The Irish standard., 1899-08-12
Was the Author of a Celebrated
Bacchanalian Song.
NEITHER A MINSTREL NOR A HARPER
Imagined Whiskey Gave Him
Poetic Inspiration.

Douglas Hyde, in his recently pub
lished Literary History OF Ireland" a
book which, by the way, every Irishman
ought to get and read, devotes page
or so to- the memory of Turlough
O'Carolan, commonly styled the "Last
OF the Bards." The designation is more
poetic than correct. O'Carolan's patron,
O'Conor of Belanagare, calls him in an
obituary notice not bard but an Dir
fdeadh (err-fd-ya). The popular notion
is that the bards were minstrels, harpers
musicians OF some sort. When they are
mentioned we think OF the picture con-
tained in Wordsworth's wonderful lines
beginning:
High in the breathless hall the min
strel safe
And Emont's murmur mingled with the
song"
Mr.. Hyde tells us that 'the popular con-
ception OF the bard, with the long white
beard and the big harp is grotesquely
wrong The bards were verse makers
pure and simple. They held some such
relation to their employers as the poet
laureate holds to the sovereign of Eng
land. Their business was to write poet
ry. When a bard composed piece for
his patron, he brought along a harper
and possibly singer to whom he had
taught the poem. In the patrons pres
ence the verses were soennly recited
or sung to the sound of the harp, the
only instrument allowed to be heard on
such occasions. The musician was called
an Dir fdeadh. 1t was only after the
complete breakup af the Gaelic polity,
after the wars OF Cromwell and Dutch
William, that the verse maker merged in
the musician, and the harper and the
bard became fused i'll one
A stirring page OF Irish history is that
which tells about the place of the bards
in ancient Celtic life. They had many
privileges. Their dress was peculiar,
their persons were sacred, their property
was inviolate. They were the rcposito-
ries Of the rude civilization of their
time. They were the teachers, the song
makers, the historians of the people,
and their influence was paramount
among the Celts. At last, however,
they became so potent that the Irish
kings issued severe ordinances against
them. St. COLUMBIA prevented their de-
struction in his day at the hands OF
Hugh, A. D. $50. A law Of Elizabeth S
time forbade them to enter the Pale,
and this law was presently followed by
another which directed that all bards be
hanged wherever caught. Their recitals
of the ancient glories OF Erin, their ex-
hortations against submission to the
sway OF the stranger, excited the wrath
of the Virgin Queen" Gradually the
race of bards became extinct.
Turlough O'Carolan was the last OF
the Irish laureates. He was born in the
county Westmeath Gin 167o) where his
family had in former times held extern
sive estates. But like many another
house of the old Celtic stock, the O'Car-
olans were robbed to enrich the Nor
man and the Saxon. He manifested at
an early age wonderful talent for music
and poetry. In his twenty-second year
he became blind from smallpox and
thenceforth devoted himself to the ca
reer of musician. He usually resided
in Connaught but he travelled all over
Ireland welcomed alike in the cottage
OF the peasant and in the castle Of the
noble. He achieved in his day great re-
nown He composed over two hundred
airs, specimens OF which are given in Sir
John Stevenson's edition of Moore's
"Irish Melodies" He constructed his
verses according to the requirements of
his music and these have given him the
reputation of poet. "They arc," says
Mr.. Hyde, ''full of curious turns and
twists of meter to suit his airs, to which
they are admirably wed. Very few are
in regular stanzas. They are usually OF
a Pindaric nature, addressed to patrons
or to fair ladies. There are some excep
tons, however, such as his celebrated
ode to whisky, one of the finest baccla-
nalian songs in any language and his
much more famous, but immeasurably
inferior Receipt for Drinking. Very
many of his airs and nearly all his
poetry with the exception OF about
thirty pieces are lost"