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FAMOUS SONGS
and wisest men of all ages have chosen song as the best means of reaching the heart of the people. For song was the earliest indication of the evolution of man from barbarism into civilization. Naturally, a large number of our popular songs have arisen from some personal experience or memory of the writer, and if so many bards have written in a melancholy key, it should be recollected that, as Goethe happily says," The hope of bringing back old happy days burns up again in us as if it could never be extinguished." For most poets " learn in suffer-ing what they teach in song." Remember what Heine said of himself: " Aus meinen grossen Schmezen, mach' ich die Klienen Lieder." If the worldly reward to our song w'riters is but small, they enjoy such compensations in their talents that none outside the charmed circle .could ever understand. Troubadour and min-strel days are dead.
One of the earliest songs with a history is the piece sung by Blondel to his master, King Richard L, when his majesty was in prison. In 1190 Richard of the Lion Heart joined the Crusade with Philip Augustus of France, but, a division taking place between the two princes, the latter returned to Europe. Richard remained in the East, where he displayed uncommon
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