issue Content
PREFACEWe find them irn(Ter the same name inlreland from the earliest period in history down to the year 1138 whenaro1an died -who seems to have been born to render the termination of his order memorable and hrifl iant . If weretjt,( -t upon the disadvantages under which he laboured;born hi in 1_with slender opper unities of a qul ri iigileaiiieinh brtan -t of a country recently desolated by a civil war, the flames of whh h ha I s arcely subsided, and add tobis,bis own propensity to Idleness and dissipation, we cannot but be astonished at the prodigious powers of hisnind; lie has - occasionally tried almost every stile of Music; the ci gia ,the fest i e,the amoroll s, ind sacred; and hasso much e ce1ledin each,that e s arcely know to winch of them his genhis was best adapted. hi first composition8115 amorouS and planitx C, oailed Bridget Cruise; addressed to a Lady, to horr he was tenderly attic ho-d,without.the hope of success. He is said to have dedicated Fifteen pieres to her, none of hich are contained in this (oliec-tion. T first was eiTher originally imperfect,or the copy pro iir -t1 of it so corrupt that a Bass could not be a (l ..pied to it His last tune was inscribed to his Ph sician Dr. Staf r ( 1. He composed,the Fai rv Queen, Rose Dill 011,811(1 t hers of his serious pieces, early in life;but after having established a reputation, and addicted himself too much tot -s ive company and the bottle, he dedicated his time to the compositions of his Plan ties, which required no labouror assiduity. We may form some idea ofthe fertility of his genius from this circumstance, that one harper 11 ho ater oled The Belfast meeting, and who had never seen him, or was not taught diretlv by any person,that hadoopyed from him, had acquiredupwards of an hundred of his tunes, which he said (onstituteol l)lEt avery mooniderab1e, part of the real number. As Carolan never ta zg1it any itinerant pupils,except his own Son (who had nomusical genius ) and as we have never heard that any of his pieces were committed to writing until several yearsafter his death,when young Carolan, underthe patronage of Dr. Delany, edited a small \olume,we need notwonder if nine tenths of tile whole be irreparably ost. In Carolan Concerto (! ? 42)_and in Ms Madam Cole16) thepracthioner will perceive evident imitations of Correlli, in which the exuberant fancy of that admfrComposer is happily copied. In the ancient air, Gradh ga n fios, or Love in Sec ret ,(N? 14) he will be charmedwith one of the most pleasing strains That any eount r- bus prn(I1i( ecI, it is accordingly so old that no trace could he,(ii sc overed of the century -iii whi(:h it was I)roolli ci. 1 1 words of Cool in were C xtailt in the reign of Henry theVIfl.avery modern periodwhen compared sith that in ahi h the air sits composed. Scarf.tint naGompanah, orthe,Parting of Friends, ( ? 25) is coushlered as very iwo Pt. It is often played by Harpers wh n the audience are allouttodepart, and it is a popular opinion that it was conipost-oi s h1Ie the Irish groaned undert1 oppression of theand were forced to concealthemselves in caverns and sequestered piuces. The tune ca1l -d,Thugarnar fein a Sambra -;lin.(N? i) isprobably extremely ancient. It was sung by the band of Virgins That went out of Dublinto s elcomethe Duke of Ormond when he landed in Ireland, The am jo-ni air, Ta an samradh teiaht: or the, Summeris coming,(N i) is used upon the opening of Summer in different parts of the kingdom. Strangs as this mayappear,thisproves tohe the sarneSong,both asto Poetry and Musi , which Dr. Bii rney has puplisbed tt written so voluminous arrtiq ,ue upon, as the first pico e (If Music ever set lii so ore in great Hritian.Fhe extreme improbability of itsheiugborrowed by the ancient Irish, from a couitry that Iia no national itisie of its osn (the Welsh excepted) issuiffh:cen -tly evident. The devoted attachment to their own Music ,and the praises It received from ether countries;their ignorance of the En ish language,and their rooted aversion to their invaders,were effe tual bars to any suchPlagiarism or adoption. The air of, Ad c otgTeac ma bin tu, or If t a Foreign clime you go/ .. i. procured inthe county of Mayo we have reason to) believe the oldest extant. It s sung by only one person who was of greatage, and a1thoug h mimbers -were present,few knew it even by name,butall appeared greatly delighted with the composition.To enumerate allthose airs, That address themselves to) the hearf, and harmonize, with the finest feelings of our ilalurewould extend thebounds of this Preface to an uiiwarrantith k length. It is to he remarked however,That several of the airsin the following Collection were not taken from Irish Harpers but from Songsters; and therefore as theynow- stand,arenot aiwaws adapted to that Instrunient. We cannot o:oru hide without seriously urging grittlemen in the southerncarts of Ireland,to follow the example of the Belfast Snciety, by promoting shutilur meetings of the Harpers in theirrespective Provinces. The veneration in -with h 1 ie Music of I reland,with every vestige of Irish antiquity,liasheenheldby our ancestors,andthe respect ithas re eised forso many centuries from foreign nations,seemwe ll calcul ded to excite corresponding feelings in their descendants. Sh tI 1 we suffer them to) perish in our hands at the dosef perhlips the last century in which a single new ray of light can be struck out amidst The gloom, with which time en:y io 1 js the earliest and often the most interesting of its works; In payiiig them all due attention, we do, not merelygr t ity the natural feeling of national pride; we are tracing the progress of the human mind,and endeavouring to store a page m the history of man.
Cart: 
