40
IRISH MELODIES.
LET ERIN REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD.
I.
Let Erin remember the days of old,
Ere her faithless sous betray'd her;
When Malachi wore the collar of gold*[1],
Which he won from her proud invader;
When her kings, with standard of green unfurl'd
Led the Red-Branch Knights to danger†[2];
Ere the emerald gem of the western world
Was set in the crown of a stranger.
- ↑ "This brought on an encounter between Malachi (the Monarch of Ireland in the tenth century) and the Danes, in which Malachi defeated two of their champions, whom he encountered successively hand to hand, taking a collar of gold from the neck of one, and carrying off the sword of the other, as trophies of his victory." Warner's History of Ireland, Vol. 1. Book 9.
- ↑ "Military orders of knights were very early established in Ireland; long before the birth of Christ we find an hereditary order of Chivalry in Ulster, called Curaidhe na Craoibhe ruadh, or the knights of the Red Branch, from their chief seat in Emania, adjoiniug to the palace of the Ulster kings, called Teagh na Craoibhe ruadh, or the Academy of the Bed Branch; and contiguous to which was a large hospital, founded for the sick knights and soldiers, called Bron-bhearg, or the house of the sorrowful soldier." O'Halloran's Introduction, &c. Part I. Chap. 5.
