"THE OWL IS ABROAD."
(Vol. ii., p. 393.)
A.R. asks, "On what ground is the base song, 'The Owl is abroad' attributed to Henry Purcell?" To which I reply, the mistake—for mistake it is—originated with Dr. Clarke (afterwards Clarke Whitfield), who inserted it in his Beauties of Purcell. How little this musician knew of the "beauties" of Purcell is exhibited in his work; and how little he knew of the style and peculiarities of the music of the period, is shown by his insertion of the song in question. Dr. Clarke's mistake is noticed in the late William Linley's elegant work entitled Shakspeare's Dramatic Songs, vol. i. p. 6. His words are these:
"In regard to the Tempest music of Mr. Smith, it has been put to a strange medley of words; some of them are, however by Shakspeare; but they do not appear to come the brighter from the polish it was his design to give them; here and there we have a flash or two, but they must ever be vainly opposed to Purcell's pure and steady light. The song of 'No More Dams,' is however an excellent one, and it has been selected accordingly. The other song, 'The Owl is abroad,' is also characteristic, but the words are not Shakspeare's. The last air has been inserted in Dr. Clarke's Beauties of Purcell, as Purcell's. This is a mistake, which, in justice to Smith, should be rectified."
Your correspondent also refers to Mr. G. Hogarth's Memoirs of the Musical Drama, as an authority for attributing the song in question to Purcell. Mr. Hogarth's work, I am sorry to say, can never be depended upon as to facts. It is almost entirely made up from second-hand authorities; consequently blunders of the greatest magnitude occur in every chapter. It has the merit of being a well-written and an entertaining book; but here any praise must end.
A.R. speaks of having referred to Purcell's Tempest. I must beg to correct him in this statement, as no complete copy of that work (my own excepted) is known to exist. Goodeson's (printed at the end of the last century) is the only copy approaching to anything like completeness, and that is very unlike Purcell's Tempest. Did A.R. find in Purcell's Tempest the music of the beautiful lyric, "Where the Bee sucks?" No. Yet Purcell composed music to it. The absence, then, of "The Owl is abroad," is no proof that Purcell did not write music for that song also.
But, in the present case, A.R. may rest assured that the song about which he inquires is the veritable composition of John Christopher Smith.
Edward F. Rimbault.