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654 |
ENGLISH SONG AND BALLAD MUSIC. |
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When royal James possess'd the crown, Occasional conformists base,
And popery grew in fashion, I blam'd their moderation ;
The penal laws I hooted down, And thought the church in danger was,
And read the Declaration : By such prevarication.
The church of Rome I found would fit And this is law, &c.
Full well my constitution; w, ,-, . ,,. .. ,
J ' W hen (jreorge in pudding-time came o er,
And I had been a Jesuit, . , , , ,,, ,.
' And moderate men look d big, sir, |
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But for the Revolution. |
My principles I chang'd once more, And so became a whig, sir;
And thus preferment I procur'd From our new faith's-defender; |
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And this is law, &c. |
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When William was our King declar'd, |
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To ease the nation s grievance ;
,T,.lt i, . . , , °, t ,, And almost ev ry day abiurd
With this new wind about I steer d, , , V. ,
, , . . . „ . Ine rope and the rfetender.
And swore to him allegiance : ;,,..,„
.-.., . . i r j-3 i And this is law, &c. Old principles I did revoke,
Set conscience at a distance ; Th' illustrious house of Hanover,
Passive obedience was a joke, And Protestant succession,
A jest was non-resistance. To these I do allegiance swear—
And this is law, &c. While they can keep possession :
For in my faith and loyalty, When royal Anne became our queen, I never more will falter,
The church of England's glory, And George my lawful king shall be—
Another face of things was seen, Until the times do alter.
And I became a tory : And this is law, &c.
The above air was also rendered popular by the song of " The Neglected Tar," commencing—
" I sing the British seaman's praise; A theme renown'd in story," &c. It is printed in the Rev. James Plumptre's dull, but highly moral collection, 8vo., 1805.
THE SPRING'S A COMING. This tune is contained in the third volume of The Dancing Master, and in the third volume of Walsh's Dancing Master, under the name of Humours of the Bath. It was introduced in many ballad-operas, such as The Wedding, The Beggars' Wedding, The Lovers' Opera, The Devil to pay, and A Rehearsal of a new Ballad-Opera Burlesqued, and generally under the title of "The Spring's a coming," from the first line of " The Bath Medley," written by Tony Aston.
This Tony Aston was an actor, who, in 1735, petitioned the House of Commons to be heard against the bill then pending for regulating the stage, and was permitted to deliver a ludicrous speech, which was afterwards published. His way of living was then peculiar to himself; resorting to the principal cities or towns in England, with his Medley, as he termed it, which was composed of some scenes of humour out of the most celebrated plays, and filling up the intervals between the scenes by a song or dialogue of his own writing.
" The Bath Medley" is printed with the tune, in Watts's Musical Miscellany,
i, 161 (1729), and Coffey's song, " Young Virgins love pleasure," to the same
air, in the fifth volume of that work. Coffey wrote it for his play, The Beggars'
Wedding.
The words here adapted were written to the air by the late George Macfarren. |
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