112
NOTES AND QUERIES. [HS.V.FKI, 10,1012.
The history of this old song, its music,
and the meaning of the refrain have
been carefully treated in ' N. & Q.,'
2 S. i. 89 ; 3 S. vii. 475 ; viii. 13 ; 5 S. vii.
428 ; viii. 37 ; 7 S. xi. 227, 252, 296, 357,
417 ; xii. 95. Some fanciful explanations
of the words " lillibullero, bullen-a-la," have
been advanced, but the ' N.E.D.' says they
are " unmeaning." No mention is made of
any use of them against Jews in the eighteenth
century, but no doubt they would be added
as a chorus to any popular street-song of
the day. The original version is printed at
2 S. i. 90. W. C. B.
[Since the reference is to a date so far back, we print below a version kindly furnished by another correspondent. It differs in spelling from the one referred to, and does not give the somewhat inferior verses which were later added to the song.]
W. Wilkins's ' Political Ballads ' (Long- mans, 1860) has the following account of ' Lilli Burlero ':
" This famous doggerel ballad, written on the occasion of General Dick Talbot being created Earl of Tyrconnel, and nominated by James II. to the Lieutenancy of Ireland in 1686-8, is attributed to Lord Whartpn in a small pamphlet entitled ' A True Eelation of the Several Facts and Circumstances of the Intended Riot and Tumult on Queen Elizabeth's Birthday,' &c., London, 1712, wherein it is said ' a late Vice-roy [of Ireland] who has so often boasted himself upon his talent for mischief, invention, lying, and for making a certain Lilli Burlero song ; with which, if you will believe himself, he sung a deluded Prince out of Three Kingdoms.' "
Ho ! brodcr Teague, dost hear de decree ?
Lilli Burlero, bullen a-la. Dat we shall have a new deputie,
Lilli Burlero, bullen a-la.
Lero, lero, lilli Burlero, lero lero, bullen a-la. Lero, lero, lilli Burlero, lero lero, bullen a-la.
Ho ! by Shaint Tyburn, it is de Talbote,
Lilli, &c. And he will cut de Englishman's troate,
Lilli, &c.
Dough by my shoul de English do praat,
Lilli, &c. De law 's on dare side, and Creish knows what,
Lilli, &c.
But if dispence do come from de Pope,
Lilli, &c. We '11 hang Magna Charta and dem in a rope,
Lilli, &c.
For de good Talbot is made a lord,
Lilli, &c. And with brave lads is coming abroad,
Lilli, &c.
Who all in France have taken a sware,
Lilli, &c. Dat dey will have no Protestant he--
Lilli, &c.
Ara ! but why does he stay behind ?
Lilli, &c. Ho ! by my shoul 'tis a protestant wind,
Lilli, &c.
But see de Tyrconnel is now come ashore,
Lilli, &c. And we shall have commissions gillore,
Lilli, &c.
And he dat will not go to de mass,
Lilli, &c. Shall be turn out, and look like an ass,
Lilli, &c. Now, now de heretics all go down,
Lilli, &c.
By Chris and Shaint Patric, de nation 'e our own,
Lilli, &c. Dare was an old prophecy found in a bog,
Lilli, &c. " Ireland shall be rul'd by an ass and a dog,"
Lilli, &c. And now dis prophecy is come to pass,
Lilli, &c. For Talbot 's de dog, and James is de ass.
Lilli, &c.
Wilkins notes: "'Lilli Burlero' and ' Bullen-a-la ' are said to have been the words of distinction used among the Irish Papists in their massacre of the Protestants in 1641." THTJRSTAST PETER.
Redruth.
ST. AGNES : FOLK-LORE (11 S. v. 47).
The eve of St. Agnes, the virgin -martyr who
suffered under Diocletian, is 20 January.
Leigh Hunt, in his London Journal for 21 Jan., 1835, printed the whole of Keats's poem, with a running commentary between the stanzas. " The superstition," he says,
" is (for we believe it is still to be found) that by taking certain measures of divination, damsels may get a sight of their future husbands in a dream. The ordinary process seems to have been by fasting. Aubrey (as quoted in Brand's ' Popular Antiquities ' ) mentions another, which is, to take a row of pins, and pull them out one by one, saying a Pater-noster ; after which, upon going to bed, the dream is sure to ensue. Brand quotes Ben Jonson :
And on sweet St. Agnes' night Please you with promised sight Some of husbands, some of lovers, Which an empty dream discovers. But another poet has now taken up the creed in good poetic earnest ; and if the superstition should go out in every other respect, in his rich a nd loving pages it will live for ever."
A. R. BAYLEY.
The feast of St. Agnes was formerly held as in a special degree a holiday for women. A girl might take a row of pins, and, plucking
