must feel and understand that rapid fluctuation of spirits, that unaccountable mixture of gloom and levity, which composes the character of my countrymen, and has deeply tinged their Music. Even in their liveliest strains we find some melancholy note intrude, some minor Third or flat Seventh-which throws its shade as it passes, and makes even mirth interesting. If BURNS had been an Irishman, (and I would willingly give up all our claims upon OsSIAN for him,) his heart would have been proud of such music, and his genius would have made it immortal.

"Another difficulty (which is, however, purely mechanical) arises from the irregular structure of many of those airs, and the lawless kind of metre which it will in consequence be necessary to adapt to them. In these instances the Poet must write not to the eye, but to the ear; and must be content to have his verses of that description which CICERO mentions, Quos si cantu spoliaveris, nuda remanebit oratio. That beautiful air, "The Twisting of the Rope," which has all the romantic character of the Swiss Ranz des Vaches, is one of those wild and sentimental rakes, which it will not be very easy to tie down in sober wedlock with Poetry. However, notwithstanding all these difficulties, and the very little talent I can bring to surmount them, the design appears to me so truly National, that I shall feel much pleasure in giving it all the assistance in my power."

ADVERTISEMENT

TO

THE THIRD NUMBER.

IN presenting the Third Number of this Work to the public, W. POWER begs leave to offer his acknowledgments for the very liberal patronage with which it has been honoured; and to express a hope that the unabated zeal of those who have hitherto so admirably conducted it, will enable him to continue it through many future Numbers with equal spirit, variety, and taste. The stock of popular Melodies is far from exhausted; and there is still in reserve an abundance of beautiful Airs, which call upon Mr. MOORE, in the language he so well understands, to save them from the oblivion to which they are hastening.

W. POWER respectfully trusts he will not be thought presumptuous in saying, that he feels proud, as an Irishman, in even the very subordinate share which he can claim in promoting a Work so creditable to the talents of the country-a Work which, from the spirit of nationality it breathes, will

do more, he is convinced, towards liberalizing the feelings of society, and producing that brotherhood of sentiment which it is so much our interest to cherish, than could ever be effected by the arguments of wise, but uninteresting, politicians.

LETTER

TO THE MARCHIONESS DOWAGER OF DONEGAL,

PREFIXED

TO THE THIRD NUMBER.

WHILE the Publishers of these Melodies very pro perly inscribes them to the Nobility and Gentry of Ireland in general, I have much pleasure in selecting one from that number, to whom my share of the Work is particularly dedicated.—Though your Ladyship has been so long absent from Ireland, I know that you remember it well and warmly-that you have not allowed the charm of English society, like the taste of the lotus, to produce oblivion of your coun try, but that even the humble tribute which I offer derives its chief claim upon your interest from the appeal which it makes to your patriotism. Indeed, absence, however fatal to some affections of the heart,

rather strengthens our love for the land where we are born; and Ireland is the country of all others, which an exile must remember with enthusiasm. Those few darker and less amiable traits, with which bigotry and misrule have stained her character, and which are too apt to disgust us upon a nearer intercourse, become softened at a distance, or altogether invisible; and nothing is remembered but her virtues and her misfortunes-the zeal with which she has always lov. ed liberty, and the barbarous policy which has always withheld it from her-the ease with which her gen. erous spirit might be conciliated, and the cruel ingenuity which has been exerted to "wring her into undutifulness."*

It has often been remarked, and oftener felt, that our music is the truest of all comments upon our history. The tone of defiance, succeeded by the languor of despondency-a burst of turbulence dying away into softness-the sorrows of one moment lost in the levity of the next-and all that romantic mixture of mirth and sadness, which is naturally produced by the efforts of a lively temperament, to shake off, or forget the wrongs which lie upon it: such are the features of our history and character, which we find strongly and faithfully reflected in our music; and there are many airs which, I think, it is difficult to listen to, without recalling some period or event to which their expression seems peculiarly applicable. Sometimes, when the strain is open and spirited, yet

*A phrase which occurs in a letter from the Earl of Desmond to the Earl of Ormond, in Elizabeth's time.-Serinia Sucra, as quoted by Curry.