Chapter 8: Scraps of Hibernian Ballads

Scraps of Hibernian Ballads Being an Eighth Extract from the Legacy of the Late Francis Purcell, P.P. of Drumcoolagh. I have observed, my dear friend, among other grievous misconceptions current among men otherwise well-informed, and which tend to degrade the pretensions of my native land, an impression that there exists no such thing as indigenous modern Irish composition deserving the name of poetry—a belief which has been thoughtlessly sustained and confirmed by the unconscionable lit…