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142 The National Music of America.
not be too trusting to pin one's faith upon some original occurrence as above described. It is highly probable that Doctor Shuck-burgh did write a satirical poem to a dance-tune with which he was familiar, and that the result was " Yankee Doodle." It has been often stated that the lines written against Cromwell (which are probably entirely fictitious as connected with the Protector) ran thus:
" Nankie Doodle came to town On a little pony, Stuck a feather in his cap And called him Macaroni."
It is, however, more likely that Doctor Shuckburgh wrote words like these, for the word "Macaroni" at about this time (1755) meant something like the " Dude " of to-day, and the whole stanza (altering the first word to "Yankee") would suit admirably to satirise the New England regiments which aroused the wit's risibility. |
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