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NOTES 361 |
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P. 394. Admiral Strachan's Victory. From Fairburn's Naval Songster for 1806, p. 32. The action was fought November 4, 1805 (Clowes, v. 171).
P. 305. The Amethyst and Thetis. From the Madden
collection (London Printers, ii. 227, No. 451). See Clowes, v. 427; James, iv. 376. The action took place November 10-n, 1808.
P. 306. The Successful Attempt ... in the Basque Roads. From the Madden collection (London Printers, i. 174). See Clowes, v. 252-270; James, iv. 395-430.
P. 307. Jefferys the Seaman. From the Madden collection (London Printers, ii. 2). A full account of the case is given by James, Naval History, iv. 273, ed. 1886. Captain Warwick Lake was dismissed from the Navy, February i8ro, for marooning Robert Jeffery on the desert island of Sombrero, in the West Indies.
P. 308. ' Ye Parliament of England.' Text from G. C. Eggleston's American War Ballads and Lyrics. New York (1889), i. 131. 'It was still a favourite song in many parts of the country as late as 1859,' writes the editor.
P. 309. The Constitution and Guerriere. Text from Eggleston's American War Ballads and Lyrics, i. 115, Action August 19, 1812. See James, v. 372; Clowes, vi. 34; Mahan, Sea Power: its Relation to the War of 1812, i. 330.
I have been unable to discover the date of the tune mentioned in the title, nor is the date of the song itself certain. It is contended on the American side that this song preceded that on the Shannon and Chesapeake, which was imitated from it, and on the other side that The Constitution and Guerriere is the later of the two. The evidence alleged for the priority of the American song is, briefly: William Dunlap's Yankee Chronology (a spirited musical drama) was produced at the Park Theatre, in New York, September 9, 1812 (Ireland's New York Stage, i. 288), and Mr. Brander Matthews thinks that may be the origin of these verses. An intelligent veteran of the war of 1812, present at the unveiling of the Perry statue at Cleveland on Lake Erie in i860, told the historian Lossing that he heard them sung at the Park Theatre, in New York, early in the fall of 1812, and that they were much heard at public meetings, in • bar-rooms, in workshops, and in the streets of the city (extract from the Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., vol. xx.). These arguments are not very conclusive. The discovery of the original song, The Landlady of France, which both imitate, would probably settle the matter. In the meantime it seems best to print the song on the victory of the Constitution first, because the incident it celebrates happened first. |
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