Familiar Songs - Their Authors & Histories
300 traditional songs, inc sheet music with full piano accompaniment & lyrics.
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THE ARETHUSA. |
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CAPTAIN KIDD.
Captain Kidd was not named Eobert, and was not a pirate,—so say the historians of latest date, in spite of tradition and old songs. His name was William, and he was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1650. He followed the sea from his youth, and was sent by the British government against pirates. He was finally accused of turning pirate himself, and of murdering one of his men. He landed at Boston, and was arrested by the Governor, and sent to England. There he received a scandalously unfair trial j being allowed no counsel, and no opportunity to send for witnesses or papers, although he stoutly protested his innocence, and his ability to clear himself from both charges. He was hanged, with nine of his associates, in London, May 24, 1701. The wonderful tales of his treasure, hidden somewhere on the American coast, have gone from lip to lip for more than a century; and every school-boy still feels an impulse, at some time, to start off with spade and pickaxe, in search of the buried gold. Poe's ingenious story of " The Gold Bug" is founded upon this legend. I can learn nothing of the history of the ballad, but it is evidently of English origin. |
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