The Irish Lady
Lyrics from a poem by Sir Humphry Davy set to music by Ralph Dunstan and published in The Cornish Song Book: Lyver Canow Kernewek, 1929
Dunstan’s notes: The Irish Lady is a curiously-shaped rock near the Land’s End. There is a tradition that ” in days long ago a ship was wrecked at night on this rock, and that all on board perished save an Irish lady, who was seen in the morning sitting on the top of a rock. The storm raged incessantly; days and nights passed away and the watchers the shore saw at length that the dying woman’s sufferings were at an end and her body was washed into the sea. Often since then, when the winds and waves are high, the fishermen see a lady tranquilly seated on the rock with a rose in her mouth.” The words are from a poem by Sir Humphry Davy; b. Penzance. December 17, 1778 ; d. Geneva, May 28, 1829. The setting, by Dr. Ralph Dunstan. was composed for the “Humphry Davy Centenary” at Pcnzance,
June 8, 1929. and was sung by Mr. Tom Robins of Perranporth, with Violin Obbligato by Mr. G. H. Shakerly of Penzance.
See also
The Cornish Song Book: Lyver Canow Kernewek