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THE SILVERY LEE

Is evidently the effusion of a juvenile Cork poet, who, fascinated by the charms of whisky (vide the second verse), and some sentimental simpering (vide the fourth verse) from a pretty girl of "the beautiful city," felt convinced of the truth of the old proverb about going further in search of rivers whereby to locate himself, and faring worse. The author, therefore, appears to have been quite content with the banks of " the Silvery Lee;" and so would many a Cockney angler, if the description of an Irish poet can be fully credited.

"As crystal its waters are pure,

Each morning they blush like a bride;
And, when evening comes gray and demure,
With the softness of silver they glide.

Of salmon and gay speckled trout
It holds such a plentiful store,
That thousands are forced to leap out,

By the multitude jostled on shore."

However the latter assertion may be doubted, the Lee is, beyond all question, a lovely river. The lyric now given is copied from a broadside, printed at Cork in 1818.

Rivers are there great and small,
Romantic, too, the course of many,
With castled crag and foamy fall;
But never river saw I any
Half so fair or dear to me
As my own, the silvery Lee.

Much I've heard about the Rhine,

With vineyards gay and castles stately;
But those who think I care for wine,
Or lofty towers, mistake me greatly:
A thousand times more dear to me
Is whisky, by the silvery Lee.

The Tagus, with its golden sand,
The Tiber, full of ancient glory,
The Danube, though a river grand,
The Seine and Elbe, renowned in story,
Can never be so dear to me

As the pure and silvery Lee.

'Tis not the voice that tongues the stream,
In winter hoarse, in spring time clearer,—
That makes my own dear river seem
Above all other rivers dearer;

But 'tis her voice, who whispers me
"How lovely is the silvery Lee!"

THE PRAISES OF LIMERICK

Appeared in the "Anthologia Hibernica" for February, 1793, prefaced by the following communication to the editor of that periodical:

"The enclosed humorous song was (I imagine) never before printed; it was composed by a very witty but satirical genius, a Dr. MacDonnell, about the year 1757.

He was an eminent physician, but lost almost his whole business by this song.

"Yours, &c.

"PL L- -Y."

66

This statement is confirmed by a passage from the " Memoirs of Sir James Campbell," of Ardkinglas, published in 1832. "One of the members of the Medical Board (in Dublin)," says Sir James, or the writer of his memoirs, was a very amiable young man, who practised his profession in Limerick. He had lived very much with the regiment when quartered there; but had fallen into disgrace with the fair sex, in consequence of a jeu d'esprit which he had been so indiscreet as to circulate. Here are four lines by way of specimen :

'O what a sweet and pretty town Limerick is,

Where neither sly one, nor simkin, nor slattern is;

It would do your heart good, on the quay as they walk at eve,
To see them so funny, so skittish, so talkative.'

"The beauties of Limerick took the joke in such dudgeon, that the poor doctor was fain to make his escape in the night time, and never return. He settled afterwards, I think, in Chester, and did very well. By way of gloss to the stanza, I should have added, that a simkin is a person with a loose shambling gait."

Tune-" My name is Molly Macky," &c.

Oh! what a dainty, sweet, charming town Limerick is, Where neither sly nor slippery slim trick is;

For true generosity, honour, fidelity,

Limerick's the town, ne'er doubt it

M

I tell it you.

Toll de roll, &c.

Of smart pretty fellows in Limerick are numbers; some, Who so modish are grown, that they think good sense cumbersome;

And, lest they should seem to be queer or ridiculous,
They affect not to value either God or old Nicholas.
Toll de roll, &c.

You neighbours of Ennis, of Kerry, and Gallaway,*
Whose characters justly are taken by all away,
Come hither among us, we'll make honest men of you;
For, in every respect, one of us is worth ten of you.
Toll de roll, &c.

Though fame has given out our shopkeepers have a cant,
And in selling their goods they charge us extravagant;
Yet I, the other day, heard an honest man swear it,
That he never charged more than his conscience could
bear it.

Toll de roll, &c.

Our wives behind counters, not saucy nor slatterns are; For meekness, politeness, and goodness, they patterns are: It would do your heart good, on the mall where they walk at eve,

To see them so dressy, so flirtish, so talkative.

Toll de roll, &c.

* The old and vulgar pronunciation of Galway. “All the way from Gallaway, early in the morning," is the burden of a popular song descriptive of the march of the Galway militia. In the "London Gazette," No. 2598, Oct. 2d to 6th, 1690, the Editor finds, "Two persons come from Galloway confirm the former account," &c.

GARRYOWEN,

In English, "Owen's Garden," is a suburb of Limerick; for a copy of the very popular song respecting which, the Editor is indebted to Lieut. Colonel Sir Charles O'Donnell.

Mr. Banim (the author of "The O'Hara Tales "), in a letter which appeared in the "Literary Register," a short-lived London weekly paper of the year 1822, says, "The celebrated Garryowen forms part of the filthy suburbs of Limerick. The former character of its inhabitants is said to be well described in a verse of their own old song: :

'In Garryowen we'll drink nut-brown ale,
An' score de reckonin' on de nail;

No man for debt shall go to gaol

From Garryowen in glory-whu!' [a yell.]

"Some years ago the Garryowen boys, headed by a young gentleman of respectable family, did what they listed in every department of heyday wildness and devilment: they were the half-terror, half-admiration of the surrounding communities. But the present generation is, comparatively, a decayed and insignificant race, not remarkable for any peculiar acts of daring; while the old leader, to whom I have alluded, is now a most respectable quiet citizen, about sixty, famed for propriety and urbanity of demeanour, and at the head of one of the most thriving mercantile concerns in the town. My antiquary (Mr. Geoffrey Foote) pointed him out and introduced me to him, the other day, in the streets; and I futilely sought,

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