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INTRODUCTORY NOTE. |
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Fresh as the breezes of that ocean to which they owe their inspiration, the " chanties " and songs here collected come to us as a most interesting and unique contribution to our literature of the sea. For this volume contains no mere study-compilation of more or less authentic sea-ditties, mingled with the nautical effusions of landsmen. It is original in its conception and execution. With one or two trifling exceptions, it is a collection of what may be styled " the genuine article "—not the creation of landsmen written for or about sailors, but the actual "working songs" of the sea that are in use at the present time.
Still further, this book contains not merely the ditties of our own Jack Tars, but a selection of the sea-songs of nearly all maritime nations, translated and ably commented on, from a literary, musical, and nautical point of view, . together with a good deal of interesting information regarding them.
Whoever will drink of an unadulterated stream must go to the fountain-head. This, Miss Laura Alexandrine Smith has done, and that she has drunk deeply, is easy to be seen from the spirit and enthusiasm with which she writes. Possessing literary power of a high order and thorough musical knowledge, besides originality and perseverance, |
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