A Broadside: No. 5 Third Year

Title

A Broadside: No. 5 Third Year

Subject

Ireland
Dun Emer Press
Cuala Press
A Broadside
Irish Literary Revival
The Gaelic Revival

Description

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY E. C. YEATS AT THE CUALA PRESS, CHURCHTOWN, DUNDRUM, COUNTY DUBLIN. SUBSCRIPTION TWELVE SHILLINGS A YEAR POST FREE.
300 copied only.
The woodcut on page [3] has caption: "Sarsfield". Signed by Jack B. Yeats.

Creator

E. C. Yeats
Jack B. Yeats

Publisher

Cuala Press

Date

October, 1910

Text

BOLD BELFAST SHOEMAKER
Come all you true-born Irishmen wherever you may be,
I hope you'll pay attention and listen unto me;
I'm a bold shoemaker, from Belfast town I came,
And to my great misfortune I' listed in the train.

I had a nice young sweetheart, Jane Wilson was her name,
She said it grieved her to the heart to see me in the train;
She told me if I would desert to come and let her know,
She would dress me in her own clothes that I may go to and fro.

We marched to Chapelizod like heroes stout and bold,
I'd be no more a slave to them, my officers I told;
To work on a Sunday with me did not agree,
That was the very time, brave boys, I took my liberty.

When encamped at Tipperary we under his command,
That I and my comrade one night on guard should stand;
The night was very wet and cold, with me did not agree,
That was the very night, brave boys, I took my liberty.

The night that I deserted I had no place to stay,
I went into a meadow where I laid among the hay;
I had not been long there, boys, when I arose again,
And looking all aroung me I spied six of the train.

We had a bloody battle but soon I beat them all,
For soon the dastard cowards for mercy loud did call,
Saying spare our lives brave Irewin, and we will pray for thee,
By all that's fair we will declare for you and liberty.

As for George Clerk of Carrick, he is very mean,
For the sake of forty shillings he had me taken again;
They locked me in a strong room my sorrows to deplore,
With four on every window, and six on every door.

I been thus confined I looked all around,
I leaped out of the window and knocked four of them down,
The light horse and train, my boys, they soon pursued me,
But I keep my road before them and preserved my liberty.

I next joined Father Murphy as you shall quickly hear,
And many a battle I have fought with his brave shalmaleers,
With four hundred of his brave croppy boys, we beat great Lord Mountjoy,
And at the battle of New Ross we made 8,000 fly.

I am a bold shoemaker and Irewin is my name,
I could beat as many orangemen as 'listed in a train;
I could beat as many orangemen as could stand in row,
I would make them fly before me like an arrow from a bow.

Original Format

Broadside

Files

029.pdf

Citation

E. C. Yeats and Jack B. Yeats, “A Broadside: No. 5 Third Year,” Linda Lear Center Digital Collections and Exhibitions, accessed October 12, 2024, https://lc-digital.conncoll.edu/items/show/1375.