"The Parting Glass" is a Scottish traditional song, often sung at the end of a gathering of friends. It was possibly the most popular parting song sung in Ireland and Scotland before Robert Burns wrote "Auld Lang Syne". The song is particularly popular in Ireland and amongst Irish communities. The earliest known printed version was as a broadside in the 1770s and it first appeared in book form in Scots Songs by Herd. The text is older than its 1770 appearance in broadside, and it was recorded in the Skene Manuscript, a collection of Scottish airs written at various dates between 1615 and 1635. It was known at least as early as 1605, when a portion of the first stanza was written in a farewell letter, as a poem now known as "Armstrong's Goodnight". The earliest known appearance of the tune today associated with this text is as a fiddle tune called "The Peacock" which is included in James Aird's A Selection of Scots, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 2 (1782). It has been recorded by The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, The Dubliners, Steeleye Span, Sinéad O'Connor and others. I learned it from The Clancy Brothers. I often use it to end a program, usually followed by a quick tune like The Temperance Reel or The Mason's Apron both of which are in this section.