I Care Not For Spring
See p. [99].
I'd Crowns Resign, To Call Her Mine (D.C. 25)
‘Lass of Richmond Hill.’
Words by L. MacNally.
J. Hook.
I'd crowns resign, to call her mine,
Sweet lass of Richmond Hill.
For a long time there was a dispute between the partisans of Surrey and Yorkshire as to which ‘Richmond Hill’ was referred to. The former county was the favourite for a long time, till a communication in Notes and Queries (10th series iii. p. 290) pulverized its hopes and definitely placed the locality in Yorkshire.
If I Had a Donkey (O.C.S. 27)
See p. [95].
If You'll Come to the Bower (O.M.F.)
See p. [134].
I'll Tell Thee How the Maiden Wept (O.M.F.)
See p. [133].
In Hurry, Post Haste for a Licence (P.P. 10)
See p. [90].
I Saw Her at the Fancy Fair (S.B.T. 11)
I Saw Thy Show in Youthful Prime (O.C.S. 27)
Moore's Irish Melodies, air ‘Domhnall.’
I saw thy form in youthful prime,
Nor thought that pale decay
Would steal before the steps of time,
And waste its bloom away, Mary.
Isle of the Brave and Land of the Free (M.J.)
Original.
It May Lighten and Storm (M.C. 42)
Possibly from some old ballad opera, but more probably original.
Jack's Delight (to) His Lovely Nan (D.C. 11)
Words and music by C. Dibdin.
From ‘Lovely Nan.’ Last two lines:
But oh, much sweeter than all these,
Is Jack's delight, his lovely Nan.
Jim Crow (A.N.)
Unknown.
See p. [97].
I come from old Kentucky,
A long time ago,
Where I first larn to wheel about,
And jump Jim Crow;
Wheel about and turn about,
And do jis so,
Eb'ry time I wheel about,
I jump Jim Crow.
Jolly Young Waterman (It., P.P. 33)
Words and music by C. Dibdin in The Waterman.
King Death (B.H. 33)
Words by Barry Cornwall.
Neukomm.
King Death was a rare old fellow,
He sat where no sun could shine,
And he lifted his hand so yellow,
And pour'd out his coal-black wine.
Hurrah for the coal-black wine!
John Leech used to sing ‘King Death,’ and it was of his voice that Jerrold once remarked, ‘I say, Leech, if you had the same opportunity of exercising your voice as you have of using your pencil, how it would draw!’
Lesbia Hath a Beaming Eye (Letter to Lemon)
Words by Moore.
Set to the delightfully gay air ‘Nora Creina.’
Lesbia hath a beaming eye,
But no one knows for whom it beameth,
Right and left its arrows fly,
But what they aim at no one dreameth!
Listen to the Waterfall (B.H. 32)
Lord Mornington.
From the glee ‘Here in cool grot.’
Little Taffline (D.C. 28)
Words by Prince Hoare.
S. Storace.
In the opera Three and The Deuce, produced in 1806.
There is a character ‘Little Taffline’ in T. Dibdin's St. David's Day, music composed and compiled by Attwood. There is another setting said to be ‘composed by J. Parry,’ but it is merely an altered form of the original.
Lovely Peg (D. & S. 10)
See pp. [117–119].
Marseillaise (M.C. 15, E.D. 2, L.D. 2)
Rouget de Lisle.
For brief history see The Choir (Nov., 1911)
Masaniello (S.B.T. 9)
Opera by Auber.
See p. [26].
May We Ne'er Want a Friend (D. & S. 15)
See ‘[Since the first dawn of reason].’
Men of Prometheus (S.B.T. 9)
See p. [26].
This was the name given to the first edition of Beethoven's ballet music to Prometheus, composed in 1800.
Miss Wackles, I Believed You True (O.C.S. 8)
‘Mary, I believed thee true,’ Moore (one of his ‘Juvenile Poems’).
Mary, I believed thee true,
And I was blest in so believing,
But now I mourn that e'er I knew
A girl so fair and so deceiving!
It has been suggested that these words were adapted and sung to the Scotch air ‘Gala Water.’
My Boat is on the Shore (G.S.) (D.C. 54, Letters)
Words by Lord Byron.
Bishop.
See p. [12].
Also set by W. Cratherne.
My Feelings I Smother (O.C.S. 36)
See ‘[We met].’
My Heart's in the Highlands (O.C.S. 2, S.B.S. 2)
Words partly by Burns.
In Captain Fraser's Airs Peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, 1816.
There is a parody by Dickens (see Forster's Life, ch. 8).
Never Leave off Dancing (D.C. 41)
Said to be the subject of a French song.
No Malice to Dread, Sir (O.M.F.)
See p. [134].
Non Nobis (S.B.S. 19)
This celebrated canon, by Byrd, has been performed at public dinners from time immemorial. It also used to be performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.
Now's the Day, and Now's the Hour (D.C. 54)
Verse 2 of ‘Scots, Wha Hae’ (Burns).
Now's the day, and now's the hour,
See the front o' battle lour,
See approach proud Edward's power,
Chains and slaverie.
Of All the Girls That Are so Smart (O.C.S. 50)
Words and music by Henry Carey.
Carey composed his melody in 1715. It soon became popular, but owing to the similarity of certain phrases to those of an older tune known as ‘The Country Lass,’ the two gradually got mixed up, with the result that the latter became the recognized setting.
Off She Goes (S.B.T. 7)
A once popular dance air.
Oft in the Stilly Night (S.B.S. 13)
From T. Moore's National Airs, set to an air possibly of Scotch origin. There are also settings by Stevenson and Hullah.
Oh Blame Not the Bard (O.C.S. 35)
Words by T. Moore.
In Irish Melodies. Set to the tune ‘Kitty Tyrrel.’
Oh Give Me But My Arab Steed (O.C.S. 21)
Words by T.H. Bayly.
G.A. Hodson.
Written in 1828. Sung by Braham.
Oh give me but my Arab steed,
My prince defends his right,
And I will to the battle speed,
To guard him in the fight.
Oh Cheerily, Cheerily (D. & S. 32)
Original, but a refrain similar to this is not uncommon in old sea songs.
Oh Lady Fair (G.E. 13)
Trio by Moore.
See ‘[Strew then, Oh strew].’
Oh Let us Love Our Occupations (Ch.)
Original lines by Dickens. ‘Set to music on the new system,’ probably refers to Hullah's method (c. 1841), or possibly the Tonic Sol-fa (c. 1843), see p. [17].
Oh Landsmen are Folly (H.R.)
Original.
Old Clem (G.E. 12, 15)
A custom prevailed at Chatham of holding a procession on St. Clement's day, and the saint, who was irreverently designated ‘Old Clem,’ was personated by a young smith disguised for the occasion.
Dickens frequently writes a verse in the form of prose, and this is an example. Written out properly, it reads thus:
Hammer boys round—Old Clem,
With a thump and a sound—Old Clem,
Beat it out, beat it out—Old Clem,
With a cluck for the stout—Old Clem,
Blow the fire, blow the fire—Old Clem,
Roaring drier, soaring higher—Old Clem.
Old King Cole (O.C.S. 58, P.P. 36)
The personality of this gentleman has never been settled. Chappell suggests he was ‘Old Cole,’ a cloth-maker of Reading temp. Henry I. Wardle's carol ‘I care not for spring’ (P.P. 36) was adapted to this air, and printed in How's Illustrated Book of British Song.
Over the Hills and Far Away (Dr. M., M.C. 36)
An old saying, both in song and as a phrase. It occurs in two songs in D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy, 1709, one of which is,
Tom he was a piper's son,
He learned to play when he was young;
But all the tune that he could play
Was over the hills and far away.(Vol. iv.)
Doctor Marigold's version is probably original:
North and South and West and East,
Winds liked best and winds liked least,
Here and there and gone astray,
Over the hills and far away.
Over the Water to Charlie (O.C.S. 27)
Tune in Johnson's Musical Museum, Vol. II, 1788.
Come boat me o'er, come row me o'er,
Come boat me o'er to Charlie,
I'll gie John Brown another half-crown,
To boat me o'er to Charlie;
We'll o'er the water, we'll o'er the sea,
We'll o'er the water to Charlie,
Come weal, come woe, we'll gather and go,
And live or die wi' Charlie.
Another Jacobite song was the cause of an amusing incident at Edinburgh. On the occasion of one of his visits there Dickens went to the theatre, and he and his friends were much amazed and amused by the orchestra playing ‘Charlie is my darling’ amid tumultuous shouts of delight.
Paul and Virginia (S.B.T. 7, L.D. 13)
J. Mazzinghi.
The popular duet from this opera ‘See from ocean rising’ was sung by Mr. Johnstone and Mr. Incledon. See p. [91].
Polly Put the Kettle On (B.R. 24)
An old country dance.
Red Ruffian, Retire! (S.B.C. 8)
Probably an imaginary title, invented by Dickens.
Rule Britannia (D. & S. 4, 39, U.T. 2, M.C. 11, 17, A.N., D.C. 8)
Words by Thomson or Mallet.
Arne.
First appeared in print at the end of the masque The Judgement of Paris, but it was composed for the masque of Alfred, which was first performed on August 1, 1740. See Musical Times, April, 1900.