Shan Van Voght

This excellent song (composed 1798) may be called the Irish Marseillaise. The title of it is a corruption of An t-sean bean bochd (the poor old woman—i.e. Ireland). (Halliday-Spurling: Irish Minstrelsy, p. 13.) The last verse is—

“Will Ireland then be free?

Said the Shan Van Voght? (repeat)

Yes, Ireland shall be free

From the centre to the sea,

Hurrah for liberty!

Said the Shan Van Voght”

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.