A Broadside: No. 8 Sixth Year

A Broadside: No. 8 Sixth Year

Ireland

Cuala Press

A Broadside

Irish Literary Revival

The Gaelic Revival

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY E. C. YEATS AT THE CUALA PRESS, CHURCHTOWN, DUNDRUM, COUNTY DUBLIN. SUBSCRIPTION TWELVE SHILLINGS A YEAR POST FREE.
300 copies only.

The woodcut on page [3] has caption: "Sicilian Marionettes". signed by Jack B. Yeats.

E. C. Yeats

Jack B. Yeats

Cuala Press

January, 1914

BRENNAN ON THE MOOR
It's of a fearless highwayman a story I will tell,
His name was WIllie Brennan and in Ireland he did dwell;
And in the Kilworth mountains he commenced his wild career,
And many a wealthy gentleman before him shook with fear,
Brennan on the Moor.

A brace of loaded pistols he carried night and day,
He never robbed a poor man upon the king's highway;
But what he'd taken from the rich, like Turpin and Black Bess,
He always did divide it with the widow in distress.

One night he robbed a man of the name of Pedlar Bawn,
They travelling on together till the day began to dawn;
The pedlar seeing his money gone, likewise his watch and chain,
He at once encountered Brennan and robbed him back again.

When Brennan saw the pedlar was as good a man as he
He took him on the highway his companion for to be;
The pedlar threw away his pack without any more delay,
And proved a faithful comrade until his dying day.

One day upon the highways as Willie he sat down
He met the Mayor of Cashel a mile outside the town;
The Mayor he knew his features- 'I think young man,' says he,
'Your name is Willie Brennan, you must come along with me.'

Now Brennan's wife had gone to town provisions for to buy,
When she saw her Willie taken she began to weep and cry;
Says he, 'Give me that tenpenny;' as soon as Willie spoke
She handed him a blunderbuss from underneath her cloak.

Then with this loaded blunderbuss, the truth I will unfold,
He made the Mayor to tremble and he robbed him of his gold;
One hundred pounds was offered for his apprehension there,
And he, with his horse and saddle, to the mountains did repair.

Then Brennan being an outlaw, upon the mountains high,
Where cavalry and infantry to take him they did try;
He laughed at them with scorn, until at length, it's said,
By a false-hearted young man he was basely betrayed.

In the County Tipperary, in a place they call Clonmore,
Willie Brennan and his comrade that day did suffer sore;
He lay amongst the fern, which was thick upon the field,
And nine wounds he did receive before that he did yield.

Then Brennan and his comrade, knowing they were betrayed,
He with the mounted cavalry a noble battle made,
He lost his foremost finger, which was shot off by a ball,
So Brennan and his comrade they were taken after all.

So they were taken prisoners, in irons they were bound,
And conveyed to Clonmel gaol; strong walls did them surround;
They were tried and found guilty, the judge made this reply,
'for robbing on the King's highway you're both condemned to die.'

Farewell unto my wife and to my children three,
Likewise my aged father, he may shed tears for me;
And for my loving mother, who tore her grey locks and cried,
Saying: 'I wish Willie Brennan in your cradle you had died.'

Broadside