The Project Gutenberg eBook of Parodies of the works of English & American authors, vol IV, by Walter Hamilton
Title: Parodies of the works of English & American authors, vol IV
Compiler: Walter Hamilton
Release Date: April 14, 2023 [eBook #70546]
Language: English
Produced by: Carol Brown, Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
OF THE WORKS OF
COLLECTED AND ANNOTATED BY
Fellow of the Royal Geographical and Royal Historical Societies;
Author of “A History of National Anthems and Patriotic Songs,” “A Memoir of George Cruikshank”
“The Poets Laureate of England,” “The Æsthetic Movement in England,” etc.
“I have here only made a Nosegay of culled Flowers, and have brought little more of my own than the band which ties them.”
VOLUME IV.
CONTAINING PARODIES OF
BALLADS, SONGS, and ODES.
T. HAYNES BAYLY. ALFRED BUNN. THOMAS CAMPBELL.
HENRY CAREY. LEWIS CARROLL. ELIZA COOK.
CHARLES DIBDIN. THOMAS DIBDIN.
W. S. GILBERT. ROBERT HERRICK.
CHARLES MACKAY. HON. MRS. NORTON.
LORD TENNYSON’S JUBILEE ODE.
SWINBURNE’S ODES.
ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTOR. BARRY CORNWALL.
J. H. PAYNE. R. B. SHERIDAN. JAMES THOMSON.
IRISH SONGS. SCOTCH SONGS. WELSH SONGS.
MISCELLANEOUS OLD ENGLISH SONGS AND BALLADS.
REEVES & TURNER, 196, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.
1887.
CONTENTS
VOLUMES I., II., III., and IV. PARODIES.
Each Part may be purchased separately.
Volume I. | ||
Part 1. | Alfred Tennyson’s | Early Poems. |
Part 2. | Alfred Tennyson’s | Early Poems. |
Part 3. | Alfred Tennyson’s | Later Poems. |
Part 4. | Page 49 to 62. | Tennyson’s Poems. |
Page 62 to 64. | H. W. Longfellow. | |
Part 5. | Page 65. | A Parody of William Morris. |
Page 65 to 80. | H. W. Longfellow. | |
Part 6. | Page 81 to 96. | H. W. Longfellow. |
Part 7. | Page 97 to 105. | H. W. Longfellow. Hiawatha. |
Page 105 to 112. | Rev. C. Wolfe. Not a Drum was heard. | |
Part 8. | Page 113. | Not a Drum was heard. |
Page 113 to 128. | The Song of the Shirt. | |
Part 9. | Page 129 to 135. | Thomas Hood. |
Page 135 to 140. | Bret Harte. | |
Pages 140 & 141. | Not a Drum was heard. | |
Page 142 to 144. | Alfred Tennyson. | |
Part 10. | Page 145 to 160. | Alfred Tennyson. |
Part 11. | Page 161 to 176. | Alfred Tennyson. |
Part 12. | Page 177 to 186. | Alfred Tennyson. |
Page 187 to 190. | Not a Drum was heard. | |
Page 190 to 192. | Song of the Shirt. | |
Volume II. | ||
Part 13. | Page 1 to 4. | Bret Harte. |
Pages 4 and 5. | Thomas Hood. | |
Page 6 to 16. | H. W. Longfellow. | |
Part 14. | Page 17 to 24. | H. W. Longfellow. |
Page 25 to 40. | Edgar Allan Poe. | |
Part 15. | Page 41 to 64. | Edgar Allan Poe. |
Part 16. | Page 65 to 88. | Edgar Allan Poe. |
Part 17. | Page 89 to 103. | Edgar Allan Poe. |
Pages 103, 4 & 5. | The Art of Parody. | |
Page 106 to 112. | My Mother, by Miss Taylor. | |
Part 18. | Page 113 to 135. | My Mother. |
Page 136 | The Vulture, (After “The Raven.”) | |
Page 136 | A Welcome to Battenberg. | |
Part 19. | Page 137 to 141. | Tennyson’s The Fleet, etc. |
Page 141 to 143. | My Mother. | |
Page 144 to 160. | Hamlet’s Soliloquy. | |
Part 20. | Page 161 to 184. | W. Shakespeare. The Seven Ages of Man, etc. |
Part 21. | Page 185 to 206. | W. Shakespeare. Account of the Burlesques of his Plays. |
Page 206 to 208. | Dr. Isaac Watts. | |
Part 22. | Page 209 to 217. | Dr. Isaac Watts. |
Page 217 to 232. | John Milton. | |
Part 23. | Page 233 | John Milton. |
Page 233 to 236. | Dryden’s Epigram on Milton. | |
Page 236 to 238. | Matthew Arnold. | |
Page 239 to 244. | W. Shakespeare. | |
Page 244 to 246. | Bret Harte. | |
Page 246 to 255. | H. W. Longfellow. | |
Pages 255 and 256 | Thomas Hood. | |
Part 24. | Page 257 to 259. | Thomas Hood. |
Page 260 to 280. | Alfred Tennyson. | |
Volume III. | ||
Part 25. | A Chapter on Parodies, by Isaac D’Israeli. | |
Page 3 to 16. | Oliver Goldsmith. | |
Part 26. | Page 17 to 20. | Oliver Goldsmith. |
Page 20 to 40. | Thomas Campbell. | |
Part 27. | Page 41 to 47. | Thomas Campbell. |
Page 48 to 64. | Robert Burns. | |
Part 28. | Page 65 to 71. | Robert Burns. |
Page 71 to 88. | Sir Walter Scott. | |
Part 29. | Page 89 to 99. | Sir Walter Scott. |
Page 99 to 105. | Scotch Songs. | |
Page 106 to 109. | Robert Burns. | |
Page 109 to 112. | Thomas Campbell. | |
Part 30. | Page 113 to 116. | Coronation Lays. |
Page 117 to 129. | Charles Kingsley. | |
Page 129 to 136. | Mrs. Hemans. | |
Part 31. | Page 137 to 140. | Mrs. Hemans. |
Page 140 to 160. | Robert Southey. | |
Part 32. | Page 161 to 181. | Robert Southey. |
Page 181 to 184. | The Anti-Jacobin. | |
Part 33. | Page 185 to 186. | The Anti-Jacobin. |
Page 187 to 189. | A. C. Swinburne. | |
Page 189 to 208. | Lord Byron. | |
Part 34. | Page 209 to 229. | Lord Byron. |
Page 230 to 232. | Thomas Moore. | |
Part 35. | Page 233 to 256. | Thomas Moore. |
Part 36. | Page 257 to 278. | Thomas Moore. |
Page 278. | Lord Byron. | |
Pages 279 & 280. | Charles Kingsley. | |
Volume IV. | ||
Part 37. | On Parodies of Popular Songs. Page 2 to 16. Modern Songs. | |
Part 38. | Songs by Henry Carey, A. Bunn, J. H. Payne, and Robert Herrick. | |
Part 39. | Songs by R. Herrick, T. H. Baily, and Lewis Carroll. | |
Part 40. | Songs by C. and T. Dibdin, T. Campbell, and David Garrick. | |
Part 41. | The Bilious Beadle, The Old English Gentleman, Rule Britannia, and God Save the King. | |
Part 42. | Songs in W. S. Gilbert’s Comic Operas. | |
Part 43. | W. S. Gilbert’s Songs, Tennyson’s Jubilee Ode, Swinburne’s Question, and the Answer. | |
Part 44. | The Vicar of Bray, Old King Cole, Lord Lovel, and Old Simon the Cellarer. | |
Part 45. | Chevy-Chace, Lord Bateman, Songs by R. B. Sheridan, Charles Mackay, and B. W. Proctor (Barry Cornwall). | |
Part 46. | Parodies of various old Songs and Ballads. | |
Part 47. | Parodies of Scotch, Irish, and Welsh Songs. | |
Part 48. | Songs by the Hon. Mrs. Norton, and various old English Songs. Tennyson’s Jubilee Ode. |
AN
INTRODUCTION
TO THE
Parodies of Popular Songs.
cting on the suggestion of numerous friends and subscribers I have determined to devote the Fourth Volume of my Collection to Parodies of Popular Songs and Ballads, which are probably the most amusing and witty of all Parodies.
The Songs of Sheridan, Henry Carey, Dibdin, Thomas Haynes Bayly, Samuel Lover, Eliza Cook, Charles Mackay, Henry Russell, the Hon. Mrs. Norton, Lady Dufferin, Barry Cornwall, and W. S. Gilbert, have been frequently parodied, as well as separate songs, written by the minor poets, such as Rule Britannia; The Roast Beef of Old England; The Bay of Biscay; The British Grenadiers; The Vicar of Bray; The Fine Old English Gentleman; Home, Sweet Home; The Mistletoe Bough; The Ivy Green; In the Gloaming; My Queen; The Message; The Lost Chord; Some Day; Far, far away, etc.
Parodies of many of the best songs written by the earlier poets, such as Sir John Suckling, Sir Charles Sedley, Ben Jonson, Herrick, George Wither, Edmund Waller, and Richard Lovelace, will also be included.
In the previous volumes the songs of Shakespeare, Burns, Campbell, Sir Walter Scott, Byron, Moore, and Alfred Tennyson have already been dealt with in connection with their other poetical works.
Following this Volume of Songs, there will be another containing parodies of the poems of Thomas Gray, William Wordsworth, S. T. Coleridge, William Cowper, Lord Macaulay, Dante G. Rossetti, Robert Browning, A. C. Swinburne, and of some of the minor English and American Poets, Nursery Rhymes, etc.
Another Volume will contain selections from the most amusing Parodies of the principal prose writers, Sterne, Dean Swift, Dr. Johnson, Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, W. M. Thackeray, Lord Macaulay, Thomas Carlyle, Captain Marryat, Benjamin Disraeli, John Ruskin, G. P. R. James, Ouida, and Miss Braddon.
The last Volume will give full details, historical, bibliographical, and anecdotal, of all the principal works in the English language consisting of, or containing, Parodies and Imitations. A list of all the most important Theatrical Burlesques will be included, with Authors’ names, the names of the principal actors and actresses, the date and place of first performance, and much other information useful to the dramatic critic or collector.
It will thus be seen that the scheme of the Work embraces a complete Collection and History of every kind of Parody and Burlesque, British and American, in a form admitting of easy reference, and particularly suitable for Public Entertainments, Readings, and Comic Recitations. The plan of the Collection is such that any one knowing the name of the author of any particular work, either in verse or in prose, or the title of the work itself, will be at once enabled to find all the best parodies or imitations of it, together with an enumeration of such others as are either too long to reprint, or not sufficiently interesting.
A work devoted to the history of English Parody is not so frivolous as it may appear at first sight. Thackeray wrote many parodies, so did Dickens, Sheridan, Fielding, and Dryden, yet, strange to say, no attempt has yet been made to classify and collect them. A few short occasional articles have appeared in the magazines, but these are of little value for purposes of reference.
It will be seen that the object of a Parody is very seldom to ridicule its original, more often, on the contrary, it does it honour, if only by taking it as worthy of imitation, or burlesque. Poets are parodied in proportion to their popularity, as was pointed out in an interesting article which appeared in The Daily News (London), October 16th, 1886, from which I venture to quote the following paragraphs:—
“Why should there be no parodies? The world has come to a pretty pass of virtue if we are to denounce them as a ‘debasing of the moral currency.’ Parody has two values. It is an admirably effective form of criticism; and it is often a harmless and legitimate source of amusement. Parody is valuable as criticism, because it is a placing in a bright light of the faults (exaggerated) of a work of art. Clearly some forms of art defy this mode of treatment. No fun could be got out of a parody of ‘Adam Bede.’ No legitimate fun can be got out of an honest parody of ‘Hamlet.’ Any fun that is got must be lugged in from without, in the shape of comic songs and music, and antics in general. But a great deal of mirth may be got out of a parody of the ‘Corsican Brothers,’ especially when the mannerisms of the actors are well hit off. To ridicule mannerisms by slightly exaggerating them is one of the chief functions of parody. Probably any artist might learn more from a good, and not ill-natured, parody of himself than from any other form of criticism. Parody is sometimes so amusing that even the victims must laugh, and it is always more or less of a compliment. Nobody parodies an actor, or a novel, or a poem, or a picture that has not artistic qualities and a considerable share of success.”
“As to literary parody, that seldom gives offence. The vast flock of ravens which follow Edgar Poe’s are the bird’s courtiers, not his enemies. No man can parody with any effect, a poem which has not striking and original features. ‘Excelsior’ and the ‘Psalm of Life’ are examples: each of them has scores of parodies. Miss Fanshawe’s parody of Wordsworth is an astonishing example of skill in catching a measure only marked by a strained effort at simplicity. Perhaps this is the very best parody in the English language; better even than any in the ‘Rejected Addresses.’ There, too, the Wordsworth, Scott, and Byron are admirable, and Scott was justly pleased with the success of his imitator. Whether William Wordsworth was pleased is not so certain. But authors are not so touchy as actors, as the ancients knew, or they would not have feigned that Homer was his own parodist in the ‘Battle of the Frogs and Mice.’ Greek parody probably reached its height in Aristophanes, but there is not much fun in jokes that we have to elucidate with a dictionary and German notes. Poets are parodied in proportion to their popularity; if a 2 bard wishes to know his exact standing in popular repute, let him ask himself ‘Am I parodied, and how much?’ Lord Tennyson is parodied far and wide, but who ever tries to parody Shelley? Mr. Swinburne’s ’Dolores’ is the parent of an innumerable flock of parodies. Yes; she is mother of parodies painful, by many a wandering pen; but she frowns on them, dark and disdainful, the mirth and the mockings of men! They alliterate boldly and blindly, but none to her music attain; and she turns from them, cold and unkindly, Our Lady of Pain. Mr. Browning also has been well beparodied, and a shot or two has been taken at Mr. William Morris; but the other contemporary poets have missed the crown, thorny yet desirable, of Parody.”
The classification of the Parodies of Songs presents some difficulties, but the following arrangement will be adopted as far as possible; Popular sentimental and amatory songs; National and Patriotic (English, Irish, Welsh and Scotch); Naval and Military; Sporting, Convivial, Social and Humorous Songs.
WALTER HAMILTON.
57, Gauden Road,
Clapham, London, S.W.
December, 1886.
——:o:——
SENT TO HEAVEN.
This poem first appeared in The Cornhill Magazine, November, 1860, in 13 four-lined verses, over the initials A. A. P. (Adelaide Anne Proctor). It is now better known as The Message, and has been frequently parodied.
——:o:——
“OH! DON’T YOU REMEMBER SWEET ALICE?”
[According to England, some of the Radicals were very annoyed that Mr. Gladstone should have written a letter of congratulation to Prince Albert Victor Edward on the attainment of his majority.]
——:o:——
THE LOST CHORD.
The Lost Ball.
(A Parody on The Lost Chord, by Miss Adelaide Anne
Proctor. Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan.)
Written by the late Doctor G. F. Grace, the celebrated Cricketer.
IN THE GLOAMING.
THE OLD ARM CHAIR.
From A Town Garland, by Henry S. Leigh. (Chatto & Windus, London, 1878.)
Scene.—The House of Commons. The Ex-Speaker is discovered gazing sadly at the seat he has lately vacated. At length, satisfying himself that he is alone, he relieves his soul in song as follows;—
As the above is being softly sung, the Speaker Elect, attracted by the sound, returns to the House, and remains an unobserved listener till the conclusion of the song, when, remarking Mr. Peel’s presence, the Ex-Speaker thus addresses him:—
The Old Arm-Chair.
[“A German Professor has discovered that all the woodwork about our houses has power to absorb ‘noxious juices’ while still growing in its native forest, and that when a tree becomes part of the domestic furniture, and is cut up into chairs and tables and bookshelves, it immediately begins to pour its ‘noxious juices’ out into the air of the room.”—Daily Paper.]
——:o:——
——:o:——
WOODMAN, SPARE THAT TREE.
As several of the following parodies are rather out of date extracts only are given.
[While Lord Lincoln, son of the Duke of Newcastle, was First Commissioner of Woods and Forests, a proposal was made to cut down some of the old trees in the West-end of London, which were said to be in the way.]
8“Spencer, Spare that Tree!”
[“It is beyond all measure the finest tree in London, and being of a kind that defies London smoke, it actually seems to enjoy and thrive upon it. It is sad to think that we have Vandals paid by the public to do such irreparable, wanton mischief.”—Mr. Nasmyth on the cutting down of the old South Kensington plane tree.]
“Childers, Spare that Coin.”
[The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed to abolish the old half-sovereign and issue a new one, which should be worth only nine shillings in gold.]
——:o:——
THE IVY GREEN.
This song first appeared in Chapter VI. of The Pickwick Papers, which were originally published in monthly parts, commencing in April, 1836. Ten years later Dickens started The Daily News, the first number of which was published in London on January 21, 1846. For many years the paper had but a struggling existence. Although Dickens only edited it for a few months, it was well known that he was interested in its success, so that the author of the following poem, whilst sneering at The Daily News, had a motive in choosing Dickens’s poem as the model for his parody.
——:o:——
LITTLE NELL.
This Song was founded upon the pathetic story in Dickens’s Old Curiosity Shop, the first line is:—
They told him gently she was dead.
And the refrain is—
“She’ll come again to-morrow.”
Contrast this refined jeu d’esprit with the following specimen of the kind of literature that is sold by street ballad singers. It was printed at Taylor’s Song Mart, Brick Lane, Bethnal Green, and sold for one half-penny:—
——:o:——
WINGS.
——:o:——
IT CAME WITH THE MERRY MAY, LOVE.
——:o:——
“MY MOTHER BIDS ME BIND MY HAIR.”
The Girl (Not) of the period.
(After the jolly Haydn.)
[Little Secrets.—Mouches pour bal. Eaux Noirs, Brun, et Chatain, Dyes the Hair any shade in one minute. Kohhl, for the Eyelids. Blanc de Perle, pâte et liquide. Rouge de Lubin, does not wash off. Eau de Violette, pour la bouche. Powder Bloom, pour blonde et brunette. Persian Antimony and Egyptian Henna. Bleu pour les veines. Rouge of Eight Shades. Sympathetic Blush, poudre pour polir les Ongles. Pistachio Nut Toilet Powder. Florimel of Palm. Opoponax Oil. All these, and many other little Secrets.—See Advertisement.]
The “Lancet” Bids Me Be a Peer.
[The Lancet urges, on medical grounds, that Mr. Gladstone should accept a peerage, and thus avoid the continued fatigue which leadership of the Commons necessarily involves.]
——:o:——
LOVE NOT.
——:o:——
SOME DAY.
——:o:——
——:o:——
Love and Science.
[The Sphygmophon is an apparatus connected with the telephone, by the help of which the movements of the pulse and heart may be rendered audible.]
“My Queen,” which appeared originally in London Society some time before the above imitation, consisted of four verses, but as arranged by Blumenthal the second verse is omitted:—
——:o:——
THE LAMENT OF THE IRISH EMIGRANT.
Our Miscellany, edited by E. H. Yates, and R, B. Brough, (London, Routledge & Co., 1856).
This amusing Parody had already been published in Albert Smith’s The Man in the Moon.
From Health and Pleasure, or Malvern Punch, by J. B, Oddfish. London: Simpkin Marshall & Co., 1865. The same amusing little work contains parodies of the following songs:—“Still so Gently;” “Kiss me quick, and go my Honey;” “The Storm” (Cease Rude Boreas); and a long one on “We’re a ’Noddin,” entitled “We’re all Pressing.” These Songs are explanatory of the treatment adopted at the various Hydropathic Establishments in Malvern.
THE LOW-BACKED CAR.
——:o:——
THE OLD BRIGADE.
This stirring song, set to a martial air by Odoardo Barri, was dedicated to the Royal Artillery Brigade, it is also a favourite march of the celebrated old corps, the London Rifle Brigade, whose band generally plays it on parade after the Regimental march “Ninety-five,” of which a parody is given on page 20.
——:o:——
20Mrs. Kendal (of the St. James’s Theatre, London) read a paper on the modern stage at the Social Science Congress, held in Birmingham, in September, 1884. Some of the opinions she expressed gave great offence in theatrical circles.
——:o:——
FAR AWAY.
The Farnborough Sow.
During the Anti-Tithe Agitation in Kent, in 1885, the following Parody was sung by the Farmers, one verse only is omitted, on account of its coarseness. In other respects the song is an exact copy of one obtained at an Anti-Tithe Meeting in Farnborough, April, 1885:—
There was another parody of Far Away which was very popular in the Music Halls a short time ago. Several of the verses were coarse and slangy, the following were the best:—
——:o:——
SALLY IN OUR ALLEY.
A parody of this famous song, entitled The Rhino, appeared in The Spirit of the Public Journals, 1824. It was devoted to insulting Queen Caroline (the unfortunate wife of George IV). and her advisers, Lord Brougham and Alderman Wood, and is quite obsolete now.
In “The Bentley Ballads” (London. Richard Bentley) is a complete Latin version of Sally in our Alley, entitled In Saram. It will be found on page 406 of the 1862 edition, and is signed G. K. Gillespie, A.M.
Sally in our Alley.
[As corrected by the Rev. Howling Blazes, of Clapham, to meet the views of the Directors of Exeter Hall, who refused to allow the song to be sung with the “objectionable” verse describing the singer’s enjoyment of Sunday.]
——:o:——
ALICE GRAY.
Lord Grey.
“The poor Duke of Wellington has not yet got over his attempt to supplant Lord Grey’s ministry. The remembrance of his discomfiture still haunts him by day and night, and in the evenings, just before sun-set, he may be heard by the stranger passing underneath the windows of Apsley, to sing in pathetic tones, the following plaintive melody:—
——:o:——
I CANNOT SING THE OLD SONGS,
“I Cannot Sing the Old Songs.”
“Of course not; they’re hackneyed and out of fashion, and nobody knows what half of them mean. We will change them into new songs, adapted to the taste of the day.
——:o:——
OH! THE MISTLETOE BOUGH.
——:o:——
HOME, SWEET HOME.
By J. Howard Payne, in the opera of “Clari, the Maid of Milan.”
In the winter of 1833. John Howard Payne called upon an American lady, living in London, and presented to her a copy of “Home, Sweet Home,” set to music, with the two following additional verses addressed to her:—
Whilst the words are thus clearly of American origin, the melody was introduced by Sir Henry Bishop as a national Sicilian air, in his National Melodies. Sir Henry afterwards adapted it to the words “Home, Sweet Home,” in Howard Payne’s opera of Clari, 1823, from which time its popularity dates. It has subsequently been called a National Swiss air; but Sir Henry Bishop seems to have the right to it. Donizetti introduced it, with some alterations, in his Anna Bolena, not as his own, but as a representative English melody.
On the Duke of Wellington.
“The melody of Home, sweet home, must be impressed on the memory of all. The only sphere in which poor Wellington can feel himself at home is in ‘place, sweet place,’ and having once tasted of its pleasures it continues to haunt his memory. To him the splendour of palaces and the favour of his sovereign offer no longer a charm, ‘It is all very well,’ he sometimes frantically exclaims, but:—
The Unfinished Houses of Parliament.
When Lord Brougham said there was no more dependence to be placed on Barry’s promises than on a broken reed, he was not perhaps aware that it was really Reid, and not Barry, that acted as a barrier to the completion of the Houses of Parliament. Since it has been discovered that Reid is the culprit, the following melody has been expressly written for Lord Brougham, who has sung it twice at the Beef Steak Club, with considerable gusto.
In 1885 Truth had two competitions on the song “Home, Sweet Home,” the first (April 23, 1885), was for parodies, when twenty-five were printed; the second (June 4, 1885) was for original third verses, and twenty-eight replies were printed.
Selections from both these numbers are given below.
——:o:——
——there wasn’t a dry eye in the Tabernacle; but if the programme hadn’t said, in clear, unmistakable print, that she was going to sing “Home, Sweet Home,” a man might have thought his teeth loose without ever guessing it.”
American Paper.
——:o:——
DRINK TO ME ONLY WITH THINE EYES.
To Lydia’s Glass Eye.
“From particulars supplied to the reporter of a Chicago paper by a dealer in glass eyes in that city, it appears that there are as many as a thousand wearers of these eyes in Chicago…. Twenty years ago there were sold many more dark eyes than light … about twenty light eyes are now sold to one dark.”—Times.
Drinking Songs for the Men of the Period.
“What can you expect from a nation that lives chiefly upon tonics.”—Vide Saturday Review. 1866.
From A Town Garland. By Henry S. Leigh. (Chatto and Windus. London, 1878.)
——:o:——
PHILLIS IS MY ONLY JOY.
——:o:——
PARODIES OF ALFRED BUNN’S OPERATIC SONGS.
——:o:——
From George Cruikshank’s Table Book. Edited by Gilbert Abbot à Beckett.
Lord Brougham’s Dream.
“The foul, the false charge, that I have changed a
single opinion.”—Vicar of Bray.
Dreams of Mabille Balls.
(The famous Moulin Rouge Restaurant and Mabille disappear together from the Champs Elysées this month.)
Marbled Beef.
(Ballad for the Modern Butcher, with acknowledgments to the Shade of Bunn.)
——:o:——
BEAUTIFUL STAR.
(Old Play-goers still remember, with a sigh, that in the palmy days of Buckstone’s management, the Haymarket Pit was the most comfortable in London.)
The Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and began, in a voice sometimes choked with sobs, to sing this:—
From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. (Macmillan & Co., London.)
——:o:——
MORE LOST CHORDS,
On page 3 a parody of “The Lost Chord” was given which had originally appeared in Judy in 1880. This was written by Mr. Alfred Greenland, junior, and has been included by him in an amusing volume, entitled Lunatic Lyrics (published by Tinsley Brothers, London), which also contains one of the very best parodies of Swinburne ever written, entitled A Matcher.
The last verse of The Lost Cord as given in this volume differs slightly from the Judy version, it runs as follows:—
As mentioned above this parody was printed in 1880, but curiously enough, another rather similar parody has been sent in, dated December, 1879.
The Lost Rent.
(Copied, without permission, from a Christmas card in the shape of a “Dicky,”)
The Lost Key.
The following parody was written, composed, and sung with great success by Mr. George Grossmith. It carries the idea of “The Lost Chord” throughout, yet the air is different, and the quaint and laughable words form a strong contrast to the mystical language of the original. The music is published by J. Bath, Berners Street, London.
——:o:——
(This parody was sung, with great success, by Mr. Arthur Roberts, in the Burlesque of Kenilworth at the Avenue Theatre in 1885.)
——:o:——
THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE.
In The Complete Angler Izaak Walton introduced these two songs, with some modifications, which are here produced from the First Edition (preserving the old orthography) of The Complete Angler, published in 1653:—
“As I left this place, and entered into the next field, a second pleasure entertained me, ’twas a handsome milk-maid, that had cast away all care, and sung like a Nightingale; her voice was good, and the Ditty fitted for it; ’twas that smooth Song which was made by Kit Marlow, now at least fifty years ago; and the milk-maid’s mother sung an answer to it, which was made by Sir Walter Raleigh, in his younger days. They were old fashioned Poetry, but choicely good, I think much better than that now in fashion in this critical age:”
A little farther on Viator observes:—
“Yes, master, I will speak you a coppie of verses that were made by Doctor Donne, and made to shew the world that he could make soft and smooth verses, when he thought them fit and worth his labour; and I love them the better, because they allude to rivers and fish, and fishing. They bee these:—”
The Passionate Statistician to His Love.
“For my part, I am a passionate Statistician…. Go with me into the study of statistics, and I will make you all enthusiasts in statistics.”
Mr. Goschen at Whitechapel.
——:o:——
“WON’T YOU TELL ME WHY, ROBIN?”
The late Mr. Whalley, formerly M.P. for Peterborough, was a firm believer in the truth of the claim of Arthur Orton to the Tichborne title and estates. He, and Dr. Edward Vaughan Kenealy, were the most devoted adherents to the cause of “the unfortunate nobleman.” When Mr. Whalley rose in the House of Commons, he was generally greeted with the cry,—“Sing, Whalley, Sing!”
There was a political parody of the same song in They are Five, published by David Bogue. It is out of date now, and of no general interest.
——:o:——
PARODIES OF ROBERT HERRICK.
(Robert Herrick was born in Cheapside in 1591. Died October, 1674.)
——:o:——
——:o:——
——:o:——
CHERRY RIPE.
This song having been adapted to a pleasing melody by Mr. Charles Horn, became very popular about 60 years ago.
It is probable that “Cherry Ripe” was suggested to Herrick by Richard Allison’s earlier poem, entitled:—
Herrick had no occasion to steal, yet there is little doubt but that his Cherry Ripe was adapted from Allison’s earlier, and prettier poem, There is a Garden in her Face; whilst the following lines (which occur in his poem upon Mistress Susanna Southwell,)
were stolen (and spoilt in the stealing), from Sir John Suckling’s inimitable Ballad upon a Wedding:
(Born in Bath, 1797. Died at Cheltenham, April 22, 1839.)
he songs of this prolific writer, which but sixty years ago were exceedingly popular, are now nearly forgotten, A few old-fashioned people may be heard to warble “She wore a wreath of Roses,” or “I’d be a butterfly,” whilst “Perfection,” perhaps the best known of Bayly’s dramatic pieces, is still occasionally played to afford some graceful actress an opportunity of displaying her varied attainments. The author of “Perfection” had to contend with many difficulties before he could get his piece performed. It was rejected at Covent Garden Theatre and several other houses, but was finally accepted at Drury Lane. With Madame Vestris, as Kate O’Brien, it achieved a great success, but several of Bayly’s other dramatic productions were less fortunate, and he had nothing to depend upon but the precarious income of a journalist for his support. His songs, though exceedingly popular, brought him small pecuniary returns during his lifetime, but after his death his widow derived a small sum from the sale of his collected works. Although but a poor and struggling author, it suited the editor of Fraser’s Magazine to sneer at this amiable and harmless versifier, and in volume iv. of that magazine these lines will be found in the Lay of the Twaddle School:—
But these songs, which sixty years ago every one was singing, are now so seldom heard, that some of the parodies would be quite unintelligible unless accompanied by the originals.
SHE WORE A WREATH OF ROSES.
“I Saw Her but a Moment.”
“The trains to Notting Hill run every half-hour.”
Information given by Company.
“Do they? Ha! ha!” Remark by one who had tried them.
OH! NO, WE NEVER MENTION HER.
Lines suggested by the failure of Mr. Thomas Haynes Bayly’s Farce, “Decorum.”
Song by Sir Robert Peel.
Notwithstanding the length of time that has now elapsed since the breaking up of the Tory Administration, there is scarcely a member of it who does not still look back with a feeling of the most melancholy regret to the days when he once fingered the public money within the walls of the Treasury. On Sir Robert Peel the effect that has been produced is as vivid as it seemed the first hour after his resignation, and the unhappy baronet is often heard to give vent to his sensations, after the debate of the night, in the following exquisitely touching stanzas:—
Lord Non-content.
Lord Lyndhurst (Lord Chancellor): Content or Non-content? Lord Brougham (Ex-Lord Chancellor): Oh! Non-content, of course.
——:o:——
I’D BE A BUTTERFLY.
In 1828 a small volume was printed at Malton, entitled “Psychæ; or Songs of Butterflies. By T. H. Bayly, attempted in Latin Rhyme by the Rev. Francis Wrangham, M.A., F.R.S. (Archdeacon of the East Riding of York.”) in which occurs the following admirable Latin version of the above song:—
I’d be a Butterfly.
“Master Butterfly, Mr. Townley’s famous short-horn bull, to which the first prize was awarded at the Chelmsford meeting, and who has been bought for the sum of 1,200 guineas, by an Australian gentleman, was shipped a few days ago for Melbourne by the Copenhagen.”—Daily Paper.
——:o:——
WE MET.
“Mr. Henry Colburn here led Lady Morgan to the harp, and requested her to sing ‘We Met.’ The wild Irish girl condescended thus to comply”:—
Love on the Ocean.
“‘Oh! is there not something, dear Augustus, truly sublime in this warring of the elements?’ But Augustus’s heart was too full to speak.”—MS. Novel by Lady ——
Lord Brougham and Dr. Reid.
“I don’t want explanation, I want air”—Brougham on Ventilation, Vide Times. “Lord Brougham has expressed a very natural repugnance to be treated like an animal, shut up for the purpose of having ventilating experiments tried upon him. Such, however, is the fate of all Members of Parliament who are subjected to the horrors of Dr. Reid’s process. We can fancy the agonies of the Ex-Chancellor, imprisoned in an exhausted receiver, like one of those little figures we have seen ascending and descending in a glass tube, according as the air was let in upon or withdrawn from them. Brougham’s rencontre with Reid would be well worthy of a poetical celebration, in a strain somewhat similar to the following:—
THE SOLDIER’S TEAR.
The Duke of Wellington’s Tear.
“We cannot help calling the attention of our readers to the following very touching melody, sung by the Duke of Wellington immediately on his discovering his inability to form an Administration. The allusion to his threatened retirement from the House, is replete with feeling; and the reference to the broken windows of Apsley House, pathetic and beautiful.”
(At that time the Duke of Wellington was very unpopular, and Apsley House had been attacked by the mob.)
(“Punch had hoped that the regiment had been extricated from its little pecuniary difficulties, but was horrified on finding that the Commanding Officer had given instructions to sell twenty very superior long-tailed troop-horses. The above lines were suggested to the mind of a sentimentalist who attended the sale.”)
These two imitations of Bayly’s style were written by the late Mr. Henry Sambrook Leigh, who died June 16, 1883. They were also included in a volume of his poems, entitled A Town Garland, published by Chatto & Windus, London, in 1878.
OUT.
When Sir Thomas Brassey lost his seat in the House of Commons, he was promoted to a peerage for his services to his party. Some snobbish toadies immediately set to work to trace a pedigree for the new Baron, and asserted that one of his ancestors came over with the Duke William from Normandy. Whereas it was well known that the father of Sir Thomas was of very poor and humble origin, and made his money by honorable hard work as a Railway Contractor. Truth represented Sir Thomas, attired in a suit of mail as a Norman Knight, appearing to his father, who sits smoking a short pipe, in the loose and easy costume of his early calling, a “navvy,” or road excavator. The father thus addresses the newly made Baron:—
——:o:——
THE OLD HOUSE AT HOME.
“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” and “Through the Looking-Glass, and what Alice found there” have so long been familiar, and are so universally popular, that their recent production on the Stage at the Prince of Wales’s Theatre only causes a feeling of surprise that they have not been dramatised hitherto.
It is true, that Colonel Lynes, of the Royal Artillery, selected the subject of “Alice in Wonderland” for the Soldiers’ pantomime at Woolwich, more than six months ago, and at his suggestion Mr. J. Addison wrote a very ingenious play, which was 56 produced in the Theatre of the Royal Artillery Barracks at Christmas 1886.
But this was far less complete as a representation of Alice’s adventures, than the Musical Dream Play, in two acts by H. Savile Clarke, produced at the Prince of Wales’s Theatre in December, 1886.
All who have read Alice’s Adventures (and who has not read them?) should see how admirably they have been realised on the boards, and recognise in Miss Phœbe Carlo the charming little heroine of Mr. Carroll’s invention. Mr. H. Savile Clarke thus introduces the subject of his play:—
By the kind permission of Mr. Lewis Carroll the following poems are selected from his books, with some parodies and imitations of them.
THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER.
The Vulture and the Husbandman.
By Louisa Caroline.
(A Vulture is a rapacious and obscene bird, which destroys its prey by plucking it limb from limb, with its powerful beak and talons. A Husbandman is a man in a low position of life who supports himself by the use of the plough.—Johnson’s Dictionary.)
I contend that there is a great deal of natural beauty in the poem of which this extract forms part. Some people say there isn’t a scrap. A man, I am aware, mixed up something of the sort in a book called “Alice through the Looking Glass.”
——:o:——
JABBERWOCKY.
Waggawocky.
(On the Tichborne Trial)
“Merely interpolating the note that the word ‘wabe’ is explained by the Poet to mean ‘a grassplot round a sundial,’ but that it also means a Court of Justice, being derived from the Saxon waube, a wig-shop, we proceed to dress the prophetic ode in plain English:—
In Truth, October 4, 1883, twenty-one imitations of the Jabberwocky were printed. They are now rather heavy reading, and only the two following seem worth reprinting:—
——:o:——
Not only has Lewis Carroll given many themes to the parodists, but he has himself produced some amusing parodies, a short one on Dr. Watts, that on Southey’s, “You are old, Father William,” already quoted on page 156, Volume III. of Parodies, and “Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup” given on page 35, all appear in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
That this book should have been translated into German, French, and Italian, tells of its well deserved popularity:—
——:o:——
60MEET ME BY MOONLIGHT.
Many years ago (it was in February, 1844), Punch had a parody entitled “Meet me with Wimbush alone,” alluding to Wimbush’s omnibus, which then ran from Belgrave Square to the Bank. It was jocularly reported never to carry more than one passenger at a time. But the following parody, from the same source, is not only more modern, but also more likely to appeal to the present generation, than a satire on a long forgotten omnibus:—
——:o:——
PARODIES OF “WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO, MY PRETTY MAID?”
Miss Emily Faithful’s paper was responsible for the following:—We saw a Christmas card the other day which had been sent to a young lady at a school of design. It represented a grotesque figure at a lecturer’s desk, and underneath were these lines:
“Men who suffer their wives’ photographs to be exhibited for sale in the shop-windows run the risk of being thought to get some profit by so doing, for they otherwise would hardly sanction such publicity.”
An Idyllic Duet.
(A New Version, as Sung under the Gallery with the Greatest Success by the Sergeant-at-Arms, and the Junior Member for Northampton, Mr. Charles Bradlaugh.)
“Whizz,” the Christmas number of The Bicycling Times, 1880, has a long parody, entitled “A Bicyclist’s Song,” after My Rattling Mare and I; also a parody on “My Pretty Maid,” entitled The Wheelman and the Maid, which concludes thus:—
And still another, commencing:—
There is also a prose imitation of Captain Mayne Reid, entitled, On the Prairie, by Jak Strauz Karsel.
——:o:——
I’VE BEEN ROAMING.
——:o:——
——:o:——
From Sketches in Prose and Verse, by F. B. Doveton, author of Snatches of Song. London: Sampson Low & Co., Fleet Street. 1886. (This amusing volume also contains a number of Parodies on the poems of Moore, Alfred Tennyson, Campbell, Hood, Byron, Coleridge, Southey, Poe, and Swinburne.)
——:o:——
——:o:——
O! ’TIS LOVE! ’TIS LOVE!
——:o:——
I KNOW A “HIGH.”
——:o:——
ANOTHER MESSAGE.
WAPPING OLD STAIRS.
Ocean Melodies.
(Refined from the original Sea Songs, for the use of the Yacht Clubs.)
——:o:——
TOM BOWLING.
There is another parody on Tom Bowling, by L. M. Thornton, entitled Drunken Sally, but it is too vulgar to be inserted. It may occasionally be seen amongst the penny ballads on street walls.
——:o:——
THE JOLLY YOUNG WATERMAN.
The late Albert Smith wrote a piece entitled “Novelty Fair, or hints for 1851,” which was produced at the Lyceum Theatre, on May 21, 1850. In this, Father Thames enters with a goblet of dirty water in his hand, and exclaims:—
This parody refers to some rare specimens of trilobites contained in Dr. Grindrod’s Museum at Malvern.
From Health and Pleasure, or Malvern Punch. By J. B. Oddfish. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1865.
(Canadian boatmen were employed in the Soudan Expedition.)
——:o:——
THE HIGH-METTLED RACER.
This, being a sporting song, would be quite out of place 69 here, but that Dibdin followed it up, by writing an imitation of it, on a naval topic. This is one of the somewhat rare cases of an author composing a parody on one of his own poems:—
(This amusing parody, by the author of Verdant Green, originally appeared in Punch. It was afterwards included in Medley, a small shilling volume of light reading published by James Blackwood in 1856. The last verse referred to the invention by a joiner, at North Shields, of a machine which was to lather and shave a man whilst seated in an arm-chair.)
A parody, entitled The Village-Born Beauty, appeared in “The Universal Songster,” vol. 1, p. 356, and was also printed as a halfpenny ballad, by Taylor, of Brick Lane, Bethnal Green. This song described the adventures of the Village-born Beauty, (who had strayed from the paths of virtue) in language somewhat too free to be admitted in this collection.
——:o:——
THE BOATSWAIN CALLS.
——:o:——
THE SAILOR’S JOURNAL.
A Sailor’s Journal.
(Adapted from Dibdin to the sad Circumstances of the Day.)
——:o:——
THE LAST SHILLING.
——:o:——
ALL’S WELL.
——:o:——
MAY WE NE’ER WANT A FRIEND,
NOR A BOTTLE TO GIVE HIM.
——:o:——
THE ARETHUSA.
(Words by Prince Hoare, F.S.A., Dramatic Author, born 1755, died December 22, 1834. Music by William Shield.)
[“Oxford, in the long vacation 1839, was enlivened by a Nuneham Regatta, a conservative festivity, at which Mr. Maclean (M.P. for Oxford City, and M.A. of Balliol College) was the presiding genius, as well as the chief payer of the piper. I am tempted to introduce here a parody on the famous song of ‘The Gallant Arethusa,’ in honour of the nine young gentlemen, natives of Oxford, who, as the crew of the ‘Ariel’ carried off the chief honours of this regatta.” p. 309, Recollections of Oxford. 1789-1860, by G. V. Cox.]
The Man who Mended the Boiler.
“Mr. Benbow, the engineer of one of the steamers in which the rescue of General Gordon was attempted, arrived in London yesterday. Mr. Benbow was engineer of the steamer on which Lord Charles Beresford performed his deeds of gallantry on the Upper Nile; and among his friends he is popularly known as ‘the Man who Mended the Boiler.’ He has come to this country in response to an official telegram.”
——:o:——
THE BAY OF BISCAY, O!
From The Covent Garden Journal. Vol. 2, (London 1810). Containing an account of the O. P. (old prices) riots at the New Covent Garden Theatre.
——:o:——
HEARTS OF OAK.
There are five verses in all in this imitation, which may be found in Volume III. (page 37) of The Universal Songster.
From An Impartial Collection of Addresses, Songs, Squibs, &c., published during the Liverpool Election. October, 1812.
(The candidates were the Right Hon. George Cannings Lt.-General Isaac Gascoyne, Henry Brougham, Thomas Creevey, and General B. Tarleton. George Canning and General Gascoyne, both Tories, were elected.)
——:o:——
78——:o:——
I’M AFLOAT.
(The Premier’s vacation parody on board Sir Donald Currie’s ship, “The Pembroke Castle.”)
——:o:——
OH! DON’T YOU REMEMBER SWEET ALICE, BEN BOLT?
Two parodies of this song were published by Ryle & Co., Monmouth Court, Seven Dials, London, as street ballads. Both were very coarse, one began:—
The other commenced thus:—
I have not met with any other parodies of Ben Bolt, although it is probable that many have been written, as the song was very popular some years since.
——:o:——
THE STORM.
From Health and Pleasure, or Malvern Punch, by J. B. Oddfish. (London. Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., 1865.)
——:o:——
“POLY.”
(A new ballad of the Fleet, sung by a British Tar àpropos of the “Polyphemus.”)
——:o:——
THE DEATH OF NELSON.
Innes’s London Comic Songster—(London: Simpkin & Marshall, N. D.)—contained a coarse parody, entitled:—
THE BRITISH GRENADIERS.
This parody refers to the rumours of a threatened invasion of England by the Prince de Joinville, and ridicules the proposals then made to call out the Militia. There was another parody of this song in Punch, 1849, relating how two Grenadiers robbed two French National Guards during their visit to London. The parody, entitled “The Blackguard Grenadier,” commenced thus:—
This disgraceful incident created great indignation, and there was a loud outcry as to the want of proper discipline amongst the Guards stationed in London. Yet they still enjoy the undeserved, and exceptional, privileges they then possessed, and are better fed, clothed, and paid than their comrades in the Line regiments.
The Gallant Specials.
(During the Chartist agitation in 1848, about 150,000 men were sworn in as special constables.)
There was another parody of the same song in Punch, February 27, 1858, complaining of the shameful manner in which our soldiers were then clothed, lodged, and fed. As most of the evils therein alluded to have been remedied, the parody is now obsolete. A parody entitled “Aitcheson’s Carabineers,” appears on page 112 of the 1869 edition of Logan’s “Pedlar’s Pack of Ballads and Songs.”
The first year of the Volunteer movement will be long remembered as an exceptionally wet season.
Written during the War Fever, when some of the newspapers 85 were clamouring for war with Russia. It was then proposed to form a Corps of Active Service Volunteers, but the Government discouraged the idea.
——:o:——
LET ME LIKE A SOLDIER FALL.
Valentine Baker, Colonel of the Tenth Hussars, was found guilty of having committed a dastardly attack on a young lady in a railway carriage, sentenced to imprisonment and dismissed from the English army. He subsequently took part in the Campaign, as an officer of the Egyptian government.
THE “JINGO” WAR SONG.
“The men of action got a nickname, they were dubbed the Jingo Party. The term, applied as one of ridicule and reproach, was adopted by chivalrous Jingoes as a name of pride. The Jingoes of London, like the Beggars of Flanders, accepted the word of contumely as a title of honour. In order to avoid the possibility of any historical misunderstanding hereafter about the meaning of Jingo, such as we have heard of concerning that of Whig and Tory, it is well to explain how the term came into existence. Some Tyrtaeus of the tap-tub, some Körner of the music-halls, had composed a ballad which was sung at one of these caves of harmony every night, amid the tumultuous applause of excited patriots. The refrain of this war song contained the spirit-stirring words:—
Some one whose pulses this lyrical outburst of national pride failed to stir, called the party of its enthusiasts the Jingoes. The writer of this book is under the impression that the invention of the name belongs to Mr. George Jacob Holyoake. The name was caught up at once, and the party were universally known as the Jingoes. The famous adjuration of the lady in the ‘Vicar of Wakefield’ had proved to be too prophetical; she had sworn ‘by the living Jingo,’ and now indeed the Jingo was alive.”—A History of Our Own Times, by Justin McCarthy, M.P. 1882.
So much for the words, as to the melody, which was not unmusical, Sir William Fraser wrote to Notes and Queries in May, 1886, saying that it was taken from Mozart’s Twelfth Mass. But next week the following denial appeared in N. & Q., “I beg to state, as author and composer of the above song, that this statement is unwarrantable and devoid of truth, and in justice to my reputation as a composer, I must request that you will insert this my denial.—G. W. Hunt.”
THE DREAM OF
THE BILIOUS BEADLE.
——:o:——
So many subscribers have asked for a copy of this clever parody of Thomas Hood’s Dream of Eugene Aram that it is given here, although it somewhat interferes with the arrangement of the Song Parodies. “The Bilious Beadle” is admirably adapted for public recitation. The author, Mr. Arthur Shirley, is a well-known dramatist.
THE OLD AND YOUNG COURTIER.
The subject of the following song is a comparison between the manners of the old gentry, as still subsisting in the times of Elizabeth, and the modern refinements affected by their sons in the reigns of her successors. It is given in Volume II. of Percy’s Reliques of Ancient Poetry, where it is stated that it was first printed in the reign of James the First. Bishop Percy says he found it among some poems and songs in a book entitled “Le Prince d’ Amour,” dated 1660.
It will at once be seen that it is the original of the more familiar song, The Fine Old English Gentleman, which immediately follows it, and which, has itself, been the subject of numerous imitations and parodies.
From Motley, by Cuthbert Bede. London: James Blackwood, 1855. (This Parody had previously appeared in Albert Smith’s Town and Country Miscellany.)
(This parody originally appeared in Mirth and Metre.)
Published by the National Liberal Printing and Publishing Association, Limited. 1886.
In the following notes, extracts are given from a few parodies which are not sufficiently amusing to be quoted in full.
An uninteresting political parody of the “The fine old English Gentleman” in eight verses, is contained in a small pamphlet entitled Blasts from Bradlaugh’s own Trumpet, published by Houlston and Sons, London, about 1883.
It commences thus:—
The Christmas number of The World for 1885 had a parody commencing,
which dealt with political topics; whilst the very unpoetical subject of the Irish Land Acts was considered at great length, and in a rather heavy style, in a parody which appeared in Kottabos for 1881, over the signature M.
Kottabos was a small magazine issued from Trinity College, Dublin, and published by William McGee.
——:o:——
A PARODY BY CHARLES DICKENS.
The following parody, written by Charles Dickens, appeared in The Examiner for Saturday, August 7, 1841. Mr. Forster thus refers to it in his Life of Charles Dickens: “The last of these rhymes I will give entire. This has no touch of personal satire in it, and he would himself, for that reason, have least objected to its revival.” Thereupon Mr. Forster quotes seven only out of the eight stanzas he professes to give in full, omitting one which quite destroys his assertion that there was no personal satire in the parody. Mr. Forster was once described by a cabman as “that ’ere harbitrary cove;” to give a garbled quotation, and state that it is the entire poem is indeed an arbitrary act. The following is a complete reproduction of Mr. Dickens’s parody:—
The allusions contained in the sixth stanza require some explanation. In 1813 Leigh Hunt and his brother, as proprietors of The Examiner, were sentenced to undergo two years imprisonment, and each to pay a fine of five hundred pounds, for publishing an article in that paper containing the following remarks on the Prince Regent:—
“What person would imagine in reading these astounding eulogies in The Morning Post, that this ‘Glory of the people’ was the subject of millions of shrugs and reproaches! That this ‘Conqueror of Hearts’ was the disappointer of hopes! That this ‘Exciter of Desire’ (Bravo, Morning Post!), this ‘Adonis in Loveliness,’ was a corpulent man of fifty! In short, this delightful, blissful, wise, pleasureable, honourable, virtuous, true and immortal Prince was a violator of his word, a libertine over head and ears in disgrace, a despiser of domestic ties, the companion of gamblers and demireps, a man who has just closed half a century without one single claim on the gratitude of his country, or the respect of posterity.” The Hunts were informed that if they would undertake to abstain from commenting on the actions of the Prince Regent for the future the sentence would be remitted. They declined to give the required undertaking, but paid their fines, and went to prison. The severity of the sentence caused great delight to the friends of the Prince Regent, and Theodore Hook wrote the following apropos parody of Cowper’s poem on Alexander Selkirk:—
Severe as was the punishment inflicted on the Hunts it did not have a deterrent effect; indeed the trial was a political blunder, it gave enormous publicity to a libel which would otherwise have been seen by few, and have soon been forgotten; it offended many, who whilst having no sympathy with the Hunts, were still in favour of a free Press; and finally it encouraged the publication and sale of many other attacks upon the Prince Regent, and his friends. The most active and zealous purveyor of this kind of literature was William Hone, of Ludgate Hill, who published numerous pamphlets, leaflets, parodies and squibs; most of these were written by Hone himself, and illustrated by George Cruikshank. The Prince Regent’s personal appearance, his intemperance, his vanity, and his conduct towards his wife, were mercilessly exposed and ridiculed; whilst the actions of the ministry were also held up to public scorn and contempt.
Eventually the government took legal proceedings against Hone for publishing political parodies, namely, John Wilkes’s Catechism, the Political Litany, and the Sinecurist’s Creed.
There were three separate trials held in the Guildhall, London, on December 18, 19 and 20, 1817, and in each trial the Jury found a verdict of Not Guilty. Here, again, the government prosecutions defeated their own ends. Hone became the hero of the day, the martyr in the cause of the liberty of the Press; a large sum of money was raised for him by public subscription, and what was worse, the parodies were republished, and, owing to the publicity given to them by the trials, the sales were enormous. Even now these little pamphlets are eagerly sought after by collectors of literary curiosities, and of Cruikshankiana, especially those relating to the Prince Regent and his illtreated wife. The most successful example of Hone’s skill was a parody entitled “The House that Jack built,” of which more than fifty editions were rapidly sold off. A few extracts will show the bitter tone of this parody; and Cruikshank’s portrait of the Dandy of Sixty was scarcely more complimentary than Leigh Hunt’s written description of the “fat Adonis of fifty.” The subjects of Cruikshank’s illustrations are given within parenthesis.
The Report of Hone’s three Trials is an interesting work, full of curious parodies, of which a detailed account will be given in the Bibliographical Volume of this Collection. But for the present Leigh Hunt, William Hone, George Cruikshank, and George, Regent, and King, must be dismissed, and Thackeray’s burlesque Epitaph will fitly close this chapter.
THE ROAST BEEF OF OLD ENGLAND.
This song was first printed complete in Walsh’s “British Miscellany” about 1740. It was written and composed by Richard Leveridge, with the exception of the first two verses which were written by Henry Fielding, for a comedy entitled “Don Quixote in England.” This piece was acted at the New-Theatre in the Haymarket, 1733.
——:o:——
THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE.
——:o:——
THE ENGLISHMAN.
——:o:——
RULE BRITANNIA.
Robert Southey calls this “the political hymn of our Country,” and it may certainly be regarded as the British National Song. There has been some controversy as to its authorship, it is generally ascribed to James Thomson, author of “The Seasons,” whilst others have assigned it to David Mallet. The arguments are too lengthy to be reproduced here, but the chief points of the discussion are to be found in letters from Mr. William Chappell, and Mr. Julian Marshall, published in “Notes and Queries,” August 14, November 20, and December 18, 1886. Possibly both Thomson and Mallet joined in the composition of the ode (as they styled it), but this question can now never be authoritatively settled. No doubt exists however that the music was composed by Dr. Thomas Arne, and by it, and the chorus, Rule Britannia is known all the world over.
On the 1st August, 1740, a Masque styled Alfred, written by James Thomson and David Mallet, was performed in the gardens of Cliefdon House, in commemoration of the accession of George I., before the Prince and Princess of Wales. The plot of the Masque was based on the gallant struggles of King Alfred with the Danes, it abounded with patriotic allusions, and Rule Britannia was thus introduced in scene 5, Act 2.
“Here is seen the Ocean in prospect, and ships sailing along. Two boats land their crews. One Sailor sings the following ode; after which the rest join in a lively Dance.”
From An Impartial Collection of Addresses, Songs, Squibs, &c., published during the Liverpool Election, October 1812.
From The Wreath of Freedom, or Patriot’s Song Book. Newcastle 1820.
In this, Elliott’s wish was father to the thought, for William IV., did not live to see the repeal of the Corn Laws. Another long imitation of Rule Britannia, entitled “The Triumph of Reform,” also appears amongst the Corn Law Rhymes, which were collected and published by Benjamin Steill, London, in 1844.
A so-called comic song, entitled “Brickbats never will be Slates,” was brought out about two years ago, but it possesses no literary interest as a parody.
111GOD SAVE THE KING.
The most remarkable feature about “God save the King,” (or Queen) is the great uncertainty which exists as to its origin. There seems little doubt that the melody is German, but it is not known when, or by whom, it was imported, whilst the words have been handed down, with slight verbal alterations, since the days when James the First was congratulated on his escape from the Gunpowder Plot.
The words as they were then sung were written by Dr. John Bull, to whom some also ascribe the melody; Germans assert that it was imported into England by Handel, whilst others state that either Lulli, or Purcell, was the composer.
George Saville Carey claimed both the words and the melody as the productions of his father, Henry Carey (the author of “Sally in our Alley,”) and one hypothesis is, that no other song writer could have been guilty of such atrocious rhymes as are to be found in the anthem:
Victorious. | | Laws. |
Glorious. | | Cause. |
Over us. | | Voice. |
There is no doubt that Henry Carey had some part in settling the words, as they are now known, whilst as to the melody the most likely supposition is that he adopted German music in honour of the House of Brunswick, for the same air was at once the Royal Hymn for Prussia, Saxony, Weimar, Brunswick and Hanover; the German version known as “Heil Dir im Sieger Kranz” is still the official anthem of the German Empire. This theory is far more probable than are the various other conjectures as to its origin, such as that it was either a Scotch, French, or Jacobite Song. The grand simplicity of the air is almost sufficient proof of its German origin, and it is far more probable that it was introduced here with the Hanoverian dynasty than that an English melody should have been adopted as the Royal Hymn by nearly all the states of central Europe.
A good many years ago it was stated in Edinburgh that the manuscript memoirs of the Duchess of Perth contained an account of the establishment of St. Cyr, in which she stated that—“When the most Christian king Louis XIV entered the chapel, all the choir of noble damsels sung each time the following words, to a very fine air by the Sieur de Sully:—
The tradition is, that the composer Handel, obtained leave to copy the air and words, which he submitted to George the First as his own composition.”
The importation of the air of “God save the King,” appears undeniable, but it certainly did not come from France, neither is there anything to show that Handel passed it off as his own composition. Indeed in a court mainly composed of Germans, and before a German King, to whom the air must have been familiar from early childhood, such an attempt would have been ridiculous.
Many interesting facts bearing on these disputed questions will be found in an account of the National Anthem, entitled, “God save the King,” by Richard Clarke; London, W. Wright, Fleet Street, 1822; also in “Old National Airs,” by W. Chappell; “The Music of the Church,” by Thomas Hirst; and “An Introduction to the study of National Music,” by Carl Engel, London, 1866.
These authorities are not agreed as to the origin of the melody, but they all assert that words, somewhat similar to those now in use, were written to congratulate James the First on his escape from the Gunpowder Plot, and were sung for the first time at an entertainment given to that King in July 1607 in the Hall of the Merchant Tailors’ Company, in the City of London.
Indeed, the balance of evidence tends to prove that the song never was intended for the House of Hanover, whose anthem it has become, but for the Stuart family. Up to the time of Charles I. the national anthem-sung in honour of the king was “Vive le Roy”—an English song with a Norman burden. After the revolution that made Cromwell Protector, the Cavaliers, without 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 heart of the party in their adversity, and did more for the royal cause than an army.
In the reigns of Charles II. and James II., when the King had come into the full possession of his own, the loyal song was, “Here’s a Health unto his Majesty.” Later on, when the Stuarts were in exile, it would seem that Carey revived “God save the King,” but that it did not become popular until 1745, about two years after his death.
George Saville Carey in The Balnea (London, 1801) gives the following account of the origin of God save the King:
“In spite of all literary cavil and conjectural assertion there has not yet appeared one identity to invalidate the truth that my father was the author of that important song, some have given the music to Handel, others to Purcell, some have signified that it was produced in the time of Charles I. others James I. and some, in their slumbers, have dreamed that it made its appearance in the reign of Henry VIII. it might as well have been carried still further back, to the reign of song-singing Solomon, or psalm singing David. I have heard the late Mr. Pearce Galliard assert, time after time, that my father was the author of “God save the King”; that it was produced in the year 1745-6, and printed in the year 1750, for John Johnson, opposite Bow Church, in Cheapside. But, for the satisfaction of my readers, I will insert the song of ‘God save the King,’ as it is printed in the original text, where it is called a song for two voices:—
There can be little doubt that Henry Carey was the author of the first three verses of this particular version of the song, but he could not have written the fourth verse, as he committed suicide in 1743, two years before the Scotch rebellion to which the verse refers.
The first time that the song or anthem of “God save the King” was made known generally to the public was at the end of the month of September, 1745 after the young Pretender’s forces had beaten Sir John Cope, and Prince Charles himself had made his triumphant entry into Holyrood Palace. “On Saturday night,” says the Daily Advertiser of September 30th, 1745, “the audience at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane were agreeably surprised by the gentlemen belonging to that house performing the anthem of ‘God save our noble King.’” Another paper, the General Advertiser, of October 2nd, said—“At the Theatre in Goodman’s Fields, by desire, ‘God save the King,’ as it was performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, was sung with great applause.” That the song was a novelty is proved not only by these records, but by a letter from Benjamin Victor to David Garrick, bearing date October, 1745. The writer says—“The stage at both houses is the most pious as well as the most loyal place in the three kingdoms. Twenty men appear at the end of every play, and one stepping forward from the rest, with uplifted hands and eyes, begins singing to an old anthem tune the following words:—
He adds, “These are the very words and music of an old anthem that was sung at St James’s Chapel for King James II., when the Prince of Orange landed to deliver us from Popery and Slavery, which God Almighty, in his goodness, was pleased not to grant.”
From that time God save the King became the recognised official and loyal song, or anthem, but it is, of course, incorrect to style it the National Anthem, in the sense that Rule Britannia is National, as it is simply a prayer for the Royal Family. Richard Brinsley Sheridan wrote an impromptu verse, which was sung at Drury Lane Theatre, in 1800, on the night when Hatfield fired from the pit of that theatre at George III. It is scarcely necessary to observe that Sheridan’s verse, as poetry, is immeasurably superior to the older portion of the anthem:—
In 1795 The Gentleman’s Magazine published the following Latin version:—
On the accession of William IV. a new version of the anthem was prepared:—
In 1790 Charles James Fox brought forward a motion in the House of Commons for the repeal of the test and corporation acts. Pitt and Burke opposed any such concession to the dissenters, and the motion was rejected by nearly three to one. A great agitation was got up, all over the country, by the Tory party, against the dissenters, who were ridiculed and abused in pamphlets, poems, and caricatures. Councillor Morfit, of Birmingham, composed a parody of God save the King which became very popular, it was extensively printed with a large caricatured representation of the chief dissenters brooding over sedition. It was entitled:—
Old Prices.
A parody of God Save the King circulated in Covent Garden Theatre, on the night of October 18, 1809, during the celebrated O.P. riots.
These volumes contain full accounts of the O.P. Riots in the new Covent Garden Theatre, which arose from some injudicious alterations made in the prices, and structural arrangements by John Kemble. He raised the prices partly in order to pay high salaries to Madame Catalani and other foreigners. The war cries of the rioters were “Old Prices! No Private Boxes! No Catalani! The English Drama!”, many songs and parodies were written to annoy Kemble, who had, eventually, to compromise matters, and Madame Catalani’s name was withdrawn from the bills. This lady had a fine voice, but was so ignorant of the English language that the following version of “God save the King” was prepared to assist her pronunciation when she had to sing the solo:—
Save Yourselves.
In 1871, Mr. Gladstone addressed a large meeting of the electors of Greenwich on Blackheath. In the course of his speech he referred to the number of reforms that had been carried out during his political career; but, he added, that whilst much remained to be done, we must not flatter ourselves that all the evils of humanity could be cured by legislation. He then quoted the first verse of the following parody, stating that he had met with it in a “questionable book.” The “questionable book” was The Secularist’s Manual of Songs and Ceremonies. Edited by Austin Holyoake and Charles Watts, with a Preface by Charles Bradlaugh. There was a loud outcry against Mr. Gladstone for quoting from such a source.
From Blasts from Bradlaugh’s own Trumpet, London: Houlston & Sons. About 1884.
“A clergyman—decidedly of the Church militant—sends us the following proposed ‘national anathema.’ His motto is from the ‘Magnificat’”:—
A National Anthem.
(The Queen was to open Parliament on the 21st January.)
A Jubilee Version.
The Vicar of Ryde, at the conclusion of an entertainment recently held at the Town Hall, Ryde, in aid of parochial charities, called upon the audience to join in singing the National Anthem, and “gave out” an additional verse which had been written “for the occasion” was as follows:—
An Improved “National Anthem.”
At the opening of the People’s Park, Manchester, by Prince Albert, a greatly improved “National Anthem” was sung, it would make an excellent substitute for the objectionable old version. As an improved “National Anthem,” perhaps there is none more worthy than the following, by Mr. W. E. Hickson, and its adoption would be an excellent Jubilee memento:—
THE SONGS OF
Although Mr. W. S. Gilbert has long been before the public as a dramatist and humorous author, his chief title to fame rests upon the long series of successful comic operas produced either at the Opera Comique, or the Savoy Theatre. In all of these the quaint fancies and humorous dialogues of Mr. Gilbert, were supplemented by the brilliant and tuneful music of Sir Arthur Sullivan. Their creations, placed upon the stage with attention to every detail, and interpreted by a powerful company, have, for the last ten years, been the chief theatrical attraction, of a lighter sort, in the metropolis. The following is a list of these operas, with parodies of some of the favourite songs contained in them:—
Thespis; or, The Gods grown old.
Trial by Jury. A novel and original dramatic Cantata. Opera Comique Theatre. 1876.
The Sorcerer. A modern Comic opera 1877. It was in this opera that the inimitable actor, Mr. George Grossmith, made his first appearance on the stage in the part of “John Wellington Wells, a dealer in magic and spells.”
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass that loved a Sailor. An entirely original Nautical Comic opera. Opera Comique Theatre. May 25, 1878.
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty. An original Melo-Dramatic opera. Opera Comique Theatre. 1880.
Patience; or, Bunthorne’s Bride. An Æsthetic opera. Opera Comique Theatre. April 23, 1881.
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri. An entirely original Fairy opera. Savoy Theatre, November 25, 1882.
Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant. Savoy Theatre January 5, 1884.
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu. An entirely original Japanese opera. Savoy Theatre. March 14, 1885.
Ruddygore; or, The Witch’s Curse. An entirely original Supernatural opera. (The leading word in the title was afterwards altered to Ruddigore.) Savoy Theatre. January 22, 1887.
TRIAL BY JURY.
Breach of Promise of Marriage.
Mr. Herschel’s motion for the abolition of actions for breach of promise of marriage, excepting where actual pecuniary loss had been incurred, was carried in the House of Commons by a substantial majority. He thus addresses an aspiring youth of the Temple:—
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H.M.S. PINAFORE.
The song traces General Garfield’s history through ten stanzas, and closes in this moral and improving strain:—
From a United States pamphlet, entitled Republican Campaign Songs, 1880.
A political parody of the same original, but of purely local interest, was published in Melbourne Punch, August 26, 1880, describing the career of Mr. Berry, an Australian politician.
The Tichborne Claimant wrote:—“It is a fine thing to be an Englishman. Fool that I used to be to think so! I should feel prouder now if I could say I was an American Indian. For if ever a man felt ashamed to own a country as his native land, I do this.”
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE.
Another very long song, on the same model, was printed in Wheeling, January 14, 1885, signed G. F. Benson.
PATIENCE;
or, Bunthorne’s Bride!
This delightful opera was produced on Saturday, 23rd April, 1881, at a time when the Æsthetic movement was the talk of London, and Mr. Burnand’s vamped-up old play, with the new and meaningless title, The Colonel, was drawing crowded houses. The plot of The Colonel was taken from Mr. Morris Barnett’s The Serious Family, produced in 1849, whereas Mr. Gilbert’s plot was entirely original, and although it was not performed until April, 1881, the libretto of Patience was completed in November, 1880.
In both pieces the main idea was to ridicule Æstheticism and the Æsthetes; in The Colonel this was effected by representing the movement as a sham, and its votaries as humbugs and swindlers; in Patience the style, manners, and conversation of the extreme Æsthetes were so gently and gracefully exaggerated, that even the most Utter and Intense amongst them could scarcely take offence at its lively sarcasms.
The excitement about Æstheticism has now subsided, but the beneficial results of this artistic movement are to be seen on every side. In house building, furniture, and decoration; in china, pottery, and glass, even in ladies costumes, far more taste and skill are now displayed than prior to this much ridiculed Renaissance of Art and Culture, which was inaugurated 122 by the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, consisting of Dante Gabriel Rossetti; W. M. Rossetti; William Morris; John Ruskin; Holman Hunt; and Thomas Woolner.
Further details on this subject would be out of place in this collection, but a full account will be found in The Æsthetic Movement in England, published by Messrs. Reeves and Turner, London, 1882.
Another parody of this song appeared in The Wheel World for June, 1882.
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When The Times had some pretensions to the title of the leading English newspaper, it was known as “The Thunderer of Printing House Square,” but it has recently been re-christened The Blunderer; or, the Political Weathercock, a name which recalls the subsidiary titles Mr. Gilbert gives to all his operas. The silly misprints, and other errors, which are to be found daily in The Times show the careless manner in which it is edited, whilst several disgraceful hoaxes practised upon it by the compositors on its staff, prove how unpopular the management must have been, and that a chronic state of mutiny existed in Printing House Square. One of these practical jokes was perpetrated on The Times by an audacious compositor, who altered an advertisement which appeared on Tuesday, February 21, 1882, so that it read:—On the 20th instant, at — Park Lane, W., the wife of Albert Edward, of a son.” Whilst a still worse hoax appeared in The Times of Monday, June 12, 1882, in an advertisement of a book entitled Every-Day Life in our Public Schools, which title was amplified in a manner never contemplated by the editor.
But the grossest case of all was that contained in the report of a speech delivered at Burton-on-Trent by Sir William Vernon Harcourt, then Home Secretary. This speech was reported at length in The Times of Monday, January 23, 1882, and thousands of copies were sold before the infallible authorities found out that the pompous Sir W. V. Harcourt’s speech had been adorned, by their compositors, with flowers of speech of a very unclassical nature. Every effort was then made to call in the unsold copies, but the mischief was done, and for weeks The Times was the laughing stock of London, and fabulous prices were given for copies containing the objectionable paragraph.
A Duet of the Day.
(In consequence of the numerous applications which have been made at the Home Office for an appointment to the place of public executioner, the Secretary of State has published a statement that it is neither his right, nor his duty, to make such appointment, as the selection in reality rests with the Sheriffs.)
The cartoon at the head of this parody, drawn by Sambourne, represented Lord Randolph Churchill, with a note of interrogation; Mr. Ashmead Bartlett, with a peacock’s feather; and Sir Drummond Wolff, with a sunflower; clad in Patience costumes, and adopting the attitudes assumed by the Duke, the Colonel, and the Major, when singing the original trio.
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This song was set to music by E. Jonghmans, and published by Francis, Bros. & Day, London. There were also some additional verses, but they were inferior to the above.
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IOLANTHE;
Or, the Peer and the Peri.
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A Susceptible Chancellor.
“That is a specimen of the complaints which are poured into the letter-box of a susceptible Chancellor of the Exchequer.”—Mr. Goschen at the Mansion House.
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The Masher Clerk.
(A city firm have just advertised in the Daily News for a clerk, adding that they want “no mashers.”)
A political imitation of this song appeared in England for July 4, 1885, but it had little interest, and is now out of date.
The Fairy Queen’s Song.
“Oh, Nation Gay.”
(Mr. Shaw claimed ten thousand pounds as compensation for his unjust imprisonment by the French.)
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PRINCESS IDA.
Those Clever Conservatives.
“Mr. J. W. Harris won Poole for the Conservatives by declaring to the working classes that the Liberals had brought the bad trade, and the Tories would revive the industry of the place, and make everybody rich.”
Another parody, of the same original, appeared in Pastime, February 13, 1884, relating to the London Athletic Club.
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THE MIKADO.
“Jamwillow.”
[According to the Times correspondent at Suakin, the frequent “jamming” of the Martini-Henry rifles was due to the defective cartridge in use. The cartridge is regarded, as “a theoretical one;” and a theoretical cartridge might as well be a blank one at once.]
Messrs. Lever Brothers, of Warrington, have published a small pamphlet describing the manufacture of their “Sunlight Soap.” It contains “A respectful Per-version of the Mikado,” from which the following extracts are given, by permission of Messrs. Lever Brothers:—
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RUDDIGORE;
or, The Witch’s Curse.
This opera, produced at the Savoy Theatre on Saturday, January 22, 1887, did not at first receive that approval which the Press and the public have hitherto accorded to Messrs. Gilbert and Sullivan’s pieces. Objection was taken to the title, and in deference to public opinion the first word was altered from Ruddygore to Ruddigore, whilst several passages which occur in the published version of the libretto are either altered, or omitted, in representation, and generally the piece runs more smoothly than it did when first produced.
That Mr. Gilbert himself had some mistrust of his own passion for logical paradoxes may 137 be inferred from the fact that the following passage has, from the first, been omitted in the performance:
Rod. It’s not too late, is it?
Han. Oh Roddy! (bashfully).
Rod. I’m quite respectable now, you know.
Han. But you’re a ghost, ain’t you?
Rod. Well yes—a kind of ghost.
Han. But what would be my legal status as a ghost’s wife?
Rod. It would be a very respectable position.
Han. But I should be the wife of a dead husband, Roddy!
Rod. No doubt.
Han. But the wife of a dead husband is a widow, Roddy
Rod. I suppose she is.
Han. And a widow is at liberty to marry again, Roddy!
Rod. Dear me, yes—that’s awkward. I never thought of that.
Han. No, Roddy—I thought you hadn’t.
Rod. When you’ve been a ghost for a considerable time it’s astonishing how foggy you become!
The acting copy now also dispenses with the equally ingenious quibbles which appeared to give offence to the audience on the first night, as follows:—
Robin. Stop a bit—both of you.
Rod. This intrusion is unmannerly.
Han. I’m surprised at you.
Robin. I can’t stop to apologise—an idea has just occurred to me. A Baronet of Ruddygore can only die through refusing to commit his daily crime.
Rod. No doubt.
Robin. Therefore, to refuse to commit a daily crime is tantamount to suicide!
Rod. It would seem so.
Robin. But suicide is, itself, a crime—and so, by your own showing, you ought none of you to have ever died at all!
Red. I see—I understand! We are all practically alive!
Robin. Every man jack of you!
Rod. My brother ancestors! Down from your frames! (The Ancestors descend.) You believe yourselves to be dead—you may take it from me that you’re not, and an application to the Supreme Court is all that is necessary to prove that you never ought to have died at all!
(The Ancestors embrace the Bridesmaids.)
From the omission of this conversation it now follows that the “ancestors,” having once returned to their picture frames, remain there.
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Although Ruddigore is, in itself, a burlesque, it occurred to Mr. Toole that some fun might be got out of a caricature of it, and accordingly Messrs. Taylor and Percy Reeve composed 139 a “musical parody” entitled Ruddy George, which was produced at Toole’s Theatre. Much talent for mimicry was displayed by the principal performers, and especially by Mr. E. D. Ward, as Robin Redbreast (after George Grossmith) and Mr. Skelton, as Sir Gaspard, in a droll imitation of Rutland Barrington’s portentious manner. The burlesque was, however, most successful in so far as it caricatured the idiosyncracies and eccentricities of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s music. In imitation of the scene in Act II. of the original, where the portraits of Sir Ruthven’s forefathers descend from their frames, kitcat panel likenesses of Mr. Gilbert, Sir Arthur Sullivan, and Mr. D’Oyly Carte suddenly become endowed with life, and utter some mild, and rather pointless jests.
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A small volume has recently been published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus (London), entitled Mr. Gilbert’s Original Comic Operas, it contains The Sorcerer, H. M. S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe, Patience, Princess Ida, The Mikado, and Trial by Jury. It gives the dates when these pieces were first produced, but unfortunately omits the names of the performers, which all playgoers and collectors of theatrical curiosities will regret.
Numerous imitations and parodies exist of Mr. Gilbert’s writings, other than those connected with Sir Arthur Sullivan’s music, thus his mythological play Pygmalion and Galatea was burlesqued by Miss Alice Maud Meadows in “Chiselling Pygmalion,” which was performed in London in December, 1883, by the members of the Grantham Lawn Tennis Club.
A jocular guide to the Edinburgh Exhibition of 1886 was compiled by Mr. George Stronach, and published by Robert Mitchell, of Edinburgh. It was entitled “Our Own-eries; or, The Show in the Meadows; a dog-gerel cat-alogue,” and was profusely and humourously illustrated. It contained several amusing parodies on The Mikado, and one on Tennyson’s Brook, but as they related only to the Exhibition they were of purely local interest, and are now out of date.
In The Bab Ballads, which originally appeared in Fun (London), may be found the germs of several of Mr. Gilbert’s plays and operas, sketches of plots afterwards amplified, and snatches of song which were, later on, to be linked to Arthur Sullivan’s music, and so made famous.
The following, which appeared in Fun twenty years ago, contains part of the plot of H. M. S. Pinafore:—
JOE GOLIGHTLY;
The Bab Ballads have been often imitated (it is scarcely possible to parody them successfully), but the imitations are for the most part very inferior to the originals, besides which they are generally very long, so that only a few examples can be quoted. The three following appeared in a prize competition in The World, the subject selected by the editor being:—
KING THEEBAW OF BURMAH.
A parody on the same topic will also be found on page 413 of Mr. F. B. Doveton’s Sketches in Prose and Verse, 142 published by Sampson Low & Co., London, in 1886. But a much more amusing imitation of a Bab ballad is that on page 456 of the same volume, which, by Mr. Doveton’s kind permission, is here given:—
The April number of Macmillan’s Magazine contained the Poet Laureate’s contribution to Jubilee literature. As usual, portions of the Ode were quoted in the London papers almost before the magazine was published, and The Daily News went so far as to reprint the whole of the Ode, an infringement of Messrs. Macmillan’s rights, for which an apology had to be made. As to the poetical merits of the Ode public opinion has been tolerably well expressed by the parodies on it which have appeared. A few verses of the original are here given, to lead up to the parodies.
CARMEN SÆCULARE.
AN ODE
IN HONOUR OF
The Globe remarked:—
“It is to be feared that the Laureate’s Jubilee Ode will sadly disappoint all his admirers. It has a certain rhetorical neatness, no doubt; but it cannot be regarded as adequate to the occasion. The poet has chosen, for the most part, very prosaic rhythms, and the Ode, trite and even common in ideas, is not even endowed with occasional felicities of expression, On the contrary, it is sometimes positively unlucky in its phraseology, as when the world is most unnecessarily assured that Her Majesty has about her—
“By no means happy are the references to those who ‘wanton in affluence’ (why ‘wanton?’) to the ‘Lord manufacturers,’ and to the ‘Imperial Institute,’ which latter surely savours a little of bathos? The six concluding lines have more inspiration, perhaps, than most; but they do not harmonise very well in their allusion to ‘thunders moaning in the distance,’ with the Laureate’s allusion elsewhere to the ‘prosperous auguries’ of the Jubilee. On the whole, Lord Rosslyn, Mr. Morris, and Lord Tennyson having all spoken, it must be confessed that the Jubilee still lacks a vates sacer.”
Very Hard Lines.
HOW THEY WERE WRITTEN TO ORDER.
(Leaf from a Laureate’s Diary.)
9 A.M.—Bother the Jubilee! What in the name of fortune, can one do with such a rubbishing subject? But here’s Macmillan waiting, and I haven’t done a single line yet. Must get something put on to paper, if only to quiet him. But how on earth to begin! Get in “fifty” somehow. Want fifty somethings that come but once a year. Christmas? Good. That suggests Clown. I have it.
Fifty times the Clown has grinned and tumbled.
No. That won’t do. It’s too shoppy, stagey. Has a soupçon of the Promise of May about it. Wants something wider Ha! The Row, suggesting the Season, of course.
Fifty times the Row has filled and emptied.
No. Don’t like it. Reads as if I was talking of a cistern. Too heavy. Try something lighter. Pastry? Feathers? Flowers? Ha! that’s it. Flowers, of course. Here, I’ve got it!
Fifty times the Rose has flowered and faded.
Anyhow, that’ll do to go off with. Let’s see. I want fifty something elses to follow it up with. What shall it be? Cartloads? Handfuls? Armfuls? Autumns? Harvests? Good again. Not that there’s any precise connection between them; but one must stick down something, How’ll this do?
Fifty times the golden harvest fallen.
Yes, that reads all right. Is there any other way of putting “fifty?” Yes, “twice twenty-five.” But that won’t come in. Then there’s “four times twelve and a half.” No; that 144 won’t do. Enough “fifty.” Now we want some allusion to Her Majesty. Must get in a “since.” I have it, “Since our Queen assumed,” Capital. Here you are!
Since our Queen assumed the globe, the sceptre.
Come; that’s a beginning anyhow. Three lines! But they’ve quite dried me up. Besides, I can’t go on in blank verse like this. Don’t feel up to it. Must try another metre. What metre. And then what on earth am I to say in it? I haven’t had such a job as this for a long time. Could weep over it. A precious Ode I shall make of it.
But, “a glass of sherry, will make me merry.” I’ll try one.!
6 P.M.—Confound the Jubilee Ode! Have now been at it all day, and am floundering worse than ever. Have got in something about illuminations, sanitary improvements, subscribing to a Hospital and Penny dinners, and given a kind of back-hander to George the Third, but who, on earth, I refer to as the “Patriot Architect,” and what I mean by asking him to Shape a stately memorial, Make it regularly—no, “regally”—gorgeous, Some Imperial Institute, I don’t know. But if I arrange it in parallel lines it will look like poetry, and that’ll be near enough.
Feel I’m making a horrible hash of it. Might go for a turn on my bicycle. May clear my head. Might try it. Will.
* * * * *
Have dined, and now, at 9 P.M., have again settled down to it over a pipe and a glass of grog. Am in a more hopeless muddle than ever. Trying to bring in everybody in a kind of wind-up appeal. But look at this,—
That doesn’t seem to run very well, but it’s the kind of idea I want to work in. Don’t seem able to manage it.
You, the Lady-Amateur Actor?
No, that won’t do! Shall never get it done to-night.
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10 P.M.—After awful hammering, managed to knock off two more lines. Head spinning, but must stick to it. Feel I’ve never turned out such stuff in my life before. Hopeless!
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10.30 P.M.—Two more lines screwed out. But what lines! Won’t scan, and as to rhyme,—ha! ha!—catch me rhyming to-night!
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11 P.M.—Have come to a dead stand-still. Equal to it. Have had recourse to the wet towel. Refreshes me. Ha! I see light. Happy thought! As I can’t do it in verse, why not write it all in prose, and then cut it up into poetry afterwards? Sure to get cut up when it appears. Why not do it myself first? I will. Anyhow, here goes.
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Midnight.—Done it! Labelled it Carmen Sæculare. Looks all right, but quite the toughest piece of work I’ve ever had to turn out. Posted it to Macmillan. Hope he’ll like it.
Punch. April 9, 1887.
PRIZE COMPETITION PARODIES.
The Weekly Dispatch awarded the prize of two guineas for the best Parody of a part of Tennyson’s Jubilee Ode to the following:—
The following were highly commended:—
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AND
THE ANSWER.
THE FINE OLD ENGLISH GENTLEMAN.
On page 93 a parody of the above song, entitled The Fine Old Standard Tragedy, was inserted, with a note stating that it had first appeared in Albert Smith’s Town and Country Miscellany. The author of the parody, the Rev. E. Bradley, has written to point out that it was originally published in The Month for October, 1851, a small magazine edited by Albert Smith, and illustrated by John Leech. The Month only ran to six numbers, from July to December, 1851, when it was discontinued. Bradbury and Evans, the publishers, had lost money by it, and the fact was, as stated by poor Albert Smith, The Month was far too good for the public taste of that day. Mr. Bradley kindly sends another parody, of the same original, which was very popular amongst University men about 1845; the author’s name is not known.
Lines in “Deep Red Rover,” an O’piratic burlesque, by Westmacott Chapman.
MY NELLIE’S BLUE EYES.
The above is part of the original song which inspired Mr. Charles Coborn with the idea of one of the most popular parodies of modern times, Two Lovely Black Eyes.
The music for this amusing song was arranged by Mr. Edmund Forman, and it is published by Francis Bros. and Day, of Oxford Street, London.
“Two Lovely Black Eyes” created such a furore at the Trocadero Music Hall (formerly the Argyll Rooms) that it was christened “The Trocadero Anthem,” and on February 8, 1887, The Pall Mall Gazette gave an account of the wild enthusiasm with which the singer was nightly received, and reported the following remarks, made by Mr. Coborn, as to the origin of the song.
“Oh, what a Surprise!”
“It was a fluke; in fact, I may say ‘a surprise.’ Such things generally are. ‘Two Lovely Black Eyes’ is a parody of an American song of which the chorus is ‘Nellie’s Lovely Blue Eyes.’ The air is the same, and had been sung in London by some lady vocalists, even at the Trocadero, long before I thought of it. I had an engagement at the Paragon in the Mile-end Road, and had to sing a new song one Saturday night. That was a Tuesday, I think. I hummed ‘Nellie’s Blue Eyes,’ and thought the tune would catch them; but I doubted about the ‘blue’ eyes. I thought they would appreciate ‘black’ more. So I get my chorus—’Two Lovely Black Eyes.’ That is always my starting point. I had now to find my words. I was walking down Bethnal Green, thinking about it; the elections were on at the time, and I turned it over. So I got the first line:—
‘Strolling so happy down Bethnal Green,’
Who? Why,
‘This gay youth you might have seen,’
You see, ‘seen,’ ‘green?’ Then you would naturally meet some one. I met Tompkins. I wanted a word to rhime with ‘seen’ and ‘green,’ so I gave Tompkins a young lady:—
‘Tompkins and I with his girl between.”
I had written ‘Harry’ at first, but it was too prosaic, so I changed it to Tompkins, which sounded funnier. Then I thought of the elections, and the rest followed easily. What more natural than that we should fall out, and that Tompkins should hand me ‘two lovely black eyes’? That is how it grew. Here is the original which I wrote coming home in the train.” And Mr. Coborn produced a little black-covered note-book, every page of which was covered with writing. Songs and scraps of dialogue and bits of street conversation which Mr. Coborn will introduce into his patter. “I have sung it about one thousand times in English, French, and German,” and the popular comic gave me some samples. He is not a polyglottist, but he has a quick ear, and his accent is pronounced to be marvellous. Here are the French and German renderings:—
“I propose to sing it in Hebrew and modern Greek. But the song has been a fluke right through its career. I thought it would suit the Paragon audiences (we must consider our public). I thought they would like the chorus. But when I came to the ‘Trocadero’ I was a little doubtful, thinking it might be too coarse. So I asked the conductor, and if he had said ‘yes’ I should have changed it at once. It is my principle rather to sacrifice a laugh, than to offend a prejudice.”
Oh, What a Surprise!
The popular Budget Ballad, sung with general rounds of applause at the St. Stephen’s Music Hall, by the new Exchequer Startler, G. J. Goschen.[27]
UPROUSE YE THEN, MY MERRY MEN.
There was a short political parody, of the same song, in Punch for August 9, 1856, but it is now of no interest.
TO BE THERE.
Written by C. A. Page. Composed by J. Iliffe. Published by Messrs. Francis Bros. & Day, 195, Oxford Street London.
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THE TAILOR’S HOLIDAY.
THE GUNPOWDER PLOT
(This version was written about 1840, but the original song is of a much earlier date.)
Blasts from Bradlaugh’s own Trumpet, by Ion. London: Houlston & Sons.
THE PILGRIM OF LOVE.
(The same volume contains another parody, entitled Raw Lobsters, which is vulgar, and not funny.)
Written expressly for Mackney, the comic singer, by G. W. Hunt, and published by J. Bath, Berners Street, London.
The Pilgrim of Hate.
(A popular song, sung by Mr. Chamberlain in Scotland and elsewhere.)
THE VICAR OF BRAY.
“The Vicar of Bray, in Berkshire,” says D’Israeli, in his “Curiosities of Literature,” was a Papist under the reign of Henry the Eighth, and a Protestant under Edward the Sixth. He was a Papist again under Mary, and once more became a Protestant in the reign of Elizabeth. When reproached for his versatility of religious creeds, and taxed with being a turn-coat, and an inconstant changeling, as 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.”
In a note in Nichols’ Select Poems, 1782, vol. viii., p. 234, it is stated that The song of the Vicar of Bray “is said to have been written by an officer in Colonel Fuller’s regiment, in the reign of King George the First. It is founded on an historical fact; and though it reflects no great honour on the hero of the poem, is humourously expressive of the complexion of the times, in the successive reigns from Charles the Second to George the First.
As to the name of this famous Vicar there are several theories. According to one authority, “Pendleton, the celebrated Vicar of Bray,” became rector of St. Stephen’s, Walbrook, in the City of London, in the reign of Edward VI. But in a letter from Mr. Brome, to Mr. Rawlins, dated June 14, 1735, he says, “I have had a long chase after the Vicar of Bray. Dr. Fuller, in his Worthies, takes no notice of him, I suppose he knew not his name. I am informed it was Simon Alleyn or Allen, who was Vicar of Bray about 1540, and died 1588, so was Vicar of Bray nearly fifty years. You now partake of the sport that has cost me some pains to take.”
Camden, in his Britannia, says of Alleyn: “This is he of whom is the proverb, ‘The Vicar of Bray still.’” The song however, refers to an entirely different period, commencing in the reign of Charles II. and lasting until “the illustrious House of Hanover.” There was a Vicar of Bray, unknown to fame, who was vicar during the exact period covered by the song. His tombstone is in the centre aisle of Bray Church, and its record is that his name was Francis Carswell, that he was chaplain to Charles II. and James II., Rector of Remenham and Vicar of Bray forty-two years, and that he died in 1709.
There was another short parody of the same song in The Weekly Dispatch of August 24, 1884. It also was directed against the House of Lords, and concluded:—
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OLD TOWLER.
Humanity Hunting Song.
“Opening Meet of the Windsor Garrison Drag-hounds.—On Saturday, in miserably wet weather, this pack of draghounds commenced their hunting season…. The hounds will be hunted twice a week (every Wednesday and Saturday) during the season.”—Morning Paper.
Note.—William Cobbett, in one of his charming works, tells a delightful story of the revenge he, when a young clodhopper, once took of a huntsman who had fetched him a cut of his whip; in repayment for which injury Cobbett went and trailed a red herring over the hunting-ground, and then, mounted on a hill-top commanding a view all round, stood enjoying the satisfaction of seeing the hounds thrown off the scent, and the fox-hunt turned into a drag-hunt, to his enemy’s vexation.
Punch. November 5, 1881.
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OLD KING COAL.
(Notwithstanding Mr. Punch’s virtuous indignation the City of London still levies the obnoxious Coal Tax, and Parliamentary Reports have recently shown in what manner some of the money is expended.)
167Henry Cole, C.B.[34]
“We write in a state of great depression. Our readers will forgive us if we are not sprightly this week; there is a time for everything, and now with us it is the time for grieving. We have fallen under the displeasure of Mr. HENRY COLE, C.B.!!
Gentle Public pity us!
Oh! Henry Cole, C.B., deal gently with us.
Oh! creator of South Kensington; oh! author of Mumbo Jumbo, don’t be too hard on us.
We are sorry, and our heart is heavy within us. Oh! inexhaustible Cole, consume us not in thine ire!
What have we done that we should be smitten with thy fury? Did we ever insult thee by coupling thy name with high Art? Did we ever accuse thee of holding the interests of thy country higher than thine own? Listen while we praise thee.
Yes, we will now praise the great, the mighty, the gentle Cole. We will show him how deep, how sincere, is our love, our veneration, our worship, of Henry Cole, C.B.
Who is the very greatest architect of this age? Henry Cole, C.B. Who is the greatest painter of this age? Henry Cole, C.B. Who is the greatest military hero of this age? Henry Cole, C.B. Who is the greatest author of this age? Henry Cole, C.B. Who is the handsomest man of this age? Henry Cole, C.B. Who is the most immaculate statesman of this age? Henry Cole, C.B.
Oh! Henry Cole, C.B., will you forgive us now?”
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WHEN THIS OLD CAP WAS NEW.
From a black-letter copy among the Roxburgh Songs and Ballads.
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SAID A SMILE TO A TEAR.
An amusing parody of this song, entitled The Loves of the Plants will be found on page 70 of Volume I. of the Universal Songster. Unfortunately it is too long, as well as too broad, to be inserted in this collection.
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SONG.
This mellifluous piece of nonsense was published in the Miscellanies of Alexander Pope, but it was also inserted amongst the poems of Dean Swift, where it was entitled A Love Song in Modern Taste. It ridiculed an affected style of poetry then much in vogue, and which continued in fashion for many years, culminating in the writings of a clique, known as the Della Cruscans, which was originated by a few English, of both sexes, assembled at Florence in 1785. They were named Della Cruscans because their leader, one Robert Merry, signed his trashy effusions as a member of the Acadamy Della Crusca at Florence. Merry wrote a tragedy, entitled Lorenzo, which was more successful than many comedies, for it made the audience laugh immoderately, besides innumerable poems long since forgotten. By a deliberate system of mutual puffing the Della Cruscans forced their absurd productions upon the public, and in the early years of the present century nearly every journal contained some of their poems, published over assumed names, such as Laura Maria, Edwin, Anna Matilda, &c. These were afterwards gathered into volumes, with a few poems by really able writers such as M. G. Lewis, Robert Southey, and S. T. Coleridge, and published by subscription.
There is no knowing how long this twaddle might have held the public taste had not William Gifford (Editor of the Quarterly Review) produced his famous satires The Baviad, and The Maeviad, in which he mercilessly exposed the inflated nonsense written by the Della Cruscans; and by well chosen extracts from their poems turned the laugh so completely against them that they slunk back into their native obscurity.
Gifford’s satires are still read with pleasure, and the extracts given in the notes show that Pope’s nonsense verses were excelled by the would-be-serious Della Cruscans; as for example—
When the brothers Smith projected their famous Rejected Addresses they included an imitation of the Della Cruscan poetry, entitled Drury’s Dirge, of which Lord Jeffery wrote “The verses are very smooth and very nonsensical—as was intended; but they are not so good as Swift’s celebrated song by a Person of Quality; and are so exactly in the same measure, and on the same plan, that it is impossible to avoid making the comparison.”
170From The Comic Latin Grammar by Paul Prendergast (Percival Leigh), illustrated by John Leech. London, David Bogue.
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171LORD LOVEL.
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THE BROWN JUG.
(From the Opera of the “Poor Soldier,” by J. O’Keeffe. The song itself is attributed to the Rev. Francis Fawkes, who imitated it from the Latin of Hieronymus Amaltheus.)
(The following postscript seems to have been added when the Warder had passed.)
Note.—We subjoin a Glossary of Mr. Cracksman’s lingo:—
[a] Prison. [b] Ladies of a certain description. [c] Comrades or fast friends. [d] Thieves speak of themselves as “family-men.” [e] Warders. [f] Night. [g] Meat and drink. [h] A greenhorn. [i] Tricks of the trade. [j] Talking slang. [k] Imprisoned. [l] Up to prison ways. [m] Writing. [n] Thieves should pray on their knees. [o] Highway-robbers, swell-mobsmen, burglars, and forgers. [p] Slang names for Pentonville Model Prison, and Milbank Penitentiary.
Punch. January 31, 1857.
THE GIPSY KING.
This song is founded upon a number of earlier songs recounting the supposed joys of a gipsy life, a few of which may be enumerated for comparison. The first is taken from an old play, entitled “More Dissemblers besides Women,” printed in 1657:—
A somewhat similar song occurs in The Spanish Gipsy, first printed in 1653, it commences:—
Charles Louis, King of Bavaria, caused great dissatisfaction in his dominions by his reckless extravagance, and his utter incapacity to fulfil the duties of his position. He formed a disgraceful liaison with a scheming adventuress generally known under the assumed name of Lola Montes, but whom he created Countess Von Landfeldt. At length the interference of Lola Montes in state affairs became too notorious, and she was banished the Kingdom. She afterwards led a wandering life, delivered some lectures in London in 1859, thence proceeding to the United States. She died in New York, January 17, 1861. Charles Louis was compelled to abdicate in March, 1848, but survived his fall for twenty years, living to see the throne occupied by his grandson, Louis II., the Mad King and patron of Wagner, who recently committed suicide.
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WHEN WE WENT OUT A GIPSYING.
Professor Aytoun died in 1865. These verses are taken from a collection, published in Boston, entitled The Humorous Poetry of the English Language, by J. Parton, but I do not know where they first appeared.
OLD SIMON THE CELLARER.
A parody in three verses, entitled Simmonds, the Bellower, was written by J. A. Hardwick. The first verse is given, the other two are omitted, owing to their coarseness:—
I AM A FRIAR OF ORDERS GREY,
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178OLD SONG.
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WHY SO PALE AND WAN.
Sir John Suckling also wrote what is, perhaps, the finest ballad in the English language, A Ballad upon a Wedding, this appears to have escaped parody. An imitation of it, however, is contained in Elegant Extracts from the British Poets, 1824. It is entitled Aylesbury Races, and is attributed to Sir J. H. Moore; it is very long, and does not sufficiently follow its original to entitle it to a place in this collection.
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THE MAD SHEPHERDESS.[40]
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THE WOLF.
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THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS.
Another parody of this song, by J. James, entitled The Foggy Gin-Fluenza Days occurs in Vol. II., of Punch’s Popular Song Book, but it is slangy and vulgar.
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THE LASS OF RICHMOND HILL.
Mr. Upton, who wrote the above song, also wrote many others for the convivial entertainments at Vauxhall Gardens towards the close of the last century. The music was composed by Mr. Hook, father of Theodore Hook, the celebrated wit and practical jokist.
The Lass of Richmond Ill.
[The Richmond Select Vestry, having sent to the Home Office a memorial with reference to the deplorable condition of the Thames in that district, Sir W. V. Harcourt has entered into communication with the Conservators, and has been informed by them that nothing can be done until a radical change is effected in the disposal of the London sewage.]
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THE BRAVE OLD OAK.
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FRAGMENT OF A TRANSLATION FROM SAPPHO.
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DEAR BETTY.
(Suggested by the Bishop of London’s Charge, in which he said:—“We want more Churches, and more Clergymen.”)
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Delight in Disorder.
(Adapted from Herrick.)
“There is nothing in the pit-brow work, nor in the costume necessitated, that tells against modesty. It makes fine, healthy, strapping women—not exactly after the pattern of Fenella or Miranda—but women who are the fit mates for the men whose wives and mothers they are.”—Mrs. Lynn Linton on the “Pit-brow Women.”
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SONG.
On seeing the Speaker asleep in his Chair, in one of the Debates of the first Reformed Parliament.
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MY HEART AND LUTE.
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OH! SAY NOT WOMAN’S HEART IS BOUGHT.
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DUNOIS THE BRAVE.
This is a translation by Sir Walter Scott, of the French song Partant pour la Syrie, written by De Laborde, to music 184 said to have been composed by Queen Hortense, mother of Napoleon III. Under the Empire Partant pour la Syrie was the officially recognised French national song, but it never became so popular as La Marseillaise.
There was another parody commencing:—
in The Hornet for January 10, 1872, and another, of no interest or literary merit, on page 134 of The Literary Lounger, London 1826.
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CHEVY-CHACE.
It is quite unnecessary to quote this noble old ballad in full, it may be found in Percy’s Reliques, Robert Bell’s Early Ballads, and many other collections of old English Songs and Ballads.
Another parody of Chevy-Chace, entitled The Battle of Putney Hill appeared in the Morning Herald in 1799. It commenced thus:
The complete parody may be found in Vol. III of The Spirit of the Public Journals for 1799.
This parody refers to the most extraordinary series of disturbances, known as the O.P. Riots, which took place in the new Covent Garden Theatre, commencing on the opening night, September 18, 1809, and lasting, almost without intermission, till December 16, when the old charges were restored. John Philip Kemble, the tragedian, and manager of the theatre, was singled out for special disapproval, the outcries against the Cat (Madame Catalani) were also very bitter, as it was generally supposed the prices had been raised owing to her exorbitant salary. Madame Catalani’s business agent used to ask five hundred guineas for her appearance at a concert, which was considered an enormous sum in those days.
Kemble (styled Black Jack, on account of his dark complexion and black hair), had a pedantic way of pronouncing ache as aitche.
(26 verses are here given, the complete Parody contains 48.)
From Protectionist Parodies. By a Tory. J. Vincent Oxford. 1850.
LORD BATEMAN.
One of the best known of our old Ballads is Lord Beichan, or Buchan. This is corrupted in the modern English form to Lord Bateman; the ballad commences thus:
Cruikshank collectors will remember that the artist chose this ballad for illustrating, and small as is the book, a copy of the original 1839 edition sold for £5 15s. at Sotherby’s last year. Of course Cruikshank’s version is comic, and the history of it is that he sang the ballad at a dinner of the Antiquarian society, to the air, and with the cockney pronunciation he had heard given to it by a street ballad singer. Dickens was present at the dinner, and offered to supply the illustrative notes (which are exceedingly humorous), Cruikshank etched the plates, and almost innumerable editions of the little book have been published; the most recent having been issued a few years since by Messrs. Bell and Daldy, London.
Lord Bateman’s motion in favour of Reciprocity met with little encouragement in the House of Lords, and Lord Beaconsfield spoke strongly against it.
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LILLI BURLERO.
This song, now all but forgotten, deserves to be recorded, for it contributed not a little to the Revolution of 1688. A contemporary writer said of it, “A foolish ballad was made at that time, treating the Papists, and chiefly the Irish, in a very ridiculous manner, which had a burden, said to be Irish words, “Lero, lero, liliburlero,” 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, were singing it perpetually, and perhaps never had so slight a thing so great an effect.”
One of the principal tools of James II. was General Richard Talbot, who was nominated to the Lieutenancy of Ireland in 1686, in this position his arbitrary and cruel treatment of the Protestants recommended him to the favour of his bigoted master, who rewarded him by creating him Earl of Tyrconnel, and sending him a second time, and on this occasion as Viceroy, to Ireland. It was at this time that Lilliburlero was written; Lilliburlero and Bullen-a-lah are said to have been the sign and countersign used among the Irish papists during their warfare with the protestants.
The song has been ascribed to Lord Dorset, but also, and with more probability, to Lord Wharton, who openly boasted that he had sung King James out of three kingdoms.
The melody was said to be the same as that which accompanies the convivial chant:—
And Lord Macaulay wrote of Lilliburlero:—“The verses and the tune caught the fancy of the nation. It was especially the delight of the English army.” Whilst Sterne also mentions it in “Tristram Shandy,” as the favourite air of Uncle Toby, who had been a soldier in the army of William III.
The following imitation alludes to the attempts being made in 1798 to bring about the legislative union of England and Ireland, but which did not actually take place until 1801. At that date the Irish Parliament was induced, by bribery and fraud to consent to its incorporation with that of Great Britain. The parody is a somewhat remarkable prophecy of what has actually occurred.
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The style of the old ballad has been often so successfully imitated as to deceive even the most accomplished literary critics. Amongst these may be noted the “New-Old Ballads,” written by Peter Pindar (Dr. Wolcot) which were republished by that clever but unscrupulous satirist in a collection, entitled Tears and Smiles, published in 1801, with the following “Advertisement to the Reader. These ballads were composed several years ago, in imitation of authors of the reigns of Harry the Eighth, Elizabeth, and James, and sent to some of my literary friends as innocent deceptions.—P. P.”
There were also “The Cornish Ballads,” written by Mrs. Gervis, and “The Bristow Tragedy, or Death of Sir Charles Bawdin,” by Thomas Chatterton, and others too numerous to mention, especially as they cannot exactly be styled Parodies in the strict sense of the term.
The finest burlesque ballad in the language is undoubtedly that entitled “The Queen in France,” contained in The Book of Ballads edited by Bon Gaultier, and published by W. Blackwood and Sons. This clever book of parodies and burlesques was the joint production of Sir Theodore Martin, and the late Professor W. E. Aytoun. The burlesque ballad in question was probably composed by Aytoun, it describes the Queen’s visit to Louis Phillippe in France in 1843, and closely imitates the metre and diction of “Sir Patrick Spens” an old Scotch ballad. The old ballad may be found in Percy’s Reliques, in Sir Walter Scott’s Border Minstrelsy, and in Early Ballads, edited by Robert Bell. “The Queen in France” is very long, and disjointed extracts would give but a faint idea of its quaint humour, and simple pathos, besides which The Bon Gaultier Ballads is a readily accessible book.
In the same volume there is another, but inferior, burlesque ballad, entitled Little John and the Red Friar, which deals with the vexed question of ecclesiastical titles. Little John representing Lord John Russell, and the Red Friar, Cardinal Wiseman, who, in 1850, was appointed by the Pope, Lord Archbishop of Westminster, a nomination which gave rise to much agitation and angry controversy.
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A BALLAD OF THE GREAT ELECTION BATTLE.
——:o:——
THE NEWEST THING IN CHRISTMAS CAROLS.
——:o:——
KING JOHN IN A COCKED HAT.
A Parody on the famous old Grimaldian song, called “The Frog in the Opera Hat.”
During the O.P. riots at Covent Garden Theatre, in 1809, a certain Mr. Henry Clifford was a very conspicuous opponent to the new prices as fixed by John Kemble. Finally the management of the Theatre had to concede nearly all the claims advanced by the O.P. party through their spokesman, Clifford, and the victory was celebrated in the following lines:—
The last lines refer to the Dinner of Reconciliation which took place at the Crown and Anchor Tavern on January 4th, 1810, when Mr. Clifford took the chair, supported by the most prominent of the O. P. party, and Messrs. John Kemble and Harris represented the management of Covent Garden Theatre. For full details of these extraordinary proceedings the reader is referred to the Covent Garden Journal (J. J. Stockdale, London), 1810.
Thomas Campbell, the Poet, was editor of The New Monthly Magazine, Cyrus Redding was his literary subordinate, and Henry Colburn was the publisher. The Lady here referred to was doubtless intended for Lady Morgan.
LEAP FROG.
Dedicated to Prince Napoleon, The Duke of Malakhoff, Marshals Canrobert, Bosquet, and the other French officers present at the late Crimean banquet at Paris.
When Lord Randolph Churchill resigned the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, on account of the extravagance in the votes for the War Office, and the Admiralty, the Marquis of Salisbury had some difficulty in finding a successor, but at length prevailed on Mr. Goschen to accept the post, although he had previously held office in a Liberal Cabinet.
“Old Rowley!”
[Mr. and Mrs. Kendal and Mr. Rowley Cathcart played Uncle’s Will, and Sweethearts at Osborne. Her Majesty presented Mrs. Kendal with a diamond brooch in the shape of an imperial crown, gave Mr. Kendal a cheque for the night’s expenses of the St. James’s Theatre, and Mr. R. Cathcart a cheque for himself. Subsequently it was announced that, as a memorial of the performance of David Garrick at Sandringham, H.R.H. had presented Mr. Charles Wyndham with a gold cup.]
Born in Dublin in 1751. Died, July 7, 1816.
Lord Byron said, “Whatever Sheridan has done, has been, par excellence, always the best of its kind. He has written the best comedy (“School for Scandal”), the best drama (“The Duenna”), the best farce (“The Critic”), and the best address (“Monologue on Garrick”); and, to crown all, delivered, the very best oration (the famous Begum Speech) ever conceived, or heard in this country.”
In addition to The School for Scandal, The Duenna, and The Critic, Sheridan wrote St. Patrick’s Day, a farce; The Rivals, a comedy; A Trip to Scarborough (partly adapted from Sir J. Vanbrugh’s “Relapse,”) and Pizarro, a tragedy.
Sheridan was indebted to an old play written by the Duke of Buckingham and entitled “The Rehearsal” (1672), for the main idea of “The Critic,” but all the personal allusions in Sheridan’s farce were made to well known contemporary characters. “The Critic” was produced at Drury Lane Theatre in 1779. In 1780 a miserable anonymous imitation was published by H. Kingsbury, entitled “The Critick; or, a Tragedy Rehearsed, a Literary Catchpenny! Prelude to a Dramatic after-piece, by R. B. Sheridan, Esq., with a Dedication, Preface, and Prologue.” This does not appear to have been intended for the stage. Another imitation was entitled “The Critic Anticipated; or, the Humours of the Green Room, as rehearsed behind the curtain of the theatre in Drury Lane, 1779.”
Coming to modern times, Mr. F. C. Burnand founded an amusing burlesque upon the tragedy portion of “The Critic.” This was entitled “Elizabeth; or, The Invisible Armada,” and was published in 1870, by Tinsley Brothers, London. The favourite old characters Tilburina, Don Ferolo Whiskerandos, and the Governor of Tilbury Fort are here introduced; no mention is made in the printed copy as to whether this burlesque was ever performed at any theatre.
In 1884 Sheridan’s comedy, “The Rivals,” was being played at the Haymarket Theatre (London), with a most elaborate mise-en-scene, and, perhaps, a little too much display of antiquarian accuracy in details, to ridicule which an afterpiece, entitled “The Ar-Rivals, or a Trip to Margate,” was produced at the Avenue Theatre on June 24, 1884. It was announced as having been written by “J. M. Banero and A. D. Pincroft” (Pinero and Bancroft are almost too slyly hidden here), and that it would be produced with “Real sand buckets, real wooden spades, real periwinkles which would be eaten with real pins, and, as far as practicable, with real appetites.”
Yet notwithstanding all this wit, the travesty was pronounced by the critics as utterly beneath criticism, and was at once withdrawn.
Passing now from burlesques of Sheridan’s complete plays to parodies of songs contained in them, the favourite appears to be the drinking song which occurs in the third act of “The School for Scandal.”
LET THE TOAST PASS.
These gay and flowing verses, perhaps the most popular of their class in the language, were evidently modelled on the following song in Suckling’s play of the Goblins:
This song was appropriated by S. Sheppard, in a comedy called the Committee-man Curried, 1647, without any acknowledgment of the source from whence he stole it.
——:o:——
——:o:——
HAD I A HEART FOR FALSEHOOD FRAMED.
JOHN BROWN, OR A PLAIN MAN’S PHILOSOPHY.
——:o:——
CHEER, BOYS! CHEER!
——:o:——
THE GOOD TIME COMING.
This song, which was one of a series entitled “Voices from the Crowd,” originally appeared in the second number of the Daily News (London).
Most of Dr. Charles Mackay’s songs breathe sentiments of hope for the future of the people, and trust in their good sense and ability to govern themselves. Such sentiments were very unpopular forty years ago, when revolutions were of frequent occurrence on the Continent, and Chartism was dreaded in England. Hence Mackay’s verses were parodied as follows:—
This parody occurs in a very scarce pamphlet, of which no copy is to be found in the Library of the British Museum, entitled The Puppet-Showman’s Album, illustrated by Gavarni. This is not dated, but it was evidently printed about 1848, or 1849. It contains imitations, either in prose or verse, of Lord Macaulay, Bulwer Lytton, Leigh Hunt, G. P. R. James, B. Disraeli, Charles Dickens, Charles Lever, A. Tennyson, Thomas Carlyle, W. M. Thackeray, W. H. Ainsworth, Douglas Jerrold, Walter Savage Landor, Mrs. Trollope, John Wilson Croker, Charles Mackay, Albert Smith, and Coventry Patmore.
201Happy Arcadia.
(“General” Booth says that “the Salvation Army is the natural antidote to all the evils on the earth.”)
There was also a parody of this song in The Hornet, May 22, 1872, which is now quite out of date, and another appeared in the St. Stephen’s Review for July 2, 1887. This prophesies that there will be a “good time coming” when an eminent politician goes to——a certain warm but unmentionable place—the good taste of which assertion might not be obvious to some over sensitive people, so the parody is omitted.
Dr. Mackay wrote a number of other songs. “To the West! To the West!” was very popular; it was imitated in some verses entitled “I’m in Love! I’m in Love!”; whilst “Far, far upon the sea” was parodied by J. A. Hardwick as “Pa, out upon the spree,” in three very coarse and slangy verses, which cannot have a place here.
CAREY’S “SALLY IN OUR ALLEY.”
Better known as Barry Cornwall.
Born about 1787. Died October, 1874.
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THE BEST OF ALL GOOD COMPANY.
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THE SEA.
Operatic Mem.
“When the C. from the chest is produced for the first time, the delight of the tenor is supposed to be so great that he bursts out into something like the following:
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KING DEATH.
THE RETURN OF THE ADMIRAL.
(An amusing little pamphlet, which has been ascribed to the Rev. Canon Hole.)
From “Songs of the Press, and other Poems relative to the art of Printing, original and selected.” Compiled by C. H. Timperley, and published by Fisher, Son & Co., London, 1845.
The whole of this parody will be found in volume iv. of The New Foundling Hospital for Wit. London, 1786.
Another parody of Chevy Chase occurs in the same volume, it is very long, and relates to some persons and political events of interest in 1776, but long since forgotten.
VERSES BY SIR WALTER RALEIGH.
The original and the parody are both given at full length in volume iv. of The New Foundling Hospital for Wit. London, 1786.
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BEN JONSON’S “ODE ON THE STAGE.”
Ben Jonson was very unfortunate in not conciliating the affections of his brother writers. He possessed a great share of arrogance, and was desirous of ruling the realms of Parnassus with a despotic sceptre. That he was not always successful in his theatrical compositions is evident from his abusing, on the title pages of his plays, both the actors and the public. I have collected the following three satirical odes, written when the unfavorable reception of his “New Inn, or The Light Heart,” warmly exasperated the poet.
He printed the title in the following manner: “New Inn, or The Light Heart; a Comedy never acted, but most negligently played by some, the King’s servants; and more squeamishly beheld and censured by others, the King’s subjects, 1629. Now at last set at liberty to the readers, his Majesty’s servants and subjects, to be judged, 1631.”
At the end of this play he published the following Ode, in which he threatens to quit the stage for ever; and turn at once a Horace, an Anacreon, and a Pindar.
“The just indignation the author took at the vulgar censure of his play, begat this following Ode to himself:
This Magisterial Ode, as Langbaine calls it, was answered by Owen Feltham, author of the “Resolves.” His character of Ben Jonson should be attended to:—
To console Ben for this reprimand, Randolph, one of the adopted poetical sons of Jonson, addressed him as follows:—
(Born about 1618. Educated at Oxford. Imprisoned by the Long Parliament. Afterwards served in the French army. The latter part of his life was very miserable. He died in an alley near Shoe Lane, in 1658.)
The author of the above parody, Mr.C. H. Waring, is a frequent contributor to Fun, and other humorous periodicals. He was formerly associated with George Cruikshank in several literary ventures. The amusing parody on Lord Tennyson’s Revenge entitled “Retribution,” on page 42, Volume I. Parodies, was also from his pen.
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TO LUCASTA.
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HANG SORROW, LET’S CAST AWAY CARE.
The Rev. Mr. J. W. Ebsworth, a great authority on our early songs and ballads, supplies the following information as to the different existing versions of “Hang sorrow.”
The music of this old ballad was composed by William Lawes, and “published by John Hilton: printed for John Benson and John Playford, and to be sould in St. Dunstan’s Churchyard, and in the Inner Temple neare the Church doore, 1652.” It reappeared in ‘Windsor Drollery,’ 1672, with a few verbal alterations.
From J. Hilton’s ‘Catch that Catch Can,’ 1652 (music by William Lawes):—
Another version appeared in an excessively rare work, “The New Academy of Complements,” 1671, as, Song 276:—
A later version is in Playford’s ‘Musical Companion,’ 1673. There is also a Roxburghe ballad beginning similarly, but quite distinct from these two songs. It is entitled, “Joy and Sorrow mixt together. To the tune of, Such a Rogue should be hang’d.” Which is the same tune as ‘Old Sir Simon the King.’ Here is the first of the fourteen stanzas for comparison. The ballad is preserved in the Roxburghe Collection (vol. 1. fol. 170), and has been reprinted in the Ballad Society’s publication, vol. 1 p. 509:—
This ballad was written and signed by Richard Climsell, and was printed for John Wright the younger, dwelling in the Old Bayley.
A play, ascribed to Fletcher, entitled The Bloody Brother; or Rollo, Duke of Normandy, printed as early as 1640, contains a somewhat similar defence of drinking:—
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These verses were first sung at a dinner of the Edinburgh 217 Conservative Club, on February 19, 1864, and were published in the Edinburgh Courant, February 21, 1864.
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LOVE’S RITORNELLA.
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JEANNETTE AND JEANNOT.
About forty years ago this was a very popular song. The music was accompanied by a picture representing a French soldier taking leave of a peasant girl, who is saying:—
In the same paper there was another parody relating to the Company of French actors, whose appearance at Drury Lane Theatre led to some disgraceful disturbances on the part of the “gents” of the period.
PARODIES OF “TEN LITTLE NIGGER BOYS.”
There was a parody of this song in “The Rise and Fall of Richard III.,” a burlesque by F. C. Burnand, produced at the New Royalty Theatre, Soho, in 1868. It possesses little interest apart from the context.
The “Barmaid Contest.”
Held in the North Woolwich Gardens, when under the management of Mr. William Holland.
“Good character, business habits, neatness of costume, and respectability, are the chief points.”—Advertisement.
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OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
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OUR MUTUAL FRIEND’S SONG.
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OVER THE GARDEN WALL.
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THE TWO OBADIAHS.
This not very elegant song had a considerable music-hall popularity, it was parodied by L. M. Thornton in a version, entitled “The Two Marias,” which was rather more vulgar, and less amusing than the original.
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There was also a parody, of the same original, in Judy, October 10, 1883, on the Election of Alderman Fowler as Lord Mayor of London; and another in Punch, February 9, 1884, relating to the elephant Jumbo, entitled “Jumbo and Taoung,” but neither is of any interest now.
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“WE ARE A MERRY FAMILY.”
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Written and composed by Corney Grain. Published by J. Bath, Berners Street, London.
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OH! GIVE ME BUT MY ARAB STEED.
From The Comic Latin Grammar. By Paul Prendergast (Percival Leigh). London. D. Bogue. 1848.
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Sir William Harcourt, at Glasgow, in quoting from The Three Jovial Huntsmen, referred to it as “a delightful illustrated story-book,” which he advised all his hearers to buy. Quite so, Mr. Caldecott’s pictures are simply delicious, and the verses themselves are quaint and pithy. But the “bearings of ’em lie in their application.” And here’s their application—much at your service, Sir William.
The Three Jovial Huntsmen.
(New and abbreviated version sung by Lord Salisbury, Sir Stafford Northcote, and Lord Randolph Churchill on their return from stumping the country.)
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From The Humorous Works of the late gifted Hopkins. London: James Blackwood & Co. An anonymous and undated book, with Eight Illustrations by Phiz. It also contains a few parodies of Longfellow, and E. A. Poe.
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A WET SHEET.
At that time there were loud complaints about the bad ventilation of the House of Commons, and every remedy tried, seemed only to make matters worse. Nor was much improvement felt when the members were installed in Sir Charles Barry’s new Palace of Westminster, which has nearly every fault that it is possible a large public building can have. The site is probably the worst that could have been selected. The palace lies low, close to a polluted river, which smells intolerably in the summer, and gives off fog and damp in the winter. The style of architecture is totally unsuited for our climate, or for the purposes for which it is intended, and the stone of which it is built is rapidly crumbling away, whilst although the building covers nine acres of ground, the room in which the Commons meet will only accommodate a little more than half their number.
Every consideration of comfort and utility was sacrificed to gratify an architectural fad, and the requirements of the two legislative bodies who use the building were simply ignored. Frequent debates have been held, and divisions taken, to express the dissatisfaction of the members. Committees have been appointed to examine into, and report upon the heating and ventilation, the sanitary arrangements, and the possibility of enlarging the Commons chamber. Costly repairs are constantly going on, crumbling stonework is removed and replaced, and experiments of all kinds have been tried to remedy the structural defects. But all to no purpose, and the building remains a costly monument of a nation’s folly, and an architect’s vanity and incompetence.
In August 1887, Mr. Plunket, questioned by Mr. Esslemont and Dr. Kenny, said “he had no reason to believe that the air of the House of Commons was noxious. As to the artificial system of ventilation, it simply consisted in drawing up the air through the ceiling when it had been breathed by members, in order that there might be a freer and more constant access of fresh air from below. That air passed over ice to make it cooler, and he could not recommend the discontinuance of the system. Straining the air through cotton wool had been tried, but the officials were waiting for the next fog before making another experiment.”
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SHE AND I.
From The Keys ‘At Home.’ By J. M. Lowry. London. Field and Tuer, 1885.
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(This parody was written before Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Hartington joined the Conservative party.)
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“JOLLY NOSE.”
The late Mr. William Bates writing to Notes and Queries in December, 1863, pointed out that this capital drinking song is a translation of one of the Vaux-de-Vire of the fine old Norman Anacreon, Olivier Basselin. W. H. Ainsworth puts the song into the mouth of “Blueskin” in his novel Jack Sheppard, but it was made famous by the late Paul Bedford, who sang it in his celebrated impersonation of “Blueskin” at the Adelphi Theatre, London.
Mr. Ainsworth had omitted the third verse, this is supplied in the above version by Mr. Bates, but it will readily be seen that his lines are inferior to the gay sparkling verses of Mr. Ainsworth’s translation.
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A CHILD’S HYMN OF PRAISE
From Hymns for Infant Minds. By Jane & Ann Taylor.
From “That very Mab.” Published by Longmans.
Parodies of the Songs of Robert Burns, and other Scotch Authors appeared in Volume III., but the following were not included.
ANNIE LAURIE.
Supposed to have been modernised from an old Scotch song by Douglas, and dedicated by him to Annie Laurie, daughter of Sir Robert Laurie. Tradition says that Douglas was rejected by the young lady, and further, that he did not “lay him doun and dee.”
In his day old Sir Peter Laurie was about as unpopular on the Bench as Mr. Newton is in this, and was scarcely less distinguished for the folly of his magisterial remarks. The actual circumstance which gave rise to the parody occurred in 1844, when a poor forlorn, half starved, and wholly ruined young woman was charged before this great and good Alderman.
“Sir Peter Laurie said he should send her to the Old Bailey for attempted suicide. It was a fit case for trial, and he had no doubt she would be transported. He had put an end to persons attempting to drown themselves; he would now try the same cure for attempted poisoning. He had no doubt that those who took poison did not do so for the purpose of self-destruction, but for the purpose of exciting sympathy.”
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Randy Randolph Churchill O!
A new version of an old Scotch favourite, suggested by recent events, and dedicated to the Standard.
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BEHAVE YOURSEL’ BEFORE FOLK.
This easy-shining and brilliant Blacking, is prepared by Robert Warren, 30, Strand, London.
Old advertisement.
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KELVIN GROVE.
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THE LAND O’ THE LEAL.
The Kincardineshire Advertiser.—[On the occasion of a Scottish minister addressing an assembly of 300 children and forbidding them to applaud, as “there would be no laughter in Heaven.”]
From Corn Law Rhymes, by Ebenezer Elliott. London. B. Steill. 1844.
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A very good parody of Bonnie Dundee will also be found in “Three in Norway, by two of them,” published recently by Longmans & Co., London. The parody is entitled “An Ode to the Last Pot of (Keiller’s Dundee) Marmalade.” A parody of “A Highland Lad my Love was born,” entitled “The Grand Old Man,” and commencing “In Tory bonds our Bill was born,” appeared in Punch, December 16, 1882.
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Henry Brougham, M.P. (afterwards Lord Chancellor), brought a motion before the House of Commons on April 2, 1816, relative to the remission of Excise penalties.
In October, 1866, a large number of English Volunteers went to the Tir National in Brussels, and were received with every mark of kindness and attention. The Belgians were lavish in their hospitality, and on October 20, the King gave a splendid dinner to all the English Volunteers then in Brussels.
In 1867, about 2,000 members of the Belgian Garde Civique paid a return visit, and were most cordially received by the London Volunteers. A great deal of money was spent in entertaining them, but the general arrangements were faulty in the extreme, and Royal hospitality was conspicuously absent.
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MY LOVE IS LIKE THE RED RED ROSE.
From The Humorous Works of the late Gifted Hopkins. London, James Blackwood.
“An Address to the Game Laws,” imitated from Burns, may be found in a 12mo. pamphlet with the singular title:—
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A parody in a somewhat similar strain will be found in Punch, June 26, 1886, relating to Mr. Gladstone’s election tour in Scotland.
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By Lady Clarke, in “The Comic Offering” for 1832. London. Smith, Elder & Co.
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From Idyls of the Rink. By A. W. Mackenzie. Second Edition. London: Hardwicke & Bogue. 1877.
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“GREEN GROW THE RASHES, O!”
In the “Works of Father Prout,” published by George Routledge & Sons, London, there will also be found a Latin translation of “John Anderson, my jo, John.”
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A parody on the same song, but taking exactly the opposite view of the question, appeared in The Liberal Home Ruler for January 8, 1887. It was written by W. E. Sadler, and commenced, “Is there for honest policy.”
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Punch for June 21, 1879, contained a parody of this song relative to the Golden Wedding of the Emperor of Germany, and there were also political parodies of it in England for May 30, 1885, and the St. James’s Gazette for March 19, 1886.
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YE MARINERS OF ENGLAND.
Thomas Campbell’s version of the above song was given (as well as several parodies based upon it) in Volume III. (Part 26), but no mention was made of the fact that Campbell had borrowed the main idea from the following old song by Martyn Parker:—
From Songs of the Edinburgh Troop. July, 1820. Edinburgh: James Ballantyne & Company. 1825.
A curious, and now very scarce little collection of songs relating to the Edinburgh Yeomanry Cavalry, which was privately printed, and afterwards suppressed. There were nine songs in all, of which this was the first, dating from July 1820 to July 1823; they were written jointly by John Gibson Lockhart and Patrick F. Tytler, author of The History of Scotland, &c.
In the article on Lockhart in The Maclise Portrait Gallery Mr. W. Bates mentions the brochure as being very scarce. The above song has been kindly sent by Mr. James Gordon, F.S.A., Scotland.
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A prize parody competition on Campbell’s song took place in Truth, and fifteen versions were printed on July 1, 1886. Of these the first verses of a few may be quoted:—
From Hints to Freshmen in the University of Oxford. J. Vincent.
(Written about the time of the Canadian Cricketers’ tour.)
MOLLY BAWN (or, FAIR MOLLY).
There was a parody of this song in the first volume of The Man in the Moon, unfortunately it is very coarse:—
The above song refers to a rumour that Lord Brougham (then residing at Cannes) was making overtures to Sir Robert Peel, in the hope that if Sir Robert returned to power, he, Brougham, would again be made Lord Chancellor.
“Brougham was still amused by the prospect of holding the Great Seal under Sir Robert Peel.”—Life of Lord Brougham.
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THE ANGEL’S WHISPER.
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A parody of Samuel Lover’s The Low-Backed Car, entitled The Gin Shop Bar, was written by J. A. Hardwick. It was, 247 however, very coarse and slangy. Another long parody was in Diogenes, Volume III, 1854, entitled The Haughty Czar:
Cavour.
In July, 1859, the Emperor Napoleon III. concluded a sudden and unexpected armistice with Austria, just at a time when all the world was expecting to see Italy freed from the hated rule of the Hapsburgs, and the Bourbons. Count Cavour resigned his ministerial posts, the indignation of the Italians was unbounded, and revolutions broke out all over the Peninsula.
THE BELLS OF SHANDON.[74]
In Memoriam.
FATHER PROUT.
( Rev. Francis Mahony.)
Father Prout (Francis Sylvester Mahony) was an early contributor to Frazer’s Magazine, he died on Friday, May 18, 1866, and the author of the above imitation of his poem died on Good Friday, 1882. Mahony was buried in Cork, on the banks of the river Lee, and within sound of the Bells of Shandon.
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BRIAN O’LIN.
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TOM MOODY.
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THE WIDOW MALONE.
Thackeray, as is well known, had a knack of writing humorous burlesque Irish songs, in imitation of the brogue and whiskeyiana of Lover and Lever. The following is, perhaps, the best of its kind, the metre resembles that of Lever’s “Widow Malone.”
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ERIN GO BRAGH.
Towards the close of the last century, when a French invasion seemed imminent, a caricature was published, entitled “The Allied Republics of France and Ireland,” in which the French are represented as having enriched themselves by plunder with the assistance of the Irish rebels. A Frenchman mounted on Ireland, which is represented as a donkey, sings:—
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There are many other versions of this song. It has always been a favourite with the Irish people at all times of political excitement; either varied or re-written, according to circumstances. At the time of the celebrated Clare election, carried by Daniel O’Connell while the “Catholic Emancipation” cause was yet pending, they sang a street ballad in Dublin running thus:—
During the “Repeal” movement (about 1840) the original song was revived, with the exception of the first verse, and the name of O’Connell was substituted for that of Lord Edward.
So said Punch about an exhibition of clap-trap foreign pictures which, in 1886, attracted sightseers of morbid tastes, in search of the horrible and the grotesque. Cunning arrangements of black curtains, grinning skeletons, headless bleeding bodies, and ghastly wounds made up a show, in which but little true art could be found.
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The rollicking Irish song Ballyhooly, which was introduced in the highly successful burlesque Monte Cristo junior, was written by Mr. R. Martin, according to rumour an officer in the Royal Artillery.
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MARY, I BELIEVED THEE TRUE.
From Health and Pleasure, or Malvern Punch. By J. B. Oddfish. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co. 1865.
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THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER.
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From Idyls of the Rink, by A. W. Mackenzie. Second Edition. 1877.
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The Battle of Beer.
(At a meeting of the United Kingdom Alliance, Sir Wilfred Lawson said the publicans were like a great army armed with bottles.)
This illustrated satirical journal commenced, as a rival to Punch, on December 13, 1845, and lasted until March 28, 1846. It contains several other parodies, all of which are uninteresting at the present time, but they may be enumerated.
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The New Whig Guide (London: W. Wright. 1819), contains several parodies of the songs of Thomas Moore and of Lord Byron, but being all on political topics they are now out of date, almost unintelligible, and not generally interesting. They are styled English Melodies, the first lines are as follows:—
“Oh! the time is past when quarter-day my cares would chase.”
(Moore’s Love’s Young Dream.)
“Old Tierney came down like a wolf on the fold.”
(Byron’s Destruction of Sennacherib.)
“Believe me, when all those ridiculous airs.”
(Moore’s Believe me, if all those endearing young charms.)
“Son of the faithless! melancholy rat!”
(Byron’s Sun of the Sleepless)
“Fare ye well—and if for Easter.”
(Byron’s Fare you well—and if for ever.)
In the early days of the century Moore and Byron were the Society poets, their verses were on everyone’s lips, and naturally parodies of them abounded. In addition to the translations of Moore’s melodies already given, several other Greek, Latin, and French versions will be found in the collected works of Francis S. Mahony.
TAFFY WAS A WELSHMAN.
Taffy is a corruption of Taffid, the Welsh form of David. This very old nursery rhyme owes its origin to the continual raids and cattle-lifting expeditions which took place on the Welsh borders in the middle ages, but it has long since lost all serious meaning with those who repeat it. Twenty years ago the late Mr. Shirley Brooks completely re-modelled the poem very much in Taffy’s favour.
The Welsh were naturally much pleased with this version, and speedily translated it into their own language:
This translation is taken from a most entertaining as well as useful work, entitled The Gossiping Guide to Wales, written by the late Mr. J. Askew Roberts, and published by Woodall, Minshall & Co., Oswestry 1886.
Of the favourite Welsh songs, such as Jenny Jones, Ah hyd y nos, and The Maid of Llangollen, only a few parodies are to be found, and they are scarcely worth reprinting.
SHALL I LIKE A HERMIT DWELL?
The burden of this song probably suggested the far more beautiful poem by George Wither, which follows:—
From The White Pilgrim, and other Poems. By Herman Charles Merivale. London, Chapman & Hall, 1883.
(By the Author’s kind permission.)
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The Cockney Shepheard to his Love.
(Arcadia.—Switchback railway now running through groves of trees, and above a veritable Fairyland of flowers, foliage, and illuminations, to strains of military music.)
The Nymph’s Reply
to the “Cockney Shepheard,” is unfavourable to his appeal to her to come and switch with him in “Arcadia.” Much sympathy will be felt with the “Shepheard” on this refusal of his love to “switch the world with noble carmanship.”
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On page 195 a list was given of the principal burlesques founded upon Sheridan’s plays, but the two following were accidentally omitted:—
Pizarro; a Spanish Rolla-King Peruvian Drama. A Burlesque in one act. by C. J. Collins. 1856. This was produced at Drury Lane Theatre, on September 22, 1856, with Mr. and Mrs. Keeley, Mrs. Frank Matthews, and George Honey in the caste.
Pizarro; or, the Leotard of Peru. An original Burlesque Extravaganza by Leicester Buckingham. Produced at the Strand Theatre, in 1862. Miss Fanny Josephs, Miss C. Saunders, Miss Woodin, Miss Ada Swanborough, Miss E. Bufton, James Rogers, and J. Clarke were the principal performers.
From The Comic Latin Grammar, by Paul Prendergast (Percival Leigh.) Published by David Bogue. London.
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GLEE.
(This lady was a grand-daughter of R. B. Sheridan.)
THE ARAB’S FAREWELL TO HIS STEED.
The four following Parodies appeared in a Prize Competition in One and All, 1879:—
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A parody with the same title as the above, and written by R. P. Nind, appeared in Rare Bits for December 18, 1886. A prize was awarded to it as being the best poem written in praise of the bicycle. There was also another parody, entitled “The Englishman’s Farewell to his Train,” which appeared in Vol. I. of Tit Bits.
From Idyls of the Rink By A. W. Mackenzie. Second Edition. London. Hardwicke & Bogue. 1877.
BINGEN ON THE RHINE.
St. Louis by the Creek.
During the Presidential Campaign of 1884 in the United States of America a great deal of jealousy and strife existed between different cities on the question as to where the nominating conventions should be held. After the Convention for the Republican party had been located at Chicago, the struggle became still more fierce as to where the Democratic Convention should assemble. It was Chicago against the field, but St. Louis a long way ahead of all other competitors. Both cities had committees working in Washington to support their interests, but finally the location was awarded to Chicago, whereupon the St. Louis people were in great wrath and indignation, and the St. Louis newspapers were very bitter in their remarks upon the contest.
Chicago, content with its victory, could afford to laugh at St. Louis, and the following parody appeared in the “Chicago Tribune”—
WHAT IS THE GERMAN’S FATHERLAND?
The following imitation of this well-known German song appeared in Notes and Queries (London), in 1871:
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THE SNUG LITTLE ISLAND.
A somewhat different arrangement of this song appeared in The Spirit of the Public Journals for 1800, Volume IV. It contained several additional verses relating to the war with France, and Lord Nelson’s victories.
Although this clever parody was published anonymously, it was known to proceed from the pen of the witty and genial “Cuthbert Bede,” the author of Verdant Green, and other works of more historical importance.
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The five following Nautical Songs were written for a Parody Competition, and printed in The Weekly Dispatch:—
Parody Competition in The Weekly Dispatch, July 31, 1887.
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The British Ass.
(Roared by Sheriff Nicolson in a Den of Scientific Lions at Edinburgh during the visit of the British Association to that city in August, 1871.)
The British Volunteer.
The country has a quarter of a million of highly trained and disciplined Volunteers, yet the Government will neither find rifle ranges for the Infantry, nor cannon for the artillery. Camp equipment, commissariat, ambulance, and medical stores, are all wanting to render the service of any practical value in time of need.
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Mr. W. Chappell’s valuable Collection of English National Airs contains a few curious parodies. Of “The Hunt is up,” a very old ballad, he remarks:—
“Musick’s Delight on the Cithern, from which our copy of the music is taken contains many very old and popular tunes, such as ‘Trip and go,’ and ‘Light o’ Love’ which we have, found in no other printed collection. The words also are evidently much older than ‘Merry Drollery,’ being parodied in ‘Ane compendious Booke of Godly and Spirituall Songs, collectit out of Sundrie of Partes of Scripture, with Sundrie of other Ballates changed out of prophaine Sanges for avoyding of Sinne and Harlottrie, &c.;’ reprinted in Edinburgh, by Andro Hart, in 1621, the original edition having been published in 1590.
“A ‘Hunt is up,’ or ‘Hunt’s up,’ was a general term for hunting songs, or rather an early song to rouse the party for the chase, something equivalent to the French Réveillée. It was afterwards generally used for any description of morning song.
The following is the parody from the “’Compendious Booke of Godly Songs.’”
As another strange instance of religious fanaticism, Mr. Chappell quotes a love-ditty of about the year 1590, and its absurd conversion into a “Godly song”—
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Quite English.
When the Comte de Paris recently issued a manifesto to the French nation, few sensible people gave it a serious thought, for Bourbons and Buonapartes are as much played out in France, as the Stuarts are in this country. Punch (September 24, 1887) ridiculed the pretensions of this would-be constitutional king, representing him as masquerading in John Bull’s garments, a world too wide for his shrunk shanks, and singing:—
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By Lady Clarke, in The Comic Offering for 1832. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
From The Comic Offering for 1832, London: Smith, Elder & Co.
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Another parody, entitled “The Sapper’s Beer,” a recollection of the Crystal Palace, occurs on p. 383 of The Month, by Albert Smith. 1851.
There are parodies of several other songs in the same volume, but they are all quite out of date.
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A parody of General G. P. Morris’s song, “Woodman, Spare that Tree.”
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Parody.
As sung by Robson, in “Masaniello,” a burlesque by Robert Brough.
Another parody of the same original was sung by the late comedian, Edward Wright, as Mr. Chatterton Chopkins, in “This House to be Sold (the property of the late William Shakespeare); Enquire Within.” This was written by J. Sterling Coyne, and produced at the Adelphi Theatre, London, September 9, 1847.
From Sharp’s Vauxhall Comic Song Book. London: Thomas Allman.
There are nine more verses of this parody. It occurs in Songs, by “Jingo,” published by Edward West, Newgate Street, London. No date, but probably about 1859. It also contains parodies of “Meet me by Moonlight Alone,” “The Cannibal Islands,” “The Ratcatcher’s Daughter,” “I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls,” and many other songs which were popular about thirty years ago.
——:o:——
There was another parody in Punch for August 20, 1887, commencing thus:—
——:o:——
——:o:——
——:o:——
——:o:——
——:o:——
——:o:——
A Cracksman’s Carol.
[A burglar, who was recently arrested, was proved to have a yacht of his own, on which he went sailing when not on burgling bent. Doubtless, in the fulness of time, the noble army of cracksmen will thus carol in a Gilbertian strain.]
A somewhat similar American parody will be found on page 128.
The Home Secretary’s Song.
“It is announced this morning that ‘the Home Secretary will address a meeting of his constituents in the Birmingham Town Hall on Monday next. On Tuesday he will open the new premises of the Aston Conservative Club, and on Wednesday attend ward meetings in the division he represents.’ The following song has, we understand, been expressly written for the Minister’s use on this occasion.”
CUMBERLAND, KING!
The Mélange, published in Liverpool in 1834. contained a number of songs of “High Tory and No Popery” sentiments, such as “Up, Protestants, Up!” in which the Pope and the Devil were ranged side by side, and a parody entitled “Rouse, Britons! Arouse.” Also the following verses to the tune of “God Save the King.”
This was evidently written before the death of George IV. in 1830; he was succeeded by William, the Clarence alluded to in the song. King William was suspected of having Liberal leanings, and an Orange plot existed to displace him and put his brother Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, on the throne, thus entirely excluding the Princess Victoria from the succession. This plot was exposed by Joseph Hume; but it never had any chance of success, for the Duke of Cumberland, profligate, brutal, and overbearing, was thoroughly hated by the English people. On the death of William IV. Cumberland became King of Hanover, and this country was finally relieved of his presence, and his plots. In the time of the Georges the following additional verse was sometimes sung:—
“Druidical Songs, by James Wilson, A.D. (i.e., Ancient Druid), of Lodge 91. Adapted to popular and well-known tunes.” George Elliott, Blackfriars Road. London, 1839.—This pamphlet of 48 pages contains a number of songs in praise of the Ancient Order of Druids, to be sung to once popular airs, the majority of which are now quite forgotten. They are not actual Parodies.
“Corn Law Rhymes, and other Poems” by Ebenezer Elliott, London. B. Steill, 1844, contained parodies of “Robin Adair,” “Scots wha hae,” “Rule Britannia,” &c., all relating to the scarcity of food, and the protective duties.
“Songs of the Press, and other Poems,” original and selected, by C. H. Timperley. London. Fisher, Son and Co. 1845.—This amusing work contains a number of songs adapted to popular airs; they are very technical in their language, and only those already quoted can be styled Parodies.
“Motley,” by Cuthbert Bede, B.A., published in 1855 by James Blackwood, London, contained a number of imitations of the popular songs of the day. Most of them related to incidents in the Crimean War.
Professor Browne, of Fenchurch Street, London, hair-dresser and wig maker, has for more than twenty-five years issued small almanacs to his customers. These have contained a number of curious parodies relating to the Professor’s business, and praising his skill and enterprise. In some cases the humour of these productions was very quaint and grotesque.
Numerous short parodies of popular songs are to be found in the theatrical burlesques and extravaganzas produced during the last fifty years. As a rule they consist of a few couplets only, and possess no interest apart from their context. Hundreds of these ephemeral jeux d’esprit have been produced, and the following are the names of the most prolific authors of dramatic burlesques:—Vincent Amcotts; Captain Arbuthnot; William and R. B. Brough; Leicester Buckingham; F. C. Burnand; H. J. Byron; Gilbert A. A’Beckett; C. Dance; Maurice G. Dowling; W. S. Gilbert; H. Such Granville; A. Halliday; W. H. Oxberry; J. R. Planché; R. Reece; William Rogers; Francis Talfourd, and Charles Selby.
A more detailed account of dramatic burlesques will be given in a future volume.
Amongst collections of songs written for societies, such as the Freemasons, Druids, Anglers, Cricket and Football Clubs, Conservative, Liberal, and Radical Associations, many are to be found written to the airs of popular songs. As a rule these are not parodies.
There are numerous advertisement parodies of songs, some of considerable merit; the best of these have been quoted.
Some purely unintentional travesties of songs are really the most laughable and amusing, as, for instance, the absurd translations given in the English libretti of the Italian operas. Those who can appreciate comic songs should certainly also read Messrs. Augner’s edition of Schubert’s songs with English and German words. The song “Alinde” commences thus in the English version: “The sun sinks down into the meer, forth hast she not ridden?” This is intended to be a translation of “Die Sonne sinkt in’s tiefe meer, da wollte sie nicht kommen.” What is a meer? In several other cases the German word meer (sea) is translated meer. As a second example take “The Fisher.” “The water rushed, the water swelled, A fisher there bestow’d, With lazy angle, felt the hush, His heart with coolness load!” How could any man with his wits about him write such arrant nonsense? It certainly seems like an attempt to translate literally, but in the “Nachtstück” (night piece) an unpardonable deviation is made from the original. “Luna mit gewölken kämpft” we are told means “Luna camped upon the clouds!” Last, but not least, in that exquisite little song “Der Tod und das Mädchen,” which is unpoetically called “Death and the Girl,” the German runs thus: “Vor über ach vor über, geh wilder knochenmann.” Surely the translator struck the summit of absurdity in rendering it, “Pass onward, pass onward, wild man with skinless bone!” It is not a matter for surprise that we seldom hear any of Schubert’s works, except perhaps “Ave Maria,” in an English drawing-room, when the translations offered are hardly fit for nigger minstrels. There is much room for improvement in the poetry of our modern popular sentimental songs, whether intended for the stage, or the concert room. Yet ridiculous as these often are, they do not approach the nonsense, called translations from Italian, French, or German songs, where the effort required to render the sense in a metre suitable to the melody seems too much for any ordinary translator to cope with.
MORE ABOUT LORD TENNYSON’S JUBILEE ODE.
Several parodies of this Ode were given in Part 43 (June) but since then some others have appeared.
The universal opinion that Tennyson’s poem was a failure, and altogether unworthy of his reputation has been expressed in several ways, one London evening paper printed a couple of the Laureate’s verses “as they ought to be” thus:—
“You then loyally, all of you, deck your houses, illuminate all your towns for a festival, and in each let a multitude loyal, each, to the heart of it one full voice of allegiance, hail the great Ceremonial of this year of her Jubilee.”
“You, the Patriot Architect, shape a stately memorial, make it regally gorgeous, some Imperial Institute, rich in symbol, in ornament, which may speak to the centuries, all the centuries after us, of this year of her Jubilee.”
Instead of being poetry of transcendent merit, it seems to be a poor imitation of the language of Scripture. Others declare it to be an imitation of the style of Walt Whitman, and the Ode has even been compared to a badly-written catalogue! One satirist went so far as to plead in the Laureate’s latest style:—
[1] I dreamed I was the Amateur Champion.
[2] Oh! Lor.
[3] Lord Granville.
[4] The winner of “The Oaks” in 1867.
[5] These three verses are often omitted.
[6] This song was written before “The Fleet” prison was abolished.
[7] Boxing-gloves.
[8] Note:—Willy-force, i.e. Wilberforce.
[9] Alluding to Mr. Gladstone’s trip on board the Pembroke Castle, in September, 1883, when the Poet Laureate was also a guest of Sir Donald Currie.
[10] Formerly the “Star” Hotel, now the “Clarendon.”
[11] The late Viscount Ranelagh, Colonel of the South Middlesex Rifles, was one of the earliest and most enthusiastic supporters of the Volunteer movement. He originated the Easter manœuvres, and was exceedingly popular with the Metropolitan Volunteers.
[12] Charles James Fox.
[13] Alluding to the title of Baronet then newly instituted by James I, who created the first Baronet, Sir Nicholas Bacon, May 22, 1611. King James, being in need of money to suppress a revolt in Ulster, sold this new title somewhat indiscriminately, and so raised a large sum.
[14] These ancient political prophecies are amusing reading, but require some little explanation. In July, 1849, Baron Lionel de Rothschild was elected M.P. for the City of London, with 6,619 votes, whilst his opponent, Lord John Manners, only polled 3,104. But Baron Rothschild was not then allowed to take his seat, nor was it until he had been thrice again elected M.P. that he was permitted to enter the House of Commons in July, 1858. Shortly afterwards a special act was passed permitting Jewish M.P.’s to omit from the oath the words, “on the faith of a Christian;” since then many eminent Jews have been elected to the House of Commons, where they have generally supported the party which formerly opposed, to the very utmost, the extension to them of civil rights and political equality.
[15] A contiguous pack; but very inferior.
[16] Jack Goddard, the first whip; and the first of whips.
[17] The name which Jim bestowed on the “little pack,” because they could fly and work all day.
[18] An allusion to The Daily Telegraph (London), which had published a very sensational report of a fight between a man and a dog.
[19] The Rt. Hon. William Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was second son of the famous Earl of Chatham who had advocated conciliatory measures in dealing with the American Colonies, a policy which was very distasteful to the King and Court. Whereas his son afterwards supported the views of the King in opposition to the majority in the House of Commons.
[20] The Poor Law Commissioners had refused to allow any charitable person to send in supplies of roast-beef and plum-pudding upon Christmas Day to the inmates of the Workhouses.
[21] Dr. E. V. Kenealy.
[22] Lord Mayor of London
[23] Commander of the royal troops against the Scots in the 1745 rebellion.
[24] Lord Coleridge.
[25] A skit on Lord Wolseley.
[26] Mr. Gilbert appears particularly fond of this refrain, which he user, with certain variations, again and again. He probably borrowed it from a song popular about 200 years ago:—
[27] Mr. Goschen proposed to reduce the Income Tax from 8d. to 7d. in the £, and to take off 4d. in the lb. from the duty on tobacco, a concession from which the consumer will not reap the smallest benefit.
[28] On the boot tree. This is a poetical intimation that the singer does not intend going out for a walk.
[29] A red star affixed to the frame, or picture, denotes that the picture is sold.—Academy Catalogue.
[30] Louis Phillippe.
[31] Napoleon III.
[32] Alluding to the complete and sudden change in the political creed of The Daily Telegraph. (London.)
[33] The Duke of Marlborough.
[34] “Old King Cole” as he was familiarly known, was a fussy little old gentleman who founded the clique, notorious as the “South Kensington Gang,” which for the last twenty years has enriched itself at the expense of the nation.
[35] Lord Randolph Churchill.
[36] The authors, as in gallantry bound, wish this lady to continue anonymous.
[37] Henry Phillpotts, Bishop of Exeter, was a notorious controversialist and pamphleteer. He became very unpopular in his diocese owing to his stern and bigoted conduct. He was strongly opposed to the emancipation of the Roman Catholics.
[38] Mr. J. L. Hatton, the composer of Old Simon the Cellarer, The Friars of Orders Grey, The Leather Bottel, “Good bye, Sweetheart, good bye,” and a number of other popular songs and ballads, died at Margate in September 1886, at the age of 77. He had long been connected with the Orchestras of the principal London theatres.
[39] Salad, yes, by all means, only let it be eaten from a separate plate. But Pickles with hot roast mutton? Perish the thought! Red currant jelly if thou wilt, but Pickles—never!—Ed. P.
[40] This song was introduced into Davenant’s comedy of The Rivals, 1668; but is probably still older. The phrase to “marry with a rush ring,” is introduced in the ancient ballad of “The Winchester Wedding:”—
Meaning a marriage without the rites of religion, and to be dissolved at the will of the parties as easily as a rush ring may be broken.
[41] To the shade of Benjamin Disraeli.
[42] The Annual Cattle Shows of the Smithfield Club were formerly held in the Baker Street Bazaar.
[43] This clever parody has reference to the attempt made by the Duke of Northumberland to evade the payment of Mr. Pitt’s Income-tax. To mitigate the severity of the pressure on persons with large families, a deduction of ten per cent. was allowed to persons who had above a certain number of children. Amongst others the wealthy Duke of Northumberland was not ashamed to avail himself of this clause.
[44] Sir Hugh Smithson married the Lady Elizabeth, daughter and only child of the Duke of Northumberland, who died in 1750. In the same year he obtained an Act of Parliament, authorizing him to assume the surname and arms of Percy. In 1767 the King created him Earl Percy and Duke of Northumberland. The hero of this ballad was the eldest son of this marriage.
[45] This alludes to Mr. Pitt’s Tax upon Hair-powder, which turned out a failure; the public declining its use rather than pay the tax. Those who continued it were called “guinea-pigs,” the tax being a guinea per head.
[46] Sir Robert Peel.
[47] Chevy.—To rudely harass or brutally bait.
[48] Sir Stafford Northcote.
[49] Lord Randolph Churchill.
[50] Sir Michael Hicks Beach.
[51] Sir Redvers Buller.
[52] The Bill for the suppression of Corrupt Practices at Elections.
[53] Brasen Nose College, Oxford.
[54] Landlord
[55] Nowhere
[56] Brandy and pint-measure of beer
[57] Songs
[58] German Students’ songs
[59] Waitress.
[60] Overseers.
[61] This play, Langbaine says, was written by Shakespeare.
[62] Jonson had the palsy at the time.
[63] The names of several of Jonson’s Dramatis Personæ.
[64] New Inn, Act iii. Scene 2.—Act iv. Scene 4.
[65] This break was purposely designed by the poet, to expose that equally singular one in Ben’s third stanza.
[66] Richard Broome, wrote with success several comedies. He had been the amanuensis or attendant of Ben Jonson.
[67] The lines—
were evidently suggested by Shakspeare:—
[68] The following well-known glee is formed on this song:—
[69] Sir E. J. Reed, M.P.
[70] Charles Dickens then resided at Gad’s Hill, near Rochester, Kent.
[71] The Young Tory Leader, Lord Randolph Churchill.
[72] Mr. Joseph Chamberlain.
[73] Referring to a prize-fight between Randal and Martin.
[74] Shandon Church, in the city of Cork.
[75] Frazer’s Magazine first appeared February 1, 1830, and Father Prout was one of its earliest contributors. It was discontinued in 1882.
[76] “Big Ben” of Westminster, which was cast in 1855, and weighs about 14 tons, is cracked, owing to an improper mixture of the bell-metal in casting.
[77] Gaelic. Sen Bhan Vochd—poor old woman—an affectionate name for Ireland.
[78] Bantry.
[79] Angel-gold was of a finer kind than crown gold.
[80] Lord Charles Beresford’s resignation was not accepted.
[81] Editor of The Daily Telegraph.
[82] The name of a favourite Elephant killed in Exeter Change in 1826.
[83] Mr. Sturmey has recently written a Handbook of Bicycling.
[84] In the American Exhibition held at Earl’s Court in 1887, Colonel W. F. Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, with a troupe of cowboys and Indians, gave daily performances entitled The Wild West.
The authors of the original songs are arranged in alphabetical order; the titles of the original poems are printed in italics, followed by the Parodies, the authors of which are named, in italics, wherever possible.
PAGE | ||
Advertisement parodies | 278 | |
Corn Law Rhymes. 1844. E. Elliott | 278 | |
Druidical songs. 1839. J. Wilson | 278 | |
Leigh Hunt and The Examiner. 1813 | 101 | |
Motley. 1855. Cuthbert Bede | 278 | |
The New Whig Guide. W. Wright. 1819 | 255 | |
Perfection. T. Haynes Baily | 42 | |
Schubert’s songs in English translations | 278 | |
Songs of the Press. 1845. C. H. Timperley | 278 | |
A Town Garland. H. Sambrook Leigh | 53 | |
Theatrical burlesques and extravaganzas | 278 | |
A List of authors of the same | 278 | |
Thomas Haynes Bayly. | ||
She wore a wreath of roses | 42 | |
He wore a brace of pistols. Punch | 42 | |
He dined at Bertholini’s. Albert Smith | 42 | |
He wore grey worsted stockings | 43 | |
He wore a suit of Moses | 43 | |
She wore a wreath of roses. Shirley Brooks | 43 | |
He wore a pair of “mittens” | 43 | |
He rode a tandem tricycle | 44 | |
I saw her but a moment | 44 | |
Oh! no, we never mention her | 44 | |
Oh! am I then remembered still | 44 | |
Oh no! we’ll never mention him. R. H. Barham | 45 | |
Oh! no we never mention him. The Gownsman | 45 | |
Oh no we never finger it. Figaro | 45 | |
Oh! no! we never mention her! | 45 | |
Oh! no I say; don’t mention it | 46 | |
Oh! no, I never name my wife | 46 | |
Oh, no! I never mentioned it. Lady Clarke | 272 | |
I’d be a butterfly | 46 | |
Ah sim Papilio (Latin version) | 46 | |
I would not be a butterfly. H. S. Leigh | 47 | |
I’d be a parody. Sharpe’s Magazine | 47 | |
I’d be a rifleman. Bentley Ballads | 47 | |
I make the butter fly. G. O. Trevelyan | 47 | |
I’d be a Rothschild. The Mirror | 47 | |
Me be a nigger boy. Fraser’s Magazine | 48 | |
I’d be a minister. Figaro, 1833 | 48 | |
I’d be a butterfly. Punch, 1856 | 48 | |
I’d be a bottle-fly. Blackwood, 1828 | 273 | |
We met—’twas in a crowd | 48 | |
We met—’twas in a mob | 49-50 | |
We met—’twas in your shop | 49 | |
We met—’twas in St. Giles | 49 | |
We met—’twas on the ground | 49 | |
We met—’twas in a field | 49 | |
They met—’twas in a storm | 49 | |
We met—’twas in the House | 50 | |
We met in upper school | 50 | |
The Soldier’s Tear. | ||
Upon the hill he turned | 50 | |
Beside the church he stood | 51 | |
Upon his heel he turned. Figaro | 51 | |
Upon the ground he stood. Punch | 51 | |
In the street he turn’d | 51 | |
Against the rails he leant. Shirley Brooks | 52 | |
Upon the pier he turned. Punch | 52 | |
He turned upon his heel | 52 | |
Upon the hill he turned | 272 | |
The sapper’s beer. 1851 | 272 | |
She stood beside the counter | 272 | |
Satins and silks I sang gravely and gaily | 42 | |
Out John! out, John! | 53 | |
Out John (to John Bright). Truth. 1886 | 53 | |
“Nay” John (Temperance song) | 54 | |
Out, Tom! (to Sir Thomas Brassey). Truth | 55 | |
Oh! the Old House at Home | 55 | |
A Parody from A Bowl of Punch. 1848 | 55 | |
The Broadwood is opened. Fun | 52 | |
I have taken ten glasses of sherry. Fun | 53 | |
(Two Imitations of T. H. Bayly, by Henry S. Leigh. 1871.) | ||
Alfred Bunn. | ||
The heart bowed down. | ||
The sot bowed down by too much drink | 33 | |
When other lips and other hearts. | ||
When other months amid the range | 33 | |
When other lips and other eyes. J. R. Planché | 33 | |
When other wits and other bards | 33 | |
I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls | 33 | |
I dreamt that I stood in the Crystal Halls | 34 | |
I dreamt that I dined in Conservative halls | 34 | |
I dreamt that I sat in the House of Lords | 34 | |
I dreamt that I danced at Mabille balls | 34 | |
I dreamt that I dined on marbled beef | 34 | |
I dreamt that I dwelt. H. Furniss | 274 | |
I dreamt that I gazed at the Marble Arch | 274 | |
The light of other days is faded | 179 | |
The coat of other days is faded | 179 | |
The foggy Gin-Fluenza days | 179 | |
Thomas Campbell. | ||
Ye gentlemen of England. Martyn Parker | 243 | |
Ye pugilists of England. 1819 | 243 | |
Ye President’s and L’Amy’s men | 244 | |
You grand old man of England | 244 | |
Ye barristers of England | 244 | |
Ye gentlemen of England | 244 | |
Ye Liberals of England | 244 | |
You noblemen of England | 245 | |
Ye Unionists of England | 245 | |
Ye cricketers of England | 245 | |
Ye bicyclists of England. Punch | 276 | |
Lewis Carroll. | ||
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland | 55 | |
As a pantomime at Woolwich. J. Addison | 55 | |
As a musical play. By H. Savile Clarke | 56 | |
The walrus and the carpenter. | ||
“The sun was shining on the sea” | 56 | |
The vulture and the husbandman. | 57 | |
“The rain was raining cheerfully.” Light Green | 57 | |
The Nyum Nyum chortled by the sea | 57 | |
Jabberwocky. | ||
“’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves.” | 58 | |
Waggawocky. (on the Tichborne Trial) | ||
“’Twas May-time, and the lawyer coves.” | 59 | |
Across the swiffling waves they went. Truth. | 59 | |
’Twas grilling hot, the bloky cove. ” | 59 | |
“Can you move a little faster?” ” | 59 | |
Henry Carey. | ||
God save the King. | 111 | |
Grand Dieu, Sauvez le Roy | 111 | |
God save Great George our King | 111 | |
Domine Salvum fac Regem. 1795. | 112 | |
Heil dir im Sieger Kranz | 111 | |
Version in honour of William IV. | 112 | |
Victory, Freedom and Fox. 1784. | 113 | |
Our Mother Church. 1790. | 113 | |
God save great Johnny Bull. 1809. | 113 | |
(Sung during the O. P. Riots) | ||
Hail! Masonry Divine | 114 | |
God save the Rights of Man. 1820. | 114 | |
People! save yourselves. 1871. | 114 | |
“X” save our graceless Chief. 1884. | 114 | |
Down with the Lords. 1884. | 115 | |
God save Gladstone. 1885. | 115 | |
Soon will our gracious Queen. 1886 | 115 | |
Verse composed on the Queen’s Marriage | 115 | |
Verse for the Jubilee year. 1887. | 115 | |
God bless our native land. | 115 | |
Bob shave great George our King | 89 | |
Cumberland, King! | 278 | |
Thy choicest curse in store | 278 | |
Orange plots against the throne | 278 | |
Sally in our Alley | 21 | |
Of all the girls that are so smart | 21 | |
“The Rhino.” 1824 | 21 | |
“Sally” in Latin. In Saram G. K. Gillespie | 21 | |
Of all the flats with blunt that part. Punch | 21 | |
Of all the Peers within the house | 21 | |
Of all the days that’s in the week | 21, 23 | |
Of all the folks in purse that smart | 22 | |
Of all tragediennes so smart. Funny Folks | 22 | |
Of all the brutes I loathe to meet, | 22 | |
Of all the girls in our town. S. Brett | 22 | |
Of all the follies on our part. Punch | 23 | |
Of all the Rads that are so smart | 203 | |
Of all the would-be witty Rads | 203 | |
Eliza Cook. | ||
I love it, I love it. (The old arm chair) | 6 | |
I loathe it, I loathe it! Henry S. Leigh | 6 | |
I love it. (The new arm chair) Punch | 6 | |
I loved it. (The Speaker’s chair) Truth | 6 | |
I dread it, I dread it! Funny Folks | 7 | |
I hate it. (The dentist’s chair) Modern Society | 7 | |
That gridiron by the mantel-piece. After Eliza Cook | 7 | |
Charles Dibdin. | ||
The Jolly Young Waterman. | ||
“And did you ne’er hear of a jolly young Waterman?” | 66 | |
And did you not hear of a jolly young barrister? | 67 | |
Oh, did you e’er hear of such jolly bad water man? | 67 | |
And did you ne’er hear of a jolly old waterman? | 67 | |
Oh! did you not hear of a handsome young clergyman? | 67 | |
Oh, did you ne’er hear of a jolly young trilobite? | 67 | |
And did you not hear of that luckless “young gentleman?” | 67 | |
Oh! did you ne’er hear of a jolly old woodcutter? (On Mr. Gladstone) | 68 | |
Did you ever hear tell of a jolly young rifleman? (On Lord Ranelagh) | 68 | |
Did you ever hear tell of the jolly young waterman? | 68 | |
The High Mettled Racer | 68 | |
“See, the course throng’d with gazers” | 68 | |
See, the shore lined with gazers. C. Dibdin | 69 | |
See, the house throng’d with members. 1832 | 69 | |
Since of course we want razors. Cuthbert Bede | 69 | |
See the pier throng’d with gazers! Punch | 69 | |
The village born beauty | 70 | |
My name d’ye see’s Tom Tough | 70 | |
Yes, my name d’ye see’s Tom Tough. Truth | 70 | |
Yes, my name d’ye know’s Tom Tough. Truth | 71 | |
My Polly | ||
Do you want to know the ugliest craft? | 80 | |
Wapping Old Stairs. | ||
“Your Molly has never been false” | 65 | |
Untrue to my Ulric I never could be. Thackeray | 65 | |
Adelina has flirted. Punch | 65 | |
Your Fanny was never false hearted. Thackeray | 65 | |
Your money will never be safe | 65 | |
Tom Bowling. | ||
“Here a sheer hulk lies poor Tom Bowling” | 65 | |
Here a sheer hulk from fierce round bowling | 66 | |
Here, on the floor stands famed Tom Brassey | 66 | |
But a sheer wreck, sits poor Tom Noddy | 66 | |
“Drunken Sally.” By L. M. Thornton | 66 | |
Here lies a bit of Tom Torpedo | 268 | |
A sheer hulk lies the “Devastation” | 268 | |
’Twas post meridian, half-past four, | 72 | |
’Twas prime meridian, twelve at noon | 72 | |
’Twas when the great review was o’er | 267 | |
’Twas post meridian, half-past four | 267 | |
As pensive one night in my garret I sate. | 72 | |
I had knocked out the dust from my pipe | 72 | |
Thomas Dibdin. | ||
Deserted by the waning moon | 73 | |
Deserted by the waning purse | 73 | |
Deserted by declining day | 73 | |
Hot from the guard room. Punch | 73 | |
Daddy Neptune one day | 266 | |
Henry Byron one day to A. Harris did say | 266 | |
(On the pantomime of Robinson Crusoe) C. Bede | ||
May we ne’er want a friend | 73 | |
An answer to the foregoing. Tom Hood | 73 | |
Go, patter to Lords of the Admiralty | 268 | |
Charles Dickens. | ||
Oh! a dainty plant is the Ivy green. | 9 | |
Oh! a dreary print is the Daily News | 9 | |
Oh! a splendid soup is the true Pea green | 9 | |
Oh! a dainty growth is official routine. Punch | 10 | |
Oh! a dainty plant is the Cabbage green | 10 | |
A fine old thing is the yard of clay | 10 | |
Oh, a rare old toper was I. V. Green. Judy | 11 | |
Oh! a cunning “plant” doth the Jew I ween | 275 | |
Oh! a fine old chaunt is “God save the Queen.” | 275 | |
They told him, gently she was dead. | 11 | |
They told him gently he was mad | 11 | |
They told him gently she was gone | 11 | |
Henry Fielding. | ||
The Roast Beef of Old England | 104 | |
The Kail-Brose o’ auld Scotland | 104 | |
Oh, the true Whigs of Old England. 1784 | 104 | |
O! the white vests of Young England. 1844 | 104 | |
Oh! the brown beer of Old England | 105 | |
The Frog and the Bull | 105 | |
Oh! the boiled beef of Old England. 1858 | 105 | |
The Pauper’s Chaunt | 106 | |
O, the boiled beef of Australia. 1872 | 106 | |
The glorious plum-pudding of England. 1879 | 106 | |
David Garrick. | ||
Come, cheer up my lads! | 76 | |
Come, cheer up my lads. 1784 | 76 | |
” ” ” merry Christmas is near | 76 | |
” ” ” (for the Liverpool election 1812) | 76 | |
Unfurl the old flag. J. T. Wright | 77 | |
The day dawns upon us. J. H. Wheeler | 77 | |
Arouse, men of England. D. Evans | 77 | |
Awake, sons of Britain | 77 | |
W. S. Gilbert. | ||
A list of his dramatic productions | 116 | |
Trial by Jury | 116 | |
The Judge’s song | 116 | |
Song on Breach of Promise of Marriage | 117 | |
H. M. S. Pinafore. | ||
I am the Captain of the Pinafore | 117 | |
I am the Mahdi of Mid-Lothian | 117 | |
I am the Captain of this Home Rule corps | 117 | |
I’m the curse of my country. Truth. 1884 | 118 | |
Joe Golightly, or the First Lord’s daughter | 139 | |
When I was a lad I served a term. (Disraeli.) | 118 | |
When he was a lad he served a term. (Garfield.) | 118 | |
Little Primrose’s song. (Lord Beaconsfield.) | 119 | |
Your Grace, we have important information | 119 | |
He is an Englishman. (Tichborne Claimant) | 119 | |
The Pirates of Penzance. | ||
Policemen’s chorus | 120 | |
Hem! I represent the law. 1883 | 120 | |
Song by the Prince of Wales. 1884 | 120 | |
When the Free and Independent goes a-voting | 120 | |
The Wheelist’s chorus. A. Gibbons | 120, 121 | |
When Lord Beaky’s not engaged in lamentation | 120 | |
When a fellow finds in tennis his enjoyment | 121 | |
When the window “prising” burglar. Fun | 276 | |
Patience; or, Bunthorne’s Bride. 1881 | 121 | |
F. C. Burnand’s The Colonel | 121 | |
The Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood | 122 | |
The Æsthetic Movement in England | 122 | |
When I first put this uniform on | 122 | |
The impecunious officer | 122 | |
Song on the Kilt by Prince Battenberg | 122 | |
When I first put Joe’s uniform on | 123 | |
If you want a receipt for that popular mystery | 123 | |
If you want a resiet for a novel stenografy. The Phonetic Journal. 1886 | 123 | |
If you’re anxious for to shine | 124 | |
If you want to cut a shine. P. Bosecic | 124 | |
Prithee, pretty maiden—prithee tell me true | 124 | |
Prithee, Vernon Harcourt. The Sporting Times | 124 | |
Prithee, Secretary, what’s the latest news | 125 | |
Prithee, gentle working-man. Truth. 1883 | 125 | |
“The Times,” newspaper blunders, and hoaxes | 124 | |
Sir W. Vernon Harcourt and the “Times” | 124 | |
Trio in “Patience,” by Duke, Colonel and Major | 125 | |
Trio in House of Commons by Lord R. Churchill, Ashmead Bartlett, and Sir Drummond Wolff. Punch. 1882 | 125 | |
Song by the Social Belle. Truth | 126 | |
“The St. James’s Gazette” on Mr. Joseph Chamberlain in 1885 | 126 | |
“A very long nosed young man,” and other verses on the political celebrities of 1882 | 126 | |
The flippity-flop young man. H. Adams | 127 | |
On Sir Wilfrid Lawson, F. C. Burnand, Henry Irving, Miss Terry, and General Booth | 127 | |
On the Daily Telegraph, Gladstone, Salisbury and Sir Stafford Northcote | 128 | |
A common-place young girl | 128 | |
A practical, plain young girl | 277 | |
Iolanthe; or, the Peer and the Peri | ||
When upon the stage we play. The Referee, 1883 | 128 | |
A Lord Chief Justice, by common consent | 129 | |
I’m such a susceptible Chancellor | 129 | |
When I went to the Church | 129 | |
When I took my commission | 129 | |
When I went to the bar | 130 | |
When I hospitals walked | 130 | |
Said a Barrister, low, to himself | 130 | |
Said a British General | 130 | |
Said a West-end Tradesman | 130 | |
Said a jerry Builder | 130 | |
Said a City Alderman | 130 | |
Said a man of fashion | 130 | |
Said I to myself (Henry Irving) | 130 | |
When I went to the City (the masher) | 131 | |
Oh, nation gay (England to France) | 131 | |
Oh, foolish swain (Lawn Tennis) | 131 | |
Princess Ida. | ||
Henry George as the disagreeable man | 132 | |
If green cheddar you desire | 132 | |
I was not so very old | 133 | |
Of all the plans there are on earth | 133 | |
Ye who are cumbersome and slow | 133 | |
Common sense we bar | 133 | |
If you give me your attention. (Col. Knox) | 133 | |
The Mikado. | ||
On a battle field gory | 134 | |
Three little maids from school | 134 | |
On a seat in the garden | 134 | |
The flowers that bloom in the pot | 135 | |
The flowers that bloom in the spring | 135 | |
The Rads all the yokels to gain, tra la | 139 | |
At this general election, 1886 | 135 | |
How much they’ve all been missed | 135 | |
Three little aids to health are we | 136 | |
In a cot by a river a lady forlorn | 136 | |
The Home Secretary’s song | 277 | |
Ruddigore; or, the witch’s curse. | 136 | |
Alterations, and omissions | 137 | |
Once upon a midnight dreary | 137 | |
Oh, why am I gloomy and sad | 138 | |
I once was a very abandoned person | 138 | |
Come hither, ye slaves of the weed | 138 | |
“Ruddy George,” at Toole’s Theatre | 138 | |
Roll on, thick haze, roll on | 139 | |
It really doesn’t matter | 277 | |
Pygmalion and Galatea | 139 | |
Chiselling Pygmalion | 139 | |
The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree | 140 | |
Bab Ballads | 139 | |
King Thebaw of Burmah | 140 | |
Thebaw was the king of the golden toe | 141 | |
A monarch of Burmah, I cannot tell why | 141 | |
A parody by F. B. Doveton | 141 | |
The Bishop and the Ballet | 142 | |
Thomas Hood. | ||
The dream of Eugene Aram. | ||
The dream of the Bilious Beadle. A. Shirley | 89 | |
Lady Arthur Hill. | ||
In the gloaming. | ||
In the gloaming, oh! my darling! Icycles | 5 | |
” ” ” ” Judy | 5 | |
In the shooting, oh, my comrade. A. H. Smith | 5 | |
In the gloaming, O my darlings! Girls’ Own Paper | 5 | |
In the gloaming, oh, my proctor. A. H. Smith | 5 | |
In the steamer, O my darling | 63 | |
On the ocean, oh, my darling | 275 | |
Robert Herrick. | ||
Fair Daffodils we weep to see | 39 | |
Dear little bills, we weep to see. H. Cayley | 39 | |
Order ye Wallsends while ye may | 40 | |
Why do I love my love | 40 | |
Ah, Ben! say how or when | 181 | |
A fine frank roughness in the dress | 181 | |
Cherry ripe, ripe, I cry | 40 | |
There’s a garden in her face | 40 | |
Water-pipes, water-pipes, pipes, I cry | 40 | |
Coffee hot, coffee hot, hot, I cry | 41 | |
Rosy wine, rosy wine, wine we sip | 41 | |
Heavy wet, heavy wet, still I cry | 41 | |
Cherry pie! cherry pie! pie! I cry | 41 | |
Mutton chops, mutton chops, chops, I cry | 41 | |
Cherry bounce, cherry bounce, bounce, I cry | 41 | |
Guinea-pigs, guinea-pigs, pigs, I cry | 41 | |
Cats’ meat, cats’ meat, meat, I cry. C. H. Ross | 259 | |
Her pretty feet like snails did creep | 41 | |
Her feet beneath her petticoat. J. Suckling | 41 | |
I die if I but spy. Ernest Radford | 259 | |
Ben Jonson. | ||
Ben Jonson’s Ode on the Stage. 1631 | 212 | |
An answer to the above by Owen Feltham | 212 | |
Another reply by Randolph | 213 | |
Drink to me only with thine eyes | 31 | |
Drink to me only from a jug. 1823 | 31 | |
Wink at me only with glass eye | 31 | |
Bring to me only, if you’re wise | 31 | |
Drink wine only with thy drugs | 31 | |
Rink to me only with thine ice | 32 | |
Talk to me only with thine eyes. H. S. Leigh | 32 | |
Print for me only just one word | 181 | |
I sent thee late my able book | 181 | |
Come to my lobby with thy vote. C. H. Waring | 259 | |
Richard Lovelace. | ||
To Althea. | ||
When Love, with unconfinèd Wings | 214 | |
Grey hairs do not a prophet make. C. H. Waring | 214 | |
Champagne will not a dinner make | 214 | |
Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind | 214 | |
Tell me not, sweet, it is a dodge | 214 | |
Dr. Charles Mackay. | ||
John Brown’s Philosophy. | ||
“I’ve a guinea I can spend” | 198 | |
An answer to the above, | ||
“I’ve listened to your song” J. R. Planché | 199 | |
Cheer, boys! cheer! | 199 | |
Beer! boys! beer! J. A. Hardwick | 199, 200 | |
Vote, boys, vote! | 199 | |
There’s a good time coming, boys | 200 | |
Curses on thee, haughty England | 200 | |
There’s a good road making, boys. 1846 | 201 | |
I met the waiter in his prime | 201 | |
It’s a long time coming, boys. 1848 | 201 | |
On the Salvation Army | 202 | |
Parody from Songs for Liberal Electors | 202 | |
The past has proved a trying time | 202 | |
To the West! To the West! | 202 | |
I’m in love! I’m in love! | 202 | |
Far, far upon the Sea. | ||
Pa, out upon the spree. J. A. Hardwick | 202 | |
Christopher Marlowe. | ||
Come live with me, and be my love | 36 | |
If all the world. Sir W. Raleigh | 37 | |
The above in Izaak Walton’s “Angler,” | 37 | |
Come live with me. F. C. Burnand | 38 | |
Come, rink with me. Judy | 38 | |
Come dwell with me, and be my own | 232 | |
Come dine with me (on mutton chops) | 232 | |
Come, switch with me my cockney love | 258 | |
The Nymph’s reply | 258 | |
Hon. Mrs. Norton. | ||
The Arab’s farewell to his Steed. | ||
“My beautiful, my beautiful” | 260 | |
The dying vendor of vegetables to his palfrey of Jerusalem | 260 | |
A traveller’s farewell to his train | 260 | |
My—anything but beautiful. P. F. Allen | 261 | |
My pewter full, my pewter full | 261 | |
My bicycle, my bicycle. One and All | 262 | |
My beautiful, my bicycle | 262 | |
The Englishman’s farewell to his train | 263 | |
The public’s address to his cabman | 263 | |
The rinker’s farewell to her skates | 263 | |
Bingen on the Rhine | 264 | |
St. Louis by the creek Chicago Tribune | 264 | |
Love not, ye hapless sons of clay! | 13 | |
Smoke not your weeds, nor pipes of clay | 13 | |
“Stay” not! no longer don. Punch | 14 | |
Vote not for me, I pray. Robert Lowe | 14 | |
Adelaide Anne Proctor. | ||
I had a message to send her | 2 | |
I had a message to send her. Funny Folks | 2 | |
I had a message to give her. Fun | 2 | |
I’d another message to send her. 1876 | 64 | |
Seated one day at the organ | 3 | |
Batting one day at the Oval. G. F. Grace | 3 | |
Seated one day on the organ. Judy. 1880 | 3 | |
Seated at church in the winter. A. H. S. | 4 | |
Seated for years at the organ. Punch | 4 | |
Seated one day at a Café. Judy. | 4 | |
Seated one day on an organ. J. W. G. W. | 35 | |
Seated one day at the window | 35 | |
Seated one day in her carriage. George Grossmith | 36 | |
Standing one day at his organ. Judy | 275 | |
B. W. Proctor. (Barry Cornwall.) | ||
Sing! who sings? | 203 | |
Ride! who rides? | 203 | |
Dine! who’d dine? | 204 | |
The sea, the sea, the open sea | 204 | |
The Cam, the Cam! the dirty Cam. 1836 | 204 | |
The pipe, the pipe! the German pipe | 204 | |
The gin, the gin! Hodge’s cordial gin | 204 | |
The mail, the mail! the Royal mail | 205 | |
The road, the road! the turnpike road! | 205 | |
Of steak, of steak—of prime rump steak | 205 | |
The tea, the tea! the genuine tea! | 206 | |
The See, the See! the wealthy See! | 206 | |
The tea, the tea! the beef, beef tea! | 206 | |
The C! the C! the alto C! | 206 | |
The van, the van! the hurrying van! | 207 | |
The news, the news! the motley news | 210 | |
The press! the press! the glorious press! | 210 | |
King Death was a rare old fellow | 207 | |
July is a rare old fellow | 207 | |
The Return of the Admiral. | ||
“How gallantly, how merrily we ride along the sea” | 207 | |
The return of the omnibus. Albert Smith. | 207 | |
The Alderman. 1884 | 208 | |
The cruise of the old admiral | 208 | |
The return of the Members. Diogenes. 1853 | 208 | |
The term of the Freshman. Canon Hole | 209 | |
The return to Tyrol. Rev. J. W. Ebsworth | 209 | |
The baby in the train. J. Ashby Sterry | 209 | |
J. Howard Payne | ||
Home, sweet Home | 26 | |
Two additional verses and notes | 26 | |
The court of my sovereign. Figaro. 1832 | 27 | |
’Mid fritters and lollipops | 27 | |
’Mid Westminster’s Palace. Punch. 1846 | 27 | |
Though crosses and candles | 27 | |
Up courts and round palaces | 27 | |
From circuit to circuit | 27 | |
’Midst mansions and palaces. Truth. 1882 | 28 | |
’Mid hardships and hovels. Weekly Dispatch | 28 | |
Through clubdoms fair palaces ” | 28 | |
’Mid new courts and chambers ” | 29 | |
In Westminster Palaces ” | 29 | |
Though bidden to roam. Truth. 1885 | 29 | |
Fond hearts bear its sweetness ” | 29 | |
In the Soudan desert ” | 29 | |
Though far from dear England ” | 29 | |
In joy or in sadness ” | 29 | |
Tho’ rich be our portion ” | 29 | |
I pray that I reach ” | 29 | |
How many in dreams ” | 29 | |
Like bird to its nest ” | 29 | |
’Mid falsehood and fallacies ” | 30 | |
’Mid soup, fish, and entrées ” | 30 | |
’Midst mansions or cottages ” | 30 | |
’Mid gin shops or “palaces” ” | 30 | |
’Mid pleasures and palaces ” | 30 | |
’Mid worry and bustle ” | 30 | |
Of all the strong drinks ” | 30 | |
In islands or continents ” | 30 | |
’Neath measures and policies ” | 30 | |
When worries and creditors ” | 31 | |
’Mid Ritualistic clergy ” | 31 | |
’Mid play sure, sand palaces ” | 31 | |
Index to catch lines of Choruses. | ||
Home, home, sweet, sweet home | 26 | |
Place, place! sweet sweet place | 27 | |
Pomme! pomme! Beignet de Pomme! | 27 | |
Reid, Reid! doctor Reid | 27 | |
Rome, Rome! sweet, sweet Rome | 27, 31 | |
Home! home! they’ve no home | 27 | |
Home! home! vile, vile home! | 28 | |
Home! home! sweet rule of home! | 29 | |
Law, law, cheap, cheap law | 30 | |
Beef, beef, roast, roast beef | 30 | |
Tea, Tea, sweet, sweet tea! | 30 | |
Home, home, bleak, bleak home | 30 | |
Roam, roam, sweet to roam! | 30 | |
When spring cleaning times come | 30 | |
Rum, rum, good, good rum | 30 | |
Jones, Jones, still, still Jones | 30 | |
Home rule, rule at home | 30 | |
Boulogne! oh Boulogne! | 31 | |
Home rule! sweet home rule! | 271 | |
Ale, ale! Double X ale! | 271 | |
Sir Walter Raleigh. | ||
Go soul, the body’s guest | 211 | |
Go, truth, unwelcome guest | 212 | |
Shall I like a hermit dwell? | 257 | |
Shall I, wasting in despair. G. Wither | 257 | |
Shall my heart be filled with care? | 258 | |
Shall I fret and fume and swear? H. C. Merivale | 258 | |
Richard Brinsley Sheridan. | ||
Burlesques on his plays | 195 | |
The Critic Anticipated. 1779 | 195 | |
Elizabeth; or, the Invisible Armada | 195 | |
The Ar-Rivals. 1884 | 195 | |
Pizarro; a Spanish Rolla-king drama | 259 | |
Pizarro; or, the Leotard of Peru | 259 | |
Here’s to the maiden of bashful fifteen | 195 | |
A health to the nut brown lass | 196 | |
Here’s to each Tory and Radical too 1845 | 196 | |
Love, you must own, is a comical thing | 196 | |
Here’s to the voter whose terms are fifteen | 196 | |
Here’s to the ringman. The Globe | 197 | |
Easter for maidens of bashful fifteen | 197 | |
Here’s to the man with a balance in hand | 197 | |
Here’s to the fresher not out of his teens | 197 | |
Here’s to the motley, mellifluous host | 197 | |
Smart Churchill, ’cute Chamberlain | 198 | |
All names of the male kind masculine call | 259 | |
Had I a heart for falsehood framed | 198 | |
Had I a pound of tender steak | 198 | |
This bottle’s the sun of our table | 259 | |
Bicycle’s the sun of our stable. J. G. Dalton | 259 | |
Sir John Suckling. | ||
Why so pale and wan, fond lover? | 178 | |
Why so sad and pale, fond lover? 1819 | 178 | |
Ballad upon a wedding | 178 | |
Aylesbury Races. Sir J. H. Moore | 178 | |
Algernon Charles Swinburne. | ||
The Question. The Daily Telegraph. 1887 | 147 | |
The Answer. The Daily News. 1887 | 147 | |
James Thomson. | ||
Rule Britannia | 108 | |
A Latin version. Blackwood’s Magazine | 108 | |
When Canning’s name was first proclaim’d | 109 | |
When Britain first, impell’d by pride | 109 | |
When freedom’s foes mock labour’s groan | 109 | |
When first the South, to fury fanned | 109 | |
When faction at the De’ils command | 110 | |
When Beaconsfield, at civic board. 1879 | 110 | |
Jingoes ever will be knaves | 110 | |
Brickbats never will be slates | 110 | |
Lord Tennyson. | ||
Lord Tennyson’s Jubilee Ode. | ||
Macmillan’s Magazine. April, 1887 | 142 | |
“Fifty times the rose has flower’d” | 142 | |
Fifty times the Laureate sharpened his pencil. The Globe | 143 | |
Fifty times the clown has grinned. Punch | 143 | |
Fifty times the lines have slipped and halted. Scraps | 144 | |
Fifty times our nose has twirled and tilted. Moonshine | 144 | |
Fifty times seven days are past and ended. St. James’s Gazette | 145 | |
You, the Laureate (O Fortunate) | 146 | |
He, revered for a genius. F. B. Doveton | 146 | |
Fifty times the State has fooled | 146 | |
Ye, who revel in authorship | 146 | |
She, disliked for a craftiness | 146 | |
(These five are from The Weekly Dispatch.) | ||
Fifty times my nose I’ve rubbed | 147 | |
The ode as it ought to be | 279 | |
Fifty times my nose you’ve broken | 279 | |
Fifty years your verses have been fading | 279 | |
Fifty times we’ve planted Kail and used it. W. A. Sloan | 280 | |
| ||
IRISH SONGS. | ||
Samuel Lover. | ||
Oh! Molly Bawn | 246 | |
Oh! Molly, pawn without repining | 246 | |
Oh! Robert Bawn, why leave me | 246 | |
A baby was sleeping | 246 | |
A woman half sleeping | 246 | |
O come to the wild west. M. P. Romer | 246 | |
The Low-backed Car | 246 | |
When first I saw sweet Peggy | 18 | |
When first I saw Miss Clara. Diogenes | 18 | |
When first I used the railway. Punch | 18 | |
The gin-shop bar. J. A. Hardwick | 246 | |
When first I saw the Emperor. 1854 | 247 | |
Count O’Cavoureen. Shirley Brooks. 1859 | 247 | |
Kathleen Mavourneen’s answer | 247 | |
Thomas Moore. | ||
The days are gone when claret bright | 252 | |
Those bicycles, those bicycles. J. G. Dalton | 254 | |
Strong and sure were the skates she wore | 254 | |
Where stood the bar, we’re building love | 254 | |
Oh! there is not in nature | 254 | |
Oft in the chilly night | 254 | |
Most Irish questions are about | 254 | |
The minstrel boy to the wars has gone | 254 | |
The publican on his raid has gone | 254 | |
The militiaman to parade is gone | 254 | |
I knew by the dirt | 254 | |
I knew by the noise | 255 | |
I knew by the smoke | 255 | |
Mary, I believed thee true | 252 | |
O Mary, I believed you true. Thomas Hood | 252 | |
’Tis the last rose of summer | 253 | |
Eheu rosarum floruit ultima! Father Prout | 253 | |
’Tis the first rose of summer. Judy | 253 | |
’Tis the last “quid” of many. Fun | 253 | |
’Tis the last fly of summer | 253 | |
The Bells of Shandon.—Father Prout | 247 | |
In Memoriam! Father Prout | 248 | |
On Frazer’s Magazine. 1882 | 248 | |
The bells I’ve shamm’d on | 248 | |
Brian O’Lin had no coat to put on | 249 | |
Daniel O’Connell’d no mischief to brew | 249 | |
You all knew Tom Moody—Andrew Cherry | 249 | |
You all knew Pat Fagan | 219 | |
The Lament of the Irish Emigrant.—Lady Dufferin | ||
I’m sitting on the stile, Mary | 16 | |
I’m flitting in the style, Mary. Diogenes | 17 | |
I’m sitting in a style, Mary. Our Miscellany | 17 | |
I’m sitting in this style, Mary, J. B. Oddfish | 17 | |
I’m sitting at my window, Jack | 17 | |
I left thee young and gay, Mary. Eliza Cook | 18 | |
Meet me by moonlight alone.—J. A. Wade | 60, 249 | |
Meet me, Miss Molly Malone | 60 | |
Meet me this evening alone | 60 | |
Meet me with Wimbush alone | 60 | |
Meet me at breakfast alone. Punch | 60 | |
Viens au bosquet, ce soir. F. Mahony | 249 | |
Did ye hear of the Widow Malone?—C. Lever | 250 | |
You’ve all heard of Larry O’Toole. W. M. Thackeray | 250 | |
Did you hear of Nordisa’s first night? | 250 | |
Erin go Bragh | 250 | |
From Brest in the Bay of Biscay | 250 | |
The Shan Van Vocht | ||
Oh! the French are on the Sea | 251 | |
There’s a Dutchman in the town | 251 | |
Ballyhooly.—R. Martin | 251 | |
The Parliamentary Ballyhooly | 251 | |
| ||
SCOTCH SONGS. | ||
Robert Burns. | ||
Scots wha hae | ||
Men whose fathers crushed the wrong | 239 | |
Where’s the girl can fear disdain? | 239 | |
Is there for honest policy. W. E. Sadler | 243 | |
A rink’s a rink for a that. A. W. Mackenzie | 240 | |
A man’s a man. Charles Mackay | 242 | |
Is there for tenets Liberal. 1886 | 242 | |
Green grow the rushes O’ | 241 | |
A latin version by Father Prout | 241 | |
A Gladstonite lament, 1886 | 240 | |
The wearing o’ the sashes, oh! | 242 | |
My Kitty O’, my Kitty O’. M. Fahy | 242 | |
Randy Randolph Churchill, O! | 234 | |
My Love is like the red, red rose | 238 | |
My love she has a red, red nose | 239 | |
My love he has a great red nose | 239 | |
Oh! where is our one policeman gone? | 236 | |
Oh! where does my own true lover stay? | 236 | |
The Broom cam capouring doon | 237 | |
The Belgians are coming, oh dear! | 238 | |
An Address to the game laws | 239 | |
Should auld habiliments be forgot? | 239 | |
Let auld acquantance be forgot | 240 | |
Ye German princes puir and proud | 240 | |
Should brandy ever be forgot? | 240 | |
Joe Chamberlain, my Joe | 243 | |
Sir Walter Scott. | ||
Partant pour la Syrie. Translation by Scott | 183 | |
It was Dunois the young and brave | 183 | |
It was Bill Noyes, the yeoman brave | 184 | |
It was Dunupp, the hard beset | 184 | |
To the Lords of Convention | 237 | |
To the House at Westminster | 237 | |
To the millions of England | 237 | |
To the Peers ’tis the People | 237 | |
The last pot of marmalade | 237 | |
March, march; daisies and buttercups | 235 | |
Lullaby in Guy Mannering. | ||
Sleep, Mr. Speaker, ’tis surely fair. W. M. Praed. | 182 | |
Maxwelton braes are bonnie | 233 | |
The Guildhall bench is funny | 233 | |
I have heard the mavis singing | 233 | |
I have heard the cats a-squealing | 233 | |
Let us haste to Kelvin Grove | 235 | |
Let us haste and join the chase | 235 | |
I’m wearin’ awa’ John—Lady Nairne | 236 | |
I’m frichtened for ye a’ weans | 236 | |
Where the poor cease to pay | 236 | |
Behave yoursel’ before folk | 234 | |
An answer to the above, by A. Rodger | 234 | |
As lonely I sat on a calm summer morn | 235 | |
Do you ken Arthur Peel? | 230 | |
Oh dear! what can the matter be? | 233 | |
The flowers of the forest are a’ wede awa’ | 238 | |
So mourn we to-night. Daily News. 1886 | 238 | |
| ||
WELSH SONGS. | ||
Taffy was a Welshman | 255 | |
Taffy is a Welshman. A complimentary version by Shirley Brooks | 255 | |
The same in Welsh | 256 | |
Bouncer was a welsher | 256 | |
The march of the men of Harlech. | ||
On by love of costs we’re goaded | 257 | |
With blaze of fireworks, fêtes, &c. | 257 | |
Brothers, up, to win new glory | 257 | |
| ||
MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. | ||
At the peaceful mid-night hour.—J. O’Keeffe | 179 | |
A parody on the above | 179 | |
A wet sheet and a flowing sea | 229 | |
With wet feet in a committee | 229 | |
Alice Gray | ||
She’s all my fancy painted her | 23 | |
It’s all my fancy painted it. Figaro | 23 | |
She’s naught my fancy painted her | 23 | |
He’s all his agent painted him | 24 | |
He’s all my fancy painted him | 24 | |
She’s not what fancy painted her. Punch | 24 | |
She’s all the chimney sweep described | 24 | |
No wonder that they’ve painted her | 24 | |
She’s all my fancy painted her. L. H. Sheridan | 272 | |
A frog he would a wooing go. | ||
John Kemble he would an acting go | 192 | |
Hal Clifford would a reforming go | 192 | |
Campbell would a writing go. 1831 | 193 | |
Froggy must a warring go. 1857 | 193 | |
A Premier would a-wooing go. 1887 | 194 | |
Off they went to Osborne to play. 1887 | 194 | |
A gray old fox sat under a vine | 195 | |
A life on the ocean wave. | ||
A death on the ocean wave, Punch | 78 | |
A life on the ocean waive, Man in the Moon | 78 | |
And shall Trelawney die? | 222 | |
And shall they strike at Ritual rites? | 222 | |
A song to the oak, the brave old oak—H. F. Chorley | 180 | |
A song to the Dukes. Punch. 1846 | 180 | |
A tale of the Tenth Hussars (on Colonel Baker) | 87 | |
When the sand of the lonely desert. Punch. 1884 | 87 | |
When the train, on its lonely journey | 87 | |
Ballads—Parodies on various | 190 | |
Battle of Agincourt—M. Drayton | 191 | |
Fair stood the wind (we thought). 1885 | 191 | |
See, where the hosts advance | 191 | |
Baviad, and the Maeviad | 169 | |
Beautiful Star. | ||
Beautiful star, on each opera night | 34 | |
Beautiful pit, behind the stalls | 35 | |
Beautiful soup, so rich and green | 35 | |
Billiawatha (on Buffalo Bill). Judy | 276 | |
Blessed as the immortal gods is he—A. Philips | 180 | |
Drunk as a dragon sure is he. H. Erskine | 180 | |
Cease rude Boreas, blust’ring railer—G. A. Stevens | 79 | |
Cease to bore us, and assail us. 1836 | 79 | |
Cease to lure us ’bout the ocean. 1865 | 80 | |
Champagne Charlie is my name | 220 | |
Gad’s hill Charlie is my name. 1867 | 220 | |
Chevy Chace. | ||
God prosper long our noble King | 184 | |
A Parody from The Anti-Jacobin. 1798 | 185 | |
A Parody from The Morning Herald. 1799 | 185 | |
A parody on the O. P. riots. 1809 | 186 | |
A Protectionist parody. 1850 | 187 | |
A parody relating to Mr. Gladstone. 1885 | 187 | |
The battle of Putney Hill | 185 | |
The Middlesex Election | 210 | |
The Litchfield defeat | 211 | |
Come, all ye jolly sailors bold.—Prince Hoare | 74 | |
Come, every jolly rower bold. G. V. Cox | 74 | |
Come, all ye Britons, brave and bold. Punch | 74 | |
Come, all ye modern seamen bold | 268 | |
Dance, the boatman, dance. | ||
Sign the Bill stamp, sign | 217 | |
Dear Betty, come give me sweet kisses.—Sir C. H. Williams | 180 | |
Come, give us more Livings and Rectors | 181 | |
Dear Tom, this brown jug.—F. Fawkes | 172 | |
Dear Bill, this stone jug. Punch. 1857 | 172 | |
Dear Tom, this black pot. Figaro. 1832 | 173 | |
Dear Jack, this white mug. W. M. Thackeray | 173 | |
Della Cruscans, The | 69 | |
Darby and Joan. | ||
The Liberal barque is on the wave | 230 | |
The Derby’s here, and I’m getting grey | 231 | |
Derby dear, I am old and grey | 231 | |
Epitaph on George IV., with Cruikshank’s caricature | 103 | |
Far away. | ||
Where is our last big coup. Truth | 20 | |
There is a fine old sow | 20 | |
Where is a bobby found? | 20 | |
Where is now the merry party? | 21 | |
Fluttering spread thy purple pinions. 1733 | 169 | |
Slighted love the soul subduing | 169 | |
Balmy zephyrs, lightly flitting. Horace Smith | 170 | |
Lovely maid with rapture swelling | 170 | |
For ever, and for ever. L. S. May | 273 | |
Gentle Zitella, whither away! | 217 | |
Real Havannah! precious cigar! | 217 | |
Gently touch the warbling lyre.—A. Bradley | 178 | |
Gently blow and stir the fire. Dean Swift | 178 | |
God rest you merry gentlemen. A carol | 192 | |
Go from my window, love go. 1590 | 270 | |
Who is at my windo, who, who? | 270 | |
Hang sorrow, let’s cast away care | 214 | |
Cast away care, he that loves sorrow | 215 | |
Drink to-day, and drown all sorrow | 215 | |
There are five reasons, as I think | 215 | |
He who goes to bed, and goes to bed sober | 215 | |
I am a friar of orders grey—J. O’Keeffe | 177 | |
I am the demagogue of the day | 177 | |
I am a simple muleteer. | ||
I am a rifle volunteer. 1860 | 226 | |
I am tenant of nine feet by four. T. Hook | 101 | |
This is the house that Jack built | 102 | |
If doughty deeds. | ||
If dirty deeds my lady please | 228 | |
I give thee all—I can no more | 182 | |
I give thee all (duck and peas) | 182 | |
I hear the children’s voices. Corney Grain | 225 | |
I know an eye—John Oxenford | 64 | |
I know a “High.” College Rhymes. 1866 | 64 | |
I’m afloat! I’m afloat! | 78 | |
There’s a flat! there’s a flat! Puppet Show | 78 | |
I’m a shot, I’m a shot! | 78 | |
I’m a float! I’m a float! The Angler’s Journal | 78 | |
I’m a shrimp! I’m a shrimp! R. Brough | 274 | |
I’m a gent! I’m a gent! | 274 | |
I’m ninety-five. | ||
I’m thirty-five! I’m thirty-five. Truth | 20 | |
In good King William’s peaceful reign | 164 | |
In the days when we went gipsying | 174 | |
Oh, the days when we went gipsying. A. Smith | 174 | |
Oh, the days we read those musty books | 175 | |
I would all womankind were dead. Aytoun | 175 | |
It came with the merry May, love. | 12 | |
It came with the joyful June, love | 12 | |
It came with the merry May, love. F. Bowyer | 36 | |
I thank the goodness and the grace | 232 | |
Upon my childhood’s pallid morn | 232 | |
I cannot sing the old songs—Claribel— | 25 | |
We met—’twas on the rink | 25 | |
I cannot eat the old horse | 25 | |
I cannot hold the old creeds. G. Sexton | 273 | |
I’ve been roaming, I’ve been roaming | 62 | |
I’ve been shopping, I’ve been shopping | 62 | |
I’ve been eating, I’ve been eating | 62 | |
I’ve been turning, I’ve been turning | 62 | |
Jolly Nose! the bright rubies that garnish thy tip. W. H. Ainsworth | 231 | |
Beau nez! dont les rubis | 231 | |
Just before the battle, mother | 226 | |
Just before the wedding, mother | 226 | |
Just after the wedding, mother | 227 | |
Lilli Bulero—Lord Wharton | 189 | |
The new Lila Bulero. 1798 | 189 | |
Bully bullero, buller a-la. 1887 | 190 | |
Long, long ago | ||
Twine me the curls I delighted to see | 182 | |
Lord Bateman was a noble lord | 188 | |
The ballad as illustrated by George Cruikshank, with notes by Charles Dickens | 188 | |
Lord Bateman was a noble lord | 188 | |
Lord Lovell he stood at his castle gate | 171 | |
He strode and he strode (on Bradlaugh). 1881 | 171 | |
Lord Lovell he stood at his own front door | 171 | |
Joe Muggins he stood | 171 | |
Lord Fitz-Faddle he lived | 172 | |
Jack’s yarn | ||
The Tailor’s holiday | 155 | |
’Twas on a Monday morn | 155 | |
My lodging is on the cold ground | 178 | |
My lodging is in Leather-lane. W. B. Rhodes | 179 | |
My Mother bids me bind my hair—Mrs. John Hunter | 12 | |
My mother bids me dye my hair. Punch | 12 | |
The Lancet bids me be a Peer. Funny Folks | 13 | |
My mother bids me pinch my waist. Truth | 13 | |
My mother bids me find an heir. Punch | 63 | |
My mother bids me spend my smiles. T. Hood | 63 | |
My Nellie’s Blue Eyes | 152 | |
Two lovely black eyes. Charles Coborn | 152 | |
Deux beaux yeux noirs | 152 | |
Zwei augen so schwartz | 152 | |
Down at the House, in the days that have been Punch | 153 | |
My Queen. London Society | 15 | |
My King. London Society | 15 | |
My Scheme. Punch | 15 | |
My Dude | 274 | |
Nonsense Verses, and Parodies | 169 | |
Old Simon the cellarer—J. L. Hatton | 176 | |
Joe Podgers, the farmer. Fun. 1869 | 176 | |
Old Tim, the teetotaller Punch. 1871 | 176 | |
Old Taurus our cellarer. Judy. 1878 | 176 | |
Old Simmonds, the bellower. J. A. Hardwick | 177 | |
Old William the cloturer. Punch. 1882 | 177 | |
Old Towler. | ||
“Bright Chanticleer proclaims the dawn” | 164 | |
The op’ning morn dispels the night | 164 | |
Bright chandeliers the room adorn | 165 | |
Our chance at Eyre we claim this dawn | 165 | |
We’re going to have a glorious run | 165 | |
Old King Coal was a merry old soul—Charles Mackay | 165 | |
Oh! little Queen Cole was a nice little soul | 166 | |
Old King Coal paid a very high toll | 166 | |
Old King Cole was a savage old soul (on Henry Cole, C.B.) 1867 | 167 | |
Young King Coal was a merry young soul | 167 | |
Oh! don’t you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt? | 79 | |
Oh! don’t you remember Sweet William | 3 | |
Now don’t you remember old Alice? | 79 | |
Oh! don’t you remember sweet Sal? | 79 | |
Oh! don’t you remember the days when “Bolt” | 79 | |
Oh! give me but my Arab steed | 226 | |
Oh! give me but my donkey, Joe | 226 | |
Farewell my ribbons, and alack! | 226 | |
O, let me like a soldier fall | 86 | |
Yes, let me like a feather fall. Whizz. 1880 | 86 | |
On Richmond Hill there lives a lass—Upton | 179 | |
A parody on the above | 179 | |
Of William’s bill we’ll see the last | 180 | |
Oh! say not woman’s heart is bought—T. L. Pocock | 183 | |
Oh, say not that my heart is caught | 183 | |
Oh, say not life is dearly bought | 183 | |
Oh! the mistletoe bough | 25 | |
The mistletoe hung on the castle hall | 25 | |
The Michaelmas goose lay in Leadenhall | 25 | |
The cloth vos laid in the Vorkhouse hall | 26 | |
At the old Manor-house and ancestral hall | 26 | |
Oh! the snow, the beautiful snow | 228 | |
Oh, ’tis love, ’tis love! | 63 | |
Oh, ’tis beef, ’tis beef! D. O’Meara | 63 | |
Oh, ’tis love, ’tis love! | 64 | |
Oh! this love! this love! | 64 | |
Only a lock of her hair | ||
Only a lock of his hair | 16 | |
Only a common yard door | 16 | |
Only a hair on his shoulder | 16 | |
Only a cyclist gigantic. Once a Week | 16 | |
On the Prairie, an imitation of Captain Mayne Reid | 62 | |
Our dear old Church of England. S. Brooks | 222 | |
Our party’s doing very well. Judy, 1880 | 223 | |
Jumbo and Taoung | 223 | |
Over and over again | 220 | |
As parodied by Miss Seventeen | 220 | |
Over the garden wall | 221 | |
Over the handles (Bicycle) | 221 | |
A parody by F. L. Richardson | 221 | |
Down with the castle wall | 221 | |
Phillis is my only joy—C. Sedley | 32 | |
Fillies is my only joy. 1867 | 32 | |
Please to remember the fifth of November | 270 | |
’Tis good to remember the fifth of November | 270 | |
Sadly Lord Salisbury. Fun. 1885 | 216 | |
Gaily the Grand Old Man. Truth. 1886. | 216 | |
Said a smile to a tear.—James Kenney | 168 | |
The loves of the plants | 168 | |
Said a steak to a chop | 168 | |
Said a fox to a goose | 169 | |
Schubert’s Songs in English translations | 278 | |
See, the Conquering Hero comes! | ||
See, the conquering jingo comes. The Echo. | 88 | |
She and I | ||
I in a mighty palace.—G. C. Boyle | 230 | |
I and she | ||
She in a gay gin palace. J. M. Lowry | 230 | |
Should you ask me whence these Indians | 276 | |
Silver threads among the gold | 232 | |
Don’t dye your hair when you grow old | 232 | |
Sir Percy and the fearful fogge | 229 | |
Some Day | 14 | |
We know not when the day shall be. Truth | 14 | |
I know not when your bill I’ll see. Doveton | 63 | |
Strangers yet.—R. Monckton Milnes | 14 | |
Strangers now. Once a week | 14 | |
The old and young Courtier | 90 | |
The fine old English gentleman | 90 | |
The fine young English gentleman | 91 | |
The fast young undergraduate. 1836 | 91 | |
The raal ould Irish gintleman | 91 | |
The old and new Cantab. 1848 | 92 | |
The fine rich Jewish nobleman. 1850 | 93 | |
The fine old English innkeeper. 1853 | 93 | |
The fine old Standard tragedy. 1855 | 93 | |
The fine old English omnibus. 1856 | 94 | |
The fine old British subaltern | 94 | |
The fine young English officer. 1857 | 95 | |
This wondrous nineteenth century. Frank E. Smedley. 1865 | 95 | |
The fine old English gentleman of the present time | 96 | |
The fine young London gentleman. 1882 | 96 | |
A fine old English general | 96 | |
The fine old atom-molecule | 97 | |
On Sir Stafford Northcote. 1885 | 97 | |
On the Grand Old Man. 1886 | 97 | |
The first rate English fox-hunter | 98 | |
The special Correspondent. 1882 | 99 | |
The fine young agriculturist. 1867 | 99 | |
In the Post-office Directory. 1848 | 100 | |
The much mistaken demagogue. 1883 | 100 | |
A good old English gentleman. 1885 | 100 | |
The indefeasible title. 1881 | 100 | |
The fine old English Tory times. Charles Dickens. 1841 | 100 | |
The fine old Standard tragedy | 149 | |
The fine young English gentleman | 149 | |
The old English publican | 150 | |
A fine old heavy villain | 150 | |
The fine old common councilman | 150 | |
A variety of Vicars. Truth | 151 | |
The old English constable. Songs by Jingo | 274 | |
The Gunpowder Plot. | ||
“I sing a doleful tragedy” | 155 | |
In the story of “Aladdin” | 156 | |
I sing a song of foolishness | 156 | |
I sing a comic-tragedy (on Bradlaugh) | 157 | |
I sing a doleful tragedy. Cuthbert Bede | 157 | |
The question for the country now (Home Rule) | 158 | |
I sing about a grand old man | 158 | |
The Hunt is Up | 269 | |
With hunts up, with hunts up. 1590 | 270 | |
The Monks of Old. | ||
A Darwinian ballad | 220 | |
The Pilgrim of Love. | ||
“Orynthia, my beloved, I call in vain” | 159 | |
Oh, Blowsabel! my detested | 159 | |
Angelina, my chickabiddy. G. W. Hunt | 159 | |
Och, Judy, my sweet darling! | 159 | |
Chamberlain, my beloved! | 160 | |
A doctor who dwells (the seedy C.C.) | 159 | |
The Queen in France. 1843 | 190 | |
The “Lay” of the good Lord Roseberry. 1885 | 190 | |
The Red, White, and Blue | 106 | |
Oh, Britannia, the pride of the ocean | 106 | |
Oh, Columbia, the gem of the ocean | 107 | |
Great, great is the task set before us. 1885 | 107 | |
The Three Jovial Huntsmen. | ||
The three jovial statesmen | 227 | |
On Salisbury, Northcote, and Churchill | 227 | |
The Two Obadiahs | 221 | |
The two Marias. L. M. Thornton | 222 | |
The two Tory Obadiahs. Truth. 1886 | 222 | |
The Tory Obadiah and the Union Obadiah | 222 | |
The Vicar of Bray. | ||
“In good King Charles’s golden days” | 160 | |
When Pitt array’d the British arms. 1814 | 161 | |
In Mr. Gladstone’s powerful days | 161 | |
In good Victoria’s palmy days | 161 | |
When Bluff King Hal grew tired of Kate | 162 | |
There’s a Land that Bears a well-known Name | 107 | |
There’s a paper bears a well-known name | 107 | |
The Jingo Englishman. 1878 | 107 | |
The Chancery Court | 108 | |
There’s a game that bears (on cricket) | 245 | |
The Bay of Biscay, O!—Andrew Cherry | 75 | |
Loud roared the dreadful thunder | ||
Loud roar’d the watchman’s rattle (O.P. Riots) | 75 | |
Loud roar’d the smoking funnel. Punch | 75 | |
I cut the ball right under. Tennis cuts | 76 | |
The Beating of my Own Heart—R. M. Milnes | 14 | |
The beating of my own wife. Punch | 14 | |
Love and Science. Funny Folks | 15 | |
The Beautiful Maid—Liston | 183 | |
My fishmonger swore. Bishop R. Heber | 183 | |
The British Grenadiers. | ||
Some talk of Alexander—Anonymous. 1760 | 81 | |
Upon the plains of Flanders. Thomas Campbell | 82 | |
Some talk of Alexander (Brook Green Volunteer). Punch | 82 | |
Most regiments have some varlet. 1849 | 82 | |
The gallant specials of 1848 | 82 | |
Oh! some talk about Jack Sheppard. Diogenes | 83 | |
Some talk of Alexander (on the Victoria Cross) | 83 | |
Some talk of Alexander (on the London volunteers). 1860 | 83 | |
Aitcheson’s carabineers | 83 | |
Some talk of Archimedes. Fun. 1866 | 84 | |
Come all ye dilettante bold. Funny Folks. 1878 | 84 | |
In Egypt there’s an old stream. Punch | 85 | |
Some swear by Wilfred Lawson. Morning Post | 85 | |
Some talk of Alexander. England | 85 | |
Some praise the fair Queen Mary (song of Mrs. Jenny Geddes). Professor J. S. Blackie | 85 | |
Some talk of Bright and Cobden. Truth | 86 | |
Some men go in for science. Nicolson | 268 | |
Some prate of patriotism (on the volunteers) | 269 | |
The chief of the Liberal party. 1864 | 216 | |
The Chough and Crow to Roost are Gone | 153 | |
With cough and cold to bed I’ve gone | 153 | |
The private day and feast are gone. S. Brooks | 154 | |
The inns and outs from rest are back | 154 | |
The Girls they Left Behind Them. | ||
Our gallant Guards have marched away | 86 | |
We cheer our soldiers on their way. Funny Folks | 86 | |
Ten Little Nigger Boys. | ||
Ten joint-stock companies. Finis | 218 | |
Ten little barmaids, sitting in a line. Judy | 218 | |
Six royal persons in the realm alive | 218 | |
Ten high commissioners. 1877 | 218 | |
Twelve Irish jurymen. 1881 | 218 | |
Ten thousand soldiers. 1881 | 219 | |
Ten British ironclads. 1885 | 219 | |
Ten Liberal Unionists. Sir W. Lawson | 275 | |
Three Jolly Postboys. | ||
Three Band of Hope boys | 215 | |
To all you Ladies now on Land—Earl of Dorset | 215 | |
Ho! all you toilers in the land | 215 | |
To be there (Salvation Army song) | 154 | |
’Tis I am the Gipsy King. | 173 | |
Come, my dainty doxies | 173 | |
Trip it, gipsies, trip it fine | 173 | |
Oh! ’tis I am the railway king | 173 | |
Oh! ’tis I am a frisky king | 174 | |
Oh! ’tis I am a gipsy king | 174 | |
’Twas in the grimy winter time. A. Shirley | 89 | |
(The Bilious Beadle.) | ||
’Twas in Trafalgar’s Bay—S. J. Arnold | 80 | |
’Twas in the Spithead Bay. Diogenes | 81 | |
’Twas in Trafalgar Square. Punch | 81 | |
’Twas at the Pig and Cat | 81 | |
The song of Billiawatha. Judy | 276 | |
(A parody of Longfellow’s Hiawatha.) | ||
Wait till the Clouds roll by | 225 | |
Willy, my own grand Old One. 1885 | 225 | |
We are a Merry Family | 223 | |
Song by Miss Mary Anderson | 223 | |
Song by a crusted old bencher | 223 | |
Song by a barrister | 223 | |
Song by a successful Q.C. | 224 | |
Song by Mr. Joseph Chamberlain | 224 | |
The political happy familee | 225 | |
We are English, you know | 271 | |
That’s English, you know. Punch. 1887 | 271 | |
We Don’t want to Fight | 88 | |
There’s Connaught does not want to fight | 88 | |
What is the German’s Fatherland? | 265 | |
Where doth proud England’s boundary stand? | 265 | |
Was ist des Breitmann’s Vaterland? | 265 | |
What is the German’s Fatherland? | 265 | |
What is the Briton’s Fatherland? | 266 | |
When the Tide Comes in | 228 | |
Where the wet comes in | 228 | |
When this Old Cap was New | 167 | |
When this old hat was new. E. J. Burdette | 168 | |
When this old joke was new. Hal Berte | 168 | |
The Old Brigade—F. E. Weatherly. | ||
Where are the Boys of the Old Brigade | 19 | |
Sons of the old and staunch brigade | 19 | |
Rare were the joys when our hair decayed | 19 | |
Where are you going to, my Pretty Maid? | 60-270 | |
Going to lecture. 1879 | 60 | |
Going to be photographed. 1878 | 60 | |
A new reading | 61 | |
Going a chestnutting. 1886 | 61 | |
Going to publish. Ernest Radford | 61 | |
Going a-swearing (C. Bradlaugh, M.P.) | 61 | |
Going to Spelling Bee | 61 | |
Going to a lecture. Modern Society | 61 | |
“Shall I have any croppers?” Whizz | 61 | |
“Will you come and see my Humber?” Whizz | 61 | |
Wings! to bear me over—Percy Boyd | 11 | |
Curls, that I might roll them. The Cheltonian | 12 | |
Woodman, Spare that Tree—G. P. Morris | 7 | |
Lincoln, spare that tree. Punch | 7 | |
Gasman, light that clock ” | 8 | |
Frenchman, spare that tree ” | 8 | |
Gladstone, spare that tree ” | 8 | |
Spencer, spare that tree ” | 8 | |
Childers, spare that coin. Funny Folks | 9 | |
Butcher, spare that pig | 273 | |
Won’t you tell me why, Robin? | ||
Oh! won’t you tell me why, doctor? Finis | 38 | |
Oh, won’t you tell me why, Bobby? | 39 | |
Write me a Letter from Home | 219 | |
Send a remittance from home | 219 | |
Post me a parcel from home | 220 | |
Jeannette and Jeannot. | ||
You are Going Far Away | 217 | |
The lay of the creditor. 1848 | 217 | |
A Monte Christo ballad | 217 | |
The Christmas pudding | 217 |
“IT was precisely the poets whom we most admired that we imitated the most frequently (in the ‘Bon Gaultier Ballads’). This was not certainly from any want of reverence, but rather out of the fulness of our admiration, just as the excess of a lover’s fondness often runs over into raillery of the very qualities that are dearest to his heart. ‘Let no one,’ says Heine, ‘ridicule mankind unless he loves them.’ With no less truth may it be said, Let no one parody a poet unless he loves him. He must first be penetrated by his spirit, and have steeped his ear in the music of his verse, before he can reflect these under a humorous aspect with success.”
From Sir Theodore Martin’s
Memoir of William Edmonstoune Aytoun. 1867.
Brown & Davenport, Printers, 40, Sun Street, Finsbury, London, E.C.
This book was written in a period when many words had not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged except indicated below.
Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to the end of the book. Obvious printing errors, such as backwards, upside down, or partially printed letters and punctuation, were corrected. Unprinted letters, punctuation and final stops missing at the end of sentences and abbreviations were added. Commas were changed to stops at ends of sentences and abbreviations. Duplicate words and letters at line endings and page breaks were removed. Quotation marks were adjusted to match as pairs.
In the Table of Contents, Part 24 was moved from Volume III. to Volume II. Where there was a difference in punctuation, accents, hyphenation, etc. between the index entry and the poem text, the index entry was adjusted to match that of the poem. Unprinted page numbers were added to the index.
There are three anchors to Footnote [5], two anchors to Footnote [8], and two anchors to Footnote [49].
A TALE OF THE TENTH HUSSARS and its parody were printed on facing pages across a page break. The end of each poem was rejoined to its beginning. Likewise, Swinburne's The Question and The Answer were printed on facing columns across several pages. Each poem was presented in its entirety followed by its parody.
Spelling corrections:
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