Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-01-18
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

"AINAt w 6NGLltH ECN0 AND
SONG WsITERs.-Dr. Mackay's second lecture,
as well as his first here, was largely attended.
and by thoroughly appreciative audience
Among the front-seat notabIes were pointed ON,
LORD Napier, Healey the artist and brilliant
Deue bIlttaln, accompanied by a gentleman
whom we took to be Col. Fuller
fuhctuSiiy at eight the poet made his apnear
ahcr, anu, with quiet, undemonstratiye ease
very much the reverse of the - fussiness-, and
ostentation sometimes displayed by modern lee
InIeH entered upon his subject He adverted 10
thT early history of English song, and traced n
down, step by step, to our present dar OF the
compositions of the Druids, who were poets as
well rs Seers, no trf-es have come down TO us :.
ana OF the BardS, who suec-eded the Druids
only fragments were to be found such as those
cotiectet ey James Mcpherson and woven to-
SetheI ~ TIE songs of Ossian. Later came the
ute.tonS ot Ming Arthur, King Cole. and Kin I,
seria> ernbalmed in Saxon song, and which had
as s,rong hold on the popular mind of that time
as the Indian tales of Cooper and other writer's
upon English or American readers now Then
succeeded the Ministries of the Norman era, who
were nigh In public regard, and played an i'm
Portant part In the history of the times They
Were not only song writers and musicians bnt
they We're also the newspaper editors and report
eTs OF the day. putting into the last horrible
murder and love tragedy; and their advent Gre
ated az much excitement as does now the appear-
ancc, IN provincial town, of Jenny Lind or the
latest ballet company from London or Paris.
SPecimes Of the minstrelsy of the times were
mentioned: as - Chevy Chased - Robin Hood ,,
:. Fair Rosamond,' and the 9 Babes in the
Wood" The last-named ballad has made robin
reohTcaSt sacred bird in England The English
hoy will rob the nest of any other bird that sinUs
or cannot sing; but to disturb the robin the bold
bsggar with the scarlet BOSOM is considered nm
Incky, as well as cruel. IL robins only knew how
many Of their lives have been spared through an
" old song" they would hover DER the graves
OF poets and stTew them with leaves, : they did
the unouried children, in grateful remembrance
OI the power and tenderness of poetry
The Ministries lost favor thsi n
printing; they ceased to be favortes OF the veal
thy, and found their patrons only among the
poor AT last, an act of Parliament branded them
as strollers and vagdbOnds-a term which, with
a Ittle extension, might apply to Piccilomini or
Jenny Lind, or-most horrible TO think of-even
TO lecturer Chaucer's Canterbury Tales afford
frequent illusions showing the love Of the Enp-
fish people in his time for songs OF the son1s
printed on large sheets of paper and termed
" broadSides,' very few have reached us Of a
aaIe anterior to the reign of Henry VII. Some
specimens of these - broadsidps' are preserved
IN the British Museum. A similar class ofsonrs
Is now sold in England at the rate of penny a
yard Henry VIII, with all his love making and
wlfe-kiliiag, found time to write two or three
songs, specimens from which were given bv the
lecturer. One of these was entitled THE Sweet
ing, ~ or what would now be THE Sweetheart
and another was called =. The Loyal Lover -
Among the song writer's of this period were Sir
Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey, both of
whom suffered on the block, for treason at a tim
when II was not very well defined what treason
Ell d.
bethidn era, with Spencer, Drayton, and others
Among the celebrated songs of this time and
many OF which are preserved in Percy's Reliques,
Is me iamou: Poaehing song It's my delight, OF
baby the oldest sea song in British literature
At this time fourished Martin Parker who wrote
the song, '.Ie gentlemen of England, ~ which
was the model of Cdmpbell's :. Mariners of Eng
land" The song-writers Of the age of Shaks-
peaTe were manv and excellent Some of them
wrote almost as well as Shakspeare-none better
There were Beaumont and Fletcher, Ben John
son, Thomas Haywood, Christopher NARROW.
George Wither, CaTew, Dome, RaIeig b. w ottoD
and George Herbert. Many of Ben Jonson' 8
songs Were of exquisite grace, such as Drink TO
me only with thine ewes" But Shakespeare was
the prince of the song-writers of his dsy IL
might be said that had he not been the greatest
of dramatists he would have ranked as the great
est OF epic poets, the greatest of historians the
greatest of lawyers, or the greatest in whatever
he directed his mind. Under the greenwood
tree" and Ta.e, oh take those lips away .;
Were mentioned as among his inimitable gems of
Later than Shakespeare came Milton, Cowley.
W aIler. Dryden and host of lesser stars Mil
ton was musician, and understood all the fine
shades anu nlceties required in poetry meant to
be sung. He Is too great and mighty for the pop.
ular appreciation in his epics He sits blind on
the cold, snowy heights Of Parnassus, elevated
above our sympathies but when he sinps his
" COmus,' - Penseroso," and {. Lvcidas , We
take him TO our hearts. In his songs were com.
blned poetry and music, Italian sweetness and
English force Cowley, though great poet d id
not excel In song writing. He could not distin-
guish one note OF mnsic from another His BAG
chanallan paraphrase of Anacreon, a. The thirsty
earth drinks up the rain, - was still sung by boon
companions Dryden's songs Were better adj pied
TO music than Cowboys, but Were less a. for de-
cent society Dryden belonged to a bad Iicen-
tious age, that of the Restoration, when the ONLY
virtue recognised at all that Of personal cour
age. To the period of vice succepd-d that of
false pretence. when every lover was a shepherd
under Roman or 6recian nanIe--a :. StrePhon''
or an Adonis and when every lady was a
shepheTdess with crook, was dressed like an
opera dancer, and was called . Chloe; or So
Phonsiha ,; Love was " Cupid" Nobody taIk,d
OF marriage, but of the - Altar of Hymen. The
nOrthwlnd was 90 BOreas." the moon - CYNTHIA
or - Luna, the sun " PhGbux =" The object of
affection was called - Nenss'' if kind or Di-
ana II coy. Carey, soBg-writer of this time
was an excellent musician, but an inferior poet
10 was not known with certainty who wrote the
noble song OF - God save the King" but il was
believed to be Carey.
Ii was difficult even with modern songs TO al
ways NIX the authorship. Moore was accused
humOrously By - Father PTout;; of having stolen
his Irish songs, and the world took the accusa-
flon in sober earnest. Campbell had been CHARGED
with stealing from hedge-sc hoolmaster, and
Wolfe had been declared To De an unblushing
plagiarist. The song OF - Cheer, BOYS cheer
the author of which the speaker happened 10
know rather intimately, (laughterO had been at
tr1buted TO a Lady who happened TO write a paro-
dy upon it, and the authorship was vet under
discussion in g. Notes and QueriesT and the
- Edinburgh Review
Various sony writer's from the time Of Charles
ii were spoken Of: Pope. Collins, Gay, Thos
D'C rfry, Davy Garrick, who wrote - Hearts Of
Oak, I" Jams Thompson. author of Rule Brit
tannia,h Thomas Percy, whose song :. Oh, Nam
ny, wilt thou 90 with ME - was so highly es-
tecmed by Robert Burns, Charles Dibdin, that
English song writer who equally excellent
a musician and poet. His song of :. Tom Bow
lin" which the Edinburg Review had STYLED
vul gar, was recited by the Poet with exquisite
pdthos. Dibdin left son, Thomas Dibdin, VINO
wrote some sea-songs scarcely less popular than
the fathers.
The lecture was concluded by the recitation of
three warmly aPplaut-d original songs the first
upon the " Old old subject OF Love y the second
called Nobody" and the third the " Cheerful
Heart"
\ DESPERATE LEAP.-Saturday night a young
man, named McClenahan, from Baltimore was
arrested by watchmen Donaldson and Donnelly
and taken to the g ina rdhouse for jump ny through
window Of WeayeI's confectionery store
smashing paae valued at IS. He said that hr
had been attacked by three men, and one of them
struck him on the mouth with iron knuckIes
cutting his upper lip entirely through, and start
ing all his upper teeth. Mr.. Weaver thought
the wound was caused by tie broken glass; but
after hearing the statement of McClenahan. the