Popular Music Of The Olden Time Vol 2

Ancient Songs, Ballads, & Dance Tunes, Sheet Music & Lyrics - online book

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494
ENGLISH SONG AND BALLAD MUSIC.
of old and new English and Scotch Songs, with their respective tunes prefixed." 8vo., 1735, p. 82. It commences—
" By the side of a great kitchen fire,            A pudding was all his desire,
A scullion so hungry was laid;                 A kettle supported his head."
Many of my readers will recollect another, attributed to Canning, commencing—
" By the side of a neighbouring stream,        On the top of his head was his wig,
As an elderly gentleman sat;                    On the top of his wig was his hat."
The tune is also well known, from a song called The Lover's Mistake, adapted to it by Balfe, and sung on the stage by the late Madame Vestris.
When Gay introduced the air into The Beggars' Opera, he took the first line (" Can love be controll'd by advice") from the following song by Mr. Berkeley. It is said to have been addressed to the once well-known Viscountess Vane, whose history is related by Smollett in the " Memoirs of a Lady of Quality," intro­duced into his Peregrine Pickle. See the early editions.