The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1857-10-02
From the Press.
THE AIR OF YANKEE DOODLE.

During my residence in London, several
year ago, The following letter came into my
possession, and thinking that it might prove of
some interest to your many readers, esclose
you copy for publication in The Press
Whatever may be the origin of the air of Yam
kee Doodle, it has become to US so entirely ma
tlonal in IFS character, that any Information in
relation to it cannot fail 10 ba received with
great interest by the American people. The
writer of the letter, DR.. Reinbaut, is an emn-
ent professor of music in London. He has de-
voted many years OF his life to the collection
and preservation OF the popular airs of England
and other countries, and his thorough acquaint-
ance with the subject about which he writes
renders him high authority, and enables him TO
throw additional hight upon the origin of orr
most popular national melody. The letter reads
as follows:
LONDON, July 81, 1884.
DR.. Rein5ault presents his compliments to
-, and regrets very much that owing to his
being away from London, IS letter has re-
rainrd SO long unanswered.
With regpect TO the air of Yankee Doodle,
the earliest copy which Dir. Reinbault has found
fsi> = W aqss1-@ a45oIfon BancRS Tor the year
$780," where til printed in 6-S time, and call
ed FISHERS jig" This is very interesting, be-
cause for more than half a century the air in
question has been sung in our nurseries 10 the
verse. ''Lucy Locket lost her pocket,
Kitty Fisher found it;
Not bit of money in it.
Only binding round it,"
According TO set of old engravngs of Lon
don characters, tprobabIy by HoIer,) published
in the reign of Charles H. Kitty Fisher figures
as Courtesan Of that period. This seems TO
send the time back long ways
II has been said that the air of Yankee Doc
die dates still further back, and that the verse
''Yankee Doodle came 10 town,
Upon little poney; a.w
He stuck frathes in his hat,
And called it macaroni,' .-.
relates with the alteration Of Nankee for YAM
keel to Cromwell. The lines are said to allude
to his going into Oxford with single plume
fastened in knot, called a macaroni. Bot this
is all conjecture; all that we know for certain is
that the air in question was known in England
the first bali OF the last century as "Kitty Fish
er's jig" DR.. Reinbault has all the popular
music of England from the earliest time, but
finds no trace OF the air of Yankee Doodle lin
printl before the wear 1850.
In connection with this subject, also learned,
when n London, that about the middle or to-
wards the close of the last century, there was
musical clock attached TO church n the CITY
proper, somewhere in the neighborhood of the
famous Bow-Bels, which daily, at the hour of
twelve among other melodies, PLAYED the air
Yankee Doodle. endeavored to trace the
story 10 its foundation, and ascertain if possible
the exact locality of the edfce that contained
the clock. But the labor was in vain. Moth
ing definite could be learned, and no vestipe of
the building could be found. The simple story
that such thing had been, was all that time, in
its ravages, had permitted TO come down to the
present. Yet, whether it be true or false, there
can be no doubt ofthe fact that the air of YAM
kee Doodle was composed and sung long before
the American Revolution. Engish mothers had
taught il TO their children, little dreaming that
the day would come when from their loins
would spring generation of men who would
take that strain, and blending II with a natiou's
glory, make { echo along the whole earih's sur
face. And now il has become the song of great
people.
Wherever sterilization spreads her luminous
wings" Yankee Doodle may be heard minglng
with the morning breeze and lingering in the
evening air. Simple and touching in It's melo-
dy, it has magic Influence to stir upold memo
ries in the patridt's heart. whether be be in his
own native lanh, or on some distant foreign
shore. And it will continue TO thrill with lis
resist less power he people OF our Union, as long
as we preserve hp land our fathers left US undi-
vided and an unbroken heritage. d
aa. Faithfully your friend, 8, s
HERMAN LEIGH.