OLD SONGS AND OLD AIRS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 109, 29 May 1875, Page 9

OLD SONGS AND OLD AIRS.

" Savottcuteeit Dheehsh "> was not written by George* Colman, but '. by Lady Morgan, and it is surprising that it should be claimed for i him because it was sung in his musical drama — "The Surrender of Calais." There was nothing more common than one man's songs ap- '. poaring in another man's dramas. " Cathal the Hunter," and the '. splendid ballad, " Arthur Mac Coy," were written by John Boyle, i author of the historical work, " The Battle Fields of Ireland." The t spirited Orange song, " Tho Maiden City," was not, lam glad to say, i ■written by an Irish lady, but by a talented and very bigoted Englishwoman — Charlotte Elizabeth. : All the best known " Scottish " songs are not the productions of : natives of Caledonia. The well-known song, " Roy's Wife," was written by an Irish lady — Mrs. Grant, of Carron. It is remarkable for its perfect rhythm and it peculiar musical accent. Miss Blamire, who wrote " An' Ye Shall Walk in Silk Attire," was a Cumberland girl, and Mrs. Hamilton, who wrote "My Am Kreside," was an Irishwoman. The author of the beautiful tune, "Within a Mile of Edinboro' Town," was an Irishman — Dr. Smith, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. " Hey ! Johnny Cope, Are Ye Walkin' Yet," was composed by an Ulsterman named O'Hara, who followed the " Pretender " into Scotland, and was present at the battle in which Sir John Cope and the English troops were so well beaten. " There's Na Luck About the House," one of the best " Scottish " songs, is often attributed to Burns, but it was written by Meikle, the translator of Cainoeus. "Kate of Aberdeen" and "Nanny, Wilt Thou Gang Wi' Me " were not written by Scotchmen. Charles Doyne Sillery, an Irishman (born in Athlone), wrote the "Scottish Blue-Bells," of which I give two of the five stanzas — " Let the proud Indian boast of his jessamine bowers, His pasture of pert tune and rose-covei 'd dolls, While humbly I sing of those wild little flowers — The bluebells of Scotland, the Scottish blue-bells. " Sublime are your hills when the young day is beaming, And green are ,i our groves, with their cool, crystal wells ; And bright are your broadswords, like morning dews gleaming, On blue-bells of Scotland, on Scottish blue-bells ! " Though Scotland is rich enough in lyrical poetry and fine old airs, her sons are not satisfied. They have repeatedly endeavored to palm off as their own many of Ireland's grand old melodies. Of these I may mention four — "Maggy Lauder," "Lochaber," "Eilleen a Roon." and " The Banks of Banna." " Maggy Lauder," is as purely Irish as "St. Patrick's Day," or " G-arryowen," and much more ancient than either. The great Irish harper, Myles O'Reilly, who was born at Killencarra, County Cavan, in 1635, was the composer of the original " Lochaber," 'and it was carried into Scotland by another eminent Irish bard, Thomas O'Coimellau — born in Sligo, in 1640. Long before the Scotch attempted to rob us of this melody, it was known in England as " the Irish tune," and words were written to it by Thomas Duff ett :— " Since Coelia's my foe, To a desert I'll go, Where some river Fcr ever Shalljoclio my woe," etc. This song of Duffett's was published in London, in 1676, and Allan Ramsay, who wrote "Farewell to Lochaber," was not born until 1696, nor was his " Lochaber " given to the pxiblic until 1726 ;just fifty years after Duffett's song to O'Reilly's air. Carroll O'Daily's exquisite and plaintiff melody, "Eilleen a Eoon" (Eileen the secret treasure of my heart), the Scotch have endeavoured to purloin, under the title of "Robin Adair." By the •way, Robin Adair himself was an Irishman, lived at Hollypai-k, in Wicklow, and early in the last century was a member of the Irish Parliament. Handel, the great German composer, once declared that lie would rather be the atithor of " Eilleen a Roon," than the best of Ms own compositions, It is from this song of O'Daily that the famous expression of Irish hospitality, cead mille faiUhe, was taken. It occurs in the concluding verse, and is thus translated by Furlong :—: — A hundred thousand welcomes, Eileon a Roon ! Alhundred thousand welcomes* Eileen a Roon ! Oh. ! welcome evermore, With welcomes yet in store Till love and life are o'er, Eileen a Roon 1 But the most remarkable attempt of the Scotch to steal an Irish air was that of " The Banks of Banna." This song was written by the Hon. G-eorge Ogle, to the air of " Down Beside Me," one of the sweetest of Ireland's ancient melodies. The Scotch long-coveted this ah 1 , for as far back as 1793, Robert Burns says, in a letter to George Thompson : " You are quite right in inserting the last five in your list, though they are certainly Iris7t. ' Shepherds, I havo lost My Love,' (Banks of Banna), is to me a heavenly air. What would you think of a set of Scottish verses to it ? " Burns' words to this air were- rejected by Mr. Thompson. In 1824, Thompson himself tried his hand at the Irish melody, but his effort was also a failure, However, in 1851, Mr. Wood, of Edinburgh, surmounted the whole difliculty by giving, in one of his publications (Songs of Scotland), " The Banks of Banna," both words and music, ■with a very cool note, to the effect that " the air has been sometimes claimed as Irish ! " In the Reptiblic of Letters and in Whistle VinJcie, Scotland claims the credit of William Kennedy's works, for no other reason than that lis poems, •• Fitful Francis," were published in that country. Kennedy was born and bred in Ireland, was educated at Bolfast, aud legins one of his songs thus — " Oh ! while I live I'll ne'er forget the trouble of that day When, bound unto the distant land, our ship got under weMi • My friends I left at Belfast town, my love at Carrick shore And I gave to poor old Ireland my blessing o'er and o'er !" —'Irish World.'