Thi;,; v~rbiou uf .lhe l.oallacJ wa:> gfvun, b.1· .Mr. J\J1drt:w ~foe Ill· ty·:e, to "Deocaidhe" the author of ·an ex<'ellent series of articles which appeared, some yea:·s ago, in "The People's Press" under the title "Wild West DGnegal". HDeocaidhe" also ohtainec! the foDowing interesting bibliozraphical details from ~fr. Mac lntyre :- "T!ie ballad \\ ai; composed fifty-nine or s'.x '.y yea:·s ago by Nia!: Mac Gioila Bh:ighde. It was not published until som:: ;; ca1s la ter. It is sung to ~ ve::y plaintive and charac ~eristic old lrisil air which was fi:·st put to words hY that fine t:aditional Si!1ge:, Anton Mbac A Bhaird of Kno:.1mafaugher (who i3 still happil,1· with u;;). Nia:l the at.:thcr, is now but a few :1e:us dead. "The ;\ il· is recorded :a 'Songs of l.lladh' by the rate Hel'be.rt Hughes - a voh1me publi:>hed scme forty odd years ago. Expert i!'l Irish music as he undoubtedly was, Hughes despaired ot notin~ foe air exactly aE> he had heard it sung, and so it wa5 printed in his 'Songs of {)]a,dh' without ha:s to divide the time. "The scng wa~ ..sung to Hughes bi.: a Portnahlagh fisherman, Jamie ~IcGinl ey of Pa1,kmore, on hoar::! the lu,g~er •St. Ambrnse' on the occasion of an excursion to Tory I~land. Among the passengers were Francis Joseph Bi.,ggar·. Herbert and Fred Hui?hP.s and several others from RP.lfa.st. "Tlie hallad was first printed by Standish O'Grady in his 'All Ireland Review' a little over 404. furl .'· yc<tL; <1;.:o. Mr. O'Gr<v.ly was ~ta.v·ing in John Mul'an's of B.·E:gny at the tim~. While there h~~ met Niall-ai:d also puh!'.sh:d another of hi; ballads, viz. 'Cha:·llc of Feymore'. '' The rcman::e as narated in the ba:Iad is ·substantially similar to that w.rich now p.a.sses as the traditional version of the tragedy. The following biographical notices of the, sui;>posed, hero. Turl-Ogh Og O'Boyle. .of Faugher c.'.! stle, near Creeslough, are now prest:nted. not for the purposed of debunking the romance. but, rn:ely. in the interests of historical truth. Turlogh Og O'Boyle, believed to be the builder of the castle of Faugher, was the son of Teig Og. head of the O'Boyle clann, who died in the year 1607. O'Boyle's first wife, ,Mary, daughter of Conn O'Donnell, (? father of Sir Niall (;arbh). died in the yeaT 1601 rand, his second wife, "the L.ad.v Hcnoria Burke," survive::l him. That Turl:Jgh Og. O'Boyle was t'he son of O'Boyle's first marriage is evident from the fact trat he 1was old enough to obtain :and to enter into possession of !2JOO aC'res of J.and in the precinct of Doe in 1610/11. By 1611 Carew report:::d to his royal ma~ ter that" . . . Tyrlagh O'Boyle, ;With servants and followers T€- moved (from Kiltoorish) to the proportion assigned to him" and 1by 1618-1619 Ca.ptain Pyhnar was able to repo1 t that" . ; . . Tyrlogh Roe (!"is son Torlogh . Og. was born some time previously and Tu:logh Og, senior, became Turlogh Roe) hath 2,000 acres called Carrowbleagh, .and Comas. He hath built a good Bawn and a
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