Irish Set Dancing

Famous quotes containing the words irish, set and/or dancing:

    “O Paddy dear, an’ did ye hear the news that’s goin’ round?
    The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground!
    No more Saint Patrick’s Day we’ll keep, his colour can’t be seen,
    For there’s a cruel law agin the wearin’ o’ the Green!”
    —Unknown. The Wearing of the Green (l. 37–40)

    “O these encounterers, so glib of tongue,
    That give a coasting welcome ere it comes,
    And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts
    To every ticklish reader! Set them down
    For sluttish spoils of opportunity
    And daughters of the game.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “We have dancing ... from soon after sundown until a few minutes after nine o’clock.... Occasionally the boys who play the female partners in the dances exercise their ingenuity in dressing to look as girlish as possible. In the absence of lady duds they use leaves, and the leaf-clad beauties often look very pretty and always odd enough.”
    —Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)