School: Gort Leitreach (roll number 15960)

Location:
Gortletteragh, Co. Leitrim
Teacher:
Seosamh Mac Cionnaith
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0214, Page 349

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0214, Page 349

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  1. XML School: Gort Leitreach
  2. XML Page 349
  3. XML “The Half Set”

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  1. To you light-footed trippers that are fond of a tune
    And goes searching for fun by the light of the moon
    Go ahead and don't cease in your course to advance
    Till you meet what is termed that terrible dance
    For in all this wide world you could not admit
    A stranger display than this boorish half-set
    And in distrustful lodges the game is conceived
    And in its performance great numbers believed
    In towns and in villages you can see there
    The half-set or whole set performed with care
    Yes, befating bullies unfavoured with grace
    With instincts immoral, impious, and base(?)
    Those swaggering gehts show their armorous taste
    By catching their co-partner sometimes by the waist
    The hands are more commonly used than the feet
    Which looks most, most indelicate and indiscreet
    If memory has not my black head forsook
    I heard a tune played called the One-horned Buck
    And it was played by music men
    Yet no other tune fits this gentle half set
    When formerly dancing a gig or a reel
    The music was timed by the toe and the heel
    But now it is a pluck and a drag
    And a haul without any attention to music at all
    You need not observe either carriage or care
    You can Glaum like a maniac or hug like a bear
    You can lash like a stallion or star(?) like a buck
    Or crouch like a spaniel or bow (?) like a duck
    So what was regarded as nice in past days
    Seems now ......
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Higgins
    Gender
    Male
    Address
    Clooncose, Co. Leitrim