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packington's pound, dulcina, etc. 771 |
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Anderson, my Jo, are Stenhonse's inventions. The " tradition" of the words bearing reference to the seven sacraments of the Church of Rome has already been sufficiently refuted. In the first edition of Percy's Reliques, the number of " bairns" was five, and the subsequent alteration to seven was " a new reading communicated by a friend, who thinks by the seven bairns are meant the Seven Sacraments." The words of John Anderson printed by Percy seem uncouth to an Englishman, on account of the use of " z" for " y," but that is no proof of antiquity, for the Scotch still employ the one fcr the other.
When Moore appropriated the air under the name of Cruiskeen Lawn, he was under the misconception that the terminations were peculiarly characteristic of Irish music. For the same reason, and with equal impropriety, he included " The pretty girl of Derby, O" among his Irish Melodies. I will here only remark that Bunting (* far higher authority for Irish music) rejects both these airs, and refer the reader for further remarks to " Characteristics of English National Airs," where I shall endeavour to invert Moore's position.
p. 123. Packington's Pound.—The ballad which Shakespeare is said to have written on Sir Thomas Lucy was evidently intended for the tune of Packington's Pound. See Dyce's Shakespeare, vol. i., p. xxii.
Instances of the use of the tune at later dates than any I have cited, will be found among the jingles of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, such as his election-squib upon Bubb Doddington, " A grub upon Bubb," beginning :—
" When the Knights of the Bath by King George were created; "
also in The Convivial Songster, 1782. It is there printed to a song commencing,—
"Ye maidens and wives, and young widows, rejoice."
p. 142. Dolcina.—The tune may perhaps be carried a stage further back under another name. In the registers of the Stationers' Company, under the date of May 22, 1615, there is an entry transferring the right of publication from one printer to another, and it is described as " A Ballett of Dulcina, to the tune of Forgoe me nowe, come to me soone.
p. 147. John, come kiss me now.—This tune is also included in Ifusick's Delight on the Cithren, 1666.
Sir W. Davenant alludes to it in his play of Love and Honour; J. Phillips (Milton's nephew), in his translation of Don Quixote, 1687, p. 278; and the Hon. Eager North, in his Memoires of Mustek. North says, prophetically, " The time may come when some of the present celebrated musick will be as much in contempt as John, come kiss me now, now, now, and perhaps with as much reason as any is found to the contrary at present." (4to., 1846, p; 92.)
When I said that the tune of John, come kiss me, had not " hitherto been found in any old Scotch copy," I should have excepted a manuscript of music for the base viol, which was in the possession of the late Andrew Blaikie. This has been com--monly quoted as of the year 1692, but I date it as not earlier than 1745. Blaikie was possessed of two such manuscripts, and, according to Danney's Ancient Scottish Melodies, p. 143, they " were both written in the same hand, and their respective contents arranged nearly in the same order." He says the one was dated 1633, and the other 1692. Blaikie very obligingly lent me one manuscript (having |
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