The tune appears in a number of English and Scottish music manuscripts and printed collections of the early 19th century, but the earliest appearance of the melody was printed as “Irish Air from Robin Hood” in Thompson's Hibernian Muse (1786). The title comes from a song by Thomas Moore in 1867. The tune is used as the Quick March of the Royal Irish Constabulary, played at recruits passing out parades, and later adopted by the Royal Ulster Constabulary.