CHAPTER VI

SONGS AND SOME SINGERS

The numerous songs and vocal works referred to by Dickens in his novels and other writings furnish perhaps the most interesting, certainly the most instructive, branch of this subject. His knowledge of song and ballad literature was extraordinary, and he did not fail to make good use of it. Not only are the quotations always well chosen and to the point, but the use of them has greatly added to the interest of such characters as Swiveller, Micawber, Cuttle, and many others, all of whom are of a very musical turn of mind. These songs may be conveniently divided into three classes, the first containing the national and popular airs of the eighteenth century, of which 'Rule Britannia' and 'Sally in our Alley' are notable examples. Many of these are referred to in the following pages, while a full list will be found on pp. 135-163.

I.--_National Songs_

There are numerous references to 'Rule Britannia.' Besides those mentioned elsewhere we have the picture of little David Copperfield in his dismal home.

What evenings when the candles came, and I was expected to employ myself, but not daring to read an entertaining book, pored over some hard-headed, harder-hearted treatise on arithmetic; when the tables of weights and measures set themselves to tunes as 'Rule Britannia,' or 'Away with Melancholy'!

No wonder he finally went to sleep over them!

In _Dombey and Son_ Old Sol has a wonderful story of the _Charming Sally_ being wrecked in the Baltic, while the crew sang 'Rule Britannia' as the ship went down, 'ending with one awful scream in chorus.' Walter gives the date of the tragedy as 1749. (The song was written in 1740.)

Captain Cuttle had a theory that 'Rule Britannia,' 'which the garden angels sang about so many times over,' embodied the outlines of the British Constitution. It is perhaps unnecessary to explain that the Captain's 'garden angels' appear in the song as 'guardian angels.'

Mark Tapley, when in America, entertained a grey-haired black man by whistling this tune with all his might and main. The entry of Martin Chuzzlewit caused him to stop the tune

at that point where Britons generally are supposed to declare (when it is whistled) that they never, never, never--

In the article on 'Wapping Workhouse' (_U.T._) Dickens introduces the first verse of the song in criticizing the workhouse system and its treatment of old people, and in the _American Notes_ he tells us that he left Canada with 'Rule Britannia' sounding in his ears.

'British Grenadiers,' said Mr. Bucket to Mr. Bagnet, 'there's a tune to warm an Englishman up! _Could_ you give us "British Grenadiers," my fine fellow?' And the 'fine fellow,' who was none other than Bagnet junior (also known as 'Woolwich'), promptly

fetches his fife and performs the stirring melody, during which performance Mr. Bucket, much enlivened, beats time, and never fails to come in sharp with the burden 'Brit Ish Gra-a-anadeers.'

Our national anthem is frequently referred to. In the description of the public dinner (_S.B.S._ 19)--

'God Save the Queen' is sung by the professional gentlemen, the unprofessional gentlemen joining in the chorus, and giving the national anthem an effect which the newspapers, with great justice, describe as 'perfectly electrical.'

On another occasion we are told the company, sang the national anthem with national independence, each one singing it according to his own ideas of time and tune. This is the usual way of singing it at the present day.

In addition to those above mentioned we find references to 'The Marseillaise' and 'Ça ira,' both of which Dickens says he heard in Paris. In _Little Dorrit_ Mr. Meagles says:

As to Marseilles, we know what Marseilles is. It sent the most insurrectionary tune into the world that was ever composed.

Without disputing the decided opinion expressed by the speaker, there is no doubt that some would give the palm to 'Ça ira,' which the novelist refers to in one of his letters. The words of this song were adapted in 1790 to the tune of 'Carillon National.' This was a favourite air of Marie Antoinette, and she frequently played it on the harpsichord. After her downfall she heard it as a cry of hatred against herself--it followed her from Versailles to the capital, and she would hear it from her prison and even when going to her death.

When Martin Chuzzlewit and Mark Tapley were on their way to America, one of their fellow travellers was

an English gentleman who was strongly suspected of having run away from a bank, with something in his possession belonging to its strong-box besides the key [and who] grew eloquent upon the subject of the rights of man, and hummed the Marseillaise Hymn constantly.

In an article on this tune in the _Choir_ (Nov., 1911) it is stated that it was composed in 1792 at Strasburg, but received its name from the fact that a band of soldiers going from Marseilles to Paris made the new melody their marching tune. A casual note about it appears to be the only musical reference in _A Tale of Two Cities_.

From America we have 'Hail Columbia' and 'Yankee Doodle.' In _Martin Chuzzlewit_ we meet the musical coach-driver who played snatches of tunes on the key bugle. A friend of his went to America, and wrote home saying he was always singing 'Ale Columbia.' In his _American Notes_ Dickens tells about a Cleveland newspaper which announced that America had 'whipped England twice, and that soon they would sing "Yankee Doodle" in Hyde Park and "Hail Columbia" in the scarlet courts of Westminster.'

II.--_Songs from 1780-1840_

We then come to a group of songs dating, roughly, from 1780. This includes several popular sea songs by Charles Dibdin and others, some ballad opera airs, the _Irish Melodies_ and other songs by Thomas Moore, and a few sentimental ditties. Following these we have the songs of the early Victorian period, consisting of more sentimental ditties of a somewhat feebler type, with a few comic and nigger minstrel songs. The task of identifying the numerous songs referred to has been interesting, but by no means easy. No one who has not had occasion to refer to them can have any idea of the hundreds, nay, of the thousands, of song-books that were turned out from the various presses under an infinitude of titles during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. There is nothing like them at the present day, and the reasons for their publication have long ceased to exist. It should be explained that the great majority of these books contained the words only, very few of them being furnished with the musical notes. Dickens has made use of considerably over a hundred different songs. In some cases the references are somewhat obscure, but their elucidation is necessary to a proper understanding of the text. An example of this occurs in