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FAMOUS SONGS
complete text of the " Chanson de Malbrough," and says that the chanson is a parody of a much older and more serious poem, as attested not only by its archaic construction, but by its admixture of pathos so strangely out of place in a piece of buffoonery. A great deal of the chanson is a repetition of another burlesque piece, "Le Convoi du due de Guise" of 1563. The pathetic portions of " Malbrough" exhibit, according to Genin, all the marks of twelfth and thirteenth century versification. It seems im-possible that any version of the song had any reference to the great Duke of Marlborough, as has been erroneously asserted so often, as the words with regard to his achievements and the devastation that he caused amongst his foes have no connection or reflection whatever. It simply tells how a general goes forth to take part in a campaign in a distant land, and that it is difficult to say when he will return, and how eventually word is sent by a trusty messenger to the general's wife that he has died on the battle-field. The funeral is described in rather a ridiculous fashion, and the whole tone of the lyric suggests that it is simply an ordinary soldier's song commemorating, with a mixture of pathos and humour, the fortunes and mis-fortunes of war. The name " Malbrough" was
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