"Croppies Lie Down" is an anonymous Protestant loyalist anti-rebel folksong dating from the 1798 rebellion in Ireland celebrating the defeat and suppression of the rebels. This song illustrates the deep divisions which existed in Ireland at the time of the 1798 rebellion. The United Kingdom was at war with revolutionary France at the time, and Irish nationalists were encouraged by rumours that France would invade the island. The highly partisan lyrics describe the rebels as treacherous cowards and those fighting them as brave defenders of the innocent. "Croppies" meant people with closely cropped hair, a fashion associated with the French revolutionaries, in contrast to the wigs favoured by the aristocracy.