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British Authorship of Ballads in the Isaiah
Thomas Collection
by
Thomas L. Philbrick
In 1924 Worthington C. Ford published his valuable catalog of ballads in the Isaiah Thomas collection of the American Antiquarian Society. In his introduction Ford gives the impression that most of the verses, with the exception of the British traditional ballads and a few such familiar products of English song writers as Carey's "Sally in Our Alley" and Dibdin's "Tom Bowlin's Epitaph," are of American manufacture. According to Ford, these verses bear witness to the charge that in 1814 "our poets were still in the lisping stage and in simplicity of structure and liberty of rhyme, united with a shameless display of the sentimental, could hardly have been poorer."[1] Ford asserts that the ballads in the Thomas Collection are largely the work of hopelessly anonymous hack writers; indeed, "the authorship of most of these verses can never be so much as conjectured" (p. 18).
On the contrary, the following list of British authors of verses in the collection indicates that the songs of the sentimental and comic varieties
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The list could, without doubt, be extended by further investigation, yet it includes, I hope, a sufficiently high proportion of those ballads for which British authorship can be determined to be significant and useful.
Items are arranged in the following order: Ford's catalog number, first line, author, and source for my assignment of authorship. Place of publication is London unless specified otherwise.
- 19a, 164c, 211b, 280b "Over the mountains and over the moor". By John W. Chandler: see English Songs of the Georgian Period, ed. Alfred Moffat and Frank Kidson (n.d.), pp. 248-249.
- 20a, 260a, 295b "All in the Downs the Fleet was moor'd". By John Gay: see his Poetical Works, ed. G. C. Faber (1926), pp. 181-183.
- 24b "Twas in the season of the year". By Richard Hewit: see The Scots Musical Museum, ed. James Johnson and William Stenhouse (1853), I, 9, and IV, 5.
- 26b, 52b, 255b "Here, a sheer hulk, lies poor Tom Bowline". By Charles Dibdin: see his The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin (1803), III, 38.
- 34b "O Love is the soul of a neat Irishman". By Henry B. Code: see his The Russian Sacrifice (Dublin, 1813), pp. 14-16.
- 51b "The sheep had, in clusters crept close in a grove". By John Cunningham: see his Poems (Newcastle, 1771), pp. 85-86.
- 51c, 61b "The bright God of day, drew westward away". By William Monlass: see The Minstrelsy of England, ed. Edmondstoune Duncan (1909), II, 14.
- 56c "A down a green valley there liv'd an old maid". By Charles Dibdin, Jr.: see Universal Songster (1834), III, 104.
- 57b "O ye bucks and ye bloods of the town". By C. F. Barrett: see Universal Songster, I, 365.
- 58b "John Bull was a bumpkin born and bred". By John Collins: see his Scrip-scrapologia (Birmingham, 1804), pp. 25-27.
- 61a "The sun sets at night and the stars shun the day". By Anne (Home) Hunter: see her Poems (1802), pp. 79-80.
- 64b "At the side of the road near the bridge of Dromcondre". By George S. Carey: see Universal Songster, III, 19.
- 70b, 198b "Oh! think on my fate, once I freedom enjoy'd". By James C. Cross: see his The Purse (1794), p. 14.
- 79a, 136c "There came to the beach a poor Exile of Erin". By Thomas Campbell: see his Poems, ed. Lewis Campbell (1904), pp. 64-65.
- 80b "The gentle Swan with graceful pride". By John Cunningham: see his Poems, pp. 58-59.
- 80c, 160b "The rose had been wash'd lately wash'd in a show'r". By William Cowper: see his Poems (1795), II, 347-348.
- 84 "When as King Henry rul'd England". By Thomas Deloney: see his The Garland of Good-Will, ed. James H. Dixon (1851), pp. 1-9.
- 86 "Cold and raw the north winds blow". By Thomas D'Urfey: see his Wit and Mirth (1719), II, 167-168.
- 87b, 289b "Oh where, and oh where is your highland laddie gone?" By Dorothea Jordan: see Our Familiar Songs, ed. Helen K. Johnson (New York, 1881), pp. 501-503.
- 90b "Adieu, a heart fond, warm, adieu". By Robert Burns: see his Works, ed. William S. Douglas (Edinburgh, 1895), I, 320-321.
- 91b "When first we hear the boatswain's bray". By Edward Neville: see his Plymouth in an Uproar (1779), pp. 24-26.
- 95a "Giles Scroggins courted Molly Brown". By Charles Dibdin, Jr.: see The Songster's Companion (Brattleboro, Vt., 1815), p. 124.
- 95b "Oh, whack! Cupid's a Manikin". By George Colman, Jr.: see his The Review (1808), pp. 25-26.
- 96a, 97a "I have Parks, and I have Grounds". By John Rannie: see Universal Songster, I, 348.
- 96b, 277b "Why, fair maid, in every feature". By Matthew G. Lewis: see his Poems (1812), pp. 24-25.
- 101b, 102b "The sweet brier grows in the merry green wood". By John Collins: see his Scripscrapologia, pp. 45-46.
- 104a "Twas in the good ship Rover". By Charles Dibdin: see his The Professional Life, III, 11-12.
- 105b, 231 "A rose tree full in bearing". By John O'Keeffe: see his The Poor Soldier (Dublin, 1785), p. 15.
- 114a "For England when with favouring gales". By William Pearce: see his Hartford-Bridge (1793), pp. 36-37.
- 129b "Loud roar'd the dreadful thunder." By Andrew Cherry: see his Spanish Dollars! (1806), pp. 25-26.
- 136a "Oh! the land of sweet Erin's a land of delight". By Isaac Pocock: see his Hit or Miss! (1810), pp. 25-26.
- 136b "How sweet are the flowers that grow by your fountain". By Theodore E. Hook: see his Tekeli (1806), p. 17.
- 137a "A landlady of France, she loved an officer, 'tis said". By George Colman, Jr.: see Universal Songster, I, 225.
- 137c "Ah what is the bosoms commotion". By Charles Ward: see The Plays and Poems of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, ed. R. Crompton Rhodes (Oxford, 1928), III, 312-313, and II, 321.
- 145a "When in death I shall calm recline". By Thomas Moore: see his Poetical Works (1840-41), III, 244-245.
- 163 "When all was wrapt in dark midnight". By David Mallet: see his Ballads and Songs, ed. Frederick Dinsdale (1857), pp. 80-83, and pp. 95-100.
- 164a, 165a "The moon had climb'd the highest hill". By John Lowe: see The Scots Musical Museum, I, 38-39; and IV, 37-40.
- 165b "Just like Love is yonder rose". By Lord Viscount Strangford: see his Poems from the Portuguese of Luis de Camoens (Philadelphia, 1805), pp. 39-40.
- 165c "Fair Sally, once the village pride". By John Rannie: see Universal Songster, I, 146-147.
- 166 "Old Mary, her poor husband dead". By Charles Dibdin: see his The Professional Life, IV, 129-131.
- 168 "Twas Landlady Meg that made such rare flip". By Charles Dibdin: see his The Professional Life, IV, 27-28.
- 181b "'Twas summer and softly the breezes were blowing". By John Tait: see The Scots Musical Museum, III, 532, and IV, 456-457.
- 192b "A traveller stopt at a widow's gate". By George Colman, Jr.: see his Broad Grins, ed. George B. Buckstone (n. d.), pp. 349-350.
- 198a "Stay, lady—stay for mercy's sake". By Amelia Opie: see her Poems (1803), pp. 141-143.
- 198c "Behold, from many a hostile shore". By Isaac Bickerstaffe: see his Thomas and Sally (1765), p. 19.
- 199b "One day Madam nature was busy". By Andrew Cherry: see Universal Songster, I, 270.
- 210 "A flaxen headed Cow Boy". By John O'Keeffe: see his The Farmer (Dublin, 1778), p. 27.
- 211c, 276a "Tom Starboard was a lover true". By Thomas Knight: see his The Turnpike Gate (New York, 1824), pp. 11-12.
- 213b, 215b "Sweet Poll of Plymouth was my dear". By John O'Keeffe: see his Dramatic Works (1798), II, 444.
- 214b "In the downhill of life, when I find I'm reclining". By John Collins: see his Scripscrapologia, p. 19.
- 218b "If my own botheration don't alter my plan". By George Colman, Jr.: see Universal Songster, III, 144.
- 221b "Will you come to the bower I have shaded for you". By Thomas Moore: see his Melodies (New York, 1819), pp. 54-55.
- 225, 226 "When I was a lad, I had cause to be sad". By Jack Cussans: see Our Familiar Songs, pp. 444-446.
- 232a, 258b "The topsail shivers in the wind". By Edward Thompson: see The Goldfinch (Glasgow, 1782), p. 160.
- 233a "Twas past Meridian, half past four". By Charles Dibdin: see his The Professional Life, III, 335-337.
- 235a, 287b "Of all the girls that are so smart". By Henry Carey: see his Poems on Several Occasions (1729), pp. 127-131.
- 236b "Though oft we meet severe distress". By William Pearce: see his The Midnight Wanderers (1793), p. 7.
- 247a "Our bugles had sung, for the night cloud had lower'd". By Thomas Campbell: see his Poems, p. 79.
- 247b "Your laughter I'll try to provoke". By Charles Dibdin, Jr.: see Universal Songster, I, 130.
- 249 "When wild wars deadly blast was blown". By Robert Burns: see his Works, III, 116-119.
- 260b "When Steerwell heard me first impart". By John Rannie: see English Songs of the Georgian Period, pp. 162-163.
- 260c "From the white-blossom'd sloe my dear Chloe requested". By Robert Burns (first stanza) and Charles Dibdin (second stanza): see Burns's Works, III, 205.
- 263b "Ther liv'd a man in Billinocrasy". By Samuel Foote: see William Chappell, Popular Music of the Olden Time (1859), II, 713.
- 264, 265a "Cease, rude Boreas, blust'ring railer". By George A. Stevens: see The Sea Songs of England, ed. William Kitchiner (1823), p. 5, and pp. 46-47.
- 265b "The last time I came o'er the moor". By Allan Ramsay: see his Poems (Edinburgh, 1727), pp. 65-67.
- 268a "Thimble's scolding wife lay dead". By George Colman, Jr.: see his Broad Grins, pp. 411-412.
- 268b "There once was a farmer and he had a cow". By Charles Dibdin: see his The Professional Life, III, 367-369.
- 270 "Sure won't you hear what roaring cheer". By Charles Dibdin: see his The Professional Life, IV, 12-14.
- 271b "Here's the Bower she lov'd so much". By Thomas Moore: see his Works, V, 162.
- 275a "Now the rage of battle ended". By John Wolcot: see his The Works of Peter Pindar, Esq. (1809), IV, 57-58.
- 275b "Adieu, adieu, my only life". By Charles Dibdin: see his The Professional Life, III, 53.
- 275c "Oh! see that form that faintly gleams". By Ann Keith: see The Scots Musical Museum, I, 71, and IV, 75.
- 277a "My name d'ye see's Tom Tough, I've seen a little service". By Charles Dibdin: see his The Professional Life, IV, 121-122.
- 280c "How happy the woman, whose charms". By George Colman, Jr.: see his Two to One (Dublin, 1785), pp. 8-9.
- 281a "A Captain bold, in Halifax". By George Colman, Jr.: see his Love Laughs at Locksmiths (1808), p. 36.
- 283b "'Twas near a thickets calm retreat". By John Moulds: see A Song Book for the Ladies (1802), pp. 37-38.
- 292 "Tis said, we vent'rous die-hards, when we leave the shore". By Charles Dibdin: see his The Professional Life, II, 277-279.
- 293a "Far remov'd from noise and smoke". By Charles Dibdin: see his The Professional Life, III, 89-90.
- 293b "To a woodman's hut there came one day". By Charles Ward: see Rhodes, III, 312-313, and II, 320.
- 295a "Alone on the banks of the dark rolling Danube". By Thomas Campbell: see his Poems, p. 9.
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Notes
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