Thanks to this month's Irish Heritage Newsletter. BOUCICAULT, DION (1820-1890), Irish actor and playwright, was born in Dublin on the 26th of December 1820, the son of a French refugee and an Irish mother. Before he was twenty he was fortunate enough to make an immediate success as a dramatist with London Assurance, produced at Covent Garden on the 4th of March, 1841, with a cast that included Charles Matthews, William Farren, Mrs. Nesbitt and Madame Vestris. In 1853 he and his wife emigrated to America. He traveled and performed widely before moving to New York City. On his return to England in 1869, he produced at the Adelphi a dramatic adaptation of Gerald Griffin's novel, The Comedians, entitled Colleen Bawn. This play, one of the most successful of modern times, was performed in almost every city in the United Kingdom and the United States, and made its author a handsome fortune, which he lost in the management of various London theatres. Boucicault's next marked success was at the Princess' theatre in 1865 with Arrah-na-Pogue, in which he played the part of a Wicklow carman. This is where the 1800 street ballad version The Wearing Of the Green is best-known. Arrah-na-Pogue won him the reputation of being the best stage Irishman of his time. In 1875 he returned to New York City and finally made his home there. He died in New York on September 18th, 1890. THE WEARING OF THE GREEN O Paddy dear, and did you hear the news that's going round? The shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish ground; St. Patrick's day no more we'll keep, his colours can't be seen, For there's a bloody law against the wearing of the green. I met with Napper Tandy, and he took me by the hand, And he said, "How's poor old Ireland, and how does she stand?" She's the most distressful country that ever yet was seen, They are hanging men and women for the wearing of the green. Then since the colour we must wear is England's cruel red, Sure Ireland's sons will ne'er forget the blood that they have shed. You may take the shamrock from your hat and cast it on the sod, But 'twill take root and flourish there, though under foot 'tis trod. When law can stop the blades of grass from growing as they grow, And when the leaves in summer-time their verdure dare not show, Then I will change the colour that I wear in my caubeen, But 'till that day, please God, I'll stick to wearing of the green. But if at last our colour should be torn from Ireland's heart, Her sons with shame and sorrow from the dear old isle will part; I've heard a whisper of a country that lies beyond the sea, Where rich and poor stand equal in the light of freedom's day. O Erin, must we leave you, driven by a tyrant's hand? Must we ask a mother's blessing from a strange and distant land? Where the cruel cross of England shall nevermore be seen, And where, please God, we'll live and die still wearing of the green The Irish drama Arrah Na Pogue, by E. H. House and Dion Boucicoult, featured "Wearing of the Green," as arranged by S. Behrens and sung by John Edwin McDonough in 1865. This fact has led some to give composer credit to Boucicoult. -- Pat Connors, visiting Port Charlotte FL http://www.connorsgenealogy.com