Familiar Songs - Their Authors & Histories

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	330	OUR FAMILIAR SONGS.
	SAVOURNEEN DEELISH. Savourneen dheelish Elteen ogue, "Darling, dear young Ellen," is the refrain of a song; which is often attributed to Thomas Campbell, but was written by George Colman the younger, and formed part of his musical drama entitled, "The Surrender of Calais." George Colman the younger, who, like his father, was an English comic dramatist, was. born October 21, 1762. He became manager of the Haymarket Theatre, and wrote more farces, comedies, etc., than any modern dramatist, but most of them were unsuccessful, and none survive. After the condemnation of his play, "The Iron Chest," he added to bis name, "the younger," saying, in explanation, "Lest my father's memory may be injured by mistakes, and in the confusion of after-time, the translator of Terence, and the author of the 'Jealous Wife/ should be supposed guilty of 'The Iron Chest/ I shall, were I to reach the patriarchal longevity of Methuselah, continue (in all my dramatic publications) to subscribe myself, George Colman the younger." O'Carrol, a fine Irish singer, used to sing Colman's song to the old melody, "Savourneen Dheelish."