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88 The National Music of America.
The Scottish Jacobite songs illustrate every phase of a hopeless struggle. The weak attempt of the man who might have been James III. (the " Old Pretender" or the " Old Chevalier " — of St. George — as his opponents and adherents respectively called him) to regain his throne, led to the employment of the very ancient tune, now known as "Scots wha hae," as a war-song, and also to "What's a' the Steer, Kimmer ?" while the music which crystallised around the more courageous efforts of his son, Charles Edward (the "Young Pretender," the "Young Chevalier," or — best of all, this tender Scottish diminutive—"Prince Charlie "), would require a full volume to do it justice.
Germany, too, had her poets and musicians of liberty, among whom the young Tyrtaeus, Karl Theodore Koerner, stands preeminent. This martial singer was born at Dresden, September 23, 1791, and gave great literary promise even in his youth. By |
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