ENGLISH BALLAD-SINGING. 
477 
ning with the words, “ Rebellion hath broken np house” was very ce- 
lebrated at the time. However, the taste of the public, in the course 
of a short time, was divided between political and. amatory poetry: 
the circumstances of the times recommended the first species ; and 
the spirit that produced the Sedleys, Etheridges, and Rochesters, 
brought in the latter. Many of the celebrated poets of the day wrote 
for the streets and villages : but there never was an era when the 
ballad-singers answered more faithfully to the public feeling. They 
were a fearful check on the acts of a despotic monarch : when the 
charter was withdrawn from the city of London, a storm of ballads 
assailed the court, and was heard with dismay in the council. The 
agitated period that immediately went before the Revolution permitted 
scarcely any but political ballads to be sung. Lord Wharton, the 
author of a song, boasted that he had rhymed king James out of his 
dominions ; and the testimony of the gravest writers of the time, 
shew that there was no exaggeration in the boast. The tide of 
popular favour and ballad-singing flowed on the side of the newdy 
established dynasty. The queen absolutely patronized the ballad- 
singers ; she did not hesitate to avow, even on state occasions, a pre- 
ference for the simple ballads that charmed her early years, to the 
elaborate compositions of the most, esteemed masters of the time. 
We are to look upon the ballad-singers from this time forth in the 
light of a corporation. Custom had established yearly festivals for 
them in the classic regions of St. Giles’s, which were much frequented 
by some of the wits of the day — Swift, Gay, Bolingbroke, Steele, &c. 
From these high followers of the muses, yearly contingents of ballads 
w'ere expected. Swift contracted to furnished the humorous songs : 
Gay, who, as Goldsmith observes of him, had a happy strain of bal- 
lad-thinking, was set down for the pathetic ones ; those of a mis- 
cellaneous character were divided amongst a number of amateur 
bards. No importunities, even of his friends, could induce Pope to 
attend any of these assemblies. He was, however, prevailed on to 
write an epitaph for a young creature whom he had several times 
seen and heard, and who was known to her companions under the 
title of Clarinda. She was much favoured by some of the great, and, 
but for her attachment to the life of a ballad-singer, might with her 
beauty and accomplishments have risen to fortune. 
Gay and Swift had naturally a relish for low society, and were 
hailed by the fraternity and sisterhood as the most precious sources 
of profit. Amongst other songs which Swift sent into the world 
through the medium of ballad-singers, was a severe satire on the 
Duke of Marlborough, beginning, “ Our Johnny is come from the 
wars.” The song drew much, attention in the streets, and excited 
the strongest resentment against the author, in the breast of the ac- 
complished duchess. She remained implacable, until the publication 
of Gulliver, when she offered her friendship to Swift, through his 
friend Gay. The Beggar’s Opera was originally written (we have it 
on Gay’s own authority) to celebrate the marriage of James Chanter 
and Moll Lay. 
There was a young creature among the ballad-singers, now^ knowm 
to the world by no other title than Clara, who drew much attention 
