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everywhere in the provinces. They met with so favourable a reception that the singer spoke to Mr. Arthur Boosey about them, with the result that the latter decided eventually to republish them, after having refused them at the outset. The songs at once became immensely popular, both in this country and America, and the composer received numberless letters of congratulation from all parts of the world.
The words, as is well known, are by Laurence Hope, who died a year or so ago. The composer wrote to the publishers of the poems asking for permission to use them, and shortly afterwards received a cable from Morocco, which ran : "Yes, with pleasure. No fee. Laurence Hope." Somehow she always imagined that the author was a man, and it was not till they met later in England that she discovered that not only was Laurence Hope not a man, but that she was the wife of General Nicholson, who had seen service in Afghanistan with the composer's own husband !
One of the most popular of these four lyrics is "Pale hands I loved." Of this there is rather a quaint story. A lady travelling abroad wrote to the composer recounting a conversation she had overheard between two girls in the hotel. "My dear," said one of them, "I've heard a lovely new song by Woodforde-Finden. |
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