It's a magnificent song. I think Tim Lyons made one of the first recordings of it, and Dick Gaughan took his superb version from him. If you have evidence of the song from 1828 you're not going to find anything much earlier,obviously. I uploaded my own version to the Covideo facebook site a few weeks ago - to resounding indifference! Never mind. It doesnt seem pompous to me - remembering the words I find quite easy because of the powerful imagery. I was very interested to read some of this here about the song too. Yes "old Frederick" is Fred the Great and the way the song begins echoes a common theme in Napoleonic ballads - the Bonny Bunch of Roses does the same thing - but weren't the Wild Geese from an earlier time (17th or 18th century)? Nevertheless - very interesting that a song like this,championing Bonaparte, had such popular support,even in Ireland. By the time of his death, most people were disillusioned about his liberal motives.