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.

* * * * *

"Love is a Mortal Disease" (_Is claoidhte an galar an grádh_). Original in _Smoílín na Rann_, a collection of Connaught songs made by Mr. Fionan McCollum, "Finghin na Leamhna" (Gaelic League, 1908).

* * * * *

"I am watching my young calves sucking." This and the two following poems, "The Narrow Road" and "Forsaken," are translated from Dr. Douglas Hyde's little collection of original Irish songs called _Ubhla de'n Chraoibh_, or _Apples of the Bough_ (Gill & Son, Dublin).

* * * * *

"I Follow a Star." Translated by Seosamh mac Cathmhaoil (James Campbell) from his own Irish poem, and published by him in _The Gilly of Christ_ (Maunsell & Co., Dublin).

* * * * *

"Nurse's Song." Published by Mr. Alfred M. Williams in his _The Poets and Poetry of Ireland_ (Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York). The song is traditional, and its author is unknown.

* * * * *

"A Sleep Song." Original in _Gaelic Journal_, May 1911, p. 141. The song was partly taken down from Mr. McAuley Lynch in West Cork, and

## partly recollected from childhood by Mr. P. H. Pearse, the translator.

* * * * *

"The Cradle of Gold." From Mr. Alfred P. Graves' _Irish Poems_, ii. p. 117 (Maunsel & Co.). Original in Petrie's _Ancient Music of Ireland_, p. 146. "Rural Song." Original in Petrie's _Ancient Music of Ireland_, p. 43. Joyce's _Irish Music_ gives some extra stanzas.

* * * * *

"Ploughing Song." Original, _ibid._, p. 30.

* * * * *

"A Spinning-wheel Ditty." _Ibid._, p. 85.

THE END

Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. at Paul's Work, Edinburgh

[Illustration: Decoration]

Transcriber's notes:

Inconsistent use of accents across text, titles and poems in the original has been retained.