The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-16 00:00:00

011 AR:

;s MACKAY.

1--- "

,ular reprints of the day
there is not one,
Among the cli:ePdPouvl:t aily believe, calculated to
be more widely or mole
leartily welcomed by the
masses than this cheap po lular reprint of Charles
i.
Mackay's charming and ii.
,spititing• Ly ics.
musical publisher of great ei.
,terprisc. has already
placed within reach of the corn. munity " One Hun-
dred Songs, by Henry Russell"- -IVil‘ai° and Words
—for One Shilling ! Nay—coups
ed with this be-
nefaction in the shape of an aggreg...te
many masterpieces by a distinguishedreissue of so
'.ving favou-
rite—has republished, upon a similar scale, the
chefs d'muvres of the most national and
classic of
our great national and classic ballad• •mongers
—" One Hundred Songs, by Charles Di, 'din
Music and Words—for One Shilling ! Mr. Rout-
ledge has taken a leaf out of . the bo
ok of
Mr. Davidson. Here, coming from the press lin an
elegant form, volume by volume, each vc luau)
" one shilling," are the poems, sonv, bal. Ms,
lyrics of Charles Mackay ! Productions, ab nos
every one, stamped long ago with the autlloi ita-
tive and enduring timbre of popularity. F irst
and foremost—" Songs for Music" (84 of the ul in
pp. 116), gracefully inscribed " To Sir Erl ward
L. Bulwer Lytton, Bart., M.P., with every sera-
timent of personal esteem and literary actmira-•
tion." Secondly, " The Salamandrine, or Love
and Immortality" (3d edition), the dainties t cele-
bration of elf-land since Pope's memorable Raps
of the Lock—not forgetting, when we so
of it, the faery idyl of Hood, or the glorifi,
of the pixies by Coleridge ! Thirdly—" Ba llads
and Lyrical Pieces" (2d edition), 37 distinct pro-
ductions in pp. 118—some of these same bay llad'
and lyrics already (while their author is evens novt
but in the flower of his manhood) world-fame uls 1
Yes, that large phrase has about it no exaggers, tion
whatever, when urged in regard to some of the
many popular songs of Mackay—songs familiar not
only to us stay-at-homes, but equally to the It. raa-
rican backwoodsman aid to the Australian !;
digger ! " Tubal Cain"—do we not all ] g.IIOVI
its lusty and sonorous accents,
accents t nraet
as the treble of a flageolet, and thrillin g as
the diapason of an organ ? " The Good nue
Coming"—is it not carolled as often as the ho)inie-
liest " refrain" of all—about not going hom6 till
morning Y"A Plain Man's Philosophy"—ha sit
not (that simple heart-born ditty) something far
more bewitching about it than all the love-sick 14 .al-
lads ever warbled about Chloe and Strephon ?
I've a guinea I can spend
I've a wifo, and I've a friend,
And a troop of little children at my knee, John Brown.,
I've a cottage of my own
With the ivy over grown,
And a garden with a view of the sea, John Brown ;
I can sit at my door
By my shady sycamore,
Large of heart, though of very small estate, John Bros
So come and drain a glass
In my arbour as you pass,
And I'll tell you what I love and what I hate, el.( Ala
Brown."
Another volume, uniform with those already p
ticularised, is announced (as even now in the prosEi)
by the publishers—a volume intended to comprise
" The Leger ds of the Isles." And with these fault*
shilling volumes must be enumerated three otherst
—in every way companion publications, A Shil-'
ling Reprint of " Town Lyrics "—a shir reprint
of " Voices from the Crowd"—and a shilling 1--
print of " Voices from the Mountain." Poetic;
largess scattered with a lavish hand to the mut'
titude !