Another song, entitled "Though lost to Sight, to Memory dear," was published in London in 1880, purporting to have been "written by Ruthven Jenkyns in 1703." It is said to have been published in the "Magazine for Mariners." No such magazine, however, ever existed, and the composer of the music acknowledged, in a private letter, to have copied the song from an American newspaper. There is no other authority for the origin of this song, and the reputed author, Ruthven Jenkyns, was living, under the name of C——, in California in 1882.


[[588]]

COLONEL BLACKER.

Put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry.[588:1]

Oliver's Advice. 1834.

Footnotes

[588:1] There is a well-authenticated anecdote of Cromwell. On a certain occasion, when his troops were about crossing a river to attack the enemy, he concluded an address, couched in the usual fanatic terms in use among them, with these words: "Put your trust in God; but mind to keep your powder dry!"—Hayes: Ballads of Ireland, vol. i. p. 191.


ROBERT POLLOK.  1799-1827.