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STORIES OF
parties and At-Homes. Doubtless he met Lady Caroline Keppel at one of the great houses, and we hear of him singing first " Eileen Aroon," and then " Robin Adair," at Ranelagh Gardens in 1762, presumably with Lady Catharine's words. Tenducci was quite a spoiled darling, and lived very wastefully. He ran through one fortune and nearly made another. He died early in the present centuiy, at his native place in Italy. It may be added that in the days of Elizabeth " Eileen Aroon" was sung by a large majority of the people in the streets. There is a curious similarity, by the way, between " Eileen Aroon" and the melody Scott's " Loch-nivar" used to be sung to.
In the west and other parts of Ireland the peasantry still sing "Eileen" and will have nothing to do with the modern song. It may be mentioned that the tribe of O'Daly furnished several bards of celebrity. Donogh More O'Daly, Lord Abbot of Boyle in 1244, was a famous poet, emphatically styled the Ovid of Ireland, from the sweetly flowing melody of his verse.
Now we cometo Robin Adair. The real Robin was a native of Ballymena, County Antrim, and in all probability a descendant of the Des-mond Fitz-Geralds, " the mighty Geraldines."
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