In the townland of Lissize, near Rathfriland, Co. Down a family named McFadden, who had for several generations been celebrated for their musical skill, especially in violin-playing, and in this family the air in question was handed down as a kind of hereditary heirloom. Like the preceeding air, this piece consists of a series of variations on a Scottish tune.
The old song had for its theme the wooing by a Scottish laird of a dowerless maid, but the air has become indissolubly linked with the modern song 'The Laird o'Cockpen'. The melody has been continuously popular in Scotland for at least two centuries. The Laird of Cockpen is said to have been a boon companion of Charles II.

O, when she cam ben, she bobbed fu' law! O, when she cam ben, she bobbed fu' law! And, when she cam ben, she kissed Cockpen, And syne she deny'd she did it at a'.

O, when she came to the parlour she curtsied full low! O, when she came to the parlour she curtsied full low! And when she came to the parlour she kissed Cockpen, And afterwards denied that she did it.

Notations are courtesy of Carolan, the Life and Times of an Irish Harper by Dónal O'Sullivan vol 1 Celtic Music Edition 1983.

Courtesy of Vivian and Jack Hennessey, IrishPage.com, 2024.
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