[Includes “Ballad of Willy Reilly .. &c.” - infra.]

Most of our Irish readers must be aware that the following story is founded upon an incident in the history of the affections, which, ever since its occurrence, has occupied a large portion of popular interest. From the very first discovery of their attachment, the loves of “Willy Reilly” and his “Fair Coleen Bawn” became celebrated, and were made the burden of many a rude ballad throughout Ireland. With the exception, however, of the one which we subjoin, they have all disappeared; but that production, rude as it is, has stood its ground, and is permanently imbodied as a favorite in the ballad poetry of the people. It is not, though couched in humble and unpretending language, without a good deal of rustic vigor, and, if we may be allowed the expression, a kind of inartistic skill, furnished either by chance or nature - it is difficult to determine which. We are of opinion, however, that it owes a great portion of its permanent popularity to feelings which have been transmitted to the people, arising not so much from the direct interest of the incidents imbodied in it, as from the political spirit of the times in which they occurred. At that unhappy period the Penal Laws were in deadly and terrible operation; and we need not be surprised that a young and handsome Catholic should earn a boundless popularity, especially among those of his own creed, by the daring and resolute act of {3} taking away a Protestant heiress - the daughter of a persecutor - and whose fame, from her loveliness and accomplishments, had already become proverbial among the great body of the Irish people, and indeed throughout all classes. It was looked upon as a kind of triumph over the persecutors; and, in this instance, Cupid himself seemed to espouse the cause of the beads and rosary, and to become a tight little Catholic, The character of Sir Robert Whitecraft (a fictitious name) is drawn from traditions which were some time ago floating among the people, but which are fast fading out of the popular mind. The mode of his death, and its concomitants, the author has often heard told in his youth, around the hob, during the long winter evenings. With respect to the description of the state of the unhappy Catholics, however I may have diminished, I have not exaggerated it; and I trust that I have done ample justice to the educated Protestants of the day, many of whom not only opposed the Government openly and directly - whose object was extermination by the withering operation of oppressive laws - but threw up their commissions as justices of the peace, and refused to become the tools and abettors of religious persecution. To such noble-minded men I trust I have rendered ample justice. The following is the celebrated ballad of “Willy Reilly,” which is still sung, and will long continue to be sung, at many a hearth in Ireland: -

This ballad I found in a state of wretched disorder. It passed from one individual to another by ear alone; and the inconsecutive position of the verses, occasioned by inaccuracy of memory and ignorance, has sadly detracted from its genuine force. As it existed in the oral versions of the populace, the narrative was grossly at variance with the regular progress of circumstances which characterize a trial of any kind, but especially such a trial as that which it undertakes to describe. The individuals concerned in it, for instance, are made to speak out of place; and it would appear, from all the versions that I have heard, as if every {6} stanza was assigned its position by lot. This fact, however, I have just accounted for and remedied, by having restored them to their original places, so that the vigorous but rustic bard is not answerable for the confusion to which unprinted poetry, sung by an uneducated people, is liable. As the ballad now stands, the character of the poet is satisfactorily vindicated; and the disorder which crept in during the course of time, though strongly calculated to weaken its influence, has never been able to injure its fame. This is a high honor to its composer, and proves him well worthy of the popularity which, under such adverse circumstances, has taken Eo firm a hold of the peasant feeling, and survived so long.

The author trusts that he has avoided, as far as the truthful treatment of his subject would enable him, the expression of any political sentiment calculated to give offence to any party - an attempt of singular difficulty in a country so miserably divided upon religious feeling as this. The experience of centuries should teach statesmen and legislators that persecution, on account of creed and conscience, is not only bad feeling, but worse policy; and if the author, in these pages, has succeeded in conveying this self-evident truth to his readers, he will rest satisfied with that result, however severely the demerits of his work may be censured upon purely literary grounds. One thing may be said in his defence - that it was utterly impossible to dissociate the loves of this celebrated couple from the condition of the country, and the operation of the merciless laws which prevailed against the Catholics in their day. Had the lovers both been Catholics, or both been Protestants, this might have been avoided; but, as political and religious matters then stood, to omit the state and condition of society which resulted from them, would be somewhat like leaving the character of Hamlet out of the tragedy. {7}

As the work was first written, I described a good many of the Catholic priests of the day as disguised in female apparel; but on discovering that there exists an ecclesiastical regulation or canon forbidding -any priest, under whatever persecution or pressure, to assume such apparel for the purpose of disguising his person or saving his life, I of course changed that portion of the matter, although a layman might well be pardoned for his ignorance of an ecclesiastical statute, which, except in very rare cases, can be known only to ecclesiastics themselves. I retain one instance, however, of this description, which I ascribe to Hennessy, the degraded friar, who is an historical character, and who wrought a vast weight of evil, as an informer, against the Catholic priesthood of Ireland, both regular and secular.

With respect to the family name of the heroine and her father, I have adopted both the popular pronunciation and orthography, instead of the real. I give it simply as I found. it in the ballad, and as I always heard it pronounced by the people; in the first place, from reluctance, by writing it accurately, to give offence to that portion of this highly respectable family which still exists; and in the next - from a disinclination to disturb the original impressions made on the popular mind by the ballad and the traditions associated with it. So far as the traditions go, there was nothing connected with the heroine of which her descendants need feel ashamed. If it had been otherwise, her memory never would have been enshrined in the affections of the Irish people for each an unusual period of time.

Dublin, February, 1855.