Smyrna times., 1861-11-14
lence reDoSes,

Ing steep
As it f'fuly blow,. half conceals, half dis
closes
Now ii catches the CLEAN of the mornings first
beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the
stream"
The lines are, also. too long. and the rhyme
too involved for u truly popular patriotic song.
They tax the memory; they should aid it.
The rhythm. TOO, is complicated, and often
harsh and vague.
"Oh thus be it ever when free men shall
stand
Between their loved home, and the wars
desolatiOn;
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven.
rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preser-
we'd us nation"
In fact. only the choral lines of this song have
brought it into general favor.
"And the Star.Spangled Banner IN triumph
shall wave
Ger the land Of the free and the home of the
brave"
But even in regard to this, who,cannot but wish
that the spaGges could be taken out, and
good, honest flag be substituted for the banner !
HAIL COLUMBIA.
&" Hail Columbia " is really worse than. Yam
kee Doodle" That has a character, although
1t is comic and it is respectable, because it
makes no pretence. But both the words and
music of =" Hail Columbia - are commonplace,
vulgar, and pretentous; and the people them
selves have found all this out. The Star
Spangled Banner" is an old French air, long
SHOWN IN Engand as Anacr on in Heaven"
and in America as Adams and Liberty" until
The song so designated was suppanted by
Kev's The air to which Hopkinson wrote
" Hail Columbia was a march written by
German band master on occasion OF visit of
Washington, when President, to the old john
street Theatre in New York. TWAS called the
I. Presidents March" "Yankee Doodle" is
an old English air.
LACK OF ENGLISH MELODIES.
In one respect at least, we faithfully pre-
serve distinctive trait of our race We have
no national music. In this deficiency the Eng
sish are peculiar amosg all the people of the
earth. There is no national English music !;
we brought none over here with us, and we
have originated none since we left the old
home. There are songs, indeed, which are
called English ballads; and there are certain
very correctly written glees, mostly dolorOus in
their character; and also, Engls church "ser-
vices" or sacred music, by which, such words
as We praise thee" and o. be joyful" can
be sung in a sufficiently penltental manner
But all this has no distinctive character, except
it be that character which forbids it to be call.
ed music by any other civilized people, or TO be
listend to with patience by those among oursel-
yes who happen to have musical organizations
and cultivated taste. II is true, that certain
composers, on both sides of the water, have
produced some fine music-a very little but
its character has plainly shown that it was
merely the isolated upspringlng of German,
Italian, or French seeds, cultivated in English
soil. We have no school OF music nay, we
have not even a good popu ar air that is Of our
own prod The very commonest ballads
which have been long in favor, both in England
and in A rerIca, are not of English origin they
are Scotch or irish, French or Italian. OF
Home. Sweet Home" itself the sentiment of
the word written by an American-is truly
English, but the melody is Italian. And the
very Annle Laurie which was sung so much
in the Crimea, is Scotch.
GOD SAVE THE KING.
tGod Save the King" which has become
the recognized British national hymn, the cOn-
centrated expression Of loyalty to King, Lords,
and Commons, is, words and music, rebel COM
position, written in honor of a pretender 10 the
British throne; and the "enemies that it 80
denOunces are the reignng House of Hanover,
and its supporters. Il has been attributed to
DR.. John Bull, a musician who lived in England
in the reigns Of Elizabeth and James the First
but this could have been done only by persons
entirely uaacquainted with Bulls compositions,
which are formal, dry. and dreary 10 the last
degree, besides being " impossible" enough to
please DR.. Johnson. Il was even said, upon
the authority ofa DIR. Cook, who had inspected
/ the Archives ofthe Academy of Ancient Music
/ upon this subject, TO have been "wrtten by a
DR.. Rogers, in the time of Henry the Eighth,
prior to the Reformation" But the truth is,
/ that it has not yet been kown q hundred and
/ twenty-five years, or recognized as British
national hymn for seveniy-fiVe years. As late
as 1896, a cores pondent Of the Gentlemen 8
! Magazine expresses q &" wish" that " the
song OF God Save the King. may long cheer the
heart of many a loyal subject" The air is
originally French, and is still sung by the vine-
dressers in the south of France. This cir,
Henry Carey, a musician who lived in the
reign Of William and Mary, Anne. and the first
Georges, adopted and rewrole, writing also and
/ perhaps partly adopting, the verses which are
now sung to it. with the exception of two very
important words.
THE MARsEILLAIsE.
The history Of the other great national hymn
Of the world, the Marseillaise-for these two
separate themselves by eminence from all the
others-is noticeably and significantly unlike
that which has just been exami ed. Every rea-
der of this lutte book may not know all the
brief history Of that marvellous song, which lie
almost ira vested in Lamsrtine's sentimental
melod ira matte account OF il in Girondins. II
received its name from the men who fret made
il known in Paris, the ruffian MaFseillaiee-a
horde, some five hundred strong, OF the Viest
and most brutal Of the floating population OF a
Mediterranean sea port town, who were sum
moned to Paris by Barbaroux for the purpore OF
exciting and assisting at the atrocities OF 1892
Headed by the wretch Santerre, they marched
into Paris, and. through it's principal streets.
on the thirtieth Of July IN that year, band OF
swurthy, fierce, travel .soileddesPerado wear
ing red Phrygisn caps wreathed with green
leaves, dragging cannon, and singing as tn y
marched ths Marseillaise.
\ ITS kUTHoF.
4 ~&r.