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FAMOUS SONGS
was so great a favourite that a London paper at the time of its appearance called it the " National Irish Poem." It was written by Richard Alfred Milliken, the author of much verse. Perhaps no song, composed as it was in a spirit of fun in ridicule of an absurd ditty called " Castle Hydef" ever gained such unexpected celebrity before or since. "Blarney Castle" and the "Blarney Stone" have had their share of patronage, and so has the " City of Cork." " The Town of Passage," "The Groves of Blackpool," "The Humours of Donnybrook Fair," " The Boys of Kilkenny," the "Hermit of Killarney," "The Silvery Lee," and " The Rakes of Mallow," are a few of the songs that will be found in Croker's entertaining "Songs of Ireland" which have perhaps more than a local interest
That Dublin street song, " The Night before Larry was Stretched," has caused much con-troversy as to the authorship of the words. Alfred Percival Graves says, in songs of " Irish Wit and Humour," that he has indisputable evidence that the piece was from the pen of William Maher, and not from Dean Burrowes. In "Ireland Ninety Years Ago," 1876, there appears the following in support of this con-tention: "The celebrated song composed on him (Lambert) has acquired a lasting fame, not
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