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himself,and first sang "Kathleen Mavourneen" in MS. at Plymouth, where it had a regular ovation. In 1845 he left England and settled in America, where, according to an account of his career which appeared in the Eray he sang " Kathleen Mavourneen " in public at the age of eighty-nine. "Zephyrs of Love" is perhaps the only other song of his which is remembered now.
It is necessary, in referring to the songs of this period, to make some reference to Moore's Irish Melodies. Moore wrote over a hundred of these beautiful poems, adapting them to old Irish airs, which he arranged himself. " The Last Rose of Summer " was written to the tune of " The Groves of Blarney," and "The Meeting of the Waters" to the old air "The Old Head of Dennis."
"The Last Rose of Summer" was a great favourite with Catherine Hayes, the celebrated soprano, who flourished in the first half of the nineteenth century. She used to tell the story of an occasion when she sang it in the Limerick Theatre Royal, where it had an immense success. As the applause began to die down a boy in the gallery shouted, "Once again, Catherine darlin'! Sure your mother was a nightingale ! "
Moore used to sing these songs to his own accompaniment. He was the possessor of a small but very sweet voice, which Leigh Hunt once compared "to a flute softened down to |
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