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FAMOUS SONGS
imitate it and many a musician to set it As a song it has been decorated with new music by "J. C. J," Boston, U. S., 1864; by an anony-mous composer in 1878; by Sir F. W. Brady in 1882; and as a duet, one of the most popular, perhaps, by Seymour Smith in 1887. It has also been reset and rearranged as a part song by several composers with more or less success. But it is as the original song, with the original words and melody, that it is best known, and stands a chance of existing as a classic. And as it is claimed as the special product of so many different counties, we may at once assign it to that wonderful domain of folk songs which is so rich in the beautiful works of long-forgotten and unknown poets and minstrels.
The history and origin of that stirring mili-tary air, " The British Grenadiers," are almost entirely shrouded in mystery and obscurity, and all that is known of it is that the words date from about 1690, while the music is founded on an air of the sixteenth century. The first properly printed copy, an engraved music sheet, appeared about 1780.
There has been much controversy over " Though Lost to Sight to Memory Dear" many persons having asserted that it was a
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