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STORIES OF
George III., and appointed nurse to the infant Prince Edward, who was afterwards Duke of Kent and father of our present sovereign, Queen Victoria. Whan Mrs. Percy had ful-filled the duties required of her, and returned home to her disconsolate husband, he greeted her with the verses, " O Nanny will you go with me ?" Nanny being Mrs. Percy's Christian name. The affecting ballad very quickly took high rank, and was regarded by the " Gentle-man's Magazine" of 1780 as " the most beautiful song in the English language." It was sung in 1773 at Vauxhall Gardens by Mr. Vernon. It is given in " Popular Songs and Melodies of Scotland" simply to prove, according to the editor's statement, that it belongs to England and not Scotland. Let us say that it belongs to both countries. Mrs. Percy died in 1806, and Bishop Percy in 1811. He was born in 1728.
The music of the song was composed by C T. Carter, as he is called on the title-page of the " Milesian." Thomas Carter was born in Dublin in 1735, and studied for a time under his father, Timothy Carter, organist of one of the principal churches. He set " O Nanny" to music in 1773, and it was published shortly afterwards. In 1787 Carter was musical di-94 |
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