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STORIES OF
Haymarket. The score of this opera was pub-lished by Hamilton and Co., Paternoster Row, July 5th, 1784. The tune " Yankee Doodle" is so called in the score of the opera, showing that it was well known by that name before that time. In the opera it is sung by a char-acter called Dicky Ditto, impersonated by Mr. John Edwin, a celebrated burletta actor and singer in his too brief day. The words of the song are the veriest trash imaginable, and to> vulgar to be quoted—and this was the work of the great George Colman, who, when he was appointed examiner of plays, expunged the mildest of oaths and expletives.
Of the original words of " Yankee Doodle, or the Yankee's Return from Camp," it is impos-sible to say one good thing. They are to be seen in the British Museum on a single sheet, quarto, printed about 1825 (?), and sold at t h e time by L. Denning, Hanover Street, Boston. The chorus I have previously given; there are fifteen stanzas, and each succeeding one from the beginning grows more idiotic. The first verse is:
" Father and I went down to Camp, Along with Captain Gooding; There we see the men and boys, As thick as hasty pudding." 140 |
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