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FAMOUS SONGS
of very little pretension and of a very quarrel-some nature. Letters were written to the "Times" from both sides, and in one of his articles he says: " Our friend desires us to say that, in the event of Mr. Campbell's contradict-ing this statement, he will produce several living witnesses to prove that Mr. Reynolds had shown to and sung for them as his own composition the identical lines several years prior to his death, and prior to Mr. Campbell's publication of them." In answer to this Campbell stated in the "Times" of June 17th, 1830, that he com-posed the song, " The Exile of Erin," at Altona, and sent it off immediately from that place to London, where it was published in the " Morning Chronicle," and so on. It is not my intention to open up this matter, as it has long since been known that Campbell was the author, and no one else. Sir Charles Gavan Duffy's words, however, prefixed to Reynolds's " Mary Le More," in the " Ballad Poetry of Ireland" (1845), are worth giving: "Mr. Reynolds was a Leitrim gentleman of moderate property, earnest patriotism, and respectable ability. Be-tween the era of Independence and the Union he wrote several rough, strong, popular songs in the national interest, one or two of which still hold their ground in the collections. Lat-187 |
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