On the contrary, our honest countrymen have so little an inclination to music, that they seldom begin to sing till they are drunk, which also is usually the time when they are most disposed to serenade.
FOOTNOTES:
[79] This paper is ascribed to Addison by Nichols, because of the corrections—five in number—in the following number of the folio issue.
[80] John Banister (died 1735) was the son of a composer and violinist of the same name. He played in the royal band, and was first violin at Drury Lane Theatre when Italian operas were introduced into this country.
[81] Horace, 1 Od. xxv. 8.
[82] The first line in a song in a tragi-comedy, "The Rivals" (1668), attributed to Sir William Davenant. Mrs. Mary Davis, dancer and actress, who boarded with Sir William Davenant in his house, is stated to have sung this song in the character of Celania, a shepherdess mad for love, so much to the liking of Charles II. that he took her off the stage. Mary Tudor, their daughter, married Francis Lord Ratcliffe, afterwards Earl of Derwentwater, and was the mother of James, Earl of Derwentwater, beheaded in 1716.
[83] "Paradise Lost," iv. 760 (cf. Nos. 79 and 82).
[84] Virgil, "Georgics," iv. 511, 514-15.