Na Píobairí Uilleann

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An Píobaire

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7 5 21 20111214 21 his father’s opposite. When John Grogan died on 21 January 1721, an anonymous poetic squib painted a grim picture of him and his household. A copy is in the Henry E. Hunting- ton Library, San Marino, California: An ELEGY On the much Lamented Death of Squire Grogan, in the County of Wexford, who died on Wednesday the 11th Of this Instant January, 1720,–21. KNOW all Men by these Presents, Once again, The Tyrant Death hath wealthy Grogan slain. That two such Friends shou’d quarrel most Men wonder; For Death and He were scarce one Hour asun- der. So right they tally'd, and agreed so well, That which was which no Man alive cou’d tell. Their Disposition was the very same, And nothing made a Difference but their Name. For Instance, Grogan got ten Thousand Pound; Why Grogan sunk it fairly under Ground; To Dooms day there conceal’d from human sight Til the last Flames bring him and his to Light, And then alas, how much it will dismay His Soul to see his Money melt away. So well he lov’d his Brother Death,’tis said, His very Wine and Beer and Ale were dead. All his Domesticks were but Skin and Bones, He starv’d ’em into Ghosts and Skeletons. That any Stranger trav’ling by wou’d Swear He saw the dreadful Resurrection there. His Cows, his Calves, his Horses, and his Sheep, Great Numbers on small Pasturage he’d keep; Then wonder not when thro’ his Fields you pass, You neither see the sign of Flesh or Grass. As Virgil in Immortal Georgick sung, Soil must be barren, where there is no Dung. He never went to Church from Year to Year, Why should he go? the Reason’s very clear. So many Spectres stalk’d within his Wall He thought there was no other Church at all; And well he might, when ev’ry dismal Room About his House, did represent a Tomb. Thus did he live; then sure it can’t be said That Grogan dy’d. But Grogan’s gone to Bed. The EPITAPH POOR Grogan lies beneath this Clay, As deep as e’er his Money lay; Dig for his Bags, let him alone Ye gaping Heirs of Skin and Bone. Ah! Cease to clap your Hands, and weep; Let him, a God’s Name, let him sleep, For shou’d he waken! to your Sorrow, The Dev’l a bit of Bread to Morrow. LARRY GROGAN AT THE RACES, 1741, 1743–4, 1769. It was W.H. Grattan Flood who first pointed out that Pierce Creagh of Dangan owned a racehorse called Larry Grogan in the 1740s. But Creagh was not the original owner, and un- likely to have been the man who named the horse (pp. 44–5). This stallion is first men- tioned in a report of a race meeting which opened in Ballinasloe, co. Galway, on 13 Oc- tober 1741: On Thursday the 15th, Mr. Odle’s Larry Gro- gan, Mr. Lambert’s Caesar and his Chestnut Gelding, and Sir Lawrence Parson’s Bay Stone-horse started for a 20L. Plate, which was won by Larry Grogan. Dublin News-Letter, 20–24 October 1741 The surname of the then owner is usually spelt Odell. There were important families of this name in co. Waterford and in co. Limerick (p. 44). The latter branch lived in Ballingarry, home parish of Walker ‘Piper’ Jackson (c.1722–98), where they occupied a house called The Turret (not to be confused with Jackson’s Turret) which still stands. Mr Lam- bert could have belonged to the co. Wexford family of that name. 5 Sir Lawrence Parsons of Parsonstown, The King’s County [now Birr, co. Offaly], was the ancestor of the earls of Rosse. By 1743 Larry Grogan (the same horse, presumably) had come into the ownership of Pierce Creagh, as is made clear from a report of a meeting held in Loughrea in August: On Wednesday the 31st, the 20L. Plate was run for by Mr. Creagh’s horse, Larry Grogan,

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