Familiar Songs - Their Authors & Histories

300 traditional songs, inc sheet music with full piano accompaniment & lyrics.

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	VONNEL AND FLOE A.		313
	Dark lowers the night o'er the wide stormy main, Till mild, rosy morn rise cheerful again; Alas ! morn returns to revisit the shore, But Connel returns to his Flora no more. For see, on yon mountain, the dark cloud of death, O'er Connel's lone cottage, lies low on the heath;	While bloody and pale, on a far distant shore, He lies, to return to his Flora no more. Ye light floating spirits that glide o'er the steep, O would ye but waft me across the wild deep; There fearless I'd mix in the battle's loud roar, I'd die with my Connel, and leave him no mor«.
	TRUE LOVE CAN NE'ER FORGET. The incident which gave rise to the following song, by Samuel Lover, has been the foundation of several other ballads, some of them translated from the ancient Irish. The story runs that Carolan, a blind harper, recognized his early love, Bridget Cruise, by the touch of her hand, although he had not met her for twenty years. The old lover was playing by the water, when a ferry-boat drew near, and he chanced to assist the lady to alight. Turlogh O'Carolan, the bard, was one of the characters ot Ireland. He was born in Nobber, county Westmeath, in 1670, and was the last of the ancient race of Irish bards. He lost his eyesight at the age of sixteen. He made very beautiful words, but was chiefly noted for his exquisite melodies. Goldsmith, who had seen him in his boyhood, wrote in later life: " His songs may be compared to those of Pindar, they bearing the same flight of imagination."