srxrmemeneeenal 
1888.] 283 (Mooney. 
ceremony. It may be remarkd, in parenthesis, that, with an Irishman, 
none rhymes with alone, while again rhymes with remain. 
The White Cockade brings up to memory one of the most dramatic 
events in the sad history of Ireland, when, after the fall of Limerick in 
1691, its heroic defenders, abandond by the cowardly James II, and disap- 
pointed in their hopes of French assistance, spurnd the profferd service in 
the army of the conqueror, and almost the entire body of fourteen thou- 
sand of the flower of Irish manhood turnd their backs on their nativ land 
forever to follow the white cockade of the kings of France. The game is 
thus described by Carleton: ‘‘The man that leads the sports places them 
all on their seats—gets from some of the girls a white handkerchief, which 
he ties round his hat as you would tie a piece of mourning. He then 
walks round them two or three times, singing : 
Will you list and come with me, fair maid? 
Will you list and come with me, fair maid? 
Will you list and come with me, fair maid? 
And follow the lad with the white cockade? 
When he sings this he takes off his hat and puts it on the head of the girl 
he likes best, who rises up and puts her arm round him, and then both go 
about in the same way, singing the same words. She then puts the hat 
on some young man, who gets up and goes round with them, singing as 
before. He next puts it on the girl he loves best, who, after singing and 
going round in the same manner, puts it on another, and he on Ais sweet- 
heart, and soon. This is called the White Cockade. When it’s all over, 
that is, when every young man has pitched upon the, girl that he wishes 
to be his sweetheart they sit down and sing songs and court, as they 
did at the marrying.’’* 
Investigation would probably show that some of these games wer 
brought over from the neighboring island by the Scotch and English set- 
tlers in the north. While the young folks ar indulging in such plays the 
older ones look on or pass the time in singing and telling stories. It 
was formerly considered an honor to be known as ‘a great hand at a 
wake,’’ but the tendency of late years is to eliminate the more boisterous 
features and to confine the proceedings to the less noisy games and to 
story-telling. Of course the immediate friends of the deceasd do not 
join in the merriment, but they ar sometimes compeld to laugh in spite of 
themselvs, even through their tears, and, as before stated, the original pur- 
pose of funeral games seems to hav been to banish the grief of the survi- 
vors. All this does not argue an unfeeling nature. On the contrary, the 
sorrow is deep in their hearts, for Irish affection is strong and constant, 
and outlasts life itself, as is shown by the fact that second marriages ar 
universally abhord and almost unknown in Ireland. 
No one should take a child in his arms after being at a wake, without 
* Wm. Carleton, ‘‘ Larry M’Farland’s Wake,’’ in Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasan- 
try, i, 258-9, London, 1853. 
