Stories of Famous Songs, Vol 2

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STORIES OF
Irish Emigrant" or " The Woods of Caillino," Samuel Lover informs us, was written by a lady who desired only to be known by the initials L. N. R, to an old Irish air " Cailin Og" or " Colleen oge as tore"—corrupted into Callinoe —but meaning simply, young girl, or fair young girl. The air was brought to London from Ireland by the soldiers of Queen Elizabeth, who served with Essex, and became popular in the metropolis in the time of Shakespeare, who quotes, or rather misquotes, the words in Henry V., act 4, scene 4. The origin of the first title of this song, "The Woods of Caillino," has puzzled commentators for ages, the supposition being that it is derived from the burden of an old song sung by Pistol " Calen O custure me," while the reverse is the case, but this is a philo-logical question and does not concern us here. L. N. R was Mrs. Ellen Fitz-Simon, eldest daughter of Daniel O'Connell, born in Dublin, 1805, died in London, 1883. She wrote various poems for different Irish journals. Tom Moore's " Canadian Boat Song" which is quite as Irish in sentiment as any of his so-called " Melodies" —the fact being that they are just ordinary well-conceived English lyrics made to fit the old Hibernian tunes, taken bodily in many in-stances from Bunting's first collection of rescued
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