“The Wexford Insurgent”
Description
"The heroes of Wexford have burst through their chains." The Shelmaliers lead the attack and trail the retreat. The Sassenach dragoons "have been trampled to death ... O! long in fair England each maiden may mourn."
Notes
This anonymous, probably mid-19th-century piece, displays the marks of the drawing-room rather than the tap-room or cottage in its language."
_Webster's Third New International Dictionary_: sassenach: "a typical Englishman or something considered typical of England -- often used disparagingly by Scots and Irish." [Derived from the same root as "Saxon" -- an ironic description, given that the first invaders of Ireland were almost all Anglo-Norman barons and their French-speaking retainers. - RBW]
The Irish baronies of Shelmalier, East and West, are in County Wexford. - BS
Historical references
- 1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule
References
- Moylan 71, "The Wexford Insurgent" (1 text, 1 tune)
- BI, Moyl071