Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

598 SONG
years younger than Ariie. About Jackson's
songs there clings a sense of tameness and
insipidity, but in his day no collection was
held to be complete without his ' Time has not
thinned my flowing hair,' or ' When first this
humble roof I knew.' Among his contemporaries,
but a little junior to him, were Thomas
Carter, Samuel Arnold, Samuel Webbe, and
Charles Dibdin, who was a patriotic balladwriter
rather than a musician. The pathos of
'Tom Bowling' has rescued it from neglect,
but only by sailors are his other songs remembered
now. To Dibdin's generation also belonged
John Percy, the composer of 'Wapping Old
Stairs,' and James Hook, best known for 'The
Lass of Richmond Hill, ' and ' 'Twas within a
mile of Edinboro' Town,' a pseudo-Scotch song,
like Carter's ' 0, Nanny, wilt thou gang with
me ? ' Two better musicians than the foregoing
appeared a little later, namely, William Shield
and Stephen Storace, both of whom were distinguished
by a gift of melody. But their songs
are seldom heard now, excepting perhaps The
'
death of Tom Moody ' by Shield, and Storaoe's
'With lonely suit.' A well-known song of
that period was The Bay ' of Biscay ' by John
Davy of Exeter.
The special merit of English songs of the
late 1 8th century is their melody, which seems
to have then been a common gift ; but the
strongest feeling of the nation was patriotism,
and the compositions that survive are almost
all short songs, expressive of patriotic sentiment,
or connected with it by their nautical subjects. ^
John Braham, Charles Horn, and Henry Bishop
were all bom in the 18th century, but so near
its close that their works must be ascribed to
the 19th century. Braham himself was a
celebrated singer, and his sea-song The Death
'
of Nelson ' ^ merits the fame which it has won.
To Horn we owe Cherry '
Ripe,' and The ' deep,
deep sea.' Sir Henry Bishop stood foremost
among all his contemporaries and immediate
predecessors, alike in science, taste, and facility,
and possibly also in invention. His accompaniments
are varied and skilful, and though his
melodies contain rapid divisions requiring
vocal skill, they are graceful and effective.
With such care also, did he study correctness
of accent, that in his songs the metre of the
poetry is seldom disturbed by the rhythm of
the music. 'Bid me discourse,' 'Should he
upbraid,' and 'Home, Sweet Home' are well:
established favourites, which need no eulogy.
As other illustrations of the songs of the first
part of the 19th century may be mentioned,
' I'd be a
'
butterfly,' by Haynes Bayly ; She
wore a wreath of roses,' by Knight ; ' The blue
bell of Scotland,' by Mrs. Jordan, and others
by Rooke, Rodwell, Thomas Cooke, Lee, and
1 DaTey'B EUtory of En^Uih Mvsja, p. 425 dS aeg.
2 On the cnxionfl Bimilarity of musical idea between this and
'
Kiihul's Cliant du diSpai't ' (amounting almost to identity), see
Davey, op. cit. p. 477.
Lover. But speaking generally of these songs
and of many others like them, their sole and
only merit consisted in the voice -part being
pleasant and melodious, and the accompaniments
very easy. Weighed in the balance of
pure and scientific music they have little value.
It can be easily understood that although
this type of song was popular, it had nothing
in common with the genuine folk-song. There
is indeed an impression that by the end of the
18th century traditional song had died out in
England,^ but this is by no means the case.
The many valuable books of traditional songs
collected and published during the 19th and
present centuries, afford proof that the popularity
of song has never been lost in England. Each
part of England preserves its special songs as
much as its own customs for certain days and
seasons. And collectors of songs can bear
witness that the habit of inventing songs is
not yet extinct among the country people.
This circumstance may account for the existence
of many quite distinct airs for a set of favourite
words.* Recent collections also show that the
modal influence (already spoken of in this aiticle)
is still evident in many of the English folksongs.
Numerous examples of tunes clearly
belonging to the ecclesiastical modes could be
given, did space permit. Many of the more
recently collected folk-songs are mere variants
of older versions, and it is often very difficult to
trace them back to their original form. The
districts where music is largely cultivated
among the poorer classes are not those where
the old tunes are most carefully preserved and
handed down. The reason of this is, that the
popular song of the day is ever the enemy of folkmusic
; and although the neighbourhood of a town
may afford opportunities of musical instruction
and cultivation, it likewise offers facilities for
acquiring familiarity with this commoner and
less desirable class of song. As a general rule
the English folk-songs are diatonic in melody
and regular in form, and lack any striking
characteristics as regards either rhythm or
harmony. They hold, however, a high place
among the folk-songs of other nations, and they
owe it to symmetry of form, simplicity and
directness of melody, and the absence of
sentimentality. ^
It would be difficult at this date to write a
just appreciation of English songs of the 19th
century. Although there have been many composers
of real merit, the standard of the general
public taste was low, and the demand for high
or serious work was limited. A numerous section
of song-writers clung to the ever-popular
3 '
Chappell's Old English Popular Music ' ends with the dose of
the 18th century.
i See preface to ' English County Songs,' by Lucy Broadwood and
J. A. FuUer Maitland.
s Sir Uuiiert Parry said in his Inaugural address to the Folk-song
Society : 'The folk-songs are characteristic of our race; of the
quiet reticence of our country folk, courageous and content to meet
what chance shall bring with a biuve heart. All the things that
mark the folk-music of the race also betoken the qualities of the race^
and as a faithful reflection of ouiselves, we needs must cherish it,*