
The cap of the title means probably a nightcap, ie. a last drink before going to bed; and this tune is doubtless the 'Carolan Nightcap' mentioned by Hardimann. In one of the MSS in the Royal Irish Academy, Forde has written 'Very Scottish'. Actually the opening phrase is virtually identical with that of 'The Lass of Paddie's Mill' in Thompson's Orpheus Caledonius 1725,... O'Sullivan Vol 2, pg 112.

