CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MUSIC 
 
Cornell University Library 
 ML 2800.F5S 
 
 Stories of famous songs, 
 
 II 
 
 3 1924 022 375 277 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022375277 
 
STORIES OF FAMOUS SONGS 
 
STORIES OF 
 
 FAMOUS SONGS 
 
 BY 
 
 S. J. ADAIR FITZ-GERALD 
 
 'All great song has been sincere song." 
 
 RUSKIN. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 JOHN C. NIMMO 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
 
 MDCCCXCVIII 
 
CHISWICK PRESS I — CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 
 
TO MY FRIEND AND FELLOW-CRAFTSMAN 
 
 S. O. LLOYD. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction xi 
 
 I 
 
 12 
 26 
 40 
 
 55 
 67 
 
 I. "Home, Sweet Home" . 
 II. "Robin Adair and Eileen Aroon" 
 
 III. "AuLD Lang Syne" 
 
 IV. "La Marseillaise" 
 V. "The Mistletoe Bough" 
 
 VI. "Ever of Thee" .... 
 
 VII. " Die Wacht am Rhein," " Die Schwert- 
 
 LiED," " Kutschke Lied," and other 
 
 German Songs 81 
 
 VIII. The "Star-Spangled Banner," "Yankee 
 
 Doodle," and other American Songs . 96 
 IX. "Auld Robin Gray," and "Les Con- 
 
 stantes Amours d'Alix etd' Alexis" 117 
 X. "Kathleen Mavourneen" and "ELatty- 
 
 Avourneen" 132 
 
 XL "The Last Rose of Summer," "The 
 Bells of Shandon," and " The Exile 
 
 of Erin" 146 
 
 XII. Concerning some Favourite Songs . 160 
 
 "Blondel," " Annabel Lee," " My Pretty Jane," 
 "The Lass of Richmond Hill," "Sally in our 
 Alley," "The Roast Beef of Old England," 
 " Hearts of Oak," and " Rule Britannia." 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 XIII. Henry Russell's Songs . . • 179 
 
 "Woodman spare that Tree," "Cheer, Boys, 
 Cheer," "A Good Time Coming," "A Life on 
 the Ocean Wave," "Come where my Love lies 
 Dreaming," " Rest, Troubled Heart," " The Gipsy 
 Countess," and " The Beating of my own Heart." 
 
 XIV. About some more Favourite Songs . 193 
 
 "The Postman's Knock," " Rousseau's Dream," 
 "The Old Hundredth," "The Savoy," "There 
 is a Happy Land," " Little Drops of Water," 
 "The Vicar of Bray," " Lilliburlero," "Ye Ma- 
 riners of England," "Ye Gentlemen of England," 
 " Excelsior," " The Old Clock on the Stairs," and 
 "The Village Blacksmith." 
 
 XV. Some Old Songs and Some New . .213 
 
 "Where are you going my Pretty Maid?" 
 "The British Grenadiers," "Why are you wan- 
 dering here, I pray," " Though Lost to Sight to 
 Memory Dear," "The Jolly Miller," "Sands o' 
 Dee," " My Lodging is on the Cold Ground," 
 " Cherry Ripe," " If Doughty Deeds,^ " Down 
 among the Dead Men," "Black Ey'd Susan," 
 " How stands the Glass Around," " D'ye ken 
 John Peel?" "Tom Moody," "I'll hang my Harp 
 on the Willow Tree," "The Song of the Shirt," 
 "The Pauper's Drive," "The Ivy Green," "The 
 Lost Chord," " Once Again," " The Vagabond," 
 "Some Day." 
 
 XVI. Some Continental Songs . . -235 
 
 Swedish Songs. Hungarian Songs. Austrian 
 Songs. "God Preserve the Emperor," "Mal- 
 brouk," " Carmagnole," " Madame Veto," " Char- 
 mante Gabrielle," "Vive Henri Quatre," "Carnaval 
 
CONTENTS. ix 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 de Venise," " Partant pour la Syne," " Heil Dir 
 im Siegeskranz," " Ich bin ein Preusse," Two 
 Thuringian Songs, " Kanapee Lied," " Ein Feste 
 Burg," " Adelaide." 
 
 XVII. Concerning some Welsh Songs . .270 
 
 "The Dying Bard," "Sweet Richard," "The 
 Bard's Love," "Idle Days in Summer Time," 
 " Watching the Wheat," " Ffarwel iti Peggy ban," 
 " March of the Men of Harlech," " Those 
 Evening Bells," "All through the Night," "Poor 
 Mary Ann," "Maid of Mona's Isle," "Why 
 Lingers thy Gaze," "The Black Monk," "The 
 Cambrian Plume," " Morva Rhuddlan," " David 
 of the White Rock," " The Sorrows of Memory," 
 " Winifreda," and " St. David's Day." 
 
 XVIII. Some Scottish Songs . . . .291 
 
 " O Nanny wilt thou gang with me ? " " The 
 Roof of Straw," "Bonnie Dundee," "John Ander- 
 son, my Jo," " Maggie Lauder," " Jessie the 
 Flower o' Dunblane," "Jeannie Morrison," "Wee 
 WiUie Winkie," "The Flowers of the Forest," 
 " Were na my Heart licht I would Dee," " And ye 
 shall walk in Silk Attire," " Huntingtower," " Will 
 ye no come back to me," " An thou wert my ain 
 thing," " Lass o' Patie's Mill," " There's nae Luck 
 about the House," " Logie o' Buchan," " Lochaber 
 no more," " Within a Mile of Edinburgh Town," 
 " Blue Bonnets over the Border," " Annie Laurie,'* 
 " Logan Water," " Scots wha Hae," " Blue Bells 
 of Scotland," "Donald Dhu," "Roy's Wife of 
 Aldivalloch," " Highland Mary," " Duncan Gray," 
 " Lass o' Gowrie," " Comin' through the Rye," 
 "Cromlet's Lilt," "Waly, Waly," "Ye Banks 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 and Braes," "Onagh's Waterfall," "Farewell to 
 Ayrshire," and "Take your old Cloak about 
 Thee." 
 
 XIX. Irish Songs, Ancient and Modern . 329 
 General Remarks. "The Harp that once 
 through Tara's Halls," "Bridget Cruise," The 
 Last Irish Bard, " The Hawk of Bally Shannon," 
 "Bumper, Squire Jones," " Maggy Laidir," " Planxty 
 Davis," "The Brown Thorn," "Molly Astore," 
 "Banna's Banks," "Coolin'," "Summer is Coming," 
 Jacobite Songs. " Hy-Brasil," " Waiting for the 
 May," "Roisin Dhu," The Irish Keen, "Over 
 the Hills and Far away," "The White Cockade," 
 " The Campbells are Coming," " The Girl I left 
 Behind me," " I am Asleep," " The Blackbird," 
 " St. Patrick's Day," " St. Patrick of Ireland," 
 " St. Patrick was a Gentleman," " The Shamrock," 
 "The Sprig of Shillelah," "The Night before 
 Larry was Stretched," " Cruiskin Lawn," " The 
 Shan Van Voght," " Grana Weal," " Twisting of 
 the Rope," "The Dear Irish Boy," "Canadian 
 Boat Song." Moore's Songs, "Groves of Blarney," 
 "Terence's Farewell," "Lord Mayo," "The Monks 
 of the Screw," " Rory O'More," " Garryowen," 
 " Wearing of the Green," and Street Songs. 
 
 XX. The National Anthem, "God Save the 
 
 Queen." 384 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 This work is the practical proof of some fifteen 
 years' agreeable labour in the fields of lyric 
 literature and song lore. These histories, as far 
 as possible accurate, of all the world's most 
 famous and popular songs and ballads, have 
 been gathered from all sorts of available sources, 
 books, magazines, and newspapers, and living 
 representatives and friends of deceased writers. 
 Many of the particulars as to origin, authorship, 
 and outcome of several of the ballads and 
 pieces here appear in print for the first time ; 
 while nothing has been set down without due 
 investigation and confirmation of the veracity of 
 the various details and statements. Tracing 
 the history of a favourite song, though interest- 
 ing and enchanting, is no easy task. You may 
 have to turn over a score books without 
 gaining any reliable knowledge whatever. You 
 cannot take a song and run it to earth, so to 
 speak; the truth must slowly accumulate and 
 grow. In writing these Stories of Famous 
 Songs I have consulted every possible authority, 
 every likely work — biographies, histories, re- 
 
xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 miniscences, and collections of songs — and have 
 done my utmost to make the information 
 absolutely authentic and trustworthy. I have, 
 during the period I have had the work in hand, 
 referred to many hundred sources, and have left 
 no possible or probable clue untouched in order 
 to make the history and origin of our best 
 known and most beloved songs complete. To 
 give a list of the writers and the works and the 
 papers, manuscript and printed, that I have laid 
 under contribution, would be to fill pages ; but 
 throughout the different chapters I mention most 
 of the authorities to whom I may have been 
 mostly indebted, and to all I tender my thanks : 
 to the writers — known and unknown — and to 
 many friendly correspondents who have assisted 
 me in my searches and in the the compilation of 
 my facts. 
 
 Of course there are dozens of songs — 
 familiar friends to hundreds of people — that will 
 not be found in this volume. If there is no 
 history of any moment connected with the com- 
 position of any particular song, it is impossible 
 to tell one. Now and then I have made passing 
 reference to some famous production whose 
 origin lies buried in obscurity, but for the most 
 part I have confined myself to the pleasure of 
 relating the stories of such lays and lyrics as 
 were written under some romantic, pathetic, or 
 entertaining circumstances. Though many a 
 
INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 favourite song may be missing from these pages, 
 I do not think that one, with which there is 
 any history associated as to its inception and 
 birth, has been omitted — that is, not any cele- 
 brated effusion. 
 
 While aiming all the time at accuracy and 
 truth as to the development of the world's 
 famous musical ballads, my object has been to 
 produce, not so much a pedantic reference guide 
 or dictionary for the library, as an entertaining, 
 amusing, and instructive work that shall appeal 
 to the hearts and sympathies of all true lovers 
 of. songs with music. 
 
 In dealing with the Irish and the Scottish 
 sections I have striven to be just to each. 
 When selected portions of the " Stories " were 
 appearing in " Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper," I 
 was assailed quite violently by certain Scottish 
 gentlemen, who were highly indignant with 
 me for various statements I made as to who 
 wrote and who did not write particular songs 
 that had generally been accepted as having 
 been born in Scotland. But nobody has yet 
 proved that abuse is either argument or logic, 
 and as I have found no reason to alter the 
 views I originally expressed, they remain 
 exactly as I first wrote them down, except in 
 one or two instances where I have been enabled 
 to strengthen my convictions. 
 
 With the sore point that has long vexed the 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION, 
 
 patriotic pride of Hibernia and Caledonia as to 
 the nationality of the music of many old ballads 
 I have nothing to do; but as some modern 
 Scottish writers are apt to claim most of the 
 ancient airs as springing from their own country 
 or countrymen, I venture to quote from a letter 
 written by Robert Burns to his friend and 
 publisher Thomson in 1793, when a National 
 Collection of Scottish Songs was in progress. 
 
 "Your Irish airs are pretty, but they are 
 downright Irish. If they were like the ' Banks 
 of Banna ' for instance, though really Irish, yet 
 in the Scottish taste, you might adopt them. 
 Since you are so fond of Irish music, what say 
 you to twenty-five of them in an additional 
 number ? We could easily find this quantity of 
 charming airs : I will take care that you shall 
 not want songs ; and I assure you you would 
 find it the most saleable of the whole." While 
 Thomson admits in a letter to Burns, February 
 5th, 1796, the high quality of Irish melodies, he 
 annexes them, at the same time reconciling him- 
 self to the act of spoliation in this way : 
 
 " We have several true-born Irishmen on the 
 Scottish list, but they are now naturalized and 
 reckoned our own good subjects. Indeed, we have 
 none better." 
 
 For the rest, I have been impartial and given 
 honour where I have honestly believed or dis- 
 covered it to be due. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xv 
 
 In treating of the history and origin of these 
 Famous Songs, not only of our own country 
 but of other lands, it has seemed inevitable that 
 I should begin with " Home, Sweet Home," 
 and end with the much discussed " God Save 
 the King." It also seems imperative that I 
 should refer to that frequently quoted Fletcher 
 of Saltoun and his well-worn aphorism about 
 making the ballads of a country, " Poets," as 
 Emerson has finely said, " should be lawgivers ; 
 that is, the boldest lyric inspiration should not 
 chide or insult, but should commence and lead 
 the civil code and the day's work." It was in 
 reference to this class of song that Fletcher of 
 Saltoun, in his " Account of a Conversation 
 concerning the right Regulations of Govern- 
 ments for the common good of mankind," uttered 
 his famous dictum, or rather repeated it, to the 
 Earl of Montrose, in 1703: "The poorer sort 
 of both sexes," he exclaimed, " are daily tempted 
 to all manner of wickedness by infamous ballads 
 sung in every corner of the streets. I know," 
 he continues, " a very wise man that believed if 
 a man were permitted to make all the ballads, 
 we need not care who should make the laws of 
 a nation. And we find that most of the ancient 
 legislators thought they could not well reform 
 the manners of any city without the help of a 
 lyric, and sometimes of a dramatic poet." It is 
 certain that our songs have not only made 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION, 
 
 history of themselves but for those who have 
 sung and listened to them. Moreover, song 
 and ballad making has ever been held in the 
 highest repute by all classes, and still remains 
 one of the best testimonials to man's sterling 
 quality and literary capacity. Though, as the 
 Russian proverb has it, " It is not every song 
 that is sung to its last verse." 
 
 In this volume I have given as many of the 
 Welsh as I found tolerably general ; and though 
 the information concerning American songs is 
 surprisingly difficult to obtain this side of the 
 Atlantic, and rather scant when secured, I think 
 I have succeeded in saying something about 
 most of the old favourites known in Great Britain, 
 I have not included any songs from the Isle of 
 Man, as they do not seem to me to be, except 
 in a few instances, sufficiently distinctive. Be- 
 sides, they are mostly unknown outside the 
 Island, and do not possess any startling novelty 
 in the way of origin. At the same time I would 
 like to draw consideration to a useful collection of 
 " Manx National Songs," edited by W. H. Gill, 
 and published in 1896. I should also like to 
 direct attention to that monumental work in 
 eight volumes, " English M'instrelsje," edited by 
 the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, as being the most 
 comprehensive collection of English songs ever 
 published. 
 
 That I could have extended this volume into 
 
INTRODUCTION. xvii 
 
 •many without going beyond my originally con- 
 ceived scheme, will be patent to all who know 
 anything of the existence of the unexplored and 
 half explored mines of literary and antiquarian 
 wealth of this fascinating subject. I trust I have 
 at least succeeded in drawing a larger attention 
 to the principal gems than can possibly be 
 secured by more learned and exclusive publica- 
 cations devoted to the entertaining themes of 
 songs and music. " My true intent is all for 
 your delight." 
 
 Chaucer gives a character to the Knight in 
 the " Canterbury Tales," by saying : " He could 
 songes make, and wel indite ; " and that arch 
 rascal, Falstaff, exclaims : " I had rather than 
 forty shillings I had my Book of Songs and 
 Sonnets here," for the pleasures of a sweet song 
 have no end. And though many poets "learn 
 in sorrow what they teach in song," they at any 
 rate teach what we are glad to know and appre- 
 ciate. Great Britain for many hundred years, 
 has been singularly rich in songs, ballads, and 
 madrigals of all kinds ; May Day songs, Christ- 
 mas carols, Easter and Whitsun madrigals, 
 catches, canons, roundels and lyrics of high life 
 and humble life; Shakespeare's and Ben Jonson's 
 incomparable lyrics, to say nothing of the love- 
 lyrics of other Elizabethan masters of verse and 
 the Cavalier poets ; and writers of all ages, 
 English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh; no other 
 
 b 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 nation can show such variety, such charm as 
 we favoured Britons possess in our countless 
 
 melodies. 
 
 If words were given us to conceal our thoughts, 
 music must have been given us to express them, 
 to turn our tears to laughter and our laughter 
 to tears ; to make our brief joys long and our 
 worst sorrows brief. For what more thrilling 
 voice is there than the voice of music — the voice 
 of all our passions blended into witching melody 
 or soul-inspiring harmony ? 
 
 The most popular and the most appreciated 
 music with all classes is the music of Song. 
 Tender words wedded to sympathetic music will 
 do more to move the multitude than all the 
 wealth promises of the Indies. And though few 
 seek to know the origin of the songs that please 
 them, the telling of the tale always adds to their 
 attraction. Of course there are many ballads that 
 have lived through all the ages, many more that 
 have yet to be handed to posterity, that have 
 no tangible history at all, that are simply the 
 glorious outcome of the poet's fancy and the 
 composer's art, but there are also many that 
 were born of pain, perhaps misery, of patriotism, 
 and of love, and of many of these I have en- 
 deavoured to tell. 
 
 S. J. Adair Fitz-Gerald. 
 Wimbledon, 
 
 August, 1897. 
 
STORIES OF FAMOUS SONGS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " HOME, SWEET HOME." 
 
 " Home; Sweet Home," which is so essentially 
 an English song in sentiment and feeling, was, 
 curiously enough, written by an American, John 
 Howard Paynq. Perhaps though, as he was a 
 nomad the greater part of his feverish existence, 
 it were fitter to describe him as a Cosmopolitan, 
 for truly, in any case, Art is ever cosmopolitan. 
 But the song was first sung in an English opera, 
 or operatic melodrama, entitled " Clari, the 
 Maid of Milan," the words being written by 
 John Howard Payne, and the music composed 
 and arranged by Sir Henry Bishop, who was 
 decidedly English. Of this song it has been 
 well asserted by Dr. Charles Mackay, that it is 
 not too much to say that it " has done more 
 than statesmanship or legislation to keep alive 
 'in the .hearts of the people the virtues that 
 flourish at the fireside, and to recall to its hal- 
 lowed circle the wanderers who stray from it." 
 
2 STORIES OF 
 
 Round both words and music of this ever- 
 green song, controversy has raged for years, 
 but I think by what follows, which is all based 
 on the most reliable information, I shall be 
 able to set these differences at rest for ever. Of 
 the words of the opera of " Clari " I think there 
 can be no doubt whatever of their having 
 emanated from Howard Payne, though the bio- 
 grapher of M. J. O'SuUivan, a dramatic author 
 and contemporary of Payne's, asserts that he 
 (O'Sullivan) had a hand in the composition. 
 But I have been unable to trace any grounds 
 for the claim. Payne undoubtedly wrote the 
 lyric, though I have often wondered whether the 
 unfortunate author of this very sweet song — a 
 song that will only cease to live when all Nature 
 is dead and Time is no more — ever read the 
 old holiday and breaking-up song "Dulce 
 Domum," so popular at Winchester School, for 
 it certainly contains many of the elements of 
 Payne's plaintive ballad. Here is the first verse 
 with its chorus : 
 
 " Sing a sweet melodious measure, 
 
 Waft enchanting rays around. 
 Home ! a theme replete with pleasure, 
 
 Home ! a grateful theme resound. 
 
 " Home, sweet home ! an ample treasure. 
 Home ! with every blessing crown'd. 
 
 Home ! perpetual source of pleasure. 
 Home ! a noble strain resound." 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 3 
 
 Brand says, in speaking of " Dulce Domum," 
 which was originally written in Latin, and was 
 translated into English by a writer in the 
 "Gentleman's Magazine" for March 1796, that 
 "it is doubtless of very remote antiquity," and 
 that its origin must be traced " not to any 
 ridiculous tradition, but to the tenderest feelings 
 of human nature." The story runs as follows : 
 Upwards of two hundred and fifty years ago, a 
 scholar of St. Mary's College, Winchester, was 
 confined for some misconduct by order of the 
 master, just previous to the Whitsuntide vaca- 
 tion, and was not permitted to visit his friends. 
 He was kept a prisoner in the college, tied to a 
 pillar. His reflections on the enjoyments of home 
 inspired him to compose " Dulce Domum." The 
 student must have been of a very sensitive nature, 
 for he died soon after, " worn down with grief at 
 the disgraceful situation he was in," as well as dis- 
 appointment. In commemoration of the event, 
 on the evening preceding the Whitsun holidays, 
 the masters, scholars, and choristers of St. Mary's 
 College, attended by a band of music, walk in 
 procession round the court and the pillar to which 
 it is alleged the scholar was tied, and chant the 
 verses which he composed in his affliction. 
 
 Payne, as far as can be gathered, wrote the 
 words of " Home, Sweet Home " one dreary day 
 in October, 1822, while he was far from home in 
 Paris. John Howard Payne was the son of 
 
2 STORIES OF 
 
 Round both words and music of this ever- 
 green song, controversy has raged for years, 
 but I think by what follows, which is all based 
 on the most reliable information, I shall be 
 able to set these differences at rest for ever. Of 
 the words of the opera of " Clari " I think there 
 can be no doubt whatever of their having 
 emanated from Howard Payne, though the bio- 
 grapher of M. J. O'Sullivan, a dramatic author 
 and contemporary of Payne's, asserts that he 
 (O'Sullivan) had a hand in the composition. 
 But I have been unable to trace any grounds 
 for the claim. Payne undoubtedly wrote the 
 lyric, though I have often wondered whether the 
 unfortunate author of this very sweet song — a 
 song that will only cease to live when all Nature 
 is dead and Time is no more — ever read the 
 old holiday and breaking-up song " Dulce 
 Domum," so popular at Winchester School, for 
 it certainly contains many of the elements of 
 Payne's plaintive ballad. Here is the first verse 
 with its chorus : 
 
 " Sing a sweet melodious measure. 
 
 Waft enchanting rays around, 
 Home ! a theme replete with pleasure, 
 
 Home ! a grateful theme resound. 
 
 " Home, sweet home ! an ample treasure, 
 Home ! with every blessing crown'd. 
 
 Home ! perpetual source of pleasure. 
 Home ! a noble strain resound." 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 3 
 
 Brand says, in speaking of " Dulce Domum," 
 which was originally written in Latin, and was 
 translated into English by a writer in the 
 "Gentleman's Magazine" for March 1796, that 
 "it is doubtless of very remote antiquity," and 
 that its origin must be traced " not to any 
 ridiculous tradition, but to the tenderest feelings 
 of human nature." The story runs as follows : 
 Upwards of two hundred and fifty years ago, a 
 scholar of St. Mary's College, Winchester, was 
 confined for some misconduct by order of the 
 master, just previous to the Whitsuntide vaca- 
 tion, and was not permitted to visit his friends. 
 He was kept a prisoner in the college, tied to a 
 pillar. His reflections on the enjoyments of home 
 inspired him to compose " Dulce Domum." The 
 student must have been of a very sensitive nature, 
 for he died soon after, " worn down with grief at 
 the disgraceful situation he was in," as well as dis- 
 appointment. In commemoration of the event, 
 on the evening preceding the Whitsun holidays, 
 the masters, scholars, and choristers of St. Mary's 
 College, attended by a band of music, walk in 
 procession round the court and the pillar to which 
 it is alleged the scholar was tied, and chant the 
 verses which he composed in his affliction. 
 
 Payne, as far as can be gathered, wrote the 
 words of " Home, Sweet Home " one dreary day 
 in October, 1822, while he was far from home in 
 Paris. John Howard Payne was the son of 
 
4 STORIES OF 
 
 William Payne, a schoolmaster who was favour- 
 ably known as an elocutionist in New York, where 
 young Payne was born on April ist, 1791. Much 
 against the desire of his father, the future author 
 abandoned commerce, for which he was intended, 
 and took to the precarious profession of actor. He 
 was not without ability, for he made a very suc- 
 cessful first appearance at the Park Theatre, New 
 York, in the character of Norval, in " Douglas," 
 in February, 1807. For some years Payne con- 
 tinued to act in various parts of America, and 
 occasionally contributed articles to New York 
 papers and journals. Not satisfied with his success 
 in America, he was anxious to learn the verdict 
 of a British audience. He entered the English 
 metropolis with excellent credentials, having 
 letters of introduction to Lord Byron, John 
 Kemble, Coleridge, and other celebrities of the 
 day. In 1 8 13 he made his bow at Drury Lane 
 Theatre, choosing for his dibut his former r6le 
 of Norval, and, according to all accounts, he 
 greatly pleased the critics as well as the play- 
 goers. But it was very difficult in those days 
 to continue a favourite with the fickle public, 
 nothing short of a genius — which Payne was 
 not — being required to satisfy their desires. 
 So after a while Payne exchanged acting for 
 writing, and took to translating French melo- 
 dramas and operettas. The "Maid and the 
 Magpie " was his first offering, and it enjoyed a 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 5 
 
 fair meed of favour at Covent Garden Theatre. 
 Edmund Kean made " Brutus," a tragedy by 
 Payne, a success by the force of his subtle and 
 powerful acting. Charles Kemble also acted in 
 Payne's "Charles II.," a whimsical comedy 
 revived as a first piece some years ago at the 
 Lyceum. " Love in Humble Life " from the 
 French by Payne is occasionally played in the 
 provinces, but very few of his pieces exhibited 
 any great literary skill or power. 
 
 As to " Home, Sweet Home," only two verses 
 of the song were sung originally. These were 
 slightly altered and sung by Miss Maria Tree 
 in " Clari, the Maid of Milan," also an adapta- 
 tion, of the virtuous peasant and villainous lord 
 order. For this, however, Payne received from 
 Charles Kemble ;!^25o, no mean sum in those 
 days of short runs. The piece was produced at 
 Covent Garden Theatre on May the 8th, 1823, 
 and continued to hold the boards at intervals 
 for some years. The music of this "musical 
 drama" — there were only six numbers — was 
 composed by Henry Bishop, and the melody of 
 " Home, Sweet Home " was said to have been 
 adapted from a Sicilian air, but this is erroneous. 
 Miss Tree created quite 3. furore by her singing 
 of the touching melody, and the words going 
 straight to the hearts of the audience, it was not 
 long before the song became marvellously popu- 
 lar all over the country, soon to penetrate to the 
 
6 STORIES OF 
 
 farthermost parts of the world. It is stated that 
 more than 300,000 copies of the song were sold 
 the first year of publication. 
 
 Now in regard to the words of " Home, Sweet 
 Home," nearly twenty years after the author's 
 death, when the subject of the music was being 
 discussed, there appeared in the London " Daily 
 Telegraph," a letter signed J. R. Planche, in 
 which the writer asserted that with the full con- 
 sent of the author, " I undertook the revision of it 
 (the play). I cut nearly a third of the dialogue, 
 which was of terrific length. The ballad in 
 question (' Home, Sweet Home,') consisted 
 originally of two verses of eight lines each. I 
 reduced them to four : and at the suggestion of 
 Mr. Bishop added the refrain of ' home, sweet 
 home.'" And yet, Mr. Planche allows Payne 
 to have the full right and honour of the author- 
 ship of the words all his life, and not till twenty 
 years after his death does he come forward with 
 his claim. But long before this Michael John 
 O'Sullivan, a journalist and writer of plays, gave 
 it out that he not only wrote the song, but also 
 the opera of " Clari " ! Of course it would be 
 quite logical for a theatrical manager to pay an 
 author two hundred and fifty pounds for a work 
 he did not write ! — the sum that Kemble paid 
 Payne for a piece that was written, according to 
 their version, by Mr. Planche and Mr. O'Sulli- 
 van — not in collaboration, but separately ! And 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 7 
 
 not only that. They allowed Payne's name to 
 appear nightly in the bills and to be advertised 
 on the song, and advertised on the book of 
 the words, as published by Lacy in the Strand. 
 Here is the title-page. " Clari, the Maid of 
 Milan ! A musical drama, in two acts, by John 
 Howard Payne, Author of ' Brutus,' ' The Lan- 
 cers,' ' Love in Humble Life,' ' Charles the 
 Second,' 'Ali Pacha,' etc., etc." I think that 
 should settle the matter. O'Sullivan's claim 
 may be dismissed forthwith. As for Mr. 
 Planche, we fancy his memory was playing him 
 a trick — he was over eighty-two when he wrote 
 the letter quoted above, and after the lapse of 
 sixty years an incident may get entangled with 
 something else. Payne was a personal and in- 
 timate friend of Kemble's, and it does not seem 
 at all probable that he would permit any one 
 but the author to hack about the piece he was 
 producing. 
 
 Before continuing with Payne's life, let me 
 explain the origin of the melody, as related by 
 the late Charles Mackay, who wrote to a London 
 paper a long letter on the subject, affirming 
 distinctly that Sir Henry Bishop did compose 
 the air. Said Dr. Mackay, " During the 
 process of our (Sir Henry's and his own) 
 work on the National Melodies of England, I 
 was thrown into friendly and constant inter- 
 course with that gentleman. During one of our 
 
8 STORIES OF 
 
 many conversations on well-known English 
 melodies, I took occasion to ask for information 
 on the subject of ' Home, Sweet Home,' the 
 authorship of which was often attributed to him 
 and as often denied by many who claimed it as 
 a national Sicilian air which Sir Henry had 
 disinterred and re-arranged. He thereupon 
 favoured me with the whole history. He had 
 been engaged in his early manhood by the once 
 eminent firm of Goulding, D'Almaine and Co., 
 musical publishers, of Soho Square, to edit a 
 collection of National Melodies of all countries. 
 In the course of his labours he discovered that 
 he had no Sicilian air, and as a Sicilian melody 
 had been announced Sir Henry thought he 
 would invent one. The result was the now 
 well-known air of ' Home, Sweet Home,' which 
 he arranged to the verses of Howard Payne. 
 Pirates were in the field as now, and believing 
 the air to be Sicilian and non-copyright, they 
 commenced issuing the song in a cheaper form, 
 but Messrs. Goulding, D'Almaine and Co., 
 brought actions against the offenders and won 
 the day on the sworn evidence of Sir Henry 
 Bishop, who declared himself to be the inventor 
 of the same." This should decide the matter 
 for all time. 
 
 To return to Payne. After the success of 
 " Clari " affairs seemed to have gone badly with 
 him, for in the year 1832 we find him in New 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 9 
 
 York having a " benefit " got up for him at the 
 Park Theatre to start him afresh. He then 
 subsisted on the income derived from journal- 
 istic work until he was appointed Consul at 
 Tunis, but he soon lost this appointment owing 
 to the change of government, and he once more 
 contributed to the Press. However, some good 
 friends used their influence and, in consideration 
 of the fact that he was the first American 
 dramatist who had made any name at all, Payne 
 was eventually reinstated at Tunis. But he 
 had barely undertaken the duties a twelvemonth 
 when he died, on his sixty-first birthday, in 1852, 
 and was buried at Tunis. His remains, after a 
 lapse of more than thirty years, were removed to 
 Oak Cemetery, Washington, where a monument, 
 erected by public subscription, marks the spot 
 where rest his ashes. In Tunis, by the way, 
 there was still, some ten years back, a tomb in 
 the Protestant burying ground with the follow- 
 ing inscription : "In memory of Colonel John 
 Howard Payne, twice Consul of the United 
 States of America for the city and kingdom of 
 Tunis, this stone is here placed by a grateful 
 Country. He died in the American Consulate 
 in thisCityafter a tedious illness April ist, 1852." 
 And then particulars were given of his birth in 
 the City of Massachusetts, and spoke of his 
 merits as a poet and dramatist. Round the 
 tombstone were engraved the following lines : 
 
lo STORIES OF 
 
 " Sure, when thy gentle spirit fled 
 
 To realms beyond the azure dome, 
 With arms outstretched, God's angel said : 
 
 Welcome to Heaven's Home, Sweet Home." 
 
 And now I append " Home, Sweet Home," 
 as it was first written : 
 
 " 'Mid pleasures and palaces, though we may roam. 
 
 Be it ever so humble, there's no place Uke home ; 
 
 A charm from the sky seems to carry us there, 
 
 Which, seek through the world, is not met with elsewhere. 
 
 Home ! home ! sweet, sweet home ! 
 There 's no place like home, there 's no place like home. 
 
 "An exile from home splendour dazzles in vain ; 
 Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again ; 
 The birds sing gaily that came at my call — 
 Give me them with the peace of mind dearer than all. 
 
 Home ! home ! sweet, sweet home ! 
 There 's no place like home, there 's no place like home. 
 
 " How sweet, too, to sit 'neath a fond father's smile, 
 And the cares of a mother to soothe and beguile, 
 Let others delight 'mid new pleasures to roam. 
 But give me, oh, give me ! the pleasures of home ! 
 
 Home ! home ! sweet, sweet home ! 
 There 's no place Uke home, there 's no place like home. 
 
 " To thee I'll return, overburdened with care ; 
 The heart's dearest face will smile on me there. 
 No more from that cottage again will I roam. 
 Be it ever so humble, there 's no place like home. 
 
 Home ! home ! sweet, sweet home 1 
 There 's no place like home, there 's no place like home." 
 
 The sweet sadness that pervades this simple 
 little domestic poem is exquisitely expressive of 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. ii 
 
 the melancholy felt by poor Payne when he 
 penned the lines, alone, in a foreign country (he 
 was stranded in Paris at the time) away from all 
 that he held dear. 
 
 Payne, I may add, was an intimate friend of 
 Charles Lamb, who conducted much of his play 
 business in London for him, while he was abroad. 
 
 A pleasing incident recorded by the " Phila- 
 delphia Record" may fittingly close this account. 
 "No common poet ever received a more enviable 
 compliment than one paid to John Howard 
 Payne by Jenny Lind, on his last visit to his 
 native land. It was in the great National Hall 
 of the City of Washington where the most 
 distinguished audience that had ever been seen 
 in the capital of the Republic was assembled. 
 The matchless singer entranced the vast throng 
 with her most exquisite melodies — ' Casta Diva ' 
 the ' Flute Song,' the ' Bird Song,' and the 
 ' Greeting to America.' But the great feature 
 of the occasion seemed to be an act of inspiration. 
 The singer suddenly turned her face to the part 
 of the auditorium where Payne was sitting and 
 sang ' Home Sweet Home,' with such pathos 
 and power that a whirlwind of excitement and 
 enthusiasm swept through the vast audience. 
 Webster himself almost lost his self-control, and 
 one might readily imagine that Payne thrilled 
 with rapture at this unexpected and magnificent 
 rendition of his own immortal lyric." 
 
12 
 
 STORIES OF 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " ROBIN ADAIR AND EILEEN AROON." 
 
 Perhaps in the whole range of songs new and 
 old, none is so popular as the plaintive " Robin 
 Adair," the air of which is based upon the very 
 ancient melody of " Eileen Aroon," a piece that 
 dates back to very early times indeed. At a 
 venture I would suggest about 1450, when living 
 money was still in use, as in the first stanza the 
 hero says he would spend a cow to entertain 
 his lady love. It is only fair to add, however, 
 that some authorities think it is no older than 
 the sixteenth century. In any case it was a 
 favourite with the majority of the Irish harpers 
 and wandering minstrels, and most emphatically 
 it is not of Scottish origin, as one or two writers 
 have imagined. The curious thing about the 
 song is that the words of both versions, " Eileen 
 Aroon " (Ellen, the treasure of my heart), and 
 " Robin Adair " were the outcome of very 
 romantic circumstances. I shall deal with each, 
 and I shall also give the history of the ancient 
 and the modern song. Let me speak of the 
 music first. The melody was taken down in 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 13 
 
 1792 by Edward Bunting (though already a 
 variation of the same had been secured by 
 Lyons in 1702) who has done so much to 
 preserve the music of Old Ireland, from the 
 playing of a famous harper, Denis a Hampsy, or 
 Hempson. Hempson was born in 1695, ^^^ 
 lived to the great age of one hundred and twelve 
 years, having died in 1807. He was a well- 
 known character, sober and respectable (unlike 
 some of the itinerant harpers) and was greatly 
 respected. Lord Bristol, when " the minstrel 
 was infirm and old," gave a ground rent free, 
 and paid for a house to be erected for him ; and 
 in his declining days Hempson was looked 
 after and literally fed by the Rev. Sir H. Harvey 
 Bruce, who was with him at his death. Hempson 
 died with the harp in his hand after having 
 struck a few notes of one of his best pieces — in 
 all probability the ravishing, soul-breathing 
 " Eileen." From first to last this player's life 
 was full of interest and is worth penning. The 
 dates which I have given should be borne in 
 mind, in order that the nationality of the air 
 may be settled once for all. 
 
 At the age of about eighteen, having been a 
 harper from the age of twelve (he lost his sight 
 at three through small-pox) Hempson com- 
 menced a tour of Ireland and Scotland which 
 lasted until 17 16. Now the Scotch claimed the 
 melody, and published it to the British public 
 
14 STORIES OF 
 
 under the name of " Robin Adair" about 1800, 
 The grounds for this assumption, Hardiman 
 informs us in his " Irish Minstrelsy," published 
 in 183 1, appear in the correspondence between 
 Robert Burns and his publisher, Thomson, in 
 1 793. The latter, in a letter to the bard, wishes 
 him to give " Robin Adair " (meaning of course 
 " Eileen Aroon ") a Scottish dress. " Peter 
 (Pindar) is furnishing him with an English suit. 
 Robin's air is excellent, though he certainly has 
 an out-of-the-way manner as ever poor Parnassian 
 wight was plagued with." In reply Burns says 
 that he believes the air to be Scotch, having 
 heard it played by a man from Inverness, so 
 that " it could not be Irish " (the question had 
 arisen between them) though he admits that 
 through the wandering habits of the minstrels, 
 the air might be odmmon to both. As a matter 
 of fact, it was Hempson who carried the air to 
 Scotland between 17 10 and 1716, and the High- 
 land minstrels annexed it. During his second 
 visit to Scotland, in 1 745, Hempson was taken 
 into the Young Pretender's presence by Colonel 
 Kelly of Roscommon, and Sir Thomas Sheridan, 
 when he played and sang "When the King 
 shall enjoy his own again " as a compliment to 
 Charles Edward. He also played "Cooliri," 
 " The Dawning of the Day," " Eileen Aroon," 
 " Cean dubh dilis," etc. ; so there is no doubt as 
 to how so many of the Irish melodies, including 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 15 
 
 " Maggie Lauder,"came to be numbered amongst 
 the Scottish national airs. Thus it was only 
 natural that when Burns was asked to dress 
 " Robin Adair " in the kilt, he should have 
 already heard the song. But, for some reason 
 unknown, Burns did not write or re-write the 
 words, though the erudite Dr. Charles Mackay 
 assumes that he did, as those interested will 
 gather from the " Royal Edition of Songs of 
 Scotland " still published. Again, Robin Adair 
 was a real personage, an Irishman, but not the 
 ancestor of Viscount Molesworth, as is generally 
 believed, who lived at Holly Park, in the County 
 of Wicklow. This was another Robin Adair, 
 who had no connection with the song, though 
 tradition has tried to fix it so. At Bray, in 
 Wicklow, by the way, there is still a " Robin 
 Adair's " well. This Robin's house stood at the 
 foot of the great Sugar-loaf mountain (properly 
 Slieve CuUinn). The real Robin Adair was 
 most likely a grandson of Patrick Adair of 
 Ballymena, County Antrim, whose son. Sir 
 Robert, married four times and had many chil- 
 dren, and Robin might have been one of these. 
 Adair, I may state, is most essentially Irish, and 
 as "old as the hills," or perhaps I should say 
 trees, as the name is derived from Diarmaid and 
 Diarmah — the good Dair, the oak — there are 
 other variants, butthe meaning and etymology are 
 the same. Adair, therefore, means " of the oak." 
 
i6 STORIES OF 
 
 The true story of "Eileen Aroon" appears 
 almost word for word in the " Gentleman's 
 Magazine" for 1827, and in " Hardiman's Min- 
 strelsy" of 1 83 1 . It is as follows : Carol O'Daly, 
 commonly called " Mac Caomh Insi Cneamha," 
 brother to Donogh More O'Daly, a man of 
 much consequence in Connaught, was one of 
 the most accomplished gentlemen of his time, 
 and particularly excelled in poetry and music. 
 He paid his addresses to Eileen, or Ellen as we 
 should say now, the daughter of a Chieftain 
 named Kavanagh ; she was a lovely and amiable 
 young lady who returned his affection, but her 
 friends disapproved of the connection, for, it is 
 believed, political reasons. Carol O'Daly was 
 obliged to leave the country for a time, and her 
 family availed themselves of the opportunity, 
 which his absence afforded, of imposing upon 
 Eileen a belief in his (supposed) faithlessness, 
 and of his having gone to be married to another ; 
 and after some time they prevailed upon her to 
 consent to marry a rival of O' Daly's. The day 
 was fixed for the nuptials, but O'Daly returned 
 the evening before. Under the first influence 
 of his disappointment, he sought a wild se- 
 questered spot on the sea-shore, and inspired by 
 love, composed the song of "Eileen Aroon." 
 Disguised as a harper he gained access among 
 the crowd that thronged to the wedding. It 
 happened that he was called by Eileen herself 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 17 
 
 to play and sing. It was then, touching the 
 harp with all the pathetic sensibility which the 
 interesting and dramatic occasion incited, he 
 infused his own feelings into the song he had 
 composed, and breathed into his "softened 
 strain" the very soul of plaintive melody. In 
 the first stanza he intimates, according to Irish 
 idiom, that he would walk with her, that is, be 
 her partner for life, or constant lover for life. 
 In the second, that he would entertain, and 
 afford her every delight ; and then he continues : 
 
 " Then wilt thou come away ? 
 
 Eileen a Roon ! 
 O wilt thou come or stay ? 
 
 Eileen a Roon." 
 
 She soon felt the power of his eloquent pleading 
 and answered, by signs, in the affirmative, having 
 long recognized him. Then he bursts out rap- 
 turously : 
 
 " Cead mille failte ! 
 
 Eileen k Roon ! 
 Cead mille failte ! 
 
 Eileen k Roon ! " 
 
 And still with more welcomes and ecstasies he 
 greets her, and to reward his fidelity, she contrives 
 to elope with with him that same night— the night 
 before the Intended marriage with his rival, and of 
 course they lived happy ever after. It may be 
 noted that the well-known motto of Irish hospi- 
 tality, Cead mille failte— 2i. hundred thousand wel- 
 
i8 STORIES OF 
 
 comes— was taken from this song. It is related 
 that Handel extravagantly declared that he would 
 rather have been the composer of this exquisite 
 air than of all the music he had written. And 
 so enchanted with it was Signor Tenducci, a 
 distinguished singer who sang in the Italian 
 Operas in London and Dublin, that he resolved 
 upon studying the Irish language, and become 
 master of it, which proves that the Signor heard 
 the original composition. 
 
 Guisto Ferdinand Tenducci was born about 
 
 1736, and first sang in London in 1758, when 
 
 he at once became the idol of the fashionable 
 
 world and was invited out everywhere to private 
 
 parties and At-Homes. Doubtless he met Lady 
 
 Caroline Keppel at one of the great houses, and 
 
 we hear of him singing first " Eileen Aroon," 
 
 and then " Robin Adair," at Ranelagh Gardens 
 
 in 1762, presumably with Lady Catherine's 
 
 words. Tenducci was quite a spoiled darling, 
 
 and lived very wastefully. He ran through 
 
 one fortune and nearly made another. He died 
 
 early in the present century, at his native place 
 
 in Italy. It may be added that in the days of 
 
 Elizabeth " Eileen Aroon " was sung by a large 
 
 majority of the people in the streets. There is 
 
 a curious similarity, by the way, between " Eileen 
 
 Aroon" and the melody Scott's "Lochinvar" 
 
 used to be sung to. 
 
 In the west and other parts of Ireland the 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 19 
 
 peasantry still sing "Eileen" and will have 
 nothing to do with the modern song. It may 
 be mentioned that the tribe of O'Daly furnished 
 several bards of celebrity. Donogh More O'Daly, 
 Lord Abbot of Boyle in 1 244, was a famous poet, 
 emphatically styled the Ovid of Ireland, from 
 the sweetly flowing melody of his verse. 
 
 Now we come to Robin Adair. The real 
 Robin was a native of Ballymena, County Antrim, 
 and in all probability a descendant of the Des- 
 mond Fitz-Geralds, "the mighty Geraldines." 
 His father was probably made a knight-baronet 
 after the battle of the Boyne. The new version 
 of the song was written about 1750 by Lady 
 Caroline Keppel to Robert, or Robin Adair, 
 with whom she was deeply in love. I will repeat 
 the story as it is handed down. 
 
 About a century and a half ago, an impulsive 
 young Irishman named Robert Adair, who was 
 studying in Dublin for the medical profession, 
 got into some scrape, and as he possessed little 
 money and few friends, the only way he saw out 
 of the difficulty was flight. So he speedily 
 quitted Dublin and made his way to Holyhead, 
 with the intention of going to that golden city 
 of ambitious youth, London. Post travelling in 
 those days was very expensive, and when Adair 
 reached Holyhead, he discovered that his purse 
 was as light as his heart ; consequently he had 
 nothing to do but accept the inevitable, and so 
 
'^«f 
 
 20 STORIES OF 
 
 he manfully set out to walk to the metropolis. 
 He had not gone far when he came upon a 
 carriage that had been overturned, for the roads 
 at that time were in a horrible condition. The 
 owner and occupant of the vehicle, a well-known 
 leader of fashionable society, was greatly alarmed 
 at the accident, and had besides, received some 
 slight personal injury, Adair, like a true Irish- 
 man, at once offered his services, and in a very 
 short space of time had the carriage righted, 
 and the lady carefully attended to. Adair was 
 a very handsome and aristocratic young fellow, 
 and notwithstanding that his dress might have 
 been of finer texture and in better condition, he 
 had a striking appearance. With ready frankness 
 he soon explained that he was a surgeon, and 
 begged permission to examine into the extent 
 of the lady's injuries. An examination soon 
 showed that they were of merely a trifling nature 
 — that the nerves were more upset than the 
 body hurt. Adair then took the opportunity to 
 explain that he was on his way to London to 
 endeavour to make a name in the profession he 
 had chosen, and as the fair lady was still appre- 
 hensive of unknown dangers, and still felt the 
 effect of the shock, she offered the vivacious 
 young Irishman a seat in her carriage as a 
 protector, for she herself was travelling to the 
 metropolis when the accident occurred. He was 
 only too delighted to accept the proffered kind- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 21 
 
 ness, and very soon restored his travelling 
 companion to health and good spirits. Arrived 
 in London she presented him with a hundred 
 guineas, and invited him to come to her house 
 as often as he pleased. 
 
 Robin Adair was a wise and energetic young 
 man, and took full advantage of the lucky turn 
 in his fortunes to study assiduously, and soon, 
 with the assistance of his patroness, acquired a 
 good connection in the best end of the town. 
 He was frequently at the dances given by this 
 lady and others, he being a graceful dancer, a 
 good conversationalist, and a man of consider- 
 able natural ability. One night, at a party, he 
 found that his partner was Lady Caroline 
 Keppel, the second daughter of the Earl of 
 Albemarle, It was a case of love at first sight 
 — mutual love ; and Lady Caroline's attachment 
 was as sincere as it was sudden ; they were the 
 observed of all the guests ; and after a few 
 meetings the relations were in despair. The 
 young. couple, however, continued to meet again 
 and again, and their affection ripened into an 
 intense passion. Her kinsfolk were stupefied 
 with amazement. Were they to allow an un- 
 known Irishman to carry off the flower of their 
 flock, the beautiful Caroline ? They set their 
 wits to work to try and persuade her to give 
 him up. But all in vain. Handsome heirs of 
 the oldest and stiffest families were prevailed 
 
22 STORIES OF 
 
 upon to woo her, but she would not listen to 
 them. She was sent abroad to see if travel 
 would alter her determination and cure her 
 " folly," but without avail, and gradually she fell 
 ill. When she was at Bath for the benefit of 
 her health, she wrote the verses now so popular, 
 and adapted them to the melody of " Eileen 
 Aroon," which Robin Adair had doubtless often 
 sung to her. At last the separation from Adair 
 and the importunities of her relatives caused 
 her to become so dangerously ill, that, upon the 
 doctors despairing of her life, and seeing the 
 disease was more of the heart and mind than of 
 the flesh, the union of the faithful pair was 
 consented to. 
 
 The event was duly notified in the " Grand 
 Magazine of Universal Intelligence " thus : 
 "February 22nd, 1758, Robert Adair, Esq., to 
 the Right Honourable the Lady Caroline Kep- 
 pel." This was the culminating point in the 
 pretty love story. A short time after his mar- 
 riage Adair was appointed Inspector-General of 
 Military Hospitals through the influence of his 
 wife's relations ; nor did his good luck end here, 
 for the King, being taken with Adair's agreeable 
 manner and undoubted skill made him Surgeon- 
 General, King's Sergeant-Surgeon, and Surgeon 
 of Chelsea Hospital. Good fortune did not 
 spoil him, and he continued to work hard at his 
 nrofession, and the King was so greatly gratified 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 23 
 
 at the successful way in which he treated the 
 Duke of Gloucester, that he offered to make him 
 a baronet; Adair, however, declined. Adored 
 and admired by all who knew him, he lived to 
 the ripe old age of eighty, and his death was 
 deeply lamented. Lady Caroline, however, 
 who did not enjoy good health, died after giving 
 birth to their third child. Knowing how de- 
 votedly attached her husband was to her, she 
 felt he would not marry again, and she was right. 
 Except on State occasions, when he was obliged 
 to don Court costume, he wore mourning in 
 remembrance of his love and his wife, until he 
 died in 1790, when he was buried with her in 
 the family vault. Their only son, the Right 
 Honourable Sir Robert Adair, died in 1855 at 
 the advanced age of ninety-two, after a brilliant 
 career, having proved himself a very capable 
 diplomatist. The only part of this story which 
 appears in any way doubtful, as far as reliable 
 data go, concerns the episode on the road to 
 London. For the rest the writing of the song, 
 and the marriage with Lady Keppel are per- 
 fectly accurate, and Robin Adair was well known 
 in London society as " the lucky Irishman " and 
 was often so addressed by George IIL 
 
 This sketch would hardly be complete without 
 the words of the song, and I here append the 
 lyric as originally written by Lady Caroline at 
 Bath, and wrongfully attributed to Burns. 
 
24 STORIES OF 
 
 " What's this dull town to me ? 
 
 Robin's not near ; 
 He, whom I wish to see, 
 
 Wish so to hear. 
 Where's all the joy and mirth. 
 Made life a heaven on earth ? 
 O ! they're all fled with thee, 
 
 Robin Adair. 
 
 " What made th' assembly shine ? 
 
 Robin Adair ! 
 What made the ball so fine ? 
 
 Robin was there ! 
 What, when the play was o'er, 
 What made my heart so sore ? 
 O ! it was parting with 
 
 Robin Adair. 
 
 " But now thou'rt far from me, 
 
 Robin Adair ! 
 And now I never see 
 
 Robin Adair ! 
 Yet he I love so well. 
 Still in my heart shall dwell ; 
 O ! I can ne'er forget 
 
 Robin Adair." 
 
 There are other versions, notably one com- 
 mencing " Welcome on Shore, again ; " and a 
 ridiculous parody "Welcome to Punchestown, 
 Johnny Adair," but the above is the true one. 
 In the British Museum there are three copies of 
 the music of "Eileen Aroon" (circa 1740). 
 " Robin Adair " was published just about the 
 time of Lady Caroline's marriage. In later 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 25 
 
 years Braham adapted and sang it. The air of 
 " Eileen Aroon " has been claimed by the Welsh 
 as well as the Scottish, John Parry pretending 
 that it dates from 1755 or 1760. In 1770 was 
 issued a work called " A Collection of Favourite 
 Scots tunes, by the late Mr. Chas. McLean," in 
 which "Eileen a Roon" appeared according to 
 Mr. Alfred Moffat and in other collections of 
 earlier date, but as already stated Hempson in- 
 troduced it into Scotland when a youth, about 
 1 710. It was popular with the people every- 
 where in England and Scotland, as well as in 
 its native country Ireland, towards the close of 
 the seventeenth century. Though Burns failed 
 to fit words to the beautiful melody of " Robin 
 Adair," others succeeded, notably Gerald Grif- 
 fin, who called his lines after the original Irish 
 Ebhlin a Ruin. In Walker's "Irish Bards" 
 (1786), the tune will be found in all its primi- 
 tive purity. As far as I have been able to 
 discover, the incidents related have not been 
 turned to account on the stage as a play, though 
 " Eileen Aroon" has formed the basis of many 
 a story. 
 
26 STORIES OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 "AULD LANG SYNE." 
 
 " AuLD Lang Syne," though it owes its birth to 
 Scotchmen and to Scotland, has been so popu- 
 lar for quite a hundred years with English- 
 speaking people all the world over, that it may 
 fairly rank as a lyric of universal sentiment and 
 universal nationality. But contrary to the 
 general belief, which, it must be acknowledged, 
 editors of Burns's works have done their best to 
 foster, " Auld Lang Syne" was not written by 
 the author of " Tarn O'Shanter." And, as a 
 matter of history, Burns never once claimed the 
 song as his, only his misguided and over- 
 anxious friends and worshippers have done this, 
 and consequently much confusion has arisen 
 over the subject. It so happens that, like many 
 another ballad that lives in the hearts of the 
 people, this essentially human song was written 
 by a writer unknown, who may perhaps have 
 never written anything else worth remembering. 
 In Scotland, as in Ireland, and to a lesser extent 
 in England and Wales, many of the humbler 
 folk possess the gift of making homely verses, 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 27 
 
 and many a piece has found its way into the 
 world anonymously, to find a reciprocating wel- 
 come in many a heart and home. But, though 
 Burns did not write this song, which is included 
 in nearly every collection of his poems published, 
 he was the first to give it to the world in. the 
 form which we now know and sing it. Indeed, 
 many pieces have been attributed to Burns 
 which he never wrote ; the text of Burns has 
 been as much tampered with, perhaps, as that 
 of any ancient or classic author, and requires to 
 be as carefully revised. This, unfortunately, is 
 true not only with respect to words and phrases, 
 but with respect to whole stanzas and poems 
 erroneously ascribed to him and regularly in- 
 cluded in the posthumous editions of his works. 
 It would not be difficult to enumerate at least 
 a dozen pieces in some of the best editions 
 which are certainly not by him. Many injudi- 
 cious Burnsites have been too anxious to over- 
 exalt a reputation that already stood and stands 
 as high almost as any poet could wish. It was 
 Carlyle's fancy to represent Burns as an illiterate 
 prodigy who, without models, or with models 
 only of the meanest sort, attained by sheer force 
 of native talent to a foremost place in contem- 
 porary literature ; but this is all wrong ; Burns 
 studied the best models, and particularly did he 
 follow in the footsteps of Goldsmith. Burns 
 drew his inspiration from both English and 
 
28 STORIES OF 
 
 Scottish literary sources, and he had a singular 
 aptitude for seeing possibilities in bald and 
 badly expressed conceptions. Burns was de- 
 cidedly inventive in a large degree, but his gift 
 of expression was far greater than his power of 
 original thought. However, itis not of Burns's 
 genius that I wish to write — that has long been 
 acknowledged — but of " Auld Lang Syne " and 
 his connection therewith. Naturally the phrase 
 is of the heather born, and even the quaint 
 lexicographer, old Jamieson, could not help 
 growing sentimental over the soothing words, in 
 his " Scottish Dictionary " : " To a native of the 
 country," he says, " it conveys a soothing idea to 
 the mind, as recalling the memory of joys that 
 are past." It " compresses into small and 
 euphonious measure much of the tender recollec- 
 tion of one's youth which, even to middle-aged 
 men, seems to be brought from a very distant 
 but very dear past." " Auld Lang Syne," be it 
 remembered, was a phrase in use in very early 
 times, and it can be traced to the days of Eliza- 
 beth, in connection with the social feelings and 
 the social gatherings of the Scot ; as a con- 
 vivial and friendly song it existed in broadsides 
 prior to the close of the seventeenth century. 
 An early version of the song is to be found in 
 James Watson's collection of Scottish Songs, 
 published in 171 1, and it will be seen from the 
 verses quoted below, that Burns very spiritedly 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 29 
 
 changed the weak periphrasis of the old poet 
 into the tender and beautiful phrase so peculiarly 
 pathetic and Scotch : 
 
 " Should old acquaintance be forgot, 
 And never thought upon, 
 The flame of love extinguished 
 And fairly past and gone ? 
 Is thy kind heart now grown so cold, 
 In that loving breast of thine, 
 That thou canst never once reflect 
 On old long syne." 
 
 Here we have a very fine idea badly expressed 
 — the touch of sincerity seems lacking, whilst 
 the art is commonplace. This stanza is from a 
 poem written by Sir Robert Ayton ( 1 570 — 1 638) 
 of Kincaldie. He was the friend of Ben Jonson 
 and other Elizabethan writers, very likely Shake- 
 speare himself. Sir Robert undoubtedly ob- 
 tained the phrase from current idiomatic ex- 
 pressions. He wrote several pieces of minor 
 power. Allan Ramsay, who, before the advent 
 of Burns, was making an encouraging reputation 
 as a writer of verses and a compiler of old songs 
 and ballads, soon seized upon the rough lyric — 
 believed to have been "polished" by Francis 
 Sempill, of Beltrees — and destroyed the intention 
 of the original, as may be observed from this 
 verse, in which Ramsay casts good-fellowship 
 overboard, and makes love the keynote : 
 
 " Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
 Tho' they return with scars, 
 
30 STORIES OF 
 
 These are the noble hero's lot, 
 
 Obtained in glorious wars ; 
 Welcome my Vara, to my breast, 
 
 Thy arms about me twine, 
 And make me once again as blest 
 
 As I was lang syne." 
 
 This song of honest Allan's was first printed 
 in his "Tea-Table Miscellany" in 1724, from 
 which it was transferred to Johnson's " Musical 
 Museum," published during Burns's sojourn in 
 the Scottish capital. Allan Ramsay's lyric is 
 not so bad as many have tried to make out, and 
 as a love-song was very popular for a long time. 
 Burns, who was partly responsible for the edit- 
 ing of the " Musical Museum" for Johnson, in 
 which so many ancient pieces first saw the light 
 as printed matter, made many annotations and 
 alterations, and of " Auld Lang Syne " he wrote : - 
 " Ramsay here, as usual with him, has taken the 
 idea of the song and the first line from the old 
 fragment which will appear in the ' Museum,' 
 vol. V." Of this "old fragment" I shall have 
 something to say later. But it may be as well 
 to state that it is very evident that there were 
 several verbal versions of this song long known 
 to the peasantry and_ others of Caledonia stern 
 and wild. It was decidedly a folk-song, and 
 though it is not easy to conjecture when, or how 
 " Auld Lang Syne" arose as a form of speech 
 or song, its introduction into literature is not so 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 31 
 
 problematical. Somewhat more than a century 
 ago — on the 17th December, 1788 — Mrs. Dun- 
 lop, of Dunlop, the daughter of Sir Thomas 
 Wallace of Craigie, and a descendant of the 
 heroic race of Elderslie, received from Burns a 
 letter, in which the following passages occurred : 
 " Your meeting, which you so well describe, 
 with your old schoolfellow and friend, was truly 
 interesting. Out upon the ways of the world ! 
 they spoil these social offsprings of the heart. 
 Two veterans of the world would have met with 
 little more heart-workings than two old hacks 
 worn out on the road. Apropos, is not the 
 Scot's phrase, ' Auld Lang Syne,' exceedingly 
 expressive ? There is an old song and tune 
 which has often thrilled through my soul. You 
 know I am an enthusiast on old Scot songs. I 
 shall give you the verses." And he enclosed 
 the words of " Auld Lang Syne " as we know 
 them, and unless Burns was wilfully concealing 
 fact, he only trimmed the lines and did not 
 originate or write the lyric. He continues 
 somewhat extravagantly : " Light lie the turf on 
 the breast of the heaven-inspired poet who com- 
 posed this glorious fragment ! There is more of 
 the fire of native genius in it than half-a-dozen 
 modern English bacchanalians." Burns would 
 hardly write like this about himself and his work, 
 so we may take it that he only preserved it from 
 forgetfulness. 
 
32 STORIES OF 
 
 Three years afterwards, when sending the 
 song to George Thomson, his publisher, and 
 the editor of another collection of miscellaneous 
 songs, he writes, " One song more, and I am 
 done — ' Auld Lang Syne.' The air is but 
 mediocre, but the following song, the old song 
 of the olden times, and which has never been in 
 print, nor even in manuscript, until I took it 
 down from an old man's singing, is enough to 
 recommend any air." 
 
 On the face of it, though many writers have 
 denied that Burns was telling the truth in writ- 
 ing the above, the poet gives us the real origin 
 and rescue of the song from oblivion. There is 
 not the slightest doubt that Burns polished and 
 improved the words and made the song more 
 singable and consistent, and there is not the 
 slightest doubt that he did take it down, in a 
 rough state, perhaps, from the lips of some old 
 minstrel — they were just dying out then — or 
 wandering bag piper, as he avowedly took down 
 so many other songs. Now Burns has had 
 many pieces credited to him which he never 
 acknowledged himself, and Burns was not the 
 writer to deny himself the least claim to fame or 
 celebrity. The fact is that Burns communicated 
 in words and music more than sixty songs, 
 "begged, borrowed or stolen," as he jocularly 
 declares, to make up the " Museum." Besides 
 which, a great number of his own finest songs 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 33 
 
 carried no signature, and it is therefore not 
 wonderful that some confusion should have 
 occasionally occurred in allocating a few of the 
 borrowed ones. For instance, "Comin thro' 
 the Rye" (" Gin a body meet a body") is attri- 
 buted by Joseph Skipsey to the poet, while 
 another editor says he wrote " Could aught of 
 Song " — pieces that were anonymous long before 
 Burns's time ! It seems to me that we have no 
 right whatever to assume that Burns was de- 
 liberately deceiving both Mrs. Dunlop and Mr. 
 Thomson as to the authorship of the song. 
 Anyhow, the words — of the music I shall speak 
 presently — duly made their appearance in their 
 final form in 1 794, and are as follows : 
 
 " Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
 
 And never brought to min' ? 
 Should auld acquaintance be forgot. 
 
 And days o' lang syne ? 
 
 For auld lang syne, my dear. 
 
 For auld lang syne ; 
 We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, 
 
 For auld lang syne. 
 
 "Wetwa hae run about the braes. 
 
 And pu'd the gowans fine ; 
 But we've wander'd mony a weary foot 
 
 Sin' auld lang syne. 
 
 " We twa hae paidl't i' the burn 
 
 Frae morning sun till dine ; 
 But seas between us braid hae roar'd 
 
 Sin' auld lang syne. 
 
34 STORIES OF 
 
 " And here's a hand my trusty fere, 
 
 And gie's a hand o' thine, 
 And we'll tak' a right guid-willie waught, 
 
 For auld lang syne. 
 
 " And surely ye'U be your pint-stoup. 
 
 And surely I'll be mine ; 
 And we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, 
 
 For auld lang syne." 
 
 It may be noted that between the version 
 given to Mrs. Dunlop and Johnson and that 
 issued by Thomson there is one important dif- 
 ference in the sequence of the stanzas. In John- 
 son's publication the last verse is placed as the 
 second, and this arrangement was used for some 
 years, but the order of the stanzas, as given 
 above, is obviously correct, though we fear that 
 there are not many people who could repeat the 
 song right ofif, much as they rave about it. 
 Generally speaking, after the first and second 
 verses, the singing of the song is abandoned, as 
 so few know it. 
 
 As to the meaning of " willie-waught," 
 several opinions have been offered. However, 
 in a collection of Scotch songs, published by 
 Blackie and Son in 1843, the words "guid" or 
 "gude" and "willie" are joined together by a 
 hyphen, which means, will take a right good- will- 
 ing (God-be-with-you) draught — the draught of 
 good-will and friendship. The grasping of 
 hands in the same verse seems pretty strong 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 35 
 
 proof that that is its meaning. By the way, in 
 the " Museum " the words are signed with a 
 " Z " signifying that it is an old song with addi- 
 tions and alterations. The first, fourth and fifth 
 verses aire undeniably fragments of an old ditty ; 
 the second and third verses betray the tender- 
 ness and sentiment of the poet himself, and these 
 we are inclined to accept as being by Burns. 
 
 And now as to the music of this fine old song. 
 The original air, which Burns pronounced to be 
 mediocre, was soon abandoned, and one said to 
 be from " I fee'd a lad at Michaelmas," which, 
 in its turn, was taken from a Strathspey dance 
 tune called " The Miller's Wedding," was used 
 in its stead, and is given in Bremner's " Collec- 
 tion of Scots Reels," 1759. The tune bears a 
 strong resemblance to "Comin' thro' the Rye," 
 " Oh hey, Johnnie lad," and " For the sake of 
 Somebody." To come to the point at once, the 
 melody to which the lyric is now sung was be- 
 yond dispute composed by William Shield, who 
 was born at Durham, 1 748, and buried in West- 
 minster Abbey in 1829. He wrote the music 
 of thirty-five operas, operettas, dramas and pan- 
 tomimes, and to such favourite old songs as 
 " Old Towler," " The Thorn," " The Wolf," 
 " The Heaving of the Lead," " Arethusa," " The 
 Post Captain" and " Auld Lang Syne." A 
 writer in the " Newcastle Weekly Chronicle," 
 early in December 1891, said: " I have been 
 
36 STORIES OF 
 
 privileged to read the correspondence between 
 Dr. Bruce and Mr. Chappell, the learned author 
 of ' Popular Music in the Olden Times,' on 
 this subject, and I am firmly convinced that the 
 opinion of both Dr. Bruce and Mr. Chappell 
 is fully borne out by historical facts, that the 
 air of ' Auld Lang Syne ' was first published 
 in the opera composed by Shield. The opera 
 (in question) of ' Rosina ' was first brought 
 out on December 31st, 1782. It met with 
 great success ; the overture — in which occurs 
 the melody of ' Auld Lang Syne ' — was pub- 
 lished separately in 1783, and the air became 
 popular as a pianoforte piece, and, being thor- 
 oughly vocal, afforded others the opportunity 
 of setting words to it, which Shield did not do 
 himself." This is the first date of the air, and 
 this, there is every reason to believe, was the 
 air which Thomson used in his collejction. No 
 doubt other words, as indicated above, had 
 already been adapted to the melody, but this 
 would not deter Thomson the publisher from 
 using it, for he was not above annexing any 
 lyric or melody that suited his purpose. The 
 " mediocre " air referred to by Burns would be 
 the one the old man sang to Allan Ramsay. 
 But Burns s version of " Auld Lang Syne " first 
 appeared in 1 793 ; it was set to a different air 
 from the one we know it by, and different also 
 from Allan Ramsay's song of 1 740. The pre- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 37 
 
 sent air and Burns's words first made their 
 appearance wedded together twelve years after 
 Shield's " Rosina " was given to the world. And 
 then, as I have said, Thomson issued the song in 
 his collection (1799). Apart from the fact that 
 the dates are all in favour of Shield, there is 
 another point. When Shield had occasion in 
 his operas to introduce the melodies of other 
 writers, he was careful in every case to studiously 
 acknowledge his obligations. The air known as 
 " Auld Lang Syne " he distinctly claimed as his 
 own composition ; therefore, as no one has ever 
 been able to disprove Shield's claim, there is 
 every evidence that his statement must be 
 accepted and he is proclaimed composer of this 
 immortal song. In the " Popular Songs and 
 Melodies of Scotland," however, there is a quo- 
 tation note, without the authority being named, 
 which runs : " Shield introduced it into his 
 overture to the opera of ' Rosina ' written by Mr. 
 Brooks (query Miss Brooke ? ) and acted at 
 Covent Garden in 1 783. It is the last move- 
 ment of that overture, and in imitation of a Scot- 
 tish bagpipe tune, in which the oboe is substituted 
 for the chanter and the bassoon for the drone." 
 
 In the "Musical Times " for January 1896, 
 Mr. W. H. Cummings gives the air from 
 " Rosina," and says " My edition of Shield's 
 ' Rosina ' is an oblong folio, published in 1783 ; 
 the tune I take to be the original of Auld Lang 
 
38 STORIES OF 
 
 Syne ' is given to the oboe, the bassoons playing 
 a pedal bass with the words, inserted by the 
 composer ' to imitate the bag-pipes.' " " Auld 
 Lang Syne," continues Mr, Cummings, "was 
 published with two airs, one in 1 740, the other 
 in 1 793, and it was not till twenty years after the 
 production of ' Rosina ' that it appeared with the 
 tune now always associated with the words, the 
 earlier tunes having been abandoned." I would 
 like to point to a suspicious similarity between 
 portions of the melody of " The Thorn " by 
 Shield, and " Auld Lang Syne" which has not 
 been referred to by any other writer as being 
 strong proof of the two being composed by the 
 same man. At the same time I think it only 
 fair to say that Mr, Alfred Moffat (the editor of 
 " The Minstrelsy of Scotland ") disputes Shield's 
 claims, and some of the above statements, which, 
 however, I see no sufficient reason to abate or 
 alter. George Thomson has a note to "Auld 
 Lang Syne " in his " Collection of original Scot- 
 tish Airs " (1799) to this effect : " From an old 
 MS. in the Editor's possession " — but Thomson 
 was too many days after the fair. The melody 
 was already a favourite owing to the circum- 
 stances of its birth in 1783, as already recorded. 
 Thomson could easily have taken it from John- 
 son's " Scots Museum," wherein was published 
 a version of the air in 1792. 
 
 The libretto of W, M. Shield's two act comic 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 39 
 
 opera " Rosina," by the way, was written by 
 Mrs. Francis Brooke, the authoress of several 
 plays and novels. It was first produced at 
 Covent Garden Theatre, December 31st, 1782. 
 I may add that the song was introduced into 
 an adaptation of Scott's " Rob Roy " and sung on 
 the stage at Edinburgh in 18 19, and also before 
 George IV. in 1822, by the actor playing the 
 part of Francis Osbaldistone. A drama called 
 " Auld Lang Syne " in three acts, written by 
 G. Lash Gordon, was produced at the Opera 
 Comique Theatre, London, August 3rd, 1878. 
 
40 STORIES OF 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "la MARSEILLAISE." 
 
 The wild, pulse-stirring, revolutionary song 
 " Le Chant des Marseillaise " — it was called 
 "patriotic" in the last decade of the last 
 century — which has had so much effect on 
 political and social life in more countries than 
 France, was originally written by Claude Joseph 
 Rouget de Lisle in the winter of 1792. I say 
 "originally," because many versions appeared 
 almost immediately after its production, so popu- 
 lar did it become with the soldiers and peasants 
 alike, when several hundred sturdy revolutionists 
 from Marseilles marched into Paris to its strains. 
 The Parisians took it up immediately, and the 
 Austrian and Prussian regulars were beaten 
 again and again by the ragged sans-culottes to 
 this tune, as every reader pf Carlyle's " History 
 of the French Revolution " knows. Curiously 
 enough, the " Marseillaise " is still the official 
 patriotic hymn in France under the present 
 most Philistine of Republics ! And we, on this 
 side of the Channel, duly recognized the fact of 
 its being the National melody by playing it at 
 
FAMOUS SONjGS. 41 
 
 the Mansion House during a banquet to a 
 French minister in the year of grace and 
 loyalty, 1893 ! But what a wonderful history 
 has this truly marvellous song ! And how often 
 has it been erroneously related ! 
 
 There are several variants as to the circum- 
 stances under which it was composed and 
 written, for Rouget de Lisle wrote both words 
 and music. Our author, says one version, was; 
 a young artillery officer at Strasburg, who was 
 imbued with considerable poetic and musical 
 talent, and under the combined influence of love 
 and patriotism he wrote the hymn one night in 
 the house of his sweetheart's father, during the 
 severe winter of 1792. The young maiden 
 who had inspired him with the idea shed tears 
 upon hearing the stirring strains. At once 
 conveying the exact prevailing spirit of the 
 whole of France, the song quickly spread from 
 Strasburg to Alsace, where the melody was 
 learnt by the Marseilles troops then on their 
 way to Paris. The piece created a tremendous 
 furore in the French capital, and soon the re- 
 frain was being sung and played all over the 
 country. This is only partly true, because there 
 is some doubt about the sweetheart incident. 
 The real facts are as follows, though his claims 
 to both words and music have often been dis- 
 puted. Of the many claimants to the honour I 
 shall have a word to say later. Rouget de Lisle 
 
42 STORIES OF 
 
 was greatly esteemed among his friends for his 
 poetical and musical gifts, and was a particular 
 friend of the family of the Baron de Dietrich, a 
 noble Alsatian then Mayor of Strasburg. 
 " One night during the winter of 1792 the young 
 officer was seated at the table of this family. 
 The hospitable fare of the baron had been so 
 reduced by the calamities and necessities of war 
 that nothing," says Mdme. Fanny Raymond 
 Ritter, " could be provided for dinner that day 
 except garrison bread and a few slices of ham. 
 Dietrich smiled sadly at his friend, and lament- 
 ing the poverty of the fare he had to offer, de- 
 clared he would sacrifice the last remaining 
 bottle of Rhine wine in his cellar, if he thought 
 it would aid de Lisle's poetic invention, and in- 
 spire him to compose a patriotic song for the 
 public ceremonies shortly to take place in 
 Strasburg. The ladies approved, and sent for 
 the last bottle of wine of which the house could 
 boast." After dinner de Lisle sought his room, 
 and though it was bitterly cold he at once sat 
 down at the piano, and between reciting and 
 playing and singing eventually composed " La 
 Marseillaise," and, thoroughly exhausted, fell 
 asleep with his head on his desk. In the morn- 
 ing he was able to recall every note of the 
 song, immediately wrote it down and carried it to 
 his friend. Baron Dietrich. Everyone was en- 
 chanted with the song, which aroused the 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 43 
 
 greatest enthusiasm. A few days later it was 
 publicly given in Strasburg, and thence it 
 was conveyed by the multitude to the insurg- 
 ents of Marseilles, and, of its after popularity we 
 know. De Lisle's mother was a most devoted 
 Royalist, and asked, " What do people mean by 
 associating our name with the revolutionary 
 hymn which those brigands sing ?" De Lisle 
 himself, proscribed as a Royalist, when flying for 
 his life in the Jura mountains, heard it as a 
 menace of death, and recognizing the well-known 
 air, asked his guide what it was called. It had 
 then been christened the " Marseillaise Hymn," 
 and was so called until hymns went out of 
 fashion, when it was known by the one word. 
 In his late years de Lisle is said to have been 
 twice in prison, and to have been reduced to the 
 utmost poverty. A short time before his death, 
 when all hopes and ambitions had been extin- 
 guished in him by age, he was decorated with 
 the ribbon of the Legion of Honour. Soon 
 after this tardy recognition several pensions 
 were conferred upon him which he did not live 
 long to enjoy. He was the author of many 
 essays, songs, dramas and musical compositions, 
 his sole means of support during a large part 
 of his life being his literary labours. I believe 
 that several of de Lisle's plays were translated 
 and played in England. He died in 1836. 
 Of the words only six stanzas were originally 
 
44 STORIES OF 
 
 written, but at least a dozen more were added 
 by other hands about the same time. I append 
 the first verse of de Lisle's version. 
 
 " Allons, enfants de la Patrie ! 
 Le jour de gloire est arrivd ; 
 Centre nous de la tyrannie, 
 L'dtendard sanglant est lev6 
 Entendez-vous, dans les campagnes, 
 Mugir ces fdroces soldats ? 
 lis viennent jusque dans nos bra's, 
 Egorger nos fils : — nos compagnes ! 
 
 " Aux armes, mes citoyens ! 
 
 Formez vos battaillons : 
 
 Marchons, marchons, Qu'un sang impur : 
 
 Abreuve nos sillons." 
 
 The Republican version of the lyric differs 
 somewhat from the original. 
 
 One of the first and best English versions 
 was published so soon as 1795, only three years 
 after it was written, and is as follows. Unfor- 
 tunately the translator's name is not given : 
 
 I. 
 " Ye sons of France, awake to glory, 
 Hark, hark what myriads bid you rise, 
 Your children, wives, and grandsires hoary. 
 Behold their tears and hear their cries ! 
 Shall hateful tyrants, mischief breeding. 
 With hireling hosts, a ruffian band. 
 Affright and desolate the land. 
 While peace and liberty lie bleeding ? 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 45 
 
 Refrain. 
 " To arms ! to arms, ye brave ! 
 Th' avenging sword unsheath ! 
 March on, march on, all hearts resolved 
 To victory or death. 
 
 II. 
 
 " Now, now the dangerous storm is scowling 
 Which treacherous Kings, confederate, raise ; 
 The dogs of war, let loose, are howling, 
 And lo ! our fields and cities blaze. 
 And shall we basely view the ruin. 
 While lawless force, with guilty stride. 
 Spreads desolation far and wide. 
 With crimes and blood his hands embruing ? 
 
 III. 
 " With luxury and pride surrounded. 
 The vile, insatiate despots dare. 
 Their thirst of power and gold unbounded. 
 To mete and vend the light and air ; 
 Like beasts of burden would they load us. 
 Like gods would bid their slaves adore : 
 But man is man, and who is more ? 
 Then, shall they longer lash and goad us ? 
 
 IV. 
 
 " O, Liberty ! can man resign thee ! 
 Once having felt thy gen'rous flame ? 
 Can dungeon, bolts, and bars confine thee. 
 Or whips thy noble spirit tame ? 
 Too long the world has wept, bewaihng 
 That falsehood's dagger tyrants wield : 
 But freedom is our sword and shield, 
 And all their arts are unavailing." 
 
46 STORIES OF 
 
 No wonder such a lyric as this, with the oft- 
 repeated chorus, should have stirred the people 
 to action ! Lamartine exclaimed of " La Mar- 
 seillaise : " "It received, from the circumstances 
 amid which it arose, an especial character, that 
 renders it at once solemn and sinister ; glory 
 and crime, victory and death, are mingled in its 
 strains." And Heine wrote of it in 1830 : "A 
 strong joy seizes me, as I sit writing ! music 
 resounds under my window, and in the elegiac 
 rage of its large melody I recognize that hymn 
 with which the handsome Barbaroux and his 
 companions once greeted the city of Paris. 
 What a song ! It thrills me with fiery delight, it 
 kindles within me the glowing star of enthusiasm 
 and the swift rocket of desire. Swelling, burning 
 torrents of song rush from the heights of free- 
 dom, in streams as bold as those with which the 
 Ganges leaps from the heights of the Himalaya ! 
 I can write no more, this song intoxicates my 
 brain ; louder and nearer advances the powerful 
 chorus : 
 
 ' Aux Armes, citoyens ! ' ' 
 
 To hear a large concourse of enthusiastic 
 Frenchmen sing this song is an experience of 
 the most thrilling description. Rachel chanted 
 the song with such fire and passion that the 
 audience grew crazy with excitement, and, as it 
 were, reached for their swords. The music of 
 " La Marseillaise " is at once striking and en- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 47 
 
 thralling ; the theme forcible, and the refrain 
 " Aux armes, citoyens ! " so pathetic and express- 
 ive that few can hear it without being affected 
 to tears. 
 
 As I have already stated, there are several 
 other translations ; two in 1800, and one which 
 was published about 1857 and sung by Mrs. 
 Howard Paul in the " Mimic and Musical En- 
 tertainment Patchwork." John Oxenford wrote 
 this version, and just listen to it, as a specimen 
 of what the mild and genial dramatic critic of 
 the " Times " could turn out : 
 
 " Come children of your country, come. 
 
 New glory dawns upon the world, 
 
 Our tyrants, rushing to their doom, 
 
 Their crimson standard have unfurled. 
 
 Already on our plains we hear 
 
 The murmurs of a savage hoard, 
 
 They threaten with the murd'rous sword 
 
 Your comrades and your children dear — 
 
 Then up, and from your ranks the hirehng foe withstand, 
 
 March on, march on, his craven blood must fertilize the land." 
 
 So popular had the song become that every- 
 body seemed imbued with the idea that they 
 had had a hand in its composition. According 
 to that curious work ' An Englishman in Paris," 
 not only did de Lisle not write the whole of his 
 song — the Abb6 Pessoneaux during the Reign 
 of Terror declared he wrote the last strophe of 
 the lyric — but, it is said, he had stolen the music, 
 note for note, during the period he was writing 
 
48 STORIES OF 
 
 the song when a prisoner in the fortress of St, 
 Jean, at least three years after de Lisle really had 
 been inspired with the whole composition ! It 
 is Boucher — Alexandre Boucher, a well-known 
 eccentric violinist, who vowed, says the author 
 of " An Englishman in Paris," that he, Boucher, 
 had written it for the colonel of a regiment who 
 was about to leave Marseilles the next day. 
 I give it, says the writer of the work I have just 
 referred to : " In the very words of Boucher 
 himself as he told it to a Paris journalist whom 
 I knew well : ' A good many years afterwards 
 I (meaning Boucher) was seated next to Rouget 
 de Lisle at a dinner-party in Paris. We had 
 never met before, and, as you may easily 
 imagine, I was rather interested in the gentle- 
 man, whom, with many others at the same 
 board, I complimented on his production ; only 
 I confined myself to complimenting him on his 
 poem. " You don't say a word about the music," 
 he replied ; and yet, being a celebrated musician, 
 that ought to interest you. Do you not Uke 
 it?" "Very much indeed," I said, in a some- 
 what significant tone. "Well, let me be frank 
 with you. The music is not mine. It was that 
 of a march which came, heaven knows whence, 
 and which they kept on playing at Marseilles 
 during the Terror, when I was a prisoner at the 
 fortress of St. Jean. I made a few alterations 
 necessitated by the words, and there it is." 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 49 
 
 Thereupon, to his great surprise, I hummed the 
 march as I had originally written it. " Wonder- 
 ful ! " he exclaimed ; " how did you come by 
 it ? " he asked. - When I told him, he threw 
 himself round my neck. But the next moment 
 he said : " I am very sorry, my dear Boucher, 
 but I am afraid that you will be despoiled for 
 ever, do what you will ; for your music and my 
 words go so well together that they seem to 
 have sprung simultaneously from the same 
 brain, and the world, even if I proclaimed my 
 indebtedness to you, would never believe it." 
 " Keep the loan," I said, moved, in spite of my- 
 self, by his candour. " Without your genius, 
 my march would be forgotten by now. You 
 have given it a patent of nobility. It is yours 
 for ever. 
 
 This is quite touching, but unfortunately the 
 dates don't fit in ; the Reign of Terror was 
 scarcely consummated until 1793, when Robes- 
 pierre for a time was triumphant, de Lisle ws-s 
 undoubtedly at Strasbourg in 1792, and was not 
 taken captive till more than a twelvemonth after 
 the song was turning all France into demons, 
 and, as I have said, the song was already pub- 
 lished'va. England by J. Bland, Holborn, London. 
 But I am enabled to demolish this fable of 
 Boucher by advancing the countless fictitious 
 claims of other impostors. Amongst the many 
 appears to have been a certain Holtzmann who 
 
 E 
 
50 STORIES OF 
 
 was discovered by a Monsieur Tappert. Only 
 quite recently {1892) the origin of " La Mar- 
 seillaise ' was greatly exercising the minds of the 
 good people of Cahors. It seems, according to 
 the correspondent of a London newspaper, that 
 the bishop of that place happened to find himself 
 in the course of a public ceremony, forced to 
 listen to the famous Republican hymn and 
 apparently, was not at all shocked, consequently 
 some officious nobody wrote to the local papers 
 about him. One of these, the " Semaine Reli- 
 gieuse," took the matter up in a manner least 
 expected, and said "How is it possible that 
 anybody should be astonished that a bishop 
 should listen with complaisance to an air which 
 in reality has a religious origin ? " The idea, 
 promulgated not for the first time, was that the 
 author plagiarized it from a piece of sacred 
 music. Then was revived the story not of 
 Simon Tappertit, but M. Tappert, He affirmed 
 that the theme of the " Marseillaise " was to be 
 found in a credo of a mass composed in 1 776 by 
 Holtzmann, chapel master of the parish church 
 of Meersbourg. Naturally this announcement 
 caused an immense sensation among the musical 
 savants, and more particularly among those who 
 worshipped the piece as a national and patriotic 
 anthem. M. Tappert was immediately called 
 on to explain where this mass was to be found, 
 but up to the last he failed to do so, and 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 51 
 
 therefore we are at liberty to assume that he 
 invented the story for some reason or other. 
 In 1886 it was also stated that the air was 
 taken from a religious source by M. Arthur Loth 
 in the " Univers," who declared that Grisons, 
 although a clerical, had embraced the cause of 
 the Revolution. But Grisons did not avow him- 
 self the composer until 1 793 — a year after it was 
 really written — when he actually did introduce it 
 into a score which was executed by choristers 
 from the church of St. Omer. Of course his claim 
 was very soon put out of court when the matter 
 was thoroughly investigated — he had simply 
 stolen a few bars from " La Marseillaise," and 
 embodied them in his own work. It is odd that 
 the piece should have been so often temporarily 
 appropriated by some charlatan anxious to 
 secure a little cheap fame. The " Marseillaise " 
 has been made use of by many well-known 
 people, but invariably the indebtedness has been 
 acknowledged by them : Salieri, for instance, 
 in the opening chorus of his opera, " Palmira " 
 (1795). It stands in Grisons' introduction to 
 his oratorio, "Esther," which is still in MS., 
 and which excited so much speculation as to 
 whether he invented the melody or de Lisle. 
 
 {Schumann uses it in his song of the "Two 
 Grenadiers" with excellent effect, also in his 
 overture to " Hermann and Dorothea." 
 
 Louis Philippe conferred a pension on de Lisle 
 
52 STORIES OF 
 
 for his patriotism and poetry. There is a picture 
 by Pils, representing de Lisle singing the 
 " Marseillaise," well known from the engraving. 
 Finally, there is no simpler method of settling 
 this vexed question than by referring to "La 
 Vdrite sur la Paternitd de la Marseillaise : par 
 A. Rouget de Lisle," published in 1865. The 
 writer was a nephew of the original Rouget, 
 and, saysW. F. Waller in " Notes and Queries," 
 he showed, by precise documentary and other 
 evidence, that Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle 
 was a captain of engineers, quartered at Stras- 
 bourg in 1792 ; that when Dietrich, Mayor of 
 Strasbourg, wanted a patriotic song for the 
 Bas Rhin volunteers — then under orders to join 
 Luckner's corps — to sing, the engineer cap- 
 tain went home to his lodgings, and on the 
 night of April 24th composed the words and 
 music of a song which he called " Chant de 
 Guerre pour I'Armee du Rhin," the title which 
 appears on the first edition of the song, pub- 
 lished by Dannbach of Strasbourg, and dedicated 
 to Marechal Liickner. This " Chant de Guerre " 
 was sung at Dietrich's house on April 25th. 
 The scene is familiar enough, as shown in the 
 engraving from Isidore Pils's picture. Band 
 parts were ready next day, and the band of the 
 Garde Nationale played the " Chant" on Sunday, 
 April 29th. It was a matter of two months 
 before it got to Marseilles. On June 25th 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 53 
 
 Mireur sang it at a banquet there, and with so 
 much effect that it was printed and distributed 
 amongst Barbaroux's " Six Hundred " who were 
 about to march to Paris. They sang it when 
 they entered Paris on July 30th, and at the 
 attack on the Tuileries on August loth. 
 
 Jean Alexandre Boucher, who claimed to have 
 written the song, as previously stated, was an 
 extraordinary individual, born the same year his 
 homonym, the Painter of Dubarrydom, died. He 
 was a Court fiddler at the early age of six. He 
 was of the "Concert Spirituel" at seven; and solo- 
 violinist to the King of Spain whom Napoldon 
 Empereurvanquished. After the peace he toured 
 through Europe, and made a great sensation 
 wherever he went. He called himself " Alex- 
 andre des Violons," and won a reputation second 
 only to that of the great Paganini. His chief 
 hobby seemed to be in imitating Napoleon, 
 whom he closely resembled. He made a con- 
 siderable fortune, and died in 1861. 
 
 I have purposely given all the versions and 
 particulars respecting the " Marseillaise" that I 
 have come across from time to time, and I trust 
 that such facts as I have been at some pains to 
 unearth and verify, will remove all doubt on the 
 subject of the authorship of this composition for 
 the future. A full account of the song may also 
 be found in "Les Mdlodies Populaires de la 
 France," by Loquin, published in Paris, 1879. 
 
54 STORIES OF 
 
 In conclusion, it is pleasant to be able to add 
 that Frenchmen have acknowledged the genius 
 of Rouget de Lisle at last by erecting a statue 
 to him in their beloved city of Paris, 1892. 
 
 Amongst de Lisle's best works may be men- 
 tioned " Hymne dithyrambique sur la conjura- 
 tion de Robespierre et la revolution du 9 ther- 
 midor" {1794), " Chant des Vengeances" (1798), 
 "Chant du Combat" (1800, for the Egyptian 
 Army). He also wrote the libretto of the 
 comic opera " Jacquot, ou I'^cole des meres " 
 (music by Delia Maria, 1795), and of the grand 
 opera " Macbeth," to the music of Ch^lard, 1827. 
 
 I can trace only two plays in which the story 
 of the writing of the "Marseillaise" has been 
 utilized, the best, called " An Old Song," by the 
 Rev. Freeman Wills and A. Fitz-Maurice King, 
 was produced at the Great Hall, Tunbridge 
 Wells, August 2nd, 1894, and reproduced with- 
 out much success at the Criterion Theatre in 
 the fall of 1896. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 55 
 
 CHAPTER V, 
 
 THE MISTLETOE BOUGH. 
 
 The sale of a chest in February, 1893, alleged 
 to be associated with the story of the " Mistletoe 
 Bough"at Basketts- Fie tch wood, naturally revived 
 interest in the tragedy (or tragedies) upon which 
 the song is founded, and which is said to have 
 happened in so many families during the last 
 century, and much speculation was rife. Some 
 years ago several correspondents tried to thresh 
 the subject out in the pages of " Notes and 
 Queries," but only with partial success. Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel H. F. Greatwood, who has been 
 kind enough to let me see a booklet on the 
 subject, claims to have the identical chest at 
 The Castle, Tiverton, North Devon, but I fear 
 that such is not the case. This chest was for a 
 number of years in the possession of the Cope 
 family, of Bramshill, Hertford Bridge, Hamp- 
 shire, and the late Sir William Cope wrote the 
 booklet mentioned, giving many interesting par- 
 ticulars respecting the same. The story as told 
 in verse both by Samuel Rogers and Thomas 
 Haynes Bayly, is as follows : A youthful and 
 
56 STORIES OF 
 
 playful bride on her wedding day hid herself, 
 while playing hide and seek, in an oak chest ; she 
 let down the lid, the spring caught, and she was 
 buried alive. She was sought for high and 
 low, but it was not until some considerable time 
 had elapsed that? the old chest was broken open, 
 and her skeleton discovered. But though this 
 story is stated as having occurred at Bramshill, 
 no reliable data have ever been discovered to 
 make the belief any more than a tradition. It 
 is denied that any Miss Cope ever met with such 
 a fate, though the incidents have been circum- 
 stantially set forth. A lady wrote to the late 
 Sir William Cope, that there could be no doubt 
 of Bramshill being the seat of the tragedy ; that 
 Miss Cope was extremely young, and just home 
 from school at the time she was married. She 
 proposed a game of hide and seek, which was 
 pooh-poohed for a long time. At last she said, 
 " Well, then, I shall go and hide myself," and 
 she was never found again. The family left 
 the place dreadfully unhappy. About two years 
 after Lady Cope wrote to the housekeeper to 
 say they were coming down ; and in going about 
 the rooms with the housemaids to prepare for 
 them, she (the housekeeper) missed some 
 counterpanes or something similar. In search- 
 ing for the missing articles she went into some 
 rooms that had not been occupied for many 
 years. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 57 
 
 " Oh, they may be in the chest, and yet I do 
 not think it likely," said the housekeeper. 
 
 However, she opened the chest and to her 
 horror beheld the wedding garments of the lost 
 girl. Upon the family being made acquainted 
 with the discovery they had forty rooms pulled 
 down, as the mansion was excessively large, and 
 they could not bear to go into that part of the 
 house again. It is true that, at the beginning 
 of the last century, a projecting wing containing 
 thirty-three rooms was pulled down. But no 
 faith is placed in the story of the lost bride. 
 However, there was a daughter, Elizabeth, of 
 Sir John Cope, the sixth baronet, who met her 
 death in this way. She died, aged 13, in 1730. 
 But of her being the lady of the chest there is 
 no tradition, for if there had been any truth in 
 this version. Sir Richard, the ninth baronet, 
 who was her cousin and nine or ten years old at 
 the time of her death, would surely have known. 
 He died in 1836. It is stated, however, that 
 he was a man of peculiar disposition and did not 
 like being questioned about the chest or the 
 accident, whatever it was, that caused his cousin 
 Elizabeth's death. 
 
 The oak chest now at the Castle, Tiverton, 
 was described by the late Sir William Cope as 
 follows : " The chest is one of those called in 
 Italian ' Cassone,' in which the bride's trousseau 
 was enclosed and conveyed to her future home. 
 
58 STORIES OF 
 
 It is about seven or eight feet long ; about three 
 feet high and the same in breadth. The 
 exterior and the interior of the Hd are inlaid 
 with ornamental designs. The front is divided 
 into three panels. The subjects of these panels 
 are landscapes, in one of which is a man cutting 
 down a tree ; the stiles dividing and enclosing 
 the panels are each ornamented with the figure of 
 a man with the legs of an animal (a satyr). The 
 two on the exterior stiles are carrying goats, the 
 other two on the dividing stiles are blowing 
 horns ; one carrying a trident, the other a club. 
 At the foot of one of the satyrs is a tortoise ; of 
 another, a serpent ; and of the other two, dogs 
 or some similar quadrupeds. The frame is de- 
 corated with arabesques. The inside of the lid, 
 which has three hinges the long straps of which 
 end in fleur-de-lys, is decorated. In the upper 
 centre is the globe, supported by two ' amoretti ' 
 and below these are arabesques. On one side in 
 a landscape are two unarmed figures kneeling in 
 homage to a crowned figure, holding a sceptre, 
 and seated on a throne ; and behind the kneel- 
 ing figures is a man in full armour. On the 
 opposite side are two men fully armed, and with 
 shields, meeting a third. At each extremity is 
 a man in armour standing on a tesselated pave- 
 ment. The whole of this ornamentation is 
 bordered by arabesques." Assuming this orna- 
 mentation to be of Italian workmanship. Sir 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 59 
 
 William Cope was willing to give credence to 
 the story told by a lady of a distinguished 
 Italian house to the effect that the incident 
 happened in her own family, and was a well- 
 known record. The chest was said to have 
 been sold to an Englishman, whom Sir William 
 believed to have been the fifth baronet, who 
 resided in Italy for many years, and who con- 
 veyed it to Bramshill about the beginning of 
 last century. He cites Rogers's " Ginevra " in 
 support of his contention, but unfortunately the 
 poet in a footnote to his poem said : " This 
 story is, I believe, founded on fact,, though 
 the time and place are uncertain. Many old 
 houses in England lay claim to it." Rogers 
 laid the scene in Modena. At Florence, how- 
 ever, is an old Castello, opposite to the church 
 of St. Florence, where the "identical chest" is 
 still shown to visitors. 
 
 Miss Mitford, in 1829 ("Life," vol. ii., 281), 
 says the story belongs to Bramshill, Sir John 
 Cope's house in Hampshire. But she adds : 
 " This story is common to old houses ; it was 
 told me of the great house at Malsanger." 
 This last house is near Basingstoke and at 
 nearly the same date is said to have been un- 
 occupied. There seems to be no doubt that the 
 old oak chest of Bramshill was connected with 
 some tragical event, but whether it took place in 
 Italy or England it is hard to say, though I 
 
6o STORIES OF 
 
 incline to the belief that it was in England, as 
 the oak chest was at one time one of the prin- 
 cipal articles of furniture in most family mansions.. 
 The oak, too, is a special product of England, 
 but not of Italy. Moreover, the same sad cir- 
 cumstance has been associated with at least 
 four other houses. First at a Leicestershire 
 house, the house of the Hartopps ; secondly at 
 Harwell Old Hall near Winchester, where the 
 coffer sold at Basketts-Fletchwood was, pre- 
 viously to its passing into the possession of the 
 late Rev. J. Haygarth, at Upham, Hants, at 
 whose death it went to Mr. Lawson Tait's house 
 in the New Forest; thirdly, at a house not 
 far from Bridgwater. In the parish church of 
 Bawdrip, about three miles from Bridgwater 
 there is a monument to Edward Lovell, his 
 wife Eleanor {nde Bradford) and their two 
 daughters, Maria and Elearfior. The inscrip- 
 tion touching the latter is : "Eleanor . . . obiit 
 Jun 14 1 68 1. Hanc, subito et immature (ipsos 
 pene inter hymenaeos) fato correptam moestissi- 
 mus luxit maritus, et in gratam piamq. parentum 
 sororis et dilectissimae conjugis memoriam, 
 monumentum hoc erigi voluit." The month 
 Jun. might easily be a mistake for Jan. 
 Roughly translated, the above may be rendered 
 as, "Her afflicted husband mourned her snatched 
 away well nigh on her wedding day by a sudden 
 and untimely fate ; and he resolved to have this 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 6i 
 
 monument erected to the pleasant (agreeable) 
 and pious memory of parents, sister, and most- 
 beloved spouse." Tradition connects this sudden 
 death with the story of the bride playing at 
 hide and seek. It is curious that in Haynes 
 Bayly's song the bridegroom's name should be 
 Lovell. There is no mention in the monument 
 of the name of the bereaved husband. The 
 father, Edward Lovell, was fourteen years rector 
 of Bawdrip, and fellow of Jesus College, Cam- 
 bridge, and died in 1675, so he could not have 
 been present at the wedding as represented in 
 the song. He came from Batcombe, near 
 Castle Cary, at which latter place the Lovells 
 were seated in very early days. It is quite con- 
 ceivable that the bride and bridegroom were 
 cousins, both Lovells, and it would be interesting 
 to know upon which legend Bayly based his lyric. 
 The third house that is held to be the scene 
 of the tragic mishap is Exton Hall, the seat of 
 the Noels. The incident is related by an an- 
 cestor of the family, it having been handed down 
 from Dorothy Noel, born in 1693, who was 
 present as a child at the time of the occurrence 
 — say about 1 700-1 705. Her version of the story 
 is as follows : There was merry-making at 
 Christmas in the old family hall, and amateur 
 theatricals were performed. In one of the 
 scenes it was necessary to represent a funeral. 
 Accordingly one of the young ladies present 
 
62 STORIES OF 
 
 personated the dead girl of the piece, and was 
 lowered into an old oak chest, and the lid closed 
 over her. When the scene was finished the lid 
 was raised, when to the dismay of the party she 
 was discovered to be dead. Never again were 
 private theatricals enacted in that house, for the 
 judgment of God was supposed to have been 
 manifested in the event, and the family (said to 
 have been previously given to gaiety and dis- 
 regard of serious subjects) thereafter became 
 noted for its strict performance of religious 
 duties. 
 
 This variant does not fit in with Haynes 
 Bayly's once popular song, wherein he indicates 
 that the game of hide and seek was played. It 
 may be here stated that Collet tells a similar 
 story to Bayly's in his " Relics of Literature ; " 
 it also finds a place in the " Causes C^lebres." 
 The words of the song at once dispose of the 
 claims of Italy as being the scene of the cata- 
 strophe, though by some eccentric freak of 
 fancy, when it appeared in a collection called 
 " Songs of the Season," set to music by Sir H. R. 
 Bishop about 1830, these lines from Rogers's 
 " Italy " were used as a motto : 
 
 " The happiest of the happy, 
 When a spring-lock that lay in ambush there, 
 Fastened her down for ever." 
 
 But there is no evidence that Bayly was in- 
 fluenced by the " Ginevra " of Rogers. Rogers 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 63 
 
 was the popular poet of the period, and every- 
 body quoted from him. 
 
 "THE MISTLETOE BOUGH." 
 
 " The mistletoe hung in the Castle Hall, 
 The holly branch shone on the old oak wall ; 
 And the baron's retainers blithe and gay 
 Were keeping their Christmas holiday. 
 The baron beheld, with a father's pride. 
 His beautiful child, young Lovell's bride ; 
 While she with her bright eyes seemed to be 
 The star of the goodly company. 
 
 Oh, the mistletoe bough ! the mistletoe bough ! 
 
 " ' I'm weary of dancing now,' she cried ; 
 
 ' Here tarry a moment, I'll hide, I'll hide ! 
 
 And, Lovell, be sure thou'rt first to trace 
 
 The clue to my secret lurking place.' 
 
 Away she ran, and her- friends began 
 
 Each tower to search and each nook to scan ; 
 
 And young Lovell cried, ' Oh ! where dost thou hide ? 
 
 I'm lonesome without thee, my own dear bride ! ' 
 
 " They sought her that night, they sought her next day ! 
 
 And they sought her in vain, when a week passed away ! 
 
 In the highest, the lowest, the loneliest spot, 
 
 Young Lovell sought wildly, but found her not. 
 
 And years flew by, and their grief at last 
 
 Was told as a sorrowful tale long past ; 
 
 And when Lovell appeared, the children cried, 
 
 ' See, the old man weeps for his fairy bride ! ' 
 
 "At length an old chest that had long lain hid 
 Was found in the Castle — they raised the lid — 
 And a skeleton form lay mouldering there, 
 In the bridal wreath of that lady fair. 
 
64 STORIES OF 
 
 Oh ! sad was her fate — in sportive jest, 
 She hid from her lord in the old oak chest ; 
 It closed with a spring, and, dreadful doom ! 
 The bride lay clasped in her living tomb ! " 
 
 This is all essentially English, particularly the 
 Christmas festivities, when the baron's retainers 
 were wont to keep their Christmas holidays the 
 same as the barons themselves. Mrs. Bayly in 
 the "Life" of her husband, published in 1844, 
 throws no light on the subject, but it seems 
 tolerably evident that the ballad was founded 
 by Bayly (who was born at Bath in 1797, and 
 died 1839, after having written hundreds of 
 songs and some thirty-six dramatic pieces) on 
 some well-known family tradition, and in all 
 probability he at some time or other visited 
 Bawdrip and read the inscription in the church- 
 yard, which I have transcribed above. Indeed, 
 Bayly might have heard the tale of the Lovell 
 family from his father, who was a solicitor at 
 Bath, or he may even have met a descendant 
 of the Lovells — is it not probable that the elder 
 Bayly was the Lovell family solicitor, and con- 
 sequently in full possession of their history ? 
 But what has become of this particular old oak 
 chest ? The one sold on the loth of February, 
 1893, belonging to Mr. Lawson Tait of Bas- 
 ketts-Fletchwood, was said by a gentleman who 
 saw it to be of Spanish mahogany, and not of 
 oak. Will the story ever be traced to its original 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 65 
 
 source ? Bayly was the author of, amongst 
 other songs, " I'd be a Butterfly," " She Wore 
 a Wreath of Roses," and many poems of a 
 homely nature. Joseph Philip Knight wrote 
 the music of " She Wore a Wreath of Roses," 
 and to most of Bayly's lyrics. He was born in 
 1 81 2, and died 1886. 
 
 Although Haynes Bayly was a dramatic 
 author, he does not appear to have seen the 
 possibilities of a drama in the story of the song ; 
 but during his lifetime a fellow-dramatist, Charles 
 Somerset, turned it to account, and produced at 
 the Garrick Theatre, Whitechapel, in 1834, a 
 melodrama in two acts, entitled, " The Mistletoe 
 Bough ; or, the Fatal Chest." Mr. Somerset's 
 editor says that " a story in Rogers's ' Italy ' 
 produced the ballad upon which this drama is 
 founded," and gives an extract from the poem. 
 He continues : " Mr. Somerset, seeing the dra- 
 matic impossibility of confining himself to this 
 single incident, has amplified the story by intro- 
 ducing a variety of characters, the most promi- 
 nent of which is a Goblin Page, a dwarfish, 
 deformed, malignant imp of mischief. The lady 
 dies, not by her own youthful frolic, but the 
 vengeance of a rejected lover, who, after she 
 has got into the chest, stabs her and closes the 
 lid. His treachery meets with retribution. The 
 spirit of his victim stands forth as his accuser ; 
 and, in a paroxysm of shame, remorse, and 
 
 F 
 
1 1 
 
 66 STORIES OF 
 
 despair, he plants a dagger in his heart ! " The 
 transpontine and cispontine dramas were nearly- 
 all built that way sixty years ago — the avenging 
 spirit was always on top, so to speak, It is a 
 most wonderful and weird concoction of tragedy 
 and farce playing at hide and seek to the end, 
 The song is introduced and sung as a " Romance 
 and Chorus," and many liberties are taken with 
 Bayly's words. The Spirit also glides on to- 
 wards the end, and sings a new version of the 
 lyric, suitable to the occasion, to her sleeping 
 lover, Lovell. At one time " The Mistletoe 
 Bough " was a great favourite at the pantomime 
 theatres, and it was frequently introduced into 
 the orchestral selections. 
 
 Amongst the many novelists who have used 
 the title may be mentioned Anthony Trollope, 
 who contributed a story called the " Mistletoe 
 Bough " to the Christmas number of the " Illus- 
 trated London News," December 2ist, i86i. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 67 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 "EVER OF THEE." 
 
 The story of this at one period extraordinarily 
 popular song, has been told many times in various 
 ways. The simplicity of the words and homely 
 characteristics of the melody naturally appealed 
 to the public some few decades ago, and occasion- 
 ally one comes across it as a favourite side by 
 side with " Litde Nell," " What are the Wild 
 Waves Saying."*" and similar pieces, especially in 
 country houses. Its sale for many years was 
 something abnormal, and even now there is a 
 more or less steady demand for it. The pub- 
 lisher, Mr. Turner, is said to have reaped a for- 
 tune by it — its author, oblivioh. But let me 
 relate the romance concerning the origin of the 
 song which was said to have been written and 
 composed by James Lawson, whose name will be 
 looked for in vain on this or any other publication. 
 Here is the story. On a certain cold day in 
 the month of January, 1850, the door of Mr. 
 Turner's music shop in the Poultry, Cheapside, 
 London, was nervously opened, and a most un- 
 lovely, unclean specimen of ragged humanity 
 
68 STORIES OF 
 
 dragged himself in. He looked as though he 
 had not had a bath for months. His beard was 
 unkempt, dirty, and matted. In the place of 
 boots he wore some filthy rags, and altogether 
 he was a most pitiable and degraded-looking 
 object. 
 
 One of the clerks eyed him cautiously, and 
 told him to clear out as speedily as possible. 
 
 Two ladies who were in the shop noticed his 
 woe-begone appearance, and were about to 
 give him some money, when the kind-hearted 
 manager stepped forward, and seeing the poor 
 fellow shivering with cold and, apparently, 
 hunger, took him into the workshop so that he 
 might have a " warm up " by the fire. A few 
 minutes later Mr. Turner, the proprietor, came 
 in, and seeing the ragged individual, asked what 
 he wanted, and " who allowed you in ? " 
 
 " I did," said the manager ; " the poor fellow 
 looked so cold and miserable, that I could not 
 send him into the piercing wind again without 
 giving him a warm ; and besides, he says he 
 has some business with you," 
 
 " Business with me ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; I have a song I should like you to 
 listen to," answered the tramp. 
 
 Mr. Turner eyed him from head to foot, and 
 then laughed incredulously. 
 
 The miserable-looking object at the stove 
 began to grow uneasy, and begged to be per- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 69 
 
 mitted to play the melody of his song, which he 
 then unearthed from his pocket, and handed to 
 the music publisher. Mr. Turner looked at it, 
 and said, " Who wrote this ? " 
 
 " I did, sir," was the reply. 
 
 "You! Well, I'll "have it played over, and 
 if it's any good I'll give you something for 
 it." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, sir, I should prefer to 
 play it myself." 
 
 " What .■• You play ? Well, bring him up to 
 the piano-room when he gets warm, and we'll 
 humour him," said Mr. Turner to his manager. 
 
 Very shortly the bundle of rags was seated at 
 a concert gr5hd piano, and " Ever of Thee " was 
 played for the first time by its composer, James 
 LaWson. 
 
 His listeners were electrified when they heard 
 this dilapidated tramp make the piano almost 
 speak. His touch is said to have been simply 
 marvellous, and his very soul seemed to sob at 
 his finger-tips. When he had finished, he turned 
 to his small audience, and said, apologetically, 
 
 " I'd like to sing it for you, but I have a 
 terrible cold, I have not been in bed for five 
 nights, I am hungry and ill, and I feel I could 
 not do it justice," 
 
 The publisher was almost dumb with amaze- 
 ment. The air was so catching and plaintive, 
 that he felt sure it would take and be a success ; 
 
JO STORIES OF 
 
 and he was convinced in his mind that this was 
 no ordinary man, but one ^ with a history that 
 was worth investigating. So he determined to 
 cultivate him, and pressed him to sing at least 
 one verse of the song. Lawson protested, but 
 finally agreed, and if Turner was amazed when 
 he heard him play, he was positively enraptured 
 when that hungry voice, hungry with love, 
 hungry physically, poured out, in the sweetest 
 of tenors, the first stanza of the song in which 
 his soul lived. It was the story of a lost love, 
 but he cherished it, and, as he sang, it was easy 
 to see that he lived and breathed only for that 
 love. " Ever of Thee " has never been so sung 
 since. That trial verse made its success, and 
 to the experienced published, Mr. Turner, it 
 was decidedly evident that he had secured a 
 great song. 
 
 Addressing his manager, he said, " Take this 
 man along ; get him a bath, a shave, and some 
 decent clothes, in fact, have him properly at- 
 tended to, and then bring him back, and we 
 will see about this song." 
 
 Accordingly this was done, and a wonderful 
 transformation took place when "rigged out" 
 from top to toe in clean wholesome clothing, 
 James Lawson felt himself a new man ; and 
 indeed, he looked what in reality he was, or had 
 been, a gentleman. One of the causes of his 
 downfall was not long in manifesting itself, when 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 71 
 
 he expressed a desire several times to have a 
 drink. 
 
 " But won't you let me have a drink ? " he 
 said to his companion. " I want it — please let 
 me have a drink." 
 
 The manager, however, discreetly refused to 
 grant this almost feverish request ; he told Mr. 
 Lawson that if he wanted a dinner it should be 
 provided, but drink he could not have. Finally 
 the two went into the " Ship and Turtle " dining- 
 rooms, and, over a good meal, the author and 
 composer of " Ever of Thee " told the following 
 story : 
 
 " I was once rich — you know what I am now. 
 You were astonished to hear me play the piano 
 so well. That little song has been the only 
 companion from which I have gained any com- 
 fort during the last twelve months. It brought 
 back to me the days when I was rich, loved, 
 respected and happy ; of course it has its sad 
 side for me. But the memory of what it recalls 
 is the dearest thing in my existence." 
 
 The manager interrupted him at this point 
 and indicated that it was getting late. 
 
 " Please bear with me," rejoined Lawson. 
 " I will not detain you long. Let me tell you 
 how and why I composed ' Ever of Thee.' 
 Two years ago I met a girl at Brighton. If 
 God ever allowed one of his angels to come 
 to earth, she was that one. I adored her. She 
 
72 STORIES OF 
 
 seemed to return my affection. I escorted her 
 everywhere, and was at her beck and call, morn, 
 noon, and night, and it was currently believed 
 that Miss Blank and I were engaged. I had to 
 return to London on business, and when I went 
 back to Brighton she was gone. 
 
 " Three months after I met her at a ball. 
 She had just finished a waltz with a tall, good- 
 looking man, and was promenading the hall on 
 his arm. She recognized me. But when I 
 said, ' How do you do. Miss Blank,' she quickly 
 replied — 
 
 " ' I'm well, thank you, Mr. Lawson ; but I 
 am surprised to hear you call me Miss Blank. 
 When you left Brighton so suddenly, I thought 
 I should never see you again. You left no 
 address, never called again, and — well, I am 
 married ! ' 
 
 " ' Married ! To whom ? ' I gasped. 
 
 " ' To Mr. Prize,' she replied, pointing at the 
 same time to the gentleman with whom she had 
 been dancing. 
 
 " That ended my life. My Marie, my dream, 
 was gone. I left the hall, went to a gambling- 
 place I knew, and in drink and gambling endea- 
 voured to kill my grief. It lasted but a little 
 while, this fearful dissipation, and in four months 
 I was ruined. 
 
 " Then came my trial. The men who had 
 played with me and won my money shunned 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 73 
 
 me. My friends shut their doors against me, and 
 my last sovereign was gone. I was utterly 
 stranded, homeless and wretched. I had no 
 desire to live, no energy to do anything. For 
 nights I slept in the cabmen's coffee-houses ; 
 there I was considered a nuisance, for I still 
 drank heavily, spending all I could get in drink, 
 and some friendly doorstep was my only bed. 
 I pawned everything I possessed, and finally 
 I spent three months in a workhouse under an 
 assumed name. 
 
 "It was there the presence of Marie haunted 
 me again. One day — Christmas Day — we 
 were at dinner. Several rich people came to 
 distribute among us gifts, such as tobacco, warm 
 clothing, tea, and so on. I was weary and did 
 not look at the visitors ; suddenly a voice I knew 
 too well said to me, ' My good man, which 
 would you prefer, some warm clothing, or some 
 pipes and tobacco?' I looked up. It was Marie. 
 I rushed from the table out into the garden at 
 the back, and there I was found, hours after, 
 insensible. 
 
 " In my bed there in the workhouse-hospital, 
 I wrote the words of the song you heard me 
 sing to-day. Then I got well, and, sick of the 
 life, I left the place and became night-watch- 
 man at some new buildings they were putting 
 up in Aldersgate Street. While there the melody 
 of my song came to me. I got a scrap of music- 
 
74 STORIES OF 
 
 paper and jotted it down, and for a time was 
 happy. My old friends often passed me at 
 night, jolly and careless, little dreaming that 
 James Lawson was the poor night-watchman 
 who answered their indolent questions. 
 
 " Often, when all was still, I poured out my 
 soul in this tender song, and after a while the 
 homeless gamins used to come and listen to me. 
 It pleased them, and perhaps made them forget 
 their misery. To me it brought back the memory 
 of a dead ^love and ruined life. But you are 
 tiring of my story — there is little more to tell. 
 I could not endure the solitary meditation of my 
 past. I again began to drink — it became a 
 disease with me. I lost my situation, and as a 
 last resource I thought that perhaps my song 
 might be worth a few pounds, and so took it to 
 Mr. Turner." 
 
 At this point the poor fellow burst into tears. 
 When he was himself again, they left the dining 
 rooms and repaired to Mr. Turner, who, address- 
 ing Lawson, after having ^spoken with his 
 manager aside, said : 
 
 " Mr, Lawson, here are ten shillings. It 
 will be enough to get your supper and a decent 
 room to-nighti To-morrow morning I want you 
 to call here, and I shall give you a good position 
 in my warehouse. As for your song, I want 
 you to remember this : if you will keep sober I 
 will pay you a fair royalty ; but if you spend 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 75 
 
 this ten shillings in drink, not another penny 
 will you get." 
 
 This seems rather a high hand for the pub- 
 lisher to have taken, considering that he had 
 only that day seen Lawson, and he seems to 
 have shown a great lack of tact and discretion. 
 Anyhow, he had no right to dictate such terms 
 to one who had suffered so much. Lawson 
 certainly did not know the value of his song, 
 while the publisher, who eventually made a 
 fortune by it, did. As it is stated that he did 
 not pay Lawson any royalty for the song, one 
 would like to know how he salved his con- 
 science while he was robbing this weak mortal 
 of his rights. If he had acted humanely at once, 
 he might have rescued the outcast and restored 
 him to society. 
 
 But to continue this distressing history. Law- 
 son left the shop and did not make his appear- 
 ance again for five days. Then he was in a 
 condition almost as bad as when he first entered 
 it. His vest was gone ; his boots were ex- 
 changed for old ones ; his hat was shabby in 
 the extreme. His coat (an old one) was buttoned 
 tightly round his collarless neck, and his face was 
 dirty and his chin unshaven. Mr. Turner looked 
 at him. He did not even speak to him. The 
 smell of stale alcohol sufficiently told its own 
 tale. He took half-a-crown from his pocket, 
 handed it to Lawson, and turned on his heel, 
 
76 STORIES OF 
 
 saying to his manager, "If this man comes here 
 again put him out." 
 
 The composer of " Ever of Thee " left the 
 shop and never entered Turner's place again. 
 What became of him none can say, for he was 
 never seen more. 
 
 Now this story, which was first printed (as 
 far as I can ascertain) in the "Albany (New 
 York) Journal," in the winter of 1888, and was 
 afterwards rather extensively copied into the 
 English papers in London and the provinces 
 under various titles — this story, I am informed 
 by the publishers, " is merely and absolutely the 
 creation of some inventive writer." Yet there 
 are some circumstances connected with the issue 
 of the song which I am not able to fathom, and 
 which create a sort of mystery regarding it. 
 The person who wrote the history seemed to 
 indicate that he was in the employ of the pub- 
 lishers when the song was purchased. 
 
 "Ever of Thee" was published in 1859, if 
 one may judge from the copy in the British 
 Museum, which bears the date stamp of receipt 
 1 8th October of that year. The words were by 
 George Linley, and the music by Foley Hall. 
 So, naturally, the question arises, who was 
 James Lawson, who claims to have written and 
 composed the song .■* He certainly was not 
 George Linley, who was a prolific writer who 
 wrote ballads, songs, and operettas for the 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. ']^ 
 
 theatres, and was well known. He wrote both 
 words and music of " The Toymaker," a suc- 
 cessful operetta produced at Co vent Garden, 
 November 20th, 1861. Linley was born in 
 1798, and died September loth, 1865. H. Foley 
 Hall, besides composing " Ever of Thee," wrote 
 the music of many other songs, including " Thy 
 Smile turns all to Light " (words by G. Linley) ; 
 " Blame not the Heart " (words by E. N. 
 Browne) i860 ; " Far from those I love," 1859 ; 
 "O yes thou'lt Remember," 1854; "Stars 
 Shining Above, i860; "Still in my Dreams" 
 (words by G. Linley), 1857; "Thou art my 
 Guiding Star" (Linley), 1858; and "When I 
 am far away" (words by Miss G. B. Burton), 
 1848. George Linley and H. Foley Hall were 
 two distinct persons I am assured by one who 
 knew both, but I am unable to find any par- 
 ticulars of Hall's life or what sort of a man he 
 was, except that he was somewhat erratic. All 
 the lyrics that he set were of an extremely 
 sentimental nature, and not of a very high 
 poetic standard. How the circumstantial story 
 of " Ever of Thee " came to be written I cannot 
 say ; but I am now in a position to prove that 
 James Lawson and H. Foley Hall were not one 
 and the same person, for there was such a person 
 as Lawson, though the publisher refuses to throw 
 any light on the subject. 
 
 Since writing the foregoing I have met two 
 
78 STORIES OF 
 
 gentlemen who were acquainted with Foley 
 Hall, and I have heard from others who knew 
 both Hall and Lawson. The fact is, that though 
 this singularly circumstantial story may be quite 
 true as far as the reporter is concerned to whom 
 some one, Lawson presumably, stated the mat- 
 ter, it is otherwise false from beginning to end. 
 A magnificent effort of some one's — James Law- 
 son's, possibly — imagination. Mr. Turner did 
 purchase the song, but it was from George 
 Linley, who wrote the words, and Foley Hall, 
 who composed the music. The song, it is true, 
 was sung by James Lawson, a tenor, during the 
 years 1856 and later, and it was published in 
 October, 1859, Curiously enough, both Foley 
 Hall and James Lawson were very erratic and 
 extraordinary men, and very likely, after the 
 death of Foley Hall, Lawson, broken down and 
 ruined through too great a fondness for the 
 bottle, thinking to raise some money when 
 stranded in New York, invented and related 
 the above fiction. Though the publishers de- 
 clare the story to be without foundation, I am 
 inclined to the belief, supported by certain 
 facts communicated to me by those who were 
 acquainted with both Foley Hall and James 
 Lawson, that the latter, or some other hard up 
 singer, did tell the above fable to the unsus- 
 pecting New York scribe, especially as Foley 
 Hall gave MS. copies of the song to several 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 79 
 
 singers of the day, in order to get it known to 
 the public. And it was sung at several music 
 halls, including the Trevor, Knightsbridge, 
 during 1856 and onwards. Mr. Beaumont 
 Read, then singing as " Master Beaumont," was 
 presented 'with a manuscript copy of the song 
 by Foley Hall, and he sang it in 1857. Of the 
 ultimate fate of James Lawson I am unable to 
 give any reliable particulars, but Foley Hall, 
 who looked more like a well-to-do farmer than 
 a musician, died in Chelmsford Gaol, possibly 
 before the publication of the song, as one who 
 was present at his deathbed, and who is still 
 alive, is strongly of opinion that he expired in 
 1859, attended by his beautiful and heartbroken 
 wife. Foley Hall, like most composers and 
 wanderers in Bohemia, was always hard up, 
 and the cause of his incarceration was through 
 some irregoilarity in the passing of cheques — but 
 over that matter let us draw a veil. Whether 
 Foley Hall or his next-of-kin ever received any 
 royalty for the song I cannot say. Possibly he 
 sold his interests right out. The royalty system 
 of payment was not practised very much thirty- 
 five years ago. 
 
 " Ever of Thee " is forgotten now, perhaps, 
 though in the country theatres it used to be 
 almost invariably played in the orchestra when 
 " East Lynne " was put up as an attraction. 
 From a musical point of view the song is 
 
8o STORIES OF 
 
 beneath serious criticism, though the air is 
 " catchy," and, as for the words, I give them 
 for your verdict : 
 
 " Ever of thee I'm fondly dreaming, 
 
 Thy gentle voice my spirit can cheer ; 
 Thou wert the star, that mildly beaming, 
 
 Shone o'er my path when all was dark and drear. 
 Still in my breast thy form I cherish, 
 
 Ev'ry kind thought like a bird flies to thee ; 
 Ah ! never till life and mem'ry perish. 
 
 Can I forget how dear thou art to me. 
 Morn, noon, and night, where'er I may be. 
 Fondly I'm dreaming, ever of thee. 
 
 " Ever of thee, when sad and lonely, 
 
 Wand'ring afar my soul joy'd to dwell ; 
 Ah, then I felt I lov'd thee only. 
 
 All seem'd to fade before aflfection's spell. 
 Years have not chill'd the love I cherish, 
 
 True as the stars hath my heart been to thee ; 
 Ah, never till Ufe and mem'ry perish. 
 
 Can I forget how dear thou art to me." 
 
 It is almost equal, perhaps, to some of the 
 drawing-room songs of the present day. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 8i 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 "DIE WACHT AM RHEIN," "DIE SCHWERTLIED," 
 " KUTSCHKE LIED," AND OTHER GERMAN SONGS. 
 
 Most of the national (historical) German songs 
 date from the time during which the German 
 States were under the heel of the great Napo- 
 leon, or had just emancipated themselves — that 
 is, from 1805 to 18 14. As is well known, from 
 the earliest ages Germany was cut up into 
 many provinces ruled by different princes and 
 barons, and subject to varying and far from 
 satisfactory laws. These separate states were 
 constantly at war with each other, and con- 
 sequently dissensions were ever rife. There 
 were to be considered the conflicting and 
 mighty powers of Austria and Prussia, and the 
 lesser ones of Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Saxony. 
 Then followed Westphalia, Hesse-Darmstadt, 
 Mecklenburg, and a vast number of other prin- 
 cipalities more or less turbulent, and dissatisfied 
 with the ruling of the petty princes and the 
 controlling of the Great Powers. And it was 
 not until the repulse of Napoleon in Russia, and 
 the thrashing his armies received in Spain from 
 the Duke of Wellington, that any hope of 
 
82 STORIES OF 
 
 deliverance appeared on the horizon. In 1813 
 Frederick William III. of Prussia struck the 
 keynote of freedom when he called upon all the 
 states to fight together for the " Fatherland." 
 The French were routed, and the Battle of 
 Waterloo ended the murderous career of Napo- 
 leon, and set Germany on the high road to 
 prosperity, though still not an undivided country. 
 It is to this epoch-making time that Germany 
 owes the birth of such songs as " Was ist des 
 Deutschen Vaterland," " Die Schwertlied," and 
 other national songs. Indeed, all the songs of 
 this period are really war hymns, and encourage 
 armed rebellion against the French Power. 
 But they were not exclusively directed to the 
 driving out of the French forces. The French 
 Revolution had sounded the knell of despotism, 
 not only in France, but in Germany also. The 
 principle underrunning all these battle-chants 
 was : First drive out the French, and then 
 restore the native powers that be, but with 
 essential modifications. The princely preroga- 
 tives were to be curtailed, and more constitu- 
 tional modes of government introduced. This 
 explains to a certain extent the extraordinary 
 patience with which the German princes bore 
 the French yoke : they feared the new aspira- 
 tions of their subjects, who, if victorious, would 
 diminish their influence and strength personally 
 quite as much as Napoleon I, It was out of 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 83 
 
 these sentiments of fearsomeness and distrust 
 that the notorious " Holy Alliance " grew. 
 
 Chief among the new politicians was the 
 educated youth of the country, notably the 
 students' associations {Burschenschaftm). In 
 those days it was treason, punishable by im- 
 prisonment, to talk of reconstituting the German 
 Empire, and consequently up rose the Secret 
 Societies intent upon internal reformation. The 
 Burschenschaften, by the way, contributed enor- 
 mously to the popular song-lore. 
 
 One of the most powerful war-hymns was 
 that of Arndt, the first verse of which runs : 
 
 " Der Gott, der Eisen wachsen liess, 
 
 Der woUte keine Knechte ; 
 Drum gab er Lanze, Schwert und Spiess, 
 
 Dem Mann in seine Rechte. 
 Drum gab er ihm dem kiihnen Muth 
 
 Den Zom der freien Rede ; 
 Dass er bestiinde bis auf s Blut 
 
 Bis in dem Tod de Fehde." 
 
 Ernst Moritz Arndt was also the author of 
 " What is the German Fatherland ? " (" Was ist 
 des Deutschen Vaterland"). He was a cultivated 
 writer and a professor at the universities. He 
 was born in 1769, in the Isle of Riigen, and 
 died in i860. But it was not till ten years later 
 that the prophesy of his song was fulfilled : 
 
 " Where'er men speak in German tongue. 
 Where German songs to God are sung. 
 
84 STORIES OF 
 
 That only be thy boundary line — 
 That, valiant German, call it thine. 
 The whole of Germany shall it be ! 
 O, God of Heav'n, look down and see. 
 And German courage to us send. 
 To love and guard it to the end." 
 
 The unfortunate Korner, author of the 
 " Schwertlied," who wrote several plays of con- 
 siderable merit, also published a great many 
 songs under the title, " Leyer und Schwert" 
 (" Lyre and Sword "). Karl Theodor Korner 
 was the son of very respectable parents, of 
 Saxony. He was born in 1791, and had as a 
 lad the happiness to be acquainted with the 
 great Schiller. Although somewhat delicate, 
 he was a handsome and accomplished youth, 
 and gave promise of immense intellectual 
 strength. He studied with success at the 
 universities of Leipsic, Berlin, and Vienna, and 
 at the age of twenty appeared as poet with a 
 tragedy that had a large measure of popularity. 
 He had known Schiller and Goethe, and now 
 became intimate with Humboldt and Schegel. 
 Just at the time that Prussia's call to arms 
 resounded through the length and breadth of 
 the land, he fell in love with a beautiful maiden, 
 and they were duly betrothed. But his country 
 called upon him to fight, and so he joined the 
 corps of volunteers known as " The Black 
 Huntsmen." The following is extracted from 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 85 
 
 a letter to his father : "Now that I know what 
 happiness may be realized in this life, and when 
 all the stars of my destiny look down on me 
 with such genial rays, now does a righteous 
 inspiration tell me that no sacrifice can be too 
 great for that highest of all human blessings, 
 the vindication of a nation's freedom." 
 
 His prowess and daring soon caused him to 
 be made a lieutenant, and during the intervals 
 of rest he wrote many a lyric round the bivouac 
 fires, and in particular the fine " War Song," 
 " The Summons to Arms," and the magnificent 
 " Prayer before Battle." 
 
 He composed his famous " Sword Song," "Du 
 Schwert an meiner Linken," when lying in am- 
 bush waiting for the foe during the month of 
 Augfust, 1 81 3. Two hours later he was shot 
 dead, some authorities say, by a renegade coun- 
 tryman in a skirmish near Wobbelin, in Meck- 
 lenburg, while others say by the French soldiery, 
 who surprised and surrounded them. The lyric 
 was found in his pocket-book. He was buried 
 by the roadside near an oak tree, and a monu- 
 ment marks the resting-place of this brave patriot, 
 who was only twenty-two when he was killed. 
 I give the first verse of the " Sword Song " in 
 the original, and some extracts from a most 
 spirited translation by Miss Elizabeth Craigmyle 
 — the very best that has ever been done, though 
 there are numbers extant : 
 
85 STORIES OF 
 
 " Du Schwert an meiner Linken, 
 Was soil dein heitres Blinken ? 
 Bin freien Mannes Wehr, 
 Das freut dem Schwerte sehr." 
 " Sword at my left side gleaming, 
 Why are thy glances beaming 
 
 Upon me, shyly-sweet, 
 
 With joy thine eyes I greet ! " 
 " My heart for joy is leaping, 
 Within a brave knight's keeping ; 
 
 How should my glance be staid ? 
 
 I am a free man's blade ! " 
 
 * * * * 
 
 " Now leave that sheath unsightly. 
 Thou joy to all the knightly ; 
 
 Flash out, my sword, flash free ! 
 
 I lead thee forth with me." 
 
 There are sixteen verses, all of surprising power 
 and stirring rhythm. The music, which was 
 composed by Weber, has added greatly to the 
 celebrity of the passionate stanzas. 
 
 Many other national songs were written later, 
 such as " Deutschland iiber Alles," by Hoffmann 
 von Fallersleben. The chief modern patriotic 
 song is, of course, " Die Wacht am Rhein ; " the 
 hymn " Heil Dir im Siegeskranz," by the way, 
 is sung to the same tune as " God Save the 
 Queen." (The histories of both of these songs 
 will be found in later chapters of this volume.) 
 The Rhine comes in for a good share of notice 
 in patriotic poems. The well-known song of 
 Nicolaus Becker, written about the year 1840, 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 87 
 
 and entitled "Sie sollen ihn nicht haben, den 
 freien Deutschen Rhein" ("They — the French 
 — shall not have it, the free German Rhine "), 
 was answered by the satirical poem of Alfred 
 de Musset, " Nous I'avons eu, votre Rhin alle- 
 mand " (" We have had it already, your German 
 Rhine!"). 
 
 In Prussia the favourite patriotic song in the 
 fifties and sixties was " Ich bin ein Preusse, 
 Kennt ihr meine Farben ?" (" I am a Prussian, do 
 you know my colours ? "). It is now somewhat 
 out of date, but the melody, by A. Neithardt, 
 which is stirring, is frequently adapted to other 
 songs. The patriotic songs of the present day are 
 mostly tame and commonplace ; there is a same- 
 ness about the expressions that make them ex- 
 ceedingly feeble and unexciting. In Germany, as 
 in all countries, stirring songs are only written at 
 stirring times. The song " Schleswig-Holstein, 
 Meerumschlungen " is still remembered in North 
 Germany ; it dates from the period when the pro- 
 vinces Schleswig and Holstein were struggling 
 with Denmark for their independence. This 
 capital piece was written in 1844 by Chem- 
 nitz. "Patriotic" songs were common under 
 Frederick the Great, but they were mainly mere 
 glorifications of the famous commander, and with 
 the exception perhaps of " Fredericus Rex," I 
 have not come across any of particular merit. 
 
 National ideas were chiefly carried on after 
 
88 STORIES OF 
 
 the fall of the French First Empire by the 
 gymnastic associations [Turnvereine), which 
 were very numerous just after 1816. In Ger- 
 many, it is well to bear "in mind, gymnastics 
 have always been, more or less, mixed up with 
 politics — a questionable blend which, happily, is 
 now going out, and only lingers from force of 
 tradition. 
 
 In the turbulent times of 1848 and 1849 " Die 
 Fahne Schwarz-roth-gold " was very much the 
 vogue. The principal popular song writers of 
 this century (they are all dead) are Schenken- 
 dorf, Hoffmann von Fallersleben, Ruckert (read 
 his "How Christ came to a Lonely Child"), 
 Heine, Geibel, Scheffel, andFreiligrath ("Hurra, 
 Germania" and "Were I before the Gates of 
 Mecca"), besides of course the great masters, 
 known to all the world. 
 
 It is not my intention to treat of the songs 
 founded on the Rhine legends — they are too 
 many, and many of these beautiful pieces are 
 familiar, as, for instance, Heine's lovely lyric, 
 " Die Loreley." Freiligrath and Scheffel are 
 favourites with all English lovers of the ballad ; 
 the latter and Chamisso have produced some 
 exquisite humorous and pathetic poems. " The 
 Widow's Son " and " The Toy of the Giant's 
 Child " are splendid specimens of Chamisso's 
 talent. Riickert's " Barbarossa " (the old legend 
 of the Emperor Frederick Red Beard, whom 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 89 
 
 the popular imagination of the Middle Ages 
 pictured as confined underground with his beard 
 growing through the stone table at which he 
 was sitting !) is still a leading favourite in student 
 circles. The touching ballad, " Andreas Hofer," 
 is much sung in South Germany and the Tyrol. 
 Andreas Hofer is the name of the heroic inn- 
 keeper who was shot as a rebel in 18 10. 
 
 Humorous, agreeable songs — mostly of a bac- 
 chanalian character — are as plentiful as black- 
 berries in September, and need no further men- 
 tion. And of course Germany at the present 
 time is very rich in lyric writers of varying 
 ability. They do not make song- writing a mere 
 trade as is the habit with so many of our own 
 drawing-room bards. 
 
 And now let us inquire into the story of the 
 "Watch on the Rhine." This was written by 
 Max Schneckenburger in 1840, and, as is not 
 uncommon in the history of literature, it has 
 superseded much better poems on the subject. 
 It was selected from a great number to be the 
 war song of 1870, when it immediately " caught 
 on " and took the place of Korner's " Schwert- 
 lied." Schneckenburger was a quiet and per- 
 fectly obscure Swabian merchant who, as far as 
 I have been able to discover, was never moved 
 to write, or at any rate publish, any more than 
 this one song, and did not live to enjoy the 
 fame that was thrust upon it during the Franco- 
 
90 STORIES OF 
 
 Prussian war of 1870. "The Watch on the 
 Rhine " had a rival in a piece that commenced : 
 
 " It never shall be France's, 
 The free, the German Rhine, 
 
 Until its broad expanse is 
 Its last defender's shrine." 
 
 But the martial " Watch " became the universal 
 favourite when the aged King of Prussia rode 
 forth to meet and vanquish the foe, and with 
 the defeat of France the dream of Bismarck's 
 life was realized, for, having quarrelled with 
 and conquered and annexed Schleswig-Holstein, 
 Prussia assumed the head of a United Germany 
 — the best thing, as events have proved, that 
 could have happened to the Fatherland. 
 
 " Es braust ein Ruf wie Donnerhall, 
 
 Wie Schwertgeklirr und Wogenprall : 
 
 Zum Rhein, zum Rhein, zum Deutschen Rhein, 
 
 Wer will des Stromes Hiiter sain ? 
 
 Lieb Vaterland, magst ruhig sein, 
 
 Fest steht und treu die Wacht am Rhein." 
 
 The music was composed first as a chorus for 
 male voices by Carl Wilhelm, music teacher 
 and conductor, who was born at Schmalkalden 
 and died some eight or nine years ago, says 
 Fanny Raymond Ritter. But there is another 
 account given of the composition of this great 
 national song by Carl Hauser, which is very 
 curious. The song, says this writer, composed 
 by Carl Wilhelm, was not originally intended 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 91 
 
 for a national hymn. Carl Wilhelm was a 
 thorough Bohemian, and wrote some of his best 
 compositions on lager beer tables amid fumes 
 of tobacco smoke. He had a great difificulty in 
 selling his compositions, even cheap, and when 
 he struck a bargain it was generally employed 
 in settling his beer score. On one occasion a 
 friend of Wilhelm, a schoolmaster, asked him 
 as a favour to compose a chorus for his pupils, 
 which they would sing on prize-distribution day. 
 Wilhelm acceded. The promise was kept, and 
 the school teacher wrote words appropriate for 
 the event. Later he unscrupulously sold the 
 manuscript so generously composed for a special 
 object, and thus the " Wacht am Rhein " was 
 brought to light with what success everybody 
 knows. Thousands of copies were sold all over 
 the world, but poor Wilhelm derived no benefit 
 therefrom. Neither of these stories is quite 
 correct ; the music was composed by Carl Wil- 
 helm in 1854. It was first sung with united 
 choruses at Crefeld, June nth, 1854. Wilhelm 
 was born at Schmalkalden, September 5th, 181 5. 
 He was appointed director of the Liedertafel at 
 Crefeld in 1840, and held the post until 1865. 
 In 1 87 1 he was granted an annual pension of 
 one hundred and fifty pounds, and died at his 
 native place in 1873. 
 
 There are numberless English versions of 
 the "Watch on the Rhine," for it was excep- 
 
92 STORIES OF 
 
 tionally popular in England during the seventies. 
 One by C. H. P. (published by Cramer and Co.) 
 is worthy of mention, as also is another by 
 Herbert Fry, but I am inclined to consider the 
 translation by Lady Natalie MacFarren as being 
 superior to any that has appeared, though not 
 faultless, and consequently I give it in extenso 
 from Chappell's edition : 
 
 " Like gathering thunder spreads a cry, 
 Like clash of arms when battle's nigh, 
 The Rhine ! there 's danger to the Rhine ! 
 Who'll shield it from the foe's design ? 
 Dear Fatherland, no fear be thine. 
 Steadfast and true, we guard our German Rhine. 
 
 "The tidings flash through million hearts, 
 
 From million flaming eyes it darts ; 
 
 Our valiant sons, in danger strong. 
 
 Will guard our hallow'd stream from wrong ! 
 
 " What though the foe my life should quench, 
 I know thy wave will ne'er be French ; 
 And ample as thy tide of blue, 
 The living stream of heroes true. 
 
 " The shades of heroes past and gone 
 Upon our deeds are looking down ; 
 By home and Fatherland we swear 
 The foeman from thy banks to scare. 
 
 "While through my veins the life is poured, 
 As long as I can hold a sword, 
 No stranger shall our land despoil, 
 No foeman desecrate our soil. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 93 
 
 " Proclaim the vow from shore to shore, 
 Let banners wave and cannons roar, 
 The Rhine ! the lovely German Rhine, 
 To keep it Germans all combine. 
 
 Dear Fatherland, all fear resign. 
 
 Stout hearts and true will keep watch on the Rhine." 
 
 Max Schneckenburger, the author, died in 
 Berne in 1849. His remains were piously 
 brought back to his native place, Thalheim in 
 Wurtemberg, where a handsome monument has 
 been raised to honour the name and fame of 
 the poet. 
 
 The most popular song of the German soldiers 
 during the war of 1870-71 was the so-called 
 " Kutschke Lied." In the " Neue Preussische 
 Zeitung" of August 14th, 1870, there was a 
 paragraph, probably by Hesekiel, stating : 
 " Among the many songs of this war, decidedly 
 the best of the hero songs is that composed by 
 Fusilier Kutschke of the Fortieth Regiment at 
 the advanced posts at Saarbriick. As he saw 
 the French running away at the edge of the 
 wood he sang : 
 
 " Was Kraucht da in dem Busch herum ? 
 Ich glaube es ist Napolium." 
 
 "Both text and words are simple and 
 thoroughly soldierly. ' Hurrah for Kutschke ! ' " 
 
 Chariot's " Chanson des Allemands contre la 
 France pendant la guerre d'invasion 18 70-1 871 " 
 attributes the composition to a Prussian general, 
 
94 STORIES OF 
 
 probably the Crown Prince. It was evident, 
 indeed, that the song was the work of a man of 
 education, who was attempting to write in a 
 popular style. The real author was one of the 
 most unpopular men of his day, a declared 
 Lichtfeind, afterward a Lutheran minister at 
 Basedow, in Mecklenburg, who had been a 
 soldier in his youth. The song is a develop- 
 ment of some verses written abqut the first 
 Napoleon : 
 
 " Was hat der rum za Kraachen dort ? 
 Drauf, Kameraden, jagt ihn fort,'' 
 
 and originally consisted of four stanzas that were 
 printed in the " Mecklenburgische Anzeiger " 
 for the first time. At once various guesses as 
 to the author were made, while presents of all 
 kinds, from all parts, were sent to the army in 
 the field " For the brave fusilier Kutschke." 
 But Pistorius had a rival claimant. A Rhine- 
 land poet arose and said that he had written a 
 song exactly the same in a Rhenish railroad car, 
 where he had left it lying, and that in all prob- 
 ability Pistorius had picked it up. Pistorius 
 was most likely never on a Rhenish railroad in 
 his life, and the Rhenish poet finally abandoned 
 his claim. The only present accepted by 
 Pistorius was one sent from Chicago " Fiir 
 Kutschke." 
 
 The other Kutschke Lieder, eight in number, 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 95 
 
 such as " Ne ganze Erbswursch wett' ich drauf," 
 were written by Gustav Schenk, editor of the 
 " Berliner Fremdenblatt." Pistorius died in 
 1877. 
 
 The whole song, however, is inspired by the 
 old song of the War of the Liberation that 
 begins : 
 
 " Immer langsam voran, immer langsam voran, 
 Dass die ostreich'sche Landwehr nachkommen kann ! 
 
 " Wir Oestreicher sein goar prave Leit', 
 
 Wir marschiren des Tags in holbe Meile weit. 
 
 " Das Marschiren nimmt halt goar kan End'. 
 Weil vener der Uffziere die Landkoarten kennt ; " 
 
 in which occur the lines : 
 
 " Bei Leipzig woar anne grusze Schlacht, 
 
 Do hoan barr zahn Tute zu Gesangenen gemacht. 
 
 "Woas schleicht ock durt im Puscherum? 
 Doas is gewiets Napolium. 
 
 " Reiszt aus, reiszt aus, reiszt oUe, die aus ! 
 Durt stiht a feindliches Schilderhaus ! " 
 
 Whereupon let us ask, "Is there anything 
 new in the world ? " 
 
96 STORIES OF 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE " STAR-SPANGLED BANNER," " YANKEE 
 DOODLE," AND OTHER AMERICAN SONGS. 
 
 Up to the present America, apart from the fact 
 that she has not produced any great composer 
 or even song writer of note, has not succeeded 
 in inventing any national anthem worthy of her 
 eminence and power. Minor songs of a more 
 or less negro blend have been turned out in 
 thousands, and have grown into favour with the 
 general public of most nations. But as yet only 
 the "Star-Spangled Banner," " Columbia the 
 Gem of the Ocean," " Hail, Columbia," and 
 " America " have appeared as national produc- 
 tions, neither of which is in any way admirable. 
 The eccentric " Yankee Doodle," of which I 
 shall speak in detail later, seems to be more 
 universal than any of the purely American pieces, 
 and that is not American at all. In a national 
 air worthy of the grandeur of a great nation, 
 simplicity and strength should be dominant 
 features, but neither of the pieces I have men- 
 tioned exhibits these qualities, in fact they are 
 wofuUy commonplace ; the grand American 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 97 
 
 hymn has yet to be written, and fame and 
 fortune await poet and musician alike who shall 
 step into the breach to sing their country's 
 glories. Up to the year 1 8 1 2, " Yankee Doodle," 
 with its ridiculous refrain : 
 
 " Yankee doodle, keep it up, 
 
 Yanl$;ee doodle dandy ; 
 Mind the music and the step, 
 
 And with the girls be handy." 
 
 was the only national song our cousins had. 
 
 The "Star-Spangled Banner" would appear to 
 have been more or less of an inspiration. One 
 account says that in the war of 181 2 Francis 
 Key was taken prisoner by the British, and that 
 during the attack on Fort McHenry, which he 
 was compelled to witness, he composed the now 
 famous verses. But it is also said that at the 
 time they were written. Key was not held as a 
 prisoner on board the British Fleet under 
 Admiral Cockburn, as has been generally sup- 
 posed ; but that he had visited it under a flag 
 of truce to obtain the release of a friend captured 
 by the enemy, and was unable to return to 
 Baltimore until the day following the attack 
 upon Fort McHenry. He thus became a 
 spectator of the midnight siege, and in the 
 morning, seeing the flag still floating from the 
 ramparts, the words of the " Star-Spangled 
 Banner" took form almost involuntarily in his 
 mind. He speedily committed the lines to 
 
 H 
 
98 STORIES OF 
 
 paper, and read them on his return to a party 
 of his comrades, who received them with un- 
 bounded enthusiasm. The circumstances, says 
 Mr. Charles F. Adams, attending their first 
 reading and of their being set to music, are 
 narrated by Mr. Hendon, who was one of the 
 party, as follows : 
 
 " It was a rude copy and written in a scrawl 
 that Horace Greeley might have mistaken for 
 his own. He (Francis Key) read it aloud once, 
 twice, three times, until the entire division 
 seemed electrified by its pathetic eloquence. 
 An idea seized Ferdinand Durang. Hunting 
 up a volume of old flute music, which was in my 
 tent, he impatiently whistled snatches of tune 
 after tune as they caught his eye. One, called 
 ' Anacreon in Heaven' struck his fancy and 
 riveted his attention. Note after note fell from 
 his puckered lips, until with a leap and a shout 
 he exclaimed, ' Boys, I've hit it ! ' and fitting the 
 tune to the words, there rang out for the first 
 time the song of the ' Star-Spangled Banner.' 
 How the men shouted and clapped ! for never 
 was there poetry set to music made under such 
 inspiring influences ! It was caught up in the 
 camps, sang around our bivouac fires, and 
 whistled in the streets, and when peace was 
 declared and we scattered to our houses, it was 
 carried to thousands of firesides as the most 
 precious relic of the war of 1812." 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 99 
 
 Here are the verses of the " Star-spangled 
 Banner " as written by Francis Scott Key, who 
 was born in 1780 and died 1843. 
 
 " Oh ! say, can you see by the dawn's early light, 
 
 What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, 
 Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous 
 fight 
 O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming ? 
 And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air. 
 Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. 
 Oh ! say, does the Star-spangled Banner yet wave. 
 O'er the land of the free, and the home of the biave ? 
 
 " On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep. 
 Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, 
 What is that which the breeze o'er the towering steep. 
 
 As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses ? 
 Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, 
 In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream, 
 'Tis the Star-spangled Banner ! Oh ! long may it wave 
 O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ! 
 
 " Oh ! thus be it ever, when foemen shall stand 
 
 Between their loved home and foul war's desolation ; 
 Blest with vict'ry and peace may the HeaVn-rescued land 
 
 Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation ! 
 Then conquer we must, when our cause is so just. 
 And this be our motto — ' In God is our trust ! ' 
 And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave 
 O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ! " 
 
 The song was first sung in a tavern near the 
 Holiday Street Theatre, Baltimore, by Ferdinand 
 Durang. The tune, "Anacreon in Heaven," 
 was composed by John Stafford Smith between 
 
lOO STORIES OF 
 
 1770 and 1775 to words by Ralph Tomlinson 
 president of the Anacreontic Society, which 
 held its meetings at the Crown and Anchor 
 Tavern, Strand, London. 
 
 There is no romance whatever attached to 
 the origin of " Hail, Columbia," the words of 
 which are very tame and little better than 
 doggerel. We know of no other lyric by 
 Francis Key than the one quoted above, and we 
 know of no other than the " Hail, Columbia " of 
 Judge Joseph Hopkinson. The judge wrote 
 this song in 1 798 to oblige an actor named Fox, 
 who sang it with great success at one of the 
 theatres in Wilkesbarre, Philadelphia. The 
 music was taken from a piece called " The 
 President's March," which had seen the light 
 ten years previously. It was composed by a 
 German named Fyles on some special visit of 
 Washington's to the John Street Theatre, New 
 York. I present the first verse and chorus as 
 specimens of the whole. 
 
 " Hail, Columbia, happy land ! 
 
 Hail ye heroes ! heaven-born band, 
 
 Who fought and bled in freedom's cause — 
 
 Who fought and bled in freedom's cause ! 
 
 And when the storm of war had gone, 
 
 Enjoy'd the peace your valour won ; 
 
 Let independence be your boast, 
 
 Ever mindful what it cost ! 
 
 Ever grateful for the prize. 
 
 Let its altar reach the skies. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. loi 
 
 Firm, united, let us be, 
 Rallying round our liberty ; 
 As a band of brothers joined, 
 Peace and safety we shall find." 
 
 It would be interesting to know how a man 
 could " rally " round his liberty. The author 
 died in 1842. 
 
 "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean"- was 
 written by Timothy Dwight, ancestor of the 
 famous president of Yale College. Dwight was 
 a law student, but as there was a dearth of 
 chaplains in the revolutionary army he joined 
 Parson's Brigade of the Connecticut Line as a 
 chaplain, and it was during the time that he 
 held office that he wrote this lyric, the only one 
 of his many poems and songs that has endured 
 to the present day. It was very popular at one 
 period. After leaving the army, Dwight be- 
 came president of the Yale College, a position 
 he held till his death, which occurred in 181 7. 
 
 A very hastily composed song was "America," 
 written by the Rev. Samuel Francis Smith (born 
 1808) in 1832 at Andover Seminary, Mass. 
 Though very unpretentious, it has secured a 
 permanent place in the hearts of the people. 
 The words were written to "God Save the 
 Queen," the tune to which the lyric is still sung. 
 
 During the great Civil War many stirring lays 
 issued forth, though the majority are quite for- 
 gotten now. An exception is " Marching through 
 
I02 STORIES OF 
 
 Georgia," with its almost irresistible melody. 
 It was written by Henry C. Work, who wrote 
 quite a number of patriotic and homely songs 
 that were at one time exceedingly popular. 
 Dr. George F. Root also was responsible for a 
 vast quantity of military songs, his " Battle Cry 
 of Freedom " was not the least striking of the 
 northern melodies. "From the year 1861 till 
 the close of the war, it was heard everywhere ; 
 and it is a matter of history that the Union cause 
 was aided in many a critical juncture by its 
 stirring strains. Dr. Root is doubtless entitled 
 to the position of America's foremost writer of 
 war songs. His compositions in all number 
 nearly sixty, among them being ' Tramp, Tramp, 
 Tramp, the Boys are Marching,' ' Just before the 
 Battle, Mother,' ' The Vacant Chair,' and many 
 others that will be recalled byall veteran soldiers." 
 Dr. Root was born in 1820 and died in 1896. 
 
 In the course of a sympathetic article in the 
 "Chicago Tribune" at the end of 1887 the 
 writer speaks feelingly of the songs of two and 
 three decades ago. How many of the popular 
 songs, he inquires, can the old folk of the day 
 recall ? How many of the melodies that thrilled 
 them in the days of their hot youth have found 
 an abiding place in their memory ? The evolu- 
 tion of the popular song presents a striking 
 illustration of the survival of the unfittest. The 
 great sentimental ditty of the ante-war period 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 103 
 
 was undoubtedly " Ben Bolt." The untimely 
 death of something lovable and beautiful was 
 the usual theme of the song of sentiment in 
 those days, though it varied occasionally in 
 order to picture the heart havoc caused by the 
 separation of slave lovers. " Ben Bolt," written 
 by Dr. Thomas Dunn English, was an enormous 
 success all over the country, and was as well 
 known in England as America. It received a 
 new lease through Du Maurier's " Trilby " in 
 1895. The music was adapted to the poem by 
 a tenor named Nelson Kneas from a German 
 melody fifty years ago. 
 
 " Don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt, 
 Sweet Alice, whose hair was so brown ; 
 
 Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile. 
 And trembled with fear at your frown ? " 
 
 Other songs, sung by minstrel and other 
 troupes, that swept through the country like a 
 cyclone, were "Darling Nelly Gray "and "O 
 Susanna," both depicting the sufferings of slave 
 lovers. 
 
 " Oh ! my poor Nellie Gray, 
 They have taken you away. 
 And I'll never see my darling any more," 
 
 was heard on every side and voiced by all sorts 
 of singers. "O Susanna" was more in the 
 comic vein, and the request, " Don't you cry 
 for me " was based on the consoling fact that 
 "I've come from Alabama with my banjo on 
 
I04 STORIES OF 
 
 my knee." " Uncle Ned," that curious old 
 nigger we all knew in our youth, was of earlier 
 growth, and may still be met with in old- 
 fashioned places occasionally. Dan Emmett's 
 "Dixie" and Harrington's " Swanee River" 
 (which has been revived again quite recently in 
 London) have proved the most prominent and 
 lasting of the ante- war melodies. Stephen Colin 
 Foster, who so happily caught the negro musical 
 methods and eccentricities, was one of the most 
 popular song writers that America has ever had. 
 He was born of Irish parents near Pittsburg, 
 Pennsylvania, on July 4th, 1826, and died in New 
 York, January 13th, 1864. He wrote the words 
 and music of such old-time favourites as " The 
 old Folks at Home," "Willie, we have missed 
 you," which resembles " Jock o' Hazledean," 
 " O Susanna," "Come where my love lies dream- 
 ing," " My old Kentucky Home," " Massa's in 
 the cold, cold Ground," " Uncle Ned," " Old 
 Dog Tray," " Poor old Joe," and many more. 
 
 As regards the composition of the favourite 
 Confederate air, " Dixie," many conflicting ac- 
 counts have been given, but it seems quite 
 certain that it was not as has been supposed — I 
 am quoting from Mr. Adams again — of southern 
 origin. The song was written and composed 
 in New York in 1859 by Daniel Emmet, at that 
 time a principal member of Bryant's Minstrels, 
 as a " grand walk round " for their entertain- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 105 
 
 ment. The familiar expression upon which the 
 song was founded was not a southern phrase, 
 but first appeared among the circus people of 
 the north. Emmet travelled with many of 
 these companies, when " the South " was con- 
 sidered by showmen to be all routes below 
 Mason and Dixon's line. As the cold weather 
 approached, the performers would think of the 
 genial warmth of the section they were headed 
 for, and the exclamation would be, "Well, I 
 wish I was in Dixie ! " The remembrance of 
 this gave Emmet the catch line, and the re- 
 mainder of the song is claimed to be original. 
 It was continually used during the struggle be- 
 tween North and South, and the rest of the 
 world wondered as half a great nation took up 
 arms to the sound of " John Brown's soul is 
 marching on," while the other half answered by 
 defiantly playing the comic " Dixie's Land." 
 
 A sentimental ballad, says the "Tribune," 
 called " Lorena," was an immense favourite in 
 the sixties, and for thirty years previous to the 
 appearance and philosophy of " Old Rosin the 
 Bow " became known to every one. A state of 
 warfare has always proved conducive to song. 
 The flourishing condition of minstrelsy in ages 
 past was due largely to the warlike and adven- 
 turous spirit of the times. During the civil war 
 both sides were prolific in song-making. The 
 South made the first striking hit with Randall's 
 
io6 STORIES OF 
 
 " Maryland, my Maryland." The " Bonnie 
 
 Blue Flag " was the Southern national air, and 
 
 was to the boys in gray what "Yankee Doodle" 
 
 was to the boys in blue. The Southern women 
 
 took it up with marvellous enthusiasm, and the 
 
 chorus rang wildly through every city and town, 
 
 --" The Bonnie Blue Flag " was written - in 
 
 ( 1862 by Mrs. Annie Chambers- Ketchum to an 
 
 J Irish melody adapted or composed by Henry 
 
 ) McCarthy. The authoress of the words is still 
 
 V alive. 
 
 Among the other living lyrics of the war, 
 sentimental and otherwise, were Charles Carroll 
 Sawyer's "Who will care for Mother now?" 
 and "When this cruel War is over." Then 
 came " Fairy Bell," " Annie of the Dell," " Toll 
 the Bell for lovely Nell," "Wait for the 
 Waggon," "Lily Dale," "Old Cabin Home," 
 " Fair, fair, with golden Hair," and " Daisy 
 Dean," by various writers. To these may be 
 added F. H. Smith's "Tenting to-night on the 
 old Camp Ground," S. J. Adams' "We are 
 coming. Father Abraham, Three Hundred. 
 Thousand More," and the rollicking " When 
 Johnny comes marching home again," said to 
 have been composed by the celebrated Patrick 
 S. Gilmore. Does anybody remember this 
 curious production .'' 
 
 "When Johnny comes marching home again, hurrah ! hurrah I 
 We'll give him a hearty welcome then, hurrah ! hurrah ! 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 107 
 
 The girls will sing, the boys will shout, 
 
 The ladies they will all turn out. 
 And we'll all feel quite gay, 
 When Johnny comes marching home ! " 
 
 The military and volunteer bands used to play 
 it, but we have not heard the old air for years 
 now. One of the great war songs of the North 
 was " John Brown's soul is marching on," and not 
 the "Star-spangled Banner." A truly beautiful 
 song, popular with North and South during the 
 war, was " Rock me to Sleep, Mother," written 
 by an Irish- American, D. K. O'Donnel, and 
 composed by Florence Percy. This, of course, 
 is well-known in England also. The South pro- 
 duced two war-songs that evince genuine poetic 
 feeling, and have been accorded unstinted praise 
 by the critics. They are " The Conquered 
 Banner," by Father Ryan, and " All quiet along 
 Potomac to-night," by Lamar Fountaine. That 
 most pathetic poem, — was it not written by a 
 Miss (or Mrs.) Rose Carey? — "Somebody's 
 Darling," was produced about this period, and 
 touched many a parent's heart. 
 
 It is not always easy to fathom the reason 
 of the popularity of any particular song. 
 Often the most absurd mixture of bathos 
 and sense will fascinate the public, while 
 a really genuine effusion falls flat. It is cer- 
 tain that after the internecine war the quality 
 of the songs fell off considerably, though the 
 
io8 STORIES OF 
 
 quantity increased, and we must confess that 
 some of the very worst specimens of English 
 music-hall songs, introduced by various burlesque 
 and variety troupes, assisted in the downfall of 
 taste and sentiment. However, the Americans 
 are too independent not to be able to retrieve 
 their lost position in the song world, and many 
 clever poets and composers are working to-day 
 towards that devoutly to be wished consumma- 
 tion. 
 
 And now let us turn our attention to that 
 peculiar production, " Yankee Doodle." With 
 all due reservation I first give what is supposed 
 to be the origin of the word "Yankee." 
 " Yankee " is stated to be an Indian corrup- 
 tion of the word English, — Yenglees, Yangles, 
 Yanklees, and finally Yankee. It grew into 
 general use as a term of reproach thus : About 
 the year 1713 one Jonathan Hastings, a farmer 
 at Cambridge, in New England, used the word 
 Yankee as a cant word to express excellence, as 
 a Yankee (good) horse, Yankee cider, and so on. 
 The students at the college having frequent 
 intercourse with Jonathan, and hearing him 
 employ the word on all occasions when he 
 desired to express his approbation, applied it 
 sarcastically, and called him Yankee Jonathan. 
 It soon became a slang phrase among the col- 
 legians to designate a simple, awkward person ; 
 thence it spread over the country till from its 
 
. FAMOUS SONGS. 109 
 
 currency in New England it was at length taken 
 up and applied to the New Englanders indis- 
 criminately. It was in consequence of this, says 
 a recent writer, that the song called " Yankee 
 Doodle " was composed. As this last statement 
 is erroneous, it will be just as well to take the 
 rest of the story with a pinch of salt. 
 
 From Sir George Grove's " Dictionary of 
 Music and Musicians " I extract the following : 
 " The origin of the American national air is 
 enveloped in almost as great obscurity as that 
 which surmounts the authorship of ' God Save 
 the King.' Though the song is but little more 
 than a century old, the number of different ac- 
 counts of its origin which are given in Amerian 
 works is extremely bewildering." Precisely, 
 each " authority " seems to have lighted upon a 
 first legend concerning it. One writer says, 
 " The time-honoured tune of ' Yankee Doodle,' 
 which was our only national anthem in con- 
 tinental days, has been traced as far back as 
 Oliver Cromwell's time, when, in words similar 
 to our own it was sung in derision of the Great 
 Protector ( or Usurper, whichever you like). 
 The air was handed down to the Puritans, and 
 finally became a New England jig. In the 
 natural order of things, it was fitted with appro- 
 priate words by some revolutionary rhymester, 
 and served such an excellent purpose in_ satiriz- 
 ing the British troo ps, jthat it was ac 
 
no STORIES OF 
 
 throughout the colo nies as the patriotLc- SQnsf 
 ^oT^ At tHe"present day, 
 no American Fourth of July, or other festive 
 occasion, is considered complete without its ren- 
 dition, and its perennial music bids fair to last 
 as long as the Republic itself." 
 
 I refrain from enlarging upon the irony of 
 Paul's stealing the thunder to play upon Peter. 
 There is much that seems probable in the above 
 account, and it has received the support of most 
 American papers during the last fifty years. 
 There was an ancient rhyme that ran, 
 
 " Yankee Doodle came to town, 
 
 On a little pony, 
 He stuck a feather in his cap. 
 
 And called it Macaroni." 
 
 "Yankee Doodle" is said to have been a 
 nickname for Cromwell, who was also called 
 Macaroni ; it is also said that another ballad, 
 
 (" Roundheads and Cavaliers," was sung to the 
 
 [_same melody. 
 
 " This story " (about the ro;^al party calling 
 Cromwell Macaroni), says the '(-' Dictionary! 
 of Music and Musicians, 'J' " is said to occur in 
 the ' Musical Reporter' of May 1841, but who- 
 ever invented it showed lack of antiquarian 
 knowledge in fixing upon the period of the 
 Civil Wars as the date of the song." The 
 Macaroni Club, by the way, was in existence 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. iii 
 
 from 1750 to 1770, and this is believed to have 
 been the first introduction of the word Macaroni 
 into the common language. The Rev. T. 
 Woodfal Ebsworth, " undoubtedly the greatest 
 living authority on English ballads," conclusively 
 disproves the Cromwellian origin. Several 
 nursery rhymes are even now sung by children 
 to the tune of Yankee Doodle, including " Lucy 
 Locket," and " Rosy's in the Garden." Various 
 well-meaning folk have asserted its connection 
 with certain pieces, and have gone so far as to 
 attempt to trace it to such differing sources as 
 Dutch, Spanish, and Hungarian music. But 
 whoever invented the melody, whether it was 
 carried to America, say by the Pilgrim Fathers, 
 if antiquity is desired, or not, it is very evident 
 that it was very popular so far back as 1730. 
 Dr. Shuckburgh, it is true, has been credited 
 with originating the air, but in all probability he 
 only wrote the words, and as he was a surgeon 
 in the army (1737)^16 no doubt suggested its 
 adoption by the troops. There are so many 
 versions of the "Jydc" extant that it is almost 
 impossible to fix the date of the birth of the 
 first. But no matter what may be said for or 
 against the song, beyond all question it belongs 
 to America and the Americans by long posses- 
 sion. And as the Hon. Stephen Salisbury said, 
 in an address delivered before the American Anti- 
 quarian Society, October 21st, 1872 : "Yankee 
 
112 STORIES OF 
 
 Doodle is national property, but it is not a 
 treasure of the highest value. It has some anti- 
 quarian claims for which its friends do not care. 
 It cannot be disowned, and it will not be disused. 
 In its own words, 
 
 ' It suits for feasts, it suits for fun. 
 And just as well for fighting.' 
 
 It exists now as an instrumental and not as a 
 vocal performance. Its words are never heard, 
 and, I think, would not be acceptable in America 
 for public or private entertainments. And its 
 music must be silent when serious purposes are 
 entertained and men's hearts are moved to high 
 efforts and great sacrifices." 
 
 According to the " Cyclopaedia of Music and 
 Musicians " published by Messrs. Scribner in 
 New York, the piece is "a national air of 
 American origin unknown. The trivial words 
 of the original song, in derision of the ill-assorted 
 provincial troops, are said to have been written bj^ 
 Dr. S h"''Vb"''f^h wTirt served as surgeon under 
 General Amherst duriiig I'lie l^VfcllCli and" Italian 
 iKatt/ Several versions of the song, the_orig[inal 
 of whicir~war~*-The- YanfeeeT^filnr f76m 
 Camgj^]^ af e extant. TBeTime7''aIways'caIied 
 ' Yankee Doodle,' from the chorus op refrain, ■ 
 bas passed through various changes. /.The his- 
 ;orical associations connecting the air with the 
 American Revolution, when it was universally 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 113 
 
 played, have prevented criticism of the melody, 
 which is simple and incisive, but shrill and 
 shallow. It is almost certainly of English origin, 
 though it has been ascribed to various countries 
 and probably dates from the eighteenth century." 
 I can supplement t his by adding that the, tune 
 of " Yankee Doodle " ap pears in Dr. Samuel 
 Arn old's c omic. o pera. " Two to^O ne," written 
 hy ("xp^g^f; flojman fhp elder, which was pro- 
 duced "with universal applause" (as the title page 
 tells) at the Theatre Royal in the Haymarket. 
 The score of this opera was published by 
 Hamilton and Co., Paternoster Row, July 5th, 
 1784. The tune " Yankee Doodle " is so called 
 in the score of the opera, showing that it was 
 well known by that name before that time. In 
 the opera it is sung by a character called Dicky^ 
 Ditt o, impersonated by Mr. John Edwin, a cele- 
 brated burletta actor and singer in his too brief 
 day. The words of the song are the veriest trash 
 imaginable, and too vulgar to be quoted — and 
 this was the work of the great George Colman, 
 who, when he was appointed examiner of plays, 
 expunged the mildest of oaths and expletives. 
 
 Of the original words of " Yankee Doodle, or 
 the Yankee's Return from Camp," it is impos- 
 sible to say one good thing. They are to be 
 seen in the British Museum on a single sheet, 
 quarto, printed about 1825 (?), and sold at the 
 time by L. Denning, Hanover Street, Boston. 
 
114 STORIES OF 
 
 The chorus I have previously given ; there are 
 fifteen stanzas, and each succeeding one from 
 the beginning grows more idiotic. The first 
 verse is : 
 
 " Father and I went down to Camp, 
 
 Along with Captain Gooding ; 
 There we see the men and boys, 
 
 As thick as hasty pudding." 
 
 The second verse : 
 
 " And there we see a thousand men. 
 
 As rich as Squire David ; 
 And what they wasted every day, 
 
 I wish it could be savbd ! " 
 
 Here is the eleventh verse : 
 
 "And there was Captain Washington, 
 
 And gentlefolks about him ; 
 They say he 's grown so 'tarnal proud, 
 
 He will not ride without 'em." 
 
 But I think I have quoted sufficient to show 
 the kind of senseless stuff it is — and yet what a 
 sensation the melody has made in the world ! 
 
 Before taking leave of this eccentric composi- 
 tion I may add that, in the " Illustrated London 
 News " for February i6th and March ist, 1856, it 
 is authoritatively stated that "Yankee Doodle" 
 was based upon " Kitty Fisher's Jig." This 
 " Jig " is to be found in Walsh's collection of 
 dances published in 1 74j[^and is there associated 
 with the well-knowfTnursery rhyme : 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 115 
 
 " Lucy Locket lost her pocket, 
 
 Kitty Fisher found it j 
 Not a penny was there in 't, 
 
 Only binding round it." 
 
 These two ladies flourished in the reign of 
 the second George, and were well-known 
 characters — rival dancers, in all probability, 
 says Mr, F. Rimbault. Another correspondent 
 in the " News " says, " In my youth I was 
 accustomed to hear a song of which Kitty 
 Fisher and the famous Countess of Coventry, 
 who were rival beauties in their respective lines, 
 were the heroines." He proceeds to give ex- 
 tracts from the not very elegant song he refers 
 to. Many particulars about these curious ladies 
 and the manners and customs of the age in 
 which they lived are to be found in " Mr. Gren- 
 ville's Correspondence," edited by the Duke of 
 Buckingham, published in 1855. 
 
 Kitty Fisher's portrait was painted by Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds in the suggestive character of 
 " Cleopatra dissolving the Pearl " for the Lord 
 Bovingdon of that day. "Kitty Fisher's Jig" 
 is in all probability a misprint for " Fisher's 
 Jig," this last bearing a strong resemblance to 
 the tune while the first does not. A " Yanky 
 Doodle " was certainly published in Aird's 
 "Selection of Scotch, English, and Irish Airs," 
 vol. i., 1782. " Fisher's Jig," besides being in 
 Walsh's dances, reappears in Thomson and 
 
ii6 STORIES OF 
 
 Sons' "Twenty-four Country Dances," 1760, 
 and again in 1773. 
 
 A meritorious version of the song was written 
 by one, J. S. Fessenden. " Original Poems," 
 1804 — but there are forty-eight stanzas, so I 
 refrain from quoting. Indeed, to go into the 
 subject fully a volume would be required to be 
 written. 
 
 Though, as I have already stated, America 
 has not sent any musical genius into the world 
 yet, she has at least given birth to one composer 
 and pianist of considerable merit. I refer to 
 Louis Moreau Gottschalk, born at New Orleans, 
 May 8th, 1829. His melodies were frequently 
 brilliant, though incHned to sentimentalism and 
 were almost invariably Spanish in tone and 
 expression. He died at Rio de Janeiro, 
 December i8th, 1869. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 117 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " AULD ROBIN GRAY " AND " LES CONSTANTES 
 AMOURS d'aLIX ET d' ALEXIS." 
 
 Up to the present no one has ever questioned 
 Lady Anne Barnard's claim to the authorship 
 of the words of " Auld Robiff Gray," and, 
 though I am not going to cast doubt upon the 
 fame of the writer at this late day, I shall shortly 
 show that prior, not only to the appearance but 
 to the writing of the world-famous song, there 
 was a French ballad extant containing the gist 
 of the story and the plot, by Paradis de Moncrif, 
 entitled " Les Constantes Amours d'Alix et 
 d' Alexis." But there is one very curious thing 
 about Lady Anne Barnard, and that is that we 
 have no record whatever of her ever having 
 written any other song or composed anything 
 else of literary merit whatever, with one slight 
 exception, and yet she is said to have been in- 
 spired with the idea of "Auld Robin Gray" 
 when " she was quite a girl," — as a matter of 
 fact, when she was twenty-one — in the year 
 1 77 1. It seems to have been almost a pre- 
 cocious inspiration that surprised itself into 
 
ii8 STORIES OF 
 
 silence. Before giving the history of Lady 
 Anne's song I may mention that the author of 
 the French romance mentioned above, and to 
 which I shall refer fully later, died in 1770 at the 
 age of seventy-three. 
 
 From an article contributed by the Reverend 
 A. B. Grosart, LL.D., to the "Dictionary of 
 National Biography, " I extract the following 
 information : " Lady Anne Barnard, was the 
 eldest daughter of James Lindsay, fifth Earl of 
 Balcarres, by his wife Anne, daughter of Sir 
 Robert Dalrymple, of Castleton. She was born 
 December 8th, 1750, and married, in 1793, 
 Andrew Barnard, son of Thomas, Bishop of 
 Limerick. They went to the Cape (she and 
 her husband) where her husband died in 1807, 
 without issue. Lady Anne returned to London 
 and lived with her sister in Berkeley Square 
 until 18 1 2. The sister's house was a literary 
 centre, and was frequented by Burke, Sheridan, 
 Windham, Douglas, and the Prince of Wales, 
 who were all habitual visitors. Lady Anne won 
 the life-long attachment of the Prince Regent. 
 ' Auld Robin Gray ' was written by Lady Anne 
 when she was twenty-one years old. It was 
 published anonymously, and various persons 
 claimed the authorship. Lady Anne did not 
 acknowledge it as her own until two years 
 before her death when she wrote to Sir Walter 
 Scott and confided the history of the ballad to 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 119 
 
 him. Lady Anne Barnard died May 6th, 1825, 
 in her seventy-fourth year." 
 
 Mr. yEneas Mackay, in a paper entitled " The 
 Songs and Ballads of Fife " which appeared in 
 "Blackwood" for September, 1891, says: "A 
 song altogether of Fife origin and authorship 
 marks the commencement of the period of 
 modern ballads. It will be acknowledged that 
 'Auld Robin Gray' has few superiors, either 
 amongst its predecessors or successors, though 
 to call it the ' King of Scottish Ballads,' as 
 Chambers does, is to raise it to a dangerous 
 eminence which it would not be prudent even 
 for the most patriotic native of the ' Kingdom ' 
 to claim for it," And he then gives an extract 
 from the letter Lady Anne Barnard wrote in 
 1823 to Sir Walter Scott, who had referred in 
 the "Pirate" to "Jeannie Gray," the village 
 heroine in Lady Anne Lindsay's beautiful ballad. 
 From Dr. Charles Mackay 's " Thousand and 
 One Gems of Songs " (1889) I quote as below : 
 
 " This beautiful ballad, of which the author- 
 ship was long a mystery, was written by Lady 
 Anne Lindsay. ... It appears to have been 
 composed at the commencement of 1772, when 
 the author was yet a young girl. It was pub- 
 lished anonymously and acquired great popu- 
 larity. No one, however, came forward to lay 
 claim to the laurels lavished upon it; and a 
 literary controversy sprang up to decide the 
 
I20 STORIES OF 
 
 authorship. Many conjectured that it was as 
 old as the days of David Rizzio, if not composed 
 by that unfortunate minstrel himself, while 
 others considered it of a much later date. The 
 real author was, however, suspected ; and, ulti- 
 mately, when her ladyship was an old woman, Sir 
 Walter Scott received a letter from Lady Anne 
 herself openly avowing that she had written it." 
 Before giving Lady Anne's version, it would 
 be interesting to know why she was suspected 
 of being the author. The song was published 
 in 1776 and also in 1790. Was she suspected 
 of being the author before she went to the Cape 
 after her marriage with Andrew Barnard in 
 i793> or after her return to England in 1808 ? 
 She died in 1825 ; the Rev. William Leeves, 
 who composed the second and now familiar air 
 (it is said in 1770, in "Grove's Dictionary of 
 Music and Musicians") did not die until 1828. 
 As he must have known who was the real 
 author, it is a pity that we do not possess his 
 corroboration as an historical fact. However, ~ 
 revenons a nos romance: Lady Anne stated 
 that she had been long suspected by her more 
 intimate friends, and often questioned with re- 
 spect to the mysterious ballad, but that she had 
 always managed to keep her secret to her- 
 self without a direct and absolute denial. She 
 was induced to write the song by a desire to see 
 an old plaintive Scottish air (" The bridegroom 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 121 
 
 grat when the sun gaed down "), which was a 
 favourite with her sister, fitted with words more 
 suitable to its character than the ribaldry which 
 had hitherto, for want of better, been sung to 
 it. She had previously been endeavouring to 
 while the tedium occasioned by her sister's 
 marriage and departure for London by the com- 
 position of verses ; but of all she had written, 
 either before or since, none have reached the 
 merit of this admirable little poem. It struck 
 her that some tale of virtuous distress in humble 
 life would be most suitable to the plaintive 
 melody of her favourite air ; and she accordingly 
 set about such an attempt, taking the name of 
 " Auld Robin Gray " from an ancient herd of 
 Balcarres. When she had written two or three 
 of the verses, she called to her junior sister 
 (afterwards Lady Hardwicke) who was the only 
 person near her, and thus addressed her : "I 
 have been writing a ballad, my dear ; I have 
 been oppressing my heroine with many mis- 
 fortunes ; I have already sent her Jamie to sea 
 and broken her father's arm, and made her 
 mother fall sick, and given her Auld Robin 
 Gray for her lover ; but I wish to load her with 
 a fifth sorrow within the four lines — poor thing ! 
 Help me to one." " Steal the cow, sister Anne," 
 said the little Elizabeth. " The cow," adds Lady 
 Anne, " was immediately lifted by me, and the 
 song completed. At our fireside among our neigh- 
 
122 STORIES OF 
 
 hours, 'Auld Robin Gray' was always called for. 
 I was pleased with the approbation it met 
 with." 
 
 This is so circumstantially related that there 
 seems no doubt whatever about the origin of 
 the lyric. 
 
 The famous Miss Stephens, afterwards Count- 
 ess of Essex, is believed to have made the song 
 popular to English ears. It may be noted that 
 the melody of the first four lines differs from the 
 rest, and it is strongly believed that the first part 
 was borrowed from some old Scottish air and 
 the rest set by the Rev. William Leeves. This, 
 indeed, appears certain, and some authorities 
 declared Leeves's music not to be Scottish at 
 all. In any case it was severely criticised by 
 John Hullah. In 1880 the song was published 
 by Messrs. Novello and Co. as " words by Lady 
 Anne Lindsay, set to music by Rev. William 
 Leeves." The song was first printed anony- 
 mously in " Hood's Ancient and Modern Songs," 
 second edition, 1776; also in "Johnson's 
 Museum," 1790, both set to the old air only. 
 A correspondent to "Notes and Queries" (6th 
 Series, vol. v.) says that the words were very 
 popular set to the old air before Miss Stephens 
 sang it. According to Grove's " Dictionary of 
 Music and Musicians," the Rev. William Leeves 
 was born in 1748, and became in 1779 rector 
 of Wrington, Somerset, the birthplace of John 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 123 
 
 Locke, the philosopher. He composed some 
 good sacred music, but will be chiefly remem- 
 bered as the composer of the music of " Auld 
 Robin Gray," which he wrote in 1770, though 
 it was not known as his till 1812. He died 
 May 25th, 1828, at the age of eighty. There is 
 a mistake here. He could not have written the 
 music in 1770, as the words were not written till 
 a year later. Since first writing the history of 
 this song I was favoured, quite by chance, with 
 the hereunder particulars relative to the Rev. 
 William Leeves through a descendant of that 
 composer. The Rev. William Leeves was at 
 one time a lieutenant in the first Foot Guards. 
 He entered His Majesty's service as ensign, 
 June 20th, 1769, and received a lieutenant's 
 commission February 3rd, 1772. He took 
 orders in 1779, and was appointed to the living 
 of Wrington, in Somersetshire, where he resided 
 as Rector for fifty years. The words of the 
 song were sent him by Lady Anne through the 
 Honourable Mrs. Byron when he was living 
 at Richmond, and presumably whilst he was yet 
 in the army. He was an excellent musician 
 and a skilful player on the violin. When at 
 Wrington, Hannah More, who lived in the 
 village, was on the closest terms of intimacy 
 with the Leeves. It was not until the year 
 18 1 2 that he made known to the public the fact 
 that he was the composer of the popular air. 
 
124 STORIES OF 
 
 He communicated the information in a letter to 
 his very dear friend Thomas Hammersley, 
 which is now in the possession of one of his 
 granddaughters. I append a copy. 
 
 " My dear Sir, Anxious as you have ever 
 been for the rule of right, as well as for the fair 
 fame of your friends, you have more than once 
 solicited that I would publicly claim an offspring 
 which for more than forty years has been of 
 uncertain origin. Nothing could have induced 
 me to undertake this at my period of life, but 
 the offer of your kind testimony to the genuine- 
 ness of this, my early production, which an 
 acquaintance with it in manuscript, long before 
 it surreptitiously found its way to the public eye, 
 enables you so convincingly to bear. As to the 
 story, you may remember that I received it 
 from the Honourable Mrs. Byron, and under- 
 stood it to have been written by Lady Anne 
 Lindsay," etc. 
 
 Mr. Leeves received no remuneration what- 
 ever for his music, and had to rest content with 
 the approbation of his private friends ! 
 
 It is recorded that when Mr. Leeves first 
 heard Miss Stephens (afterwards Countess of 
 Essex) sing "Auld Robin Gray," he was so 
 much delighted with her expression and her 
 melting tones that he shed tears. The song- 
 stress was most gratified on hearing of the effect 
 of her singing, and wished to be introduced to 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 125 
 
 the venerable author, which desire was readily 
 gratified. 
 
 And now let us examine the old French 
 romance by Paradis de Moncrif. Let me at 
 once acknowledge that my first acquaintance 
 with this poem dates from the early part of 
 1889, when I came across some correspondence 
 on the subject in the " St. James's Gazette." 
 One gentleman wrote to the effect that " one of 
 the happiest instances of the kind of plagiarism 
 which, like charity, blesses both giver and re- 
 ceiver, is to be found in the famous ballad of 
 'Auld Robin Gray,' which, as some of your 
 readers may be aware, is taken from the French. 
 The poem of Paradis de Moncrif, which served 
 as a model to Lady Anne Barnard, is entitled, 
 ' Les Constantes Amours d'Alix et d' Alexis,' 
 and though more than a century old, is still 
 considered to be the finest example of what the 
 French call a romance." I beg to disclaim here 
 any extraordinary faith in the certainty with 
 which this writer makes his interesting dis- 
 covery of similarity between the two pieces ; the 
 fact is, I hardly know what to think. He pro- 
 ceeds : "It has the naXveti and the prolixity so 
 charming in its apparent triviality proper to that 
 kind of composition ; and in comparing it with 
 Lady Anne's poem, it is interesting to observe 
 how in the passage of the tale northwards the 
 romantic beauty of the original gives place to a 
 
126 STORIES OF 
 
 tragic intensity in harmony with the severer 
 genius of the Scottish Muse." The author of 
 this truly beautiful poem was born in 1687, was 
 made a member of the French Academy in 
 1733, and died in 1770 at the age of eighty- 
 three, just a year before " Auld Robin Gray " 
 was composed. In the French poem there are 
 thirty-seven stanzas, which are too many to 
 quote. In the first verse, by the way, the poem 
 begins by asking the parents why they should 
 have broken off the engagement between the 
 young people, as they were so suited to each 
 other. I give verses as under, commencing with 
 the second : 
 
 " A sa mhre, 6tant ddjk grande. 
 
 La pauvre Alix, 
 A deux genoux, un jour demande 
 
 Son Alexis : 
 Ma m^re, il faut par complaisance 
 
 Nous marier, 
 Ma fille, je veux I'alliance 
 
 D'un conseiller. 
 
 III. 
 
 " Un jour . . . quelle malice d'ame 
 
 La mere a dit : 
 Alexis a pris une femme 
 
 Sans contredit. 
 Et puis, lui montrant une lettre, 
 
 Lui dit ; Voyez, 
 II vous ^crit ; c'est pour permettre 
 
 Que Toubliez.'' 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 127 
 
 In the second verse it will be seen that poor 
 Alix falls on her knees and cries to her mother 
 to let her have Alexis. But the mother repulses 
 her, and says she intends that she shall be 
 married to the councillor or judge. In the third 
 verse the mother invents a story to the effect 
 that Alexis has taken a wife and has written to 
 tell her to forget him. In the fourth verse the 
 judge arrives with the notary, and against her 
 will Alix is married, and all the time the others 
 are making merry her thoughts are far away, 
 with her lost lover. In the fifth verse, Alix is 
 made to appear very faithful to her husband and 
 his household, and because of his great love for 
 her tries to love him in return. But in the next 
 verse Alix, grown sad, her husband tries to 
 please her with rich jewels and love-knots. In 
 verse seven : 
 
 " Baise-moi, montonne ch^rie, 
 
 Je vais au plaid ; 
 Tiens, prende de cette orferverie 
 
 Ce qui te plait. 
 L'argent n'est que pour qu'on se donne 
 
 Quelque bon temps ; 
 N'epargne rien ; voilk, mignonne, 
 
 Vingt 6cns blancs." 
 
 The husband takes an affectionate leave of her, 
 as he has to go to the " plea " (the law court, he 
 being a judge,) and gives her more jewellery and 
 money that she may want for nothing. The 
 
128 STORIES OF 
 
 twelve stanzas that follow describe the return of 
 Alexis, who has been faithful to her, their inter- 
 view and recognition. Then follow these two 
 verses : 
 
 " Alix, mon Alix, mon tant aim^e, 
 
 Helas ! c'est moi ! 
 Alix, Alix tant regrett^e 
 
 Ranime-toi ! 
 Ton Alexis vient de Turquie 
 
 Tout k I'instant, 
 Pour te voir et quitter la vie. 
 
 En sanglotant. 
 
 " Par ces tristes mots ranimde 
 
 Alix parla : 
 Alexis, j'ai ma foi donn^e ; 
 
 Un autre I'a. 
 Ne dois vous ouir de ma vie 
 
 Un seul instant : 
 Mais ne mourez pas, je vous prie ; 
 
 Partez pourtant." 
 
 In which, as the reader will see, Alexis tells 
 Alix not to give way to despair, and that he 
 has come in great haste from Turkey to see her 
 (having heard of her marriage), and to die with 
 a broken heart. Then Alix revives, but though 
 she has given her faith (or troth) to another, 
 begs him not to die, but to depart. Alexis in the 
 next stanza promises this, but before going away 
 from her for ever, he takes her hand. The hus- 
 band returns, and seeing them thus together, 
 stabs them both to the heart. Alexis is dead. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 129 
 
 and Alix, dying, kisses his eyes, and says she 
 dies innocent. Her husband in his jealousy has 
 taken her life, but she dies without regret. And 
 then the husband is seized with remorse, and at 
 night-time the spirit of his wife visits him, and 
 pointing to the wound in her breast " sobs to 
 him in a long murmur " that he is her assassin. 
 And so the end, except for a rather weak anti- 
 climax in the way of a moral. 
 
 I have tried to give a general idea of the story 
 in rough English, though there are some idiom- 
 atic phrases in the piece that are not quite 
 clear. It is altogether an elegant and grace- 
 fully written poem, full of tender touches. As to 
 its obvious resemblance to " Auld Robin Gray " 
 I make no suggestion, but leave everyone to 
 judge of the remarkable coincidence. 
 
 " Auld Robin Gray " was a favourite song 
 with the great Miss Anna Maria Tree, who 
 sang it constantly, as did other less known 
 vocalists. 
 
 Augustus J. C. Hare, in " The Story of Two 
 Noble Lives, "suggests that Lady Margaret Lind- 
 say was the real victim in ' Auld Robin Gray," 
 as written by her sister. It is said, though, 
 that she married "Jamie" after "Robin's" — 
 Mr, Fordyce's — death. I merely repeat this 
 story. 
 
 "Auld Robin Gray," which Dr. Cobham 
 Brewer says was written by the authoress to 
 
 K 
 
I30 STORIES OF 
 
 raise some money for the benefit of her nurse — 
 upon what authority I know not — has been 
 adapted to the stage by several writers, both 
 French and English. There is M. Andre 
 Theuriet's " Jean Marie," avowedly taken from 
 the story of " Auld Robin Gray," which has 
 been translated again into English by three or 
 four different writers. One version, by George 
 Roy, was given at the Imperial Theatre, Sep- 
 tember 22nd, 1883. And an operetta bearing 
 the same title was produced at the Surrey 
 Theatre in April, 1858, with music by "the late 
 Alexander Lee," who died in 185 1. Lee com- 
 posed the music as far back as 1838. The 
 libretto was written by Edward Fitz-Ball, and 
 the piece was intended for the English Opera at 
 Drury Lane, but the continued illness of Mrs. 
 Waylett, who was to have played Jenny, caused 
 the operetta to be shelved for twenty years. 
 Lee, by the way, married Mrs. Waylett, the 
 celebrated actress. She died of a broken heart, 
 it is said, soon after his death. There was a 
 previous opera of the same name, written by 
 S. J. Arnold, and composed by his father, Dr, 
 Arnold, produced July 26th, 1794, at the 
 Theatre Royal, Hay market. The report of the 
 play in the "Thespian Magazine" for September," 
 1794, says, " The piece is ascribed to the son of 
 Dr. Arnold, and bids fair to become a favourite ; 
 the music is selected with great judgment by 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 131 
 
 the father of the author from the most approved 
 Scotch tunes, and justice was done to it by the 
 performers." The latest stage version of " Auld 
 Robin Gray," entitled "The Wanderers," was 
 successfully performed at Dundee, on Christmas 
 Day, 1893. 
 
132 STORIES OF 
 
 CHAPTER. X. 
 
 "KATHLEEN MAVOURNEEN " AND " KATTY 
 AVOURNEEN. " 
 
 It has been said, with more regard for epigram 
 than fact, that this queen amongst Irish songs 
 was born out of its own country, of English 
 parents. But the truth is that though the com- 
 poser, F. N. Crouch, was an Englishman — he 
 might have been Irish if he had chosen, for 
 there are many of that name in the Green Isle 
 — the writer of the words, Mrs. Julia Crawford, 
 was a true daughter of Erin, having been bqrn 
 in County Cavan towards the close of the last 
 century. By taking up her abode at a small 
 town in Wiltshire when quite young, and where, 
 she resided for many years, her few biographers 
 have been led into the error of supposing her to 
 be English. Besides " Kathleen Mavourneen," 
 she wrote over a hundred lyrics, mostly Irish in 
 sentiment, and published, with F. N. Crouch as 
 the composer of the music, a volume of " Irish 
 Songs" in 1840. She wrote, says David J. 
 O'Donoghue in his " Dictionary of the Poets of 
 Ireland," a great deal of verse for the " Metro- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 133 
 
 politan Magazine," edited by Captain Marryat 
 (London, 1830-40) and also autobiographical 
 sketches for the same publication. Her " Kath- 
 leen Mavourneen " appeared therein. Unfortu- 
 nately no one thought it necessary to preserve 
 any particulars of the life and works of this 
 charming writer. She may possibly have been 
 the Mrs. Crawford who published "Stanzas" 
 about 1830, and the following novels between 
 1830 and 1857: "Lismore," "The Story of a 
 Nun," " Early Struggles," " The Double Mar- 
 riage," and "The Lady of the Bedchamber." 
 
 Frederick Nicholls Crouch led a singularly 
 hard life — one full of vicissitudes and bad luck. 
 When Crouch wrote his greatest song he was 
 travelling for a firm of metal brokers in Cornhill. 
 Afterwards he was appointed musical director at 
 Drury Lane Theatre and brought out many 
 a singer who has long since achieved name and 
 fame. The words, as already stated, were 
 written by Mrs. Crawford, a contemporary of 
 Mrs. Hemans and Sheridan Knowles the Irish 
 dramatist, whose verses were occasionally set by 
 this once eminently fertile composer; among 
 them the " Swiss Song of Meeting " and 
 " Zephyrs of Love " which achieved immediate 
 success through the inimitable singing of Marie 
 Malibran and Anna Tree, to whom they were 
 respectively dedicated. The melody of " Kath- 
 leen Mavourneen," according to Crouch, came 
 
134 STORIES OF 
 
 as an inspiration one day when he was riding 
 along the banks of the Tamar. Soon after- 
 wards he sang it at Plymouth — for he was a 
 capital ballad singer — and for more than half a 
 century it has continued to find a place in con- 
 cert programmes. The Queen of Song, Adelina 
 Patti, often gives it to this day. But although 
 the song is said to have brought in profits to the 
 extent of fifteen thousand pounds it did not 
 enrich the composer who only received a small 
 sum down for it originally. So hard were the 
 times with Crouch, and so unkind his country to 
 him, that he who was a friend of the great 
 Rossini when George the Fourth was king, had 
 to emigrate to America in 1 849 to earn a living. 
 But matters did not seem to mend, and he was 
 reported to be starving at Baltimore some few 
 years ago when subscriptions were raised for his 
 relief Apparently the tide turned at last, for in 
 the early autumn of 1892 a grand banquet was 
 given in honour of the anniversary of the 
 veteran's birthday at Portland, in the State of 
 Maine, when the grand old composer sang his 
 own glorious song, he being then eighty-four 
 years of age. 
 
 Here again is the story of this famous song 
 told in Crouch's own words : " The words in- 
 stantly attracted my attention by their purity of 
 style and diction. I sought the authoress, and 
 obtained her permission to set them to music. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 135 
 
 Leaving London as traveller to Chapman and Co., 
 Cornhill, while prosecuting my journey towards 
 Saltash I jotted down the melody on the historic 
 banks of the Tamar. On arriving at Plymouth, 
 I wrote out a fair copy of the song, and sang it 
 to Mrs. Rowe, the wife of a music publisher of 
 that town. The melody so captivated her and 
 others who heard it that I was earnestly solicited 
 that it should be given the first time in public at 
 her husband's opening concert of the season. 
 But certain reasons obliged me to decline the 
 honour. I retired to rest at my hotel, and risiijg 
 early next morning, and opening jiiy^-wili3ow, 
 what was my surprise to see on a hoarding right 
 opposite a large placard on which was printed 
 in the largest and boldest type : 'F. Nicholls 
 Crouch, from London, will sing at P. E. Rowe's 
 concert, " Kathleen Mavourneen," for one night 
 only ! ' Amazed and confused at such an un- 
 warrantable and unauthorized announcement, 
 I hurriedly completed my toilet, took my break- 
 fast, and rushed off to Mr. Rowe's warehouse. 
 But, despite my reluctance, and overcome by 
 the entreaties of the fascinating Mrs. Rowe, I 
 appeared and sang the song to a crowded au- 
 dience, with the most enthusiastic applause. On 
 returning to London I entered the establishment 
 of Messrs. D'Almaine, music publishers, as pre- 
 centor, and ' Kathleen Mavourneen ' and other 
 songs— ' Dermot Astore,' 'Their Marriage,' 
 
136 STORIES OF 
 
 ' Death of Dermot ' — were published by that 
 firm. These songs have been sung and appro- 
 priated by all the leading cantatrices, from 
 Caradori, Hobbs, Hawes, Hayes, Stephens (the 
 Countess of Essex), Malibran, Titiens, and 
 Adelina Patti. The series of songs has been 
 published by thirty different music stores in 
 America, each one making heaps of money. 
 But not one of these brain-stealers has had 
 sufficient principle to bestow a single dime on 
 the composer! " It is fitting that the words of 
 " Kathleen Mavourneen " should appear here : 
 
 " Kathleen Mavourneen ! the gray dawn is breaking, 
 
 The horn of the hunter is heard on the hill, 
 The lark from her light wing the bright dew is shaking — 
 
 Kathleen Mavourneen ! what, slumbering still ? 
 Oh ! hast thou forgotten how soon we must sever ? 
 
 Oh ! hast thou forgotten how soon we must part ? 
 It may be for years and it may be for ever, 
 
 Oh ! why art thou silent, thou voice of my heart ? 
 
 " Kathleen Mavourneen ! awake from thy slumbers. 
 
 The blue mountains glow in the sun's golden light ; 
 Ah ! where is the spell that once hung on thy numbers ? 
 
 Arise in thy beauty, thou star of the night ! 
 Mavourneen ! Mavourneen ! my sad tears are falling, 
 
 To think that from Erin and thee I must part : 
 It may be for years, and it may be for ever, 
 
 Then why art thou silent, thou voice of my heart ? " 
 
 A very graceful imitation, or rather tribute, 
 to the excellence of the song has appeared from 
 the pen of J. Whitcomb Riley, an American 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 137 
 
 poet of much delicacy of feeling and expression 
 and is well worth preserving : 
 
 " Kathleen Mavourneen ! thy song is still ringing, 
 
 As fresh and as clear as the trill of the birds ; 
 In world-weary hearts it is sobbing and singing, 
 
 In pathos too sweet for tenderest words. 
 Oh ! have we forgotten the one who first breathed it ? 
 
 Oh ! have we forgotten his rapturous art ? 
 Our meed to the Master whose genius bequeathed it ? 
 
 Oh ! why art thou silent, thou voice of the heart ? 
 
 " Kathleen Mavourneen ! thy lover still lingers, 
 
 The long night is waning, the stars pale and few j 
 Thy sad serenader, with tremulous fingers. 
 
 Is bowed with his tears as the lily with dew. 
 The old harp-strings quaver, the old voice is shaking. 
 
 In sighs and in sobs moans the yearning refrain : 
 The old vision dims, and the old heart is breaking — 
 
 Kathleen Mavourneen, inspire us again ! " 
 
 A domestic drama entitled " Kathleen Ma- 
 vourneen, or St. Patrick's Eve " was produced in 
 New York in 1865, and seems to have been 
 very successful, and has been played in London 
 and through the provinces. " Kathleen Ma- 
 voureen" is introduced into the piece also, "Wilt 
 thou be my bride, Kathleen ? " and " Kathleen, 
 are you goin' to lave me ? " 
 
 Professor Frederick Nicholls Crouch, F.R.S. 
 died at Pordand, U.S. on August i8th, 1896, 
 aged eighty- nine, having been born in 1808. 
 He married four times, and though partially blind, 
 he worked till the last moment almost of his life. 
 
138 STORIES OF 
 
 A sympathetic account of his career appeared in 
 " The Era " newspaper, which is worth quoting. 
 Although he was not without honour in the 
 land of his adoption, which has conferred upon 
 him the distinctions of Doctor of Music, Master 
 of Arts, and Bardic President for the State of 
 Maryland, the old composer occasionally regretted 
 the "false step" he made in leaving his mother- 
 land in 1849, and in one of his last letters to 
 his nephew wrote :— " When I made the false 
 step of leaving England for America I literally 
 buried myself, and have been lost to the world 
 ever since. England gave me a reputation and 
 a name ; America cremated me." Later he 
 wrote more cheerfully : " The old Bard is pre- 
 pared for his final journey. At peace with him- 
 self, his God, and the world. My last Christmas 
 was the fulfilment of rejoicing. Although a 
 failing man I had plenty of respect and abund- 
 ance of cheer. Three of my children were ab- 
 sent — professionally engaged in other States. 
 My two eldest girls are on the stage. My wife 
 has wholly recovered. I have no debts, and not 
 a single obligation to meet. In honour of the 
 Irish nation I have composed an anthem. The 
 weather here is clear and bracing, but 20 degrees 
 below zero, nipping cold for a patriarch verging 
 ninety. God bless you and yours. May we 
 meet in the unknown sphere. " The anthem men- 
 tioned in this letter, the words of which are by 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 139 
 
 Mrs. M. A. Ford, known in the American literary- 
 world as " Una," is entitled "Green and Gold." 
 In another letter Crouch said : "I went to 
 hear my ' Green and Gold ' played by a military 
 orchestra yesterday. I am to conduct it on 
 Monday night, and also to sing, at eighty-nine, 
 ' Kathleen Mavourneen ' in public. Proof posi- 
 tive this that your uncle lives. How I shall 
 acquit myself the result will show. In mental 
 spirits I am as bright as ever, but physically I 
 am worn out. My two daughters appear in the 
 same performance for the whole week." After 
 alluding to his restoration to health from a 
 recent illness, he added : "It has left me a 
 wreck, but not a dead man. Pugnaciously would 
 I contest that statement with the newspaper re- 
 porters. [A reference to many premature obituary 
 notices.] I have been writing day and night 
 for a Miss Harper, who is preparing a book on 
 the ' Song- writers of the Century,' in which I 
 appear conspicuously. When published will 
 remit a copy endorsed with our autographs. 
 Through all my sickness I have always adhered 
 to my practice of daily writing or perfecting a 
 specific article : music, prose, or poetry. The 
 amount of my accumulated MSS. is enormous. 
 When the Old Bard really dies he will write his 
 own obituary. So rest content. I am alive 
 and kicking. Life exists in the old dog yet." 
 The Old Bard's last poetic contribution to the 
 
I40 STORIES OF 
 
 poets' corner of the " Maryland Journal " was 
 called " Lament of the Last Bard," and was in 
 the nature of a valedictory address. A speci- 
 men of his muse in his eighty-ninth year is the 
 following — the last verse of this poem : 
 
 " His harp, silent hanging, shrined by the willows, 
 
 His lyrical strains in affection addressed. 
 By night winds are wafted over the billows, 
 
 As sorrowing tears bedew the moon's crest, 
 On his laurels he'll sleep, where Carolan slumbers. 
 
 His melodies ringing through ages unborn j 
 Out the soul of a bard are measured his numbers, 
 
 And sung they will be when his spirit has gone.'' 
 
 The eldest son of Frederick William Crouch, 
 violoncello player, composer and music tutor 
 to William IV., the composer of " Kathleen 
 Mavourneen" was born at Devizes, Wiltshire. 
 On the paternal side he inherited his musical 
 talent. As in acting, so in music heredity plays 
 an important part. When nine years old he 
 played bass at the Royal Coburg Theatre, 
 erected in honour of the marriage of Princess 
 Charlotte, daughter of George IV. He gradually 
 won his way to His Majesty's Theatre, and once 
 played a violoncello solo before Rossini. Bochsi, 
 then at the height of his fame, and conductor of 
 the opera, made Crouch his pupil. When the 
 latter reached the age of twenty his tutor, im- 
 pressed with his unusual vocal ability, trans- 
 ferred him to William Hawes, master of West- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 141 
 
 .minster Abbey, of St. Paul's Cathedral, and of 
 the Chapel Royal boys. When in 1822 the 
 Royal Academy of Music, Hanover Square, was 
 established, young Crouch became a student 
 there, together with Sterndale Bennett and 
 George Macfarren. At the death of George IV. 
 he and the other senior students were commanded 
 to attend the coronation of William IV. and 
 Adelaide, and after this event Crouch was 
 appointed gentleman of her Majesty Queen 
 Adelaide's band. He now became principal 
 violoncellist at Drury Lane Theatre, under the 
 management of Stephen Price, of American fame, 
 and here he wrote his first ballad, " Zephyrs of 
 Love," for Miss Anna Tree, and " The Swiss 
 Song of Meeting" for Madame Malibran, At 
 this time he met John Howard Payne, the 
 American actor and dramatist, whose memory is 
 cherished for his authorship of " Home, Sweet 
 Home." It was while visiting fair ^Devonshire 
 that he received from Mrs. Crawford the poem of 
 "Kathleen Mavourneen," which appeared anony- 
 mously in the " Metropolitan Magazine," for 
 which she wrote. He then composed his ex- 
 quisite music, a worthy setting to pathetic and 
 graceful verse, his melody at once raising him to 
 fame. Alas ! " Kathleen Mavourneen," which 
 should have brought its composer fortune as well 
 as fame, was sold to a London music publisher 
 for ;^io. Crouch's other work which still lives 
 
142 STORIES OF 
 
 and is perennially popular, includes "O'Donnell's 
 Farewell," " The Emigrant's Lament," " Sing 
 to Me, Nora," " The Exile of Erin," " Sheila, 
 My Darling Colleen," and " Dermot Astore." 
 He also composed several operas. 
 
 When William IV. died. Crouch was com- 
 manded to attend the coronation of Queen 
 Victoria. Subsequently he became musical editor' 
 for the firm of D'Almaine and Company, Soho 
 Square, who contracted for all his songs for the 
 ensuing seven years. Next he was offered and 
 accepted the post of musical reviewer on the 
 " Metropolitan Magazine," edited by Captain 
 Marryat, R.N., the immortal teller of sea stories. 
 In his new capacity Crouch came to know intim- 
 ately most of the literary celebrities of the period, 
 and in a letter to his nephew at Liverpool he 
 said, regarding a copy of Dickens's " Chimes," 
 which had not reached him, "The 'Chimes' 
 not arrived, though much desired for old asso- 
 ciation's sake with my fellow scribe Charles 
 Dickens. We wrote together with Mrs. Abdy, 
 Mrs. Crawford, Countess Blessington, Douglas 
 Jerrold, Thackeray, Marryat, Poole, and others 
 in the pages of the ' Metropolitan Magazine,' 
 published by Chapman and Hall, who were 
 publishing Dickens's ' Sketches by Boz.' " 
 
 In 1849 Crouch left England for America, 
 and he never returned. He was first associated 
 with Max Maretzek in New York. Afterwards 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 143 
 
 he sang in church choirs, taught, and lectured, 
 until the great rush for the gold of California 
 bore him with the human tide westward. Re- 
 verses overtook him, however ; his wife fell ill, 
 and he had to stop far short of California. His 
 money dwindled away — he had previously con- 
 verted his property into gold and sent his library 
 and manuscripts to Baltimore. Through the 
 influence of friends he was appointed choirmaster 
 of a church at Washington, and became a teacher 
 in the first circles in the city. He migrated to 
 Richmond, Virginia, where he was doing well 
 when the American Civil War broke out. With- 
 out hesitation Crouch joined the Confederate 
 forces, sacrificing a salary of 4,000 dollars per 
 annum for the private soldier's twelve dollars per 
 month, which twelve dollars, he drily says, " he 
 never got." He enlisted in the first Regiment 
 Richmond Greys, quartered at Norfolk. From 
 the day on which he entered the army until the 
 surrender of General Lee, at Appomattox Court- 
 house, Crouch was always at his post ; never 
 sick nor absent, and even unflinching in his 
 refusal to accept the furlough that was offered 
 him. From the last battlefield he made his 
 way, with three broken ribs and his right hand 
 badly smashed, to Buckingham Courthouse. 
 Here he entered into service as a gardener and 
 farm hand-^an occupation he followed until the 
 hostilities of the terrible civil struggle died down. 
 
144 STORIES OF 
 
 Then he went to Richmond, and ultimately to 
 Baltimore, where, at the age of seventy-five, he 
 found his home, books, manuscripts, reduced to 
 ashes. About fifteen years ago the people of 
 Baltimore interested themselves in the cause of 
 their poet-citizen, and he was established once 
 more as a teacher of music in that city, in which 
 he resided until he died. 
 
 In all the wide range of Crouch's varied 
 career, perhaps the most remarkable — certainly 
 the most touching — of his experiences was re- 
 served for his later years. It seems that a boy 
 named James Marion Roche, born at New Ross, 
 Kilkenny, grew up with the music of " Kathleen 
 Mavourneen " ever on his lips. His love for 
 the song was unspeakable, and, although of a 
 roving disposition, he remained true to that of 
 music. He went to America, joined the navy, 
 and fought, all unconsciously, against the author 
 of his favourite song. In 1883 he visited Balti- 
 more, and learned accidentally that Frederick 
 Nicholls Crouch resided there, finding it a hard 
 task to make both ends meet. Roche's love of 
 " Kathleen Mavourneen " was as great as ever, 
 and his one desire was to aid its composer. 
 To attain this end he, with rare delicacy and 
 tact, persuaded the old gentleman to adopt him 
 as a son. As James Roche Crouch he lived in 
 Florida, and nobly did what he could to make 
 life a little easier for his "father." 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 145 
 
 Another very favourite song composed by 
 Crouch, of a more frolicsome turn, was " Katty, 
 Avourneen," written by the late Desmond Ryan : 
 
 " 'Twas a cowld winter night, and the tempest was snarlin'. 
 
 The snow, like a sheet, cover'd cabin and stye, 
 When Barney flew over the hills to his darlin', 
 
 And tapp'd at the window where Katty did lie. 
 • Arrah, jewel,' says he, ' are you slaipin' or wakin' ? 
 
 It's a bitther cowld night, and my coat it is thin ; 
 The storm it is brewin', and the frost it is bakin', 
 
 Oh, Katty, avourneen, you must let me in.' 
 
 " ' Ah, then, Barney,' says Kate, and she spoke through the 
 window, 
 
 ' How could you be takin' us out of our beds ? 
 To come at this time, it's a shame and a sin, too, 
 
 It's whiskey, not love, has got into your head. 
 If your heart it was true, of my fame you'd be tender, 
 
 Consider the time, and there's nobody in. 
 What has a poor girl but her name to defend her ? 
 
 No, Barney, avourneen, I won't let you in.' 
 
 " ' A cushla,' says he, ' it's my heart is a fountain. 
 
 That weeps for the wrong I might lay at your door ; 
 Your name is more white than the snow on the mountain, 
 
 And Barney would die to preserve it as pure. 
 I'll go to my home, tho' the winter winds face me, 
 
 I'll whistle them off, for I'm happy within ; 
 And the words of my Katty will comfort and bless me : 
 
 " No, Barney, avourneen, I won't let you in." ' " 
 
146 STORIES OF 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER," " THE BELLS OF 
 SHANDON," AND "THE EXILE OF ERIN." 
 
 That curiously - compounded, old - fashioned 
 opera, " Martha," owes its continuous popularity, 
 as is tolerably well known, to the introduction 
 therein of the ancient Irish melody known to 
 the world generally as "The Last Rose of 
 Summer." Now, at first sight it may appear 
 rather incongruous to assign the song in 
 the opera to a lady who is supposed to have 
 lived in the reign of Queen Anne ; but, as a 
 matter of history, this incident is not quite so 
 outrageous as critics, with a scant knowledge of 
 Irish music apparently, would have us believe. 
 Count Frederick von Flotow's opera, " Martha," 
 founded on a ballet, was first performed at 
 Vienna, in 1847. It was given at the Thditre 
 Lyrique, Paris, later with Mme. Christine Nilsson 
 as the heroine, with so much success, that it ran 
 for three hundred nights — a most unusual run 
 for a piece of any kind half a century ago. It 
 was brought to London in 1858, and achieved 
 a phenomenal reception, though many authori- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 147 
 
 ties condemned it as mere tinsel. Berlioz, the 
 French composer, who detested Flotow, said 
 " the beauty of the Irish melody served to dis- 
 infect the rottenness of the ' Martha ' music," 
 which was spiteful, silly, and weak. But this 
 brings us to the original of the introduced 
 number. Thomas Moore, than whom there has 
 never been a more un- Irish Irish writer, evi- 
 dently came upon the melody to which he wrote 
 the words commencing, "'Tis the Last Rose of 
 Summer," in a third-hand manner, for he in- 
 genuously calls it " The Groves of Blarney," 
 which was quite a modern production, as far as 
 title and words are concerned, written by Richard 
 Alfred Milliken, who was born at Castle Martyr, 
 Co. Cork, only twenty- three years before Thomas 
 Moore saw the light in Dublin, which does not 
 say much for that deep acquaintance with ancient 
 music which Moore always professed. Now, 
 the " Groves of Blarney" was avowedly a bur- 
 lesque on " Castle Hyde," the fulsome and 
 trashy production of a " literary " weaver named 
 Barrett, in 1790. Barrett, who was what we 
 should term a crank in these days, filled up his 
 spare time as an itinerant bard, and with the 
 view of being paid for his trouble, composed a 
 song in praise (as he doubtless intended it) of 
 Castle Hyde, the beautiful seat of the Hyde 
 family, on the river Blackwater ; but, as the 
 writer of the memoir of Milliken says, "instead 
 
148 STORIES OF 
 
 of the expected remuneration, the poor poet 
 was driven from the gate, by order of the then 
 proprietor, who, from the absurdity of the thing, 
 conceived that it could be only meant as a 
 mockery ; and, in fact, a more nonsensical com- 
 position could scarcely escape the pen of a 
 maniac. The author, however, well satisfied of 
 its merits, and stung with indignation and dis- 
 appointment, vented his rage in an additional 
 verse against the owner, and sung it wherever 
 he had an opportunity of raising his angry voice. 
 As satire, however gross, is but too generally 
 well received, the song first became a favourite 
 with the lower orders ; then found its way into 
 ballads, and at length into the convivial meetings 
 of gentlemen." It was through hearing " Castle 
 Hyde " at one of these social gatherings that 
 Milliken determined to make a genuine farcical 
 song on the lines of the original, so choosing 
 Blarney, a fine old castle within three miles of 
 Cork, for his subject, and retaining the rhythm 
 and adopting the tune of Barrett's effusion — the 
 tune which Barrett himself took possession of, 
 it being a street melody and public property — 
 and turned out a ludicrous parody of the ridicu- 
 lous songs that were once so prevalent in every 
 Irish village, when every stripling would be a 
 bardeen, and sing his foolish rhymes to a foolish 
 audience. Rhyme in Ireland has too often been 
 more effective than reason, and this weakness 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 149 
 
 of the peasantry, of composing verses of an 
 extravagant and comically high fainting order, 
 engaged the pens of the satirists for hundreds 
 of years. Stanihurst, in 1583, published an 
 imitation of the Anglo- Irish style attached to 
 his translation of "The First Four Books of 
 Virgil's ^neis," which he called "An Epitaph, 
 entitled Commune Defunctorum, such as our 
 unlearned Rithmours accustomably make upon 
 the death of every Tom Tyler, as if it were a 
 last for every one his foote, in which the quan- 
 tities of sillables are not to be heeded." The 
 burlesque is full of points. Milliken never 
 dreamed that his chaffing ballad would attain 
 such distinction and celebrity, and though it 
 went out anonymously to the rest of the world, 
 in Co. Cork its origin and authorship were well 
 known. It reached London in due course, and 
 was called in one of the weekly prints, " The 
 National Irish Poem." Lockhart, in his " Life 
 of Sir Walter Scott," attributed it to "the 
 poetical Dean of Cork." It was so famous in 
 London that everybody was singing and quoting 
 it, and Lord Brougham refers to it in one of his 
 great Parliamentary speeches. Milliken, in all 
 probability, wrote " The Groves of Blarney " in 
 1796. Thomas Moore must have heard the 
 melody when he was at Trinity College, Dublin, 
 where he took his degree in 1798, and almost 
 immediately after left for England, where he 
 
I50 STORIES OF 
 
 eventually settled. He may never have known 
 that Milliken was the author of the " Groves of 
 Blarney, "though Richard Jones, an accomplished 
 Metropolitan comedian, records that he obtained 
 copies of the song in Cork, in the summer of 
 1 800, and that he and Mathews, the great actor 
 and mimic, carried it back to London, where 
 they sang it at concerts, and in their entertain- 
 ments. The first instalment of the " Irish Melo- 
 dies," with Moore's very un- Irish words, was 
 issued in 1813, and the rest at varying inter- 
 vals. Milliken died, by the way, in 18 15, 
 It has been computed that Moore received 
 for the " Melodies " remuneration averaging 
 one hundred and twenty-one pounds per song, 
 or six pounds per line. Very comforting 
 remuneration, too! 
 
 But to return to " The Last Rose of Summer." 
 Wherever Moore obtained the melody it is 
 certain he could not have known it in its original 
 form as played by the travelling bards and 
 harpers of Ireland, for he has considerably 
 altered the character of the music, and has not 
 in any way improved upon even the " Groves of 
 Blarney " version as a national melody. Although 
 the composer and author are unknown, the title 
 of the tune may be ascribed to about 1660, 
 so that from a musical point of view Flotow 
 was well within the calendar in using it for 
 his " Martha," as the basis of the well-known 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 151 
 
 air existed long prior to the reign of Queen 
 Anne. 
 
 Lovers of Ireland and its national songs and 
 music have always regretted that Thomas 
 Moore, in undertaking to rescue the Irish 
 melodies, did not preserve the spirit and nature 
 of the country whence they sprang in the lyrics 
 that he fitted and dovetailed to them. For the 
 chief characteristic of Moore's Irish melodies, 
 that is to say the lyrics, is their lack of Irish 
 characteristics. To be candid, though here and 
 there an Irish town, or vale, or waterfall, or lake 
 is mentioned, all the Irish songs are absolutely 
 English in form, metre and- sentiment. Erin 
 comes in nowhere; and Hibernia is only 
 scantily and half shamefully referred to as a 
 sort of apology for the music which is so es- 
 sentially Irish. Again, the words are not always 
 wedded to the music, they are only joined to it, 
 fitted and fixed to it — the music plays the 
 second part and not the first. Though Thomas 
 Moore, " who dearly loved a lord," as his friend 
 Lord Byron said, was a poet of Ireland, he was 
 in nowise an Irish poet in sentiment, sympathy 
 or sensibility. Still we are not ungrateful to 
 him for his labour in saving to us these classic 
 pieces. Moore's other " Melodies " are fully 
 dealt with in a later chapter. 
 
 "Shandon Bells," once a great favourite, was 
 written by Francis Mahoney, who chose as his 
 
152 STORIES OF 
 
 nom de plume "Father Prout," by which name 
 he is mostly known. The " Bells " in question 
 refer to Shandon, where, 
 
 " The spreading Lee that, like an island fair, 
 Encloseth Cork with his divided flood." 
 
 The history of the Bells and the origin of the 
 song are of more than passing interest. Crofton 
 Croker, in his " Popular Songs of Ireland," tells 
 us that the steeple of the church of St. Anne, or 
 Upper Shandon, in which hung the bells cele- 
 brated in the song, is one hundred and twenty, 
 feet high, and being built upon a considerable 
 eminence, appears a remarkable object in every 
 point of view of the city ; but especially from 
 what Moore has termed " its noble sea avenue," 
 the river Lee. The building of the church 
 commenced in 1722, and its steeple was con- 
 structed of the hewn stone from the Franciscan 
 Abbey, where James II. heard mass, and from 
 the ruins of Lord Barry's castle, which had been 
 the official residence of the lords president of 
 Munster and whence this quarter of the city 
 takes its name — Shandon signifying in Irish the 
 old fort or castle. But as the demolished abbey 
 had been built of limestone, and the castle of 
 redstone, the taste of the architect of Shandon 
 steeple led him to combine the discordant 
 materials, which ecclesiastic and civic revolution 
 had placed at his disposal, by constructing three 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 153 
 
 sides of his work white, and the remaining side 
 of red stone ; a circumstance which has occa- 
 sioned many local jokes and observations, the 
 most memorable of which is embodied in some 
 rhymes commencing : 
 
 " Party-coloured, like the people, 
 
 Red and white stands Shandon steeple," 
 
 said to have been addressed to Dr. Woodward, 
 Bishop of Cloy ne, by the famous Father O'Leary. 
 
 Fitz-Gerald in his " Cork Remembrancer " 
 says that Shandon bells were put up during the 
 summer of 1752. 
 
 The Reverend Francis Sylvester Mahoney, 
 the author of "Shandon Bells," was born in 
 Cork, 1805, and died in a monastery in Paris 
 (to which he had retired two years previously) 
 in May, 1866. He took Holy Orders after 
 studying in a Jesuit College at Paris ; but eventu- 
 ally he became a litterateur and journalist. He 
 was a constant contributor to " Fraser's Maga- 
 zine," " Bentley's Miscellany," the "Athenaeum" 
 and other papers. He later became corre- 
 spondent at Rome for the " Daily News," and 
 still later acted as Paris correspondent for the 
 "Globe." Under his adopted name of Father 
 Prout he achieved much celebrity by writing 
 prose and Irish verse in " Fraser's Maga- 
 zine." These writings have been collected 
 and republished and have become classics. He 
 
154 STORIES OF 
 
 was not of a very clerical nature — that is as far 
 as his priestly calling goes— but was greatly 
 loved and respected by all who knew him. He 
 was Bohemian to the backbone, and as full of 
 fun as an Irish Leprachaun — careless in his 
 dress but careful of his witty company. He 
 wrote his celebrated verses when he was a 
 student at an Irish college in Rome. It is said 
 that the opening lines are still to be seen in a 
 room there, scratched on a wall just above 
 where his bed used to be. He was doubtless a 
 little homesick at the time, and listening maybe 
 to the tolling of the many church bells in the 
 Eternal City. I give two verses only as the 
 poem is so well known : 
 
 "With deep affection 
 And recollection, 
 I often think of 
 
 Those Shandon Bells, 
 Whose sounds so wild would, 
 In the days of childhood, 
 Fling round my cradle 
 
 Their magic spells. 
 # * # * 
 
 " I've heard bells chiming. 
 Full many a clime in, 
 Tolling sublime in 
 
 Cathedral shrine ; 
 While at a glibe rate 
 Brass tongues would vibrate, 
 But all their music 
 
 Spoke naught like thine." 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 155 
 
 In after years, in discussing the subject of the 
 melody of bells, he says : " But there is nothing, 
 after all, like the associations which early in- 
 fancy attaches to the well-known and long 
 remembered chimes of our own parish steeple : 
 and no music can equal the effect upon our ear 
 when returning after long absence in foreign 
 and perhaps happier countries. " There are no 
 bells actually at Shandon now, though there 
 were in Prout's time, of course. The song has 
 been set several times, but the only two of value 
 are, first, the setting by J. L. Hatton, and 
 second, by Mrs. H. Morgan. John Liphot 
 Hatton, whose setting is generally considered 
 the best, was born in 1809 and died in 1877. 
 He composed music for a vast quantity of 
 pieces, songs, operettas, dramas, and so on, and 
 was the musical director at the Princess's 
 Theatre under Charles Kean, and composed 
 the music for the Shakespearean productions. 
 " Good-bye, Sweetheart, Good-bye " is his most 
 enduring work. 
 
 A very touching Irish song, " The Exile of 
 Erin," was written by a Scotchman — Thomas 
 Campbell the poet, to wit — although it has often 
 been attributed to the Irish verse-writer, George 
 Nugent Reynolds, though there is no evidence 
 to show that Reynolds ever claimed it himself. 
 Unfortunately after his death his friends caused 
 a great bother about it, saying that it was 
 
156 STORIES OF 
 
 written by him as a second part of his lyric 
 commencing : 
 
 " Green were the fields where my forefathers dwelt 0, 
 
 Erin, ma voureen ! slan leat go bragh ! 
 Though our farm was small yet comforts we felt O, 
 
 Erin, ma voureen ! slan leat go bragh ! 
 At length came the day when our lease did expire, 
 And fain would I live where before lived my sire ; 
 But, ah ! well-a-day, I was forced to retire, 
 
 Erin, ma voureen ! slan leat go bragh ! " 
 
 Compare this sorry stuff with Campbell's touch- 
 ing poem, addressed to Anthony McCann, 
 exiled for being implicated in the Irish rebellion 
 of 1 798. Campbell met him when staying in 
 Hamburg : 
 
 " There came to the beach a poor Exile of Erin, 
 
 The dew on his thin robes was heavy and chill ; 
 For his country he sighed, when at twilight repairing 
 
 To wander alone by the wind-beaten hill. 
 But the day-star attracted his eyes' sad devotion. 
 For it rose o'er his own native isle of the ocean. 
 Where once, in the fire of his youthful emotion. 
 He sang the bold anthem of Erin-go-bragh ! " 
 
 All the same, it would not be fair to say that 
 Reynolds did not write the "Exile of Erin" 
 because he could not, because as a matter of 
 fact he wrote many very tolerable though not 
 super-excellent lyrics. 
 
 At one time, after the death of Reynolds, and 
 while Campbell was still living, his friend Her- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 157 
 
 cules Ellis took up the cudgels, and did his 
 utmost to prove that the Scotch poet had 
 plagiarized, or rather stolen, the Irishman's 
 work. Ellis himself was a voluminous rhymer 
 of very little pretension and of a very quarrel- 
 some nature. Letters were written to the 
 " Times " from both sides, and in one of his 
 articles he says : " Our friend desires us to say 
 that, in the event of Mr. Campbell's contradict- 
 ing this statement, he will produce several living 
 witnesses to prove that Mr. Reynolds had shown 
 to and sung for them as his own composition the 
 identical lines several years prior to his death, 
 and prior to Mr. Campbell's publication of 
 them." In answer to this Campbell stated in 
 the " Times " of June 17th, 1830, that he com- 
 posed the song, " The Exile of Erin," at 
 Altona, and sent it off immediately from that 
 place to London, where it was published in the 
 " Morning Chronicle," and so on. It is not my 
 intention to open up this matter, as it has long 
 since been known that Campbell was the author, 
 and no one else. Sir Charles Gavan Duffy's 
 words, however, prefixed to Reynolds's " Mary 
 Le More," in the " Ballad Poetry of Ireland " 
 (1845), are worth giving: "Mr. Reynolds was 
 a Leitrim gentleman of moderate property, 
 earnest patriotism, and respectable ability. Be- 
 tween the era of Independence and the Union 
 he wrote several rough, strong, popular songs 
 
158 STORIES OF 
 
 in the national interest, one or two of which 
 still hold their ground in the collections. Latterly 
 a claim has been made on his behalf to the 
 ' Exile of Erin,' so strongly sustained by sworn 
 evidence, that nothing but the character of Camp- 
 bell could resist it. It is, however, weakened 
 by the fact that none of his acknowledged 
 writings are ih the same style, or of the same 
 ability." Which may end the matter once and 
 for all. Campbell, by the way, wrote other 
 Irish poems of considerable native feeling, 
 "O'Connor's Child," and "The Irish Harper 
 and his Dog Tray," for he always had a sur- 
 prising affection for the Irish, and a sympathy 
 with the sentiment of her songs. It should 
 not be forgotten, by the way, that Thomas 
 Campbell was the author of what is per- 
 haps the finest sea song ever written, to wit, 
 " Ye Mariners of England." The " Exile of 
 Erin " is frequently called in music and song- 
 books " Erin-go-Bragh," which is quite a diffe- 
 rent song. It was usually sung to " Savourneen 
 Deelish." 
 
 George Nugent Reynolds, by the way, wrote 
 a smart operetta called " Bantry Bay," which 
 was performed at Covent Garden, with music 
 by W. Reeve, in 1 797. Reynolds died at Stowe, 
 the seat of his relative, the Marquis of Bucking- 
 ham, in 1802. 
 
 There is an ancient Irish melody which is not 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 159 
 
 often met with now, though Robert Burns wrote 
 a stanza for the same in 1787, and two more 
 stanzas in 1 796, and called it, " O Whistle an 
 I'll come to you, my lad," which has not a very 
 Scottish ring. The air is unmistakably Irish 
 in method and construction, and Bunting gives 
 it as an example of a very early style, with the 
 defective fourth and seventh, A claim was put 
 in for one Bruce, a performer on the violin, but 
 John Maine, the author of " Logan Water " and 
 the " Siller Gun," declared that although Bruce 
 was a good performer, he had never been known 
 to compose anything. It was made startlingly 
 popular in London, and then throughout Eng- 
 land, by O'Keefe, who introduced it into his 
 musical farce, "The Poor Soldier," at Covent 
 Garden, in 1782, with other Irish melodies. 
 The original Irish was a comic song, " Go de 
 sin den te sin," "What is that to him?" In 
 the opera the melody was sung by the character 
 Kathlane, to words beginning, " Since love is 
 the plan." Indeed O'Keefe, who wrote such 
 standard lyrics as "I am a Friar of Orders 
 Grey," "The Ploughboy," "The Wolf," "The 
 Thorn," and others, was in the habit of con- 
 verting the songs of his own country to practical 
 uses in his operas and plays, of which he is said 
 to have written about two hundred. 
 
i6o STORIES OF 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CONCERNING SOME FAVOURITE SONGS. 
 
 " BLONDEL," " ANNABEL LEE," " MY PRETTY 
 JANE," " THE LASS OF RICHMOND HILL," 
 "SALLY IN OUR ALLEY," "THE ROAST BEEF 
 OF OLD ENGLAND," " HEARTS OF OAK," AND 
 " RULE BRITANNIA." 
 
 " Give," said Queen Elizabeth to Lord Bur- 
 leigh, while Spenser knelt, poems in hand, "Give 
 the youth one hundred pounds." " What," ex- 
 claimed Burleigh, " all this for a song ?" " Then 
 give him what 's reason," said the queen, thus 
 leaving him in the hands of Burleigh, who ended 
 by making the bard indeed poet-laureate, but 
 never bestowed the promised guerdon. Spenser's 
 patience wearing out, he wrote these lines to the 
 queen, which had the desired effect : 
 
 " I was promised on a time. 
 To have Reason for my Rhyme ; 
 From that time until this season 
 I've got neither Rhyme nor Reason." 
 
 But it has been the way of the world to keep 
 the song and forget the singer, yet the greatest 
 and wisest men of all ages have chosen song 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. i6i 
 
 as the best means of reaching the heart of 
 the people. For song was the earliest indication 
 of the evolution of man from barbarism into 
 civilization. Naturally, a large number of our 
 popular songs have arisen from some personal 
 experience or memory of the writer, and if so 
 many bards have written in a melancholy key, it 
 should be recollected that, as Goethe happily 
 says, " The hope of bringing back old happy 
 days burns up again in us as if it could never be 
 extinguished." For most poets " learn in suffer- 
 ing what they teach in song." Remember what 
 Heine said of himself : " Aus meinen grossen 
 Schmezen, mach' ich die Klienen Lieder." If 
 the worldly reward to our song writers is but 
 small, they enjoy such compensations in their 
 talents that none outside the charmed circle 
 could ever understand. Troubadour and min- 
 strel days are dead. 
 
 One of the earliest songs with a history is the 
 piece sung by Blondel tp his master. King 
 Richard I,, when his majesty was in prison. In 
 1 190 Richard of the Lion Heart joined the 
 Crusade with Philip Augustus of France, but, a 
 division taking place between the two princes, 
 the latter returned to Europe. Richard remained 
 in the East, where he displayed uncommon 
 vigour against Saladin, whom he defeated near 
 Caesarea, and, having made a truce, he embarked 
 in a vessel which was wrecked on the coast of 
 
 M 
 
i62 STORIES OF 
 
 Italy. He then travelled in disguise through 
 part of Germany, but being discovered by 
 Leopold, Duke of Austria, he was made prisoner 
 and sent to the Emperor Henry II., who had 
 him confined in a castle, until discovered by his 
 favourite minstrel as related below. I give the 
 original diction : — 
 
 " The Englishmen were more than a whole 
 yeare without hearing any tydings of their king, 
 or in what place he was kept prisoner. He had 
 trained up in his service a Rimer or Minstrill 
 called Blondel de Nesle, who (so saith the 
 manuscript of Old Poesies, and one Auncient 
 Manuscript French Chronicle), being so long 
 without the sight of his lord, his life seemed 
 wearisome to him, and he became confounded 
 with melancholy. Knowne it was that he came 
 backe from the Holy Land but none could tell 
 in what country he arrived. Whereupon this./ 
 Blondel resolving to make search for him in 
 many countries but he would hear some newes 
 of him. After experience of divers dayes in 
 travaille, he came to a towne (by good hap) 
 neere to the Castell where his maister King 
 Richard was kept. Of his host he demanded to 
 whom the Castell appertained and the host told 
 him it belonged to the Duke of Austria. Then 
 he enquired whether there were any prisoners 
 therein detained or no, for always he made such 
 scant questionings wheresoever he came. And 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 163 
 
 the hoste gave answer, there was only one 
 prisoner, but he knew not what he was, and yet 
 he had been detained there more than the space 
 of a yeare. When Blondel heard this he wrought 
 such meanes that he became acquainted with 
 them of the castell, as minstrills doe easily win 
 acquaintance anywhere. But see the King he 
 could not, neither understand that it was he. 
 One day he sat directly before a window of the 
 castell where King Richard was kept prisoner, 
 and began to sing a song in French which King 
 Richard and Blondel had some time composed 
 together. When King Richard heard the song, 
 he knew it was Blondel that sung it ; and when 
 Blondel paused at halfe of the song, the King 
 began the other halfe and completed it. Thus 
 Blondel won knowledge of the king his maister 
 and returning home into England made the 
 barons of the countrie acquainted where the 
 king was." 
 
 This happened about the year 1193. I ap- 
 pend a translation of the old Provengal lines 
 sung by the Troubadour Blondel and Richard 
 Coeur de Lion : 
 
 " Blondel. 
 
 " Your beauty, lady fair. 
 None view without delight, 
 
 But still so cold an air 
 No passion can excite ; 
 
 Yet this I patient see 
 
 While all are shunned like me. 
 
i64 STORIES OF 
 
 " Richard. 
 
 " No nymph my heart can wound 
 
 If favour she divide, 
 And smiles on all around, 
 
 Unwilling to decide ; 
 I'd rather hatred bear 
 Than love with others share." 
 
 There are many memorable records of the 
 bravery and gallantry of troubadours and min- 
 strels, especially the English and French, to be 
 found in our histories. The story of " Richard 
 Coeur de Lion" has been dramatized as a 
 romance, with ballads and songs. The original 
 was by M. Sedaine, and produced in operatic 
 form at the Comedie Itahenne in 1786. It was 
 adapted to the English stage first by Leonard 
 McNally (Covent Garden, October i6th, 1786), 
 the second by General Burgoyne (Drury Lane, 
 October 24th, 1786). 
 
 Chronology and order can scarcely be followed 
 with any degree of success in a popular work of 
 this kind, so I shall proceed with the different 
 histories as they come convenient to hand. The 
 supremely touching words of " Annabel Lee " 
 were wrested from the torn heart of the melan- 
 choly, morbid Edgar Allan Poe, by the early 
 death of the girl who so swiftly captured and 
 tamed, for a time, the wild spirit of the mis- 
 guided and misjudged poet. " Annabel Lee " 
 was the poetic name bestowed by Poe on his 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 165 
 
 cousin, Virginia Clemm, who became his wife in 
 1836. She was a beautiful girl, for whom he 
 possessed and always cherished the sweetest 
 and tenderest feelings. He strained every nerve 
 to provide a home for her and for her mother, 
 who continued with him and Virginia, and to 
 care for them and to assist them all through the 
 few years of their married life, and who, even 
 after the death of the idolized wife and daughter 
 — she died in 1 847 — acted the part of a mother 
 in the noblest sense of the word to the bereaved 
 poet. If Virginia had lived, there is no doubt 
 that Poe would have been a far different man ; 
 as it was, the greater portion of his life was 
 a mistake, intensified by a highly nervous tem- 
 perament and weak impulses ; but his name will 
 never die, for " Annabel Lee," one of the least of 
 his poems, is alone sufficient to secure the ap- 
 plause of all posterity. The poem is too well- 
 known to require quoting here ; one verse, how- 
 ever, will not be out of place : 
 
 " But our love it was stronger by far than the love 
 
 Of those who were older than we — 
 
 Of many far wiser than we — 
 And neither the Angels in Heaven above, 
 
 Nor the demons down under the sea, 
 Can ever dissever my soul from the soul 
 
 Of the beautiful Annabel Lee." 
 
 Many composers have set the words to music, 
 I have seen the statement somewhere that 
 
i66 STORIES OF 
 
 " My Pretty Jane " has proved the most profit- 
 able song ever issued ; and yet it was almost by 
 accident that it was given to the world at all. 
 Edward Fitz-Ball, the author of the lyric, and 
 of something like a hundred plays, when a 
 youth, lived at Burwell, an old-fashioned village 
 about three miles from Newmarket, on the road 
 to Cambridge. It was his custom to pass along 
 one of the numerous lanes round the village, in 
 the early morning, for the purpose of looking 
 after his father's property. In his route there 
 happened to be in this particular lane the house 
 of a farmer, who had a pretty daughter called 
 Jane. And often, as young Fitz-Ball wended 
 his merry way, this girl would peep round the 
 corner of the blind of her window, showing only 
 her eyes, forehead, nose, hair and ears, and with 
 charming simplicity nod to him as he passed 
 along. One day in the bright summer time, 
 when " the bloom is on the rye," the future 
 librettist sat down on a convenient stile, and 
 wrote in less than ten minutes the words of the 
 excellent song, " My Pretty Jane." When he 
 left his native place for London, and obtained an 
 engagement to write songs for the management 
 of Vauxhall Gardens, he discovered "My Pretty 
 Jane " amongst his other almost forgotten MSS., 
 and gave it to Sir Henry Bishop to set. Sir 
 Henry Bishop, however, was not always satis- 
 fied with his own compositions, and discarded 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 167 
 
 the song after he had composed the music. 
 When applied to for a new lyric, Fitz-Ball said, 
 "If 'Pretty Jane' won't do, I shall write no 
 other." So they proceeded to Sir Henry 
 Bishop's house, but found that gentleman out. 
 Poking about his room Fitz-Ball lighted upon 
 the song, which had been thrown in the waste- 
 paper basket. The manager accepted it on the 
 author's responsibility, and that night it was 
 sung by George Robinson, the great tenor of 
 the day, and at once created an enormous 
 success. Then it was sung by Alexander Lee, 
 and now for over thirty years it has, of course, 
 been associated with the name of Sims Reeves. 
 The original " Pretty Jane " is believed to have 
 died of consumption ; her portrait, painted by 
 Fitz-Ball, is now in the possession of the drama- 
 tist's daughter. 
 
 In the original version of " My Pretty Jane," 
 as printed in " Thirty-five Years of a Dramatic 
 Author's Life," and as it is sung to this day, the 
 second verse begins : 
 
 " Oh, name the day, the wedding day. 
 
 And I will buy the ring ; 
 The Bridal Maids in gariands gay, 
 
 And village bells shall ring." 
 
 The false rhyme in the second and fourth 
 lines being pointed out to him by George 
 Linley, Fitz-Ball altered the same when he re- 
 published the lyric in his work, " The House 
 
i68 STORIES OF 
 
 to Let: With other Poems," in 1857, as 
 under : 
 
 " But name the day, the wedding day, 
 
 And I will buy the ring ; 
 The bells shall peal love's roundelay. 
 
 And village maids shall sing." 
 
 Edward Fitz-Ball was a curious man, but a most 
 indefatigable worker. He died October 27th, 
 1873, aged eighty-years. 
 
 Besides " My Pretty Jane," which was origin- 
 ally published as "When the Bloom is on 
 the Rye," with a portrait of George Robinson 
 on the cover, Fitz-Ball wrote at least three 
 notable songs, " When I beheld the Anchor 
 Weighed," " There is a Flower that Bloometh," 
 and " Let me like a Soldier Fall." Generally 
 speaking, Fitz- Ball's words were very mediocre, 
 though in his day it was actually said of one of 
 his efforts, " Bhanavar," that it was equal to, if 
 it did "not surpass Tennyson's and Longfellow's 
 best work, and was second only to ' Childe 
 Harold.' " 
 
 Numberless tales have been recited respecting 
 the origin of that delightful old song, " The Lass 
 of Richmond Hill." One is to the effect that 
 it was written by a young lady rejoicing in the 
 name of Rosa Smith, who resided at Richmond, 
 Surrey, and conceitedly termed herself the 
 " Lass of Richmond Hill," but her claims are 
 without grounds, notwithstanding that she wrote 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 169 
 
 verses. Another story goes that it was written 
 by Mr. Upton, who was the author of many 
 Vauxhall pieces and many lyrics, amongst the 
 latter being, " Remember, Love, Remember," and 
 " The Garden Gate ; " but there is no evidence 
 in support of this statement whatever. The 
 fact is, as stated by Sir Jonah Harrington, in 
 his " Personal Sketches," that the song was 
 written by Leonard McNally, a young Irish 
 barrister. The Richmond referred to is un- 
 questionably the place of that name in York- 
 shire, and the lass was Miss I'Anson or Janson 
 (spelt both ways), and the " Hill " was the house 
 her family occupied. McNally's grand-daughter 
 and Janson's descendants all testify to his 
 authorship. Miss I'Anson was the daughter of 
 William I'Anson, of Hill House, Richmond, 
 Yorks, and McNally wooed and married her on 
 January i6th, 1787, at St. George's, Hanover 
 Square. Mr. I'Anson was a solicitor, and there- 
 fore likely to meet with Leonard McNally, per- 
 haps through his son, who was a barrister. 
 McNally's daughter afterwards married a 
 gentleman of the name of Simpson, at Rich- 
 mond. Mr. I'Anson practised as a solicitor 
 in Bedford Row, London. There can be no 
 possible doubt about McNally's marriage with 
 Miss I'Anson, nor of his being the author 
 of the song, the music of which was written by 
 James Hook, the father of Theodore Hook, 
 
I70 STORIES OF 
 
 though for a long time it was attributed to the 
 Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.). It 
 was also said to have been a great favourite with 
 George III. The "Lass of Richmond Hill" 
 was written and composed some time before it 
 was publicly given, which occurred in 1789, 
 when Incledon sang it at Vauxhall Gardens. 
 The words appear to have been first printed in 
 the "Morning Herald," of August ist, 1789, 
 but it was circulated privately by McNally 
 among his friends long prior to this. 
 
 " A piece of negative evidence," says the 
 editor of the " Poets of Ireland " " not hitherto 
 mentioned in favour of McNally's authorship is, 
 that in ' Myrtle and Vine,' a collection of songs 
 edited by C. H. Wilson (where there are about 
 a dozen songs by Upton, the reputed author of 
 the ' Lass of Richmond Hill,' whom Wilson 
 probably knew, for he seems to have got the 
 songs from the author direct), the lyric about 
 which there has been so much dispute is given 
 anonymously. If Upton had written it his name 
 would presumably have been put to it as to the 
 others by him." It is a curious fact that the 
 song does not appear in Upton's collected poems. 
 It seems odd, truly, that I 'Anson should have 
 lived so far away as Richmond, in Yorkshire, 
 but over and over again it has been proved that 
 such was the case, as he had a town house as 
 well. There is a public house called " The Lass 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 171 
 
 of Richmond Hill," on Richmond Hill, in Surrey, 
 due to a natural misconception by the original 
 owner, and this has misled many people. 
 McNally, who wrote a number of songs and 
 operettas for Covent Garden and other theatres, 
 was born in Dublin, in 1752, and died in the 
 same city, February 13th, 1820. 
 
 That delightful old ballad, " Sally in our Alley," 
 was written and composed, as everybody knows, 
 by that erratic genius Henry Carey, whose grand- 
 daughter was the mother of the great Edmund 
 Kean. Carey was a most prolific verse-maker 
 and composer, and is said to have been a natural 
 son of George Savile, Marquis of Halifax. He 
 was very popular both as dramatist and musician. 
 Indeed, he was a most extraordinary worker, and 
 was constantly producing new operas and oper- 
 ettas from his fertile brain. Besides a number 
 of plays, too numerous to be given, he wrote 
 that never-to-be-forgotten burlesque, "Chronon- 
 hotonthologos," which he happily described as 
 " The most Tragical Tragedy that ever was 
 Tragedized by any Company of Tragedians." 
 It was produced with enormous success at the 
 Haymarket Theatre, February 22nd, 1734. In 
 1713, Carey published a volume of his poems, 
 and later his Songs, Cantatas, Catches, etc. 
 But of all his compositions " Sally in our Alley," 
 will be ever the most popular (many of his other 
 pieces would well bear resuscitating), and will 
 
172 STORIES OF 
 
 transmit his fame to all posterity. It is "one of 
 the most striking and original melodies ever 
 written." Carey's account of its origin is as 
 follows : "A shoemaker's apprentice making a 
 holiday with his sweetheart, treated her with a 
 sight of Bedlam, the puppet shows, the flying 
 chairs, and all the elegancies of Moorfields, 
 whence, proceeding to the Farthing Pie House, 
 he gave her a collation of buns, cheese cakes, 
 gammon of bacon, stuffed beer and bottled ale, 
 through all which scenes the author dodged 
 them." Charmed with the simplicity of their 
 courtship he drew from what he had witnessed 
 this little sketch of nature. He adds, with 
 pardonable pride, that Addison had more than 
 once expressed his approbation of his produc- 
 tion. "Strange to say, he was much ridiculed 
 by some of his acquaintance for the performance, 
 which nevertheless made its way into the polite 
 world." It was utilized in the " Beggar's Opera" 
 by Gay in 1728, and sung by Macheath in the 
 " Medley," in scene 2, act iii. It was also intro- 
 duced into several other plays and parodied and 
 imitated right and left. Carey's music was 
 superseded in 1760 by an older tune (about 
 1620), called, "What though I am a Country 
 Lasse," which it curiously resembled, and to 
 which it is now always given. 
 
 Carey, who was created Mus. Doc, died 
 October 4th, 1 743, though how old he was it is 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 173 
 
 not easy to say. Some say he was eighty, others 
 that he was under fifty. His posthumous son, 
 George Savile Carey, inherited much of his 
 father's talents and also his characteristics. He 
 was an actor and an entertainer, and appeared 
 to succeed better in the latter line. He always 
 claimed that his father wrote both words and 
 music of " God Save the King." Chappell sup- 
 ports this, and says it was written for a birthday 
 of George H. Dr. Finck is of the same opinion. 
 It was G. S. Carey's daughter Anne who was 
 the mother of Edmund Kean, the father was 
 a Jew. 
 
 It is a wonderful coincidence, that to the year 
 1740 we are indebted for the first appearance 
 in public of three of our most popular and most 
 national songs, " God Save the King," " The 
 Roast Beef of Old England," by Henry Fielding, 
 and "Rule Britannia," by James Thomson ; while 
 just nineteen years later appeared the magni- 
 ficent patriotic song, " Hearts of Oak," written 
 by David ^Garrick, who had a pretty wit for 
 turning a ballad, and composed by Dr. Boyce. 
 " Hearts of Oak " was first sung by Mr. Champ- 
 nes in public at Drury Lane Theatre, De- 
 cember, 1759, in a Christmas entertainment, 
 entitled, " Harlequin's Invasion," prepared by 
 Roscius himself. It was written under the in- 
 spiration of the year (1759) of Pitt's greatest 
 triumphs, the year of Minden and Quiberon and 
 
174 STORIES OF 
 
 Quebec, the " wonderful year " of the lyric, a 
 year in which the British arms were covered 
 with glory by the Marquis of Granby, Lord 
 Hawke, and General Wolfe : 
 
 " Come cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer, 
 To add something more to this wonderful year ; 
 To honour we call you, not press you like slaves. 
 For who are so free as the sons of tjie waves ? " 
 
 It is a truly grand patriotic production. 
 
 " Roast Beef" was adapted to a tune composed 
 by Richard Leveridge, about 1728, who also 
 wrote part of the words at the time. The song, 
 with Fielding's improved lyric, was published in 
 Walsh's " British Miscellany," about 1740. The 
 authorship of " Rule Britannia " has been dis- 
 puted, some authorities at one time inclining to 
 the belief that as David Mallet was concerned 
 with Thomson in writing the masque " Alfred," 
 in which the Ode was originally sung, he was the 
 writer. I will first give a quotation from W. 
 Chappell's " National English Airs :" " ' Rule 
 Britannia,' from the masque of ' Alfred,' com- 
 posed by Dr. Arne. This masque was written 
 by James Thomson and David Mallet, and was 
 performed in the gardens of Cliefden House in 
 commemoration of the accession of George I., 
 and in honour of the birthday of the Princess of 
 Brunswick on August ist, 1740. It was after- 
 wards altered into an opera (by the same com- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 175 
 
 poser) and performed at Covent Garden in 1745 ; 
 and, after the death of Thomson, which occurred 
 in 1748, it was again entirely remodelled by 
 Mallet, scarcely any part of the first being re- 
 tained, and performed at Drury Lane, in 175 1. 
 The words of ' Rule Britannia ' were, however, 
 written by Thomson." Itwas alreadya celebrated 
 song in 1745, for during the Jacobite Rebellion 
 in the north, of that year, the Jacobites, with 
 consummate impudence, took the lay, and altered 
 the words to suit their own cause, and termed it 
 their " National Song ! " Handel makes use of 
 the air in his " Occasional Oratorios," with slight 
 variations, to words beginning, 
 
 "War shall cease, 
 Welcome peace ! " 
 
 in 1746. 
 
 When Mallet altered the opera, or masque of 
 " Alfred," it proved a fearful fiasco, and it was not 
 till Thomson was dead that he claimed the ode 
 as his own composition — a composition which 
 Southey (including the music, of course,) said 
 would be " the political hymn of this country as 
 long as she maintains her political power." Yet 
 the song was actually published in Edinburgh 
 in the second edition of a well-known song book 
 during Mallet's life-time with Thomson's initials, 
 and apparently Mallet made no stir. 
 
 David Mallet earned much notoriety as a 
 
176 . STORIES OF 
 
 purloiner of other people's wares, and his im- 
 posture with regard to "Margaret's Ghost" is 
 ancient history to students of old ballads and 
 Percy's " Reliques." I will give an extract 
 from a contribution by the talented author of 
 " Popular Music of the Olden Time " to 
 " Notes and Queries," November 20th, 1886. 
 " I will now refer to 'Alfred.' It was performed 
 a second time at Cliefden House, with great 
 success, and soon ' Rule Britannia ' became a 
 national song. In 1745 'Alfred' was altered 
 into an opera by Dr. Arne, the principal vocal 
 parts being taken by Mrs. Arne, Miss Young, 
 Mrs. Sybilla, and Mr. Lowe, at Covent Garden 
 (this was for the benefit of Mrs. Arne), and 
 turned into a musical drama at Drury Lane, both 
 in the same year. In 1748 James Thomson, 
 the poet, died from fever, and that suggested to 
 Mallet the idea of robbing his friend and fellow- 
 countryman (they were both Scottish) of his 
 share of the credit he had gained by the triple 
 production of ' Alfred,' and especially by the 
 ode ; but Dr. Arne, who outlived Thomson and 
 Mallet till 1788, stood always in Mallet's way. 
 It was his music to 'Rule Britannia' that had 
 been one great cause of the success, and every- 
 body knew that the ode had been written by 
 Thomson, who gave the words to Arne to set to 
 music, and many thousands of copies had been 
 printed within the ten or eleven years that had 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 177 
 
 elapsed. In the meantime Mallet had received 
 a commission to write the life of the great Duke 
 of Marlborough, for which he had received 
 ;^i,ooo from the Duchess, and an annuity from 
 the Duke to expedite his labours. How he 
 carried out his contract is thus told in the ' Bio- 
 graphia Dramatica,' 18 12, and elsewhere. 
 
 " No. 143, ' Alfred,' a masque by David 
 Mallet, acted at Drury Lane, 8vo., 1751. This 
 is the play of Messrs. Thomson and Mallet, 
 entirely new modelled by the latter ; no part of 
 the first being retained except a few lines. 
 Though excellently performed, it was not very 
 successful. The prologue was written by the 
 Earl of Cork. It has been said that Mallet 
 procured ' Alfred ' to be performed at Drury 
 Lane by insinuating to Garrick that in his 
 intended life of the Duke of Marlborough he 
 should, by an ingenious device, find a niche for 
 the Roscius of the age. ' My dear friend,' said 
 Garrick, ' have you left off writing for the 
 stage ? ' The hint was taken, and ' Alfred ' 
 was produced. Garrick himself afterwards tried 
 to turn Mallet's failure as a masque into a 
 tragedy, in 1773, to recover some of the money 
 he had lost upon it, but he was not more suc- 
 cessful than before. Mallet's ' Life of the Duke 
 of Marlborough ' was paid for but never written. 
 Mallet employed Lord Bolingbroke to write 
 three additional verses for ' Rule Britannia ' to 
 
 N 
 
178 STORIES OF 
 
 replace three of Thomson's (which he would 
 never have done if they had been his own) but 
 the public would not have the new verses, and 
 insisted upon Thomson's which they knew." 
 To add further proof to the fact that Thomson 
 was the genuine author of " Rule Britannia," I 
 may state that in all the public advertisements 
 when Arne's opera was played, Thompson's name 
 alone was announced as the author of the ode. 
 The rest of David Mallet's shameful life will be 
 found in any English biography. He enjoyed 
 a considerable pension, which had been bestowed 
 on him for his success in turning the public ven- 
 geance upon Admiral Byng by means of a letter of 
 accusation under the character of " A Plain 
 Man." That pension was Mallet's blood money. 
 He had also a legacy of the copyright of Lord 
 Bolingbroke's " Works," Bolingbroke having 
 employed him to " blast the memory of Pope," 
 " an office which he executed with all the 
 malignity that his employer could wish," Mallet 
 had been a thorough parasite to Pope before, 
 and Bolingbroke was the wretched hypocrite 
 whom Pope, by leaving all his MSS. to him, 
 had made the guardian of his character. No 
 Scotchman would attend Mallet's funeral ; but a 
 monument was raised by public subscription to 
 the memory of James Thomson in Westminster 
 Abbey. Mallet's real name was Malloch, and 
 he died in 1765, aged sixty. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 179 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HENRY RUSSELL'S SONGS AND OTHERS. 
 
 " WOODMAN SPARE THAT TREE," " CHEER, BOYS, 
 CHEER," " A GOOD TIME COMING," " THE OLD 
 ARM CHAIR," " A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE," 
 "COME WHERE MY LOVE LIES DREAMING," 
 " REST, TROUBLED HEART," " THE GIPSY COUNT- 
 ESS," AND " THE BEATING OF MY OWN HEART." 
 
 In October, 1895, Henry Russell, who is eighty- 
 six years old, published his memoirs under the 
 taking title of " Cheer, Boys, Cheer," from which 
 we gather the following particulars. 
 
 Evincing early a taste for music, and reveal- 
 ing as a child the possession of an excellent 
 voice, Mr. Russell was taken, when eight years 
 old, to Elliston, who engaged him for the 
 " children's operas " he was giving at the Surrey 
 Theatre. From the elder Kean, who heard 
 him sing at Richmond, he received the assur- 
 ance that " You will never become a great actor 
 or a great singer unless you learn to speak 
 every word you utter distinctly and clearly. 
 Unintelligibility and slovenliness in speech are 
 
i8o STORIES OF 
 
 the curse of the profession." By-and-by Mr, 
 Russell went to Italy to study, and was so 
 lucky as to obtain some gratis lessons in counter- 
 point, harmony, and orchestration from Bellini, 
 the composer. He afterwards found employ- 
 ment as a pianist and chorus master, and 
 travelled a good deal in company with Balfe, 
 who was then singing in opera. Returning to 
 England he was for a time chorus-master at 
 Her Majesty's under Lumley ; then, his pro- 
 spects appearing to be vague, if not cloudy, he 
 decided to seek his fortunes in the New World. 
 He went to Canada, opening at Toronto, where 
 his first concert resulted in a pecuniary loss. 
 At Rochester, N.Y., he was offered, and ac- 
 cepted, an organistship at ;^6o a year. At this 
 place he happened to hear the famous Henry 
 Clay deliver an oration, and the incident proved 
 to be the turning-point of his life. 
 
 "If Henry Clay could create such an impres- 
 sion by his distinct enunciation of every word, 
 should it not be possible for me to make music 
 the vehicle for grand thoughts and noble senti- 
 ments, to speak to the world through the power 
 of poetry and song ? The idea gained upon me. 
 I became more and more fascinated by the 
 thought, not only of trying my fortune as a 
 vocalist, but also of composing my own songs, 
 With me at that time to devise was to act. I 
 commenced there and then to set to music 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. i8i 
 
 Mackay's beautiful poem, ' Wind of the winter 
 night, whence comest thou ? ' A few days later 
 I had my musical rendering of Mackay's fine 
 verses all ready, and I took the first opportunity 
 of playing it over to some friends. They 
 applauded it, and their praise was emphatic 
 enough to be sincere. This success decided 
 me. From that day song composing became 
 the serious object of my life. " Oh, Woodman, 
 spare that tree,' ' A Life on the Ocean Wave,' 
 ' The Gambler's Wife,' and ' The Maniac,' were 
 the songs which leapt quickest into popu- 
 larity." 
 
 Though not often sung nowadays, most 
 people are familiar with " Woodman, Spare that 
 Tree." How it came to be written is explained 
 in the following letter from the author of the lyric. 
 General G. P. Morris, to his friend, the veteran 
 singer, Henry Russell. 
 
 " Riding out of town a few days since in 
 company with a friend who was once the ex- 
 pectant heir of the largest estate in America, 
 but over whose worldly prospects a blight had 
 recently come, he invited me to turn down a 
 little romantic woodland pass not far from 
 Bloomingdale. ' Your object ? ' inquired I. 
 ' Merely to look once more at an old tree 
 planted by my grandfather, near a cottage that 
 was once my father's.' ' The place is yours, 
 then,' said I. ' No, my poor mother sold it ; ' 
 
i82 STORIES OF 
 
 and I observed a slight quiver of the lip at the 
 recollection. ' Dear mother,' resumed my com- 
 panion, ' we passed many happy, happy days in 
 that old cottage ; but it is nothing to me now — 
 father, mother, sisters, cottage, all are gone ! ' and 
 a paleness overspread his countenance, and a 
 moisture came to his eyes as he spoke. After a 
 moment's pause, he added, ' Don't think me 
 foolish. I don't know how it is, but I never 
 ride out but I turn down this lane to look at the 
 old tree. I have a thousand recollections about 
 it, and I always greet it as a familiar and well- 
 remembered friend. In the bygone summer- 
 time it was a friend indeed. Under its branches 
 I often listened to the good counsel of my 
 parents, and had such gambols with my sisters ! 
 Its leaves are all off now, so you won't see it to 
 advantage, for it is a glorious old fellow in 
 summer; but I like it just as well in winten 
 There it is ! ' 
 
 " Near the tree stood an old man with his 
 coat off, sharpening an axe. He was the occu- 
 pant of the cottage. 'What are you going 
 to do?' asked my friend. 'What is that to 
 you ? ' was the reply. ' You are not going to cut 
 that tree down, surely ? ' 'Yes, but I am, though,' 
 said the woodman. ' What for ? ' inquired my 
 companion, almost choked with emotion. 
 'What for!— I like that! Well, I'll tell you 
 what for. This tree makes my dwelling un- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 183 
 
 healthy ; it stands too near the house ; prevents 
 the moisture from exhaling and renders us 
 liable to fever and ague ! ' ' Have you any 
 other reason for cutting it down ? ' ' Yes ; I am 
 getting old ; the woods are a great way off, and 
 this tree is of value to me to burn.' He was 
 soon convinced that the story about the fever and 
 the ague was a mere fiction, and then asked what 
 the tree was worth as firewood. 'Why, when 
 it is down, about ten dollars.' ' Suppose I should 
 give you that sum, would you let it standr?' 
 'Yes.' 'You are sure of that ?' 'Positive.' 
 ' Then give me a bond to that effect.' I drew it 
 up ; it was witnessed by his daughter; the money 
 was paid, and we left the place with an assur- 
 ance from the young girl, who looked as smiling 
 and beautiful as Hebe, that the tree should 
 ,^tand as long as she lived. We returned to the 
 road and pursued our ride. The circumstances 
 made a strong impression on my mind, and fur- 
 nished me with materials for the song I sent you." 
 
 I give the above as I took it from an 
 American paper. The truth is that Henry 
 Russell was the friend, and Morris himself the 
 man who had lived in the old cottage and had 
 played under the tree as a child. 
 
 General G. P. Morris, who was the writer of 
 many other lyrics, died in America in 1865. 
 Speaking of Henry Russell I am reminded that 
 he, like most singers who have risen to emi- 
 
i84 STORIES OF 
 
 nence, had his early struggles. That veteran 
 song writer who composed the music to and 
 sang the once universally popular song " Cheer, 
 Boys, Cheer," only received three pounds for 
 the copyright. He asked the publisher once 
 how the song sold, and was told that nineteen 
 presses could not keep pace with the demand. 
 Afterwards, the publishers sent him ^lo to ease 
 their consciences. How easy it must be to 
 relieve some publishers' consciences ! I was 
 told some few years ago of a certain firm of 
 publishers who secured the music and words of 
 a song that was sung everywhere at the time, 
 for which they gave in all .1^30, but which 
 brought them in sufficient to buy them an 
 establishment in the West End (they were in a 
 very small way of business previously) and set 
 them up as leading publishers. The composer 
 is still writing songs. It seems the fate of 
 some writers to make everybody's fortune but 
 their own. 
 
 Dr. Charles Mackay, who died on Christmas 
 Eve, 1889, supplied Henry Russell with a vast 
 number of lyrics, the majority of which will 
 never die. " Cheer, Boys, Cheer," " There's a 
 Good Time Coming," " Baby Mine," and 
 " England, Dear England," may be mentioned 
 is some of his happiest efforts. Sir Henry 
 Bishop set no less than a hundred and twenty 
 songs from his pen, many of which were written 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 185 
 
 specially for the " Illustrated London News," 
 to which the doctor contributed all kinds of 
 literary matter. For Dr. Mackay, besides being 
 a lyric writer, was a literary man of consider- 
 able knowledge and ability, and acted at one 
 time as sub-editor of the " Morning Chronicle." 
 Indeed he secured the post when Thackeray 
 was one of the applicants for the berth. Dr. 
 Mackay also wrote for the "Daily News" 
 under Charles Dickens and subsequent editors, 
 and it was in the columns of that paper that 
 " There's a Good Time Coming, Boys," was first 
 printed. It was while Henry Russell was sing- 
 ing this song with its string of wonderful things to 
 happen in the good time coming, that an excited 
 listener asked Russell if it would be convenient 
 for him to fix the date of that " good time." 
 
 Henry Russell thus relates the origin of " A 
 Life on the Ocean Wave : " " One bright spring 
 morning as Epps Sargent strolled on the Battery, 
 New York, watching the ships in the harbour, 
 the scene before him gave him an idea which he 
 proceeded to develop. His walk and song were 
 completed together, and Sargent went to the 
 office of our mutual friend, George P. Morris, 
 and wrote out the words. 
 
 " ' This is not a song at all,' said Morris after 
 reading it. 'It will not do for music' 
 
 " A few days after I met Sargent and asked 
 him for the song. He told me very dolefully 
 
i86 STORIES OF 
 
 what Morris had said, but I insisted on seeing the 
 manuscript. We then went into a Broadway 
 music store kept by a good friend, and were 
 invited into a back room where there was a 
 capital piano. I hummed an air or two, ran 
 my fingers over the keys, then stopped feeling 
 baffled ; suddenly an idea struck me, I began 
 to hum a melody that seemed floating through 
 my brain, and presently touching the keys with 
 a confident exclamation, that bright little air 
 rang out which is now so well known as ' A 
 Life on the Ocean Wave.' " Speaking on 
 another subject the veteran author of " Cheer, 
 Boys, Cheer" says: "One summer afternoon 
 when I was playing at the Presbyterian church, 
 Rochester, I made a discovery. It was that 
 sacred music played quickly makes the best kind 
 of secular music. It was quite by accident that 
 playing the 'Old Hundredth' veryfast I produced 
 the air of ' Get out o' de way Old Dan Tucker ; ' 
 this was the first of a good many minstrel songs 
 that I composed or rather adapted from hymn 
 tunes played quickly. Among them are ' Lucy 
 Long,' 'Oberde Mountain,' and ' Buffalo Gals.'" 
 Leaving Henry Russell, we turn to one of 
 England's great national songs, " The Death 
 of Nelson," the music of which was composed 
 by Braham. This was first sung in an opera 
 called " The Americans," produced in 1806. 
 The words of the opera and the lyrics were by 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 187 
 
 Samuel James Arnold, the son of Dr. Arnold, 
 composer of the " Maid of the Mill " and 
 over forty other operas, who died in 1802. 
 S. J. Arnold's first venture was a stage version 
 of "Auld Robin Gray" in 1794, when only a 
 little over twenty years of age. This was 
 followed, in 1795, by "Who Pays the Reckon- 
 ing," "The Shipwreck" in 1796, "The Irish 
 Legacy" in 1797, " The Veteran Tar" in 1801, 
 "Foul Deeds Will Rise" in 1804, and "The 
 Americans" in 1806, after the death of the 
 great Nelson, which, as every schoolboy knows, 
 occurred in October, 1805, on board the 
 " Victory." S. J. Arnold, who also wrote " Speed 
 on my Bark," "The Parent Oak," and other 
 lyrics, seerned to be very fond of sea subjects. 
 He also appears to have been a very clever 
 writer and portrait painter as well. He furnished 
 surprising specimens (of portrait painting) at 
 the Royal Academy ; he afterwards undertook 
 a panorama of the battle of Alexandria, exhibited 
 in 1 80 1. "He seems, indeed, to possess an 
 universal genius," says a writer in 1807. He 
 married Miss Pye, daughter of H. J. Pye the 
 unpoetic poet laureate. 
 
 It would not be difficult to cite a number of 
 instances of a song that has been sold for "a. 
 mere song," as the phrase is, that has afterwards 
 brought in thousands of pounds. For example, 
 in 1859 Mr. Stephen C. Foster was in a piano 
 
i88 STORIES OF 
 
 store-room in Broadway, New York, where, in 
 the presence of a few gentlemen, he played his 
 charming song, " Come where my love lies 
 dreaming." At the conclusion he sold the song 
 for five dollars — or say a guinea. Mr. J. C. 
 Cussans, who told this story at a city banquet 
 in 1892, was present when the song was sold. 
 Its subsequent value was enormous. As an 
 instance of the price obtained for favourite songs 
 even after they may reasonably be supposed to 
 have had their day, I may mention that the 
 copyright of " Kathleen Mavoureen " not long 
 ago was sold for ;^i09, and " In the Gloaming" 
 for ^286. But there are some songs that are 
 always in demand, and especially is this the 
 case with those old time ballads which cele- 
 brated singers of the day very wisely include in 
 their repertoire. 
 
 The prolific Mrs. Crawford, who wrote so 
 many popular lyrics in the forties and fifties, 
 and gave us the words of the never-to-be-for- 
 gotten " Kathleen Mavourneen," and the charm- 
 ing " Ellen Astore ; or The Flower of Kil- 
 kenny," was also the authoress of both " Rest, 
 Troubled Heart," and " The Gipsy Countess," 
 once so extraordinarily popular, especially the 
 duet, " The Gipsy Countess," which all senti- 
 mental young couples used to sing two or three 
 decades ago. " Rest, Troubled Heart," or, as 
 it was frequently called, the " Song of Festal," 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 189 
 
 owed its origin to the fact that Colonel Festal, 
 at one time an officer in the Russian army, who 
 was doomed to death for turning traitor to his 
 country, wrote the beautiful melody to which 
 the words were subsequently written, on the 
 wall of his dungeon the night before his execu- 
 tion. This Colonel P. I. Festal was one of the 
 leading Dekabrists, so called from the historical 
 episodes of 14th (26th) December, 1825, when 
 Festal and a number of confederates conspired 
 against Nicholas I. An insurrection of the 
 troops followed in Moscow, but this was soon 
 suppressed. Festal, with five others, paid the 
 last penalty of the law at daybreak on 13th 
 (25th) July, 1826, having been sentenced to 
 death for high treason. One of the five executed 
 was Ryleyeff, a Russian minor poet of some 
 ability, whose poems are still extant and in 
 print. Soon after the accession of Alexander II., 
 in 1855, the surviving Dekabrists, who had been 
 cast in prison, were pardoned and liberated. 
 
 Mrs. Crawford prefaces the song with a short 
 piece of ordinary verse. The lyric itself I give. 
 It must be confessed that it does not possess that 
 literary merit which usually marks Mrs. Craw- 
 ford's performances, but we must not forget that 
 she lived in an age of much artificiality : 
 
 " Rest thou troubled heart ! within this captive bosom 
 
 swelling. 
 Rest thou troubled heart ! no more of love or glory telling : 
 
I90 STORIES OF 
 
 Now no more by wrongs or tyrant power oppressed. 
 From a thousand woes, Ah ! sweet repose, 
 Soon will seal these eyes in everlasting rest. 
 Soon the martyr's grave will close. 
 
 " Death approaches near ! the herald of eternal glory. 
 Friends and comrades dear ! Ye long shall mourn my hap- 
 less story. 
 Oh ! 'tis hard to part from all life's loving ties — 
 Hark, the midnight bell ! 'tis the soldier's knell : 
 Soon to-morrow's sun, the last for me, shall rise ; 
 Glory, home, and friends, farewell." . . . 
 
 At the end of each verse the first two lines 
 are repeated with the plaintive music, which was 
 arranged by E. Flood. 
 
 By the way, the melody of " Pestal " was, in 
 a measure, no doubt unconsciously, revived re- 
 cently in that ridiculous rubbish called "Ta-ra- 
 ra boom-de-ay." 
 
 " The Gipsy Countess," with music by the 
 once celebrated Stephen Glover, was founded 
 on an incident not without a certain amount of 
 romance. The kidnapping of children was a 
 regular profession amongst the gipsies at one 
 time, and many a parent lived to mourn the loss 
 of a favourite child stolen away by these nomads 
 and alien wanderers. The story upon which the 
 " Gipsy Countess " was founded and utilized in 
 Mrs. Crawford's lyric is as follows : A tradition 
 was current in the north of England that a young 
 earl of one of the Border counties, in the course 
 of his rambles, met with a beautiful gipsy girl 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 191 
 
 whose charms made a deep and lasting im- 
 pression on his heart. Upon entering into con- 
 versation with her, he found to his surprise that 
 the artless grace of her manners, and the intelli- 
 gence and purity of her mind, were quite equal 
 to the beauty of her face and person ; and, in 
 spite of the great disparity of rank, he soon 
 became deeply enamoured of her. It may be 
 supposed that the struggle between affection 
 and pride was long and severe before the earl 
 could make up his mind to ally himself to the 
 humble object of his disinterested regard ; but 
 love finally triumphed. To increase, however, 
 the romance of the story, it is added that the 
 gipsy girl had been stolen in her infancy by one 
 of the roving band with which she thus became 
 associated, and that she was afterwards dis- 
 covered to be the daughter of a wealthy baronet. 
 The pride of her lover was thus spared the 
 intended sacrifice in raising the beautiful gipsy 
 to the rank of a countess. 
 
 Another, one time very popular, composition 
 which was sung by all the prominent singers of 
 the musical world, is " The Beating of my own 
 Heart," written by the late Lord Houghton 
 when he was merely Mr. R. Monckton Milnes. 
 At the time of writing this lyric, Monckton 
 Milnes, who had a well-deserved reputation 
 as a maker of light, tuneful verse, was the guest 
 of some friends in the country, and while a party 
 
192 STORIES OF 
 
 of them went out riding and driving, the clever 
 young poet elected to wander about by himself 
 in the beautiful solitude of a summer day. The 
 silence was intense, and only broken, as he said, 
 by the beating of his own heart and the gentle 
 murmur of a running stream near which he 
 strayed. The phrase " the beating of my own 
 heart" kept singing in his ear, and there and 
 then he wrote the simple song which was 
 destined, by the aid of Sir (then Professor) 
 George A. Macfarren's melody, to become so 
 famous. On his return to the house he told his 
 hostess what he had written, and at her request 
 he read his poem to the assembled guests at the 
 dinner table. Strange to say, nobody thought 
 anything of the piece, and they mostly criticised 
 it rather severely. However, Monckton Milnes 
 had faith in his own effort, and though his friends 
 declared that the lines " The beating of my own 
 heart was all the sound I heard " were nonsense, 
 as no man could hear his own heart beat (which, 
 of course, he can, under certain conditions), he 
 was able to prove his own contention right, for 
 some months afterwards it was the favourite 
 song of the day. It was one of the greatest 
 triumphs of the celebrated Clara Novello, who 
 became the Countess Gigliucci in 1843, ^"^^ 
 retired from the stage in 1 860. She died in the 
 seventy-ninth year of her age, in the summer of 
 1896. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 193 
 
 CHAPTER XIV; 
 
 ABOUT SOME MORE FAVOURITE SONGS. 
 
 "THE postman's KNOCK," " ROUSSEAu's DREAM," 
 "THE OLD HUNDREDTH," " THE SAVOY," "THERE 
 IS A HAPPY LAND," " LITTLE DROPS OF WATER," 
 "THE VICAR OF BRAY," " LILLIBURLERO," "YE 
 MARINERS OF ENGLAND," " YE GENTLEMEN OF 
 ENGLAND," "EXCELSIOR," "THE OLD CLOCK ON 
 THE STAIRS," AND " THE VILLAGE BLACK- 
 SMITH." 
 
 A SIMPLE, homely song that is rarely heard now- 
 a-days, for its novelty has long worn off, is 
 " The Postman's Knock," written by L. M. 
 Thornton, and composed by W. T. Wrighton, 
 of drawing-room ballad composing and singing 
 celebrity. " The Postman's Knock," when it 
 was first published, about forty years ago, spread 
 into favour at once, and was sung all over Eng- 
 land, because it appeared at a period when the 
 "New Penny Post" of Rowland Hill had had 
 time to become understanded of the people and 
 to be utilized by them. And because it appealed 
 to the sympathies of the majority, it remained 
 quite a favourite in some parts of the country- 
 
 o 
 
196 STORIES OF 
 
 and sung, that John Baldwin Buckstone had a 
 piece written on the subject for the Haymarket 
 Theatre. On April loth, 1856, he produced a 
 musical farce, concocted by L. M. Thornton, 
 of which the "Illustrated London News," of 
 April 19th of the same year, says: "A new 
 farce, called ' The Postman's Knock,' somewhat 
 rudely constructed, for the apparent purpose of 
 introducing the song so named, has been pro- 
 duced at this (Haymarket) Theatre. The song 
 itself is well sung by Mr. Farren ; and the piece 
 aided by his talent, and that of Miss Lavine and 
 Miss Schott, who also sing a ballad or two each, 
 has been favourably received." The programme 
 for the week at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, 
 is worth giving : " Monday, April 7, and during 
 the week, the new and successful comedy, ' The 
 Evil Genius ; ' after which the renowned Spanish 
 Dancer, Perea Nena, who, with Manuel Perez 
 and a New Company, will appear in the New 
 Ballet- Pantomime of ' El Gambusino ; or, The 
 Mexican Gold-Digger,' after which, on Monday, 
 Tuesday, and Wednesday, for the Last Three 
 Nights, ' Lend Me Five Shillings ' (Buckstone 
 as Golightly) ; on Thursday a New Farce called 
 ' The Postman's Knock.' " But the piece was 
 first tried at the Surrey Theatre on the 7th of 
 the same month with Phelps and Vollaire in the 
 cast. 
 
 Lewis Maunsell Thornton was born at Ox- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 197 
 
 ford, 1822. He was a simple versifier all his 
 life, and in later times lived largely on the 
 reputation of his one song. He used to tramp 
 about the country selling a volume of his own 
 lyrics, and by this means and by occasionally 
 getting a guinea or so for a ballad, he managed 
 to exist. His book was called " The Poetic 
 Gift of Friendship." His last successful song 
 was " Sing, Birdie, Sing." Thornton died in 
 the infirmary of the Bath Union, whence he had 
 been conveyed from the hospital after a painful 
 operation. He had few friends, but certainly a 
 good one in Mr. Jones- Hunt (generally known 
 as the Bath poet), who did much to assist 
 Thornton in many ways. It is interesting to 
 add that the author of " The Postman's Knock " 
 was carried to the grave by four postmen in 
 uniform, while four others acted as pall-bearers, 
 outof pure sympathy and kindness of heart. Mr. 
 Jones-Hunt generously attended to the funeral 
 expenses. Thornton's remains lie in the quiet 
 God's Acre of Walcot Wesleyan Chapel, Bath. 
 The song known as " Rousseau's Dream " is 
 extracted, as far as the air goes, from Jean 
 Jacques Rousseau's opera, " Le Devin du 
 Village," which was produced in 1752. In the 
 original it is a pantomime tune, without words, 
 and the name of " Rousseau's Dream " was first 
 given to it in print by J. B. Cramer. The 
 English words, " Now, while eve's soft shadows 
 
194 *' STORIES OF 
 
 for more than twenty years. The words were 
 written by a humble individual of small literary 
 ability, who died in the Bath Workhouse, May 
 8th, 1888, after a hard fight against poverty. It 
 must be confessed at once there is no art what- 
 ever in the irregular stanzas of the song, but 
 there is plenty of human nature of a kind : 
 
 "What a wonderful man the postman is, 
 
 As he hastens from door to door ! 
 
 What a medley of news his hands contain. 
 
 For high, low, rich, and poor ! 
 In many a face he joy doth trace, 
 
 In as many he griefs can see. 
 As the door is ope'd to his loud rat-tat. 
 
 And his quick delivery. 
 
 Every morn, as true as the clock. 
 Somebody hears the postman's knock. 
 
 " Number One he presents with the news of birth, 
 
 With tidings of death. Number Four, 
 At Thirteen a bill of a terrible length 
 
 He drops through the hole in the door. 
 A cheque or an order at Fifteen he leaves. 
 
 And Sixteen his presence doth prove. 
 While Seventeen does an acknowledgment get, 
 
 And Eighteen a letter of love." 
 
 Properly speaking, the love-letter should have 
 been left at Seventeen, but perhaps Mr. Thornton 
 was above punning. It should be remembered 
 that a letter in those days was quite an event, 
 for before the introduction of Sir Rowland Hill's 
 " Penny Post," letters were very expensive 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 195 
 
 luxuries indeed. For one to receive a letter, in 
 country parts, was to be converted into a kind 
 of hero for the time being, and to be worshipped 
 accordingly. Letters from oversea were almost 
 unknown except amongst the well to do, and 
 friends and relations who lived at a distance 
 rarely heard of each other from one year's end 
 to another. Now for the last verse : 
 
 " May his visits be frequent to those who expect 
 
 A line from the friends they hold dear ; 
 But rarely, we hope, compelled he will be 
 
 Disastrous tidings to bear. 
 Far, far be the day when the envelope shows 
 
 The dark border shading it o'er ; 
 Then long life to Her Majesty's servant, we say. 
 
 And oft may he knock at the door ! " 
 
 Let us not be too captious over the poverty 
 of idea here exposed, nor criticise too harshly 
 the falseness of the metre and the weakness of 
 the rhyme. L. M. Thornton knew his audience, 
 and wrote level to them, and being of a homely 
 nature himself, he knew exactly the chords he 
 could play upon with the best results. Thornton 
 wrote many other lyrics that were more or less 
 popular, as, for instance, " Pleasure," " Smiles 
 and Tears," " Sing on, Sweet Bird," " Look Up," 
 and the sacred songs, " As One by One our 
 Friends Depart," and "Rest for the Weary," 
 the music being composed by W. T. Wrighton. 
 " The Postman's Knock " was so widely known 
 
196 STORIES OF 
 
 and sung, that John Baldwin Buckstone had a 
 piece written on the subject for the Haymarket 
 Theatre. On April loth, 1856, he produced a 
 musical farce, concocted by L. M. Thornton, 
 of which the "Illustrated London News," of 
 April 19th of the same year, says: "A new 
 farce, called ' The Postman's Knock,' somewhat 
 rudely constructed, for the apparent purpose of 
 introducing the song so named, has been pro- 
 duced at this (Haymarket) Theatre. The song 
 itself is well sung by Mr. Farren ; and the piece 
 aided by his talent, and that of Miss Lavine and 
 Miss Schott, who also sing a ballad or two each, 
 has been favourably received." The programme 
 for the week at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, 
 is worth giving : " Monday, April 7, and during 
 the week, the new and successful comedy, ' The 
 Evil Genius ; ' after which the renowned Spanish 
 Dancer, Perea Nena, who, with Manuel Perez 
 and a New Company, will appear in the New 
 Ballet- Pantomime of ' El Gambusino ; or, The 
 Mexican Gold-Digger,' after which, on Monday, 
 Tuesday, and Wednesday, for the Last Three 
 Nights, ' Lend Me Five Shillings ' (Buckstone 
 as Golightly) ; on Thursday a New Farce called 
 ' The Postman's Knock.' " But the piece was 
 first tried at the Surrey Theatre on the 7th of 
 the same month with Phelps and Vollaire in the 
 cast. 
 
 Lewis Maunsell Thornton was born at Ox- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 197 
 
 ford, 1822. He was a simple versifier all his 
 life, and in later times lived largely on the 
 reputation of his one song. He used to tramp 
 about the country selling a volume of his own 
 lyrics, and by this means and by occasionally 
 getting a guinea or so for a ballad, he managed 
 to exist. His book was called " The Poetic 
 Gift of Friendship." His last successful song 
 was " Sing, Birdie, Sing." Thornton died in 
 the infirmary of the Bath Union, whence he had 
 been conveyed from the hospital after a painful 
 operation. He had few friends, but certainly a 
 good one in Mr. Jones- Hunt (generally known 
 as the Bath poet), who did much to assist 
 Thornton in many ways. It is interesting to 
 add that the author of " The Postman's Knock " 
 was carried to the grave by four postmen in 
 uniform, while four others acted as pall-bearers, 
 out of pure sympathy and kindness of heart. M r. 
 Jones-Hunt generously attended to the funeral 
 expenses. Thornton's remains lie in the quiet 
 God's Acre of Walcot Wesleyan Chapel, Bath. 
 The song known as " Rousseau's Dream " is 
 extracted, as far as the air goes, from Jean 
 Jacques Rousseau's opera, " Le Devin du 
 Village," which was produced in 1752. In the 
 original it is a pantomime tune, without words, 
 and the name of " Rousseau's Dream " was first 
 given to it in print by J. B. Cramer. The 
 English words, " Now, while eve's soft shadows 
 
200 STORIES OF 
 
 Cathedral by some six thousand charity children, 
 wrote : " It would be useless to attempt to give 
 any idea of such a musical effect. It was more 
 powerful, more beautiful, than all the exultant 
 vocal masses you ever heard, in the same propor- 
 tion that St. Paul's is larger than a village church, 
 and even a hundred times more than that. I may 
 add that this choral, of long notes and of noble 
 character, is sustained by superb harmony, 
 which the organ inundated, without submerging 
 it." For some time it was known as the " Savoy." 
 It has happened time and again that many an 
 old hymn has been saved from utter oblivion by 
 the fortunate circumstance of inspiring some 
 modern writer to compose a fresh lyric in place 
 of the crude and often coarse original words. 
 But the oddest part about these rescued and 
 world-wide popular pieces is that in the large 
 majority of cases the authors have written one 
 good piece and nothing more. There is, for 
 instance, that Sunday-school hymn, " There is a 
 Happy Land." Who has ever heard anything 
 of the author, Andrew Young } You may search 
 for his name amongst books of minor verse in 
 vain, and yet for quite half a century Mr. Andrew 
 Young has exercised a far wider influence upon 
 his race than many whom the world considers 
 its benefactors and greatest men. According to 
 a newspaper account in 1889 (when Mr. Young 
 was alive and over eighty years old) the origin 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 201 
 
 of the hymn was occasioned by Mr. Young's 
 hearing a tune played in a drawing-room. It is 
 said that the melody in question was "an old 
 Indian air, which has blended with the music of 
 the woods of the primeval forest." It is just 
 possible that the air had nothing to do with 
 Indians at all. But what matters ? It haunted 
 the future author of the children's hymn and 
 possibly, in sheer desperation, Mr. Young sat 
 down and clothed the melody with words which 
 resolved themselves into the lines, 
 
 " There is a happy land. 
 
 Far, far away. 
 Where saints in glory stand. 
 
 Bright, bright as day ! " 
 
 For long the sacred song was only sung in Mr. 
 Young's family, but the chance visit of a music 
 publisher soon made it known to all and every 
 through the medium of the engraver. The 
 growth and popularity of these simple airs with 
 their simple words are beyond the ken of mortal 
 man to discover. We have it on the authority 
 of Professor Mason that Thackeray was " walk- 
 ing one day in a ' slum ' district of London when 
 he suddenly came upon a band of gutter children 
 sitting on the pavement. They were singing. 
 Drawing nearer he heard the words, ' There is a 
 happy land, Far far away.' As he looked at the 
 ragged choristers and their squalid surroundings, 
 and saw that their pale faces were lit ,up with a 
 
202 STORIES OF 
 
 thought which brought both forgetfulness and 
 hope, the tender-hearted cynic burst into tears." 
 This is a very pretty story as it stands, but why 
 always call the author of " Vanity Fair " a cynic ? 
 A cynic is a man who puts himself outside the 
 world and then tries to mingle in it. Thackeray 
 was a genius, and of course one must call him 
 something ; what right has a man to possess 
 what you don't ? 
 
 Fame seems a very capricious sort of thing 
 to achieve, and while many strive with the 
 weightiest works for the benefit of their kind, a 
 small thing like Mrs. Brewer's 
 
 " Little drops of water, 
 
 Little grains of sand. 
 Make the mighty ocean 
 
 And the beauteous land." 
 
 secures at once to its incubator a popularity and 
 audience amongst all the world's millions of 
 English speaking people ! And the best of it is 
 that it does not boast one spark of originality, 
 Shakespeare having long ago given us the same 
 idea in beautiful language, which has been 
 imitated by hundreds of poets since. As a child's 
 song, however, it is not easily matched. The 
 authoress, Mrs. Brewer, does not appear to have 
 written anything else. 
 
 That "pious" song, "The Vicar of Bray," 
 written about 1 720, to an older air, called " The 
 Country Garden " (1690), was occasioned by the 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 203 
 
 following circumstances. The Vicar of Bray, in 
 Berkshire, was a papist under the reign of 
 Henry VIII., and a protestant under Edward 
 VI. ; he was a papist again under Mary, and 
 once more became a protestant in the reign of 
 Elizabeth. When this scandal to the cloth was 
 reproached for his versatility of religious creeds, 
 and taxed for being a turncoat (he had seen 
 some martyrs burned at Windsor and doubtless 
 found the fire too hot for his tender temper) and 
 an inconstant changeling, as worthy old Fuller 
 expresses it, he replied, " Not so, neither ; for if I 
 changed my religion, I am sure I kept true to my 
 principle : which is, to live and die the Vicar of 
 Bray ! " This vivacious and reverend hero gave 
 birth to a sort of proverb peculiar to the county 
 of Berkshire, " The Vicar of Bray will be Vicar 
 of Bray still." But how has it happened, de- 
 mandsD'Israeli in his "Curiosities of Literature," 
 that this vicar should be so notorious, and one 
 in much higher rank, acting the same part, should 
 have escaped notice ? Dr. Kitchen, Bishop of 
 Landaff, an idle abbot under Henry VIII., was 
 made a busy bishop ; protestant under Edward, 
 he returned to his old master under Mary ; and 
 at last took the oath of supremacy under Eliza- 
 beth, and finished as a parliament protestant. 
 A pun spread the odium of his name ; for they said 
 that he had always loved the Kitchen better than 
 the Church. The song was doubtless a general 
 
204 STORIES OF 
 
 satire on the numerous church renegades, and 
 especially of one who lived in the reigns of 
 Charles 1 1., James 1 1., William 1 1 1., and George I. 
 The words were by an officer in Colonel Fuller's 
 regiment. The original vicar is believed to have 
 been Simon Aleyn ; though Ray gives the 
 honour to an " independent " named Simon 
 Symonds. 
 
 Of that absurd song, " Lilliburlero," Dr. Percy 
 says, in his "Reliques of Ancient Poetry :" " The 
 following rhymes, slight and insignificant as they 
 may now seem, had once a most powerful effect 
 and contributed not a little towards the great 
 revolution in 1688." "Burnet says," he continues, 
 " a foolish ballad was made at that time treating 
 the papists, and chiefly the Irish, in a very ridi- 
 culous manner, which had a burden said to be 
 Irish words, ' Lero, lero, lilliburlero ' that made 
 an impression on the (King's) army that cannot 
 be imagined by those that saw it not. The whole 
 army, and at last the people, both in city and 
 country, were singing it perpetually. And per- 
 haps never had so slight a thing so great an 
 effect." 
 
 It was written, or at least published, on the 
 Earl of Tyrconnel's going a second time to 
 Ireland, in October, 1688. The ridiculous bur- 
 den is said to date from 1641. The words are 
 simply trash, but it was Lord Wharton's boast 
 that he drove James II. from the throne with 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 205 
 
 a few verses and a tune. Though the words 
 were by Lord Wharton, the melody was com- 
 posed by Henry Purcell, and it was almost 
 entirely owing to the catching refrain that the 
 song was sung at all. This quaint march and 
 quick step was originally printed in " The De- 
 lightful Companion : or, Choice New Lessons 
 for the Recorder or Flute," 1686, a very rare and 
 scarce work indeed. " Perhaps," says Percy, "it 
 is unnecessary to mention that General Richard 
 Talbot, newly created Earl of Tyrconnel, had 
 been nominated by King James IL to the 
 lieutenancy of Ireland, in 1686, on account of 
 his being a furious papist, who had recommended 
 himself to his master by his arbitrary treatment 
 of the protestants in the preceding year, when 
 only lieutenant-general, and whose subsequent 
 conduct fully justified his expectations and their 
 fears." 
 
 I give the first verse as a curiosity, notwith- 
 standing its lack of merit. 
 
 " Ho, broder Teague, dost hear de decree ? 
 
 Lilli burlero bullen a la ! 
 Dat we shall have a new deputie, 
 
 Lilli burlero bullen a la ! 
 Lero ! lero ! lilli burlero, lero lero, bullen a la, 
 Lero ! lero ! lilli burlero, lero lero, bullen a la ! " 
 
 The wild Lilliburlero chorus comes in at the 
 end of each verse as indicated in the first. It 
 would be curious to know what language Lord 
 
2o6 STORIES OF 
 
 Wharton thought he was imitating when he 
 wrote this gibberish? It achieved its aim, 
 anyhow, says a chronicler of the period. " A 
 late Vicferoy, who has so often boasted himself 
 upon his talent for mischief, invention and lying, 
 and for making a certain Lilliburlero song ; with 
 which, if you will believe himself, he sung a de- 
 luded prince out of three kingdoms." Through 
 the storm of this doggerel as an expression of 
 popular dislike and distrust fell the Stuart dy- 
 nasty notwithstanding their strenuous efforts to 
 suppress printer's ink and frantic wit. But poli- 
 tically speaking, a mere song has proved the 
 ruin of empires and the slaughter of opposing 
 millions time and again. And it can only be 
 accounted for by the fact that the populace and 
 the army will feed on anything that tickles their 
 humour and fires their imagination. 
 
 Thenceforward " Lilliburlero " became a party 
 tune in Ireland, " especially after ' Dublin's de- 
 liverance ; or the Surrender of Drogheda,' and 
 ' Undaunted Londonderry,' " appropriate words 
 being written to the jingle and sung throughout 
 the land. It has now fallen into disuse. Shad- 
 well and Vanbrugh and other dramatists fre- 
 quently refer to the tune in their plays ; Sterne 
 also mentions it in " Tristam Shandy." Purcell 
 makes use of it again in his " Gordian Knot 
 Unty'd," but it only lives now in the old nursery 
 rhyme : 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 207 
 
 " There was an old woman toss'd up in a blanket, 
 Ninety-nine times as high as the moon." 
 
 and in the convivial chorus : 
 
 " A very good song, and very well sung, 
 Jolly companions every one." 
 
 which seems to be the inevitable fate of many 
 martial strains ! 
 
 Though Lord Wharton is generally believed 
 to have written " Lillibulei^o " this is not certain, 
 it never having been conclusively proved. Dr. 
 Charles Mackay identified the refrain as part of 
 a solar hymn, astronomical and druidical, reading 
 it thus: "Li! li ! Beur! lear-a! Buillenala!" i.e., 
 " Light ! light on the sea beyond the promon- 
 tory ! 'Tis the stroke (or dawn) of the morning." 
 The author of the " Irish Hudibras," is said to 
 have had something to do with the composition 
 of the words. 
 
 But let us turn our attention to other wares. 
 Thomas Campbell's " Ye Mariners of England," 
 which I briefly referred to in a previous chapter, 
 was partly inspired by the melody of Martyn 
 Parker's "Ye Gentlemen of England" (date 
 about 1630). Mrs. Ireland, who saw much of 
 Campbell at this time (1799) says, that it 
 was in the musical evenings at her mother's 
 house, that he appeared to derive the greatest 
 enjoyment. At these soiries his favourite song 
 was " Ye Gentlemen of England," with the 
 
2o8 STORIES OF 
 
 music of which he was particularly struck, and 
 determined to write new words to it. Hence 
 this noble and stirring lyric, "Ye Mariners of 
 England," part of which, if not all, he is believed 
 to have composed after one of these family 
 parties. It was not, however, until after he 
 had retired to Ratisbon, and felt his patriotism 
 kindled by the announcement of war with Den- 
 mark, that he finished the original sketch and 
 sent it home to Mr. Perry of the " Morning 
 Chronicle" (see Dr. Beattie's " Life of Thomas 
 Campbell"). 
 
 So much esoteric fun has been made out of 
 Longfellow's allegorical lyric " Excelsior," that I 
 think a word or two on its upspringing may be 
 appropriate. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes terms 
 it "a trumpet call to the energies -of youth." 
 Longfellow, it appears, one day came across 
 part of the heading of a New York newspaper, 
 bearing the seal of the State of New York, a 
 shield with a rising sun and the motto in heraldic 
 Latin, " Excelsior." His imagination was at 
 once fired with the picture of the youth climbing 
 up the Alps, and bearing in his hand the magic 
 banner " with the strange device " of Upward 
 Hope. This the poet decided upon as the 
 symbol of youth ever anxious to press forward 
 to attain higher and nobler things, and though 
 he succeed not in this world, he is rewarded for 
 the attempt in the next.. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 209 
 
 The Latin title was the subject of criticism 
 both before and after publication, many thinking 
 that it should be Excelsius, or Ad Excelsior e. 
 Longfellow explained that he took the word from 
 "Scopus meus excelsior est," "my goal is higher." 
 
 Unfortunately when the poem appeared it was 
 execrably illustrated and brought down much 
 ridicule upon the poet and set the parodists to 
 work. For it is easier to parody an allegory 
 with some folk than to understand it. One of 
 the most successful musical settings of " Ex- 
 celsior" was by Stephen Glover (18 12-1870). 
 
 The following letters fully explain Long- 
 fellow's own meaning in regard to the poem. 
 The first was written long ago to the Hon. C. 
 K. Tuckerman, the second is dated 1874. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I have had the pleasure of 
 receiving your note in regard to the poem ' Ex- 
 celsior,' and very willingly give you my intention 
 in writing it. This was no more than to display, 
 in a series of pictures, the life of a man of genius, 
 resisting all temptations, laying aside all fears, 
 heedless of all warnings, and pressing right on 
 to accomplish his purpose. His motto is, Ex- 
 celsior — ' Higher,' — He passes through the Al- 
 pine village — through the rough, cold paths of 
 the world — where the peasants cannot under- 
 stand him, and where his watchword is an ' un- 
 known tongue.' He disregards the happiness 
 
2IO STORIES OF 
 
 of domestic peace, and sees the glaciers-r-his 
 fate — before him. He disregards the warnings 
 of the old man's wisdom and the fascinations of 
 woman's love. He answers to all, ' Higher yet ! ' 
 The monks of St. Bernard are the representa- 
 tives of religious forms and ceremonies, and with 
 their oft-repeated prayer mingles the sound of 
 his voice, telling them there is something higher 
 than forms and ceremonies. Filled with these 
 aspirations, he perishes ; and the voice heard in 
 the air is the promise of immortality and progress 
 ever upward. You will perceive that ' Excelsior,' 
 an adjective of the comparative degree, is used ad- 
 verbially; a usejustifiedbythe best Latin writers." 
 
 His next epistle explains the use of the word 
 " Excelsior," which critics said ought to have 
 been " Excelsius." It was addressed to Signor 
 Cesati. 
 
 "Cambridge, Feb. 5, 1874. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I have had the pleasure of 
 receiving your card with your friendly criticism 
 on the word ' Excelsior.' In reply, I would say, 
 by way of explanation, that the device on the 
 banner is not to be interpreted ' Ascende Su- 
 perius,' but * Scopus meus excelsior est.' 
 
 This will make evident why I say ' Excelsior,' 
 and not ' Excelsius.' — With great regard, yours 
 truly, 
 
 Henry Longfellow," 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 211 
 
 The original time-piece immortalized in the 
 " Old Clock on the Stairs," stood in the hall of 
 an old-fashioned country seat surrounded by 
 poplars, and belonging to some of Mrs. Long- 
 fellow's relatives. The following entry appears 
 in the poet's journal, in November, 1845 • 
 . " Began a poem on a clock, with the words, 
 ' For ever, never,' as the burden, suggested by 
 the words of Bridaine, the old French missionary, 
 who said of eternity : ' C'est une pendule dont 
 le balancier dit et redit sans cesse ces deux mots 
 seulement dans le silence des tombeaux — Tou- 
 jours, jamais ! Jamais, toujours ! Et pendant 
 ces effroyables revolutions, un r6prouv6 s'^crie, 
 Quelle heure est-il ? et la voix d'un autre miser- 
 able lui rdpond, ' L'Eternit6 ! ' " 
 
 The "Village Blacksmith" was written when be 
 was at Cambridge, where the particular black- 
 smith's smithy and spreading chestnut tree stood. 
 In 1879 the children of Cambridge presented the 
 poet with an easy chair made out of the wood of 
 this tree. Longfellow's great-grandfather, by 
 the way, was a blacksmith, and opposite the 
 house at Gorham stood a blacksmith's shop 
 where the horses were shod, and where the future 
 poet as a child often played. In writing to his 
 father about the lyric, he alludes to it "as a 
 kind of ballad on a blacksmith which you may 
 consider, if you please, as a song in praise of your 
 ancestor at Newbury." The song was set to 
 
212 STORIES OF 
 
 music by W. H. Weiss the great singer, and 
 made an instantaneous success! W. H. Weiss, 
 who held a high position in the English operatic 
 world, was born 1820, and died 1867. A musical 
 play by E. C. Dunbar, called "The Merry Black- 
 smith," founded on the song, was produced at 
 the Vaudeville Theatre, September 23rd, 1893, 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 213 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SOME OLD SONGS AND SOME NEW. 
 
 "where are you going my pretty maid?" 
 " the british grenadiers," " why are you 
 wandering here, i pray," " dumbledum 
 derry," "though lost to sight to memory 
 dear," "the jolly miller," " sands o' dee," 
 "my lodging is on the cold ground," 
 "cherry ripe," "if doughty deeds," "down 
 
 AMONG THE DEAD MEN," " BLACK-Ey'd SUSAN," 
 " HOW STANDS THE GLASS AROUND," " d'yE 
 KEN JOHN PEEL?" "TOM MOODY," " i'lL HANG 
 MY HARP ON THE WILLOW TREE," " THE SONG 
 OF THE SHIRT," "THE PAUPER's DRIVE," "THE 
 IVY GREEN," "THE LOST CHORD," " ONCE AGAIN," 
 " THE VAGABOND," " SOME DAY." 
 
 Less than ninety years ago, "Where are you 
 going, my Pretty Maid ? " was one of the most 
 popular songs of the country and the town. It 
 was sung everywhere — in the cottage, in the 
 field, in the street, and in the drawing-room ; 
 and now one seldom comes across it even in 
 books of favourite songs. It is not to be found 
 in the "Universal Songster," 1825, nor "The 
 
214 STORIES OF 
 
 Book of English Songs," 1854, nor Dr. Mackay's 
 " Thousand and One Gems of Song," 1886, 
 nor in that curious collection, " The Thousand 
 Best Songs in the World," selected by S. W. 
 Cole, of Melbourne, and published some half-a- 
 dozen years ago. Now and again one meets it 
 in an old school book, but rarely in any new- 
 volume of good old English songs. The history 
 and origin of the words and music are enveloped 
 in a maze of uncertainty, though variations by 
 the dozen have appeared from time to time. In 
 " Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes " there is a 
 version slightly different from what has been 
 generally accepted as the original. The first 
 verse runs : 
 
 " ' Oh, where are you going, 
 
 My pretty maiden fair, 
 With your red rosy cheeks, 
 
 And your coal black hair ? ' 
 ' I'm going a-milking, 
 
 Kind sir,' says she ; 
 ' And it's dabbling in the dew 
 
 Where you'll find me.' " 
 
 " Mother Goose " was a native of Boston, in 
 Massachusetts, and the authoress of many 
 quaint nursery rhymes. Mother Goose's 
 maiden name was Elizabeth Foster, and she 
 was born in Massachusetts in 1665. She 
 married Isaac Goose when about twenty years 
 old, and she died in 1757. Mother Goose 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 215 
 
 used to sing her rhymes to her grandson ; and 
 Thomas Fleet, her brother-in-law, printed and 
 published the first edition of her nursery rhymes, 
 entitled, " Songs for the Nursery ; or, Mother 
 Goose's Melodies," in 17 16. Now, as a variant 
 of the lyric may be found in Fryce's " Archaeo- 
 logica Cornu-Britannica," issued in 1790 with a 
 note to the effect that it was sung at Cardew in 
 1698 by one Chygwyn, brother-in-law to Mr. 
 John Gross, of Penzance, it is just possible that 
 some ancestors of Mother Goose carried the 
 song away with them to America, and she may 
 have partly remembered the words which are 
 so essentially English in tone and expression. 
 Perhaps some of the Pilgrim Fathers, who 
 emigrated in 1620 in the Mayflower, took away 
 the old piece — Massachusetts, it will be remem- 
 bered, being one of the first places colonized. 
 
 The words given in the work just referred to 
 are as follows : 
 
 " ' Where are you going, my pretty fair maid ? ' said he ; 
 
 ' With your pretty white face and your yellow hair ? ' 
 ' I'm going to the well, sweet sir,' said she ; 
 
 ' For strawberry leaves make maidens fair.' " 
 
 This is very similar to another version given 
 in Warne's Mother Goose's collection : 
 
 " ' Where are you going, 
 
 My pretty maid, 
 With your rosy cheeks, 
 
 And golden hair ? ' 
 
2i6 STORIES OF 
 
 ' I'm going a-milking, 
 
 Sir,' she said ; 
 ' For strawberry leaves 
 
 Make maidens fair.' " 
 
 Some discussion on the subject took place in 
 the pages of '' Notes and Queries," in 1870, 
 when one correspondent said he had known it 
 personally more than sixty years, and had heard 
 it sung in Monmouthshire by a youth ; and that 
 he recollected an old woman born more than a 
 century previously to 1870 who used to sing the 
 song, and probably learnt it in her childhood. 
 
 This is the version to which this writer 
 alludes : 
 
 " ' Where are you going, my pretty maid ? ' 
 ' I'm going a-milking, sir,' she said, 
 
 ' Sir,' she said, ' sir,' she said ; 
 'I'm going a-milking, sir,' she said. 
 
 " 'What is your fortune, my pretty maid?' 
 ' My face is my fortune, sir,' she said, 
 ' Sir,' she said, etc. 
 
 " ' Then I won't marry you, my pretty maid.' 
 ' Nobody asked you, sir,' she said, 
 ' Sir,' she said, etc. 
 
 " ' Then I must leave you, my pretty maid.' 
 ' The sooner the better, sir,' she said, 
 ' Sir,' she said, etc." 
 
 But this is not the whole of the song. As 
 usually recognized, there are three additional 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 217 
 
 verses which come between the first and second 
 as given above. They are : 
 
 " ' May I go with you, my pretty maid ? ' 
 ' Yes, if you please, kind sir,' she said. 
 
 " ' What is your father, my pretty maid ? ' 
 ' My father's a farmer, sir,' she said. 
 
 " ' Shall I marry you, my pretty maid ? ' 
 ' Yes, if you please, kind sir,' she said." 
 
 and then follow the second, third, and fourth 
 verses of the lines already quoted. 
 
 This same version was published in the 
 "Musical Treasury" by G. H. Davidson, Peter's 
 Hill, Doctor's Commons, quite sixty years ago, 
 together with " Billy Lackaday's Lament," from 
 James Kenney's " Sweethearts and Wives " — a 
 musical comedy produced at the Hay market 
 theatre in 1823. "Where are you going, my 
 pretty maid ? " which is described as an old 
 English ballad, was never, as far as can be 
 ascertained, sung in Kenney's comedy — the 
 song in the printed edition of the play being 
 that charming lyric, " Why are you wandering 
 here, I pray ?" with music by Isaac Nathan, a 
 composer who set many of Kenney's ballads 
 and lays. Kenney's grandson and grand- 
 daughter, Charles Horace Kenney and Rosa 
 Kenney, by the way, are both in the theatrical 
 profession. 
 
2i8 STORIES OF 
 
 There is an old country courting song called 
 " Dumbledum Derry," which, in sentiment and 
 refrain, is not unlike this old ballad of " Where 
 are you going ? " 
 
 It is to be feared that the author and com- 
 poser of this deliciously quaint and plain-spoken 
 song will never be traced now. For it is very 
 certain that it dates back to very early times 
 indeed — to times long anterior to the one when 
 the art of music was universally cultivated, 
 except orally. Who was first inspired with the 
 happy idea of first writing the piece down we 
 know not — we can only bless his forethought in 
 preserving to us such a charming gem of old 
 English minstrelsy. Its hold upon the public 
 has been very great indeed, and the form in 
 which it is written has tempted many a scribe to 
 imitate it and many a musician to set it. As a 
 song it has been decorated with new music by 
 "J. C. J.," Boston, U.S., 1864; by an anony- 
 mous composer in 1878 ; By Sir F. W. Brady in 
 1882 ; and as a duet, one of the most popular, 
 perhaps, by Seymour Smith in 1887. It has 
 also been reset and rearranged as a part song by 
 several composers with more or less success. 
 But it is as the original song, with the original 
 words and melody, that it is best known, and 
 stands a chance of existing as a classic. 
 And as it is claimed as the special product of so 
 many different counties, we may at once assign 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 219 
 
 it to that wonderful domain of folk songs which 
 is so rich in the beautiful works of long-forgotten 
 and unknown poets and minstrels. 
 
 The history and origin of that stirring military 
 air, " The British Grenadiers," are almost 
 entirely shrouded in mystery and obscurity, and 
 all that is known of it is that the words date 
 from about 1690, while the music is founded on 
 an air of the sixteenth century. The first 
 properly printed copy, an engraved music sheet, 
 appeared about 1780. 
 
 There has been much controversy over 
 " Though Lost to Sight to Memory Dear " — 
 many persons having asserted that it was a very 
 ancient composition by a certain Ruthven 
 Jenkyns. Now a song entitled " Though Lost 
 to Sight to Memory Dear," said to be written 
 by Ruthven Jenkyns in 1703, was published in 
 London in 1880. It was a hoax. The composer 
 acknowledged in a private letter that he had 
 copied the lyric from an American newspaper. 
 There is no other authority for the origin of the 
 song, and " Ruthven Jenkyns," bearing another 
 name, is now living in San Francisco. George 
 Linley wrote a song commencing — 
 
 " Though lost to sight, to memory dear 
 
 Thou ever wilt remain ; 
 One only hope my heart can cheer, 
 
 The hope to meet again." 
 
 But Linley did not invent the phrase which is 
 
220 STORIES OF 
 
 said to have been popular as a tombstone head- 
 ing early in the present century. 
 
 From quite the earliest times the "miller" 
 has been a favourite subject with our English 
 writers, and almost invariably he has been de- 
 picted as a model of sturdy independence. 
 Amongst the best " miller " songs may be in- 
 cluded George Colman's "Merrily goes the Mill," 
 and "The Miller," written by Charles High- 
 more for Robert Dodsley's entertainment, " The 
 King and the Miller of Mansfield," but the best 
 of all, and the most ancient, is the one still sung 
 in our public schools — " There was a Jolly Miller 
 once lived on the river Dee." Originally there 
 were only two verses, but two more have been 
 added, perhaps by Isaac Bickerstaff, who intro- 
 duced it into his comic opera, " Love in a Vil- 
 lage," Covent Garden Theatre, 1 762. The music 
 of this two-act piece was composed and arranged 
 from early English ditties by the celebrated 
 Dr. Thomas Augustine Arne, and "There 
 was a Jolly Miller" was marked "old tune" 
 even then. The old Dee mill at Chester, where 
 the legendary miller of the Dee is supposed to 
 have plied his trade, was burned down in May, 
 1895. The building, which stood picturesquely 
 on the old Dee Bridge, has had a remarkable 
 history. Its origin goes back to Hugh Lupus, 
 Earl of Chester, and nephew of the Norman 
 Conqueror, who first established the mill in the 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 221 
 
 eleventh century. According to ancient legend 
 the mills were doomed to be burned down three 
 times. This prophecy has been more than ful- 
 filled, the last destruction making the fourth con- 
 flagration by which the mills have been destroyed. 
 It is a curious fact that it was only the year pre- 
 vious to the last fire that the last descendant of 
 that miller of Dee whose independence provoked 
 the envy of King Hal and whose memory sur- 
 vives in the immortal lyric referred to above, 
 passed away in the person of Mr. Alderman 
 Johnson of Chester. There is, perhaps, no spot 
 on all the banks of the " sacred Dee " by which 
 all good Cymry swear, more often mentioned in 
 song and story than the mills of the Dee. 
 Though often burned and as often rebuilt, they 
 will always remain an historic landmark just as 
 if their existence had been unbroken since thrifty 
 Hugh, or "Wolf" Lupus built the first of the 
 four which have existed these eight hundred 
 years and more. Charles Kingsley's " Sands o' 
 Dee " commemorates the treachery of the sands 
 at various points, and many a local tradition 
 could be told of hapless strangers lost in the 
 crawling foam. 
 
 The history of " My Lodging is on the Cold 
 Ground," as far as concerns the music, will be 
 found in Chappell's " Old English Popular 
 Music." It was originally written by Matthew 
 Lock of " Macbeth " music fame to words by Sir 
 
222 STORIES OF 
 
 William Davenant, and sung in an alteration of 
 Fletcher's " Two Noble Kinsmen" called "The 
 Rivals," 1664, by Mary, or Moll Davies, one of 
 the earliest English actresses. She sang the 
 song so inimitably that She gained the un- 
 enviable approval of Charles II., and their 
 daughter was that Mary Tudor who married the 
 second Earl of Derwent water. 
 
 It is rather strange that though Robert Mer- 
 rick's delightful lyric "Gather ye Rosebuds" 
 was set to music by William Lawes and pub- 
 lished in Playford's "Ayres and Dialogues," 
 1659, his " Cherry Ripe " was never so honoured 
 until about 1824 when Charles Edward Horn 
 (1786-1849), a vocalist and composer, set it and 
 sung it, and it became an enormous favourite 
 and still remains popular. Horn was un- 
 doubtedly indebted to a song by the distin- 
 guished Thomas Attwood (i 765-1 838), and 
 called " Let me die," for his pleasing melody, as 
 Herrick was under obligations to Richard 
 Allison's charming stanzas, " There is a Garden 
 in Her Face," written about 1606, for his main 
 idea, the last line of each verse being, 
 
 " Till cherry ripe themselves do cry." 
 
 Robert Herrick's " Hesperides," in which his 
 " Cherry Ripe " first appeared in print, was pub- 
 lished at the " Crown and Marygold" in Saint 
 Paul's Churchyard, 1648. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 223 
 
 Who wrote that famous love-song, " I f Doughty 
 Deeds my Lady Please ? " Dr. Mackay boldly 
 assigns it to the Marquis of Montrose (161 2- 
 1650), and certainly there is a likeness in method 
 and style that recalls his efforts. F. T. Palgrave, 
 in the " Golden Treasury," says Graham of Gart- 
 more was the author. Under the title of " O tell 
 Me How to Woo Thee," Sir Walter Scott, in 
 "The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," 181 2, 
 has this note : " The following verses are taken 
 down from recitation, and are averred to be of the 
 age of Charles I. They have indeed much of the 
 romantic expression of passion common to the 
 poets of that period, whose lays still reflected 
 the setting beams of chivalry ; but since their 
 publication in the first edition of this work, the 
 editor has been informed that they were com- 
 posed by the late Mr. Graham of Gartmore." In 
 the " Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen " Robert 
 Graham of Gartmore, born 1750, died 1797, is 
 given as the author of the lyric. It was first 
 published as- a separate song at Liverpool, 181 2, 
 without any composer's name. It was set by 
 Sir Arthur Sullivan in 1866, and by William 
 Vincent Wallace in 1867. 
 
 " Down among the Dead Men," according to 
 a note in the handwriting of Dr. Burney in his 
 collection of English songs, in nine volumes, in 
 the British Museum, was written by a " Mr. 
 Dyer, and it was first sung at the theatre 
 
224 STORIES OF 
 
 in Lincoln's Inn Fields." Whoever wrote it 
 had in mind the drinking song in Fletcher's 
 " Bloody Brother," from which he borrowed two 
 lines, 
 
 " Best, while you have it, use your breath, 
 
 There is no drinking after death." 
 
 The song seems to have been published early 
 in the reign of George I. The composer of the 
 music, a fine characteristic melody, is not known, 
 " Begone dull Care " is at least as old as the 
 year 1687, when it first appeared in " Playford's 
 Musical Companion." 
 
 " Black Ey'd Susan, or Sweet William's Fare- 
 well " was written by Gay, the author of the 
 "Beggar's Opera," and is included among his 
 published poems. The music was composed by 
 Richard Leveridge, a genial, jovial individual, 
 who published a collection of his songs in 1727. 
 " Black Ey'd Susan " was not issued till 1 730. 
 Douglas Jerrold wrote his famous play of the 
 same name in 1824 (revived 1896), it being 
 first produced on Whit Monday of that year at 
 the Surrey Theatre, making all the principals 
 connected with the production, except the author, 
 passing rich. The song is introduced into the 
 piece, and is usually sung by Blue Peter, 
 
 " How Stands the Glass Around," commonly, 
 at one time, called General Wolfe's Song, and 
 said to have been sung by him on the night 
 before the battle of Quebec, is first found, 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 225 
 
 as a half-sheet song with music, printed about 
 the year 1710. It was originally known as 
 " The Duke of Berwick's March," and " Why, 
 Soldiers, Why ? " It is contained in a MS. book 
 of poetry in the Advocates' Library, Edin- 
 burgh. The tune was also discovered in a 
 ballad opera, "The Patron," 1729. Shield in- 
 troduced both music and words into the " Siege 
 of Gibraltar." 
 
 Though " D'ye ken John Peel " is essentially 
 a hunting song, it is so widely known that an 
 authentic history of its hero and its origin has 
 every claim to preservation here, especially as 
 there are several spurious versions and spurious 
 accounts in existence. It was written by John 
 Woodcock Graves about the year 1820 (the 
 words are not in the " Universal Songster," 
 published in 1825). John Peel, the hero of 
 the song, a famous Cumberland hunting man, 
 died in 1854 at the age of seventy-eight. Here 
 is Mr. Grave's own account of the circumstances 
 under which the song was written, taken from 
 " Songs and Ballads of Cumberland," edited 
 by Sidney Gilpin, 1866 ("Sidney Gilpin," en 
 passant, is believed to have been the pseudonym 
 of a noted Carlisle bookseller) : "Nearly forty 
 years have now wasted away," says Mr. Graves, 
 " since John Peel and I sat in a snug parlour at 
 Caldreck, among the Cumbrian mountains. We 
 were then both in the heyday of manhood, and 
 
 Q 
 
226 STORIES OF 
 
 hunters of the olden fashion ; meeting the night 
 before to arrange earth stopping, and up in the 
 morning to take the best part of the hunt — the 
 drag over the mountains in the mist — while 
 fashionable hunters still lay in the blankets. 
 Large flakes of snow fell in the evening. We 
 sat by the fireside, hunting over again many a 
 good run, and recalling the feats of each par- 
 ticular hound, or narrow neck-break 'scapes, 
 when a flaxen-haired daughter of mine came 
 running in, saying, ' Father, what do they say 
 to what Granny sings ? ' Granny was singing 
 to sleep my eldest son — now a leading barrister 
 in H chart Town — with a very old rant called 
 ' Bonnie (or Cannie) Annie.' The pen and ink 
 for hunting appointments being on the table, 
 the idea of writing a song to this old air forced 
 itself upon me, and thus -was produced, im- 
 promptu, ' D'ye ken John Peel, with his coat so 
 gray?' Immediately after I sang it to poor 
 Peel, who smiled through a stream of tears 
 which fell down his manly cheeks ; and I well 
 remember saying to him, in a joking style, ' By 
 Jove, Peel, you'll be sung when we're both run 
 to earth.' 
 
 " As to John Peel's general character I can 
 say little. He was of a very limited education 
 beyond hunting. But no wile of a fox or hare 
 could evade his scrutiny ; and business of any 
 shape was utterly neglected, often to cost far 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 227 
 
 beyond the first loss. Indeed this neglect ex- 
 tended to the paternal duties in his family. I 
 believe he would not have left the drags of a 
 fox on the impending death of a child, or any 
 other earthly event. An excellent rider, I saw 
 him once on a moor put up a fresh hare, and 
 ride till he caught her with his whip. You may 
 know that he was six feet and more, and of a 
 form and gait quite surprising, but his face and 
 head were somewhat insignificant. A clever 
 sculptor told me that he once followed, admir- 
 ing him, a whole market day before he dis- 
 covered who he was." 
 
 " Tom Moody," generally attributed to Dib- 
 din, but written by Andrew Cherry, the author 
 of the " Bay of Biscay," is another good song 
 of this class, and so is the anonymous " Tom 
 Pearce, or the Old Grey Mare." 
 
 To " I'll Hang my Harp on a Willow Tree" 
 is attached quite a bit of royal romance. It 
 was written by a young nobleman who be- 
 came deeply enamoured of Queen Victoria a 
 year or so before she ascended the English 
 throne, which event naturally destroyed his 
 hopes of winning her hand. The words first 
 appeared in an English magazine, and were set 
 to music by Wellington Guernsey. 
 
 Thomas Hood's masterpiece, "The Song of 
 the Shirt," was first published in the Christmas 
 number of " Punch" for the year 1843. It was 
 
228 STORIES OF 
 
 copied into the " Times," and reproduced in 
 other newspapers immediately. It was inserted 
 anonymously, but ran through the land like 
 wildfire, and became the talk of the day. There 
 was no little speculation as to its author, though 
 several (Dickens among the number) attributed 
 it at once to the right source ; at last Hood 
 wrote to one of the daily papers and acknow- 
 ledged it. He was greatly astonished and not 
 a little amused at its marvellous popularity. 
 His daughter, the late Mrs. Frances Freeling 
 Broderip, commenting upon it, said : "My mother 
 said to him when she was folding up the packet 
 ready for the press, ' Now mind, Hood, mark my 
 words, this will tell wonderfully ; it is one of the 
 best things you ever did.' " It turned out to be 
 true ; it was translated into French and German, 
 and even Italian. It was sung about the streets, 
 each itinerant singer putting his or her own 
 tune to it. It was printed on cotton pocket 
 handkerchiefs and sold at the drapers and other 
 shops, and it caused as much stir in the little 
 world of home as it did in the greater world 
 outside, A friend of mine, Mr. Jones-Hunt, has 
 had the privilege of seeing the MS. of a verse 
 that was not published with the song ; it appears 
 in an American edition of the poet's works, and 
 has a singular error in one of the words. 
 
 The copy has been made from the original 
 in Hood's own handwriting. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 229 
 
 " Seam and gusset and band, 
 
 Band and gusset and seam, 
 Work, work, work, 
 
 Like the engine that works by steam ! 
 A new machine of iron and wood, 
 
 That toils for Mammon's sake. 
 Without a brain to ponder and craze. 
 
 Or a heart to feel, and break." 
 
 The error referred to relates to ponder, which is 
 printed powder. 
 
 The MS. for the purposes of making a copy 
 of the above was lent by one of Hood's grand- 
 daughters. Miss Broderip ; it was evidently one 
 of the first rough sheets of the song, and with it 
 was another verse which in a corrected form ap- 
 pears in the original song. Here is a copy of it : 
 
 " Oh ! but for one short hour ! 
 
 A respite however brief ! 
 No blessed leisure for love or hope. 
 
 But only time for grief : 
 A little weeping would ease my heart, 
 
 But in their briny bed 
 My tears must stop, for every drop 
 
 Hinders needle and thread ! " 
 
 The chief items of these interesting particulars 
 were put together andwritten on Thomas Hood's 
 own table, the identical one round which have 
 gathered many of the great literary men of the 
 past. Miss Broderip sat near to answer any 
 question that might be put to her, or to hand 
 a volume from the poet's library which might 
 be of service. In a room in Miss Broderip's 
 
230 STORIES OF 
 
 house is the oil painting, " h'fe-size," a splendid 
 likeness of the poet himself, and in the hall is 
 the historical bust from which so many en- 
 gravings have been taken, and which was the 
 model for the tomb at Kensal Green. May 
 was an eventful month to the subject of this 
 sketch. He was born on the 23rd of May, 1799 ; 
 married on the 5th of May, 1824 ; on the ist of 
 May, 1845 — May-Day — he was last conscious; 
 on the 3rd he died, and on the loth he was buried. 
 
 Many composers set the " Song of the Shirt" 
 to music, and as a recitation, with musical accom- 
 paniment, it formed the chief feature of several 
 entertainers' programmes. 
 
 A piece of verse often attributed to Thomas 
 Hood, being much in his vein, is the " Pauper's 
 Drive : " 
 
 " Rattle his bones over the stones, 
 
 He's only a pauper whom nobody owns." 
 
 The piece was really written by the Reverend 
 Thomas Noel of Maidenhead. It was first pub- 
 lished in 1 84 1 or 1843 by William Smith of 
 Fleet Street in a small volume entitled " Rhymes 
 and Roundelays." Henry Russell popularized 
 the words by setting them to music, attributing 
 them to Hood, and singing the piece when 
 on tour. This no doubt gave rise to the mis- 
 apprehension as to the name of the author. 
 Miss Mitford, in her " Recollections of Literary 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 231 
 
 Life," gives a full description of Mr. Noel, and 
 quotes the " Pauper's Drive " in extenso. The 
 refrain in the last stanza varies : 
 
 " Bear softly his bones over the stones, 
 
 Though a pauper he's one whom his Maker yet owns." 
 
 Miss Mitford adds : " The author tells me that 
 the incident of the poem was taken from life. 
 He witnessed such a funeral — a coffin in a 
 parish hearse driven at full speed." 
 
 Charles Dickens was particularly taken with 
 this poem — by the way, though Dickens wrote 
 several songs, the only one that achieved any 
 popularity was the "Ivy Green," which first ap- 
 peared as a contribution from the clergyman in 
 chapter vi. of the " Pickwick Papers." Henry 
 Russell, who was always ready to snap up a 
 good thing, set it to music, and sang it with 
 considerable success. 
 
 Before finishing the section dealing with 
 English songs, I think the following particulars 
 concerning the brilliant Savoy opera composer 
 and others may not be inappropriate. 
 
 In a recent memoir of Sir Arthur Sullivan, 
 Mr. Charles Willeby cites many instances of 
 the composer's remarkkble rapidity in work. 
 " Contrabandista," which followed " Cox and Box," 
 was composed, scored, and rehearsed within 
 sixteen days from the receipt of the libretto. 
 The overture to "lolanthe" was commenced at 
 nine o'clock one morning and finished at seven 
 
232 STORIES OF 
 
 the next morning. The overture to the " Yeo- 
 men of the Guard " was composed and scored in 
 twelve hours ; while the magnificent epilogue to 
 the " Golden Legend " was composed and 
 scored within twenty-four hours. How the 
 " Lost Chord," perhaps the most successful song 
 of modern times came to be written is related 
 by our author in a very touching story. Only 
 a few months after Sir Arthur Sullivan had 
 accepted the post of Principal of the National 
 Training School for Music, he received a severe 
 blow in the death of his brother Frederick, 
 whose talents as an actor will be remembered. 
 For nearly three weeks he watched by the sick 
 man's bedside night and day. One evening, 
 when the end was rapidly approaching, the 
 sufferer had for a time sunk into a peaceful 
 sleep, and as his faithful attendant was sitting 
 as usual by his bedside, it chanced that he took 
 up some verses by the late Adelaide Anne 
 Procter, with which he had for some time been 
 impressed. Now in the stillness of the night 
 he read them over again, and almost as he did 
 so he conceived their " musical equivalent." A 
 sheet of music paper' was at hand, and he began 
 to write. Slowly the music grew and took 
 shape, until, becoming absorbed in it, he deter- 
 mined to finish the song, thinking that even if in 
 the cold light of day it should appear worthless, 
 it would at least have helped to pass the weary 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 233 
 
 hours, so he went on till the last bar was added. 
 Thus was composed " The Lost Chord," a song 
 of which the sale up to the present has exceeded 
 a quarter of a million^copies. There is a story 
 connected with " Once Again," I believe, to the 
 effect that the composer was either under a con- 
 tract to supply a song by a certain time, or that 
 he wished to raise the immediate wind, and so 
 set Lionel N. Lewin's words of "Once Again," 
 while on a Saturday to Monday visit at a friend's 
 house, and " realized " without delay on his 
 return to town. Anyhow, this is another very 
 popular song of Sir Arthur's, especially with 
 sucking young tenors. 
 
 The melody of that fine song " The Vaga- 
 bond," composed by James L. Molloy to Charles 
 Lamb Kenney's words, was originally used in 
 an operetta by Mr. Molloy to a drinking song. 
 The piece was called " The Student's Frolic," 
 written by Arthur Sketchley. The piece fell flat, 
 all but the " Beer, Beer, Beautiful Beer" melody, 
 which was divorced by Molloy and married to 
 " The Vagabond." 
 
 One popular song writer finds that his music 
 can be best cultivated by riding in a hansom 
 cab ; another prefers the underground railway. 
 The noise and rhythm of the rail bring inspira- 
 tion to him, he says, which proves that even 
 our best abused institutions have their uses. 
 Mr. Milton Wellings composed his very sue- 
 
234 STORIES OF 
 
 cessful song "Some Day" under the following 
 circumstances : — His wife was away yachting 
 round the Isle of Wight, and he was travelling 
 up from Portsmouth by train. At a station on 
 the line he bought an evening paper, and was 
 horrified to learn from a brief paragraph that a 
 terrible yachting accident had happened at 
 Cowes, and that several lives were lost. He 
 dashed out of the train and telegraphed to some 
 friends at the Isle of Wight, and then continued 
 his journey to London, hoping and expecting to 
 find a reply at his house. To his surprise no 
 telegram came. He wandered up and down 
 the house disconsolate, and without thinking, 
 opened a drawer where he found a copy of some 
 verses which had been sent him months before, 
 but which he had scarcely noticed. Glancing 
 through them hurriedly, the line, " I know not 
 when that day may be" caught his eye, and 
 instantly the complete theme of the song burst 
 upon him. Presently came satisfactory tele- 
 grams, and he sat down and wrote out the whole 
 of the music from beginning to end. The result 
 we most of us know for " Some Day" " caught 
 on " enormously with all classes of singers, and 
 proved a success in every sense of the word, 
 The words were written by poor Hugh Conway, 
 author of " Called Back," who was cut off just 
 when fame had come to him with bounteous 
 offerings. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 235 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SOME CONTINENTAL SONGS. 
 
 SWEDISH SONGS, HUNGARIAN SONGS, AUSTRIAN 
 SONGS. " GOD PRESERVE THE EMPEROR," " MAL- 
 BROUK," "CARMAGNOLE," "MADAME VETO," 
 ' ' CHARMANTE GABRIELLE,' ' ' ' VIVE HENRI QUATRE, " 
 "CARNIVAL DE VENISE," " PART ANT POUR LA 
 SYRIE," " HEIL DIR IM SIEGERKRANZ," " ICH BIN 
 EIN PREUSSE," TWO THURINGIAN SONGS, " KANA- 
 PEE LIED," " EIN FESTE BURG," " ADELAIDE." 
 
 Besides " La Marseillaise " and " Der Wacht 
 am Rhein," already described, there are quite a 
 number qf famous Continental songs that are 
 familiar to English ears, if not by name or words, 
 at any rate through their melodies. And, of 
 course, there are many unknown, except to 
 musicians, which are equally important in the 
 lands of their birth, and are deserving of at least 
 passing mention. Everybody knows the Grand 
 Russian National Hymn, and also the beautiful 
 Turkish Hymn, but curiously enough the land 
 of song itself, Italy, has no strictly proper 
 national air, and it is left to the so-called un- 
 
236 STORIES OF 
 
 musical nations as a rule to rejoice in these 
 characteristic features and advantages. The 
 French and Germans, with a pathetic attempt 
 at diffidence, acknowledge that they are excep- 
 tionally gifted in the way of music — but Eng- 
 land ! well — well, we shall see anon, as the play- 
 books have it. 
 
 Sweden has ever been more or less patriotic, 
 and nowadays, when the Swedes feel in that 
 highly desirable temper, they sing lustily, "Kung 
 Oscar Stod Pa." A very old national song is 
 " Kung Erik." The Scandinavian popular songs 
 are many and to the country born, and very 
 beautiful and touching some of them are, while 
 others are as fierce and wild as the north wind. 
 The Hungarian national song is a magnificent 
 production, and most of us have experienced its 
 rugged grandeur. Hungarian songs may be 
 classed under one of three headings : 
 
 1 . Legends of yore. 
 
 2. Glorification of the North with its appal- 
 ling majesty. 
 
 3. Welcome of the Spring. 
 
 Those who have sampled the climate can 
 thoroughly appreciate the Scandinavian heart 
 rejoicing at the return of the spring. Of course 
 there are many homely lays and love lyrics. 
 " Ljung Byhornet " (" The Horn on the Heath ") 
 is a fine legend, and " Trollhattan," and " Kung 
 Bele " are also legends dear to the souls of the 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 237 
 
 natives. The epic " Frithiofsaga," by Tegner, 
 is something after the style of Longfellow's 
 " King Olaf," and, though not a song, is worth 
 calling attention to. Among the very popular 
 songs are " Du Gamla, Du Friska, Du Fyell- 
 hoga-Nord ! " (" You old, you fresh, you rocky- 
 high North ! ") ; " I Dag ar Forsta Maj " (" To- 
 day is first [of] May '') . At Christmas they have 
 " Nur ar det Jul igen " (" Christmas has come 
 again "). A well-known Flemish song is " De 
 Vlaamsche Leeun " (" The Flemish Lion "). 
 
 The greatest of all the Austrian pieces is of 
 course Haydn's "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser." 
 It is said that during his visits to London Haydn 
 often envied the English their " God Save the 
 King," and the war with France having stirred 
 his pulses and fired his imagination, he resolved 
 to provide the people with an anthem worthy 
 of their fidelity and patriotism. Thus arose his 
 " God Preserve the Emperor," which he com- 
 posed to words by L. L. Haschka in 1 797 ; it was 
 publicly sung at the national theatre at Vienna, 
 and at all the principal theatres in the provinces 
 on the emperoi"'s birthday in that year, and 
 achieved a glorious reception and lasting popu- 
 larity. The emperor was so pleased that he 
 sent Haydn his portrait as a compliment to his 
 success. It was a masterpiece of composition, 
 and remained a favourite with the composer 
 until his death. He introduced a wonderful set 
 
238 STORIES OF 
 
 of variations on it into his " Kaiser Quartett." 
 During his last illness in May, 1809, Vienna 
 was again besieged and occupied by the hated 
 Napoleon's troops, and some shot fell not far 
 from where he was dwelling. And though he 
 was treated with the greatest respect by the 
 French officers, some of whom visited him, the 
 bombardment doubtless hastened his death. 
 Towards the close he was greatly alarmed, but 
 cried out to his servants, feeble as he was, 
 " Children, don't be frightened ; no harm can 
 happen to you while Haydn is by." The last 
 visit he received, the French being in full occu- 
 pation, was from a French officer, who sang 
 " In Native Worth " very impressively. Haydn 
 was deeply affected, and embraced the singer. 
 On the 26th of May, 1809, he gathered his 
 servants around him for the last time. He was 
 carried to the piano, and played once more the 
 Emperor's Hymn, and five days later he was 
 dead. 
 
 And now let us turn our attention to France, 
 and " Malbrough " or " Malbrouck," which cap- 
 tured the whole of the Empire, and was sung in 
 every cafe and saloon and " carrefour " in Paris. 
 The opinions as to the origin of this notorious 
 French song are curious and varied. The 
 names of the authors of the words and music 
 it is not easy to assert. There is reason, how- 
 ever, to believe that the couplets " Mort et 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 239 
 
 convoi de I'invincible Malbrough " were impro- 
 vised on the night after the battle of Malplaquet, 
 September nth, 1709, in the bivouack of Mar- 
 shal de Villars at Quesnoy, three miles from the 
 scene of the fight. The name of the soldier 
 who perhaps satirized the English general as a 
 relief to his hunger has not been preserved, but 
 in all probability he was acquainted with the 
 lament on the death of the " Duke of Guise," 
 published about 1566, the idea and construction 
 of both melodies being so much alike. Chateau- 
 briand hearing the tune sung by Arabs in Pales- 
 tine, suggested that it had been carried there' 
 by the Crusaders either in the time of Godfrey 
 de Bouillon or in that of Louis IX. and Join- 
 ville, but the style of the music is of the char- 
 acter of the days of Louis XV., and entirely 
 unlike any other. Unfortunately it is not pos- 
 sible to find either words or music in any col- 
 lection. They have been handed down from 
 one age to another, and that is all. Had it not 
 been for Madame Poitrine, the wife of a Picardy 
 farmer, who used it as a lullaby for the infant 
 Dauphin at the Court of Versailles, the song 
 would have died out. Marie Antoinette took 
 a fancy to her baby's cradle song, and sung it 
 herself, and "Malbrouck s'en va-t-en guerre" 
 was soon heard in Versailles, Paris, and later 
 throughout the length and breadth of France. 
 Beaucharchais introduced it in his " Mariage de 
 
240 STORIES OF 
 
 Figaro" in 1784, and the melody greatly con- 
 tributed to the popularity of that opera. It was 
 then constantly introduced into French vaude- 
 villes. Beethoven used it in his Battle Sym- 
 phony in 181 3 as symbolical of the French 
 army. It is well known on this side of the 
 Channel as " We won't go Home till Morning," 
 and " For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." The 
 piece was made the subject of an opera boufife 
 in four acts, with words by Siraudin and Bus- 
 nach, and music by Bizet, Jonas Legonix, and 
 Delibes, which was brought out at the Athende, 
 December 13th, 1867. So far Grove's "Dic- 
 tionary." But the " Chanson de Malbrouck " 
 is some hundreds of years older than the song 
 that Madame Poitrine, the Dauphin's wet nurse, 
 sang at Versailles. A writer in the " Dictionnaire 
 Universel" gives not only the melody, but the 
 complete text of the " Chanson de Malbrough," 
 and says that the chanson is a parody of a much 
 older and more serious poem, as attested not 
 only by its archaic construction, but by its 
 admixture of pathos so strangely out of place 
 in a piece of buffoonery. A great deal of the 
 chanson is a repetition of another burlesque 
 piece, " Le Convoi du due de Guise" of 1563. 
 The pathetic portions of " Malbrough " exhibit, 
 according to Genin, all the marks of twelfth and 
 thirteenth century versification. It seems im- 
 possible that any version of the song had any 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 241 
 
 ■ • reference to the great Duke of Marlborough, as 
 has been erroneously asserted so often, as the 
 words with regard to his achievements and the 
 devastation that he caused amongst his foes have 
 no connection or reflection whatever. It simply 
 tells how a general goes forth to take part in a 
 campaign in a distant land, and that it is difficult 
 to say when he will return, and how eventually 
 word is sent by a trusty messenger to the 
 general's wife that he has died on the battle- 
 field. The funeral is described in rather a 
 ridiculous fashion, and the whole tone of the 
 lyric suggests that it is simply an ordinary 
 soldier's song commemorating, with a mixture 
 of pathos and humour, the fortunes and mis- 
 fortunes of war. The name " Malbrough " was 
 doubtless substituted by the French soldiers in 
 after years out of bravado and impudence. 
 
 The song was printed upon fans a.nd screens, 
 with an engraving representing the funeral pro- 
 cession of Marlborough, the lady on the tower, 
 the page dressed in black, and so on. This 
 picture was imitated in all shapes and sizes. It 
 circulated through the streets and villages, and 
 gave the dead Duke of Marlborough a more 
 popular celebrity than all his victories. M. 
 Bagger says : " Barras sang it ; so did Marat; 
 Charlotte Corday doubtless knew it by heart ; 
 and it vied with ' La Carmagnole ' and ' Ca Ira' 
 as the most popular song of those days. And 
 
 R 
 
242 STORIES OF 
 
 it has survived in many a French air of later 
 times. In ' Partant pour la Syrie,' Queen 
 Hortense, unconsciously perhaps, has adopted 
 the same underlying musical theme ; and in 
 Andr6 Chdnier's ' Mourir pour la Patrie ' it will 
 readily be recognized, though in different time 
 and colour. In Helberg's vaudeville, performed 
 at the Royal Theatre at Copenhagen in 1826, 
 we find almost identically the same air ; and in 
 one of the folk-lays of Finland we recognize it 
 in a more marked degree." " Napoleon hammed 
 the old military air of ' Marlborough ' as he 
 crossed the Niemen in setting out upon his 
 disastrous Russian campaign of 181 2." Du 
 Maurier weakly calls it in " Trilby " " a common 
 old French comic song — a mere nursery ditty, 
 like * Little Bo-Peep,' this quiet precursor of 
 'La Marseillaise.'" 
 
 The song was a great favourite with the 
 Little Corporal. Whenever he mounted his 
 horse to go campaigning, the emperor hummed 
 the suggestive melody, and at St. Helena, shordy 
 before his death, when, in course of conversa- 
 tion with M. de Las Casas, he praised the Duke 
 of Marlborough, the song recurred to his mind, 
 and he said, with a smile, " What a thing is ridi- 
 cule ! It fastens upon everything, even victory." 
 He then sang softly to himself the first stanza of 
 " Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre." 
 
 It is very certain that the revival of Mai- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 243 
 
 brouk had plain reference, in the French mind, 
 to the conquering Marlborough. Says Brewer : 
 " The Malbrough of the song was evidently a 
 crusader, or ancient baron, who died in battle ; 
 and his lady " (obviously not Sarah Jennings, 
 Duchess of Marlborough) "climbing the castle 
 tower and looking out for her lord reminds one 
 of the mother of Sisera, who looked out at a 
 window, and cried through the lattice, ' Why is 
 his chariot so long in coming ? Why tarry the 
 wheels of his chariots ? Have they not sped ? 
 Have they not divided the spoils?'" It must 
 be confessed, however, that if it had been the 
 " chariot " of the duke which his duchess had 
 seen coming, it would not have been found alto- 
 gether empty of " spoils," else how was Blen- 
 heim to be built? "The desire of power and 
 wealth," wrote Prince Eugene, "gave a little 
 bias to the mind of Marlborough." 
 
 That there exists two versions of " Mal- 
 brough s'en va-t-en guerre " is a self-evident 
 fact. First, there is the ancient Crusader song ; 
 second, the modern burlesque. Both have 
 the melodious burden or chorus, " Mironton, 
 mironton, mirontaine," which M. Littr^ in 
 his " Dictionnaire de la Langue Fran9aise," 
 defines to be " A sort of popular refrain which 
 is used for sound, and has no sense." The 
 well-known original of the first stanza runs as 
 follows : 
 
244 STORIES OF 
 
 " Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre — 
 Mironton, mironton, mirontaine ! — 
 
 Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, 
 Ne sais quand reviendra." 
 
 A number of translations have been made of 
 this song, from which John Oxenford selects the 
 following : 
 
 " Marlbrook has gone to battle — 
 Mironton, mironton, mirontaine ! — 
 
 Marlbrook has gone to battle. 
 But when will he return ? " 
 
 Professor Longfellow, in his " Poets and 
 Poetry of Europe," gives this : 
 
 " Malbrouck, the prince of commanders, 
 
 Is gone to the war in Flanders. 
 His fame is like Alexander's, 
 
 But when will he come home ? " 
 
 Here is the best literal translation : 
 
 " Malbrough is gone to the wars. Ah, when 
 will he return ? 
 
 " ' He will come back by Easter, lady, or at 
 latest by Trinity.' 
 
 " ' No, no ; Easter is past, and Trinity is past ; 
 but Malbrough has not returned.' 
 
 " Then did she climb the castle tower to look 
 out for his coming. She saw his page, but he 
 was clad in black. 
 
 " ' My page, my bonnie page,' cried the lady, 
 ' what tidings bring you — what tidings of my 
 lord .? ' 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 245 
 
 " ' The news I bring,' said the page, ' is very 
 sad, and will make you weep. Lay aside your 
 gay attire, lady, your ornaments of gold and 
 silver, for my lord is dead. He is dead, lady, 
 and laid in earth. I saw him borne to his last 
 home by four officers. One carried his cuirass, 
 one his shield, one his sword, and the fourth 
 walked beside the bier, but bore nothing. They 
 laid him in earth. I saw his spirit rise through 
 the laurels. They planted his grave with rose- 
 mary. The nightingale sang his dirge. The 
 mourners fell to the earth, and when they rose 
 up again they chanted his victories. Then re- 
 tired they all to rest.'" 
 
 Everybody knows that the air to which 
 " Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre " is sung has 
 been hummed or whistled, at one or another 
 period of his life, by almost every Englishman, 
 often without his being acquainted with a single 
 word of the French lines, or even the name of 
 the song itself. Father Prout explains the 
 whole matter in the " Reliques : " " Confining 
 myself for the present to wine and war, I pro- 
 ceed to give a notable war-song, of which the 
 tune is well-known throughout Europe, but the 
 words and the poetry are on the point of being 
 effaced from the superficial memory of this flimsy 
 generation. It may not be uninteresting to 
 learn that both the tune and the words were 
 composed as a lullaby to set the infant Dauphin 
 
246 STORIES OF 
 
 to sleep. Still, if the best antiquary were called 
 on to supply the original poetic composition, 
 such as it burst on the world in the decline of 
 the classic era of Queen Anne and Louis XIV., 
 I fear he would be unable to gratify the curiosity 
 of an eager public in so interesting an inquiry. 
 For many reasons, therefore, it is highly meet 
 and proper that I should consign it to the im- 
 perishable tablet of these written memorials, 
 and here then foUoweth the song of the lament- 
 able death of the illustrious John Churchill, 
 which did not then take place, by some mistake, 
 but was nevertheless celebrated as follows : 
 
 " ' Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre — 
 
 Mironton, mironton, mirontaine ! — 
 Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, 
 
 Ne sais quand reviendra, 
 
 Ne sais quand reviendra, 
 
 Ne sais quand reviendra. 
 
 Chorus. — Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre — 
 
 Mironton, mironton, mirontaine ! — 
 Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, 
 Ne sais quand reviendra.' " 
 
 Appended is the earlier translation, with its 
 well-known English refrain : 
 
 " Marlbrook, the prince of commanders, 
 Has gone to the war in Flanders. 
 His fame is like Alexander's. 
 
 But when will he come home ? 
 
 But when will he come home ? 
 
 But when will he come home ? 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 247 
 
 Chorus. — He won't come home till morning, 
 He won't come home till morning, 
 He won't come home till morning, 
 Till daylight doth appear." 
 
 " Such," adds the inimitable Father Prout, " is 
 the celebrated funeral song of ' Malbrouck.' It 
 is what we would call in Ireland a ' keen ' over 
 the dead, with this difference, that the lamented 
 deceased is, among us, willy-nilly, generally 
 dead outright, with a hole in his skull ; whereas 
 the subject of the pathetic elegy of ' Monsieur ' 
 was, at the time of its composition, both alive 
 and kicking all before him." It is curious to 
 note that the authorship of " Malbrough " has 
 also been ascribed to the celebrated Madame de 
 Sdvign^. For several confirmatory statements 
 in this account, I am indebted to an article in 
 " Maclure's Magazine," 1896. 
 
 It has recently been stated that the song is 
 purely Eastern, that it was known to the Arabs 
 centuries ago, and that they still sing it — 
 " Mabrook," and " Mabrooka " being not un- 
 common names in Egypt. I give a verse in 
 Arabic and then leave the subject : 
 
 " Mabrook saffur lei harbi 
 
 Ya lail-ya lail ya laila 
 Mabrook saffur lei harbi 
 
 Woo-ela metta yerjaa 
 Woo-ela metta yerja-ya lail 
 
 Woo-ela metta yerjaa," etc. 
 
 After " Marlbrough " came the terrible " Car- 
 
"*'!!: 
 
 248 STORIES OF 
 
 magnole" and " Madame Veto." The " Carmag- 
 nole," which grew into frenzied favour during the 
 French Revohition, was generally accompanied 
 by a dance of the same name, and ran : 
 
 " Que faut il au rdpublicain ? 
 Que faut il au rdpublicain ? 
 La liberty du genre humain, 
 La liberty du genre humain, 
 La pioche dans les cachats 
 L'ecole dans les chateaux, 
 Et la paix aux chaumibres, 
 
 Dansons la Carmagnole 
 
 Vive le son du canon ! " 
 
 Not a very brilliant effort ! The origin of the 
 "Carmagnole" is doubtful, but it is believed 
 that an old Proven9al ballad was sung to the 
 melody, and thus this tune, to which most likely 
 the peasant girls of Provence danced in the 
 Middle Ages, was also made to do duty one 
 hundred years ago while the hapless victims of 
 Danton and Robespierre were being executed. 
 Gretny was under the impression that it was a 
 sailor-song often heard in Marseilles, but in all 
 probability it was a country dance dating from 
 far off times, adapted to a patriotic military song 
 written in the Autumn of 1792. Groves gives 
 the following from this piece, and I venture to 
 quote the loyal lines : 
 
 " Le canon vient de resoner : 
 Guerrers, soyez prgts k marcher. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 249 
 
 Citoyens et soldats 
 
 En volant aux combats, 
 
 Dans la carmagnole : 
 Vive le son, vive le son, 
 
 Dansons la carmagnole 
 Vive le son, Du Canon ! " 
 
 The same authority says the "bloody Carmag- 
 nole des Royalists may, be attributed to the 
 worst of demagogues." The latter begins : 
 
 " Oui, je suis sans culotte, moi 
 En ddpit des amis du roi. 
 
 Vive les Marseillois, 
 
 Les Bretons et nos lois ! " 
 
 "Madame Veto" was another production of the 
 Revolution. When kingly privileges and 
 authority went by the board, Louis XVI., as 
 everyone knows, stood out for the right of veto- 
 ing any laws which the National Assembly 
 might pass. Now this word " Veto " was an 
 unknown quantity to the majority, and the 
 crowd grew turbulent and uncontrollable, and 
 Louis XVI. was nicknamed "Veto," and the 
 Queen, Marie Antoinette, the " hated Austrian, 
 whom the people detested more, perhaps, than 
 anyone else, though it is not generally acknow- 
 ledged, was shamefully abused. Poor Queen, 
 her's was not the fault ! And so they were com- 
 pelled to listen to the indescribably insulting ode 
 (sung to the melody of " Carmagnole "). 
 
 " Madame Veto avait promis 
 De faire dgorger tout Paris 
 
250 STORIES OF 
 
 Maison coup a manqu6, 
 Grace a nos canonniers 
 
 Dansons la Carmagnole 
 
 Vive le son du canon ! " 
 
 with many repetitions. These verses soon ex- 
 tended to thirteen, and when published by Frere, 
 the song spread like wildfire. 
 
 One of the earliest French revolutionary 
 songs, and France has sown a goodly crop from 
 first to last, is " Qa Ira," and we may set its 
 date down to October, 1789, when the Parisians 
 marched to Versailles. M. Gustave Choquet 
 says that the words were suggested to a street 
 singer named Ladrd by General La Fayette, 
 who remembered Franklin's favourite saying at 
 each progress of the American insurrection. 
 Here is the burden of the song : 
 
 " Ah ! ga ira, 5a ira, 5a ira ! 
 
 Le peuple en ce jour sans cesse rdpete : 
 
 Ah ! 9a ira, 9a ira, 5a ira ! 
 
 Malgrd les mutins, tout reussira," 
 
 which later developed more furiously into — 
 
 " Ah ! ga ira, 5a ira, 5a ira ! 
 Les aristocrat' a la lanterne ; 
 Ah ! 5a ira, 5a ira, 5a ira ! 
 Les aristrocrat' on les pendra ! " 
 
 The melody to which these words were sung 
 was composed by a player in the orchestra at 
 the opera named Becour or Becourt, and was 
 well known as " Carillon National." 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 251 
 
 Two other French songs are worthy of 
 attention, on account of their celebrity and 
 uncertain origin. These are " Charmante Ga- 
 brielle" and " Vive Henri Quatre." The former 
 is generally believed to have been suggested by 
 the latter, Henri IV., to one of the court poets. 
 Some say that Bertant, Bishop of Seez, com- 
 posed the couplets inspired by the king. The 
 first verse of this love romance runs : 
 
 "Charmante Gabrielle, 
 
 Perce de mille dards, 
 Quand la gloire m'appelle 
 
 Dans les sentiers de Mars. 
 Cruelle ddpartie 
 
 Malheureux jour ! 
 Que ne suis je sans vie 
 
 Ou sans amour ! " 
 
 This was sent by Henri to Gabrielle d'Estrdes, 
 his mistress. May 21st, 1597, when in Paris, 
 prior to his projected campaign against the 
 Spaniards. The melody has been attributed to 
 many composers, but it is doubtful if the right 
 one has been discovered. It is to be found in 
 saintly as well as secular productions in varying 
 forms. As for " Vive Henri Quatre," the same 
 obscurity surrounds its origin, save that the first 
 two couplets of this historical lyric have been 
 generally accredited as the composition of C0II6, 
 who was born in 1709 and died 1783. But 
 competent authorities have disputed his right 
 
252 STORIES OF 
 
 to any hand in the matter, and trace the words 
 back to a drinking song of the time of Henri 
 III. The melody is apparently quite original, 
 though the composer's name has not been pre- 
 served. One thing is certain, these couplets 
 have been handed down from generation to 
 generation without losing anything of their 
 spirit or freshness ; and were spontaneously 
 adopted by the people as the national anthem 
 of royalty at the Bourbon Restoration. On the 
 day when the Allied Armies entered Paris, 
 April I St, 1 8 14, crowds flocked to the Opera to 
 see the Emperor Alexander and the King of 
 Prussia. The opera was Spontini's " Vestale," 
 as an overture to which the band performed 
 " Vive Henri IV." amid a perfect storm of 
 bravos ; and at the close of the opera the air 
 was again called for, sung by Lays with the 
 whole power of his magnificent voice, and re- 
 ceived with rapturous applause. On July 14th. 
 181 5, Lays had a similar success when repeat- 
 ing the air at a performance of " Iphigdnie en 
 Aulide " and " La Dansonaine " before Louis 
 XVI 1 1., the Emperor of Russia and the King 
 of Prussia, on the opening of the new theatre of 
 the Academie Royale de Musique, in the Rue le 
 Peletier, the first words sung in that aria, and 
 the loss of which is so much to be regretted 
 on acoustical grounds, were those of "Vive 
 Henri IV," All this according to Groves. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 253 
 
 A word may be said of the one-time favourite, 
 the " Carnaval de Venise " — does the present 
 generation know anything of it? — Paganini 
 was the first to introduce the piece to England 
 — nay, to the whole world, one may say. 
 The great violinist first heard the melody when 
 he visited the Queen of the Adriatic in 1816. 
 No one seems to know who composed it, 
 though many a musician has added to it, and 
 varied it, and embroidered it from time to time. 
 Several fantasias have been written upon it, 
 notably by Herz and Schulhoff, and these have 
 been played by most pianists of note. It has 
 been introduced into comic operas. Ambroise 
 Thomas introduced variations of it into the 
 overture of his opera, "Le Carnaval de Venise," 
 and Victor Mass6 makes use of it in his " Reine 
 Topaz," with the words, 
 
 " Venise est tout en fetes 
 Car voici le Carnaval," 
 
 and in England it used to be sung to the words 
 beginning, 
 
 " O come to me, I'll row thee o'er 
 
 Across yon peaceful sea." 
 
 The original from which Sir Walter Scott's 
 " Romance of Dunois " is taken makes part of a 
 manuscript collection of French Songs (prob- 
 ably compiled by some young officer) which was 
 found on the field of Waterloo, so much stained 
 with clay and blood as sufficiently to indicate 
 
254 STORIES OF 
 
 the fate of its late owner. The song (" Partant 
 pour la Syrie," written and composed by Queen 
 Hortense of Holland, daughter of Josephine 
 and the mother of Napoleon III.) is popular in 
 France and is a good specimen of the style of 
 composition to which it belongs. Sir Walter 
 translated the song in 1815, and also another 
 one of Queen Hortense's — " The Troubadour." 
 The Prussian hymn, which is capable of thrill- 
 ing the whole German Empire, celebrated, in 
 December, 1893, the centenary of its publica- 
 tion. It was on the return to the Prussian 
 capital of Field- Marshal Duke Ferdinand of 
 Brunswick after his successful engagements with 
 the French at Pirmasens and Kaiserlautern, in 
 Bavaria, that there appeared in the "Spenersche 
 Zeitung," of December 17th, 1793, a poem 
 entitled "Berliner Volksgesang." It was signed 
 " Sr " and had " Heil Dir im Siegeskranz " as 
 the opening words. The poem had been sent 
 to the paper by Dr. Balthasar Gerhard Schu- 
 macher, who was in the habit of signing his 
 Latin translations "Sutor" or "Sr," but he 
 was not the writer. The real author was a 
 German Protestant clergyman, Heinrich Harries 
 (1767- 1 802), and the hymn appeared in its 
 original form in the "FleusburgerWochen-blatt" 
 of January 27th, 1790, as a "Song for the 
 Danish Subjects to Sing on the Birthday of 
 their King." In 1873, Dr. Ochmann took up 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 255 
 
 the question of authorship and established 
 Harries's claims, while Dr. Wolfram succeeded 
 in proving that Schumacher, at any rate, was 
 not the original writer. The last two stanzas 
 of Harries's song had reference to Danish 
 affairs, and were, therefore, omitted by Schu- 
 macher, but in 1 80 1 Schumacher published 
 another version, also adding two verses, and the 
 song in its newer form was published with the 
 melody arranged for four voices by Hurka. 
 The versions by Harries and Schumacher were 
 not vastly different, while the similarity between 
 the two poets in some of the parts proves con- 
 clusively enough that Schumacher in his altera- 
 tions was only printing the work of an earlier 
 imitation of " God Save the King." Except in 
 the melody and the rhythm, " Heil Dir im 
 Siegeskranz ! " has nothing in common with the 
 English " God save the King ; " and we now 
 see that originally it was not dedicated to the 
 Prussian ruler, but was written in honour of a 
 Danish sovereign. 
 
 More curious is the story of the melody. 
 The writer refers to a volume published at 
 Paris, and bearing the title " Souvenirs de la 
 Marquise de Crdquy de 17 10 a 1803." It con- 
 tains a strange declaration made by three old 
 ladies of the convent of Saint Cyr. The docu- 
 ment, which was only signed on September 19th, 
 18 1 9, is quoted in full. It sets forth that the 
 
256 STORIES OF 
 
 three undersigned have been requested to write 
 down what they know of an old motet, which is 
 generally regarded as an English melody. The 
 said melody, they continue, is the same as 
 that which they had often heard in their com- 
 munity, where it had been preserved tradi- 
 tionally since the days of Louis XIV., the 
 founder of the convent. It was composed by 
 Baptiste Lully, and at the convent it was 
 the custom for all the girls to sing it in unison 
 every time Louis XIV. visited the chapel. It 
 has also been sung on the occasion of a visit 
 from Louis XVI. and his queen in 1779, and 
 every one in the house was familiar with the 
 song and the music. The ladies are quite 
 certain that the melody is exactly the same as 
 that which is called English. As to the words, 
 they state that they have always been in- 
 structed that Madame de Brinon, a principal 
 of the convent, wrote them, and that the poem 
 dates from the time of Louis XIV. The text runs: 
 
 " Grand Dieu ! sauvez le Roy ! 
 Grand Dieu ! sauvez le Roy ! 
 
 Vengez le Roy ! 
 Que toujours glorieux 
 
 Louis victorieux 
 
 Voye ses ennemis 
 
 Toujours soumis. 
 Grand Dieu ! sauvez le Roy ! 
 Grand Dieu ! sauvez le Roy ! 
 
 Vive le Roy ! " 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 257 
 
 But this is a very old tale and very untrue. 
 The melody of " God Save the King " I deal 
 with in the last chapter. LuUy's melody is not the 
 same as Carey's — there is a similarity and that is 
 all. The Prussian national hymn is undoubtedly 
 sung to the tune of our own national anthem. The 
 students of Heidelberg also sing a song called 
 " Heil dir Germania," to Carey's composition. 
 
 I give here for what it is worth the very 
 latest history of the German National Hymn, 
 " Heil dir im Siegeskranz," which has the same 
 melody as " God save the Queen," has appeared 
 in a theological journal, " Pastor Bonus," in 
 Trier. The story goes that the air was taken 
 from a Siberian procession chant, and it is told 
 as follows : It is well known that great as well 
 as mediocre composers have borrowed their 
 musical ideas from the rich store of Catholic 
 church songs, but it remained undiscovered that 
 the Prussian fatherland made a big loan from 
 the same source. Herr E. Handtmann, from 
 Seedorf, relates in " der Kreuzzeitung " (July 
 loth, 1894), from traditions of his family, that 
 the text of the " King's-song" was made known 
 in Silesia by Prussian soldiers in the year 18 13. 
 But nobody could sing the words. Then it 
 happened that officers of a Silesian regiment, 
 amongst them Scharnhorst, met a procession 
 under the guidance of a Catholic priest wending 
 their way to Reinery and chanting : 
 
258 STORIES OF 
 
 "HeilDir, O Konigin, 
 Des Brunnens Hiiterin 
 Heil Dir, Maria ! 
 In Segen und Gedeih'n 
 Lass sprudeln klar und rein 
 Allezeit den Labequell : 
 Heil Dir, Maria ! " 
 
 Scharnhorst, a great music lover, asked the 
 priest where the melody came from, and he 
 answered that it was known in the Silesian and 
 Bohemian mountains as a very old proces- 
 sion chant, and this information was later cor- 
 roborated by Catholic and Protestant priests 
 alike. The officers were much taken with the 
 beautiful melody, and adapted it to the text of 
 their " King's-song." It was publicly sung for the 
 first time in Teplitz before Frederick William III. 
 in the year 1813. A not improbable conjecture 
 of Herr Handtmann -is that likewise in France 
 and England the air is traced back to an old 
 church song chanted by pilgrims, and being of 
 an international character it was preserved in 
 Germany and Austria in its pure originality. 
 In a happy moment it was again made widely 
 known in a new fashion at the frontier of the 
 two countries, the Silesian mountains. 
 
 The weak point of this story is that our 
 national anthem was taken by the Danes in 
 1780, and with the German words was published 
 in 1793. See the last chapter in this volume, 
 
 The year 1 893 was the centenary of another 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 259 
 
 well-known song and little-known poet. Bern- 
 hard Thiersch was born on April 26th, 1793, 
 and was the author of " Ich bin ein Preusse," 
 which was written in 1830 for the King's birth- 
 day celebration at Halberstadt. It was first 
 sung to the melody, " Wo Mut und Kraft in 
 deutscher Seele flammen," but the music now 
 in use is the composition by Neithardt. 
 
 The German wanderers' songs and travellers' 
 songs are almost unique. Elise Polko, a 
 German writer, tells a touching story in con- 
 nection with " Der Wanderer " and "Ach, wie 
 ist's moglich," two Thuringian songs known all 
 the world over. "Der Wanderer" was com- 
 posed in 1837 by Friedrich Bruckner, father of 
 Oskar Bruckner, the 'cellist, and " Ach, wie ist's 
 moglich" was the composition of Bruckner's 
 friend, Kantor Johann Ludwig Bohner, both of 
 Erfurt. 
 
 In May, 1849, Wagner had to make his 
 escape from Dresden, and he arrived at Erfurt 
 on his way to Paris, to be conducted across the 
 frontier by Bruckner and Bohner. As he was 
 being accompanied through the streets in the 
 moonlight, he stopped suddenly to listen to 
 some female yoices singing, "Ach, wie ist's 
 moglich," and to the horror of his friends would 
 not budge till he had heard the last note. " I 
 know the melody," he said. " It is sung every- 
 where. Let me hear every line. What a 
 
26o STORIES OF 
 
 beautiful parting song ! I wish I had com- 
 posed it ! " 
 
 As he took his seat in the close vehicle that 
 was waiting impatiently to take him further 
 on his journey, a soft voice started " The 
 Wanderer " : 
 
 " Wenn ich den Wandrer frage : 
 Wo willst duhin?"— 
 
 and all joined in the refrain : 
 
 " Nach Hause, nach Hause ! " 
 
 But at the last line : 
 
 " Hab' keine Heimat mehr ! " 
 
 a choking voice called out " Da capo ! " Then 
 the horses started, and, as the party passed out 
 into the moonlight, and that lament, " Hab' 
 keine Heimat mehr ! " (" I have no home now !") 
 became fainter and fainter, the lonely fugitive 
 buried his face in the cushions and wept bitterly. 
 Very different is the merry " Kanapee-Lied," 
 whose history Max Friedlander has endeavoured 
 to trace. Few German popular songs have 
 attained such a venerable age or enjoyed such 
 wide popularity. Its survival is entirely due to 
 oral transmission, for it is not included in any 
 of the present collections of national songs, nor 
 was it printed in any Commers-book during 
 the last century. Wittekind has imitated the 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 261 
 
 metre in his " Krambambuli-Lied " (1745), and 
 Koromandel in his " Doris " and " Dorothde." 
 Till the middle of this century the melody of the 
 " Kanapee-Lied " was identical with that of the 
 " Krambambuli-Lied," but a few decades ago 
 the " Kanapee-Lied " assumed a new form, and 
 was set to a new melody. 
 
 As there is a story, apocryphal or otherwise, 
 of some interest connected with Luther's cele- 
 brated hymn, " Ein Feste Burg," the particulars 
 of the same may well find a place here. This 
 piece has been aptly entitled the " Marseillaise 
 of the Reformation," and in it we find the 
 remarkable genius and religious fire of Luther, 
 together with the nervous feeling of those 
 troublous times. According to one account the 
 words, which are a free translation of the Latin 
 version of the 46th psalm, were written in 
 Coburg, 152 1, while one authority inclines to 
 the belief that they were composed on the road 
 to Worms. Hubner declares that Luther wrote 
 it on the Wartburg, and having finished upset 
 the inkstand over it, whereupon the devil 
 laughed, and Luther threw the inkpot at him ! 
 Luther sang the hymn daily, accompanying 
 himself on the lute during the sitting of the 
 Augsburg Assembly in 1530. It was first 
 printed in 1529, and in three years it became 
 the most popular hymn of the day with the 
 Protestants. The Huguenots during the re- 
 
262 STORIES OF 
 
 ligious persecution in France (1560 to 1572) 
 made it their national song. This grand choral 
 has won unstinted praise on all hands, for 
 Luther was a gifted musician, as well as preacher 
 and poet, and knew how to achieve the finest 
 effects by the simplest methods. Meyerbeer 
 did not disdain to make use of the melody in 
 his opera, " Les Huguenots ;" Bach founded a 
 cantata on it ; and it is to be detected in 
 Mendelssohn's " Reformation Symphony," and 
 in Wagner's "Kaisermarch." By order of King 
 Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden it was sung by 
 the entire army just before the battle of Leipsic 
 in 1 63 1. Indeed, it has played a wonderful 
 part in the making of history on the Continent. 
 Said Luther, when his friends endeavoured to 
 dissuade him from going on his fateful journey 
 to Worms : " Though there be as many devils 
 in Worms as there are tiles on the roof, I will 
 go fearing nothing. What if Huss be burned 
 to ashes ? Truth can never be annihilated." 
 This is the keynote to the character of the 
 " clear-voiced nightingale," as Hans Sachs 
 called him. Spangenberg said of him, " When 
 I saw Dr. Luther at Wittenberg, 1 could think 
 of nothing less than of a large, powerful, well' 
 armed warship setting out to sea in confidence 
 amid tempestuous waves." 
 
 Luther's was a grand character — broad, far 
 seeing, and sympathetic. It required some 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 263 
 
 courage to cast off the monk's cowl and marry 
 a nun. He married Catherine de Bora. She 
 had to beg her bread from door to door after 
 her husband's death. They lived a happy 
 every-day life together, and understood each 
 other. Luther and his wife were frequently 
 very poor. Those who benefited most by his 
 preaching troubled not about how he lived. 
 Which is a paradox, but let it stand. It may 
 serve as a lesson. Foolishly he refused to 
 accept money for his writings. This was a 
 wrong thing to do, and derogatory to his 
 authorship. But the story of Luther's life is 
 ancient history. There were times when Luther 
 enjoyed the good things of this world as well 
 as any other rational being. He was too 
 sensible to refuse the bounty the earth provided 
 for his body's well-being. Besides, did he not 
 write the famous couplet : 
 
 " Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weib und Gesang, 
 Der bleibt ein Narr sein Lebenlang." 
 
 A sympathetic writer in the " Chautauquan," 
 speaking of the love the Germans exhibit for all 
 classes of songs, says : "In passing through a 
 German town, particularly in the summer, the 
 visitor is often struck by hearing school children 
 sing. The schools are mostly imposing build- 
 ings, situated on the finest sites, where pre- 
 liminary instruction is shared by all classes 
 
264 STORIES OF 
 
 together. The windows are wide open, and 
 you may just happen to witness the singing 
 lesson, and hear the youthful voices sing one of 
 those glorious choral songs : " Ein' feste Burg 
 ist unser Gott." 
 
 " God is a mighty citadel, 
 
 A trusty shield and weapon." 
 
 It was a choral of Luther's, " Nun danket Alle 
 Gott," in which the whole army joined in a 
 spirit of grateful reverence to God on the 
 morrow of the battle of Sedan. At the univer- 
 sities in moments of patriotic enthusiasm, such 
 as for instance at the outbreak of the 1870 war, 
 German students often met and sang " Ein' 
 feste Burg," and the effect, we are assured by 
 eye-witnesses on the above occasion, was one of 
 rare impressive grandeur. The connecting link 
 between religion and patriotism which the Ger- 
 man choral embodies is peculiarly national. It 
 finds its explanation in the history of the coun- 
 try, where, as in Scotland of old, the struggle 
 for Protestant freedom of thought was for a 
 time identified with the sentiment of national 
 autonomy. The choral possesses the charac- 
 teristics which belong only to those creations 
 which are essentially an outcome of national 
 sentiment, and therefore has retained a hold 
 over the people, which the Catholic "Te Deum," 
 has lost, and which the Anglican scholarly hymn- 
 book never possessed. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 265 
 
 With regard to patriotism, it may be averred, 
 that amid the darkest hours of national disaster, 
 from the time of the Thirty Years' War down 
 to our own time, the German Lied has kept the 
 flame of patriotism burning. In the War of 
 Liberation of 18 13, song did almost as much as 
 the sword. And in 1870 the famous song of 
 " The Watch on the Rhine " played a part which 
 it would be impossible to understand without 
 knowing something of German life and character. 
 
 Let us now turn to that world-famous song 
 of Beethoven's, the divinely sweet " Adelaide." 
 Who has not heard it ? But how few know 
 the real history of the origin of the Lied that 
 Beethoven composed ere he was celebrated, 
 when he was only just thirty years of age ? Yet 
 it has been the subject of romance, ballad, and 
 biography. The song^ " Adelaida " was written 
 by the poet Matthisson to Fraulein von Glafey, 
 with whom he was passionately in love. The 
 music was composed by Beethoven about 1798, 
 when the song almost immediately became 
 popular with all ranks. The love story con- 
 necting the poet and the maid of honour, Ade- 
 laida or Annette von Glafey (the poet chose 
 Adelaida as the name of his mistress on account 
 of its first two syllables, Adel, meaning noble) 
 with the composition has been so well related 
 by Mrs. Pereira, that I venture to give the 
 following extract from her paper, "Who was 
 
266 STORIES OF 
 
 Adelaida ? " which appeared in the " Sunday 
 Magazine," for May, 1893: "The Abbess (of 
 Mossy Mead) in her early days had held a post 
 in the household of the intellectual Princess 
 Louise of Dessau ; and it was on her return 
 from a summer tour in the suite of her patroness 
 that the beautiful maid of honour entered 
 the community of Mossy Mead. The reason 
 of her sudden retirement from court life had 
 been known to few, and the very fact was soon 
 forgotten ; and at the time we are writing the 
 Princess Louise had long been dead, and new 
 faces, new interests, had taken the place of 
 old ones. But the closed book of the past was 
 to be re-opened by a sudden and unlooked for 
 touch. It was a gala evening at "Mossy Mead. 
 The state apartments were thrown open, and 
 invitations had been sent by the Abbess to 
 guests from far and near, at the head of whom 
 were Prince George of Dessau and his youthful 
 countess. A concert was the occasion of this 
 brilliant assembly, a concert to celebrate the 
 opening of a fine chamber-organ that had just 
 been placed in the chapter-room, and several 
 eminent musicians, not only from Dessau but 
 from Dresden, were to be the chief performers. 
 " The Prince led the Abbess to her place, the 
 organ was disclosed to view, and the concert 
 began. . . . The last number on the programme 
 was a song by the leading tenor of the Dresden 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 267 
 
 Opera. It received a rapturous encore, and the 
 singer, after a moment's hesitation, once more 
 stepped forward and made a sign to the accom- 
 panist. Then, amid deepest silence, the first 
 notes of Beethoven's wonderful song rose upon 
 the air. Never had those strains been more 
 exquisitely rendered. The audience seemed 
 spell-bound. But when the singer breathed the 
 last low, lingering, passionate appeal, 'Ade- 
 laida,' all eyes were turned upon the Abbess. 
 She sat with head bent forward, motionless, 
 almost rigid. Those nearest sprang to her 
 support, for they believed her to be smitten 
 with some sudden illness ; but with a resolute 
 effort she recovered herself. Rising to her full 
 height, with more than her wonted dignity, she 
 thanked the vocalist who had furnished so 
 glorious a finale to the concert. A smile was 
 on her countenance — a smile of proud, triumph- 
 ant joy such as none remembered ever to have 
 seen there before. The faded features were 
 transfigured. And then, by a flash of intuition, 
 the singer and those around him recognized 
 the never once suspected truth, never once 
 suspected during all those forty years. That 
 ancient, old-world lady, who seemed to have 
 halted and stood still upon the threshold of the 
 century, had suddenly assumed a new and 
 startling aspect, for the magic of imagination, 
 which can in a moment's space obliterate the 
 
268 STORIES OF 
 
 trace of years, had banished each deeply-graven 
 furrow, to picture her as once more the lovely, 
 graceful maiden, the ornament of a court, the 
 idol of a poet's dream, the beloved, the adored, 
 the broken-hearted Adelaida ! 
 
 " Long years ago, in the one golden summer 
 of her young life and during that tour amid the 
 grandeur of Swiss scenery, the maid of honour 
 had been brought into close association with the 
 poet Friedrich Matthisson, who then held the 
 appointment of reader to the princess. He was 
 many years older than the enthusiastic girl, for 
 such she was in years ; but he was a poet ; and 
 the pair were surrounded by everything in nature 
 that could foster and refine the purest, most 
 exalted sentiment. They loved, and their mutual 
 devotion formed an idyl of sweetest, most 
 idealized romance. Matthisson poured out the 
 riches of his genius at the high-souled maiden's 
 feet, and she dreamed that she was in Elysium. 
 
 " But this romance, like most others of its 
 kind, was destined to a sadly prosaic ending. 
 Adelaida, or Annette von Glafey was of noble 
 birth ; her lover was a poor pastor's son. Once 
 more in Dessau, and face to face with the harsh 
 realities of life, the maid of honour was sum- 
 moned to hear the doom of her happiness 
 spoken from the lips of her relentless father — 
 ' Marriage in your own rank, or retirement to 
 Mosigkan.' " 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 269 
 
 Annette made up her mind at once, and re- 
 tired from the sunshine of the world to the dull, 
 monotonous, loveless life in a nunnery. Her 
 life was made more bitter by the fact that in 
 after years, when it was too late, the patent of 
 nobility was conferred upon Matthisson, thus 
 removing the obstacle that had proved a bar 
 to their happiness. But Matthisson had found 
 another bride. The Abbess lived on at Mosig- 
 kan until 1858, when she died, full of years and 
 pious resignation. Few who attended her funeral 
 knew that she had inspired some of the finest 
 outpourings of a poet's heart, or that the melody 
 which has made the composer world-famous 
 was set to words that told of her life history and 
 love. 
 
270 STORIES OF 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CONCERNING SOME WELSH SONGS. 
 
 "the dying bard," "sweet richard," "the 
 bard's love," "idle days in summer time," 
 
 "watching the wheat," " FFARWEL ITI PEGGY 
 BAN," "march of the MEN OF HARLECH," 
 " THOSE EVENING BELLS," " ALL THROUGH THE 
 NIGHT," "POOR MARY ANN," "MAID OF MONa's 
 ISLE," " WHY LINGERS THY GAZE," " THE BLACK 
 MONK," " THE CAMBRIAN PLUME," " MORVA 
 RHUDDLAN," " DAVID OF THE WHITE ROCK," 
 " THE SORROWS OF MEMORY," " WINIFREDA," 
 
 and " ST. David's day." 
 
 The wealth of melody that has had its birth in 
 Gallant little Wales would come as a surprise 
 upon those who have never explored its bardic 
 mines, notwithstanding that the Welsh harpers 
 and bards have long held their own against the 
 world. As in Scotland and Ireland, where the 
 lyric gift has been so plentifully utilized, so it is 
 in Wales that the people delight to make songs 
 and sing them to their own music. Said the 
 Bishop of St. David's (Dr. Connop Thirlwall), 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 271 
 
 " It is a most remarkable feature in the history 
 of any people, and such as could be said of no 
 other people than the Welsh, that they have 
 centred their national recreation in literature, 
 and musical competitions." To this may be 
 added the remarks of Dr. Fetis, at one time the 
 director of the Brussels Royal Academy of 
 Music, who, in his " History of Music " thus 
 refers to the antiquity of the Welsh and their 
 music. "In Gaul, as well as in the country of 
 the Welsh nation, there were priests called 
 Druids, who celebrated their mysterious rites in 
 the forests, and bards or musical priests who sang 
 the glory of Heroes. But there is the difference 
 between Gaul and the country of the Welsh, 
 inasmuch as the latter still preserve their bards, 
 and that the Cambrian or Celtic language is still 
 cultivated by them, and moreover their music 
 still maintains its primitive type. There is 
 something remarkable in this now interminable 
 succession of Welsh bards for two thousand 
 years, and that the preservation intact of their 
 language and their Celtic music, in a country so 
 long ruled over by the Saxons." Francis Joseph 
 Fetis, by the way, was a brilliant musician and 
 learned writer on musical subjects. He was 
 born at Mons, March 25, 1784, and died on his 
 birthday, 1871. 
 
 But this is no place to enter into particulars 
 of the ancient music of Wales, though as Mr. 
 
272 STORIES OF 
 
 Brinley Richards says in his Introduction to 
 the " Royal Edition of the Songs of Wales" 
 (Caneuon Cymru :) "That a Welsh adaptation of 
 the songs will be welcomed throughout the 
 Principality may not be generally understood, 
 for the oddest misconceptions prevail in Eng- 
 land as to the Welsh language. Many people 
 imagine that the Welsh language is only a sort 
 of provincial dialect of English, like that which 
 prevails in Scotland. Very few Englishmen 
 seem to know that the Welsh have a large 
 living literature, and that there are upwards of 
 twelve thousand printed books in the Welsk 
 Language" I shall now endeavour to tell 
 some facts of the few songs that I have been 
 able to trace as having a more than passing 
 history. 
 
 In a note to his poem, " The Dying Bard," 
 Sir Walter Scott says, " The Welsh tradition 
 proves that a bard on his death-bed demanded 
 his harp, and the air (" Dafydd y Gareg Wen") 
 to which these words are adapted, requesting 
 that it might be performed at -his funeral." And, 
 according to J. Parry's " Welsh Harper," this 
 melody was accordingly played on the harp, at 
 the parish church Ynys Cynhaiarn; in which 
 parish this house, called Gareg- Wen (Caernar- 
 vonshire) is situated. I give the English version 
 (by John Oxenford) of this lyric, "David of the 
 White Rock." 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 273 
 
 " David the Bard on his death-bed lies, 
 Pale are his features and dim are his eyes. 
 Yet all around him his glance wildly roves — 
 Till it alights on the harp that he loves. 
 
 " Give me my harp, my companion so long. 
 Let it once more add its voice to my song. 
 Though my old fingers are palsied and weak, 
 Still my good harp for its master will speak. 
 
 " Often the hearts of our chiefs it has stirred, 
 When its loud summons to battle was heard ; 
 Harp of my country, dear harp of the brave, 
 Let thy last notes hover over my grave." 
 
 The very plaintive air, " Sweet Richard — 
 " Per Alaw neu Sweet Richard," Brinley Rich- 
 ards attributes to Blondel, but history points to 
 Owen Glendower, an esquire to Richard II., a 
 surprisingly well-educated and accomplished 
 man for those times, and a gallant withal. In 
 all probability it was composed by Glendower 
 during his master's captivity, and it was after- 
 wards played at the risings in favour of the 
 unfortunate king, as the Jacobite airs were 
 played to excite the adherents of the Stuarts. 
 In close committee (October, 1399), it was 
 determined that Richard should be conveyed to 
 some castle, there to be kept in strict and secret 
 imprisonment, where some of his former friends 
 might have access to him. Whereupon he was 
 removed from the Tower in the first instance 
 to Leeds Castle, Kent ; and like Edward II., he 
 seems to have been removed secretly by night 
 
 T 
 
274 STORIES OF 
 
 from one castle to another. " Every man," says 
 Froissart, " might well consider that he should 
 never come out of prison alive." And as every 
 school-boy knows he never did. But how he 
 came by his death is not known for certain to 
 this day. The fact that Blondel was of French 
 origin and could not write in Welsh, while Owen 
 Glendower was a Welshman by birth, seems 
 conclusive that the song refers to Richard II. 
 and not Richard I. ; besides, the time of Blondel's 
 song, already described, and that of " A Mighty 
 Warrior " (Per Alaw), are quite different. 
 
 Several of the Welsh songs are founded by 
 the bards themselves upon their own love dis- 
 appointments and experiences. " The Bard's 
 Love " tells of the bard Hoel ap Einion, who fell 
 in love with the celebrated Myvanury Vechan 
 (residing in the year 1390 at Castel Dinas 
 Bran in the Vale of Llangollen), and died broken- 
 hearted because of her disdain. " Idle Days in 
 Summer Time" is an ideal love-song of the 
 rustic order. It was written by Will Hopkin, 
 the bard, who was born about 1700. The 
 tradition respecting the hapless love entertained 
 for him by Ann Thomas (" The Maid of Cefn 
 Ydfa") is widely known and still recited in 
 parts of Wales. The Bard wrote many s.ongs 
 in her honour, the best being "Idle Days in 
 Summer Time." I present the first verse, trans- 
 lated by Walter Maynard. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 275 
 
 " Idle days in summer time, 
 
 In pleasant sunny weather, 
 Amid the golden coloured corn 
 
 Two lovers passed together. 
 Many words they did not speak, 
 
 To give their thoughts expression, 
 Each knew the other's heart was full. 
 
 But neither made confession." 
 
 But to " The Maid of Cefn Ydfa." The song in 
 which the minstrel poured out his love is called 
 " Bugeilio 'r Gwenith Gwyn " (" Watching the 
 Wheat"). According to "Cambrian Minstrelsie," 
 the subject of the song is " Ann Thomas, com- 
 monly known as the ' Maid of Cefn Ydfa,' who 
 was born at a house of that name, in the parish 
 of Llangynnwyd, Glamorganshire, in the year 
 1704. She Wcis the elder child of well-to-do 
 parents. Her father died before she was four 
 years of age, when she, with her brother, was 
 placed under two guardians, one being her 
 maternal uncle. Her brother dying in youth, 
 she became sole heiress to her father's pro- 
 perty. There lived in the neighbourhood a 
 Mr. Anthony Maddocks, of Cwm-yr-isga, who 
 was a lawyer, and possessed considerable means. 
 He was Undersheriff of Glamorganshire in 17 19. 
 He had a son and heir named Anthony, who 
 was. also a lawyer, and was Undersheriff of the 
 county in 1743. There being money on both 
 sides, the elder Maddocks, Mrs. Thomas, and 
 her brother (Ann's guardian) thought that the 
 
276 STORIES OF 
 
 union of the younger Maddocks with the heiress 
 of Cefn Ydfa would be a most desirable con- 
 summation. But we hear nothing of tender 
 wooing on the one side or of passionate love on 
 the other ; it was altogether a ' high ' family 
 arrangement. Moreover, the lover destined to 
 win the maiden's heart came in, humble guise. 
 This was Will Hopkin, of Llangynnwyd, a 
 tiler and plasterer by trade, and three years her 
 senior. Llangynnwyd being situated within the 
 classic ground of Tir larll, its mental atmosphere 
 was balmy with the breath of posey. Bardic 
 contests were the daily pastimes of the inhabit- 
 ants, and in these Will shone with remarkable 
 brilliancy. He was frequently engaged in the 
 exercise of his craft at Cefn Ydfa, and thus he 
 and the lovely Ann Thomas were thrown in 
 each other's way. He used to take his meals in 
 the kitchen, when she would send the servants 
 to do outside work, in order that they might 
 have an opportunity of communing together. 
 But when the mother became aware of these 
 proceedings he was summarily dismissed. It is 
 to this period that the plaintive " Bugeilio 'r 
 Gwenith Gwyn " is assigned. The lovers after 
 this met sometimes in the wood near the house ; 
 but this was soon discovered and effectually 
 prevented. Ann was for a time imprisoned in 
 her own room, where she suffered untold anguish. 
 One of the servant maids, Ann Llewelyn, taking 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 277 
 
 compassion upon her, acted then as an inter- 
 mediary between her and her lover, and helped 
 them to carry on a clandestine correspondence, 
 by means of letters deposited in the trunk of an 
 old tree at a place called Corn-hwch. But this 
 was also found put, and Will, rightly or wrongly, 
 suspected the servant maid of having betrayed 
 them. Meanwhile great pressure was brought 
 to bear on Ann to accept young Maddocks, and 
 this ultimately led to their marriage, on May 
 5th, 1725. Will then left for England, and 
 settled at Bristol ; but dreaming one night that 
 Maddocks was dead he suddenly returned. On 
 reaching his old heme he heard that his beloved 
 had lost her reason and was lying at the point 
 of death. His arrival being made known to the 
 family, they sent for him, hoping that his pres- 
 ence might soothe her sufferings. Some say 
 that she heard his voice at the door and died 
 before he could reach her bedside. Others say 
 that, on seeing him, she sprang into his arms 
 and instantly expired. Her death took place on 
 June i6th, 1727. Her tombstone is to be seen 
 to-day inside Llangynnwyd Church, and is an 
 object of much curiosity to strangers from all 
 parts. Will was never married, though he sur- 
 vived her about fourteen years. His death 
 occurred on August 19th, 1741 ; and he was 
 buried under an old yew tree on the western 
 side of Llangynnwyd churchyard. 
 
278 STORIES OF 
 
 A monument has lately been erected to the 
 Maid of Cefn Ydfa in the restored church, and 
 it is proposed to erect a monument over the 
 grave of her unfortunate lover. 
 
 The popular song " Ffarwel iti Peggy ban" 
 was composed by the minstrels of North Wales 
 when Margaret of Anjou left Harlech Castle, 
 where she had taken refuge after the defeat of 
 July 9th, 1460, near Northampton. Mention 
 of Harlech naturally recalls the march of that 
 name which is ever a favourite at public schools. 
 This dates from 1468. Harlech Castle stands 
 on a lofty rock on the sea-shore of Merioneth- 
 shire. " The original tower," says Brinley 
 Richards in his note to the song, called " Twr 
 Bronwen," "is said to have been built in the 
 sixth century ; it afterwards received the name 
 of Caer Colwyn, and eventually its more de- 
 scriptive name Harlech, or above the boulders." 
 From Dr. Nicholas's "Antiquities of Wales" I 
 extract this : " By order of the King (Edward 
 IV.) William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, led a 
 powerful army to Harlech, and demanded the 
 surrender of the place ; but Sir Richard Herbert, 
 the Earl's brother, received from the stout 
 defender this answer, ' I held a tower in France 
 till all the old women in Wales heard of it, and 
 now all the old women in France shall hear 
 how I defend this castle.' Famine, however, at 
 length succeeded, and the intrepid Welshman, 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 279 
 
 Dafydd ap Jevan, made an honourable capitula- 
 tion." 
 
 In " Cambrian Minstrelsie " will be found full 
 accounts of many exquisite songs, together with 
 Welsh and English words, and the original 
 music. Indeed, this is the best and most re- 
 liable work on Welsh national melodies ever 
 published. The curious story connected with 
 " Those Evening Bells," which Thomas Moore 
 wrote in English and Professor Rowlands in 
 Welsh, I here give : " There is an old wife's 
 tale which states that Tom, Dick, and Ned (the 
 original air is called ' Ffarwel Die Bibydd ' — 
 ' Dick the Piper's Farewell ') went to visit the 
 Black Cave, near Criccieth ; but what makes 
 the tale interesting is that they went and forgot 
 to return, and by this time, doubtless, few of 
 their relatives expect them or expect to hear 
 from them. The Shepherd of Braich y Bib 
 noticed them at the mouth of the cave. Dick 
 the piper played on a flute, and the other two 
 carried lights before him. In five minutes the 
 music changed and Little Tom played another 
 tune. Farther and farther they receded, and 
 weaker and weaker became the sound, By- 
 and-by the Shepherd heard another tune, and 
 he listened to that at the cave's entrance until 
 every note died away. Not one of them has 
 returned to this day." 
 
 There is a very favourite fairy song called 
 
28o STORIES OF 
 
 " Toriad y Dydd " (" The Break of Day ") which 
 is exceedingly ancient, as may be gathered 
 from this statement by Richard Llwyd in " Cant 
 O Ganeuon gan Ceiriog " : "In Wales, as in 
 other pastoral districts, the fairy tales are not 
 yet erased from the traditional tablet ; and age 
 seldom neglects to inform youth that if, on 
 retiring to rest, the hearth is made clean, the 
 floor swept, and the pails left full of water, the 
 fairies will come at midnight, continue their 
 revels till daybreak, sing the well-known strain 
 of ' Toriad y Dydd,' leave a piece of money 
 upon the hob, and disappear." 
 
 Everybody is acquainted with that very old 
 Welsh air " Ar Hyd y Nos," for did not Mrs. 
 Opie in the long ago familiarize us with the 
 words beginning : 
 
 " Here beneath a willow weepeth 
 Poor Mary Ann." 
 
 It will be found in most collections under the 
 title of " All through the Night." It has served 
 as the basis of many a drawing room song. Of 
 the ancient melody ' ' Codiad yr H edydd," to which 
 Professor Rowlands has written English words 
 under the title of " The Rising of the Lark," 
 the following incident is told. It is said to be 
 about two hundred years old. " The composer, 
 David Owen, is stated to have gone to a noson- 
 lawen (a merry night) at Plas-y-Borth, Port- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 281 
 
 madoc, and according to the custom in those 
 times, he had lingered at the feast until two or 
 three o'clock in the morning. The clocks, no 
 doubt, were to blame for the fact ! The 
 ' Newport Clock ' was not in existence then, 
 and could not, therefore, be consulted. How- 
 ever, day-break overtook David and his harp 
 while wending the way homewards. The 
 young minstrel sat on a stone, which is still 
 pointed out by the inhabitants, to watch a sky- 
 lark above him giving vent to its merriment at 
 the appearance of the dawn ; and there and then 
 played upon his harp the air known ever since 
 as 'Codiadyr Hedydd?'" 
 
 The story of the "Maid of Mona's Isle," 
 written to the old melody of " Hobed O Hilion " 
 (" A Bushel of Fragments ") is, says the author. 
 Professor Rowlands, ideally true. "It bears," 
 continues the writer in his note, " some resem- 
 blance to the 'Stars of Normandie,' but the 
 author had not seen that song when he wrote 
 this. Some years ago he happened to be at a 
 railway station, when he observed a beautiful 
 lady with a sorrowful countenance going round 
 the carriages of a newly arrived train. He was 
 told that her young husband had a long time 
 previously gone abroad, and had never been 
 heard of afterwards. His friends had given 
 him up as lost ; but his faithful wife still persisted 
 in believing that he would return, and from 
 
282 STORIES OF 
 
 day to day met every arriving train for years, 
 with the vain hope of seeing him. 
 
 I transcribe the first verse of " The Fair Maid 
 of Mona's Isle " : 
 
 " There once lived a maid in Mona's fair Isle, 
 Whose sweet face was never lit up with a smile ; 
 She mournfully sighed while others were gay. 
 And seemed to grow sadder as years passed away. 
 Near the lonely seashore tide in and tide out 
 Both morning and ev'ning she wandered about 
 Wistfully looking across the wide main, 
 Expecting, expecting, but always in vain ! " 
 
 It will naturally be of interest to the English 
 reader to know that there have been many 
 workers in the field of research who have lov- 
 ingly devoted their talents to the rescue and 
 preservation of the songs of Cambria, and 
 amongst the more notable may be mentioned 
 Edward Jones {Bardd y Brenin), 1752-1824; 
 John Parry {Bardd A law), 1 776-1 851 ; John 
 Thomas {leuan Ddu), 1 795-1871 ; John Owen 
 (Owain Alaw), 1821-1883; Brinley Richards, 
 to whom I refer more fully farther on, 1819-1885. 
 Thomas Love Peacock, who wrote the " March 
 of the Men of Harlech," 1785- 1866, John 
 Thomas {Pencerdd Gwalia), Dr. Joseph Parry, 
 and Professor David Rowlands, the last three 
 being happily still alive and interesting them- 
 selves in the Bardic lore of Wales to which 
 the late talented Ceiriog contributed so much. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 283 
 
 Apart from the songs to which I more par- 
 ticularly refer, there are numberless others with 
 legends and stories of purely local fame, and for 
 these the reader is directed to any of the collected 
 labours of the writers and musicians given above. 
 Many of the folk-songs are very quaint and 
 entertaining, and the numerous fairy and fan- 
 tastic lyrics are full of delicate and humoristic 
 touches. The " Goblin on the Lake," to the 
 tune of "Distyll y Drain," by the way, is a 
 capital example of a modern imitation of the old 
 style. The " Strolling Fiddler " is also a good 
 song. The song " Wrth Edrych Yn Ol" 
 {" Why Lingers Thy Gaze "), with English 
 words by Mrs. Hemans, deserves mention on 
 account of the belief that the original song was 
 written in commemoration of those early Welsh 
 explorers who are said to have been the fore- 
 runners of Columbus in the discovery of the 
 new world. " A Triad mentions, as one of 
 of three missing ones of the Island of Britain : 
 Madog ab Owen Gwynedd (' Lady Owen's 
 Delight ' is the name of the air), ' who went to 
 sea with three hundred men in ten ships, and it 
 is unknown whither they went,' — these words 
 contain all that is really known of the Prince's 
 naval explorations ; and on this bare fact of his 
 departure, conjecture has founded the interesting 
 hypothesis which represents him as the pre- 
 cursor of Columbus in the discovery of the 
 
284 STORIES OF 
 
 Western Hemisphere." From J. Williams' 
 " History of Wales." As a matter of fact, it 
 has recently been demonstrated that the Welsh 
 had no hand in the discovery of America. 
 
 The note to the song of the " Black Monk" 
 says, " Griffith ap Cynan for a period of twelve 
 years was kept in captivity in the City of 
 Chester. In 1092 he was rescued by Kenvrig 
 Heer, who deceived his keepers, though loaded 
 with chains, over the Dee into Wales." The 
 " Black Monk " is a strikingly good song, with 
 English words by Walter Maynard. A very 
 powerful song is the "'Monks of Bangor's March," 
 with English words by Sir Walter Scott, Ethel- 
 frid, or Oldfrid, King of Northumberland, 
 having besieged Chester in 613, and Brockmael, 
 a British Prince, advancing to relieve it, the 
 religious folk of the neighbouring Monastery of 
 Bangor marched in procession to pray for the 
 success of their countrymen. But the British 
 being totally defeated, the heathen victors put 
 the monks to the sword and destroyed the 
 monastery. This tune is supposed to have 
 been played at the ill-omened monks' procession. 
 " The Cambrian Plume " is a modern song, with 
 music by Brinley Richards and words by Walter 
 Maynard (Welsh words by Mynyddg), telling 
 of the plume with its motto " Ich Dien" which 
 is supposed to have been found in the helmet of 
 King John of Bohemia, who was slain in the 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 285 
 
 Battle of Cressy, and, having been adopted 
 by Edward the Black Prince, has been ever 
 since worn as the crest or cognizance of the 
 Prince of Wales as heir apparent to the British 
 crown. 
 
 The oldest Welsh melody extant is the 
 plaintive air of " Morva Rhuddlan," composed 
 by King Caradoc's Court Minstrel immediately 
 after the battle of Rhuddlan Marsh, in which 
 the Welsh forces suffered a terrible defeat and 
 their royal chief was left dead upon the field. 
 This tune, than which there is nothing more 
 plaintive in the whole range of music, was com- 
 posed in the year 795. " Several of the Welsh 
 songs that are most popular at the present day," 
 says a sympathetic scribe, " date from the 
 eleventh century, when the bardic craft was at 
 its zenith in the Principality, and Gryfudd ap 
 Cynan, King of North Wales, held a congress 
 of music masters in the Isle of Anglesey for the 
 purpose of reforming the Order of Welsh Bards, 
 and invited members of the fraternity from Ire- 
 land to assist in carrying out the contemplated 
 innovations. The most important of the reforms 
 instituted by this venerable assemblage convoked 
 just twenty-six years before the Norman Con- 
 quest, appears to have been — according to Mr. 
 John Thomas, the Queen's harpist — the separa- 
 tion of the professions of bard and minstrel ; in 
 other words, poetry and music, arts the practice 
 
286 STORIES OF 
 
 of which had theretofore been united in one and 
 the same person." 
 
 "David of the White Rock "— " Dafydd y 
 Garreg Wen," or David Owen, a famous minstrel 
 who was born in 1720. Owen was a skilful 
 performer on the harp, and a clever composer 
 to boot. He died young, but wrote several 
 popular Welsh songs, and about the song named 
 after himself, sometimes called "The Dying 
 Minstrel," the following pathetic incident is told. 
 When David Owen lay on his deathbed, he 
 happened to fall into a trance. His mother, 
 who was watching him at the time, thought the 
 flame of life had gone out. But he suddenly 
 revived, and fixing his eyes upon her said that 
 he had just dreamed a wonderful dream, in which 
 he found himself in heaven, where he had heard 
 the sweetest strains that ever fell on mortal ears. 
 At his request his harp was given to him, and 
 he recalled the music he had heard, and played 
 " Dafydd y Garreg Wen." Just as the last note 
 was dying away his spirit took its flight to its 
 eternal home. The air fixed itself in the mother's 
 memory, and was thus preserved for ever. 
 
 There is a tender interest attached to the old 
 air of " Dros yr Afon," as being one to which 
 Mrs. Mary Robinson, "Perdita" Robinson, the 
 actress who had the misfortune to attract the 
 attention of the Prince of Wales, afterwards 
 George IV., wrote some very touching words, 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 287 
 
 called " The Sorrows of Memory." She was a 
 lovely and clever woman, whose beauty and 
 talents were only equalled by her sorrows. 
 
 "The Old Sibyl," or "Winifreda," with 
 English words by George Withers, is still a 
 popular song in Wales, at any rate. Winifreda, 
 as Foulkes relates, was the daughter of Thewith, 
 a gentleman of great wealth and influence, who 
 was the owner of the locality on which Holy- 
 well stands. Her mother's name was Wenlo, 
 she was descended from an ancient family in 
 Montgomeryshire, and was sister to Saint Beuno. 
 Tradition tells how Saint Beuno restored his 
 niece Winifreda to life after she had been cruelly 
 murdered. The story runs as follows : "Beuno, 
 in the course of his wanderings came to the 
 banks of the Dee, and there he met with The- 
 with, and Thewith gave unto Beuno land on 
 which to build a church, which he did forthwith. 
 One day Thewith and his wife went to hear 
 mass and a sermon from Beuno, leaving their 
 daughter Winifreda at home to take care of 
 the house ; and she was a virgin of comely 
 appearance. When she was all alone, the son 
 of a chieftain came in, whose name was Caradoc. 
 The maiden received him with due deference; 
 when he asked where her parents were, and she 
 replied, ' If you have any business with my 
 father, wait, for he will soon return from church.' 
 Thereupon he attempted to ravish her, but she 
 
288 - STORIES OF 
 
 escaped from his hands and ran towards the 
 church where her father was worshipping. 
 Caradoc, in his rage, pursued her, and over- 
 taking her just as she reached the church door, 
 unsheathed his sword and struck her head off, 
 which rolled into the church, while her body fell 
 outside. When Beuno saw this he said to 
 Caradoc,,'! will pray God that He may not 
 spare thee, nor respect thee, any more than thou 
 hast respected this virtuous maid.' And on the 
 instant Caradoc was transformed into a pool of 
 water, and was no more seen in this world. 
 Then Beuno took the maid's head and placed it 
 on the body, and spread a mantle over them ; 
 and, addressing the parents, he said, 'Cease 
 your groaning until mass is over.' At the end 
 of the service he raised Winifreda to life again ; 
 and on the spot where her blood fell a well of 
 water sprang forth, which is called Winifreda's 
 Well un^o this day. The waters of this well — 
 which is situated at Holywell — are supposed to 
 possess miraculous virtues, and pilgrinis from 
 all parts of the world still resort thither to be 
 healed by them." 
 
 Before finishing up this brief account let me 
 say something about " St. David's Day" ; if it be 
 contended that I have quoted too much in this 
 chapter, and told too little, I can only plead in 
 the words of Dr. Johnson, that it is all through 
 " sheer ignorance, sheer ignorance." Many con- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 289 
 
 flicting legends exist as to the real origin of 
 wearing the leek on the ist of March, but the 
 most generally accepted tale is that King Cad- 
 wallader, in 640, gained a complete victory over 
 the Saxons by the special interposition of St. 
 David, who ordered the Britons to wear leeks 
 in their caps that they might recognize each 
 other. The Saxons, for want of some common 
 cognizance, often mistook friends for foes. 
 Drayton gives another version. He says the 
 saint lived in the valley Ewias, situated between 
 the Hatterill Hills, in Monmouthshire. It 
 was here " that reverend British saint to con- 
 templation lived." 
 
 " And did so truly fast 
 As he did only drink what crystal Hodney yields, 
 And fed upon the leeks he gathered in the fields. 
 In memory of whom in each revolving year 
 The Welshmen on his day that sacred herb do wear." 
 
 Other authorities trace it back to Druidic times 
 and customs, and insist that the leek from 
 ancient days and ancient peoples has ever been 
 a vegetable of honour and utility. During the 
 funeral rites of Adonis at Byblos, leeks and 
 onions were exhibited in " pots with other 
 vegetables, and called the gardens of that deity." 
 The leek was worshipped at Ascalon (whence 
 the modern term of scullions) says the erudite 
 Hone, as it was in Egypt. Leeks and onions 
 were deposited in the sacred chests of the mys- 
 
 u 
 
290 STORIES OF 
 
 teries of I sis and Ceres, the cendven of the 
 Druids, and assuming that the leek was a 
 Druidic symbol employed in honour of the 
 British cendven, or Ceres, there does not seem 
 anything very improbable in presuming that the 
 Druids were a branch of the Phoenician priest- 
 hood, and both were addicted to oak worship. 
 However, no matter the origin, the fact remains 
 that the leek is reverenced more or less in the 
 Principality, and that there is a National song 
 known as " Dydd Gwyl Dewi," of the Leek, 
 sung at all the festivals of " The Society of 
 Ancient Britons." St. David was canonized, by 
 Pope Calixtus, about 700 years after his death, 
 and his commemoration is held on the ist day 
 of March. 
 
 A capital version of this and other Welsh lyrics 
 is to be found in " Cambrian Minstrelsie," edited 
 by Dr. Joseph Parry and Professor Rowlands, 
 published in 1893. It contains the gems of the 
 muse and the music of the old Welsh bards. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 291 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 SOME SCOTTISH SONGS. 
 
 ' O NANNY WILT THOU GANG WITH ME ? " " THE 
 ROOF OF STRAW," "BONNIE DUNDEE," "JOHN 
 ANDERSON, MY JO," " MAGGIE LAUDER," "JESSIE 
 THE FLOWER o' DUNBLANE," " JEANNIE MORRI- 
 SON," "WEE WILLIE WINKIE," "THE FLOWERS 
 OF THE FOREST," "WERE NA MY HEART LIGHT 
 I WOULD DEE," " AND YE SHALL WALK IN SILK 
 ATTIRE," " HUNTINGTOWER," "WILL YE NO 
 COME BACK TO ME ? " " AN THOU WERT MY AIN 
 THING," " LASS o' PATIE's MILL," " THERE 'S NAE 
 LUCK ABOUT THE HOUSE," " LOGIE o' BUCHAN," 
 "LOCHABER no MORE," "WITHIN A MILE OF 
 EDINBURGH TOWN," " BLUE BONNETS OVER THE 
 BORDER," " ANNIE LAURIE," " LOGAN WATER," 
 " SCOTS WHA HAE," " BLUE BELLS OF SCOTLAND," 
 " DONALD DHU," " ROy's WIFE OF ALDIVALLOCH," 
 "HIGHLAND MARY," "DUNCAN GREY," "LASS o' 
 GOWRIE," " COMIN' THROUGH THE RYE," " CROM- 
 LET's lilt," "WALY, WALY," "ye banks AND 
 BRAES," "ONAGH'S WATERFALL," "FAREWELL 
 TO AYRSHIRE," AND "TAKE YOUR OLD CLOAK 
 ABOUT THEE." 
 
292 STORIES OF 
 
 As with Ireland, the poetic genius of Scotland 
 has long been acknowledged to be chiefly 
 lyrical, and the multitude of her minor bards, 
 known and unknown, is marvellous to contem- 
 plate. One remarkable thing that strikes even 
 the casual observer is that the large majority 
 of the most popular Scottish songs were written 
 by women. For example, Joanna Baillie is 
 responsible for " Saw ye Johnnie Comin'," 
 " Woo'd and Married and a'," and " Poverty 
 parts Good Companie." Lady Anne Barnard 
 gave us " Auld Robin Gray," whose history I 
 have already related ; Lady Carolina Nairne 
 penned the inimitable " Land o' the Leal," the 
 ever-green " Caller Herrin'," and the " Laird o' 
 Cockpen," the song of the attainted Scottish 
 nobles which induced George IV. to sanction 
 the restitution of the forfeited title of baron to 
 her husband. Bishop Percy of Dromore, who 
 has earned the gratitude of all ages by the 
 publication of his " Rehques of Ancient English 
 Poetry," deserves first and honourable mention 
 for his charming song, " O Nanny wilt thou 
 gang with me ? " The ballad is not such a 
 favourite as it was at one time, though it still 
 receives considerable attention north of the 
 Tweed. It was occasioned thus. In 1771 
 Mrs. Percy was summoned to the Court of 
 George III., and appointed nurse to the infant 
 Prince Edward, who was afterwards Duke of 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 293 
 
 Kent and father of our present sovereign, 
 Queen Victoria. When Mrs. Percy had ful- 
 filled the duties required of her, and returned 
 home to her disconsolate husband, he greeted 
 her with the verses, " O Nanny will you go 
 with me ? " Nanny being Mrs. Percy's Christian 
 name. The affecting ballad very quickly took 
 high rank, and was regarded by the " Gentle- 
 man's Magazine " of 1 780 as " the most beautiful 
 sorig in the English language." It was sung 
 in 1773 at Vauxhall Gardens by Mr. Vernon. 
 It is given in " Popular Songs and Melodies of 
 Scotland " simply to prove, according to the 
 editor's statement, that it belongs to England 
 and not Scotland. Let us say that it belongs 
 to both countries. Mrs. Percy died in i8o6» 
 and Bishop Percy in 181 1. He was born in 
 1728. 
 
 The music of the song was composed by 
 C. T. Carter, as he is called on the title-page 
 of the " Milesian." Thomas Carter was born 
 in Dublin in 1735, and studied for a time under 
 his father, Timothy Carter, organist of one of 
 the principal churches. He set " O Nanny" to 
 music in 1773, and it was published shortly 
 afterwards. In 1787 Carter was musical di- 
 rector of the Royalty Theatre, Goodman's Fields. 
 He died in London, October 14th, 1804. 
 
 It is only just to Bishop Percy to say that 
 " O Nanny wilt thou go with me ? " was origin- 
 
294 STORIES OF 
 
 ally written entirely in English without any 
 
 Scottish expressions or words at all. Perhaps 
 
 after all I ought to have given it in the English 
 
 section. 
 
 It is not, I think, generally known that Dr. 
 Henry Duncan, the founder of savings banks 
 in Scotland, wrote the " Roof of Straw," which 
 has often been attributed to that prolific pen- 
 man, Mr. Anon., but such is the case. Com- 
 mencing life as a banker's clerk, he soon found 
 the duties uncongenial, and resolved to enter 
 the Church of Scotland. At Edinburgh he was 
 the associate of Brougham, Horner, and Henry 
 Petty (afterwards Marquis of Lansdowne) ; and 
 by the Earl of Mansfield was made the minister 
 of Rothwell in Dumfriesshire, where his first 
 savings bank was established in 1810. A few 
 years later he established the " Dumfries and 
 Galloway Courier," one of the most successful 
 provincial papers, at one time, in the kingdom. 
 
 There are two songs bearing the title of 
 " Bonnie Dundee," and the more modern one, 
 written by Sir Walter Scott, is the best known. 
 Indeed, I doubt if many people have ever heard 
 of the ancient lyric. Scott, who with Lord 
 Byron, Dr. Johnson, and some other poets 
 shared the affliction of not being able to ap- 
 preciate music, wrote his verses, if he wrote 
 them to a melody at all, not to the old Scottish 
 air, but to that questionable song the "Jockey's 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 295 
 
 Deliverance," which they fit exactly. Observe 
 the difference of the metre. Here is Scott's 
 " Bonnie Dundee " : 
 
 " To the Lords of Convention 'twas Claverhouse spoke : 
 Ere the king's crown go down there are crowns to be broke; 
 Then each cavalier who loves honour and me, 
 Let him follow the bonnets of Bonnie Dundee. 
 Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can, 
 Come saddle my horses, and call out my men ; 
 Unhook the west-port, and let us gae free. 
 For its up wi' the bonnets of Bonnie Dundee." 
 
 And here is the proper " Bonnie Dundee " of 
 far-off times — one of the stanzas which Burns 
 supplied from oral tradition to Johnson's " Mu- 
 sical Museum." 
 
 O, whar did ye get that hanver meal bannock, 
 O, silly blind body, O, dinna ye see ? 
 
 I gat it frae a young brisk Sodger Laddie, 
 Between Saint Johnston and bonie Dundee." 
 
 There is not much to commend in the original 
 song except the air, which is in the plaintive 
 minor, while Scott's song is in the rollicking 
 major. Here are the first verse and chorus of 
 a mournful version to be found in " Ancient 
 Ballads and Songs," 1827. 
 
 " Oh, have I burned, or have I slain. 
 
 Or have I done aught of injury ; 
 I've slighted the lass I may ne'er see again, 
 
 The BailUe's daughter of bonny Dundee. 
 
296 STORIES OF 
 
 " Bonny Dundee and Bonny Dundas, 
 
 Where shall I see sae bonny a lass ? 
 Open your ports, and let me gang free, 
 
 I maunna stay longer in bonny Dundee." 
 
 As Scott puts the last two lines of this refrain 
 into the mouth of Rob Roy towards the end of 
 his midnight interview with Baillie Nicol Jarvie 
 in the Tolbooth of Glasgow, it is natural to 
 suggest that the author of " Waverley " gathered 
 the notion for his own lyric from this one, which 
 was a street favourite. Gay uses it gaily in the 
 " Beggar's Opera." But there is yet another 
 Dundee — "Adieu, Dundee," which is believed 
 to date from the time of James II. — when he 
 dwelt in Scotland, 1679-82 — whose nobles may 
 have carried it to England, for it is somewhat 
 similar to an old English song. In " Pills to 
 Purge Melancholy," 17 19, will be found the 
 original parts of the chorus adapted by Scott. 
 We should be thankful to Scott and Burns 
 though, for preserving these old songs in new 
 dresses, for their first clothing was very scanty 
 and often indecent. As witness the words of 
 the first " John Anderson my Jo," a provokingly 
 coarse song adapted to a fine church melody ; 
 and " John, come kiss me now," " We're a 
 noddin'," and many other songs now clarified 
 and made classic. Burns has immortalized 
 "John Anderson, my Jo," and the lyric is as 
 familiar as household words. One of its pre- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 297 
 
 decessors, dating from about 1560, opens in this 
 inviting manner : 
 
 " John Anderson, my jo, cum in as ze gae by, 
 And ze saU get a sheip's tieil weel baken in a pye ; 
 Weel baken in a pye, and the haggis in a pat, 
 John Anderson, my jo, cum in and ze's get that." 
 
 It was the phrase that caught Burns, and he has 
 made it his own. Many imitators have tried 
 their hand at this song, notably in a Dunblane 
 continuation of the song. A very clever imita- 
 tion is to be found in the " Universal Songster," 
 1825, entitled "Jean Anderson," written by J. 
 Mackey. It is well and feelingly written. 
 
 The songs of the Jacobites and the songs of 
 the Covenanters have their especial interest, and 
 have, fortunately, been carefully preserved for 
 the most part. " Maggie Lauder," which is 
 claimed to be of both Fifeshire and Renfrew- 
 shire descent, I deal with in the next chapter. 
 Only a certain not very edifying version is 
 Scottish — the original is Irish. It was James 
 Ballantine who wrote the beautiful piece called 
 " Ilka blade o' grass keps its ain drap o' dew." 
 When the author was introduced to Miss 
 Stirling Graham, of Duntrune, then an old lady, 
 she drew him to the window and paid him the 
 delicate compliment, " I would like to see the 
 man who wrote ' Ilka blade o' grass keps its ain 
 drap o' dew.' " Ballantine, however, modestly 
 
298 STORIES OF 
 
 disclaimed it by saying he got the line from an 
 old Fife proverb. 
 
 Everybody knows "Jessie, the Flower of 
 Dunblane." It was written to an old folk air 
 by John Tannahill, for, perhaps, his friend R. A. 
 Smith. The son of a weaver of silk gauze, born 
 at Paisley, 1 774, in the days when Paisley was a 
 flourishing town, he followed in his father's 
 footsteps and became a weaver also ; but his 
 great hobby was his flute, and he amused him- 
 self by hunting up old melodies and writing 
 fresh words to them, generally " weaving threads 
 and verses" alternately while engaged in his 
 daily occupations. He paid such court to the 
 muses that, after having had many of his pieces 
 set to music by his friend Robert Archibald 
 Smith, in 1807 he published his "Songs and 
 Poems." Some of these became popular, but 
 brought him little fame and less money. He 
 met with many disappointments. James Hogg, 
 the Ettrick shepherd, undertook a journey to 
 Paisley on purpose to make his acquaintance, 
 " The two poets spent an evening together, and 
 the next day," says Sir George Douglas, 
 " Tannahill conveyed his new friend half way 
 back to Glasgow. But at the moment of part- 
 ing — as if with the knowledge of impending 
 ^il, or perhaps having already formed his fatal 
 design — he exclaimed ' Farewell ! I shall never 
 see you more ! ' " 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 299 
 
 He intimated to his friends wild plans which 
 he had formed for leaving Paisley, to take up his 
 abode in "some sequestered locality," or for can- 
 vassing the country in person for subscribers to 
 a new issue of his poems. At last, during a 
 visit to a friend at Glasgow, he complained of 
 the " insupportable misery of life," and is said at 
 that time to have exhibited unequivocal symp- 
 toms of mental derangement. At all events his 
 friend returned with him to Paisley. On reach- 
 ing home he retired to bed, where he was visited 
 by three of his brothers, who left him at about 
 ten o'clock, when he appeared to them sufficiently 
 calm. Two hours later they returned to inquire 
 for him. They found that his bed was empty 
 and that he had gone out. A search was insti- 
 tuted which led to the discovery of the poet's 
 coat at the side of the tunnel of a neighbouring 
 brook. The rest needs no telling. He 
 perished by his own hand ere he had reached 
 the age of thirty-six. In the art of song- writing 
 Tannahill, in his own particular line, has not been 
 surpassed. 
 
 William Motherwell's "Jeannie Morrison" 
 has the double charm of having a real personage 
 for its heroine. The life of Motherwell is of 
 singular interest. He was born in 1797 and 
 died in 1835. It was as a child when he was 
 sent to school in Edinburgh that he first met 
 " Jeannie Morrison," a pretty girl of winning 
 
300 STORIES OF 
 
 ways about his own age. She made a great 
 impression on the susceptible boy of eleven, 
 though they only knew each other for a short 
 six months. It is presumed that he wrote his 
 one really famous song when he was about 
 eighteen. 
 
 Motherwell, who died at the early age of 
 thirty-eight from apoplexy, was an industrious 
 writer and editor of certain newspapers. He 
 published a volume of Scottish songs, " Min- 
 strelsy, Ancient and Modern," in 1827. 
 
 William Miller, who gave us " Wee Willie 
 Winkie" and many other children's songs, was 
 a wood-turner by trade, and earned the soubri- 
 quet of the " Laureate of the Nursery," and, 
 says Robert Buchanan, " Wherever Scottish 
 foot has trod, wherever Scottish child has been 
 born, the songs of William Miller have been 
 sung." He was born in 1810 and died in 1872. 
 It will be remembered that Rudyard Kipling 
 has written a delightful story of a delightful 
 child called " Wee Willie Winkie." 
 
 There are two songs called " The Flowers of 
 the Forest," one by Miss Rutherford, afterwards 
 Mrs. Cockburn, 1765, which is comparatively 
 modern in style, and one by Jane Elliott, written 
 about 1750. The " Flowers of the Forest" are 
 the young men of the districts of Selkirkshire 
 and Peebleshire, anciently known as " The 
 Forest." The song is founded by the authoress, 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 301 
 
 Jane Elliott, upon an older composition of the 
 same name deploring the loss of the Scottish at 
 Flodden Field and of which all has been lost but 
 two or three lines. The first and fourth lines of 
 the opening stanza are the foundation of Miss 
 Elliott's poem : 
 
 " I've heard them lilting at our ewe-milking — 
 
 Lasses a' lilting before dawn o' day ; 
 But now they are moaning on ilka green loaming, 
 
 The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away." 
 
 The melody dates from about 1620. Mrs. 
 Cockburn's lyric is an imitation, and not a good 
 one, of Miss Elliott's. 
 
 Lady Grisell Baillie (born Hume), a charming 
 heroine in real life, was the daughter of Patrick, 
 Earl of Marchmont. She was born in 1665, 
 and the song by which she is remembered 
 "Were na my heart licht I would dee," first 
 appeared in the " Orpheus Caledonius " in 
 1725. Owing to political troubles her father 
 had to lie in hiding for some time in the family 
 vault (which may still be seen) beneath the ivy- 
 clad church of Polwarth on the Green. His 
 daughter used to visit him secretly every night, 
 carrying food for his sustenance and cheering 
 him up as best she could. " The proscribed 
 man's next hiding place was a pit which had 
 been hollowed out by Grisell with her own 
 hands, with the sole assistance of one faithful 
 
302 STORIES OF 
 
 servant in a room on the ground floor of their 
 house, beneath a bed which drew out." In due 
 time Sir Patrick escaped to the continent, where 
 his family joined him later. But while they yet 
 remained in Scotland, Grisell was the prop and 
 mainstay of her mother and many brothers and 
 sisters, and when they lived in Holland she was the 
 true household fairy and the life and soul of them 
 all during their long days of exile and poverty. 
 All this time she had a love affair of her own 
 which caused her much anxiety. But all ended 
 happily. Sir Patrick Hume was recalled and 
 restored to his estates and honour, and the 
 gentle and patient Grisell married her faithful 
 lover George Baillie of Jerviswood. Lady 
 Baillie died in 1 746. 
 
 Miss Susanna Blamire, the authoress of " And 
 ye shall walk in silk attire," and a number of 
 lyrics more or less popular, was English by 
 birth, but as she chose the Scotch dialect as the 
 vehicle of her muse, Scotland jealously claims 
 her as one of her bards. She was born in 1747, 
 and died in 1 794. A volume of her poems called 
 " The Muse of Cumberland," appeared fifty 
 years after her decease. The song mentioned 
 appeared to the melody of the " Siller Crown " 
 in the " Musical Museum," 1790. The song of 
 " Huntingtower " is traditional in Perthshire, 
 and is believed to be very ancient. It is not 
 known to have been published, moreover, before 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 303 
 
 1827, when Kinloch gave in his "Ancient Scotch 
 Ballads " a version of it, taken down from the 
 recitation of an idiot boy in Wishaw. Since 
 that time various versions have appeared, but 
 whether they were also taken down from recitals, 
 or are merely specimens of modern work, is un- 
 certain. One of them was written by Lady 
 Nairne, with the express intention of making 
 the ballad agree rather better with modern 
 notions. The air has all the simplicity of the 
 olden time, and may be coeval with the ballad ; 
 but it is not known to have been written out 
 till within the last half-century. There is, how- 
 ever, a tune in Durfey's " Pills," v. 42 (reprinted 
 1 719), which bears so strong a resemblance to 
 it, as to suggest the idea that it may have been 
 the form of the melody at that time. The song 
 there adapted to it is an Anglo-Scottish version 
 of " Hey, Jenny, come down to Jock," and is 
 styled the " Scottish Wedding." Aytoun says 
 the original song was called " Richie Storie," 
 and was re-cast and re-set. It was sometimes 
 known as the " Duke of Athol's Courtship," 
 though modern singers are acquainted with it 
 as " When ye gang awa', Jamie." To Lady 
 Nairne we are indebted for that beautifully 
 pathetic melody known as "Will ye no come 
 back again," which she preserved to us by 
 reason of her lyric to " Royal Charlie." The 
 name of the composer is not known, but one can 
 
304 STORIES OF 
 
 well imagine that the original work was a love 
 song of deep passion and sweetness. It is to 
 be found in only a few collections. 
 
 Of Lady Carolina Nairn e, nie Carolina Oli- 
 phant, much indeed could be said, for her early 
 life in particular was full of interest, and passed 
 amid much political and poetical excitement. 
 She was christened Carolina in honour of Charles 
 Edward, whose health was a standing toast in 
 the auld house at Gask, where she was born in 
 1 766. From her most youthful days " Carolina's 
 imagination must have been aroused by narra- 
 tives of the varied adventures of her father and 
 others of her kinsfolk during the ' Forty Five,' 
 when Lawrence Oliphant the younger, then a 
 youth of nineteen, had supped with the Prince 
 at the outset of the Rebellion, had galloped to 
 Edinburgh with the news of Frestonpans, after 
 fighting single-handed with Sir John Cope's 
 runaway dragoons ; had discovered the enemy's 
 movements after the battle of Falkirk, had ex- 
 changed a few words with the Prince at Cullo- 
 den, after all was lost, and had escaped from 
 Scotland by sea and landed in Sweddn, a beggar 
 in all but honour," as Sir George Douglas re- 
 lates in " Minor Scottish Poets." No doubt 
 she saw Prince Charlie many a time, and often 
 heard the Jacobite ballad " Charlie is my Dar- 
 ling," which everyone was singing. Carolina 
 grew up to be such a fascinating and beautiful 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 305 
 
 girl that she was called " The flower of Strath- 
 earn." She wrote early and constantly, and her 
 songs became favourites through all the country 
 round. There is only need to mention, again, 
 the "Land o' the Leal," "Caller Herrin'," 
 "The Laird o' Cockpen," "The Auld House," 
 " Bonnie Charlie's now awa'," the " Lament of 
 Flora Macdonald," and " The Lass of Gowrie." 
 " Caller Herrin' " was specially written for 
 Nathaniel Gow, a musical composer, son of the 
 more celebrated Neil Gow. 
 
 Does anyone ever sing " An thou wert my 
 ain thing," by an anonymous bard, with a 
 melody of exquisite plaintiveness, dating from 
 about 1600? Or Allan Ramsay's "The Lass 
 o' Patie's Mill " ? Robert Burns, who never 
 hesitated to praise a good thing when he saw 
 it, said of this song that it was one of Ramsay's 
 best. " In Sir J. Sinclair's statistical volumes," 
 continued Scotland's well-beloved poet, " are 
 two claims, one, I think, from Aberdeenshire, 
 and the other from Ayrshire, for the honour of 
 this song. The following anecdote, which I had 
 from the present Sir William Cunningham of 
 Robertland, who had it of the late John, Earl of 
 Loudon, I can, on such authorities believe: 
 Allan Ramsay was residing at Loudon Castle 
 with the then earl, father to Earl John; and 
 one afternoon, riding or walking out together, 
 his lordship and Allan passed a sweet, romantic 
 
 X 
 
3o6 STORIES OF 
 
 spot on Irvine Water, 3till called ' Patie's Mill,' 
 where a bonnie lassie was ' tedding ' hay, bare- 
 headed on the green. My lord observed to 
 Allan that it would be a fine theme for a song. 
 Ramsay took the hint, and lingering behind he 
 composed the first sketch of it, which he pro- 
 duced at dinner." 
 
 That magnificent song, " There's nae luck 
 aboot the house," which Burns, in a burst of 
 eloquence, declared to be the " finest love ballad 
 of the kind in the Scottish, or perhaps any 
 other language " — to which testimony we can 
 mostly subscribe — is usually placed to the credit 
 of William Julius Mickle, the translator of 
 Camoen's " Lusiad," and author of several 
 tolerable poems, who was born in 1734 and 
 died in 1788. The song has also been attri- 
 buted to Jean Adams, who died unknown or for- 
 gotten — she was a schoolmistress — in Greenock 
 Workhouse ; however, the weight of evidence is 
 in favour of Mickle. But the fifth stanza, which 
 I quote, and which is quite a gem of the com- 
 position, was added by Dr. Beattie, the author 
 of " The Minstrel," and a very close follower 
 and disciple of Gray. He was born 1735, and 
 died, after a sorely afiflicted life, in 1803. Here 
 is Dr. Beattie's contribution to " There's Nae 
 Luck : " 
 
 " Sae trae his heart, sae smooth his speech. 
 His breath's like caller air : 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 307 
 
 His very foot has music in't, 
 
 When he comes up the stair. 
 And will I see his face again ? 
 
 And will I hear him speak ? 
 I'm downright dizzy wi' the thocht, — 
 
 In troth I'm like to greet." 
 
 A wonderful, a haunting song ; to make a man 
 hold his head higher had he written it. The 
 tune is called " Up and Waur at them a', Willie." 
 A companion song of considerable virtue is "The 
 Boatie Rows," by John Ewen, who did not prac- 
 tise what he sang. He died 182 1. 
 
 Mr. Peter Buchan states that " Logic o' 
 Buchan " was written by George Halket, a 
 schoolmaster at Rathen, in Aberdeenshire, who 
 died in 1756. Halket was a Jacobite, and wrote 
 some " Forty-Five " squibs which so offended 
 the Duke of Cumberland that he offered a 
 hundred pounds for the author's head. But it 
 did not come off. 
 
 Opinions have long been divided as to whether 
 the old air " Lochaber no more " is Irish or 
 Scottish, but from internal evidence of musical 
 form it seems tolerably evident that the original 
 tune is to be found in " Limerick's Lamenta- 
 tion," the tradition of which associates its plain- 
 tive melody with the events that followed the 
 second capitulation of Limerick in 1690, when 
 at the embarkation of the Irish soldiery at Cork 
 for France, their wives and children were forcibly 
 
3o8 STORIES OF 
 
 separated from them under circumstances of un- 
 usual barbarity," says that excellent authority 
 " Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians." 
 The verses to it, " Farewell to Lochaber," were 
 written by Allan Ramsay, and the song will be 
 found complete in the " Royal Edition of the 
 Songs of Scotland." When Burns first heard 
 the air he is said to have exclaimed, " Oh, that's 
 a fine tune for a broken heart," a very signifi- 
 cant characteristic of the music of a nation suffer- 
 ing unending wrong. The Scotch have long had 
 the reputation of not only stealing Irish melo- 
 dies but Irish saints as well. Petrie, Walker, 
 Bunting, and Thomas Moore are strong in their 
 conviction of Lochaber's Irish nationality, though 
 Mr. George Farquhar Graham, an excellent 
 authority, believes it to be derived from " Lord 
 Ronald, my Son," as asserted by Burns. In 
 1692 it was known as " King James's March 
 to Ireland." As a matter of fact, the tune was 
 originally composed by Miles O'Rielly, the cele- 
 brated harper of Cavan, who was born 1635. 
 There are several touching anecdotes concern- 
 ing the song. 
 
 The music of " Within a Mile of Edinburgh 
 Town " was composed by James Hook, pro- 
 genitor of Theodore the novelist and practical 
 joker, to a modernized version of Tom D'Urfey's 
 words. And as the Hooks, pere et fils, wrote 
 many operettas and songs together, it is just 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 309 
 
 possible that Theodore brought "Within a 
 Mile" down to date by eliminating the coarse- 
 ness. The elder Hook was born at Norwich 
 1746, and died at Boulogne 1827. 
 
 Allan Ramsay, when he came across " Blue 
 Bonnets over the Border," inserted it in his "Tea- 
 Table Miscellany" and labelled it "ancient," 
 little knowing that it was written by Sir Walter 
 Scott, who founded it on " General Leslie's 
 march to Longmarston Moor." But most col- 
 lectors of old songs are bound to be deceived 
 occasionally by falling victims to their own 
 enthusiasm. James Grant in his Preface to 
 " The Scottish Cavalier " says, respecting the 
 original Annie Laurie who inspired Douglas of 
 Finland to write the song known by that name : 
 " History will have rendered familiar to the 
 reader the names of many who bear a prominent 
 part in the career of Walter Fenton ; but there 
 are other characters of minor importance who, 
 though less known to fame than Dundee and 
 Dumbarton, were beings who really lived and 
 breathed and acted a part in the great drama of 
 those days. Among these we may particularize 
 William Douglas of Finland and Annie Laurie. 
 This lady was one of the four daughters of Sir 
 Robert Laurie, the first baronet of Maxwelton, 
 and it was to her that Douglas inscribed those 
 well-known verses and that little air which now 
 bear her name and are so wonderfully plaintive 
 
3IO STORIES OF 
 
 and chaste for the time ; but it is painful to 
 record that, notwithstanding all the ardour and 
 devotion of her lover, the fair Annie was wedded 
 as described in the romance." 
 
 As a matter of fact, James Grant does not 
 describe the marriage of Annie Laurie in his 
 story, as he states ; William Douglas of Finland 
 is supposed to compose and sing the song when 
 in Flanders. He is killed in battle by the side 
 of his friend Walter, Fenton. A ball pierces his 
 breast and he expires holding a lock of Annie's 
 bright brown hair in his hand and murmuring 
 her name. 
 
 As already mentioned the lyric came from the 
 pen of William Douglas of Finland. Annie 
 Laurie was the daughter of Sir Robert Laurie 
 by his second wife, Jean, who was a daughter 
 of Riddel of Minto. " As Sir Robert was created 
 a baronet in the year 1685, it is probable," says 
 Robert Chambers, " that the verses were com- 
 posed about the end of the seventeenth century." 
 Annie Laurie did not marry her ardent lover 
 (whether he was killed in Flanders as related 
 by Grant, it is difificult to decide : in all likeli- 
 hood that death was a fiction of the novelist's) 
 but was wedded to Mr. Alexander Fergusson of 
 Craigdarroch in 1709. 
 
 By the way, on the authority of Sir Emilius 
 Laurie, a descendant of Sir Walter, third baronet 
 and brother of Annie, the fact that Douglas of 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 311 
 
 Finland or Fingland wrote the song has been 
 proved beyond doubt. In 1854 there lived an 
 old lady who, hearing " Annie Laurie " sung, 
 declared the words were not the ones her grand- 
 father had written. She stated afterwards that 
 her grandfather, Douglas of Fingland, was 
 desperately in love with Annie Laurie when he 
 wrote the song, " but," she added, " he did na 
 get her after all." Asked as to the authenticity 
 of the lines she said : " Oh, / mind them fine. 
 I have remembered them a' my life. My father 
 often repeated them to me." And here is the 
 stanza signed with her name : 
 
 " ' Maxwelton's banks are bonnie. 
 
 They're a' clad owre wi' dew, 
 Where I an' Annie Laurie 
 
 Made up .the bargain true. 
 Made up the bargain true, 
 
 Which ne'er forgot s'all be. 
 An' for bonnie Annie Laurie 
 
 I'd lay me down an' dee.' 
 
 " I mind na mair. 
 
 [Signed] "Clark Douglas. 
 "August ^o, 1854." 
 
 In the original song there were but two 
 stanzas, and this is the second : 
 
 " She's backit like the peacock, 
 
 She's breistit like the swan, 
 She's jimp around the middle. 
 
 Her waist ye weel micht span — 
 
312 STORIES OF 
 
 Her waist ye weel micht span — 
 
 An' she has a rolling e'e, 
 An' for bonnie Annie Laurie 
 
 I'd lay me down an' dee." 
 
 In Alfred Moffatt's "Minstrelsy of Scotland" 
 it is stated that the third verse, which I give, 
 was written by Lady John Scott, who declared 
 that Allan Cunningham wrote the original verses, 
 which is altogether a misapprehension. Lady 
 Scott has altered the whole song and commences, 
 " Maxwelton braes" not " banks." 
 
 " Like dew on the gowan lying 
 
 Is the fa' o' her fairy feet ; 
 Like summer breezes sighing, 
 
 Her voice is low an' sweet — 
 Her voice is low an' sweet — 
 
 An' she's a' the world to me, 
 An' for bonnie Annie Laurie 
 
 I'd lay me down an' dee." 
 
 Here is Annie Laurie's birth " certificate " as 
 written by her father, in what is called the 
 " Barjorg MS." : 
 
 " At the pleasure of the Almighty God, my 
 daughter Anna Laurie was borne upon the i6th 
 day of December 1682 years, about six o'clock 
 in the morning, and was baptized by Mr, 
 George minister of Glencairn." 
 
 " Maxwelton House sits high upon its ' braes.' 
 It is ' harled ' without and painted white, and is 
 built around three sides of a sunny court. Ivy 
 clambers thriftily about it. Over the entrance 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 313 
 
 door of the tower, and above a window in the 
 opposite wing, are inserted two marriage stones ; 
 the former that of Annie's father and mother, 
 the latter of her grandfather and grandmother. 
 The initials of the bride and bridegroom, and 
 the date of the marriage, are cut upon them, 
 together with the family coat of arms, which 
 bears, among other heraldic devices, two laurel 
 leaves and the motto, ' Virtus semper viridis.' 
 Below the grandfather's marriage stone is cut 
 in the lintel the following : 
 
 " 'Except the Lord build the house, they labor in 
 vain who build it.' 
 
 " Looking up the glen from Maxwelton, the 
 chimneys of Craigdarrock House are seen. 
 
 "It is distant about five miles, and Annie had 
 not far to remove from her farther's house to 
 that of her husband. She was twenty-eight at 
 the time of her marriage. 
 
 " The Fergusons are a much older family, as 
 families are reckoned, than the Lauries. Fer- 
 gusons of Craigdarrock were attached to the 
 courts of William the Lion and Alexander IL 
 (12 14-1249)," 
 
 So says F. P. Humphrey in a magazine 
 article to which I am indebted for some points 
 of interest in this record. 
 
 Annie Laurie was the mother of Alexander 
 Fergusson, the hero of Burns' song " The 
 Whistle ; " while the author of " Annie Laurie " 
 
314 STORIES OF 
 
 was himself the hero of " Willie was a wanton 
 wag." In regard to the origin of " The 
 Whistle," it may be stated that in the time of 
 Anne of Denmark, when she went to Scotland 
 with James VI., there was a gigantic Dane of 
 matchless drinking capacity. He had an ebony 
 whistle which, at the beginning of a drinking 
 bout he would lay on the table, and whoever 
 was best able to blow it was to be considered 
 " Champion of the Whistle." In Scotland the 
 Dane was defeated by Sir Robert Laurie, who 
 after three days' and three nights' hard drinking, 
 left the Dane under the table and "blew on the 
 whistle his requiem shrill." The whistle re- 
 mained in the family several years, when it was 
 won by Sir Walter Laurie, son of Sir Robert, 
 and then by Walter Riddel of Glenriddel, 
 brother-in-law of Sir Walter Laurie, and finally 
 it fell to Alexander Fergusson of Craigdarroch, 
 son of " Annie Laurie." This final drinking bout 
 took place at Friars Carse, October i6th, 1790. 
 The first four lines of the second verse of 
 the lyric quoted above, it should be noted, are 
 taken from the vulgar ballad of " John Anderson, 
 my Jo," which, before it was clarified by Burns, 
 appeared in a scarce volume of English songs 
 with music, entitled The " Convivial Songster," 
 of 1782. "Annie Laurie" was "modernized 
 from the foregoing by an unknown hand," in the 
 present century. Was the " unknown hand " one 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 315 
 
 R. Findlater ? I am at a loss to understand the 
 meaning of the following brief extract which I 
 take from "Chambers' Journal," July 4th, 1857. 
 Speaking of street minstrels and musicians 
 (p. 12) the writer says: "That very melody 
 they play was composed by a plaided stranger 
 of higher grade and of more noble itinerancy ; 
 it is the 'Annie Laurie' of poor Findlater." 
 The only Findlater I have been able to trace 
 was R. Findlater who wrote words for music of 
 only mediocre grade, "In Thy Presence" for 
 instance. The air of " Annie Laurie " as now 
 sung I am compelled to add is quite modern, 
 having been composed, on her own statement, 
 by Lady John Scott, as already indicated. It 
 was a favourite with the British soldiers in their 
 weary encampment before Sebastopol in 1854-5. 
 The melody of " Logan Water " is of very 
 considerable antiquity, and very Scottish in 
 tonality. The words were written by John 
 Mayne, a native of Dumfries, who eventually 
 settled in London as the editor of " The Star " 
 newspaper. " Logan Water " or " Logan 
 Braes," says Mayne himself in reply to a letter of 
 inquiry from Lord Woodhouselee, " was written 
 and circulated in Glasgow about 1781, inserted 
 in the 'Star' on Saturday May 23rd, 1789, 
 thence copied and sung at Vauxhall, and pub- 
 lished soon afterwards by a music dealer in the 
 Strand." 
 
3i6 STORIES OF 
 
 One of the oldest of old Scottish songs — or, 
 to be accurate, of the oldest melodies — is that 
 which we know as " Scots wha hae." Burns 
 himself once said : " Many of our Scots airs 
 have outlived their original and perhaps many 
 subsequent sets of verses." Of no air could 
 this be more truly said than the one in question, 
 which is so ancient as to defy the discovery of 
 its origin. It has been traced back to 1512, 
 when it is mentioned by Gavin, Bishop of Dun- 
 keld, as being a favourite song with the people, 
 under the name of " Now the Day Dawis," and 
 is referred to by Dunbar in ridicule of some 
 half-hearted minstrels : 
 
 " Your commone minstralis has no tune 
 But ' Now the Day Dawis ' and ' Into June.' " 
 
 Alexander Montgomerie wrote fresh words to 
 the air, and in the reign of James IV. it was 
 printed in a Lute Book of " Ayres," which seems 
 to suggest that the music was either by a French- 
 man or an Italian attached to the Court, for it 
 was customary to have English, French, Italian, 
 and Irish minstrels employed at the Scottish 
 Court from, at any rate, 1474 to 1550 and later. 
 In later times it received the inexplicable title 
 of " Hey Tuttie, Taitie." Many have tried to 
 solve the mystery of this enigma, but without 
 any notable success. And it is worse than use- 
 less to make guesses where there is so little 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 317 
 
 foundation to work upon. In Jacobite days it 
 reappeared (about 17 18) as "Here's to the 
 King, Sirs," and was published by Thomson in 
 his " Scottish Airs." Then Burns was taken 
 with it, and wrote his famous " Scots, wha hae " 
 in the Kyrielle form of stanza, in which the 
 first three lines rhyme while the fourth is con- 
 verted into a refrain. Burns was of the im- 
 pression, or pretended to be, that it was the 
 melody which Bruce's army used when they 
 marched to the battle of Bannockburn. Several 
 stories have been told as to the circumstances 
 under which Burns wrote his stirring lyric, 
 Lockhart inclining to the belief that he got the 
 first idea of it when standing on the field of 
 Bannockburn some six years before the poem 
 was actually matured. The piece was written 
 in July or August, 1793 ; in all probability 
 after a thunderstorm in the former month, when 
 he was caught in the rain with his friend John 
 Syme. But what does it matter ? Burns seemed 
 to delight in occasionally mystifying his friends 
 by springing poems "impromptu" upon them 
 that had been finished long before. 
 
 Just a word about " The Blue Bells of Scot- 
 land." In the Royal Edition of "Songs of 
 Scotland," Dr. Charles Mackay declares the 
 words to be anonymous, while in his " Thou- 
 sand and One Gems of Song" he ascribes 
 them to Mrs. Grant of Laggan, in the year 
 
3i8 STORIES OF 
 
 1799 (who was not the same Mrs. Grant who 
 was responsible for " Roy's Wife of Aldival- 
 loch "), but the version that he prints in these 
 works is entirely different from the one given 
 by Chappell, who describes it as an " old Eng- 
 lish Border song," the tune being composed by 
 Mrs. Jordan about 1780. This was Mrs. Dora 
 Jordan, the celebrated actress. She was a fairly 
 accomplished vocalist and musician, and sprang 
 from Dublin, where her parents resided. She 
 was at the height of her fame in 1785, when 
 she made her first London appearance in the 
 " Country Girl." She sang the " Blue Bells " first 
 in London in 1786. In May, 1800, she again 
 sang the song on her benefit night at Drury 
 Lane Theatre, and made the air popular through- 
 out the kingdom. Chappell's version of the 
 lyric is the one most familiar I fancy to the 
 majority of people, and is the one generally to 
 be met with in the best collections of words. 
 The first verse runs : 
 
 " Oh, where and where is your Highland Laddie gone ? 
 Oh, where and where is your Highland Laddie gone ? 
 He's gone to fight the French for King George upon the 
 
 throne, 
 And it's oh ! in my heart how I wish him safe at home." 
 
 A new version of the words in the Scottish 
 dialect, by Miss Stirling Graham of Duntrune, 
 is given in " Popular Songs and Melodies of 
 Scotland," but they are not so smooth or ap- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 319 
 
 propriate as Mrs. Grant's. As for the air, it 
 seems more ancient than Mrs. Jordan's time, 
 and most Hkely she altered it, or had it altered, 
 for her own vocalization. There is a decided 
 military flavour about the whole composition, 
 and in all probability she sang it as a compli- 
 ment to the Duke of Clarence during his abs- 
 ence on war service. 
 
 The ancient pibroch — " Donald Dhu " — 
 written by Sir Walter Scott in 18 16, belonged 
 to the clan Macdonald, and is supposed to refer 
 to the expedition of Donald Balloch, who in 
 143 1 launched from the isles with a consider- 
 able force, invaded Lochaber, and at Inverlochy 
 defeated and put to flight the earls of Mars and 
 Caithness, though at the head of an army su- 
 perior to his own. 
 
 The playing of the air on the bagpipe, though 
 it may freeze the marrow of the Sassenach, has 
 a very inspiring effect on the Highlander, as 
 the following anecdote will prove. At the 
 battle of Quebec, in April, 1760, whilst the 
 British troops were retreating in confusion, the 
 general complained to a field-officer of Fraser's 
 regiment of the bad behaviour of his corps. 
 "Sir," answered he with some warmth, "you 
 did very wrong in forbidding the pipes to play 
 this morning ; nothing encourages Highlanders 
 so much on a day of action. Nay, even now 
 they would be of use." " Let them blow like 
 
320 STORIES OF 
 
 the devil, then," replied the general, " if it will 
 bring back the men." And the pipers being 
 ordered to play a favourite pibroch or cruin- 
 eachadh, the Highlanders, who were broken, 
 returned the moment they heard the music, 
 and formed with great alacrity in the rear. 
 
 " Roy's Wife of Aldivalloch" was written by 
 Mrs. Grant of Carron, afterwards Mrs. Murray 
 of Bath, and is believed to be founded on fact. 
 We are told, says the editor of the " Songs and 
 Melodies of Scotland," that in 1727 John Roy, 
 son of Thomas Roy of Aldivalloch, was married 
 to Isabel, daughter of AUister Stewart, some- 
 time resident in the Cabrach, a highland district 
 of Aberdeenshire. It would appear that the 
 marriage was not a happy one, for she made 
 an attempt to escape, but was brought back 
 by her husband. Such an occurrence in a quiet 
 locality is sure to be the occasion of a ballad 
 more or less rude, and this did not fail in the 
 present instance. Out of this slight begin- 
 ning Mrs. Grant is said to have produced her 
 song. The air to which the lyric was written 
 was known as " The Ruffian's Rant." Mrs. 
 Grant was born about 1763, and died about 
 1 8 14. As to the cause of the quarrel between 
 Roy and his wife tradition is dumb. A wicker 
 basket containing oat-cakes has been darkly 
 hinted. 
 
 The tune of Burns's " Highland Mary" was 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 321 
 
 originally known as " Lady Katherine Ogle, a 
 new dance" (1688). But as a "Scottish tune " 
 it appeared a year previously in Playford's 
 " Apollo's Banquet." In all probability it was 
 popular with the people long before, both in 
 England and Scotland, but from internal evid- 
 ence the air seems to be chiefly Scottish in 
 construction. 
 
 In regard to " Duncan Gray," Stenhouse says 
 in the " Museum : " It is generally accepted 
 that this lively air was composed by Duncan 
 Gray, a carter or carman in Glasgow, about the 
 beginning of last century, and that the tune was 
 taken down from his whistling it two or three 
 times to a musician in that city. It is inserted 
 in MacGibbon and Oswald's " Collections." The 
 words were written by Burns in 1792. 
 
 " The Lass o' Gowrie," by Lady Nairne, was 
 founded on an older ballad by William Reid of 
 Glasgow, called " Kate o' Gowrie," which is 
 still sung. The melody is known as " Loch- 
 Eroch Side," which was taken from " O'er 
 young to marry yet," 1757. 
 
 "Comin' thro' the Rye," according to Chappell, 
 was first sung in a Christmas pantomime in 
 London in 1795, when it was called " If a body 
 meet a body going to the fair." But though 
 some have said Rye with a capital R referred 
 to a streamlet of that name in Ayrshire, it has 
 been proved that Burns scratched a stanza of 
 
 Y 
 
322 STORIES OF 
 
 the song on a pane of glass at Mauchline in 
 this form : 
 
 " Gin a body kiss a body comin' through the grain, 
 Need a body grudge a body what's a body's ain." 
 
 But did Burns really write the lyric at all ? I 
 have read at least six different versions of the 
 song, and the one attributed by Joseph Skipsey 
 to Burns is the least meritorious. Mr. Anon., I 
 fancy, was the author. Dr. Mackay, in his " Book 
 of Scotch Songs," published about 1852, says 
 it is anonymous, but altered by Burns! He 
 also gives a "stage" version. It is very old, 
 and that is all that can be safely said of it. A 
 version of the tune appeared in Gow's col- 
 lection, 1784, as the "Miller's Daughter." 
 
 This " Coming thro' the Rye" has, of course, 
 no connection with Allan Ramsay's " Gin ye 
 meet a bonnie Lass," which is a happy para- 
 phrase of Horace's celebrated " Vides ut alta." 
 It was sung to the elegant air of " Fie, gar rub 
 her ower wi' strae." 
 
 Of Scottish Songs with entertaining histories 
 in little, there is no end, and in particular those 
 that Ramsay and Burns rescued from oblivion. 
 It is only fair to just glance at one or two in 
 this section. " Bessie Bell and Mary Gray," 
 by Allan Ramsay, was founded on an ancient 
 ballad of the same name, which was well known 
 throughout Great Britain. The music was in- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 323 
 
 evitably made use of by Gay in the " Beggar's 
 Opera " to words beginning : 
 
 " A curse attends that woilian's love 
 Who always would be pleasing." 
 
 The heroines of this well-known ballad were 
 the daughters of two Perthshire gentlemen. 
 Bessy Bell was the daughter of the Laird of 
 Kinnaird, and Mary Gray of the Laird of 
 Lynedoch. A romantic attachment subsisted 
 between them, and they retired together to a 
 secluded spot called the " Burn Braes," in the 
 neighbourhood of Lynedoch, to avoid the plague 
 that then raged in Perth, Dundee, and other 
 towns. They caught the infection, however, 
 and both died. Tradition asserts that a young 
 gentleman who was in love with one of them, 
 visited them in their solitude, and that it was 
 from him they caught the contagion and died. 
 A later gallant. Lord Lynedoch, on whose estate 
 the heroines lie buried, erected a kind of bower 
 over their graves. 
 
 It is very curious that besides the two Irish 
 stories connected with the melody of " Robin 
 Adair," already related in an early chapter, 
 there should be, according to Burns, another 
 associated with Scottish tradition. The ballad 
 is called " Cromlet's Lilt," or more generally 
 "Since all thy vows, false maid." It is anony- 
 mous, and first appeared in book print in 
 
324 STORIES OF 
 
 Ramsay's "Tea-Table Miscellany," 1724. The 
 note to the song in " Johnson's Museum',' 
 says : " The following account of this plaintive 
 dirge was communicated to Mr. Riddel by 
 Alexander Fraser Tytler of Woodhouselee : 
 "In the latter end of the sixteenth century the 
 Chisholms were proprietors of the estate of 
 Cromleck (now possessed by the Drummonds). 
 The eldest son of the family was very much 
 attached to a daughter of Stirling of Ardoch, 
 commonly known by the name of Helen of 
 Ardoch. At that time the opportunities of 
 meeting betwixt the sexes were more rare, con- 
 sequently more sought after than now ; and the 
 Scottish ladies, far from priding themselves on 
 extensive literature, were thought sufficiently 
 book-learned if they could make out the Scrip- 
 tures in their mother-tongue. Writing was 
 entirely out of the line of female education. At 
 that period the most of our young men of 
 family sought a fortune, or found a grave, in 
 France. Cromleck, when he went abroad to 
 the war, was obliged to leave the management 
 of his correspondence with his mistress Helen 
 to a lay brother of the monastery of Dumblain, 
 in the immediate neighbourhood of Cromleck, 
 and near Ardoch. This man, unfortunately, 
 was deeply sensible of Helen's charms. He 
 artfully prepossessed her with stories to the 
 disadvantage of Cromleck, and by misinter- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 325 
 
 preting, or keeping back the letters and messages 
 intrusted to his care, he entirely irritated both. 
 All connection was broken off between them ; 
 Helen was inconsolable ; and Cromleck has 
 left behind him, in the ballad called ' Cromlet's 
 Lilt,' a proof of the elegance of his genius, as 
 well as the steadiness of his love. When the 
 artful monk thought time had sufficiently 
 softened Helen's sorrow, he proposed himself as 
 a lover. Helen was obdurate ; but, at last, 
 overcome by the persuasions of her brother, 
 with whom she lived, and who, having a family 
 of thirty-one children, was probably very well 
 pleased to get her off his hands, she submitted, 
 rather than consented, to the ceremony. But 
 there her compliance ended ; and, when forcibly 
 put into bed, she started quite frantic from it, 
 screaming out that after three gentle taps on 
 the wainscot at the bed-head she heard Crom- 
 leck's voice crying, ' Helen ! Helen ! mind me ! ' 
 Cromleck soon after coming home, the treachery 
 of the confidant was discovered, her marriage 
 annulled, and Helen became Lady Cromleck." 
 
 At one time the song was adapted and sung 
 to the fine old Irish melody of " Eileen Aroon," 
 and known all over the world as " Robin 
 Adair." Both ballad and original melody are 
 included in the second edition of Thomson's 
 "Orpheus Caledonius," 1733. Geddes chose 
 this air for one of the hymns in the " Saints' 
 
326 STORIES OF 
 
 Recreation," compiled in 1673, and published in 
 1683. This hymn is entitled " The Pathway 
 to Paradise ; or, The Pourtraiture of Piety." 
 
 The history of the quaint and touching ballad 
 of " Oh waly, waly, up the bank," is unknown. 
 An interesting version of its supposed origin is 
 given in Christie's " Traditional Ballad Airs," 
 187 1, under the name of the "Marchioness of 
 Douglas." The melody is very ancient, and 
 probably dates from the reign of Mary Queen 
 of Scots. Gay turned it to account in his 
 second opera, "Polly," 1792, for "Adieu! 
 adieu ! all hope of bliss." 
 
 Burns' excellent " Ye Banks and Braes 0' 
 bonnie Doon " was one of his happiest efforts. 
 In a letter to Thomson in 1 794 he says, " There 
 is an air called ' The Caledonian Hunt's delight,' 
 to which I wrote a song that you will find in 
 Johnson. 'Ye Banks and Braes o' bonnie 
 Doon,' might, I think, find a place among your 
 hundred, as Lear says of his knights. Do you 
 know the history of the air ? It is curious 
 enough. A good many years ago Mr. James 
 Miller, W. S. in your good town, a gentleman 
 whom possibly you know, was in company with 
 our friend Clarke ; and talking of Scottish 
 music. Miller expressed an ardent desire to be 
 able to compose a Scots air. Mr. Clarke, 
 probably by way of joke, told him to keep to 
 the black keys of the harpsichord, and preserve 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 327 
 
 some kind of rhythm, and he would infallibly 
 compose a Scots' air. Certain it is that in a 
 few days Mr. Miller produced the rudiments of 
 an air, which Mr. Clarke, with some touches 
 and corrections fashioned into the tune in ques- 
 tion. Ritson, you know, has the same story of 
 the bhck keys; but this account which I have 
 just given you Mr. Clarke informed me of several 
 years ago. Now, to show you how difficult 
 it is to trace the origin of airs, I have heard 
 it repeatedly asserted that this was an Irish air ; 
 nay, I met with an Irish gentleman who affirmed 
 that he had heard it in Ireland among the old 
 women, while on the other hand, a countess 
 informed me that the first person who intro- 
 duced the air into this country was a baronet's 
 lady of her acquaintance, who took down the 
 notes from an itinerant piper in the Isle of Man. 
 How difficult then to ascertain the truth respect- 
 ing our poesy and music." Difficult indeed, 
 when- we remember that Burns himself was a 
 great culprit at disguising and appropriating 
 any melody that took his fancy. For example, 
 here is what he writes to this friend Thomson, 
 the publisher, in another letter, respecting an 
 Irish tune of extreme beauty : " Do you know 
 a blackguard Irish song called ' Onagh's Water- 
 fall ? ' The air is charming, and I have often 
 regretted the want of decent verses to it. It is 
 too much at least for my humble rustic muse to 
 
328 STORIES OF 
 
 expect that every effort of hers shall have merit." 
 Burns wrote some very ordinary stanzas to it, 
 called " Sae flaxen were her ringlets." Whethe/" 
 the tune of " Bonnie Doon " is Irish or Scot- 
 tish, it certainly bears a close resemblance to an 
 English song, " Lost is my Quiet," publish^ in 
 Dale's " Collection of English Songs " towards 
 the latter end of last century. It is claimed as 
 Scottish, however, with some show of reason, in 
 Glen's " Collection of Scottish Dance Music," 
 1891. 
 
 Richard Gall's " Farewell to Ayrshire " was 
 attributed to Burns through Gall himself impu- 
 dently affixing Burns's name thereto, and sending 
 it to the editor of the "Scots' Musical Museum," 
 in which it was inserted. Gall's biographer in the 
 " Biographica Scotia" exposed the fraud in 1805. 
 
 " Take your old cloak about thee " may 
 be English or it may be Scottish. It has been 
 common to both countries for about three 
 centuries. Shakespeare introduces a stanza 
 from it in " Othello " for lago to sing. In its 
 original English form, from the first MS., it will 
 be found in Percy's " Reliques," 1765; in its Scot- 
 tish dress for the first time in the " Tea Table 
 Miscellany." The Scottish version simply is a 
 Scottish version of the ancient English. One 
 never comes across an Englished Scottish song; 
 but the reverse is to be met with in countless 
 cases. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 329 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 IRISH SONGS— ANCIENT AND MODERN. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. "THE HARP THAT ONCE 
 THROUGH TARa's HALLS," "BRIDGET CRUISE," 
 THE LAST IRISH BARD. " THE HAWK OF BALLY 
 SHANNON," " BUMPER, SQUIRE JONES," " MAGGY 
 LAIDIR," " PLANXTY DAVIS," " THE BROWN 
 THORN," "MOLLY ASTORE," " BANNA's BANKS," 
 "COOLIN'," " SUMMER IS COMING," JACOBITE SONGS. 
 " HY-BRASIL, " " WAITING FOR THE MAY," " ROI- 
 SIN DHU," THE IRISH KEEN, " OVER THE HILLS 
 AND FAR AWAY," "THE WHITE COCKADE," "THE 
 CAMPBELLS ARE COMING," "THE GIRL I LEFT 
 BEHIND ME," " I AM ASLEEP," " THE BLACKBIRD," 
 
 " ST. Patrick's day," " st. Patrick of Ireland," 
 
 ST. PATRICK WAS A GENTLEMAN," " THE SHAM- 
 ROCK," " THE SPRIG OF SHILLELAH," " THE 
 NIGHT BEFORE LARRY WAS STRETCHED," " CRUIS- 
 KIN LAWN," " THE SHAN VAN VOGHT," " GRANA 
 WEAL," " TWISTING OF THE ROPE," " THE DEAR 
 IRISH BOY," " CANADIAN BOAT SONG," MOORE's 
 SONGS, " GROVES OF BLARNEY," " TERENCE's 
 FAREWELL," "LORD MAYO," "THE MONKS OF 
 THE SCREW," " RORY o'mORE," " GARRYOWEN," 
 " WEARING OF THE GREEN," AND STREET SONGS. 
 
330 STORIES OF 
 
 The congenial task is not always the easiest to 
 accomplish. Ireland has produced so many 
 poets, major and minor, racy of the soil, and 
 indigenous of the best traditions, that it is some- 
 what difficult to know which to include and 
 which to exclude. So many of the ancient 
 songs of Ireland that are quite unknown, except 
 to the initiated feAv, possess so much historical 
 and domestic interest that it is quite distressing 
 to the conscientious scribe to be compelled, 
 acting in accordance with the plan laid down, to 
 omit them. Had Irish chroniclers been as 
 industrious as have been the Scottish, English 
 people would not have remained so long in 
 ignorance of the magnificent store of legendary, 
 historical, political, pathetic and humorous ballads 
 and lyrics which is so near at hand, but which 
 has never been properly investigated and ex- 
 plored ; never been thoroughly collected and 
 collated for the benefit of Great Britain at large. 
 There are numberless collections of Irish songs, 
 it is true, published under more or less un- 
 national, fanciful titles, but an injudicious 
 enthusiasm has monopolized the common sense 
 of too many of the editors of these Collections 
 and Anthologies, and consequently much rubbish 
 has been included that might well have been 
 allowed to seek the shade in the sheltering pro- 
 tection of the literary dust-bin. 
 
 In Irish folk and country songs is seen the 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 331 
 
 terrible havoc that a devastating history has 
 played on a sorrow-brooding, sensitive nation 
 whose chief characteristics have ever been fantas- 
 tic light-heartedness and humorous indifference 
 to the inevitable with the antithesis of sadness 
 and despair to its lowest depths. These curious 
 traits which have been fostering for lengthy 
 generations — say from the time of Henry II. — 
 have had such an effect upon the poets and poetry 
 of Ireland, that one string at least of the harp 
 seems to have been snapped in twain and a 
 foreign minor has usurped its place. And thus 
 too it has occurred that the best work of Irish 
 writers has been done on alien soil — in lands 
 free from the tearless gloom and pathos that has 
 bowed them down in their own home. There- 
 fore the most brilliant achievements in the 
 artistic world that has marked that marvellous 
 intellectuality of the Irish giants have reached 
 fruition in a country other than their own. 
 
 It is but to repeat an accepted fact that Ire- 
 land, in her earliest ages, when the inhabitants 
 of Britain were semi-savages, was the centre of 
 a cultivation of surprising extent and refined 
 quality. Her harpers and bards — who in later 
 ages developed into wandering minstrels and 
 itinerant musicians — ^were honoured for their 
 art, for their precepts and their practice, as the 
 uninformed may gather from the many tomes of 
 recent years rescued and revived, telling of those 
 
332 STORIES OF 
 
 bygone periods of Erin's grandeur and glory. 
 
 Ballads of extraordinary felicity and power 
 
 abound, quite equal to^ any that have grown 
 
 familiar to the English reader through those 
 
 praiseworthy volumes of Ancient Poetry of 
 
 England, Scotland and Wales — though justice 
 
 has not yet been done to the bardic wealth of 
 
 the latter country. 
 
 However, I must not linger by the way over 
 
 " Old unhappy far-off things 
 And batdes long ago," 
 
 but must endeavour to tell the stories of some 
 of Ireland's songs. 
 
 Much can be gathered of the ancient practice of 
 music in Ireland, and of the origin of the harp in 
 the works of Giraldus Cambrensis and of Petrie; 
 Walker's "Memoirs of the Irish Bards," Bunting, 
 Holden, Hardiman's" Irish Minstrelsy," Curry's 
 " Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish," 
 and other standard authorities. Much informa- 
 tion also respecting the harp, particularly in the 
 Highlands of Scotland where it was much used 
 until about the year 1740, will be found in 
 Jamieson's " Letters from the North of Scot- 
 land," and John Gunn's "Inquiry;" and from 
 the latter, as giving an independent statement, I 
 quote the following : "I have been favoured 
 with a copy of an ancient Gaelic poem, together 
 with the music to which it is still sung in the 
 Highlands, in which the poet personifies and 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 333 
 
 addresses a very old harp, by asking what had 
 become of its former lustre ? The harp replies 
 that it had belonged to a King of Ireland and 
 had been present at many a royal banquet ; that 
 it had afterwards been successively in the pos- 
 session of Dargo, son of the Druid of Baal — of 
 Saul — of Finlan — of Oscar — of O'Duivne — of 
 Diarmid — of a Physician — of a Bard — and lastly 
 of a Priest, who in a secluded corner was 
 meditating on a white book." Gunn was born 
 1765 and died 18 10 after a very industrious 
 life. Doubtless it has slipped from the memory 
 of both the Irish and Scottish, and especially the 
 latter, that Ireland was the school of the High- 
 land Scotch, and that it was customary to send 
 to Ireland " all who adopted either poetry or 
 music as a profession " to finish their education, 
 " till within the memory of persons still living,'' 
 so says the Jamieson above referred to, Robert 
 Jamieson published several works on Border 
 and Scottish Minstrelsy. He was born about 
 1780 and died 1844. It is needless to add that 
 the natives of Southern Scotland also took ad- 
 vantage of the same high educational academies 
 which were so celebrated in Ireland at one time. 
 Ireland decidedly gave its music to Scotland, 
 and thence it may be traced in the modern 
 history of the art imparting much of its beauty 
 and sweetness to Italy. According to the 
 poet Tassoni the ancient music of the Irish 
 
334 STORIES OF 
 
 or Scotch (Ireland, by the way, was originally 
 called Scotia, that is, the land of the Scots or 
 Gaedhils — and the term was then [about the 
 year 900] applied only to Erinn) and particularly 
 to the compositions of the first James of Scotland, 
 was imitated by Gesualdus, the chief of the 
 Italian composers and greatest musical reformer 
 of the sixteenth century. The famous Geminiani 
 frequently declared that the works of Gesualdus 
 were his first and principal study. Hence, 
 probably, his acknowledged partiality for Irish 
 music and his well known admiration of the 
 bard O'Carolan. Geminiani declared " that we 
 have in the dominions of Great Britain no 
 original music except the Irish." The fruits of 
 all ancient Scotch music may be said to have 
 germinated from Irish seeds. Francesco Gem- 
 iniani was born at Lisbon, 1680, and visited 
 England and Ireland several times. He died 
 in Dublin 1761. 
 
 Of the work by the last Irish bard, the Ode 
 to " Bridget Cruise," the music as well as the 
 words were by Turlough O'Carolan, and it may 
 be said that without being entitled to the lavish 
 praise bestowed upon it by some enthusiasts, it 
 is very plaintive and touching and worth pre- 
 serving. These words of Hardiman, so pregnant 
 with truth, deserve recording : "It has been 
 the fate of Irish poetry, from the days of 
 Spenser to the present time, to be praised or 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 335 
 
 censured by the extremes of prej.udice, while 
 the world was unable to decide for want of the 
 original poems or translations of them." It is 
 to be regretted that these " extremes " are still 
 at work. 
 
 A singular anecdote, highly illustrative of the 
 romantic tendency of O'Carolan's first love, 
 Bridget Cruise, to whom he wrote several songs, 
 may be mentioned. He once went on a pil- 
 grimage to a cave located on an island situated 
 on Lough Dearg, in the county Donegal. On 
 returning to the shore he found several persons 
 waiting for the boat in which he had been con- 
 veyed to the spot. In his kind desire to help 
 some of these pilgrims into the boat, he happened 
 to take the hand of a female, and suddenly ex- 
 claimed " Dar lama mo Chardais Crist " (" This 
 is the hand of Bridget Cruise"). He was not 
 deceived ; it was the hand of her who had 
 engaged his youthful affections and whose 
 image had been so deeply engraved in his heart. 
 On this incident Samuel Lover wrote a charming 
 song called " Carolan and Bridget Cruise." 
 
 Love songs, drinking songs, songs of the 
 fairies — O'Carolan treated them all with equal 
 candour and ability, and were his pieces of more 
 than local repute, many entertaining stories of 
 their origin could be told. " O'More's Fair 
 Daughter," the melody of which, I believe, has 
 never been written down, was a love-song, 
 
336 STORIES OF 
 
 written by O'Carolan for one of the younger 
 members of the O'Donnell family, who fell in 
 love with the " Hawk of Bally Shannon," whom 
 he accidentally met one day near her father's 
 house. Begging for a glass of water as a pre- 
 tence to have converse with her, he resolved at 
 all costs to win her for his wife. O'Carolan wrote 
 a song especially for him to sing to an ancient 
 air by Rory Dall, which on the first opportunity 
 he performed by harp and voice, and won the 
 daughter of the renowned O'More for his bride. 
 Much could be written about O'Carolan who 
 wrote and composed a vast quantity of songs, 
 some of which are preserved by Walker, 
 Hardiman, and Bunting, but as his pieces are 
 not known except in a few cases outside the 
 land in which they were born, I refrain from 
 giving more. The music of several of O'Caro- 
 lan's composing will be foundj adapted to Eng- 
 lish words and often claimed as of English 
 origin, but to give a full list of these would be 
 only tiring to the reader. " Bumper, Squire 
 Jones," which is usually stated to be O'Carolan's, 
 was really written by Arthur Dawson, Baron of 
 the Exchequer, to O'Carolan's air of " Planxty 
 Jones." The following history of the song is 
 taken from the " Dublin University Magazine " 
 for January, 1841. 
 
 " Respecting the origin of O'Carolan's fine 
 air of • Bumper, Squire Jones,' we have heard a 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 337 
 
 different account from that given on O'Neill's 
 authority. It was told us by our lamented friend 
 the late Dean of St. Patrick's, as the tradition 
 preserved in his family : O'Carolan and Baron 
 Dawson, the grand or great-grand-uncle to the 
 dean, happened to be enjoying together, with 
 others, the hospitalities of Squire Jones, of 
 Moneyglass, and slept in rooms adjacent to 
 each other. The bard being called upon by 
 the company to compose a song or tune in 
 honour of their host, undertook to comply with 
 their request, and on retiring to his apartment 
 took his harp with him, and, under the inspira- 
 tion of copious libations of his favourite liquor 
 not only produced the melody, now known as 
 ' Bumper, Squire Jones,' but also very indifferent 
 English words to it. While th.e bard was thus 
 employed, however, the judge was not idle. 
 Being possessed of a fine musical ear, as well 
 as of considerable poetical talents, he not only 
 fixed the melody in his memory, but actually 
 wrote the noble song now incorporated with it 
 before he retired to rest. The result may be 
 anticipated. At breakfast on the following 
 morning when O'Carolan sang and played his 
 composition, Barori Dawson, to the astonishment 
 of all present, and of the bard in particular, 
 stoutly denied the claim of O'Carolan to the 
 melody, charged him with audacious piracy, 
 both musical and poetical, and, to prove the 
 
338 STORIES OF 
 
 fact, sang the melody to his own words amidst 
 the joyous shouts of approbation of all his 
 hearers — the enraged bard excepted, who vented 
 his execrations in curses on the judge both loud 
 and deep." 
 
 The trick was exposed later, but it was long 
 ere the ruffled bard was mollified. 
 
 "Maggy Laidir" (pronounced Lauder), 
 though claimed by the Scotch, is of pure Irish 
 creation, and dates from the seventeenth century. 
 Alfred Moffatt says, in "Minstrelsy of Scotland," 
 that the tune is printed in Adam Craig's " A 
 Collection of the Choicest Scots Tunes," Edin- 
 burgh, 1730. Even so, but it was published 
 twenty-four years earlier in Ireland. Mrs. 
 Oliphant, in her entertaining " Memorial of 
 Principal Tulloch," says, speaking of Tulloch's 
 predecessor at St. Mary's, "... and Dr. Ten- 
 nant of merry memory, — the author of ' Maggie 
 Lauder' and 'Anster Fair,' not perhaps to be 
 described as academical productions — that of 
 Hebrew," meaning that he held the Chair. Now 
 it is very certain that Dr. Tennant did not write 
 the Scottish version of " Maggie Lauder," and it 
 is doubtful whether Francis Semple of Beltres, 
 who is credited with the authorship, was capable 
 of turning out such a song, judging by his other 
 productions, the style of which is entirely dif- 
 ferent from "Maggie." But the original "Maggie 
 Laidir " was not Scottish at all ; the first authen- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 339 
 
 tic published appearance of the song in Scot- 
 land was in 1776 in "Ancient and Modern 
 Scottish Songs," while the Irish " Maggy " was 
 printed in 1706 as stated by Hardiman in his 
 " Irish Minstrelsy " (1831). Its antiquity is also 
 vouched for by Walker. It was written by John 
 O'Neacthan, author of several poetic composi 
 tions in his native tongue. Itwas properly speak- 
 ing a drinking song — "Maggie Laidir" being 
 one of the many fanciful names by which Ireland 
 has been designated — and is a description of an 
 Irish feast. The song used to be sung by the 
 chairman or president of the meeting. There 
 are ten verses containing praises of the chiefs, 
 blessings for Ireland's friends, and curses long 
 and earnest for her enemies. Hardiman declares 
 " Maggy Laidir " in point of composition to be 
 superior to "O'Rourke's Feast" so humorously 
 translated by Dean Swift from a traditionary 
 ballad put together by MacGavin of Leitrim, a 
 contemporary of O'Carolan. It was composed 
 to celebrate a great feast given by The 
 O'Rourke, a chieftain of Leitrim, upon his tak- 
 ing leave of his neighbours to visit Queen 
 Elizabeth. The ruins of the castle where the 
 feast took place still stands. O'Rourke was 
 put to death in England. 
 
 The author of " Bardic Remains " is very 
 indignant with the Scottish collectors of uncon- 
 sidered musical pieces, and says, " The air as 
 
340 STORIES OF 
 
 well as the words of ' Maggy Laidir,' though 
 long naturalized in North Britain, is Irish. 
 When our Scottish kinsmen were detected ap- 
 propriating the ancient saints of Ireland (would 
 that they would rid us of some modern ones), 
 they took a fancy to its music. Not satisfied 
 with borrowing the art, they despoiled us of 
 some of our sweetest airs, and amongst others 
 ' Maggy Laidir.' The name signifies in the 
 original, strong or powerful Maggy, and by it 
 was meant Ireland, also designated by our bards 
 under the names of Sheela na Guira, Grauna 
 Weale, Roisin Dubh, etc. By an easy change, 
 the adjective laidir, strong, was converted into 
 Lauder, the patronymic of a Scotch family, and 
 the air was employed to celebrate a famous 
 courtesan of Crail. Although Ireland was always 
 famous for sanctity and music, and could spare 
 liberally of both, yet our countrymen ever felt 
 indignant at the unacknowledged appropriation 
 of many of their favourite saints and airs by 
 their northern relatives. Now and then, some 
 dauntless hagiographer ventured to vindicate, 
 and succeeded in restoring a few purloined 
 ascetics ; but, until lately, the Irish had other 
 things, more material than music, to defend ; and 
 it was not until Mr. Bunting appeared that any 
 effectual effort was made to rescue our national 
 melodies from Scotland and oblivion." 
 
 Even Thomson, the publisher and friend of 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 341 
 
 Burns, had some pricks of conscience occasionally 
 on the question of his wholesale ablation, for he 
 writes, in his preface to the " Select Melodies 
 of Scotland," " Some airs are claimed by both 
 countries, but by means of the harpers or pipers 
 who used to wander through the two, particular 
 airs might become so common to both (Ireland 
 and Scotland) as to make it questionable which 
 of the countries gave them birth." Burns wrote 
 in a similar strain on more than one occasion. 
 But the Irish origin of much of the Scottish 
 music has long been admitted by the best in- 
 formed writers on the subject. O'Kane was 
 one of the " famous harpers " (referred to by 
 Boswell in his " Journal of a Tour through the 
 Hebrides") and Laurence O'Connallon (some 
 say his name was William) was another who 
 wandered through Scotland playing the best of 
 the Irish melodies. The latter was brother to 
 the celebrated Thomas O'Connallon, who com- 
 posed upwards of seven hundred airs. At his 
 death Laurence (or William) used to play such 
 of his pieces as pleased most, including " Planxty 
 Davis," since well known as the " Battle of 
 Killiecrankie," and " Farewell to Lochaber," 
 But my authority is wrong about the latter. The 
 music and words were from the heart and brain 
 of Miles O'Reilly of Killincarra, in the county of 
 Cavan, born about 1635. He was universally 
 referred to by the harpers of Belfast (1792) as 
 
342 STORIES OF 
 
 the composer of the original " Lochaber." This 
 is believed to have been carried into Scotland 
 by Thomas O ' Connallon, born five years later than 
 O'Reilly at Cloonmahon in the county of Sligo, 
 O'Neill calls him the " Great harper," and states 
 that he attained to city honours — " they made 
 him, as I heard, a ' Baillie,' or kind of Burgo- 
 master" — in Edinburgh, where he died. His 
 celebrity in Ireland was very great, and he left 
 his mark in Scotland. Many songs of praise 
 were written by other bards in honour of O'Con- 
 nallon's wonderful facility. 
 
 In further support of the contention that the 
 air of Lochaber is Irish, I would draw attention 
 to a work in the British Museum, entitled " New 
 Poems, Songs, Prologues, and Epilogues, never 
 before printed, by Thomas Duffett, and set by 
 the most Eminent Musicians about the Town, 
 London, 1676." In this volume is a song be- 
 ginning, " Since Coelias my Foe," which, instead 
 of having the name of the composer, as is the 
 case with the other pieces, is headed, " Song to 
 the Irish Tune," and this very Irish tune is the 
 one the Scottish claim as Scottish, presumably, 
 because Allan Ramsay wrote words to the 
 melody, but Ramsay was not born until 1696, 
 twenty years after the publication of Duffett's 
 song to the Irish tune ; and the " Tea Table 
 Miscellany," in which " Farewell to Lochaber, 
 farewell to my Jean," first appears, was not 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 343 
 
 issued until 1724. In the "Book of Scottish 
 Songs," it is stated that the original name of the 
 melody of Lochaber was " King James's March 
 to Ireland," but as the melody known as " The 
 Irish Tune " was popular in the reign of. Charles 
 II., before James was King, the very title 
 damages Scotland's claim. Again, James did 
 not go to Ireland until 1688, while the tune was 
 already a favourite in London as " The Irish 
 Tune," twelve years before that. There were 
 about a dozen different sets of words, all English, 
 prior to 1720, and contemporaneously with 
 Ramsay's publication ; but not a syllable of 
 " Lochaber " or " King James " is mentioned in 
 connection therewith. It was introduced into 
 the " Lover's Opera," 1730, as performed at the 
 Theatre Royal by His Majesty's Servants, by 
 Mr. Chetwood. As I have previously stated, 
 the air was composed by Miles O'Reilly, and was 
 carried into Scotland by O'Connallon. Thomas 
 Duffett, as his name unmistakably shows, was 
 an Irishman, who commenced life in London as 
 a milliner, in the New Exchange, London. 
 Beside " Since Coelia's my Foe," he wrote 
 " Come all you pale Lovers," and a number of 
 burlesques that were very successful on the 
 stage. He flourished between 1600 and 1700. 
 Samuel Lover, to whom I am indebted for con- 
 firmatory information on this subject, gives the 
 original air at the end of his " Irish Poems," 1 858. 
 
344 STORIES OF 
 
 Of " Droigheanan Dunn," which literally is 
 the " Brown Thorn," a most exquisite ballad 
 claimed both by Munster and Connaught, though 
 the latter has undoubtedly the right to it, John 
 Bernard Trotter, private secretary to Charles 
 James Fox, says in a small pamphlet on Irish 
 Music : " It had been conjectured that the era 
 of ' Droigheanan Dunn ' was before the intro- 
 duction of Christianity ; that it was composed 
 for the celebration of the Baal Thinne, or the 
 midsummer fire, in which the thorn was parti- 
 cularly burnt. Be this as it may, it is justly 
 celebrated as one of the sweetest melodies ; and 
 whatever be the era of its composition, is an 
 intrinsic proof that we possessed at the earliest 
 periods, a style as peculiar and excellent in 
 music, as our Round Towers prove we did in 
 architecture. The origin of both has perished, 
 but the things themselves remain as incon- 
 testible memorials." It is the same with so 
 many of the songs and ballads still dear to the 
 hearts of the peasantry, if not to others. 
 
 Coming to " Molly Astore," which is familiar 
 to the whole world of song-singers through the 
 Right Honourable George Ogle's use of the 
 melody for his ballad beginning, 
 
 " As down by Banna's banks I strayed," 
 
 Burns called this a " heavenly air," and Bernard 
 Trotter says, " It is evidently the production of 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 345 
 
 the purest era of Irish song, as it has the general 
 character of its sweet and touching melody." 
 The version by the Honourable George Ogle 
 (1739- 1 844) is better than the original, if one 
 may judge by Thomas Furlong's translation. 
 Richard Brinsley Sheridan also wrote to this 
 air the pretty song in " The Duenna " called, 
 " Had I a heart for falsehood framed." The 
 sentiment of " How oft Louisa," in the same 
 piece, was also taken from an Irish song. This 
 song must not be confused with the song en- 
 titled " The Banks of Banna," also written by 
 the Right Honourable George Ogle, and lifted 
 bodily by the Scottish. " It is," says Samuel 
 Lover in 1858, "little short of a century since 
 this song was written by Mr. Ogle, to the beautful 
 melody generally known as the ' Banks of 
 Banna,' but whose ancient title is ' Down beside 
 Me.' It is, one may say, notoriously Irish, yet 
 it has been published in Wood's ' Songs of 
 Scotland,' 185 1, with the note, that ' the air has 
 been sometimes claimed as Irish.' " It would be 
 little less ridiculous if the editor had said " St. 
 Patrick's Day " had been sometimes claimed as 
 Irish. The air has long been coveted by the 
 Scotch publishers and editors, for, as far back as 
 1793 Burns thus writes to George Thomson, 
 " You are quite right in inserting the last five 
 in your list, though they are certainly Irish. 
 'Shepherds I have lost my Love' (Banks of 
 
346 STORIES OF 
 
 Banna) is to me a heavenly air ; what would you 
 think of a set of Scottish verses to it ? . . . Set 
 the tune to it and let the Irish verses follow." 
 
 Burns wrote some verses, but they were 
 rejected by Thomson. Says Lover, " For 
 what could be hoped of a song beginning thus : 
 
 ' Yestreen I got a pint of wine 
 
 A place where body saw na : 
 Yestreen lay on this breast of mine 
 
 The gowden locks of Anna.' 
 
 It is surprising how Burns could write such 
 trash." Then in 1824 Thomson himself tried 
 his hand at writing a lyric to fit the music, and a 
 pretty mess he made of it. Moore, in 18 10, 
 wrote his charming lines " On Music " to it, and 
 succeeded very well. In 1851, as the Scottish 
 editor failed to secure suitable Caledonian 
 verses, he got over his difficulty by calmly 
 appropriating the I rish song altogether. " Th is, " 
 adds Lover, " is Scottish song-making made 
 easy with a vengeance." 
 
 " Coolin " or " Coulin " is known through 
 Moore's adaptation entitled " Though the last 
 glimpse of Erin with sorrow I see." It is an 
 exceptionally fine melody and much older than 
 the Irish words extant, translated by Furlong : 
 
 " Had you seen my sweet Coolin at the day's early dawn, 
 When she moves thro' the wild wood, or the wide dewy lawn ; 
 There is joy — there is bliss in her soul-cheering smile, 
 She's the fairest of flowers of our green-bosom'd isle." 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 347 
 
 This lyric — there are six stanzas — has been 
 attributed to Maurice O'Dugan, an Irish bard, 
 who lived near Benburb, in the Countv of 
 Tyrone, about the year 1641. An excellent 
 rendition of the ancient ballad has been made 
 by Caroll Malone, commencing : 
 
 " The last time she looked in the face of her dear." 
 
 "Coolin" means, the maiden of fair flowing locks, 
 but the original word is retained in the trans- 
 lation, being now, as it were, naturalized in 
 English. There are several versions in vogue. 
 Walker tells us in his " Memoirs " that when 
 Henry VIII. ordered the mere Irish to be 
 shorn, a song was written by one of their bards 
 in which an Irish virgin is made to give the 
 preference to her dear Coulin (or the youth with 
 the flowing locks) before all strangers (by which 
 the English were meant) or those who wore 
 their habits. But the Act in question was 
 passed as early as a.d. 1295, to which remote 
 period the composition of the air and words 
 is consequently referable. It recites that " the 
 English, being in a manner degenerate, have of 
 late clothed themselves in Irish raiment, and 
 having had their heads half shaved, nourish and 
 prolong the hair from the back of the head, 
 calling it Culan, conforming to the Irish as well 
 in face and aspect as in dress, whereby it often- 
 times happens that certain English, being mis- 
 
348 STORIES OF 
 
 taken for Irishmen are slain, albeit that the 
 slaying of an Englishman and the slaying of an 
 Irishman are crimes which demand different 
 modes of punishment, by reason whereof great " 
 cause of enmity and rancour is generated 
 amongst many persons, and the kinsmen of the 
 slayer as well as the slain do frequently fall at 
 feud." Of the song the air alone was handed 
 down, and until about the year 1641 went word- 
 less. " Cean Dubh Deelish," which may be 
 translated into " Lovely maid with the raven 
 locks," is essentially Irish and highly popular 
 still. The Scotch give a version of it, but it 
 was known in Ireland long before the appear- 
 ance of Corri's " Book of Highland Airs," in 
 which it was first printed in Scotland. 
 
 Hardiman, Bunting, and other qualified au- 
 thorities state emphatically that " Summer is a 
 coming in," was taken bodily by Dr. Burney 
 from the ancient Irish melody called "Samhre 
 teacht" or "Summer is coming." To which 
 Moore wrote " Rich and rare were the gems 
 she wore," which has been handed down for 
 centuries by the various bards. It was Dr. 
 Young, the then Bishop of Clonfert who first 
 detected the likeness. " This sweet hymn," 
 according to Hardiman, " was a tribute of grate- 
 ful melody, offered up by our ancestors to the 
 opening year, and has been sung from time 
 immemorial by them at the approach of spring. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 349 
 
 To those who have resided among the peasantry 
 of the southern and western parts of Ireland, 
 where the national manners are most un- 
 adulterated, this melody is at this day perfectly 
 familiar." Mr. Henry Davey, in his "History 
 of English Music," while acknowledging that 
 the sudden appearance for one moment of the 
 art of composition in the thirteenth century — in 
 the form of this piece, this Rota, " Sumer is 
 icumen in," is inexplicable, almost unhesitatingly 
 assigns, Latin and English words and music 
 to the inspiration of John of Fornsete, following 
 in the footsteps of other explorers, of course. 
 I make no suggestions. 
 
 "Blooming Deirdre," "Mary a Roon," "The Fair 
 Hills of Ireland,'' "The Expulsion of Shane Bui," 
 "John O'Dwyer of the Glen," and other Irish 
 Jacobite songs team with interest of a kind more 
 suitable to the antiquarian than the general reader. 
 Pieces of a different cast could be cited by the 
 score, dating back to very remote ages, which are 
 valuable if only on account of their antiquity. 
 
 The fanciful, fantastic and faeristic elements 
 have ever furnished Erin's writers with pleasant 
 food for their prolific pens, and ballads on "The 
 Island of Atlantis," " Hy-Brasil— the Isle of 
 the Blest," phantom islands of gold, enchanted 
 islands, holy wells, fairy wells, have been written 
 by Gerald Griffin, Thomas Moore, Clarence 
 Mangan, the Reverend George Croly, Charles 
 
350 STORIES OF 
 
 Lever, Samuel Lover, Sir Samuel Ferguson, 
 Sir Charles Gavan Duffy and other poets of 
 equal eminence, and are to be found in most 
 collections of Irish songs and ballads. The 
 notion with regard to " Hy-Brasil," by Gerald 
 Griffin, is concerned with several other places — 
 the locality generally being the only difference 
 in the legend. O' Flaherty, in his "Sketch of 
 the Island of Arran," says, " The people of 
 Arran fancy that at certain periods they see 
 Hy-Brasil elevated far to the west in their 
 watery horizon. This had been the universal 
 tradition of the ancient Irish, who supposed that 
 a great part of Ireland had been swallowed by 
 the sea, and that the sunken part often rose and 
 was seen hanging in the horizon ! The Hy- 
 Brasil of the Irish is evidently a part of the 
 Atlantis of Plato, who in his ' Timaeus ' says 
 that the island was totally swallowed up by a 
 prodigious earthquake. Of some such shocks 
 the Isles of Arran, the promontories of Antrim 
 and some of the western islands of Scotland bear 
 evident marks." A curious tract relating to 
 this tradition was once in the possession of 
 Denis Florence Mac-Carthy, the author of , 
 "Waiting for the May" and other poems. 
 The title was " The Western Wonder, O Bra- 
 zeel, an Inchanted Island discovered ; with a 
 relation of Two Ship-wracks in a dreadful Sea- 
 storm in that discovery. London, printed for 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 351 
 
 N. C, MDCLXXIV." Lovers of verses about 
 fairies and the "good people" will find an in- 
 exhaustible store in Irish literature, ancient 
 and modern. " The Dark Rosaleen," by that 
 extraordinary and erratic genius James Clar- 
 ence Mangan, who was born in Dublin, 1803, 
 and died in 1 849, is one of the most remarkable 
 ballads ever written, having all the fire and 
 passion that one would express for a mistress, 
 addressed to a country. Mangan translated it 
 from the Irish, and the note to the work runs : 
 "This impassioned ballad, entitled in the 
 original ' Roisin Dubh ' (or " The Black Little 
 Rose ") was written in the reign of the cele- 
 brated Tirconnellian chieftain Hugh the Red 
 O'Donnell. It purports to be an allegorical 
 address from Hugh to Ireland on the subject of 
 his love and struggles for her, and his resolve 
 to raise her again to the glorious position she 
 held as a nation before the irruption of the 
 Saxon and Norman despoilers. The true 
 character and meaningof the figurative allusions 
 that abound are not difficult of grasping." 
 
 Besides translating the songs and ballads of 
 the Munster and other bards, Mangan wrote a 
 quantity of lyric poetry of surprising excellence. 
 Another translation by Thomas Furlong retains 
 the original title and is very spirited. 
 
 The Banshee and the Fetch are myths re- 
 sponsible for a vast number of pieces, generally 
 
352 STORIES OF 
 
 written in a very minor key. " The Banshee 
 (from ban — bean — a woman, and shee — sidhe 
 — a fairy) is an attendant fairy that follows the 
 old families, and none but them, and wails 
 before a death. Many have seen her as she 
 goes wailing and cljapping her hands. The 
 keen (caoine), the funeral cry of the peasantry, 
 is said to be an imitation of her cry. When 
 more than one banshee is present, and they 
 wail in chorus, it is for the death of some holy 
 or great one. An omen that sometimes ac- 
 companies the banshee is the coach-a-bower 
 (coiste - bodhar), an immense black coach, 
 mounted by a coffin and drawn by headless 
 horses driven by a Dullahan. It will go rumb- 
 ling to your door and if you open it, according 
 to Croker, a basin of blood will be thrown in 
 your face," says W. B. Yeats. The Fetch is 
 supposed to be the exact form and resemblance, 
 as to hair, stature, features, and dress, of a cer- 
 tain person who is soon to depart from this 
 world. It is also supposed to appear to the 
 particular friend of the doomed one, and to flit 
 before him without any warning or intimation, 
 but merely the mystery of the appearance at a 
 place and time where and when the real being 
 could not be or appear. It is most frequently 
 thought to be seen when the fated object is about 
 to die a sudden death by unforeseen means, and 
 then it is said to be abnormally disturbed and 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 353 
 
 agitated in its motions. Unlike the superstition 
 of the Banshee, there is no accounting for the 
 coming of this forerunner of death ; there is no 
 tracing it to any defined origin; but that it 
 does come, a shadowy phantom of doom and 
 terror, and often comes, is firmly believed by the 
 Irish peasantry, and many curious stories and 
 circumstances are related to confirm the truth 
 of the superstition. While the Theosophists 
 boast of their Spooks, the Irish can point to 
 their Phooka, which is a fairy of very repre- 
 hensible habits, who assumes all sorts of shapes 
 and sizes and frightens the good and bad in- 
 differently. " The Keen " — properly Caoine — 
 is the dirge sung over the dead in Ireland ; the 
 word is derived from the Hebrew Cina, pro- 
 nounced Keen, which signifies weeping with 
 clapping of hands. They are still performed, 
 and the effect of one of these painfully dramatic 
 dirges chanted in a plaintive minor is indescrib- 
 ably harrowing to the hearer. 
 
 So many songs with the same or similar 
 sentiments and titles seem to have appeared 
 in each country — England, Ireland, and Scot- 
 land — at about the same time, that it is no 
 easy matter to decide whose claim carries 
 the most weight. Now " Over the hills and far 
 away " has been common property throughout 
 Great Britain as a song and as a saying for 
 at least two centuries. It has been traced 
 
 A A 
 
354 STORIES OF 
 
 to the year 17 15 as an Irish Jacobite ditty de- 
 ploring the exile of James, the son of the de- 
 posed monarch James II., but it is much older 
 than that. A song thus named was written by 
 John MacDonnell, who was born 1691 and died 
 1 754. He wrote from his youth till his death, 
 and was a profound scholar and antiquarian. 
 He was known by the name of " Claragh " from 
 the residence of his family, which was situated 
 at the foot of the mountain of that name between 
 Charleville and Mallow. He led a most romantic 
 existence, and on account of his Jacobite tend- 
 encies had to fight for his life more than once. 
 
 A version of this song was sung in th,e 
 " Beggar's Opera" in 1728 as a duet for Polly 
 and Macheath, and created a great sensation. 
 
 There is an old nursery rhyme which runs : 
 
 " When I was young and had no sense, 
 I bought a fiddle for eighteen pence, 
 And all the tunes that I could play, 
 Was ' Over the hills and far away.' " 
 
 This was perhaps suggested by "Jockey's 
 Lamentation " in " Wit and Mirth, or Pills to 
 Purge Melancholy," 1709, where the words and 
 tune of " Over the hills and far away " are to be 
 found in the fourth volume. 
 
 " Tom he was a piper's son. 
 He learned to play when he was young. 
 But all the tunes that he could play 
 Was ' Over the hills and far away,' 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 355. 
 
 Over the hills and a great way off, 
 
 And the wind will blow my top-knot off." 
 
 In the fifth volume " Jockey's Lamentation " 
 opens thus, Jockey being changed to Jackey : 
 
 " Jackey met with Jenny fair 
 Betwixt the dawning and the day, 
 And Jackey now is full of care, 
 For Jenny stole my (sic) heart away." 
 
 The burden is : 
 
 " And 'tis over the hills and far away 
 The wind has blown my plaid away." 
 
 Allan Ramsay Scotified these words, inevitably, 
 invol. ii. of "The Tea-Table Miscellany," 1733, 
 but any one with half an eye, and blind in that, 
 can see that they are not true Scottish. The tune, 
 by the way, is also to be found in the " Dancing 
 Master." The original words in English seem 
 to have been called " A Popular New Ballad, 
 entitled ' The Wind hath blown my Plaid away, 
 or, a Discourse betwixt a young Maid and the 
 Elphin Knight,' to be sung wiiA its own pleasant 
 new tune." A copy of this is in the Pepysian 
 Collection, and is reprinted in the Appendix to 
 Motherwell's " Minstrelsy." Many songs were 
 written to the air, and, among these, three may 
 be noted. The first, to encourage enlistment 
 in the reign of Queen Anne, commences : 
 
 " Hark how the drums beat up again 
 For all true soldiers, gentlemen ; 
 
356 STORIES OF 
 
 Then let us 'list and march away 
 Over the hills and far away. 
 
 " Over the hills and o'er the main, 
 To Flanders, Portugal, and Spain ; 
 Queen Anne commands, and we'll obey. 
 Over the hills and far away." 
 
 This is from " The Merry Companion." The 
 second and third are anti- Jacobite songs of 
 1745, one "The Duke's Defeat of the Rebels," 
 beginning : 
 
 " Come, my boys, let 's drink and sing 
 Success to George, our sovereign King," 
 
 and the other, " A Loyal Song, sung by Mr, 
 Beard at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden," 
 commencing : 
 
 " From barren Caledonia's lands. 
 Where famine, uncontroul'd, commands. 
 The rebel clans in search of prey 
 Came over the hills and far away." 
 
 The allusions to the air are also tolerably 
 numerous in books such as " Round about our 
 Coal Fire, or Christmas Evening's Entertain- 
 ments : " 
 
 " Let the strong beer be unlocked, 
 
 And let the piper play 
 
 ' Over the hills and far away.' " 
 
 In the " Recruiting Officer," by George 
 Farquahar, the Irish dramatist (1678- 1707), 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 357 
 
 produced at Drury Lane, April 8th, 1706, 
 Captain Plume, the principal character, sings : 
 
 " Over the hills and far away, 
 To Flanders, Portugal, and Spain, 
 
 The King commands, and we'll obey j 
 Over the hills and far away." 
 
 Again he sings : 
 
 " Over the hills and far away, 
 
 Courage boys, it 's one to ten, 
 
 But we return all gentlemen, 
 While conquering colours we display. 
 
 Chorus. Over the hills and far away." 
 
 Then the non-commissioned officer, Sergeant 
 Kite, in a later scene has also another verse : 
 
 " Our 'prentice, Tom, may now refuse 
 To wipe his scoundrel master's shoes, 
 For now he 's free to sing and play, 
 Over the hills and far away." 
 
 To the above the stage direction is, " The mob 
 sings the chorus." 
 
 Farquhar was born in Londonderry, and 
 doubtless there heard the song, which is very 
 ancient, as a child, for the melody seems very 
 old indeed. It was this iteration of the sub- 
 ject in a popular play — "Serjeant Kite" has 
 passed into the language — that familiarized the 
 public ear with " Over the hills and far away," 
 and accounts for the fact of Swift and Gay 
 knowing it so well, and hence its introduction 
 
■358 STORIES OF 
 
 into " The Beggar's Opera." Thackeray gives 
 a: verse in the text of " The Virginians," In 
 "Time's Telescope " for the year 1828 a song 
 is given in which occur the words frequently. 
 The date assigned to this production is 17 14. 
 
 This song must have been written just seven 
 years after Farquhar's death, and though Far- 
 quhar was perhaps not the inventor of the 
 phrase, he certainly introduced it into the cur- 
 rency of the language in England. 
 
 " Clarach's Lament," by John MacDonnell, 
 supplies the air for the Scottish song, "My 
 gallant braw Highlandman," but " Clarach's 
 Lament " was written to the " White Cockade." 
 " The White Cockade " (Cnotahd Ban) means 
 literally a bouquet, and has nothing to do with 
 the military cockade, as some authorities state, 
 but is a bouquet or plume of white ribbons with 
 which the young women of Munster adorn the 
 hair and headdress on wedding and other festive 
 occasions. The custom prevailed early in the 
 seventeenth century, for we find a poet of that 
 period, Muirio Mac Daibhi Duibh Mac Gearailt^ 
 addressing a young woman in these (translated) 
 words : 
 
 " O brown-haired maiden of the plume so white, ' 
 I am sick and dying for love's sweet aid, 
 '■ Come ease my pain and be my delight, 
 
 For I love you true and your white cockade." 
 
 Many songs were written to the striking air. A- 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 359 
 
 Jacobite song was translated from the Irish by 
 J. J. Callanan and sung to the old tune in 1745, 
 beginning " King Charles he is King James's 
 son," and therein the "White Cockade" is 
 turned to military account. 
 
 The counterpart of " The Campbells are 
 Coming " is to be found (in two versions) in a 
 song by Andrew MacGrath, an intellectual but 
 erratic Munster bard, who was perhaps too 
 fond of gay company and wandering about. 
 The song was entitled "The Old Man," and 
 the incident which brought it into existence is 
 as follows : "In the course of his wanderings 
 the poet chanced to meet with a young woman 
 by the roadside who was weeping bitterly, and 
 appeared to be abandoned to inconsolable grief 
 Upon inquiring the cause of her affliction, he 
 found that she had been induced, at the urgent 
 request of her parish priest, to wed, for the sake 
 of his great wealth and worldly possessions, an 
 old man, the coldness of whose nature presented 
 but an imperfect requital to her youthful warmth 
 of affection. MacGrath, who with all his failings 
 possessed a heart ever sensitively alive to the 
 wrongs of injured youth and innocence, was 
 moved by the narrative of the young girl's- 
 wrongs, and produced an extempore song on 
 the occasion. Here is the first stanza : 
 
 " A priest bade me marry for ' better or worse ' 
 An old wretch who'd nought but his money and years — 
 
36o STORIES OF 
 
 Ah, 'twas little he cared, but to fill his own purse. 
 
 And I now look for help to the neighbours with tears." 
 
 The popularity of the song was enormous, and 
 travelled vid the minstrels throughout the length 
 and breadth of the land, and into Scotland, where 
 it was utilized also. But the earliest trace of it 
 In Scotland is, according to Stenhouse, 17 15, 
 and the tune was not printed there till about 
 1760, when it appeared in Bremner's "Scots 
 Reels and Country Dances," and again in Aird's 
 " Selection of Scots Airs," 1782. Magrath was 
 a contemporary of John O'Tuomy, who was 
 born at Croome, 1706, and died August, 1775, 
 in Limerick. O'Tuomy was a man of much 
 learning, and the author of some dozens of 
 songs. Copies of the original melody, to which 
 later words were set, date back to 1620. 
 
 "The Girl I left Behind Me" is of indis- 
 putable Hibernian origin, though the exact date 
 of its composition is not known ; but Arthur 
 O'Neill, the celebrated harper, informed Bunt- 
 ing that it had been taught him when he was 
 little more than a child (he was born 1730) by 
 Owen Keenan, his first master, who had had it 
 from a previous harper. Chappell gives the 
 date of the music, " Eighteenth century, words 
 about 1759," but the air was certainly known to 
 the harpers a century earlier than that. O'Neill 
 died in 181 5 at the age of eighty-five. The, 
 English version of the words and the Irish 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 361 
 
 differ considerably. I give the first stanza of 
 the latter : , 
 
 " The dames of France are fond and free, 
 
 And Flemish lips are willing, 
 And soft the maids of Italy, 
 
 While Spanish eyes are thrilling. 
 Still though I bask beneath their smile. 
 
 Their charms quite fail to bind me, 
 And my heart fallg back to Erin's Isle, 
 
 To the girl I left behind me." 
 
 It is very easy to prove that the words as given 
 by Chappell could not possibly have been written 
 in 1759, for the simple reason that in the second 
 verse the fifth line runs, " But now I'm bound 
 to Brighton camp." Now Brighton was always 
 called by its original name Brighthelmston until 
 quite 1787, and was not generally known as 
 Brighton till twenty years later. There is a 
 reference to Brighthelmstone camp in 1793, 
 whence the Duke of Clarence writes, according 
 to the newspapers of the day. In J. D. Parry's 
 " Coast of Sussex " there is, after occasional 
 'mention of " Brighton" in 1 787-1 792, a note of 
 October 4th, 1 793, " Camp near Brighton," after 
 which the name always appears in the extracts 
 as Brighton, when doubtless the new name 
 became general. " The Girl I left behind Me," 
 according to tradition, became the parting tune 
 of the British army and navy about the middle 
 of the last century. In one of the regiments 
 
362 STORIES OF 
 
 then quartered in the South of England there 
 was an Irish bandmaster, who had the not un- 
 common peculiarity of being able to fall in love 
 in ten minutes with any attractive girl he might 
 chance to meet. It never hurt him much, how- 
 ever, for he fell out again as readily as he fell 
 in, and so acquired a new sweetheart in every 
 town the regiment passed through. Whenever 
 the troops were leaving the place where he had 
 a sweetheart, he ordered the band to play " The 
 Girl I left behind Me," which, even then, was an 
 old Irish melody. The story of his accommo- 
 dating heart soon spread through the army, and 
 other bandmasters, at the request of officers and 
 soldiers, began to use the melody as a parting 
 tune, and by the end of the century it was ac- 
 counted disrespectful to the ladies for a regiment 
 to march away without playing "The Girl I left 
 behind Me." 
 
 Manuscript copies of the song have been 
 found dated 1770, but it was well known among 
 the Irish minstrels long before that, and was 
 popular even as a street song in the Irish capital 
 in the early part of the eighteenth century. But 
 who really wrote either words or music will per- 
 haps never be known. Moore wrote his pretty 
 tallad, " As Slow our Ships," to this melody.' 
 The Scottish don't claim it. 
 
 " Ti me mo chodladh " — " I am asleep, andi 
 don't waken me" — "an ancient and beautiful 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 363 
 
 air," says Bunting, " unwarrantably appropriated 
 by the Scotch, among whom Hector MacNeil 
 has written words to it (" Jeanie's Black E'e "). 
 The Irish words that remain are evidently very 
 old, and consist only of six lines : 
 
 " ' I am asleep, without rocking, through this quarter of 
 the night, 
 
 I am asleep, and do not waken me ; 
 kindly, dear mother, get up and make light for me, 
 
 For I am sick and evil has happened me.' " 
 
 And so on. An Irish poet is wanted to make 
 the fragment into a song. The melody is also 
 given in Walker's " Irish Bards," 1786. 
 
 The Jacobite relic, "The Blackbird," deserves 
 mention not only on account of its Irish character, 
 but because, as far as can be ascertained, it is 
 the first Irish lyric of any kind written in English. 
 It dates from 1715, the year that the " Black- 
 bird " made his Scotch attempt to prove his 
 cause. In Ramsay's " Tea-Table Miscellany " 
 it is given as taken down from an Irishman who 
 had participated in the 1 7 1 5 revolt. The melody 
 is very ancient, and is given by Bunting in his 
 "Ancient Music of Ireland," who says that the 
 words were written during the war, 1688-90; 
 The Irish name was " An Londubh." 
 , One very eminent essence in all the old Irish 
 songs was the sweetness and tenderness of the 
 airs. Take any of the street and peasant songs, 
 and this will at once be acknowledged. " The 
 
364 STORIES OF 
 
 Wearing of the Green," " The Pretty Girl Milk- 
 ing the Cows," " Willy Reilly," and " Drimin 
 Dubh," a most pathetic tune, to give only one or 
 two examples. The rollicking and the humorous 
 as contrasts abound in profusion. And, as 
 Haydn declares : " It is the air which is the 
 charm of music, and it is that which is most 
 difficult to produce ; patience and study are 
 sufficient for the composition of agreeable 
 sonnets, but the invention of a fine melody is 
 the work of genius." And yet some of the 
 world's finest melodies are the production of 
 unknown and, in many cases entirely simple 
 and humble folk devoid of musical training. 
 
 Ireland's patron Saint, Patrick, has naturally 
 been the subject of many excellent ballads, in- 
 cluding "St. Patrick's Day in the Morning," 
 said to have been written by a gentleman named 
 Wood, who adopted the nom de plume of 
 " Lanner de Waltram," a very frolicsome pro- 
 duction indeed, largely concerned with the con- 
 sumption of punch. " St. Patrick of Ireland, 
 my Dear," adapted to the melody of " The night 
 before Larry was Stretched," first appeared in 
 "Blackwood's Magazine," December, 182 1. The 
 author's name is not given. " St. Patrick was 
 a Gentleman : " this is a very quaint anonymous 
 production relating all the " miracles " that the 
 Saint is credited with performing, and which many 
 of the illiterate believe in implicitly. A drinking 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 365 
 
 or toasting song to his saintship entitled, " Saint 
 Patrick was an honest soul," was very popular 
 at one time. Another song, from a manuscript 
 copy in the autograph of Sir Jonah Barrington, 
 endorsed, " Sung with great applause at a meet- 
 ing assembled in the City of Paris, to celebrate 
 the anniversary of the Saint of Hibernia." This 
 was probably the 1 7 th March, 1 8 1 6, says Crofton 
 Croker, in " The Popular Songs of Ireland " 
 (1839). The song is called " St. Patrick's Day 
 in Paris." It possesses more merit in every 
 sense of the word than any of the others. From 
 Samuel Lover's song about the Saint's birthday, 
 I give the two most striking stanzas : 
 
 " On the eighth day of March, as some people say, 
 St. Patrick at midnight first saw the day ; 
 While others declare 'twas the ninth he was born, 
 And 'twas all a mistake 'twixt the night and the morn." 
 
 As neither side would give in, the parish priest 
 hits upon a happy compromise which is here 
 duly related : 
 
 " Now, boys, don't be fighting 'bout eight and 'bout nine. 
 Don't be always dividing, but sometimes combine ; 
 Join eight unto nine — seventeen is the mark : 
 Let that be his birthday — ' Amen ' says the clerk ! " 
 
 There is also a modern song by J. F- Waller, 
 LL,D., " St. Patrick's Day in my own parlour." 
 
 " The Shamrock " has also come in for a large 
 share of poetic propagation, and as early as 1689 
 we find its praises sung in verse : 
 
366 STORIES OF 
 
 " Springs, happy springs, adorned with sallets, 
 Which nature purposed for their palats ; 
 Shamrogs and watercress he shows 
 Which was both meat and drink and clothes." 
 
 The shamrock was held in high esteem at one 
 time for the making of salads, " being of a sharp 
 taste " as well as sorrel. The popular belief re- 
 specting the shamrock, or trefoil, is, saysCroker, 
 that St. Patrick by its means satisfactorily ex- 
 plained to the early converts of Christianity in 
 Ireland the Trinity in Unity ; exhibiting the 
 three leaves attached to one stalk as an illustra- 
 tion. St. Patrick is usually represented in the 
 garb of a bishop holding a trefoil. The trefoil 
 plant (shamroc and shamrakh in Arabic) was 
 held sacred in Iran, and was considered em- 
 blematical of the Persian Triad. The Loyal 
 Volunteers of Cork used to wear the shamrock 
 as a national decoration, as may be gathered from 
 the "Cork Remembrancer," March 17th, 1780, 
 " The armed societies of this city paraded on 
 the Mall with shamrock cockades, and fired 
 three volleys in honour of the day." 
 
 The best song on the subject of the trefoil is 
 Andrew Cherry's " Green Little Shamrock of 
 Ireland," with music by Shield. It was first 
 sung by Mrs. Mountain, in her entertainment 
 called, " Travellers at Spa," at the little Opera 
 House, Capel Street,. Dublin. Andrew Cherry, 
 who wrote a number of songs, including the 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 367 
 
 " Bay of Biscay " and dramatic pieces — the 
 best of these latter being " The Soldier's 
 Daughter," was the son of a Limerick printer 
 and bookseller. He took to the stage, and ap- 
 peared, after being a member of many stock and 
 travelling companies, at Drury Lane Theatre, 
 in 1802, with "much applause." He died at 
 Monmouth, 181 2. Moore wrote "The Sham- 
 rock" to the air "Ally Croker," and Samuel 
 Lover wrote " The Four Leafed Shamrock," 
 
 The " Irishman's Apple," or " Murphy," the 
 potato, is another plant which has been the 
 means of producing much poetic fruit. Also 
 Whisky, the Shillelah or " Irish Oak," and other 
 national productions. " The Sprig of Shillelah " 
 was written by H. B. Code, though often attri- 
 buted to Edward Lysaght. It is still a very 
 popular, boisterous song. It was first sung in 
 Code's drama, " The Russian Sacrifice at the 
 Burning of Moscow," 181 3, in Dublin. For 
 purely local songs attention may be again 
 directed to " The Groves of Blarney," which 
 was so great a favourite that a London paper at 
 the time of its appearance called it the " National 
 Irish Poem." It was written by Richard Alfred 
 Milliken, the author of much verse. Perhaps 
 no song, composed as it was in a spirit of fun in 
 ridicule of an absurd ditty called " Castle Hyde," 
 pver gained such unexpected celebrity before or 
 since. "Blarney Castle" and the "Blarney 
 
368 STORIES OF 
 
 Stone " have had their share of patronage, and 
 so has the " City of Cork." " The Town of 
 Passage," " The Groves of Blackpool," " The 
 Humours of Donnybrook Fair," " The Boys of 
 Kilkenny," the " Hermit of Killarney," " The 
 Silvery Lee," and " The Rakes of Mallow," are 
 a few of the songs that will be found in Croker's 
 entertaining "Songs of Ireland" which have 
 perhaps more than a local interest. 
 
 That Dublin street song, " The Night before 
 Larry was Stretched," has caused much con- 
 troversy as to the authorship of the words, 
 Alfred Percival Graves says, in songs of " Irish 
 Wit and Humour," that he has indisputable 
 evidence that the piece was from the pen of 
 William Maher, and not from Dean Burrowes. 
 In "Ireland Ninety Years Ago," 1876, there 
 appears the following in support of this con- 
 tention : " The celebrated song composed on 
 him (Lambert) has acquired a lasting fame, not 
 only as a picture of manners, but of phraseology 
 now passed away ; and its authorship is a sub- 
 ject of as much controversy as the ' Letters of 
 Junius.' Report has conferred the reputation 
 of it on Burrowes, Curran, Lysaght and others, 
 who have never asserted their claims. We shall 
 mention one more claimant whose pretensions 
 are equal to those of any other. There was at 
 that time a man named Maher in Waterfordj 
 who kept a cloth shop at the market cross ; he 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 369 
 
 had a distorted ankle, and was known by the 
 sobriquet of • Hurifoot Bill.' He was a 'fellow 
 of infinite humour,' and his compositions oii 
 various local and temporary subjects were in 
 the mouths of all his acquaintance. There was 
 then a literary society established in Waterford, 
 which received contributions in a letter-box that 
 was periodically opened, and prizes awarded for 
 the compqsitions. In this was found the first 
 copy of this celebrated song that had been seen 
 in Waterford. Its merit was immediately ac- 
 knowledged ; inquiry was made for its author, 
 and ' Hurifoot Bill ' presented himself and 
 claimed the prize awarded. We give this 
 anecdote, which must go for tantum quantum 
 valet ; but we have heard from old members of 
 this society that no doubt at the time existed 
 among them that he was then the author. His 
 known celebrity in that line of composition ren- 
 dered it probable, and he continued to the end 
 of his short and eccentric career of life to clainl 
 the authorship with confidence." The song is 
 to be found- in extenso in "Irish Minstrelsy" 
 (1894), edited by H. Halliday Sparling. 
 
 The names of the author and composer of 
 that well-known drinking song, the " Cruiskin 
 Lawn "("Little Jug") arelosttous. Itoriginated 
 probably among the convivial circles of Dublin, 
 though based upon a much older lyric. It is 
 not easy to say whether the tune is Irish or 
 
 B B 
 
370 STORIES OF 
 
 not; it may have come over with the Danes. 
 Boucicault utilized it in the "Colleen Bawn," 
 and so did Sir Julius Benedict in the " Lily of 
 KiUarney." 
 
 In a note to the words of the " Shan Van 
 Voght," the editor of " Irish Minstrelsy" (1894) 
 says : "This is one of the many names for Ireland 
 — An t-sean bean bochd — the poor old woman. 
 The song, of which there are many versions, 
 was composed in 1797, the period when the 
 French fleet arrived in Bantry Bay." It is a 
 ballad of anonymous production. All who are 
 acquainted with the stirring stanzas can easily 
 imagine what an effect the song would have on 
 a restless, dissatisfied people, and it is a wonder 
 that the effects djf its continually being chanted 
 were not of a disastrous nature. The song was 
 sung in every city, town, and village in the 
 country, and caused a great deal of excitement, 
 which did not abate till long after the French 
 scare was ended and put to rest. Many ver- 
 sions, especially born of the street, have ap- 
 peared of this typical political song. 
 
 "Grana Weal," or more strictly, "Graine 
 Uile," was another fanciful name for Ireland. 
 It stood in the first place for Grace O'Malley, a 
 famous Irish heroine who was devoted to her 
 country with a " heart and a half" sincerity that 
 has gained her much renown. She was an 
 accomplished womap, and won the favour of 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 371 
 
 Queen Elizabeth. She was the daughter of 
 O'Malley of the Oules, a district in Mayo, and 
 was successively the wife of O'Flaherty of lar- 
 Connaught and of Sir Richard Burk, styled the 
 MacWilliam Eighter, who died in 1585. The 
 air of the song dates from the same period, 
 though the Jacobite words of a -later age are 
 .customarily sung to it now. 
 
 Of ancient patriotic airs breathing that won- 
 derful fire and fearlessness that has ever ani- 
 mated the Irish when war has been rife, and 
 which has helped Great Britain to win and hold 
 some of her finest possessions, and to thrash 
 the mutual enemy in modern times, there are 
 many that will last as long as music has exist- 
 ence. In this category may be cited "The 
 Battle of Argan Mor," a very old melody set to 
 words of Ossianic tradition. The weird exulta- 
 tion in this air is entirely characteristic of the 
 •daring instincts of the primitive Irish. Then 
 there are "The Return from Fingal," "Awake, 
 Awake, Fianna," " The Sword," and others too 
 numerous to detail, all charged with wild enr 
 liiusiasm and impetuosity. 
 
 But let us speak of some songs that are more 
 universally known, though in calling attention 
 to the forgotten, mayhap it will tend to make 
 them remembered. "The Twisting of the 
 Rope." Tradition thus speaks of its origin: 
 A Coftnaugbt harper having once put up at 
 
372 . STORIES OF 
 
 .the residence of a rich farmer, began to pay 
 such attention to the daughter of the house 
 as greatly to displease the mother, who instantly 
 conceived a plan for the summary ejectment 
 of the. minstrel. She provided some hay, and 
 .requested the harper to twist the rope which 
 she set about making. As the work progressed 
 and the rope lengthened, the harper, of course, 
 retired backward till he went beyond the door 
 of the dwelling, when the crafty matron sud* 
 denly shut the door in his face and then threw 
 his harp out of the window. The "Song of the 
 Irish Emigrant " or " The Woods of Caillino," 
 Samuel Lover informs us, was written by a lady 
 who desired only to be known by the initials 
 L, N. F., to an old Irish air " Cailin Og" or 
 ." Colleen oge as tore" — corrupted into Callinoe 
 —but meaning simply, young girl, or fair young 
 girl. The air was brought to London from 
 Ireland by the soldiers of Queen Elizabeth, 
 who served with Essex, and became popular in 
 Xhe metropolis in the time of Shakespeare, who 
 quotes, or rather misquotes, the words in Henry 
 v., act 4, scene 4. The origin of the first title 
 of this song, " The Woods of Caillino," has 
 puzzled commentators for ages, the supposition 
 being that it is derived from the burden of an 
 old song sung by PistoL" Calen O custure me," 
 •while the reverse is the case, but this is a philo- 
 logical question, and doeS: not poncern us here. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 373 
 
 L. N. F. was Mrs. Ellen Fitz-Simon, eldest 
 daughter of Daniel O'Connell, born in Dublin, 
 1805, died in London, 1883. She wrote various 
 poems for different I rish journals. Tom M oore's 
 "Canadian Boat Song" which is quite as Irish in 
 sentiment as any of his so-called " Melodies " 
 — the fact being that they are just ordinary 
 well-conceived English lyrics made to fit the 
 old Hibernian tunes, taken bodily in many in- 
 stances from Bunting's first collection of rescued 
 music. The " Boat Song " may well find a 
 corner here on account of its origin, which Moore 
 himself relates. " I wrote these words to an air 
 which our boatmen sang to us frequently. The 
 wind was so unfavourable that they were obliged 
 to row all the way, and we were five days in 
 descending the river from Kingston to Mon- 
 treal, exposed to an intense sun during the day, 
 and at night forced to take shelter from the dews 
 in any miserable hut upon the banks that would 
 receive us. But the magnificent scenery of the 
 St. Lawrence repays all these difificulties. Our 
 voyageurs had good voices and sang perfectly 
 in tune together. The original words of the air 
 to which I adapted these stanzas appeared to 
 be a long, incoherent story, of which I could 
 understand but little from the barbarous pro- 
 nunciation of the French-Canadian. It begins : 
 
 ' Dans mon chemin j'ai rencontr^ 
 Deux cavaliers trfes bien months ; ' 
 
374 STORIES OF 
 
 And the refrain to every verse was : 
 
 ' A I'oinbre d'un bois je m'en vais jouer, 
 A Tombre d'un bois je m'en vais danser.' 
 
 I ventured to harmonize this air, and have pub- 
 lished it. Without that charm which associa- 
 tion gives to every Httle memorial of scenes 
 or feelings that are past, the melody may per- 
 haps be thought common or trifling ; but I 
 remember when we have entered at sunset 
 upon one of those beautiful lakes my feelings of 
 pleasure which the finest compositions of the first 
 masters have never given me, and there is not a 
 note of it which dpes not recall to my memory the 
 dip of our oars in the St. Lawrence, the flight of 
 our boat down the Rapids, and all those new and 
 fanciful impressions to which my heart was 
 alive during the whole of this interesting 
 voyage." At the Rapid of St. Ann they were 
 obliged to take out part if not the whole of the 
 lading. St. Ann's is the last church on the 
 island, which accounts for the line : 
 
 "We'll sing at St. Ann's our parting hymn." 
 
 Moore wrote " Believe me if all those endear-; 
 ing young charms " to " As fada armso me " — ■ 
 " Long am I here " — or " The gentle maiden," 
 which in England is familiar under the title 
 of " My lodging is on the cold ground," was 
 sung by Mary Davis before King Charles IL 
 in Sir W. D,avenant's play " The Rivals," 1668. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 375 
 
 Bunting asserts it to be pure Irish, as proved by 
 the characteristic national tone of the sub-medi- 
 ant in the fourth bar, continued at intervals 
 through the melody. However, as opinions are so 
 divided on this subject, and many authorities say 
 it is English, most likely it belongs to England. 
 " The Meeting of the Waters " is based on the 
 air " The old head of Dennis." The meeting 
 of the waters forms a part of that beautiful 
 scenery which lies between Rathdrum and 
 Arklow, in the County of Wicklow, and these 
 lines were suggested by a visit to this romantic 
 spot paid by the bard in the year 1807. " Rich 
 and rare were the gems she wore " (to the air of 
 •' Summer is coming," previously referred to in 
 these pages,) was founded on the following 
 anecdote told in Warner's " History of Ireland." 
 " The people were inspired with such a spirit of 
 honour, virtue and religion, by the great ex- 
 ample of Brien, and by his excellent administra- 
 tion, that, as a proof of it, we are informed 
 that a young lady of great beauty, adorned with 
 jewels and costly dress, undertook a journey 
 alone from one end of the kingdom to the other, 
 with a wand only in her hand, at the top of 
 which was a ring of exceeding great value ; and 
 such an impression had the laws and government 
 of this monarch made on the minds of all the 
 jpeople, that no attempt was made upon her 
 honour, nor was she robbed of her clothes or 
 
376 STORIES OF 
 
 jewels." In reference to " Oh, Blame not the 
 Bard" (air, " Kitty Tyrrel "), Moore says, " We 
 may suppose this apology to have been uttered 
 by one of those wandering bards whom Spenser 
 so severely, and perhaps truly, describes in his 
 ' State of Ireland,' and whose poems, he tells us, 
 'were sprinkled with some pretty flowers of 
 their natural device which gave good grace and 
 comeliness unto them.' " But, generally speak- 
 ing, was not Spenser not only unjust but basely 
 ungrateful to the people he lived amongst sq 
 long? This tribute from him is rather exceptional. 
 Moore, wrote " She is Far from the Land " 
 to a very curious old tune, to commemorate 
 the feelings of Sarah Curran, daughter of the 
 celebrated Irish barrister of that name, and of 
 her lover Robert Emmet. It is of them that 
 Washington Irving said in his " Sketch Book : " 
 " Every one must recollect the tragical story 
 of young Emmet, the Irish patriot ; it was too 
 touching to be soon forgotten. During the 
 troubles in Ireland he was tried, condemned, and 
 executed on a charge qf high treason. His fate 
 made a deep impression on public sympathy. 
 He was so young, so intelligent, so generous, so 
 brave, so everything that we are apt to like in a 
 young man. His conduct under trial, too, was 
 lofty and intrepid. The noble indignation with 
 which he repelled the charge of high treason 
 against his country — the eloquent vindication of 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 377 
 
 his name— and his pathetic appeal to posterity 
 in the hopeless hour of condemnation — all these 
 entered deeply into every generous bosom, and 
 even his enemies lamented the stern policy that 
 dictated his execution. But there was one heart 
 whose anguish it would be impossible to de- 
 scribe. In happier days and fairer fortunes, he 
 had won the affections of a beautiful and in- 
 teresting girl, the daughter of a late celebrated 
 barrister. She loved him with the disinterested 
 fervour of a woman's first and early love. When 
 every worldly maxim arrayed itself against him ; 
 when, blasted in fortune, and disgrace and danger 
 darkened around his name, she loved him the 
 more ardently for his very sufferings. If, then, 
 his fate could awaken the sympathy even of his 
 foes, what must have been the agony of her 
 whose soul was occupied by his image ! Let 
 those tell who have had the portals of the tomb 
 suddenly closed between them and the being 
 they most loved on earth — who have sat at its 
 threshold, as one shut out in a cold and lonely 
 world whence all that was most lovely and 
 loving had departed." 
 
 Washington Irving's story of " The Broken 
 Heart " is believed to be based in a degree upon 
 this incident. 
 
 Many legends are extant concerning St 
 Kevin, who ensconced himself in St. Kevin's 
 Bed, a small cave in an overhanging cliff above 
 
378 STORIES OF 
 
 the lake of Glendalough, in county Wicklow, a 
 wild and desolate place encompassed by huge 
 barren mountains. St. Kevin is supposed to 
 have founded a city and built seven churches 'm> 
 Glendalough in the sixth century, a portion of 
 one of the buildings remaining to this day, and 
 known as the kitchen or cell of St. Kevin. But 
 to our legend. The saint, it is said, was madly 
 loved by a fair maid of the name of Kathleen ; 
 but as her affection was not reciprocated by him, 
 he fled to this wild retreat, believing the spot to 
 be inaccessible to her. On waking from his 
 slumbers one morning he was horrified to find 
 Kathleen standing by his side, and in a fit of 
 fury hurled her from the beetling rock into the 
 depths below. Moore's " By that Lake whose 
 Gloomy Shore" tells this story in verse, so does 
 Gerald Griffin's "The Fate of Cathleen," while 
 R, D. Williams, indignant with those who could- 
 trifle with the name of a saint, takes his own 
 view of the matter in " St. Kevin and Kath- 
 leen," having consulted many authorities as tor 
 the authenticity of the legend ! 
 
 Not long ago (1894) Dr. C. Villiers Stanford 
 traced back the originals of all " Moore's Melo- 
 dies," and embodied them in a very useful 
 volume called " The Irish Melodies of Thomas 
 Moore," with the sub-title of " The Original 
 Airs restored and arranged for the Voice." In 
 bis preface Dr. Stanford says : " Some few of 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 57*9 
 
 the ' melodies ' I have omitted, because they are 
 not Irish at all. These are ' Eveleen's Bower,' 
 'Believe me if all those endearing young 
 dharms,' and ' Oh the Shamrock.' " And in 
 speaking of the music he says : "As will be 
 seen in my notes I have appended to the airs 
 in the appendix, there is scarcely a melody 
 which Moore left unaltered, and, as a necessary 
 consequence, unspoilt. Whether he or his 
 arranger was responsible for these corruptions 
 is a matter which is lost to history ; but as the 
 name of the poet had the greater prominence in 
 the original publication, I have laid to his door 
 any blame which I am compelled to allot. . , .' 
 Some airs are, owing to long usage in the form 
 in which they were first dressed, almost hope- 
 fessly spoilt . . . Moore has assisted this trans- 
 iBogrification by supplying words often beautiful 
 in themselves, but quite out of keeping with 
 the style of the airs, such as sentimental poems 
 for jig tunes, dirges for agricultural airs, battle- 
 hymns for reels." A fair history of each tune is 
 given. 
 
 Of the " Groves of Blarney " I have already 
 given a full account with the " Last Rose of 
 Summer," but speaking again of the Blarney 
 stone and Blarney Castle, which have proved 
 fertile themes for bards of all degrees, Samtiel 
 Lover says : " I have seen a queer song 
 lamenting its (Blarney Castle's) destruction by 
 
38o STORIES OF 
 
 Oliver Cromwell,, on whom the national poets 
 always pour out their vials of wrath, andj in- 
 deed, no wonder, notwithstanding all that Lord 
 Macaulay says in praise of his rule in li-eland." 
 Lover himself wrote a lyric to the " Blarney 
 Stone " commencing, 
 
 " Oh did you ne'er hear of the Blarney 
 That's found near the banks of Killarney," 
 
 an avowed parody of Lady Morgan's celebrated 
 effusion of " Kate Kearney." S. C. Hall also 
 wrote a song called " The Blarney," for Tyrone 
 Power to sing in Mrs. S.C. Hall's drama called 
 " The Groves of Blarney." 
 
 " Terence's Farewell," written by Lady Duf- 
 ferin, deserves especial mention on account of 
 the merit of the lyric, and for the. lovely melody 
 to which it is usually sung — " The Pretty Girl 
 milking the Cows," known also as " The song of 
 Prince Breffin." It is given by Walker in his 
 " Irish Bards," and by Bunting. It is a divinely 
 plaintive, melody. Dion Boucicault introduced 
 it .into "The Colleen Bawn," and Sir Julius 
 Benedict also used it in " The Lily of Killarney." 
 The melody is very ancient indeed. The first 
 known words to it were written by the witty 
 Andrew MacGrath, who was born about 1700. 
 
 " Lord Mayo" is another ancient song, written 
 by an humble dependent of Lord Mayo named 
 David Murphy, who having got into disgrace 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 3§i 
 
 hid himself in his master's hall on a certain 
 Christmas eve after nightfall ; and in the hope 
 :of winning back forgiveness made a twin out- 
 pouring of music and verse. Bunting calls : it 
 ''one of the finest productions that ever did 
 honour to any country." Walker tells the story 
 at length. The original Irish name of the air is 
 " Xiagharna Mhaighe-eo." It was specially 
 fihosen and sung at the '' Feis Ceoil," or National 
 Festival of Irish music, Dublin, in the middle 
 of May, 1897. 
 
 That jovial song " The Monks of the Screw," 
 which appears in Charles Levfer's novel of " Jack 
 Hinton," was written by the Right Honourable 
 John Philpot Curran, full particulars of which — - 
 the song itself has no history — are given in 
 " The Life of Curran," by his son W. H. Curran, 
 That very popular song " Rory O'More," written 
 and composed by Samuel Lover, was the out- 
 come of a desire on the part of the author to 
 supply a really good humorous song at a time 
 when such effusions were not of high merit. 
 He tells the story himself. " From an early 
 period I had felt that Irish comic songs (so called) 
 were but too generally coarse and vulgar — de- 
 void of that mixture of fun and feeling so strongly 
 blended in the Irish character — that a pig and a 
 poker, expletive oaths, 'hurroos,' and 'whack 
 fol de rols ' made the staple of most Irish comic 
 songs ; and haying expressed this .opinion in a 
 
38^ STORIES OF 
 
 company where the subject was discussed, I was 
 jnet with that taunting question which some- 
 times supplies the place of argument, viz.: 
 .* Could jco« do better?' I said I would try; and 
 ' Rory O'More' was the answer. Its popularity 
 was immediate and extensive ; so much so that 
 on the day of her Majesty Queen Victoria's 
 coronation every band along the line of pro- 
 cession to Westminster Abbey played ' Rory 
 O'More' during some part of the day, and, 
 finally, it was the air the band of the Life Guards 
 played as they escorted her Majesty into the 
 park on her return to Buckingham Palace. Being 
 called upon to write a novel, I availed myself of 
 the popularity attaching to the name, and en- 
 titled my story ' Rory O'More.' The success 
 of the novel induced the management of the 
 Adelphi Theatre to apply to me to dramatize 
 the story, and in this its third form, ' Rory 
 O'More ' was again received by the public with 
 such approbation that it was played over one 
 hundred and eight nights in the first season in 
 London, and afterwards universally throughout 
 the kingdom." 
 
 " Garryowen," next to " St Patrick's Day," 
 was the greatest favourite as a national air in 
 Ireland. It is a curious production, the melody 
 of which is preserved in Moore's "We may 
 roam through the world." There is also that 
 wonderful street song, " The Wearing of the 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 383 
 
 Green " that almost caused " a question for par- 
 liament," when the Earl of Beaconsfield was 
 premier (then the Right Honourable Benjamin 
 D'Israeli),when introduced by Dion Boucicault 
 into " Arrah-na-Pogue," and sung by Shaun the 
 Post at the Adelphi Theatre in the late sevehties. 
 There are countless versions of the lay (a good 
 one being by Henry Grattan Curran), but the 
 most popular is that by Dion Boucicault. The 
 earliest version extant shows that it was written 
 when France, and not America, was the des- 
 perate hope of the distressed and disappointed 
 peasant. " Johnny I hardly knew ye " is another 
 street song. It dates from the beginning of the 
 present century, while " Green upon the Cape " 
 a^Kared during the stirring times of 1798. 
 '' The Lamentation of Hugh Reynolds " (a 
 genuine street production), about a real person- 
 age guilty of abduction, and "Willy Reilly," 
 lalso a production of the public muse. But the 
 list is very long of these and kindred productions. 
 There are many songs to and about the great 
 Geraldines (the Fitz-Geralds). that are of con- 
 siderable interest, but space bids me pause and 
 so I stay my pen. 
 
384 STORIES OF 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE NATIONAL ANTHEM. 
 "GOD SAVE THE QUEEN," 
 
 Will it ever be definitely known who wrote 
 and coniposed our national anthem — an anthem 
 that is familiar all the whole wide world over ? 
 During the Chicago Exhibition a. body of 
 World's Fair representatives of twenty-seven 
 different nationalities, speaking when at home 
 fifteen different languages, crossed the Canadian 
 frontier at Gretna in Manitoba on August 29th, 
 1893, for the purpose of heartily cheering Queen 
 Victoria and singing " God Save the Queen," 
 Yet particulars concerning the origin of the 
 melody are so conflicting that we doubt if it will 
 ever be absolutely proved whence it sprang. 
 
 The vast majority of those who have gone 
 into the subject incline to favour the claim put 
 forward for Henry Carey, the writer and original 
 composer of the immortal " Sally in Our Alley," 
 whose son, as soon as he was old enough, stoutly 
 maintained that he (Henry Carey) and he alone 
 was responsible for its conception and production. 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 385 
 
 It is believed to have been written any time 
 between 1736 and 1740, and was generally- 
 accepted as an expression of public loyalty in 
 1745. Carey died, by the way, in 1743. But 
 it is reported to been heard first in public at a 
 dinner in 1 740 to celebrate the taking of Porto- 
 bello by Admiral Vernon (November 30th, 
 1739)1 when Carey himself sang it as his own 
 composition. Mr. William H. Cummings saj's 
 the nearest known copy to that date is that 
 given in the " Harmonia Anglicana " of 1743, 
 to which Carey was one of the chief contributors 
 of signed and unsigned matter. It is marked 
 for two voices. The version of the melody 
 which Chappell and Sir George Grove give is 
 slightly different from one that I came across in 
 an odd volume which I picked up by accident. 
 It is a very quaint collection of songs, madrigals, 
 glees, catches, and so forth, for " two, three, and 
 four voices." Unfortunately there is no title- 
 page, no printer, and no publisher mentioned, 
 but from internal evidence I should think the 
 first edition of the book was published between 
 1763 and 1770. My own edition is evidently 
 a reprint from old plates, and bears the water- 
 mark on the paper of 18 16. The first piece in 
 the book is " God Save Great George our 
 King," a song for two voices, and though in 
 the same volume appears " The Free Election, 
 A Catch. A. 3 Voc. Set by Mr. Henry Carey," 
 
 c c 
 
386 STORIES OF 
 
 Carey's name does not figure to " God Save 
 Great George," nor to another very similaf 
 " Loyal Song for Two Voices," built upon the 
 lines of the national anthem, with words in the 
 same metre but of a quality infinitely superior. 
 Here is the first verse of the catch, loyal enough 
 ih all conscience : 
 
 " Curs'd be the Wretch that's bought and sold. 
 
 And barters Liberty for Gold : 
 
 For when Election is not free 
 
 In vain we boast of Liberty ! 
 
 And he who sells his single right. 
 
 Would sell his Country, if he might." 
 
 As I do not find this variant of the anthem 
 quoted in the argument, I give the verses : 
 
 " Fame, let thy Trumpet sound 
 Tell all the World around, 
 
 Great George is King ! , 
 
 Tell Rome and France and Spain 
 Britannia scorns their Chain, 
 Britannia scorns their Chain, 
 
 Great George is King ! 
 
 " May heav'n his Life defend, 
 And make his Race extend 
 
 Wide as his Fame : 
 The choicest Blessings shed 
 On his annointed Head, 
 And teach his Foes to dread 
 
 Great George's name. 
 
 " He Peace and Plenty brings. 
 While Rome-deluded kings 
 Waste and destroy 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 387 
 
 Then let his people sing, 
 Long live our Gracious King, 
 From whom all Blessings spring — 
 Freedom and Joy. 
 
 " God save our noble King, 
 Long live our gracious King, 
 
 God save the King ; 
 Mark how the Vallies ring, 
 Long live our Gracious King, 
 From whom all Blessings spring, 
 
 God save the King ! " 
 
 There is a most unmistakable Carey ring about 
 these lines, and that Henry Carey was the 
 author of both words and music of the original 
 was testified by J. Christopher Smith, Handel's 
 amanuensis, and very full evidence to this effect 
 is set out in " Popular Music of the Olden 
 Time." And here it may be added that Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel de Rochas, a distinguished French 
 officer who has devoted much attention to the 
 investigation is of the same opinion, and pub- 
 lished his belief with reasons and deductions in 
 1892, thus disposing of Lully (see p. 256). 
 Before this, moreover, Friedrich Chrysander 
 published in 1862 very strong evidence that 
 Carey was the composer, in his "Jahrblicher 
 fur Musikalische Wissenschaft." 
 . According to Sir George Grove, it became 
 known publicly in 1745 by being sung at the 
 theatres as a loyal song or anthem during the 
 Scottish rebellion. The Pretender was pro- 
 
388 STORIES OF 
 
 claimed at Edinburgh, September i6th, in that 
 year, and the first appearance of " God Save 
 the King " was at Drury Lane, September 28th. 
 For a month or so it was much sung at both 
 Covent Garden and Drury Lane ; Burney har- 
 monized it for the former, and Arne for the 
 latter. Both words and music were printed in 
 their present form in the " Gentleman's Maga- 
 zine" for 1745. How far "God Save the 
 King " was compiled from older airs will per- 
 haps never be ascertained, as several exist with 
 a certain resemblance to the modern tune. 
 Among these may be mentioned a piece called 
 "An Ayre," in a MS. book (1619) attributed 
 to Dr. Jan Bull. Also in the same book there is 
 a piece entitled " God Save the King," though 
 bearing no likeness to the national anthem, but 
 of this more presently. The Scotch claim it, 
 of course, as being founded on a carol (161 1), 
 " Remember, O thou Man," and a ballad, 
 "Franklin is fled away," first printed in 1669. 
 And it is also said to be traced in a piece by 
 Henry Purcell, 1696. As for the phrase "God 
 Save the King," it occurs in the English Bible 
 (Coverdale, 1535), and is quoted by Mr. Froude 
 as being the watchword of the navy in 1545, 
 with the countersign, " Long to reign over us." 
 In a ballad of 1606 there is for refrain, "God 
 Save King James," and another ballad of 1645 
 opens : 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 389 
 
 " God save King Charles the king, 
 
 Our Royal Roy ; 
 Grant him long to reign, 
 
 In peace and joy.'' 
 
 Says Sir George Groves in the " Dictionary of 
 Music," " Both words and tune have been con- 
 siderably antedated. They have been called 
 ' The very words and music of an old anthem 
 that was sung at St. James's Chapel for King 
 James the Second" (Victor's letter, October, 
 1745). Dr. Arne is reported to have said that 
 it was a received opinion that it was written for 
 the Catholic Chapel of James II. This is the 
 date given it by Burney in Ree's " Cyclopaedia," 
 and Dr. Benjamin Cooke had heard it sung to 
 the words ' Great James Our King.' But Dr. 
 Cooke was not born till 1734, and his 'James ' 
 must have been the Pretender (James III.). 
 And as to the Catholic Chapel of James II., 
 said to have been sung there, it must surely 
 have been in Latin, of which certainly no traces 
 are found." 
 
 Since the above was written, Canon Harford, 
 of Westminster Abbey, who has given much 
 study to this matter, has arrived at the con- 
 clusion that the words were fitted to the music 
 some considerable time after the latter (the 
 music) was written. According to Canon Har- 
 ford the music was originally sung in the Chapel 
 of James II. to Latin words, beginning, " O Deus 
 
390 STORIES OF 
 
 Optime," but up to the present there is not 
 sufficient proof of this being the case. 
 
 A writer in the "Daily Telegraph" in 1887 
 dismissed Carey's claim with scant mercy ; but as 
 he based his opinion upon the MS. book said to 
 be by Dr, John, or Jan, Bull, it does not carry 
 much weight. Perhaps the name had much to do 
 with the sentiment. He also sent Scotland and 
 France with Lully and others to the right about. 
 
 Let us now examine into the claim put for- 
 ward by Mr. Richard Clark in 1822 for Dr. 
 John Bull. Mr. Clark (i 780-1 856), of the 
 Chapel Royal, Savoy, accidentally discovered a 
 MS. collection of virginal music by Dr. John 
 Bull, transcribed about the year 1822, and onie 
 piece, a Galliard, bore a certain resemblance to 
 the national anthem. Unfortunately, instead 
 of submitting the "ayre" to some experts as 
 he first found it, Mr. Clark tampered with the 
 melody, and I give the story of the detection of 
 the trick by W. Chappell told by himself. 
 " When Clark played the ' ayre ' to me with this 
 book before him, I thoug^ht it to be the original of 
 the national anthem ; but afterwards, taking the 
 manuscript into my own hands, I was convinced 
 that it had been tampered with, and the re- 
 semblance strengthened, the sharps being in ink 
 of a much darker colour than the other parts. 
 The additions are very perceptible, in spite of 
 Clark's having covered the face of that portion 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 391 
 
 with varnish. In its original state the opening 
 of the ' ayre ' does not quite strike one as re- 
 sembling ' God Save the King,' but by making 
 the natural g sharp, and changing the whole 
 from an old scale without sharps or flats into 
 the modern scale of a major (three sharps) the 
 tune becomes essentially like ' God Save the 
 King.' When I reflected further, however, 
 upon the matter, it appeared very improbable 
 that Dr. Bull should have composed a piece for 
 the organ in the modern key of a major. The 
 most curious resemblance between Dr. Bull's 
 " ayre ' and ' God Save the King,' is that the 
 first phrase consists of six bars and the second 
 of eight, which similarity does not exist in any 
 other airs from which it is supposed to have 
 been taken. It is true that the eight bars of the 
 second phrase are made out by holding on the 
 final note of the melody through two bars, lAere- 
 foreit differs decidedly from all copies of our more 
 modern tune ; but the words may be sung to Dr. 
 Bull's ' ayre ' by dividing the time of the long 
 fiotes — in fact it has been so performed in public." 
 But this only more conclusively proves that the 
 tune of " God Save the Queen," as now sung, 
 was not composed by Dr. Bull. The fact is 
 that Richard Clark, who had already written 
 a booklet in 18 14 to prove beyond refutation 
 that Henry Carey, and Henry Carey alone, 
 was responsible for both words aiid music of 
 
392 STORIES OF 
 
 the national anthem, was a seeker after Hterary 
 fame, and coming by chance upon the MS. 
 book of Dr. Bull, in which he noted a composi- 
 tion at folio 56 called " God Save the King," he 
 bought it thinking he had really found the 
 origin of the disputed anthem. But this par- 
 ticular " ayre " entitled " God Save the King," 
 and which is the one that was sung at a banquet 
 given by the Merchant Taylors' Company in 
 their hall to King James I. in 1607, so often 
 referred to as being the real original, proved to 
 be totally unlike it. But by a most extraor- 
 dinary coincidence at folio 98 he lighted upon 
 the Galliard already discussed, whiqh bore a 
 slight likeness to the melody. Clark, however, 
 not content with this discovery, must needs 
 be putting in some sharps to make the resem- 
 blance more striking and perhaps' convincing. 
 He also ti-ied to make out that the "ayre" at 
 folio 96 was a second part or continuation of 
 the one called " God Save the King " at folio 56. 
 Clark's misdirected efforts were soon detected, 
 and Dr. Bull's mutilated melody ceased to be 
 seriously taken into account as providing even 
 the basis of " God Save the King," except by 
 one or two credulous writers. The matter was 
 hotly discussed in " The Times " so far back as 
 February, 1827, when the partisans of Clark's 
 claim for Dr. Bull brought much influence to 
 bear in his favour. Dr. Pepusch, who pretended 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 393 
 
 to have a great liking for Dr. Bull's music, col- 
 lected over two hundred of his compositions, 
 but Dr. Burney says that Dr. Pepusch's fancy 
 for Bull's works rather proved that the doctor's 
 taste was bad than that Bull's compositions were 
 good. And he adds, " they may be heard by a 
 lover of music with as little emotion as the 
 clapper of a mill or the rumbling of a post 
 chaise." There is no likelihood of Carey's 
 having seen Dr. Bull's music at any time, as it 
 was only preserved in Dr. Pepusch's private 
 collection, and certainly was not printed during 
 Carey's lifetime. Carey died before his melody 
 was taken up by the public, and consequently 
 he never had an opportunity of asserting his 
 claim to its inspiration. 
 
 Dr. Bull, by the way, was one of the organists 
 of the Chapel Royal in the reign of James I., and 
 died in the ancient city of Antwerp (circa 1619) 
 more than two centuries and a half ago. Carey's 
 version of the music, so says the " Telegraph " 
 scribe, was pirated at the Hague in 1766, with 
 other songs, in a collection of lyrics entitled the 
 " Masonic Lyre," and was subsequently adopted 
 by the Danes as their national anthem, words 
 being set to the air, which were Germanized 
 later into " Heil Dir im Siegeskranz." In this 
 form it was published in Berlin towards the 
 close of the year 1793, as a Volkslied, or popular 
 Song, shortly afterwards it became the Prussian 
 
394 STORIES OF 
 
 national air, and was taken over in the same 
 capacity by the German empire in 1871. Con- 
 sequently it will be seen that it has been familiar 
 to Continental, as well as British ears, as the 
 recognized profession of loyalty to the Crown 
 for over one hundred and thirty years, 
 
 Another account of this part of the anthem's 
 history is somewhat as follows. The fact that 
 our English national anthem invariably accom- 
 panied the German Emperor on his state ap- 
 pearances in this country seems to have per- 
 plexed a good many people, who doubtless 
 think that "Die Wacht am Rhine" would be 
 more appropriate. The truth is, however, that 
 the melody of "God Save the Queen," under 
 its German title, has for little more than a 
 century been the state anthem of Prussia. It 
 was early in 1790 that the Holstein clergyman, 
 Heinrich Harries, wrote in honour of Chris- 
 tian VII. of Denmark a national hymn in eight 
 stanzas " to the melody of the English ' God 
 Save Great George the King.' " Three years 
 later Frederick William II. adopted an ab- 
 breviated version of it for the Prussian Court, 
 the words being written by Schumacher. This 
 is still the state anthem, while Wilhelm's 
 "Wacht am Rhein," composed in 1854, and 
 first brought prominently into notice during the 
 Franco-German War, ranks as a patriotic song 
 with our "Rule Britannia." Besides being the 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 395 
 
 state anthem of Denmark and Prussia, " God 
 Save the King " was also the state melody of 
 Russia, until the Czar Nicholas, desiring that 
 the Russians should have a national hymn of 
 their own, commissioned Lwoff in 1833 to com- 
 pose " God Preserve the Czar," one of the most 
 impressive of all national anthems. In the 
 United States, also, the tune of " God Save the 
 Queen " is preserved in a quasi-national song 
 or hymn entitled " America." 
 
 It is very curious that up to the present 
 nothing has been satisfactorily settled as to who 
 the real individual was who has secured for his 
 anonymity so much fame from posterity. " Up 
 to the time of Charles I.," says Dr. Charles 
 Mackay, " the national anthem — or loyal hymn 
 • — sung in honour of the king either in his 
 presence or at convivial meetings of his sub- 
 jects, was ' Vive le Roy,' an English song with 
 a Norman burden. After the revolution that 
 made Cromwell Protector, the cavaliers, utterly 
 discarding the old song, made themselves a new 
 one, ' When the King shall enjoy his own again,' 
 which with its by no means contemptible poetry, 
 and its exceedingly fine music, kept up the hearts 
 of the party in their adversity, and did more for 
 the royal cause than an army." 
 
 After that, the loyal song during the reigns 
 of Charles II. and James II. was the quairit 
 ditty beginning : 
 
396 STORIES OF 
 
 " Here's a health unto his Majesty, 
 
 With a fal, lal, lal, lal, la ! 
 Confusion to his enemies, 
 
 With a fal, lal, lal, lal, la ! 
 And he that will not drink his health, 
 I wish him neither wit nor wealth. 
 Nor yet a rope to hang himself. 
 
 With a fal, lal, lal, lal, la ! " 
 
 The statement in " Raikes's Journal " that the 
 national anthem was translated literally from the - 
 • cantique ' which was sung by the demoiselles 
 de St. Cyr when Louis XIV. entered the chapel 
 of the establishment to hear morning prayer is 
 curious, but not convincing, through the simil- 
 arity in the words is close (see p. 256). One of 
 the most extraordinary additional verses lives in 
 the special stanza which is believed to have been 
 sung at Calais at the banquet given in honour 
 of the Duke of Clarence, when, as Lord High 
 Admiral of England, he took Louis XVIII. 
 across the Channel. I quote from " Music in 
 the Olden Time." 
 
 " God save noble Clarence, 
 AVho brings her king to France, 
 
 God save Clarence ! 
 He maintains the glory 
 Of the British navy, 
 O make him happy, 
 
 God save Clarence ! " 
 
 Rather hard to sing I should imagine. 
 
 In all probability Henry Carey, who was 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 397 
 
 capable of writing very bad verses at times, 
 was the real author of the sad doggerel of our 
 national anthem of which most people know at 
 least one verse. The second verse is par- 
 ticularly insular and British in confidence — that 
 curious imperturbable belief in our own power 
 that has so often " confounded " our enemies. For 
 the benefit of the several who may not have seen 
 the words in print before, I give the " poem " in 
 its entirety as first written — the many other 
 verses having been added from time to time. 
 
 " God save our Lord the king ! 
 Long live our noble king ! 
 
 God save the king ! 
 Send him victorious, 
 Happy and glorious, 
 Long to reign over us, 
 
 God save the king ! 
 
 " O Lord, our God, arise. 
 Scatter his enemies. 
 
 And make them fall ; 
 Confound their pbhtics, 
 Frustrate their knavish tricks. 
 On him our hearts we fix, 
 
 God save us all ! 
 
 " Thy choicest gifts in store. 
 On him be pleased to pour, 
 
 Long may he reign ; 
 May he defend our laws. 
 And ever give us cause 
 To sing with heart and voice, 
 
 God save the king ! " 
 
398 STORIES OF 
 
 , Dr. Boyce, by the way, wrote an eccentric 
 "Catch" called "Long Live King George," 
 and Carey, in one of his election lays, finishes 
 up with : 
 
 " Then shall we see a glorious scene. 
 
 And so God save Great George our King ! " 
 
 Before finally endeavouring to prove Carey's 
 claim, there are one or two other points worth 
 considering. 
 
 Mr. Henry Davey, according to his " History 
 of English Music," seems fully persuaded that 
 " God Save the King" was composed by Pur- 
 cell, because Mr. W. H. Cummings discovered 
 the Latin chorus, already referred to, as having 
 been sung at a concert given by John Travers in 
 1 743-44 ! and that in consequence of this the 
 " National Anthem was really composed for 
 James U. about 1688." But Mr. Cummings 
 soon disproved this assertion. Mr. Davey 
 adds in his useful volume : " The Rev. Mr, 
 Henslowe published a pamphlet in 1849 assert- 
 ing that Dr. Arne's wife had received a pension 
 as the eldest descendant of the composer of the" 
 National Anthem — Anthony Young, organist 
 of All Hallow's, Barking — and that Mrs. Arne 
 had left a legacy to Mrs. Henslowe. There is 
 no other evidence for this claim (unless the 
 inferiority of the first-published version be taken 
 as such) and the probability is that ' God Save 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 399 
 
 the King ' is the composition of Henry Purcell, 
 and the words were perhaps translated into 
 English by Henry Carey." Here are the words 
 in Latin : 
 
 "O Deus Optime; 
 Salvum nunc facito 
 
 Regem nostrum ; 
 Sit laeta victoria 
 Comes et gloria 
 Salvum jam facito" 
 
 Tu Dominum. 
 
 " Exurgat Dominus 
 Rebelles dissipet 
 
 Et reprimat ; 
 Dolos confundito 
 Fraudes depellito 
 In Te sit sita spes 
 
 O Salva nos." 
 
 But these words are not found to exist prior to 
 the English song which was published in the 
 eighteenth century, as previously stated, and no 
 record exists as to the music the poem was really 
 sung to. In one work as " God Save our Lord 
 the King," " A Loyal Song for two voices set by 
 Mr. Crome," the song with four verses was pub- 
 lished and then republished in the four editions; 
 of " Theasurus Musicus." The unique copy of 
 the original Latin words, by the way, is in the pos- 
 session of Mr. W. H. Cummings. Mr. Davey's, 
 suggestion that Carey translated the song from, 
 the Latin would not in any case hold water. 
 
400 STORIES OF 
 
 Carey was largely a self-educated man, and had 
 " little Latin and less Greek." He was not suf- 
 ficiently equipped for such an effort, judging 
 from all that we know of him. Carey was fond 
 of composing loyal songs and was a staunch 
 loyalist, although his enemies have accused him 
 of being a Jacobite, and as he was the first person 
 who was known to sing it in public, and was 
 quite capable of producing such a melody, there 
 seems every reason to assign to him the honour. 
 From " Their Majesties' Servants," by Dr. 
 Doran, I extract this significant paragraph : 
 "It may be stated here that on Saturday the 
 28th September, 1745, a new air and song by 
 Henry Carey was first brought on the stage. It 
 was already popular off the stage. ' On Satur- 
 day night last,' says the ' Daily Advertiser,' ' the 
 audience of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane' 
 were agreeably surprised by the gentlemen 
 belonging to the house performing the anthem 
 of God Save Our Noble King. The universal 
 applause it met with, being encored with repeated 
 huzzas, sufficiently denoted in how just abhor- 
 ence they hold the arbitrary schemes of our 
 insidious enemies," etc. 
 
 After all, therefore, and notwithstanding all 
 the attempts to rob him of his laurels, I think 
 the evidence in favour of Carey is too sub- 
 stantial to be brushed on one side. 
 
 Poor Carey died on October 4th, 1 743, having 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 401 
 
 banged himself in a fit of depression at his 
 lodgings in Warner Street, Coldbath Fields. 
 According to a writer in the " Biographia Dra- 
 matica," 1 782, Carey led a life absolutely with- 
 out blame or shame. He states : " As the quali- 
 ties that Carey was endowed with were such as 
 rendered him an entertaining companion, it is 
 no wonder he should be, as he frequently was, 
 in streights. He therefore in his difficulties had 
 recourse to his friends, whose bounty he ex- 
 perienced in subscriptions for the Works which 
 he from. time to time published. He was, how- 
 ever, still unhappy, though the, cause of it is not 
 certainly known. It has been suggested by 
 some to have been occasioned by the malevo- 
 lence of those of his own profession, by others 
 to domestic uneasiness, and some ascribe it 
 chiefly to his embarrassed circumstances. To 
 whatever it was owing his catastrophe was 
 jacking. In a fit of despair he laid violent 
 hands upon himself, and by means of a halter 
 put a period to a life which had been led without 
 reproach." As a musician, if not brilliant, he 
 was clever in a minor way, and at least he had 
 the gift of melody, and, says Sir John Hawkins, 
 " in all the Songs and Poems written by him on 
 Wine, Love, and such kind of subjects, he seems 
 to have manifested an inviolable regard for de* 
 cency and good manners." As already stated, 
 his son, G. S. Carey, who was born just after 
 
 D D 
 
402 STORIES OF 
 
 his father's death, in Warner Street, always de- 
 clared that his father wrote and composed " God 
 Save the King," as asserted by an old and 
 valued friend of Carey's ; and also by Mr. Town- 
 send, who heard Carey sing it in 1 740, and who 
 told him he was the author and composer of the 
 anthem. This fact had probably been called 
 in question through the very great prejudice 
 which then existed against all suicides, who were 
 even denied Christian burial. Perhaps this was 
 why the posthumous George Savile Carey, 
 who died in 1807, who was engaged as actor, 
 author, entertainer, and general literary facto- 
 tum at Covent Garden Theatre, when he grew 
 to man's estate and abandoned his trade of 
 printer, and produced several plays, including 
 "Shakespeare's Jubilee," 1769, — perhaps this 
 was why Carey, the son, wrote to Dr. Harington, 
 of Bath on the subject. Anyhow his letter 
 elicited this reply. It is dated June 13th, 1795. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — The anecdote you mention, re- 
 specting your father's being the author and 
 composer of ' God Save the King,' is certainly 
 true. That most respectable gentleman, my 
 worthy friend and patient, Mr. Smith, has often 
 told me what follows, viz., ' That your father 
 came to him with the words and music, desiring 
 him to correct the bass which was not proper ; 
 and at your father's request Mr. Smith wrote 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 403 
 
 another bass in harmony.' Mr. Smith (John 
 Christopher Smith, Handel's amanuensis), tO 
 whom I read your letter this day, repeated the 
 same account, and on this authority I pledge 
 myself for the truth of the statement. 
 
 " H. Harington." 
 
 That, anyhow, seems tolerably conclusive, and 
 until somebody can come forward and prove, 
 not only that Carey was not the composer, but 
 somebody whose name shall be given was, the 
 author of " Sally in our Alley" must carryall 
 the credit. 
 
 Henry Carey, who was a versatile and genial 
 genius, wrote among other things some ten plays, 
 including " Amelia," " The Contrivances," "The 
 Dragon of Wantley," and that curious and 
 witty burlesque " Chrononhotonthologos." His 
 works for the stage were generally successful, 
 and he had the honour of receiving approbation 
 from both Addison and Pope. If his humour, 
 largely exhibited in his satire on Ambrose 
 Phillips, called " Namby-Pamby," was not of a 
 high order, it was never vulgar or offensive. 
 
 . Many writers have tried their hand at revising 
 fhe words of our national anthem, but not with 
 piuch success. The late poet-laureate, Lord 
 Tennyson, scarcely added to his reputation by his 
 essay; nor do I think in the new setting by Sir 
 Frederick Bridge, that the Dean of Rochester's 
 
404 STORIES OF 
 
 alteration of the second verse is altogether an 
 
 improvement : 
 
 "O Lord our God arise, 
 Scatter her enemies, 
 
 Make wars to cease ; 
 Keep us from plague and dearth, 
 Turn Thou our woes to mirth. 
 And over all the earth 
 
 Let there be peace." ^ 
 
 The very best addition was written by Long- 
 fellow, and sung for the first time in ptiblic by 
 Miss Clara Butt at the opening of Her Majesty's 
 Theatre, April 25th, 1897 : 
 
 " Lord, let war's tempests cease, 
 Fold the whole world in peace 
 
 Under Thy Wings. 
 Make all the nations one. 
 All hearts beneath the sun. 
 Till Thou shalt reign alone, 
 
 Great King of Kings," 
 
 which seems to have a singularly appropriate 
 application to the present period. The Prince 
 of Wales was present with the Duke of Teck 
 on the memorable occasion of the first public 
 inauguration of Mr. Herbert Beerbohm Tree's 
 handsome new theatre in the Haymarket ; and 
 after Mrs. Tree had recited the opening address, 
 written by Mr. Alfred Austin, the poet-laureate, 
 prefixed by the happy line from " Measure for 
 Measure," 
 
 " Very well met, and welcome," 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 405 
 
 the National Anthem was sung, as stated above, 
 and then the play of the evening, " The Seats 
 of the Mighty," by Gilbert Parker, was acted. 
 
 As evidence of the mere antiquity of the 
 sentiment of invoking the protection of Pro- 
 vidence over royalty, I give the final psalm or 
 sextett and chorus from the very first English 
 comedy we possess, which, oddly enough, was 
 a musical comedy, or comedy with music — 
 "Ralph Roister Doister" — in five acts, written 
 by Nicholas Udall, who was appointed to pre- 
 pare dialogues and interludes for Queen Mary 
 in 1554. The play was composed between the 
 years 1534 and 1541, though it was not printed 
 until 1566. Nicholas Udall was a scholar, a 
 schoolmaster, and a famous Latinist of Corpus 
 Christi College, Oxford, and in all probability 
 " Ralph Roister Doister " was acted by his 
 scholars at Eton and Westminster, he having 
 been head master of both these colleges at 
 different times. 
 
 " The Lord preserve our most noble queen of renown, 
 
 And her virtues reward with the heavenly crown. 
 
 The Lord strengthen her most excellent majesty 
 
 Long to reign over us in all prosperity. 
 ■ That her godly proceedings, the faith to defend, 
 , He may 'stablish and maintain through to the end. 
 ., (Jod grant her, as she doth, the Gospel to protect, 
 
 Learning and virtue to advance, and vice to correct. 
 
 (iodgtaAi her loving subjects both the mind and grade 
 
 Her most godly proceedings worthily to embrace. 
 
4o6 STORIES OF 
 
 Her highness' most worthy counsellors, God prosper, 
 
 With honour and love of all men to minister. 
 
 God grant the nobility her to serve and love, 
 
 With the whole commonly, as doth them behove. Amen." 
 
 This prayer has been recited at special per- 
 formances of Shakespeare's plays, and in par- 
 ticular at the celebration at Stratford-on-Avon, 
 April 23rd, 1897, in honour of Queen Victoria's 
 Diamond Jubilee. 
 
 I may state here that I am fully supported in 
 my contention that Carey wrote the words and 
 music of the National Anthem by the Rev. 
 S; Baring-Gould in his " English Minstrelsie ; '' 
 at the same time I wish to add that Canon 
 Harford, who has devoted much attention to 
 che subject, has published a booklet in which 
 his belief that the same was written as a Latin 
 chorus for the Roman Catholic Chapel at St; 
 James's, in 1687-88, presumably by a Roman, 
 Catholic, is fully set forth ; but the arguments^ 
 though plausible, are not sufficiently convincing 
 to convert me from my own views. 
 
 As far as I have been able to ascertain, "God 
 Save the Queen" has escaped the parodist-:— 
 except the unconscious humorist who will write 
 continuations — but not the satirist. In his 
 happiest vein Mr. W. S. Gilbert wrote in " His 
 Excellency," with music by Dr. Osmond Carr 
 (Lyric Theatre, October 27th, 1894), for the 
 self-exiled Regent to sing : 
 
FAMOUS SONGS. 407 
 
 " Like the Banbury Lady, whom everyone knows,: 
 He's cursed with its music wherever he goes ! 
 Though its words but imperfectly rhyme. 
 
 And the devil himself couldn't scan them, 
 With composure polite, he endures day and night 
 
 That illiterate National Anthem." 
 
 Only one dramatist up to the present has 
 christened a play by the title of the national 
 anthem, and Mr. Allen Upward in June, 1897, 
 sent forth a book called " God Save the Queen/' 
 a tale of '37. Though we call " God Save the 
 Queen " the National Anthem, more strictly it 
 should be termed the national melody. Beet- 
 hoven was a great admirer of this essentially 
 British tune. He introduced it into his " Battle 
 Symphony," and observed concerning his use of 
 it : "I must show the English a little what a 
 blessing they have in " God Save the King." 
 
 Canon Harford, without getting over the 
 difficulty of glorious and "over us," has written 
 an " Imperial version of the National Anthem 
 for the whole British Empire," with which I 
 conclude : 
 
 "God Savk the Queen. 
 
 "God save our gracious Queen, Long live our Empress 
 Queen, 
 God save the Queen. - 
 Send her victorious, happy and glorious, 
 Long to reign over us : 
 God save the Queen. 
 
4o8 STORIES OF FAMOUS SONGS. 
 
 " O Lord our God arise. Scatter her enemies 
 
 And make them fall. 
 Bid strife and envy cease, brotherly love increase 
 Filling our homes with peace, 
 
 Blessing us all. 
 
 " Thy choicest gifts in store still on Victoria pour, 
 
 Health, might, and fame. 
 Long to her people dear, subjects her sway revere. 
 Nations afar and near 
 
 Honour her name. 
 
 "Through joy — through sorrow's hour. Thou, Lord, her 
 guiding Power 
 Ever hast been. 
 Still bid Thine orb of day beam where her footsteps 
 
 stray ; 
 Still let Thy favouring ray 
 Shine on our Queen. 
 
 " Guard her beneath Thy wings, Almighty King of Kings, 
 Sov'reign Unseen. 
 Long may our prayer be blest, rising from East and 
 
 West, 
 As from one loyal breast ; — 
 God save the Queen." 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 HoTE.^ — All references to the "Songs and Ballads,'' "Plays,'' and 
 " Theatres " will be found under these respective headings only. 
 
 Academic Royale de Musique, 252. 
 Adair, Patrick, 15. 
 Adair, Robert, 15, 22. 
 Adair, Robin, 15, 22. 
 Adair, Sir Robert, 23. 
 Adams, Charles F. , 98, 104. 
 Adams, Jean, 306. 
 Adams, S. F. , 106. 
 Addison, 403. 
 Adelaide, Queen, 141. 
 " .^Eneis," Villi's, 149. 
 And, lie. 
 
 Albany (New York) Journal, 76. 
 JUbemarle, Earl of, 21. 
 Alexander, Emperor, 252. 
 Alexander II., 313. 
 i^ej/n, Simon, 204. 
 AlUson, Richard, 222. 
 "Ajieient and Modem Scottish 
 
 Songs," 339. 
 "Ancient Ballads and Songs," 
 
 29S- 
 Ancient Music of Ireland, 363. 
 Ancient Scottish Ballads, 303. 
 Anne of Denmark, 314. 
 Anne, Queen, 146, 151, 246. 
 " Antiquities of Wales," 278. 
 "Apollo's Banquet," 321. 
 "Arcfaseologica Comn-Britannica," 
 
 Amdt, Ernest M. , 83. 
 
 Ame, Dr. T. A., 174, 176, 220, 389. 
 
 Ame, Mrs., 176. 
 
 Arnold, Dr. S., 113, 130, 187. 
 
 ^nold, S. J., 130, 187. 
 
 "Athenaeum," 153. 
 
 Attwood, Thomas, 222. 
 
 Austin, Alfred, 404. 
 
 it&jres and Dialog^ues, 222. 
 
 Ayton, Sir Robert, 29. 
 
 AytouD, 3C>3. 
 
 Bach, S. , 262. 
 
 Bagger, M., 241. 
 
 Baillie, George, 302. 
 
 Baillie, Joanna, 292. 
 
 Baillie, Lady Grisell, 301. 
 
 Balcarres, Earl of, 118. 
 
 Balfe. M. W.,i8o. 
 
 Ball, W., 198. 
 
 " Ballad Poetry of Ireland," 137. 
 
 Ballantine, James, 297. 
 
 Balloch, Donald, 319. 
 
 Ballymena, 19. 
 
 Banshee, the, 351. 
 
 Barbaroux's " Six Hundred," S3- 
 
 Bardd Alaw, 282. 
 
 Bardd Ceiriog, 280, 282. 
 
 Bardd Mynyddg, 284. 
 
 Bardd y Brenin, 282. 
 
 " Bardic Remains," 339. 
 
 Baring - Gould, Rev. S. {Intro.), 
 
 xiv, 406. 
 Barnard, Andrew, 118, 120. 
 Barnard, Lady Anne, 117, 126, 
 
 292. 
 Barras, 241. 
 Barrett, 147. 
 
 Barrington, Sir Jonah, 169, 365. 
 Barry, Lord, 152. 
 " Battle Symphony," 240. 
 Bayly, Mrs., 62. 
 Bayly, Thomas Haynes, S3-66- 
 Beaconsfield, Earl of, 383. 
 Beattie, Dr., 208, 306. 
 Becker, Nicolaus, 86. 
 Becour, 250. 
 
 Beerbohm-Tree, H., 404. 
 Beethoven, 249, 265, 406. 
 Bellini, 180. 
 
 Benedict, Sir Julius, 370, 380. 
 Bennett, Stemdale, 141. 
 " Benttejr's Magazine," IS3- 
 
4IO 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 " Berliner Volksgesang," 254. 
 
 Berlioz, 147, 199. 
 
 Bertant, 251. 
 
 Beuno, Saint, 287, 288. 
 
 " Bhanavar," 168. 
 
 Bickerstaff, Isaac, 220. 
 
 "Biographia Dramatica," 177, 401. 
 
 " Biographia Scotia," 328. 
 
 Bishop, Sir Henry, i-n, 62, 167, 184. 
 
 Bizet, 240. 
 
 " Blackwood's Magazine," 364. 
 
 Blamire, Miss Susanna, 302. 
 
 Bland, J., 49. 
 
 Blessington, Countess of, 142. 
 
 Blondel, 161, 162, 164, 273, 284. 
 
 Bochsi, 140. 
 
 Bohner, K. J. L., 259. 
 
 Bolingbroke, Lord, 177, 183. 
 
 " Book of Ayres," 316. 
 
 " Book of English Songs," 214. 
 
 " Book of Highland Airs" (Corri), 
 
 348. 
 "Book of Scottish Songs," 323, 
 
 342- 
 Boucher, Alexandre, 48, S3- 
 Boucicault, Dion, 370, 380, 383. 
 BosWell, James, 341. 
 Boyce, Dr., 398. 
 Boyle, Lord Abbot of, 19. 
 Brady, Sir J. W., 218. 
 Braham, J., 25. 
 Brewer, Dr. Cobham, 243. 
 Brewer, Mrs., 202. 
 Bridaine, M. ,211. 
 Bridge, Sir F.,403. 
 Brien, 375. 
 Brighton camp, 361. 
 Bristol, Lord, 13. 
 " British Miscellany," 174. 
 Broderip, Miss, 229. 
 Broderip, Mrs., F. F., 228. 
 " Broken Heart," The, 377. 
 Brooke, Miss, 37. 
 Brooke, Mrs. F., 38. 
 Brooks, Mr., 37. 
 Brougham, Lord, 294. 
 Bruce, Dr., 36. 
 Bruce, Robert, 317. 
 Bruce, Sir H. Harvey, 13. 
 Bruckner, F. , 259. 
 Bruckner, O., 259. 
 Brunswick, Duke Ferdinand of, 254, 
 Brunswick, Princess of, 174. 
 " Bryant's Minstrels," 104. 
 Buchan, John, 307. 
 Buchanan, R., 300. 
 Buckingham, Duke of, 115. 
 Buckingham, Marquis of, 1581 
 
 Buckstone, J. B., 19. 
 
 Bull, Dr. Jan (John), 388, 390, 391, 
 
 392, 393. 
 Bunting, Edward, 13, 308, 332, 
 
 336, 340, 348, 360, 362, 363, 
 
 37S. 381- 
 Burgoyne, General, 164. 
 Burk, Sir R., 371. 
 Burke, Edmund, nS. 
 Burleigh, Lord, 160. 
 Burnet, 204. 
 
 Burney, Dr., 224, 293, 389. 
 Burns, Robert, 25, 26, 37, 159, 296, 
 
 30s, 306, -308, 313, 314, 317, 
 
 320, 321, 322, 326, 328, 340, 
 
 344. 34S. 346- 
 Burrowes, Bishop, 368. 
 Burschenschaften, 83. 
 Butt, Miss Clara, 404. 
 Byng, Admiral, 178. 
 Byron, Honourable Mrs., 123. 
 Byron, Lord, 151, 294. 
 
 Cadwallader, King, 289. 
 
 Callanan, J. J., 358. 
 
 " Called Back," 234. 
 
 " Cambrian Minstrelsy," 279, 290. 
 
 Campbell, Thomas, 155, 207. 
 
 "Cant O Ganenon gan Ceiriog," 
 280. 
 
 Caradoc, 287, 288. 
 
 Caradori, 136. 
 
 Carey, G. S. , 173, 401 , 402. 
 
 Carey, Henry, 170, 172, 257, 384, 
 38s. 386, 387. 391. 393. 3961 
 398, 399. 400. 401. 402. 403' 
 
 Carey, Rose, 107. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, 27. 
 
 Carlyle's " History of French Revo- 
 lution," 40. 
 
 Carr, Dr. Osmond, 406. 
 
 Carter, Thomas, 293. 
 
 "Causes C^l^bres," 62. 
 
 " Cead Mille Failte," 17. 
 
 Cesati, Signer, 209. 
 
 Chambers-Ketchura, Mrs., 106. 
 
 "Chambers' Journal," 315. 
 
 Chambers, Robert, 310. 
 
 Chamisso, 88. 
 
 Champnes, Mr., 173. 
 
 Chapman and Hall, 142. 
 
 Chappell, W., 36, 173, 198, 318, 
 
 321, 360, 361, 385, 390. 
 Charles Edward, 14, 304, 
 Charles I. , 223, 395. 
 Charles IL, 204, 221, 374, 395. 
 Chariot, M. , 93. 
 
 Charlotte, Princess, I40< ■ .,\ 
 
INDEX. 
 
 411 
 
 Chateaubriand, 2394 
 , "Chautauquan," 263. 
 Chelmsford Gaol, 79. 
 'Chemnitz, 87. 
 Chenier, Andre, 242. 
 Cherry, Andrew, 227, 366. 
 Chester, Earl of, 220. . 
 Chicago Exhibition, 384. 
 " Chicago Tribune," loa, 105. 
 "Childe Harold," 168. 
 " Chimes, The," 142. 
 Choquet, Gustave, 250. 
 Christian VII. of Denmark, 394. 
 Christie, 326. 
 
 Chi^sander, Friedrioh, 387. 
 Church, John, 246. 
 Chygwyn, Master, 215. 
 " Claragh," 354. 
 
 Clarence, Diflce of, 319, 361, 396. 
 Clark, Richard, 390, 391, 392. 
 Clarke, Mr. , 326, 327. 
 Clay, Henry, 180. 
 Clemm, Virginia, 165. 
 Clonfert, Bishop of, 340. 
 Cloyne, Bishop of, 153. 
 " Coast of Sussex," 361. 
 Cockbum, Admiral, 97. 
 Cockbum, Mrs., 301. 
 Code, H. B., 367. 
 Cole, S. W., 214. 
 C0II6, 251. 
 "Collection of Choicest Scots 
 
 Tunes," 338. 
 "Collection of English Songs" 
 
 (Dale's), 328. 
 " Collection of Scottish Dance 
 
 Music " (Glen's), 328. 
 Collet, 62. 
 
 Cn^mim^ 'George, 113, 220. 
 ""Compendious Book of Godly 
 
 Songs," 198. 
 " Convivial Songster," 314. 
 Conway, Hugh, 234. 
 Cooke, Dr. B., 389. 
 Cope, Elizabeth, 57. 
 Cope, Lady, 56. 
 Cope, Miss, 56. 
 Cope, Sir John, 57, 304. 
 Cope, Sir William, SS- S9- 
 Corday, Charlotte, 241. 
 Cork, Earl of, 177. 
 " Cork Remembrancer," 153, 366. 
 Coventry, Countess of, 115. 
 Coverdale's English Bible, 388. 
 Ciaig, Adam, 338. 
 Craigmyle, Ehzabeth, 85. 
 Cramer, J. B., 197. 
 Crawford, Mrs., 132, 141, 14S. 188.' 
 
 Croker, J. Crofton, 152, 352, 365, 
 
 366, 368. 
 Croly, Rev. George, 349. 
 Crome, Mr., 399. 
 Cromwell, OUver, 109, 380, 395. 
 Crouch, F. Nicholls, 132-145. 
 Cumberland, Duke of, 307. 
 Cummings, W. H., 37, 38, 385, 398, 
 
 3?9- 
 Cunmngham, Allan, 312. 
 Cunningham, SirW., 305. 
 " Curiosities of Literature," 203. 
 Curran, H. G. , 383. 
 Curran, Right Honourable J. P., 
 
 368, 381. 
 Curran, Sarah, 376. 
 Curran, W. H., 381. 
 Curry's ' ' Manners and Customs of 
 
 Ancient Irish," 332. 
 Cussans, J. C, 188. 
 " Cyclopaedia of Music," 112. 
 Czar Nicholas, 395. 
 
 " Daily Advertiser,'' 400. 
 
 "Daily News," 153, 185. 
 
 '■ Daily Telegraph," 390, 393. 
 
 Dall, Rory, 336. 
 
 Dalrymple, Sir R. , 
 
 " Dancmg Master, The," 355. 
 
 Danton, 248. 
 
 Davenant, Sir W., 374. 
 
 Davey, Henry, 349, 389, 399. 
 
 David, St., 289, 29a 
 
 Davidson, G. H. , 217. 
 
 Davies, Miss Mary, 221. 
 
 Davis, Mary, 374. 
 
 Dawson, Baron Arthur, 336, 337. 
 
 De Bora, Catherine, 263. 
 
 De Bouillon, Godfrey, 239. 
 
 De Brinon,. Madame, 256. 
 
 De Dietrich, Baron. 42. 
 
 D'Estrfes, Gabrielle, 257. 
 
 De la Casas, M., 242. 
 
 Delibes, 240. 
 
 " Delightiill Companion, The," 205. 
 
 De Lisle, Claude J. Rouget, 40- 
 
 54- 
 De Lisle's works, 54. 
 De Nesle, Blondel, 161, 162, 273, 
 
 284. 
 De Rochas, Colonel, 387. 
 Derwentwater, Earl of, 222. 
 De S^vign^, Madame, 247. 
 De Villars, Marshal, 239. 
 Diamond Jubilee (Queen Victoria's),' 
 
 406. 
 Dibdin, Charles, 227. 
 Dickens, Charles, 142, 183, 228. 
 
412 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ■' Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen," 
 223. 
 
 " Dictionary of Music," 109, no, 
 122, 308, 389. 
 
 ' ' Dictionaryof National Biography, " 
 118. 
 
 "Dictionary of the Poets of Ire- 
 land," 133. 
 
 " Dictionnaire de la Langue Fran- 
 9aise," 243. 
 
 " Dictionnaire Musicale," 240. 
 
 " Die Loreley," 88. 
 
 D'Israeli, Benjamin, 383. 
 
 D'Israeli, Isaac, 203. 
 
 Dodsley, Robert, 220. 
 
 Doran, Dr., 400. 
 
 Douglas, Clark, 311. 
 
 Douglas of Finland, 309, 310, 311. 
 
 Douglas, Sir George, 298, 394. 
 
 Drayton, M. , 289. 
 
 Druids, the, 290. 
 
 Duffett, Thomas. 342, 343. 
 
 Duffy, Sir C. G., 157, 350. 
 
 " Duke of Berwit'''s March,'' 225. 
 
 Du Maurier, G., 103, 242. 
 
 " Dumfries and Galloway Courier," 
 294. 
 
 Dunbar, E. C, 212. 
 
 Duncan, Dr. Henry, 294. 
 
 Dunkeld, Bishop of, 316. 
 
 Dunlop, Mrs., 3r, 33. 
 
 Durang, Ferdinand, 98, 99, 
 
 D'Urfey, Tom, 303, 308. 
 
 Dwight, Timothy, loi. 
 
 Dyer, Mr. , 222. 
 
 " East Lynne," 79. 
 
 Ebsworth, Rev. J. W., iii. 
 
 Edward, t)uke of Kent, 292, 293. 
 
 Edward, the Black Prince, 284. 
 
 Edward II., 273. 
 
 Edward IV., 278. 
 
 Edward VI. , 203. 
 
 Edwin, John, 113. 
 
 Einion, Hoel Ap, 274. 
 
 Ehzabetb, Queen, 18, 156, 157, 160, 
 
 203, 371, 372. 
 Elliott, Jane, 301. 
 Ellis, Hercules, 156, 157. 
 EUiston, R. W., 179. 
 Emmet, Robert, 376, 
 Emmett,^ Dan, 104. 
 English, Dr. T. D., 103. 
 ' ' Englishman in Paris,. An," 47, 48. 
 "English Minstrelsie," (Intro.) xiv. 
 " Era, The," 138. 
 Essex, Countess of, 122, 124. 
 " Esther," 51. 
 
 Ethelfrid, king of Northumberland, 
 
 284. 
 Eugene, Prince, 243. 
 Ewen, John, 307. 
 
 F., L. N., 372. 
 Fallersleben, H. von, 86, 88. 
 Farquhar, G. , 356, 358. 
 Farren, W., 196. 
 Feis Ceoil, 381. 
 Ferguson, Sir Samuel, 350. 
 Fergusson, Alexander, 310, 313, 
 
 314- 
 Fessenden, J. S., 116. 
 Fetch, the, 351. 
 Fetis, Dr., 271. 
 Fielding, Henry, 173. 
 Finck, Dr., 173. 
 Findlater, R., 314. 
 Fisher, Kitty, 116. 
 "Fisher's Jig," 115. 
 Fitz-Ball, Edward, 130, 166. 
 Fitz-Gerald, Desmond, 19. 
 Fitz-Gerald of Cork, 153. 
 Fitz-Geralds, the, 19, 383. 
 Fitz-Simon, Mrs. E., 373. 
 Fleet, Thomas, 215. 
 Fletcher, John, 222, 224. 
 Flood, E. , 190. 
 Flotow, F. von, 147. 
 Ford, Mrs. M. A., 139. 
 Fornsete, John of, 349. 
 Foster, Elizabeth, 214. 
 Foster, S. C. , 104, 187. 
 Fountaine, Lamar, 107. 
 Fox, C. J., 344. 
 " Eraser's Magazme,' 153. 
 Frederick the Great, 87. 
 Frederick William II. , 394. 
 Frederick William HI., 81, 258. 
 Fredericus Rex, 87, 
 Freiligrath, 88. 
 
 "French Revolution," 40, 8s. 
 Frere, M., 250. 
 Friedlander, M., 260. 
 Frithiofsaga, 237. 
 Froissart, 274. 
 Froude, J., 388. 
 Fuller, Colonel, 204. 
 Furlong, i'horaas, 345, 346, 351. 
 Fyles, Herr, 100. 
 
 Gall, Richard, 328. 
 
 Garrick, David, 173, 177. 
 
 Gay, John, 172, 224, 296, 326, 333, 
 
 357- . 
 Geddes, 325. 
 Geibel, 88, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 413 
 
 Geminiani, Francesco, 334. 
 
 "General Leslie's March," 309. 
 
 " Geneva Psalter," 199. 
 
 Genin, a4a 
 
 " Gentleman's Magazine," 3, 293, 
 
 388. 
 George I. , 174, 204, 224. 
 George II., 173. 
 George III., 23, 170, 292. 
 George IV., 39, 134, 140, 170, 286, 
 
 292. 
 George, Prince of Dessau, 266. 
 Geraldines, The, 19, 383. 
 Gesualdus, 334, 
 Gigliucci, Countess, 192. 
 Gilbert, W. S., 406. 
 Gill, W. H. (Iritro.) xiv. 
 Gilmore, P. S., 106. 
 Gilpin, Sydney, 225. 
 Ginevra, 59, 62. 
 Giraldus Cambiensis, 332. 
 Glafey, FrauleinA. Von., 265, 268. 
 
 269. 
 Glendower, Owen, 273, 274. 
 "Globe," The, 153. 
 Glover, Stephen, 209. 
 " God save the Queen," 406. 
 Goethe, 84, 161. 
 " Golden Legend," 232. 
 "Golden Treasury," 223. 
 Goldsmith, Oliver, 27. 
 Gondimel, Claude, 199. 
 Goose, Isaac, 214. 
 Goose, Mother, 214. 
 " Gordian Knot Unty'd," 206. 
 Gordon, G. L,, 39. 
 Gottschalk, L. M., 116. 
 Goulding, D'Almaine and Co., 8. 
 
 135- 
 
 Gow, Nathamel, 305, 322. 
 
 Gow, Niel, 305. 
 
 Graham, G. F., 308. 
 
 Graham, Miss Stirling, 297, 318. 
 
 Graham, Robert, of &trtmore, 223. 
 
 " Grana Weal," 371. 
 
 Granby, Marquis of, 174. 
 
 "Grand Magazine of Universal In- 
 telligence," 22. 
 
 Grant, James, 309, 310. 
 
 Grant, Mrs., of Carron, 320. 
 
 Grant, Mrs., of Laggan, 317. 
 
 Graves, A. P., 368. 
 
 Graves. J. W., 225. 
 
 Gray, Duncan, 321. 
 
 Gray, Thomas, 306. 
 
 Greatwood, Lieutenant-Colonel, H, 
 F., S3. 
 
 " Green and Gold," 139. 
 
 Greeley, Horace, 98. 
 
 Gretny, 248. 
 
 Griffin, Gerald, 25, 349, 3Sa 
 
 Grisons, 51. 
 
 Grosart, Rev. A. B., 118. 
 
 Gross, John, 215. 
 
 Grove's " Dictionary of Music and 
 
 Musicians," 120, 240, 252. 
 Grove, Sir George, 109, 252, 3851 
 
 387, 389- 
 Gryfudd ap Cynan (King of North 
 
 Wales), 285. 
 Guernsey, Wellington, 227. 
 Gunn, John, 332, 333. 
 Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, 2621 
 
 Hall, Foley, 76-79. 
 Hall, Mrs. S. C, 380. 
 Hall, S. C, 380. 
 Hammersley, Thomas, 124. 
 Handel, 175, 199, 387, 403. 
 Handtmann, E., 257, 258. 
 Hardiman, James, 16, 332, 334, 336, 
 
 339. 348. 
 Hardiman's " Minstrelsy," 16, 332, 
 
 334- 336. 339. 348. 
 Hardwicke, Lady, 121. 
 Hare, A. J. C. , 139. 
 Harford, Canon, 389-407. 
 " Harmonia Anglicana," 385. 
 Harper, Miss, 139. 
 Harpers, Irish, 341. 
 Harpers, Welsh, 270. 
 Harries, Heinrich, 254, 255, 394. 
 Harrington, Dr. , 402, 403. 
 Haschka, L. L. , 237. 
 Hatton, J. L., 155. 
 Hauser, Carl, 90. 
 Hawes, W. , 136, 140. 
 Hawke, Lord, 174. 
 Hawkins, Sir J. , 401. 
 Haydn, 199, 237, 238, 364, 
 Hayes, 137. 
 Haygarth, Rev. J., 60. 
 Heine, Heinrich, 46, 88, 161. 
 Helberg, 242. 
 Helen of Ardock, 324. 
 Hemans, Mrs., 133, 280. 
 Hempson, Denis, 13, 14. 
 Hendon, Mr., 98. 
 Henri III., 252. 
 Henry II., 331. 
 
 Henry II., of France, 162, 199. 
 Henry VIII., 203, 347. 
 Henslowe, Rev. Mr. , 398. 
 Herbert, Sir R., 278. 
 " Hermann and Dorothea," 51. 
 I Herrick, Robert, 222. 
 
4H 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Herz, 253. 
 
 Hesekiel, 93. 
 
 " Hesperides," 222. 
 
 Highmore, Charles, 220. 
 
 Hill, Rowland, 193, 194. 
 
 " History of English Mjisic," 349, 
 
 ; 398. 
 
 ' ' History of Ireland, 375. 
 
 " History of Music," 276. 
 
 '' History of Wales," 284, 
 
 Hobbs, 136. 
 
 Hogg, James, 298. 
 
 Holden, 332. 
 
 Holmes, Dr. O. W. , 208. 
 
 Holtzmann, 49, 50. 
 
 floly Alliance, 82. 
 
 Hone, W. , 289. 
 
 Hood, Thomas, 227-230. 
 
 Hood's "Ancient and Modern 
 
 Songs," 122, 
 Hook, James, 169, 308. 
 Hook, Theodore, 169, 308. 
 Hopkin, Will, 276, 277. 
 Hopkinson, Judge, 100. 
 Horace, 322. 
 Horn, C., 221, 237. 
 Horner, 294. 
 
 Hortense, Queen of Holland, 254. 
 Houghton, Lord, 191, 
 " House to let. The," 168. 
 Hilbner, 261. 
 Hullah, John, 122. 
 Humboldt, 84. 
 Humphrey, F. P., 313. 
 Hurka, 255. 
 " Hurlfoot Bill," 369. 
 
 I' Anson, Miss, 169. 
 
 " Ich Dien," 284. 
 
 leuan Ddu, 282. 
 
 " Illustrated London News," 66, 
 
 114, 185. 
 Ireland, Mrs., 207. 
 " Ireland Ninety Years Ago," 368. 
 Irish Bards, 363. 
 Irish Harpers, 341. 
 " Irish Hudibras," 207. 
 Irishman's Apple, 367. 
 " Irish Melodies," 146, 150, 151. 
 " Irish Melodies of Thomas Moore," 
 
 378. 
 " Irish Minstrelsy," 332, 369, 370. 
 Irish Oak, 367. 
 " Irish Poems," 343. 
 " Irish Songs," 132, 329. 
 " Irish Wit and Humour," 368, 
 Irving, Washington, 376, 377. 
 " Italy," Rogers', 62, 65, 
 
 "J. C. J.,'-2i8. . 
 
 " Jack Hinton," 381. 
 
 " Jacobite Rebellion," 175. 
 
 " Jahrbiicher ftir MusikaJisdhe Wis- 
 
 senschaft," 387. 
 James I. , 392. 
 James II., 152, 204, 205, 389, 395, 
 
 398. : 
 
 James IV., 316. 
 James VI. 314. 
 Jamieson, R., 332, 333. 
 Jamieson's "Scottish Dictionary," 
 
 28. 
 Jenkyns, Ruthven, 219. 
 Jennings, Sarah, 243. 
 Jerrold, Douglas, 142, 224. 
 Jevan, Dafydd ap, 279. 
 John, King of Bohemia, 284. 
 Johnson, Dr., 288, 294. 
 Johnson, of "Johnson's Musical 
 
 Museum," 30, 34, 38, 122, 221, 
 
 324, 326. 
 Joinville, 239. 
 Jones, Edward, 282. 
 Jones, Richard, 150. 
 Jones, Squire, 237. 
 Jones-Hunt, W., 196, 197, 228. 
 Jonson, Ben, 29. 
 Jordan, Mrs. Dora, 318, 319^ 
 ' ' Journal pf a Tour through the 
 
 Hebrides," 341. 
 
 " Kaisermarch," 262. 
 
 Kaiser Quartette, 238. 
 
 Kavanagh Chieftain, 16. 
 
 Kean, Charles, 155. 
 
 Kean, Edmund, 5, 171, 173, 179. 
 
 Keen, the, 353. 
 
 Keenan, Owen, 360. 
 
 Kelly, Colonel, 14. 
 
 Kemble, Charles, 5, 7. 
 
 Kenney, C. H., 217, 
 
 Kenney, C. L., 233. 
 
 Kenney, James, 217. 
 
 Kenney, Rosa, 217. 
 
 Keppel, Lady Caroline, 18, 20, 2i, 
 
 22. 
 Kevin, St., 377, 378. 
 Key, Francis, 97-100. 
 King, Fitz-Maurice, 54. 
 Kingsley, Rev. Charles, 221, 
 Kinnaird, Laird of, 323. 
 Kipling, Rudyard, 300. 
 Kitchen, Dr., 203. 
 Kneas, Nelson, 103. 
 Knight, Joseph Philip, 65, 
 Knowles, Sheridan, 133. 
 Korner, Karl T. , 84, 85, 89. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 415 
 
 "Kung Erik," 236. 
 Kutschke, 93. 94. 
 Kutschke Lieder, 81, 93, 94, 
 
 Ladre, M., 250. 
 
 "Lady Katherine Ogle," 321. 
 
 La Fayette, General, 250. 
 
 Lamartine, 46. 
 
 hsjab, Charles, 11. 
 
 LandafT, Bishop of, 203. 
 
 Lansdowne, Marquis, 294. 
 
 " Laureate of the Nursery," 300. 
 
 Laurie, Annie, 309, 310, 311, 312, 
 
 313. 314- 
 
 Laurie, Sir Emilius, 310. 
 
 Laurie, Sir R., 309, 310, 314, 
 
 Laurie, Sir Walter, 310, 314. 
 
 "La V6nt6 sur la Paternity de la 
 Marseillaise," 52. 
 
 Lawes, W., 221. 
 
 Lawson, James, 67-80. 
 
 Lays, M. , 252. 
 
 Lee, Alexander, 130, 167. 
 
 Lee, General, 143. 
 
 Leek, the, 289. 
 
 Leaves, Rev. W., 120, 123, 124, 125. 
 
 Le Franc Guillaume, 199. 
 
 Legonix, Jonas, 240. 
 
 Leopold, Duke of Austria, 162. 
 
 "Les Huguenots," 262. 
 
 ' ' Les Melodies Populaires de la 
 France," 53. 
 
 "Letters from the North of Scot- 
 land," 332. 
 
 " Letters of Junius," 368. 
 
 Lever, Charles, 350, 381. 
 
 Leveridge, Richard, 174, 224. 
 
 Lewin, L. N. , 233. 
 
 " Life of Thomas Campbell," 208. 
 
 "Life of Cunran," 381. 
 
 Limerick, Bishop of, 118. 
 
 Lind, Jenny, n. 
 
 Lindsay, James, i.iS. 
 
 Lindsay, Lady Anne, 119, 123. 
 
 Lindsay, Lady Margaret, 139. 
 
 Linley, George, 76, 77, 167, 219. 
 
 Littre. M., 243. 
 
 Llewelyn, Ann, 276. 
 
 Lloyd, R., 280. 
 
 Lock, Matthew, 220. 
 
 Locke, John, 162. 
 
 LockWt, J. G., 149, 317. 
 
 Longfellow, H. W., 168, 208, 237, 
 404. 
 
 Longfellow, Mrs., 211. 
 
 Longfellow, Professor, 244- 
 
 Loquin, M., 53. 
 
 Loth, Arthur, .51. 
 
 Loudon, Earl of, 305. 
 
 Louis IX., 239. 
 
 Louis XIV. , 246, 236, 396. 
 
 Louis XV. , 239. 
 
 Louis XVI. , 249, 256. 
 
 Louis XVIII,, 252, 396. 
 
 Louis Philippe, 51. 
 
 Louise, Princess of Dessau, 266. 
 
 Lovell Family, the, 60, 61. 
 
 Lovell, Rev. Edward, 60, 61. 
 
 Lover, Samuel, 335, 343, 345, 346, 
 
 35°. 36s. 367. 372. 379. 380, 
 
 381. 
 Liickner, Marechal, 52. 
 LuUy, Jean Baptiste, 256, 257, 387, 
 
 39°- 
 Lumley, 180. 
 Lupus, Hugh, 220. 
 "Lusiad," Camden's, 306. 
 Luther, Martin, 261, 262, 263.. 
 Lwoff, 395. 
 
 Lynedoch, Laird of, 323. 
 Lyons, the Harper, 13. 
 Lysaght, Edward, 367, 368. 
 
 Macaroni, no. 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, 380. 
 
 MacCann, Anthony, 156. 
 
 McCarthy, Henry, 106. 
 
 MacCarthy, Denis F., 350. 
 
 MacDonnell, John, 354. 
 
 MacFarren, Lady Natalie, 92, 
 
 Macfarren, Sir George, 141, 191. 
 
 MacGavin of Leitrim, 339. 
 
 MacGibbon and Oswald's ' ' Collec- 
 tions," 321. 
 
 MacGrath, Andrew, 359, 360, 380. 
 
 Maekay, Dr. Charles, i, 15, 119, 
 181, 185, 207, 214, 223, 297, 
 
 317. 322. 395- 
 
 Maekay, .iEneas, 119. 
 
 McLean, Charles, 25. 
 
 " Maclure's Magazine," 247. 
 
 MacNally, Leonard, 164, 169, 171. 
 
 MacNeil, Hector, 363. 
 
 MacWilliam Eighter, the, 371. 
 
 Maddocks, Anthony, 275. 
 
 Maher, William, 368. 
 
 Mahoney, Francis, 151. 
 
 Maine, John, 159. 
 
 Malibran, Marie, 133, 141. 
 
 Malktt, David, 174, 178. 
 
 Malloch, David, 178. 
 
 Malone, Carol!, 347. 
 
 Mangan, Clarence, 349, 351. 
 
 ' ' Manners and Customs of the An- 
 cient Irish," 332. 
 
 Mansfield, Earl of, 294. 
 
4i6 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Manx National Songs (Intro. y, xiv. 
 Marat, 241. 
 
 Marchant, Earl of, 301. 
 Maretzek, Max, 142. 
 " Margaret's Ghost," 176. 
 Marie Antoinette, 239, 249. 
 Marlborough, Duchess of, 243. 
 Marlborough, Duke of, 177, 241, 
 
 242. 
 Marryat, Captain, 133, 142. 
 Mary I., 203, 405. 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, 326. 
 Mason and Dixon's Line, 104. 
 Mason, Professor, 201. 
 " Masonic Lyre," 393. 
 Matthews, Charles, the elder, 150. 
 Matthison, F., 265, 268, 269. 
 Maynard, Walter, 274, 284. 
 Mayne, John, 315. 
 Mayo, Lord, 280. 
 " Mecklenburgische Anzeiger," 94. 
 "Memoirs of Irish Bards," 347. 
 " Memoirs of Principal TuUoch," 
 
 338. 
 Mendelssohn, 262. 
 "Merchant Taylor's Company," 
 
 392- 
 " Merry Companion, The," 353. 
 "Metropolitan Magazine," 132, 141, 
 
 142. 
 Meyerbeer, 262. 
 Mickle, W. J., 306. 
 " Milesian, The," 293. 
 Miller, James, 326, 327. 
 Miller, W. , 300. 
 Milliken, R.A., 147, 367. 
 Milnes, R. M. , 191. 
 ' ' Minstrelsy Ancient and Modern," 
 
 300. 
 " Minstrelsy of Scotland," 38, 312, 
 
 33&- 
 Mireur, M., 53. 
 " Mr. Grenville's Correspondence," 
 
 "5- 
 Mitford, Miss, 59, 231. 
 Moifatt, Alfred,' 25, 38, 312, 338. 
 Molesworth, Viscount, 15. 
 MoUOy, J. L., ^33. 
 Moncrief, Paradis de, 117, 125. 
 Montgomerie, Alexander, 316. 
 Montrose, Marquis of, 223. 
 Moore, Thomas, 147, 149, 150, 151, 
 
 279. 308. 346. 348, 349. 362. 
 
 367. 373. 376, 378, 379. 382. 
 " Moore's Melodies," 151, 373. 
 More, Hannah, 123. 
 Morgan, Lady, 380. 
 Morgan, Mrs., 155. 
 
 " Morning Chronicle," 157, 186. 
 "Morning Herald," 170. 
 Morris, General G. P., 181, 185. 
 Mossy Mead, Abbess of, 266, 269, 
 ' ' Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes," 
 
 214. 
 Motherwell, W,, 299, 300. 
 Motherwell's ' ' Minstrelsy," 355. ' 
 Mountain, Mrs., 366. 
 Murphy, David, 386. 
 " Muse of Cumberland," The, 302. 
 " Music in the Olden Time," 396. 
 " Musical Museum," 30, 295, 302. 
 "Musical Reporter," no. 
 " Musical Times," 37. 
 " Musical Treasury, 2r7. 
 Musset, Alfred de, 87. 
 ' ' Myrtle and Vine, 170, 
 
 Nairne, Lady Carolina, 292, 303, 
 
 304, 321. 
 " Namby-Pamby," 403. 
 National Anthem, The, 384. 
 " National English Airs, 174. 
 National Training School of Music, 
 
 232. 
 Napoleon, 53, 81, 242. 
 Nathan, Isaac, 217. 
 Neithardt, A., 87, 259. 
 " Neue Preussische Zeitung," 93, 
 " Newcastle Weekly Chronicle," 35. 
 New Penny Post, 193, 194. 
 " New Poems and Songs," 342. 
 Nicholas, Dr., 278. 
 Nicholas I. , 189. 
 Nilsson, Madame Christina, 146. 
 Noel, Dorothy, 61. 
 Noel, Rev. Thomas, 230. 
 " Notes and Queries," 52, 55, 122, 
 
 176, 216. 
 Novello, Clara, 192. 
 
 Oak Cemetery, Washington, 9. 
 O'Carolan, Turlough, 334, 335, 336, 
 
 337, 339. 
 Ochmann, Dr., 254. 
 O'Connallon, Laurence, 341. 
 O'Connallon, Thomas, 341, 342. 
 O'Connell, Daniel, 373. 
 O'Daly, Carol, 16. 
 O'Daly, Donogh More, 16. 
 O'Donnell, D. K., 107. 
 O'Donoghie, D. J., 132. 
 O'Dugan, Maurice, 377. 
 Ogle, Right Hon. George, 344, 
 
 34^- 
 O Keefe, John, 159. 
 I O'Leary, Father, 153. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 417 
 
 "Old English Popular Music," 
 
 220. 
 Oliphant, Caroline, 304. 
 Oliphant, Lawrence, 304. 
 Oliphant, Mrs., 338. 
 Malley, Grace, 371. 
 Omer, St., 51. 
 O'Neacthan, 339. 
 O'Neill, Arthur, 337, 342, 360. 
 Order of Welsh Bards, 285. 
 O'Reilly, Miles, 308, 341, 342, 343. 
 "Orpheus Caledonius," 301, 325. 
 O'Sullivan, M. J., 2, 6. 
 O'Tuomy, John, 36a 
 Owain, Alaw, 282. 
 Owen, David, 280, 286. 
 Owen, John, 282. 
 Oxenford, John, 47, 244. 
 
 Paganini, Niccolo, 53, 253. 
 Pa^ve, F. T. , 223. 
 " Palmira," 51. 
 Parker, Gilbert, 405. 
 Parker, Martyn, 207. 
 Parry, Dr. Joseph, 282, 290. 
 Pairy, J. D., 361. 
 Parry, John, 25, 272, 282. 
 Patrick, St. , 364, 366. 
 Patti, Adelina, 135, 137. 
 Paul, Mrs. Howard, 47. 
 Payne, J. Howard, i-ii, 141. 
 Peacock, Thomas Love, 282. 
 Peel, John, 225, 226, 227. 
 Pembroke, Earl of, 278. 
 Pencerdd Gwalia, 282. 
 
 Pepusch, Dr., 392, 393. 
 
 Percy, Bishop, 205, 292. 
 
 Percy, Mrs., 292. 
 
 " Percy's Reliques," 176, 204, 292. 
 
 Pereira, Mrs., 265. 
 
 Perry, Mr. , 208. 
 
 Pessoneaux, Abb^, 47. 
 • Pestal, Colonel, 1B9. 
 
 Petrie, George, 308, 332. 
 
 Phelps, Samuel, 196. 
 
 Phillips, Ambrose, 403. 
 
 " Pickwick Papers," 231. 
 
 Pilgrim Fathers, the, 215. 
 
 "Pills to Purge Melanpholy," 296, 
 303. 
 
 Pils, Isidore, 52. 
 
 "Pirate, The," 119. 
 
 Pistorius, 94, 95. 
 
 Planche, J. R., 6, 7. 
 
 Plato, 350. 
 
 "Playford's Musical Companion,' 
 221, 224, 321. 
 
 Plays and Operas. 
 Alfred, 174, 178. 
 Amelia, 403. 
 Americans, The, 185. 
 An Old Song, 54. 
 Arrah-na-Pogue, 383. 
 Auld Robin Gray, 187. 
 Bantry Bay, 158. 
 Beggar's Opera, 172, 224, 296, 
 
 323. 354- 
 Black Ky'd Susan, 224. 
 Bloody Brother, The, 224. 
 Bo.x and Cox, 231. 
 Chrononhotonthologos, 171, 403. 
 Clare, the Maid of Milan, i-ii. 
 Colleen Bawn, 370, 380. 
 Contrabandista, 231. 
 Contrivances, "The, 403. 
 Country Girl, The, 318. 
 Dragon of Wantley, The, 403. 
 Duenna, The, 345. 
 Evil Genius, 196. \ 
 Free Election, 385. 
 Foul Deeds Will Rise, 187. 
 Groves of Blarney, 380. 
 Harlequin's Invasion, 173. 
 Hermann and Dorothea, 51. 
 His Excellency, 406. 
 lolanthe, 231. 
 Iphig^nie en Aulide, 252. 
 Irish Legacy, 187. 
 Jean Marie,- 130. 
 Kathleen Mavourneen, 137. 
 King and the Miller of Mansfield, 
 
 220. 
 Le Devin du Village, 197. 
 Lend me Five Shillings, 196. 
 Les Huguenots, 262. 
 Lily of Killarney, 370, 380. 
 Love in a Village, 220. 
 Lover's Opera, 342. 
 Maid of the Mill, 187. 
 
 Marriage de Figaro, 239. 
 
 Martha, 146, 150. 
 
 Measure for Measure, 404. 
 
 Merry Blacksmith, The, 212. 
 
 Mistletoe Boiigh, 65. 
 
 Othello, 328. 
 
 Palmira, 51. 
 
 Patron, The, 225. 
 
 Polly, 326. 
 
 Poor soldier. The, 159. 
 
 Post Captain, 35. 
 
 Postman's Knock, 196. 
 
 Ralph Roister Doister, 405. 
 
 Recruiting Officer, 356. 
 
 Rivals, The, 374. 
 
 Rob Roy, 39. 
 
 E E 
 
4i8 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Plays and Operas— «ij«^. 
 
 Rory O'More, 382. 
 
 Rosina, 36, 37, 38. 
 
 Russian Sacrifice, 367. 
 
 Seats of the Mighty, 405. 
 
 Siege of Gibraltar, 225. 
 
 Soldier's Daughter, 367. 
 
 Student's Frolic, The, 233. 
 
 Sweethearts and Wives, 217. 
 
 Toyraaker, The, 77. 
 
 Travellers at Spa, 366. 
 
 Two Noble Kinsmen, 221. 
 
 Two to One, 113. 
 
 Vestale, 252. 
 
 Wanderers, The, 131. 
 
 Who Pays the Reckoning, 187. 
 
 Yeomen of the Guard, 231. 
 Poe, Edgar Allan, 164. 
 ' ' Poetic Gift of Friendship," 197. 
 "Poets and Poetry of Europe," 
 
 244. 
 " Poets of Ireland," 132, 170. 
 Poitrine, Madame, 239. 
 Polko, Elise, 259. 
 Poole, John, 142. 
 Pope, 403. 
 " Popular Music in theOlden Time," 
 
 36, 176, 19B, 387. 
 ' ' Popular Songs and Melodies of 
 
 Scotland," 37, 293, 318, 320. 
 ' ' Popular Songs of Ireland," 152, 
 
 365- 
 " President's March, The,'' 100. 
 Procter, Adelaide A. , 232. 
 Prout, Father, 152, 245, 247. 
 Front's ' ' Reliques, " 245. 
 Prussia, King of, 252. 
 " Punch," 227. 
 Purcell, Henry, 205, 206, 398, 399. 
 
 Rachel, Elisa Felix, 46. 
 " Raikes's Journal," 396. 
 Ramsay, Allan, 29, 30, 36, 305, 
 
 308, 309, 322, 324, 342, 355, 
 
 363. 
 Ranelagh Gardens, 18. 
 Ray, 204. 
 
 Read, Beaumont, 79. 
 Ree's " Cyclopsedia," 389. 
 Reeve, W., 158. 
 Reeves, Sims, 167. 
 " Reformation Symphony," 262. 
 Reid, William, 321. 
 Reign of Terror, 47, 49. 
 "Relics of Literature," 62. 
 " Reliques of Ancient English 
 
 Poetry," 176, 204, 292, 328. 
 
 Reynolds, George N., 155. 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 115. 
 Richard I. (Cceur de Lion), i6i, 
 
 163, 164, 274. 
 Richard II., 273. 
 Richards, Brinley, 272, 273, 278, 
 
 282. 
 Riddell, Walter, 314. 
 Riley, J. W., 136. 
 Rimbault, F., 115. 
 Ritter, Madame F. R. , 42, 90. 
 Robespierre, 49, 24S. 
 Robinson, George, 167. , 
 Robinson, Mary (Perdita), 286. 
 Robin's Well, 15. 
 " Rob Roy," 37, 296. 
 Roche, J. M. , 144. 
 Rochester, Dean of, 403. 
 Rogers, Samuel, 55, 62. 
 Root, Dr. G. F., 102. 
 Rossini, 134, 140. 
 "Round About our Coal Fire,'' 
 
 3SS- 
 
 Rowe, P. E., 135. 
 
 Rowlands, Professor, 279, 282, 290. 
 
 Roy, George, 130. 
 
 Royal Academy, 187. 
 
 Royal Academy of Music, 141. 
 
 Royal Academy of Music (Brussels), 
 271. 
 
 " Royal Edition of Songs of Scot- 
 land," 308. 
 
 Riickert, Friedrich, 88. 
 
 Russell, Henry, 179, 186, 230. 
 
 Russia, Emperor of, 252. 
 
 Rutherford, Miss, 301. 
 
 Ryan, Desmond, 145. 
 
 Ryan, Father, 107. 
 
 Ryleyeff, 189. 
 
 Sachs, Hans, 262. 
 
 "Saints' Recreation," 325. 
 
 St, David, Bishop of, 270. 
 
 St. David's Day, 288. 
 
 "St. James's Gazette," 125. 
 
 St. Omer, 51. 
 
 St. Patrick, 364, 366. 
 
 St. Patrick's, Dean of, 337. 
 
 Salieri, 51. 
 
 Salisbury, Hon. S., iii. 
 
 Salvation Army, The, 199. 
 
 Sargent Epps (or Epes), 185. 
 
 Savile, George, Marquis of HalifaXi 
 
 171. 
 Sawyer, C. S., 106. 
 Schefifel, 88. 
 Schegel, 84. 
 Schenk, Gustav, 95. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 419 
 
 SchenkendOrff, 88. 
 
 Schleswig-Holstein, 87. 
 
 Schiller, 84. 
 
 Schneckenburger, M., 89, 93. 
 
 Schulhoff, 253. 
 
 Schumacher, Dr., 254, 255, 394. 
 
 Schumann, 51. 
 
 Scott, Lady John, 312, 313. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 39, ii8, 120, 223, 
 
 =S3. 254. 272. 284, 294, 295, 
 
 296. 309. 319- 
 " Scottish Airs," 317. 
 " Scottish Cavalier," 309. 
 " Scottish Dictionary," 28. 
 "Scots Musical Museum," 38, 
 
 328. 
 "Scots Reels and Country Dances," 
 
 360. 
 Sedaine, M., 164. 
 Seez, Bishop of, 251. 
 " Selection of Scots Airs," 360. 
 "Selection of Scotch, English, and 
 
 Irish Airs," 115. 
 Select Melodies of Scotland, 341. 
 "Semaine Religieuse," 50, 
 Sempill, Francis, 29, 338. 
 " Sergeant Kite," 357. 
 Shadwell, T., 205. 
 Shakespeare, 29, 202, 328, 402, 
 
 406. 
 Shakespeare's Jubilee, 402. 
 Sheridan, Ridiard Brinsley, 118, 
 
 345. 
 Shield, W. M., 35, 37, 225, 336. 
 Shuckburgh, Dr., in. 
 Sicilian aS-, S- 
 Sinclair, Sir J., 305. 
 Siraudin, 240. 
 " Sketch Book," 376. 
 Sketches by Boz, 142. 
 Sketchley, Arthur, 233. 
 Skipsey, Joseph, 33. 
 Smith, J. Christopher, 387, 402, 
 
 403- 
 Smith, John Stafford, 99. 
 Smith, R. A., 298. 
 Smith, Rev. S. F., 101. 
 Smith, Rosa, 16S. 
 Smith, Seymour, 218. 
 Smith, W. , 230. 
 Somerset, Charles, 65. 
 SOKGS AND Ballads. 
 
 AdeMda, 263-268. 
 
 Adieu Dundee, 296. 
 
 Ach, wie ist's moglich, 239. 
 
 All quiet along Potomac, 107. 
 
 All through the Night, 2S0. 
 
 Ally Croker, 367. 
 
 Songs and Ballads— co»a 
 
 America, 96, 393. 
 
 Anacreon in Heaven, 98, 99. 
 
 Andreas Hofer, 89. 
 
 An Londubh, 363. 
 
 Annabel Lee, 164. 
 
 Annie Laurie, 309-313. 
 
 Annie of the Dell, 106. 
 
 Arethusa, The, 33. 
 
 At Hyd y Nos, 280. 
 
 As fada Armso Me, 374. 
 
 As one by one our Friends De- 
 part, 103. 
 
 As Slow our Ships, 362. 
 
 Auld House, The, 303. 
 
 Auld Lang Syne, 26-39. 
 
 Auld Robin Gray, 117-132, 292. 
 
 Avrake, Awake, Fianna, 371. 
 
 Baby Mine, 184. 
 
 Banks of Banna, 343, 346. 
 
 Banna's Banks, 344. 
 
 Barbarossa, 88. 
 
 Bard's Love, The, 274. 
 
 Battle Cry of Freedom, 102. 
 
 Battle of Argan Mor, 371. 
 
 Battle of Killiecrankie, 341. 
 
 Bay of Biscay, 227, 367. 
 
 Beating of my own Heart, 191, 
 192. 
 
 Beer, Beer, Beautiful Beer, 233. 
 
 Begone Dull Care, 224. 
 
 BeUeve me if all those Endearing 
 young Charms, 374. 
 
 Ben Bolt, 103. 
 
 Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, 322. 
 
 Billy Lackaday's Lament, 217. 
 
 Birth of St. Patrick, 363. 
 
 Blackbird, The, 363. 
 
 Black Himtsmen, "The, 84. 
 
 Black Monk, The, 284. 
 
 Blame not the Heart, 77. 
 , Blarney, The, 380. 
 
 Blarney Castle, 367. 
 
 Blarney Stone, The, 368, 380. 
 
 Blondel's Song, 161. 
 
 Blooming Deirdre, 349. 
 
 Blue Bells of Scotland, 317, 318. 
 
 Blue Bonnets over the Border, 
 
 309- 
 Boatie Rows, The, 307. 
 Bonnie Annie, 223. 
 Bonnie Blue Flag, 106. 
 Bonnie Charlie 's now Awa', 303. 
 Bonnie Dundee, 294, 293, 296. 
 Boys of Kilkenny, 368. 
 Break of Day, The, 280. 
 Bridegroom Grat, The, 121. 
 Bridget Cruise, 334. 
 
420 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Songs and Ballads — cont. 
 British Grenadiers, The, 218, 
 
 219. 
 Buffalo Gals, 186. 
 Bugeilio 'r Gwenith Gwyn, 275. 
 Bumper, Squire Jones, 336, 337, 
 
 338. 
 Bushel of Fragments, 281. 
 By that Lake, 378. 
 Ca Ira, 241, 250. 
 Cailin Og, 372. 
 
 Caledonian Hunt's Delight, 326. 
 Calen O Custure Me, 37a. 
 Caller Herrin', 292, 305, 306. 
 Cambrian Plume, The, 284. 
 Campbells are Coming, The, 359. 
 Canadian Boat Song, The, 373. 
 Carillon National, 250. 
 Carmagnole, The, 247, 248. 
 Carnaval de Venise, 253. 
 Carolan and Bridget Cruise, 
 
 33S- 
 
 Castle Hyde, 147, 367. 
 
 Cean Dubh Deelish, 14, 348. 
 
 Cean Dubh Dilis, 14, 348. 
 
 Chanson de Malbrouck, 240. 
 
 Chant de Guerre pour I'Armte 
 du Rhin, 52. 
 
 Charlie is my Darling, 304, 
 
 Charmante Gabrielle, 251. 
 
 Cheer, Boys, Cheer, 179, 184, 
 186. 
 
 Cherry Ripe, 221. 
 
 City of Cork, The, 368. 
 
 Clarach's Lament, 358. 
 
 Codiad yr Hedydd, 280, 281, 
 
 Colleen Oge Astore, 372. 
 
 Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean, 
 96, lOI, 
 
 Come all you Pale Lovers, 343. 
 
 Come where my Love lies Bleed- 
 ing, 188. 
 
 Come where my Love lies Dream- 
 ing, 104. 
 
 Comin' through the Rye, 33, 35, 
 321, 322. 
 
 Conquered Banner, The, 107. 
 
 Coolin, 14, 346. 
 
 Could Aught of Song, 33. 
 
 Country Garden, The, 202. 
 
 Cromlet's Lilt, 323. 
 
 Cruiskin Lawn, 369. 
 
 Dafydd y Gareg Wen, 272, 286. 
 
 Daisy Dean, 106. 
 
 Dark Rosaleen, 3.51. 
 
 Darling Nelly Gray, 103. 
 
 David of the White Rock, 272, 
 286. 
 
 Songs and Ballads— «»/. 
 Dawning of the Day, The, 14. 
 Death of Dermot, 136. 
 Death of Nelson, 186! 
 Der Gott, der Eisen Wachsen 
 
 Uess, 83. 
 Dermot Astore, 135, 142. 
 Deutschland uber AUes, 86. 
 De Vlaamsche Leeun, 237. 
 Dick the Piper's Farewell, 279. 
 Die Fahne Schwarz-roth-gold, 
 
 88. 
 Die Schwertlied, 81, 89. 
 Die Wacht Am Rhein, 81, 86, 
 
 89. 23s. 394- 
 Distyll y Drain, 283. 
 Dixie, 104. 
 Donald Dhu, 319. 
 Down Among the Dead Men, 
 
 223. 
 Down beside the, 345. 
 Drimin Dubh, 364. 
 Droigheanan Dunn, 344. 
 Dros yr Afon, 386. 
 Duke of Athol's Courtship, 303. 
 Duke of Berwick's March, 225. 
 Duke of Guise, 239. 
 Du Gambia, 237. 
 Dulce Domum, 2, 3. 
 Dumbledum Derry, 218. 
 Duncan Gray, 321. 
 Dydd Gwyl Dewi, 290. 
 D' ye ken John Peel, 225. 
 Dying Bard, The, 272. 
 Eileen Aroon, 12-25, 324- 
 Ein Feste Burg, 261, 264. 
 Ellen Astore, i88. 
 England, Dear England, 184. 
 Erin Go Bragh, 159. 
 Eveleen's Bower, 379. 
 Ever of Thee, 67-80. 
 Excelsior, 208, 210. 
 Exile of Erin, The, 142, 146, 155, 
 
 159- 
 Expulsipn of Shane Bui, 349. 
 Fair, Fair, with Golden Hair, 
 
 106. 
 Fair Hills of Ireland, 349. 
 Fairy Bell, 106. 
 Farewell to Ayrshire, 328. 
 Farewell to Lochaber, 308, 341, 
 
 342, 343- 
 Far from those I Love, 77. 
 Ffarwel Die Bibydd, 279. 
 Ffarwel iti Peggy ban, 278. 
 Fie, gar rub her ower wi' strae, 
 
 322. 
 Fisher's Jig, 115. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 421 
 
 Songs and Ballabs— cob*. 
 For He's a jolly good Fellow, 
 
 240. 
 For the Sake of Somebody, 35. 
 Forty-sixth Psalm, a6i. 
 Four Leafed Shamrock, 367. 
 Franklin is Fled Away, 388. 
 Friar of Orders Grey, The, 159. 
 Flower of Strathearn, 305. 
 Flowers of the Forest, 301. 
 Gambler's Wife, The, i8i. 
 Garden Gate, "The, 169. 
 Garry Owen, 382. 
 Gather ye Rosebuds, 221. 
 General Leslie's March, 309. 
 Gin a body, 322. 
 
 Gin ye met a Bonnie Lassie, 322. 
 Gipsy Countess, The, 188, 190. 
 Girl I Left Behind Me, 360, 361, 
 
 362. 
 Goblin in the Lake, 283. 
 Go de Sin den te Sin, 159. 
 God preserve the Czar, 395. 
 God preserve the Emperor, 237. 
 God save Great George, 385. 
 
 394- 
 God save King James, 388, 389. 
 God save the King, 109, 173, 237, 
 
 =55. 2S7. 384-408. 
 God save the Queen, 101, 384- 
 
 408. 
 Goodbye, Sweetheart, Goodbye, 
 
 Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, 
 
 237- 
 Grana Weal, 371. 
 Grand Dieu sauvez le Roy, 256. 
 Green Little Shamrock of Ire- 
 • land, 366. 
 
 Green upon the Cape, 383. 
 Groves of Blackpool, 368. 
 Groves of Blarney, 147, 148, 149, 
 
 IS°. 367. 379- 
 Had I a Heart, 345. 
 Hail, Columbia, 96, 100. 
 Hearts of Oak, 173, 174- 
 Heaving of the Lead, The, 35. 
 Heil dir Germania, 257. 
 Heil dir ira Siegeskranz, 255, 256, 
 
 257, 393. 
 Here Jenny come down to Jock, 
 
 303. 
 Here's to the King, Sirs, 317. 
 Hermit of Killarney, 368. 
 Hey Tutti, Tattie, 316. 
 Highland Mary, 320. 
 Hobed O Hilion, 281. 
 Home, Sweet Home, i-ii, i4i- 
 
 Songs and Ballads— c«»/. 
 Horn on the Heath, The, 236. 
 How oft, Louisa, 345. 
 How Stands the Glass around, 
 
 224. 
 Humours of Donnybrook' Fair, 
 
 368. 
 Huntingtower, 302. 
 Hurra, Germania, 88. 
 " Hy-Brasil, 349, 350. 
 I am a Friar of Orders Grey, 
 
 159- 
 I am Asleep, 362. 
 Ich bin ein Preusse, 87, 259. 
 I Dag ar Forsta Maj, 237. 
 Idle Days in Summertime, 274. 
 I'd be a Butterfly, 65. 
 If Doughty Deeds, 222. 
 I fee'd a lad at Michaelmas, 35. 
 Ilka blade o' Grass, 297. 
 I'll Hang my Harp, 227. 
 In Native Worth, 238. 
 In the Gloaming, 188. 
 In thy Presence, 315. 
 Irish Harper, The, 58. 
 Ivy Green, The, 181, 231. 
 Jean Anderson, 297. 
 Jeanie's Black Eye, 363. 
 Jeannie Morison, 299. 
 Jessie the Flower of Dunblane, 
 
 298. 
 Jockey's Deliverance, 294. 
 Jockey's Lamentation, 354. 
 Jock O'Hazeldean, 104. 
 John Anderson my Jo, 296, 314. 
 John Brown's Soul is Marching 
 
 On, 105, 107. 
 John come kiss me now, 296. 
 Johnny I hardly knew ye, 383. 
 John O'Dwyer of the Glen, 349. 
 Just before the Battle, 102. 
 Kanapee Lied, 260, 261. 
 Kate Kearney, 380. 
 Kathleen are you going to leave 
 
 me, 137. 
 Kathleen Mavourneen, 132-145, 
 
 188. 
 Katty Avoumeen, 132, 144, I4S- 
 King Charles he is King James s 
 
 son, 358. 
 King James's march to Ireland, 
 
 308, 342. 
 King Olaf, 237. 
 King's Song, 257. 258. 
 Kitty Fisher's Jig, 114- 
 Kitty Tywrel, 376. 
 Krambambuli-Lied, 261. 
 Kung Bele, 237. 
 
422 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Songs and Ballads — cmtt. 
 Kung Erik, 236. 
 Kung Oscar Stod Pa, 236. 
 Kutschke Lied, 81, 93. 
 La Carmagnole, 241. 
 La Dansonaine, 252. 
 Lady Katherine Ogle, 321. 
 Lady Owen's Delight, 283. 
 Laird O'Cockpen, 292, 305. 
 Lamentation of Hugh Reynolds, 
 
 383. 
 Lament of Flora Mac Donald, 305. 
 Lament of the Last Bard, 141. 
 La Marseillaise, 40, 54, 235. 
 Land o' the Leal, 292, 305. 
 Lass o' Gowrie, 305, 321. 
 Lass o' Patie's Mill, 305. 
 Lass of Richmond Hill, 168, 170. 
 Last Rose of Summer, 146, 159, 
 
 379- 
 Le Carnaval de Venise, 233. 
 Le Convoi du due de Guise, 240. 
 Les Constantes Amours d'Alix et 
 
 d'Alexis, 117, 126, 130. 
 Let me die, 222. 
 Let me like a Soldier fall, 168. 
 Life on the Ocean Wave, 185, i88, 
 
 193. 
 Lilliburlero, 204-207. 
 Lily Dale, 106. 
 Limerick's Lamentation, 307. 
 Little Bo-Peep, 242. 
 Little Drops of Water, 202. 
 Little Nell, 67. 
 Ljung Byhornet, 236. 
 Lochaber no more, 307. 
 Loch-Eroch Side, 321. 
 Lochinvar, 18. 
 Logan Braes, 315. 
 Logan Water, 159, 315. 
 Logie o' Buchan, 307. 
 Long am I here, 374. 
 Long live King George, 398. 
 Look Up, 195. 
 Lord Mayo, 380. 
 Lord Ronald my Son, 308. 
 Lorena, 105. 
 Lost Chord, The, 232. 
 Lost is my Quiet, 328. 
 Lovely Maid with the Raven 
 
 Locks, 348. 
 Lucy Locket, iii. 
 Lucy Long, 186, 194. 
 Madame Veto, 248, 249. 
 Maggie Lauder, 14, 297, 338, 339. 
 Maggy Laidir, 338, 339, 340. 
 Maid of Cfn Ydfa, 274, 275, 278. 
 Maid of Mona's Isle, 281, 282. 
 
 Songs and Ballads — cont. 
 Malbrouck, 238-247. 
 Malbrough, 238-247. 
 Maniac, The, 181. 
 Marching through Georgia, loi. 
 Marchioness of Douglas, 326. 
 Margaret's Ghost, 176. 
 Mary k Roon, 349. 
 Maryland, my Maryland, 105. 
 Mary le More, 157. 
 Massa's in de cold, cold Ground, 
 
 104. 
 Meeting of the Waters, 375. 
 Men of Harlech, 278. 
 Merrily goes the Mill, 220. 
 Mighty Fortress is our God, A, 
 
 199. 
 Mighty Warrior, A, 274. 
 Miller, The, 220. 
 Miller's Daughter, 322. 
 Miller's Wedding, The, 35. 
 Minstrel, The, 306. 1 
 Mistletoe Bough, SS-66. 
 Molly Astore, 344. 
 Monks of Bangor's March, 284. 
 Monks of the Screw, 381. 
 Morva Rhuddlan, 284. 
 Mourir pour la Patrie, 242, 
 My gallant braw Highlandman, 
 
 358. 
 My Lodgingison the cold Ground, 
 
 221, 374. 
 My old Kentucky Home, 104. 
 My Pretty Jane, 166, 167, 168. 
 Night before Lorry was stretched, 
 
 364. 368, 
 Nous I'avons eu, votre Rhin AUe- 
 
 mand, 87. 
 Now the Day Dawis, 316. 
 Nur ar det Jul igen, 237. 
 Ober de Mountain, 186. 
 O'Connor's Child, 158. 
 O'Donnell's Farewell, 142. 
 O'er young to Marry yet, 321. 
 O'Flahertyof lar-Connaught, 371. 
 Oh ! Blame not the Bard, 376. 
 Oh ! Hey Johnnie lad, 35. 
 Oh, the Shamrock, 379. 
 Old Cabin Home, 106. 
 Old Clock on the Stairs, 211. 
 Old Dan Tucker, 186. 
 Old Dog Tray, 104. 
 Old Folks at Home, 104. 
 Old Fowler, 35. 
 Old Head of Dennis, The, 375. 
 Old Hundredth, 186, 199. 
 Old Man, The, 359. 
 Old Rosin the Bow, 105. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 423 
 
 Songs and Ballads — cont. 
 Old Sibyl, 287. 
 O'More's fair Daughter, 335. 
 Onagli's Waterfall, 327. 
 O Nanny, wilt thou gang with 
 
 me, 292, 293. 
 Once Again, 233. 
 One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth 
 
 Psalm, 20O. 
 On Music, 346. 
 O'Rourke's Feast, 339. 
 O Susanna, 103. 
 
 OTell Me How to Woo Thee, 222. 
 Over the Hills and Far Away, 
 
 353. 3S4. 3SS. 3S6. 3S7- 
 O Waly, Waly, up the Bank, 326. 
 O Whistle and I'll come to you, 
 
 my Lad, 159. 
 O Willie, we have missed you, 
 
 106. 
 Parent Oak, The, 187. 
 Partant pour la Syrie, 242, 255. 
 Pathway to Paradise, The, 326. 
 Pauper's Drive, The, 230. 
 Per Alaw neu Sweet Richard, 
 
 273- 
 Planxty Davies, 341. 
 Planxty Jones, 336. 
 Pleasure, 195. 
 Ploughboy, The, 159. 
 Poor Mary Ann, 280. 
 Poor Old Joe, 104. 
 Postman's Knock, The, 193-197. 
 Poverty Parts Good Companie, 
 
 292. 
 Prayer before Battle, 85. 
 President's March, The, 100. 
 Pretty Girl Milking the Cows, 
 
 364, 380. 
 Rakes of Mallow, The, 368. 
 Rebuke Me Not, 199. 
 Remember, Love, Remember, 
 
 169. 
 Remember, O thou Man, 388. 
 Rest for the Weary, 195. 
 Rest, troubled Heart, 188, 190. 
 Return from Fingal, 371. 
 Rich and Rare were the Gems, 
 
 348- 
 Richie Storie, 303. 
 Roast Beef of Old England, 173, 
 
 174- 
 Robin Adair, 12-25, 323. 
 Rock me to Sleep, Mother, 107. 
 Roisin Dubh, 351. 
 Romance of Dunois, 253. 
 Roof of Straw, 294. 
 Rory O'More, 381, 38a. 
 
 Songs and Ballads— co»<. 
 Rosey's in the Garden, in. 
 Roundheads and Cavaliers, no. 
 Rousseau's Dream, 197. 
 Roy's Wife of AldiviUIoch, 318, 
 
 320. 
 Ruffian's Rant, The, 320. 
 Rule Britannia, 173-78, 394. 
 Sae Flaxen were her Ringlets, 328. 
 St. David's Day, 288. 
 St. Kevin and Kathleen, 378. 
 St. Patrick's Day, 364, 382. 
 St. Patrick's Day in my Parlour, 
 
 365- 
 St. Patrick's Day in Paris, 365. 
 St. Patrick of Ireland, 364. 
 St. Patrick was a Gentleman, 364. 
 St. Patrick was an Honest Soul, 
 
 365- 
 Sally in our Alley, 171, 384, 403. 
 Salvum fac Domine, 390. 
 Sands o' Dee, 221. 
 Savoy, The, 199. 
 Saw ye Johnnie comin', 292. 
 Scots Wha Hae, 316, 317. 
 Scottish Wedding, 303. 
 Shamrock, The, 365, 367. 
 Shandon Bells, The, 146, 151, 155. 
 Shan Van Voght, The, 370. 
 Sheila, my Darling Colleen, 142. 
 She is Far from the Land, 376. 
 Shepherds, I have Lost my Love, 
 
 345- 
 She Wore a Wreath of Roses, 65. 
 Ship on Fire, The, 187. 
 Shipwreck, The, 181, 193. 
 Sicilian Air, 5. 
 Sie sollen ihn nicht baben den 
 
 frien Deutschen Rhein, 87. 
 Siller Crown, The, 302. 
 Siller Gun, The, 159. 
 Silvery Lee, 368. 
 Smiles and Tears, 195. 
 Since all thy Vows, false Maid, 323. 
 Since Coelia's my Foe, 342, 343. 
 Sing, Birdie, Sing, 197. 
 Sing on, sweet Bird, 195. 
 Sing to me, Nora, 142. 
 Somebody's Darling, 107. 
 Some Day, 234. 
 
 Song of the Irish Emigrant, 372. 
 Song of Prince BrefBn, 3S0. 
 Song of Pestal, 188-190. 
 Song of the Shirt, 227, 228. 
 Sorrows of Memory, 'The, 287. 
 Speed on, my Bark, 187. 
 Sprig of Shillelah, 367. 
 Star-spangled Banner, 96, 97, 107. 
 
424 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Songs and Ballads — cont. 
 Stars of Normandie, 281. 
 Stars Shining Above, 77. 
 Strolling Fiddler, The, 283. 
 Summer is a-Coming, 348, 349, 
 
 375- 
 Summons to Arms, The, 85. 
 Sweet Richard, 273. 
 Swiss Song of Meeting, 133, 141. 
 Sword Song, 85. 
 Sword, The, 371. 
 Take your old Cloak about Thee, 
 
 328. 
 Ta' me mo Chodladh, 362. 
 Tarn o' Shanter, 26. 
 Te Deum, 264. 
 
 Tell me How to Woo Thee, 222. 
 Terence's Farewell, 380. 
 Their Marriage, 135. 
 There is a Flower that Bloometh, 
 
 168. 
 There is a Garden in her Face, 
 
 222. 
 There is a Happy Land, 200, 201. 
 There's a Good Time Coming, 
 
 185. 
 There s na Luck about the House, 
 
 306. 
 There was a. Jolly Miller once, 
 
 220. 
 Thorn, The, 35. 
 Those Evening Bells, 279. 
 Thou Art my Guiding Star, 77. 
 Though Lost to Sight, 219. 
 Though the last Glimpse of Erin, 
 
 346. 
 Thy Smile Turns all to Light, 77. 
 Tiagharna Nhaighe-eo, 381. 
 ToU the Bell for Lovely Nell, 
 
 106. 
 Tom Moody, 227. 
 Tom Pearce, 227. 
 Toriad y Dydd, 280. 
 Town of Passage, 368. 
 Tramp, Tramp, 102. 
 Troll hattan, 237. 
 Troubadour, The, 237. 
 Twisting the Rope, 371. 
 Uncle Ned, 103, 104. 
 Up and Waur at them, Willie, 
 
 307- 
 Vacant Chair, The, 102. 
 Vagabond, The, 233. 
 Vicar of Bray, 202, 204. 
 Village Blacksmith, The, 211. 
 Vive Henri Quatre, 251, 252. 
 Vive le Roy, 395. 
 SVaiting for the May, 350. 
 
 Songs and Ballads— ««/. 
 Waly, Waly up the Bank, 326. 
 Wanderer, Der, 259, 260. 
 War Song, 85. 
 
 Wearing of the Green, 364, 382. 
 We are Coming, Father Abraham, 
 
 106. 
 Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland, 
 
 82, 83. 
 Watch on the Rhine, 81, 8g, 90, 
 
 92, 265. 
 Watching the Wheat, 275. 
 Wee Willie Winkie, 300. 
 Wemay Roam through the World, 
 
 382. 
 Welcome on Shore Again, 24. 
 Welcome to Punchestown, 
 We're a' noddin', 296. 
 Were na my heart licht, 301. 
 We won't go Home till Morning, 
 
 240. 
 What are the Wild Waves Saying, 
 
 67- 
 What is the German Fatherland, 
 
 83. 
 What though I am a Country 
 
 Lass, 172. 
 When I am Far Away, 77. 
 When I beheld the Anchor 
 
 Weighed, 168. 
 When Johnny comes Marching 
 
 Home, 106. 
 When the Bloom is on the Rye, 
 
 168. 
 When the King shall Enjoy his 
 
 Own Again, 393. 
 When this Cruel War is Over, 
 
 106. 
 When ye gang awa, Jamie, 303. 
 Where are you going my pretty 
 
 maid, 213-219. 
 Whistle and I'll come to you my 
 
 lad, 159. 
 Whistle, The, 313, 314. 
 Who will care for mother now, 
 
 106. 
 Why lingers thy gaze, 283. 
 Why, Soldiers, Why, 225. 
 Willie we have missed you, 104. 
 Willy Reilly, 364, 383. 
 Willy was a wanton wag, 314. 
 Will ye no come back again, 
 
 363- 
 Wilt thou be my Bride, Kathleen, 
 
 T39- 
 Wind hath blown my plaid away, 
 
 3SS- 
 Wind of the Winter Night,- 181. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 425 
 
 I6NGS AND Ballads— OT»<. 
 '■' "OTnifreda, 287. 
 
 Withinamile of Edinburgh Town, 
 308. . 
 
 Wolf, The. 3S, 159. 
 
 Wo Mut und Kraft, 259. 
 
 Woo'd and married and a', 292. 
 
 Woodman Spare that Tree, 181, 
 183. 
 
 Woods of Caillino, 372. 
 
 Yankee Doodle, 96, 97, 10-115. 
 
 Yankee's Return from Camp, 112. 
 
 Ye Banks and Braes, 326, 328. 
 
 Ye Gentlemen of England, 207. 
 
 Ye Mariners of England, 158, 
 207. 
 
 Zephyrs of Love, 133, 141. 
 " Songs and Poems," 298. 
 " Songs for the Nursery," 215. 
 " Songs of Ancient Britons, ago. 
 " Songs of Ireland," 368. 
 "Songs of Scotland," 317, 345. 
 " Songs of the Ballads of Cumber- 
 
 Umd," 227. 
 " Songs of the Season," 60. 
 " Songs of Wales," 272. 
 ' ' Song Writers of the Centtuy , "139. 
 Spain, King of, 53. 
 Spangenberg, Herr, 262. 
 Sparling, H. Halliday, 369. 
 Spenser, Edmund, 160, 376. 
 Spontini, J. L. P., 252. 
 Stanford, Dr. C. Villiers, 378. 
 Stanihurst, 149. 
 " Star, The," 315. 
 Stenhouse, 360. 
 Stephens, Miss Kitty, 122, 124, 
 
 136. 
 Sterne, Laurence, 206. 
 Sullivan, Frederick, 232. 
 Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 222, 231. 
 " Sunday Magazine," 266. 
 Swift, Dean, 339, 357- 
 Syme, John, 317. 
 Symonds, Simon, 204. 
 
 Tait, Lawson, 60, 64. 
 
 Talbot, General R., 205. 
 
 Tannahill, John, 298. 
 
 Tappert, M., so- 
 
 "Tea Table Miscellany," 324, 328, 
 
 342. 3SS. 363- , 
 Teck, Duke of, 404. 1 
 "Telegraph, Daily," 390, 393. 
 Tenducci, Signor, 18. 
 Tennant, Dr., 338. 
 Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 168, 403. 
 Thackeray, W. M., 142, 185, 202. 
 
 Theatres and Opera Houses. 
 Adelphi Theatre, 382, 383. 
 Coburg Theatre, 140. 
 Covent Garden, 5. 77. 158. 164. 
 
 175, 220, 388, 402. 
 Criterion Theatre, 54. 
 Drury Lane, 4, 13, 14, 130, 141, 
 
 164, 173, 175, 318, 367, 388. 
 Garrick Theatre (Whitechapel), 
 
 Haymarket, Theatre Royal, 113, 
 130, 171, 196, 217. 
 
 Her Majesty's "Theatre, 180, 404. 
 
 His Majesty's Theatre, 140. 
 
 Holiday Street Theatre (Balti- 
 more), 99. 
 
 Imperial "Theatre, 130. 
 
 John Street Theatre (Philadel- 
 phia), 100. 
 
 Lyric 'Theatre, 406. 
 
 Lyrique Theatre. 146. 
 
 Opera House (Dublin). 366. 
 
 Princess's Theatre, 155. 
 
 Royal Coburg Theatre, 140. 
 
 Royal Theatre (Copenhagen), 242. 
 
 Royalty Theatre (Goodiiian's 
 Fields), 293. 
 
 Surrey "Theatre, 130, 179, 224. 
 
 Theatre Lyrique (Paris). 146. 
 
 Theatre Royal, Haymarket, 113, 
 130, 171, 196, 217. 
 
 Vaudeville Theatre, 212. 
 "Their Majesties' Servants," 400. 
 "Thespian Magazine," 130. 
 Theuriet, Andre, 130. 
 Thiersch, Bernard, 259. 
 Thirlwall, Dr. Connop, 270. 
 "Thirty-Five Years of a Dramatic 
 
 Author's Life." 167. 
 Thomas, Ann. 274. 275, 276, 277. 
 Thomas, John, 282. 
 Thomas, Mrs., 275. 
 Thomson and Sons, 115. 
 Thomson, George, 14, 32, 33, 37, 
 38, 317. 325. 326, 327. 34S. 
 346- 
 Thomson, James, 173-178. 
 Thornton, L. M., 193-197. 
 ' ' Thousand andone Gems of Song, . 
 
 119, 214, 317. 
 " Thousand Best Songs," 214. 
 "Times, The," 47, 157. 228, 392 
 Titiens. Madame. 137. 
 Tomlinson. Ralph, 100. 
 Townsend. Mr.. 402. 
 ' * Traditional Ballad Airs. 326. 
 Travers.JohSi. 39S. 
 Tree, Miss A. M., 5, 133. 139. I4i- 
 
 F F 
 
426 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Tree, H. Beerbohm, 404. 
 
 Tree, MrsrBeerbohm, 404. 
 
 Trevor, Music Hall, 79. 
 
 " Trilby," 103, 242. 
 
 " Tristram Shandy," 206. 
 
 TroUope, Anthony, 66. 
 
 Trotter, J. B. , 344. 
 
 Tuckerman, Hon. C. K., 209. 
 
 Tudor, Mary, 222. 
 
 Tunis, 9. 
 
 Turner, Mr., 67-78. 
 
 " Twenty-Four Country Dances," 
 
 116. 
 Tyrconnel, Earl of, 204, 205. 
 
 Udall, Nicholas, 405. 
 
 " Una," 139. 
 
 " Universal Songster," 213, 297. 
 
 Upton, W. , 169. 4 
 
 Upward, Allen, 406. 
 
 Vanbrugh, Sir John, 205. 
 
 ' ' Vanity Fair, " 202. 
 
 W.uxhall Gardens, 166, 170, 293, 315. 
 
 Vechan, Myvaunry, 274. 
 
 Vernon, Admiral, 385. 
 
 Vernon, Mr,, 293. 
 
 Vicuna, kQueen, 142, 227, 293, 382, 
 
 384, 406. 
 Voltaire, John, 196. 
 
 Wagner, Richard, 259, 262. 
 Wales, Prince of, 118, 404. 
 Walker, Joseph, 25, 308, 332, 336, 
 
 339. 347. 363. 380, 381. 
 Walker's " Bards," 25. 
 Wallace, SirT., 31. 
 Wallace, W. V., 222. 
 Waller, W. F., 52. 
 
 Walsh, Edward, 114. 
 Waltram, Lanner de, 364. 
 Waterloo, Battle of, 81. 
 Watson, James, 28. 
 ' ' Waverley, " 296. 
 Waylett, Mrs., 130. 
 Weiss, W. H., 212. 
 " Welsh Harper," 272. 
 " Western Wonder, The,"- 350. 
 Westminster Abbey," 309. 
 Wellings, Milton, 233. 
 Wellington, Duke of, 81. 
 Wharton, Lord, 204, 205, 206, 
 
 207. 
 Wilhelm, Carl, 90, 91, 394. 
 Willeby, Charles, 231. 
 William III., 204. 
 William IV., 140, 142. 
 William the Lion, 313. 
 Williams, J. , 284. 
 Williams, R. D.,378. 
 Wills, Freeman, 54. 
 Windham, W., 118. 
 " Wit and Mirth," 354. 
 Withers, George, 287. 
 Wittekind, 260. 
 Wolfe, General, 174, 224. 
 Woodhouselie, Lord, 315. 
 Wopdward, Dr., 153. 
 Work, Henry C, 102. 
 Wrighton, W, T., 193. 
 
 « 
 Yale College, loi. 
 " Yankee Jonathan," 108. 
 Yeats, W. B., 352. 
 Young, Andrew, 200, 201. 
 Young, Anthony, 398. 
 Young, Dr., 348. 
 Young Pretender, the, 14. ' 
 
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