We are told, that formerly the feet (the metrical feet) of the Caoinan were much attended to; but on the decline of the Irish bards these feet were gradually neglected, and the Caoinan fell into a sort of slipshod metre amongst women.  Each province had different Caoinans, or at least different imitations of the original.  There was the Munster cry, the Ulster cry, etc.  It became an extempore performance, and every set of keepers varied the melody according to their own fancy.

It is curious to observe how customs and ceremonies degenerate.  The present Irish cry, or howl, cannot boast of such melody, nor is the funeral procession conducted with much dignity.  The crowd of people who assemble at these funerals sometimes amounts to a thousand, often to four or five hundred.  They gather as the bearers of the hearse proceed on their way, and when they pass through any village, or when they come near any houses, they begin to cry—­Oh!  Oh!  Oh!  Oh!  Oh!  Agh!  Agh! raising their notes from the first oh! to the last Agh! in a kind of mournful howl.  This gives notice to the inhabitants of the village that a funeral is passing and immediately they flock out to follow it.  In the province of Munster it is a common thing for the women to follow a funeral, to join in the universal cry with all their might and main for some time, and then to turn and ask—­’Arrah! who is it that’s dead?—­who is it we’re crying for?’ Even the poorest people have their own burying-places—­that is, spots of ground in the churchyards where they say that their ancestors have been buried ever since the wars of Ireland; and if these burial-places are ten miles from the place where a man dies, his friends and neighbours take care to carry his corpse thither.  Always one priest, often five or six priests, attend these funerals; each priest repeats a mass, for which he is paid, sometimes a shilling, sometimes half a crown, sometimes half a guinea, or a guinea, according to their circumstances, or, as they say, according to the ability of the deceased.  After the burial of any very poor man, who has left a widow or children, the priest makes what is called a collection for the widow; he goes round to every person present, and each contributes sixpence or a shilling, or what they please.  The reader will find in the note upon the word wake, more particulars respecting the conclusion of the Irish funerals.

Certain old women, who cry particularly loud and well are in great request, and, as a man said to the Editor, ’Every one would wish and be proud to have such at his funeral, or at that of his friends.’  The lower Irish are wonderfully eager to attend the funerals of their friends and relations, and they make their relationships branch out to a great extent.  The proof that a poor man has been well beloved during his life is his having a crowded funeral.  To attend a neighbour’s funeral is a cheap proof