The following poem is quoted without a title in an article "Mr. Sullivan's Poems"—a review of "Poems" by Timothy Daniel Sullivan (Dublin: A. M. Sullivan, 1868) in Dublin University Magazine, Vol. 74 (No. 443, Nov., 1869), page 556:


Forth went the royal mandate to all the British lands,
Saying, "His shall be One Thousand Pounds who brings unto Our hands
A wicked Irish rebel, five feet seven inches high,
Light haired, and fresh complexioned, who winks with his left eye."*

Policemen and detectives, some soldiers too, I'm told,
And many a hungry Orangeman, looked out to clutch the gold;
And while they walked, or drank, or talked, kept watching on the sly
For the wicked Irish rebel who winked with his left eye.

A sentry at Cork Barracks heard a thunder at the gate,
At first he moved to open it, then thought it better wait;
He stept unto a loophole and took a quiet spy,
And saw outside a fresh broad face that winked with its left eye!

He flung the wicket open, and through the space there came,
With heavy tread, what seemed to he a portly Dutch-built dame;
She bore a pair of milk cans, but whene'er she made reply
To the questions of the sentry, she winked with her left eye!

He locked her in the guard-room, and shouted out aloud,
Till he gathered half the garrison around him in a crowd;
"All right!" he cried, "I have him fast; he's five feet seven high,
Light haired, and fresh complexioned, and he winks with his left eye!"

"Haw!" said a British officer, "unbar the door, till we
Shall look upon the prisoner, and judge if it be he."
They brought her out, she gazed about, began to scream and cry—
Still, when she raised her streaming face, she winked with her left eye!

Then spoke the British officer, while squinting through his glass,
Saying, "Snooks, I think 'tis just as well to let this person pass.
But tell us, madam, ere you go, what is the reason why,
Whene'er you look one in the face, you wink with your left eye."

She said, "Your honour's glory, sure I'll tell you, as I'm bid:
That eye is sore this month and more, and here upon the lid,
Last week there grew—dear knows 'tis true—a bitter ugly stye,
And, your honour, that's the reason why I wink with my left eye."

MORAL.

Now all you loyal subjects who love the British Crown,
Take warning by this milkwoman that lives in Cork's own town;
If you are wise, whene'er your eyes are open, day or night,
Keep staring through your left and do your winking with the right.


* "A habit of closing his left eye when speaking" was noted in the descriptions of James Stephens, published by the Government after his escape from Richmond Prison. The incidents mentioned in the foregoing ballad were narrated in one of the Cork papers.