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FAMOUS SONGS
shorn, a song was written by one of their bards in which an Irish virgin is made to give the preference to her dear Coulin (or the youth with the flowing locks) before all strangers (by which the English were meant) or those who wore their habits. But the Act in question was passed as early as A.D. 1295, to which remote period the composition of the air and words is consequently referable. It recites that " the English, being in a manner degenerative, have of late clothed themselves in Irish raiment, and having had their heads half shaved, nourish and prolong the hair from the back of the head, calling it Culan, conforming to the Irish as well in face and aspect as in dress, whereby it often-times happens that certain English, being mis-taken for Irishmen are slain, albeit that the slay-ing of an Englishman and the slaying of an Irishman are crimes which demand different modes of punishment, by reason whereof great cause of enmity and rancour is generated amongst many persons, and the kinsmen of the slayer as well as the slain do frequently fall at feud/' Of the song the air alone was handed down, and until about the year 1641 went word-less. " Cean Dubh Deelish," which may be translated into " Lavely maid with the raven locks," is essentially Irish and highly popular
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