug," show that its true intent is bacchanalian. We find this chorus, like many others, attached to songs of different significance. Petrie, in his collection of Ancient Irish Music, p. 37, attaches it to a verse of a lullaby:—
"My love is upon the river,
And he rocking from wave to wave;
A tree without foliage over his head—
And what does my Love want a-straying there?"
(see also Gaelic Journal, viii., 1898, p. 224).
"Eamonn an Chnuic" or "Ned of the Hill" is founded on the history of a famous outlaw named Edmund O'Ryan, born in Shanbohy, Co. Tipperary, late in the seventeenth century. His father possessed considerable property in his native county, but his wild career led to his outlawry. The piercing note of the words and of the air of the same name is typical of much of the poetry of the period. "Ned of the Hill" lies buried near Fáill an Chluig in the barony of Kilnemanagh, Co. Tipperary. Some versions give several other verses, of a different character. It is a love-song as given by Hardiman, "A chúil áluinn deas," i. p. 268, and by Mangan in his Poets and Poetry of Munster, p. 264. The literal translation here printed is from Mr. P. H. Pearse's contributions in the Irish Review, Dublin (November 1911), p. 437. Mr. Pearse says, "'Eamonn an Chnuic' is commonly looked upon as a love-song, but I feel sure that to its shaper and to those who first heard it, the figure of the outlaw, driven by rain-storm and bullet-storm and beating against the closed door, mystically symbolised the lonely cause of Ireland."
"O Druimin donn dileas," an early Jacobite song, sometimes supposed to apply to Prince James Charles Edward, but more probably to Ireland itself under the symbolic name of the "Beloved white-backed dun cow." Original in Hardiman, ii. p. 145. See also in Petrie's Ancient Music of Ireland, p. 116, a translation by O'Curry.
"Do you remember that night?" Original in Petrie's Ancient Music of Ireland, p. 142. He says it was written down for him by O'Curry. The account given by him of its origin does not seem to suit the words.
"The Exile's Song." Original in Gaelic Journal, vol. vi., No. 7, 1895, p. 108. Composed by an emigrant named M'Ambrois (Mac Cambridge), and taken down from James M'Auley of Glengariff and James M'Naughten of Cushendall.
"The Fisherman's Keen." From Crofton Croker's The Keen in the South of Ireland (Percy Society, 1844), p. 77. It was communicated to Mr. Croker by Mr. Maurice O'Connell. A literal translation, taken down from the lips of Mrs. Harrington, a professional "keener" of Co. Cork, is given in the same author's Researches in the South of Ireland. Unfortunately the original Irish is not preserved by him, nor is the name of the lady given who, he tells us, wrote the poetical rendering.