The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-08-13
" HOME, SWEET HOME"

The Circumstances Under Which John Ho,oor,
Payne Wrote the Song.
Brooklyn Eagle.
Mr.. PAYNE "a one occasion in 1885
while at N9w Orleans, when questioned
on the subject of the music of "Home
Sweet Home" told his personal friend
Mr.. jas. Rees, of Philadelphia, that the
air was not wholly original with Mr..
Bishop, and related the following pleas.
ant anecdote concerning it. He said
81 first heard the air in Italy. One
beautiful summer morning as I was
strolling alone amid some delightful
scenery, my attention was arrested by
the sweet voice of peasant girl who
was carrying basket laden with flowers
and vegetables. This plaintive air she
trilled out with so much sweetness and
sim mplicity that the melody at once
caught my fancy. / accosted her, and,
after a few moments conversation,
asked for the name of the song, which
| she could not give me, but having a
slight knowledge of music myself,
barely enough for the purpose, 1 re-
quested her to repeat the air, which she
did while 1 dotted down the notes as
best could. It was the air that sug-
gested the words of Home, Sweet
Home, both of which sent to Bishop,
at the time I was preparing the opera of
'Clari' for Mr.. Kemble. Bishop hap
pened to know the air perfectly well,
end adapted the music to the words. "
This statement is fully sustained in the
letters OF Mr.. Payne tn Mr.. Bishop,
which are introduced in the volume.
There have been many ridiculous
statements made as to the circumstances
under which Mr.. Payne wrote the words
+ of his celebrated song. "Some," says
his biographer, shave stated that he
was residing in London at the time,
without shilling in his pocket; others
have stated that 'on a stormy night,
beneath the dim fickering of London
street-lamp, gaunt and hungry, and
without a place te shelter his poor,
shivering body, he wrote his inspired
song upon piece of ragged paper picked
from the sidewalk. ,"
This was not so. The letter of Mr..
Payne above quoted proves directly to
the contrary. We see by his acknowl
edgement to Bishop of the receipt of
eighty pounds that he was comfortably
situated when preparing "Clari" for
the stage. We admit that Mr.. Payne
never, at any period of his eventful life,
accumulated any considerable amount
of wealth; but those who know the
state of his circumstances knew that he
never was a street pauper. In a still
later communication to Bishop is an
other acknowledgement for fifty pounds
on the sum of two hundred and fifty,
wbieh he was to receive for the three
oz6mas entitled, Ali Pacha, The Two
Galley Slaves, and Clari, all of which
were produced at the Covent Garden
Theater, under the management of Mr..
Charles Kemble.
Mr.. Payne has never been "let alone;"
almost every thing he ever did has been
doubted, and it is somewhat surprising
that his consulship at Tunis has not
been denied him, but what of that
Fools have been found who doubted
that Shakespeare wrote his own plays,
and that Poe was the author of the
Raven" and, with all their mooting
of the question, they never could find
any one else who did perform the works.
At one time it was stated that Mr..
Payne did not write the words of "Home,
Sweet Home !" The assertion called
forth inquiry. Washington Irving was
applied to ON the subject, and his reply
was, that he had been unable to dis
cover who else did, and he could see 10
reason for doubling the authorship.