320 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°'» S. V. 120., Apeil 17. '58. 



nia " not being " in the first publication of Alfred 

 by Walsh, which is not anterior to 1756," and ap- 

 parently wishes it to be inferred that it was not 

 printed prior to 1751. To this point I now address 

 myself. 



I am, I freely admit, unable at present to prove 

 directly the period of the first publication of 

 " Rule Britannia," but I submit that the circum- 

 stantial evidence I shall adduce is sufficient to 

 establish, jorma/acie, that it must have appeared 

 earlier than 1751. 



Arne's compositions, i. e. such of them as are 

 necessary to be considered for the present pur- 

 pose, were published in the following order, viz. : 

 — 1. Comus ; 2. Songs in As you Like It, Twelfth 

 Night, SfC. ; 3. Songs in The Blind Beggar of 

 Bethnal Green, The Merchant of Venice, Sfc. ; 4. 

 Lyric Harmony (a Collection of Songs sung at 

 Vauxhall, including a Dialogue called Colin and 

 Phcebe); 5, RosamOnd; 6. The Judgment of Paris, 

 together with " Rule Britannia," and a Dialogue 

 called " Sawney and Jenny" 



Comus, which was first performed 1738, was 

 printed in either the next year or 1740, by Wil- 

 liam Smith, and " sold by the Author, at his Lodg- 

 ings at Mr. West's, a Frame Maker in Duke 

 Street, by Lincoln's Inn Fields." It became very 

 popular, and influenced either by its great sale, 

 or the appearance of pirated copies, or perhaps 

 by both, the composer, on January 29, 1741, pro- 

 cured a licence securing to him the sole right of 

 printing his compositions for fourteen years. On 

 March 5, 1741, he announced the publication of the 

 Songs in As you Like It, ^c. and notified the grant 

 of the licence, and threatened piratical publishers 

 with the terrors of the law. His third publication 

 (Songs in the Blind Beggar*, S/'c), appeared pro- 

 bably in the same year, being, like its predecessor, 

 "sold by the Author at his House, N°. 17. in 

 Craven Buildings, Drury Lane." In 1742, Arne 

 went, accompanied by his wife, to Ireland, where 

 he remained until 1744. After his return he was 

 engaged at Vauxhall, and we are told by Dr. 

 Burney, in the article "Arne" in Rees's Cyclo- 

 pedia, that 



" In the summer of 1745, when vocal music was first 

 added to instrumental by Mr. Tyers, the proprietor of 

 Vauxhall, Arne's little dialogue of ' Colin and Phoebe,' 

 written by the late Mr. Moore, author of the fables for 

 the female sex, was constantly encored every night for 

 three months successively." 



This great success would, we may reasonably 

 suppose, prompt the speedy publication of the po- 

 pular composition, and I shall perhaps not err in 

 assigning Lyric Harmony to the end of 1745, or 

 beginning of 1746. At the foot of the title-page 

 of the work it was announced, that Rosamond was 

 then publishing by subscription, and it probably 



* The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green was produced at 

 Pruiy Lane, with Arne's music, on April 3rd, 1741. 



came out soon afterwards. Lyric Harmony was 

 likewise printed by Smith, and was to be had at 

 the author's in Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn 

 Fields ; where, we have already seen, he was re- 

 siding at the time of the performance of Alfred, 

 in March, 1745. 



We now come to Arne's sixth publication : — 



" The Music in The Judgment of Paris, Consisting of 

 All the Songs, Duettos, and Trio, with The Overture, in 

 Score, As perform'd by Mr. Beard, Mr. Lowe, Mrs. Arne, 

 Mrs. Clive, Miss Edwards, and others, At the Theatre 

 Royal in Drury Lane. To which (By particular Desire 

 of Several Encouragers of this Work) are added, The 

 celebrated Ode in Honour of Great Britain, call'd ' Rule 

 Britannia,' And 'Sawney and Jenny,' a favourite Dia- 

 logue in y« Scotch Stile. The whole Compos'd by Thomas 

 Augustine Arne. Opera Sesta. London, Printed for 

 Henry Waylett at the Black Lyon, in Exeter Change in 

 y" Strand, and sold by him, and at all the Music Shops 

 in London and Westminster. Where may be had five 

 other Volumes of y« Author's Works. Likewise Twelve 

 Solos by Mr. Tho» Davis, and Six Solos by Sig' Andrea 

 Zanni." 



This publication consists of sixty-six pages : 

 the licence for exclusive right of printing is on the 

 back of the title ; the " Judgment of JParis" ex- 

 tends from p. 1. to p. 61. ; " Rule Britannia" oc- 

 cupies pp. 62, 63, 64. ; and " Sawney and Jenny" 

 the remaining pages. 



The latter piece is a series of denunciations of 

 "the Pope and Pretender," and so sufiiciently 

 stamped as a production of 1745 or 1746. In the 

 score of " Rule Britannia," the name of Alfred is 



f)laced against the voice part, proving the pub- 

 ication to have been after some performance in 

 which Alfred was represented by a vocalist. Now 

 in 1740, Alfred was played by Milward, an actor; 

 and " Rule Britannia" was directed to be sung by 

 " a bard :" whilst in 1751, Garrick, who it is well 

 known was no singer, played Alfred, and " Rule 

 Britannia" was sung by " a sailor." But, at the 

 performance in 1745, when the piece was termed 

 "an opera," there is every reason to suppose 

 (from the performers' names given in the adver- 

 tisement of the second performance) that Alfred 

 was performed by Lowe the singer. Lowe, it will 

 be remembered, sung in the " Judgment of Paris" 

 when it was performed, with Alfred, at Cliefden 

 in 1740 ; and was in all likelihood the representa- 

 tive of the bard on that occasion, and, conse- 

 quently the original singer of " Rule Britannia." 

 Again, it is not unworthy of note, that Miss Ed- 

 wards, who is mentioned on the title and else- 

 where in the book, as one of the singers in " The 

 Judgment of Paris," some time during the summer 

 of 1746 became Mrs. Mozeen, by which name she 

 was always afterwards called ; it not being then, 

 as now, the fashion for actresses to be known to 

 the public by their maiden names for fifteen or 

 twenty years after marriage. It may therefore, 

 I think, be fairly inferred that the publication 

 took place whilst the lady was still known as Miss 



