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FAMOUS SONGS
Castle Hyde, the beautiful seat of the Hyde family, on the river B lack water; but, as the writer of the memoir of Milliken says, " instead of the expected remuneration, the poor poet was driven from the gate, by order of the then proprietor, who, from the absurdity of the thing, conceived that it could be only meant as a mockery; and, in fact, a more nonsensical com-position could scarcely escape the pen of a maniac. The author, however, well satisfied of its merits, and stung with indignation and dis-appointment, vented his rage in an additional verse against the owner, and sung it wherever he had an opportunity of raising his angry voice. As satire, however gross, is but too generally well received, the song first became a favourite with the lower orders; then found its way into ballads, and at length into the convivial meetings of gentlemen." It was through hearing " Castle Hyde" at one of these social gatherings that Milliken determined to make a genuine farcical song on the lines of the original, so choosing Blarney, a fine old castle within three miles of Cork, for his subject, and retaining the rhythm and adopting the tune of Barrett's effusion—the tune which Barrett himself took possession of, it being a street melody and public property— and turned out a ludicrous parody of the ridicu-12 177 |
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