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CHARLES O'FLAHERTY.

(1794-1828.)

CHARLES O'FLAHERTY, who is chiefly remembered as the author of the famous song 'The Humors of Donnybrook Fair,' was born in 1794, in Dublin, where his father was a pawnbroker. He was apprenticed to a bookseller; eventually, however, he turned to journalism. He was on the staff of the Dublin Morning Post, and afterward edited The Wexford Evening Post. He died in May, 1828. He published 'Poems,' 'Poems and Songs,' and 'Trifles in Poetry,' in which the song referred to, often attributed to Lysaght, is to be found.

THE HUMORS OF DONNYBROOK FAIR.

Oh! 't was Dermot O'Nowlan McFigg,
That could properly handle a twig.

He went to the Fair,

And kicked up a dust there,

In dancing the Donnybrook Jig,
With his twig.

Oh! my blessing to Dermot McFigg!

When he came to the midst of the Fair,
He was all in a paugh1 for fresh air,
For the Fatr very soon

Was as full as the moon,

Such mobs upon mobs as were there,

Oh! rare.

So more luck to sweet Donnybrook Fair.

The souls they came crowding in fast,
To dance while the leather would last,
For the Thomas Street brogue
Was there much in vogue,

And oft with a brogue the joke passed,
Quite fast,

While the Cash and the Whisky did last!

But Dermot, his mind on love bent,
In search of his sweetheart he went;
Peeped in here and there,

As he walked thro' the Fair,

1 Paugh, a fit.

And took a small taste in each tent,
As he went.

Och! on Whisky and Love he was bent.

And who should he spy in a jig,
With a Meal-man so tall and so big,
But his own darling Kate

So gay and so neat;

Faith, her partner he hit him a dig,
The pig,

He beat the meal out of his wig!

Then Dermot, with conquest elate, Drew a stool near his beautiful Kate; "Arrah! Katty," says he,

"My own Cushlamachree,

Sure the world for Beauty you beat,

Complete,

So we'll just take a dance while we wait!"

The Piper, to keep him in tune,
Struck up a gay lilt very soon,
Until an arch wag

Cut a hole in his bag,

And at once put an end to the tune

Too soon.

Oh! the music flew up to the moon!

To the Fiddler says Dermot McFigg, "If you'll please to play Sheela na gig,' We'll shake a loose toe

While you humor the bow.

To be sure you must warm the wig

Of McFigg,

While he's dancing a neat Irish jig!"

But says Katty, the darling, says she, "If you'll only just listen to me,

It's myself that will show

Billy can't be your foe,

Tho' he fought for his Cousin, that 's me,"

Says she,

"For sure Billy 's related to me!

"For my own cousin-german, Ann Wilde, Stood for Biddy Mulrooney's first child,

And Biddy's step-son,

Sure he married Bess Dunn,

Who was gossip to Jenny, as mild
A child

As ever at mother's breast smiled.

"And maybe you don't know Jane Brown, Who served goat's whey in sweet Dundrum town. "T was her uncle's half-brother

That married my mother,

And bought me this new yellow gown,

To go down,

When the marriage was held in Miltown!"

"By the Powers, then," says Dermot, "'t is plain, Like a son of that rapscallion Cain,

My best friend I've kilt,
Tho' no blood it is spilt,

And the devil a harm did I mean,

That's plain,

But by me he'll be ne'er kilt again!"

Then the Meal-man forgave him the blow,
That laid him a-sprawling so low,

And being quite gay,

Asked them both to the play,

But Katty, being bashful, said "No," "No!" "No!"

Yet he treated them all to the show!

RODERIC O'FLAHERTY.

(1628-1718.)

RODERIC O'FLAHERTY was born at Park, near Galway, in the year 1628; his father was principal proprietor of the barony of Moycullen. In 1630 after the death of his father he was declared a king's ward-i.e. a ward in Chancery. Before he became of age King Charles I. had been beheaded, the Cromwellian wars had spread into Connaught, and he had retired to Sligo for shelter from the storm. There he met Duald MacFirbis, with whom he studied the Irish language and literature.

After the Restoration he returned to Galway to find the lands of his family in the possession of one Martin, or "Nimble Dick Martin," as he was called. After long years he succeeded in ejecting the usurper and regaining possession. Meanwhile he had made the acquaintance of John Lynch, author of 'Cambrensis Eversus,' who induced him to undertake his great work 'Ogygia.' This was completed about 1665, but it did not appear in print till 1684, when it was issued in the original Latin. It was afterward translated into English by J. Hely and published in Dublin in 1693. Sir George Mackenzie, Lord Advocate of Scotland, strove to make light of its authority, and O'Flaherty published in 1695 his 'Ogygia Vindicæ.' In his later years he was in miserable condition, though proudspirited and fond of his studies. The last of the ancient race of Irish historians and chronologers, he died in 1718.

In addition to his 'Ogygia' and 'Ogygia Vindicæ,' O'Flaherty wrote A Chronographical Description of West or H-Iar Connaught, Ogygia Christianæ,' which it is feared is lost, and several smaller pieces, the very names of which have perished.

Although the writings of O'Flaherty are full of interesting and curious lore, they are so mixed up with imaginative stories, and he was so little of a discriminating antiquarian, that they cannot be accepted as having any actual historical value.

For example, it is doubtless true that when he wrote red deer were numerous in Ireland; and it may be true that the phantom island of Hy-Brasil, marked on many old charts as near the west coast of Ireland, was in his time "often visible"; but it is a great deal more likely that the view of " the shadowy Isle" is to be classed with "the fantastical ships in the harbor of Galway sailing against the wind," which was doubtless a mirage, if we may judge from his own description.

His circumstantial story of "an Irish crocodile, that lived at the bottom of Lough Mask," does not inspire the reader with confidence in his scientific accuracy, or prepare one to accept the mixture of history and legend which he calls the Ogygia.' He tells us that Ireland has been called the ancient Ogygia by Plutarch, "because," says he, "they begin their histories from most profound memory of antiquity."

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