"The Little Yellow Road." Original taken down by Prof. John MacNeill in Co. Mayo in July 1894, and printed by him in the Gaelic Journal for that year (vol. v., No. 6), p. 91. There are several versions of An Bóithrín buidhe; see for another, Petrie's Ancient Music, p. 24. Mr. Campbell's translation, kindly contributed to this collection, has not been published before.
"Reproach to the Pipe" (Másladh an Phíopa). The original, taken down in Galway, will be found in the Gaelic Journal (vol. vi., No. 5), p. 73.
"Modereen Rue." Mrs. Tynan-Hinkson's poem is not a direct translation, but a spirited free version of the favourite Gaelic song of this name; it was published in The Wind in the Trees (Grant Richards, 1898), p. 98.
"The Stars Stand Up" (Táid na realta 'n-a seasadh ar an aer). Original in Ceól-sídhe, Part iv., p. 50, among other places. I have altered the last four lines.
"The Love Smart." Original in Dr. Hyde's Love-Songs, p. 22.
"Well for Thee." Original, ibid., p. 130.
"I am Raftery the Poet." From Dr. Hyde's edition of Raftery's Poems (H. M. Gill & Son, Dublin, 1903), p. 40.
"Dust hath closed Helen's eye." Original, ibid., p. 330. Mr. W. B. Yeats has slightly worked over Lady Gregory's rendering. Mary Hynes, who "died of fever before the famine," has left a tradition of beauty behind her in her own country. "She was the finest thing that was ever shaped," said an old fiddler who remembered her well. Baoile laoi (Ballylee) is a little village of some half-dozen houses in the barony of Kiltartan. Lady Gregory's beautiful rendering was published in an article by Mr. W. B. Yeats in The Dome, New Series, vol. iv. p. 161.
"The Shining Posy" or "Mary Stanton," ibid., p. 320. We must remember that poor Raftery, who praises so warmly the beauty of women, saw them only with the eyes of his imagination, for he was blind. His verses seem to have been impromptu compositions. The classical allusions are very characteristic of the wandering bards, who liked to show off their acquaintance with the heroes of bygone ages.