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FAMOUS SONGS
and with charming simplicity nod to him as he passed along. One day in the bright summer time, when " the bloom is on the rye," the future librettist sat down on a convenient stile, and wrote in less than ten minutes the words of the excellent song, " My Pretty Jane." When he left his native place for London, and obtained an engagement to write songs for the management of Vauxhall Gardens, he discovered " My Pretty Jane" amongst his other almost forgotten MSS., and gave it to Sir Henry Bishop to set. Sir Henry Bishop, however, was not always satis-fied with his own compositions, and discarded the song after he had composed the music. When applied to for a new lyric, Fitz-Ball said, " If ' Pretty Jane' won't do, I shall write no other." So they proceeded to Sir Henry Bishop's house, but found that gentleman out. Poking about his room Fitz-Ball lighted upon the song, which had been thrown in the waste-paper basket. The manager accepted it on the author's responsibility, and that night it was sung by George Robinson, the great tenor of the day, and at once created an enormous success. Then it was sung by Alexander Lee, and now for over thirty years it has, of course, been associated with the name of Sims Reeves. The original " Pretty Jane" is believed to have
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