Chapter XLI: Part 48: Songs by the Hon. Mrs. Norton, and various old English

Songs. Alfred Tennyson’s Jubilee Ode.

“There is no talent so universally entertaining as that of mimickry, even when it is confined to the lively imitation of the air, manner, and external deportment of ordinary individuals.

It rises in interest, however, and in dignity, when it succeeds in expressing, not merely the visible and external characteristics of its objects, but those also of their taste, their genius and temper. A vulgar mimic repeats a man’s known stories, with an exact imitation of his voice and gestures; but he is an artist of a far higher description, who can make stories or reasonings in his manner, and represent the features and movements of his mind, as well as the accidents of his body. The same distinction applies to the mimickry, if it may be so called, of an author’s style and manner of writing.

It is another matter, however, to be able to borrow the diction and manner of a celebrated writer to express sentiments like his own――to write as he would have written on the subject proposed to his imitator――to think his thoughts in short, as well as to use his words――and to make the revival of his style appear a natural consequence of the strong conception of his peculiar ideas. To do this in all the perfection of which it is capable, requires talents, perhaps, not inferior to those of the original on whom they are employed――together with a faculty of observation, and a dexterity of application, which that original might not always possess; and should not only afford nearly as great pleasure to the reader, as a piece of composition,――but may teach him some lessons, or open up to him some views, which could not have been otherwise disclosed.

The exact imitation of a good thing, it must be admitted, promises fair to be a pretty good thing in itself; but if the resemblance be very striking, it commonly has the additional advantage of letting us more completely into the secret of the original author, and enabling us to understand far more clearly in what the peculiarity of his manner consists, than most of us should ever have done without this assistance. The resemblance, it is obvious, can only be rendered striking by exaggerating a little, and bringing more conspicuously forward, all that is peculiar and characteristic in the model.”

LORD JEFFREY on _The Rejected Addresses_.

Footnotes:

[1] An Opera, written and composed by Thomas Augustine Arne,
M.D. It was acted at Covent Garden Theatre, London, six
nights in the month of December, 1764.

[2] Performers in the Opera.

[3] The Round-house.

[4] Earl of Rochester.

[5] An author and bookseller.

[6] The coffee house.

[7] A trinket seller.

[8] The Royal Oak, a public-house near the Hall.

[9] Long Pole Wellesley, Esq., afterwards Lord Mornington,
thus mentioned by Lord Byron in _Don Juan_:――

“Where’s Brummell? Dish’d.
Where’s Long Pole Wellesley? Diddled.”

[10] A celebrated boot-maker in Pall Mall, London.

[11] Dyde and Scribe were then well known dealers in ladies
finery.

[12] A sort of under tap, in the interior of the Bench, in
which porter is sold by the authority of the marshal, to the
debtors.

[13] A solitary place of confinement for such as break the
rules of the prison.

[14] Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke, mistress of the Duke of York.

[15] A well-known bookseller, who wrote some amusing but
egotistical memoirs.

[16] _Vide_ Admiral Tyrrel’s monument in Westminster Abbey.

[17] Sir Francis Burdett (father of the present Lady Burdett
Coutts) was Radical M.P. for Westminster. Perhaps the
greatest event of his life was his committal to the Tower
under the Speaker’s warrant for a libellous letter published
in _Cobbett’s Political Register_ of March 24, 1810, in
which he questioned the power of the House of Commons to
imprison delinquents. He at first resisted the execution of
the warrant, and being a favourite with the mob, a street
contest ensued between the military and the people, in which
some lives were lost.

[18] The City Box, refused by the Prince Regent, was
proposed by draper Waithman to be given to the Baronet if
his cause had succeeded; but alas! it was destined again to
go a-begging. Robert Waithman was Lord Mayor of London.

[19] A name given by the Baronet to the British House of
Commons.

[20] George Hudson, a draper, and Lord Mayor of York in
1839, by his successful management of various railway
schemes amassed a large fortune (which he afterwards lost),
and became known as the “Railway King.”

[21] Alluding to _The Times_ critique on Henry Irving as
“Macbeth.”

[22] In the original this word is written “Atty.”

[23] Sir Francis Bolton died early in 1887, leaving a very
large fortune.

[24] “The fundamental feature on which all opposition to
this measure hinges is, that there is on the part of the
people of England, _an ignorant impatience of taxation_,
Lord Castlereagh.

[25] Quere, Liar? Some doubts have arisen on the orthography
of the last word in this line.

[26] John Wilson Croker. Author and Politician, who invented
the term “Conservative” as applied to the Tory party.

[27] Tambour qui se bat sur le rampart des villes
frontières, vers le coucher du soleil, pour y rappeller les
habitans.

[28] Mr. Walpole, after the death of Mr. Gray, placed the
China vase in question (for it was not a _tub_) on a
pedestal at Strawberry-Hill, with a few lines of the Ode for
its inscription.

’Twas on _this_ Vase’s lofty side, &c.

[29] Var.――Two _beauteous_ forms.

_First edition in Dodsley’s Miscellany._

[30] Glitters, or Glisters, in other Editions.

[31] Lord Castlereagh, herein satirised, was the chief
instrument in procuring the legislative union of England and
Ireland in 1800, for which he was severely attacked by Lord
Byron in _Don Juan_. He committed suicide in 1822, and was
buried in Westminster Abbey.

[32] King Henry the Sixth, founder of the College.

[33] _Ranelagh_ was a famous place of public entertainment
erected about 1740, at Chelsea, close to the banks of the
Thames, on the site of the gardens of a villa which had
formerly belonged to Viscount Ranelagh. The great hall,
known as the Rotunda, was opened on April 5, 1742, it was
185 feet in diameter. This was designed by Mr. Lacy,
formerly one of the managers of Drury Lane Theatre. Bonnell
Thornton’s Burlesque Ode on St. Cecilias’ Day, set to music
by Dr. Burney, was performed at Ranelagh to a crowded
audience. The last grand _fête_ held at Ranelagh was the
installation ball of the Knights of the Bath, in 1802. The
site now forms part of Chelsea Hospital Gardens, between
Church Row and the river, to the east of the Hospital, but
no trace now remains of Ranelagh. A very good description of
the Gardens and Buildings will be found in Thomas Faulkner’s
_Description of Chelsea_. London, 1810.

[34] The name given by the founder to the College.

[35] _Helm, nor Hauberk’s twisted mail._

The Hauberk was a texture of steel ringlets, or rings
interwoven, forming a coat of mail that sat close to the
body, and adapted itself to every motion.

[36] _As down the steep of Snowdon’s shaggy side._

_Snowdon_ was a name given by the Saxons to that mountainous
tract which the Welsh themselves call _Craigian-eryri_: it
included all the highlands of Caernarvonshire and
Merionethshire, as far as the river Conway.

[37] _Stout Glo’ster stood aghast_――――

Gilbert de Clare, surnamed the Red, Earl of Gloucester and
Hertford, son-in-law to King Edward.

[38] _To arms! cried Mortimer_――――

Edmond de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore.

They both were _Lords Marchers_, whose lands lay on the
borders of Wales, and probably accompanied the King in this
expedition.

[39] _Shrieks of an agonizing King!_

Edward the Second, cruelly butchered in Berkley-castle.

[40] _She-wolf of France_――――

Isabel of France, Edward the Second’s adulterous Queen.

[41] _Low on his funeral couch he lies._

Death of that king, abandoned by his children, and robbed in
his last moments by his courtiers.

[42] _Is the sable warrior fled?_

Edward the Black Prince, dead some time before his father.

[43] _Ye tow’rs of Julius_

Henry the Sixth, George Duke of Clarence, Edward the Fifth,
Richard Duke of York, &c. believed to be murdered secretly
in the Tower of London. The oldest part of that structure is
attributed to Julius Cæesar.

[44] _Revere his consort’s faith_――――

Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled
hard to save her husband and her crown.

[45] ――――_his father’s fame._

Henry the Fifth.

[46] _And spare the meek usuper’s holy head._

Henry the Sixth. The line of Lancaster had no right of
inheritance to the crown.

[47] ――――_the rose of snow, &c._

The white and red roses, devices of York and Lancaster.

[48] _The bristled boar_――――

The silver boar was the badge of Richard the Third; whence
he was usually known in his own time by the name of _the
Boar_.

[49] _Half of thy heart we consecrate._

Eleanor of Castile died a few years after the conquest of
Wales. The heroic proof she gave of her affection for her
lord is well known. The monuments of his regret and sorrow
for the loss of her, are still to be seen at Northampton,
Gaddington, Waltham, and other places.

[50] _All-hail, ye genuine Kings, Britannia’s issue, hail!_

Both Merlin and Talliessin had prophesied, that the Welsh
should regain their sovereignty over this island; which
seemed to be accomplished in the house of Tudor.

[51] John Philip Kemble, manager of Covent Garden Theatre.

[52] Mrs. Siddons, the famous _tragedienne_.

[53] Westminster Hall.

[54] Mrs. Siddons.

[55] The name of the street in which the Society was held.

[56] One of the Esquire Bedells who bear the mace before the
Vice-Chancellor.

[57] The savage despair of the Member is finely pourtrayed
by the trousers. A total indifference to moral guilt or
personal danger is argued by his thus appearing before the
Vice-Chancellor; that gentleman justly regarding the wearing
of trousers as the most atrocious of moral offences, and
having lately deservedly excluded a distinguished wrangler
who had been guilty of them, from a Fellowship of his
College.

[58] Speakers of the Society.

[59] A magnificent though bold figure. The Red Lion (which
is the sign of the Inn at which the Union assembled), and
which is a remarkably handsome lion of the kind, is
described as wagging his tail in testimony of the pleasure
he felt at the goings on within.

[60] The Vice-Chancellor elect.

[61] Two of the Esquire Bedells.

[62] Former Vice-Chancellors.

[63] The Chancellor.

[64] Speakers of the Society.

[65] Sir John Fielding, an active police magistrate of that
day.

[66] Coe’s father, a blacksmith and alderman of Cambridge.

[67] Professor Richard Owen, formerly superintendent of the
natural history department of the British Museum, whence it
was decided to remove the natural history specimens to South
Kensington.

[68] Don Quixote.

[69] An over-rated American actress who performs in the
Lyceum Theatre, London, during the absence of the regular
company. She has a harsh unsympathetic voice, and is seen at
her best as a statue, for which _role_ nature appears to
have intended her.

[70] A Colonade is that which consists of columns. The
British Army consists thereof. Therefore the British Army is
a Colonade.――WALKER.

[71] The Prisoner was accommodated with a neat “folding
bed.”

[72] Dr. E. V. Kenealy was M. P. for Stoke, and edited _The
Englishman_ Newspaper.

[73] “Pack” is the Arctic ice. “Shove,” when river-ice
begins to move, in America.

[74] The Poet’s residence.

[75] “The White Doe of Rylstone” which had a very slow sale.
Jeffrey wrote of it that it was the very worst poem he ever
saw in a quarto volume.

[76] Jack and Nancy, as it was afterwards remarked to the
Authors, are here made to come into the world at periods not
sufficiently remote. The writers were then bachelors. One of
them, unfortunately, still continues so, as he has thus
recorded in his niece’s album:

“Should I seek Hymen’s tie,
As a poet I die――
Ye Benedicks, mourn my distresses!
For what little fame
Is annexed to my name
Is derived from _Rejected Addresses_.”

The blunder, notwithstanding, remains unrectified. The
reader of poetry is always dissatisfied with emendations:
they sound discordantly upon the ear, like a modern song, by
Bishop or Braham, introduced in _Love in a Village_.

[77] This alludes to the young Betty mania.

[78] A fashionable milliner.

[79] For a detailed account of this appointment and its pay,
privileges, and duties, see _The Poets Laureate of England_,
by Walter Hamilton. (London, Reeves and Turner.)

[80] Euclid Redivivus.

[81] “The M,” “the C.” The Modern Side, the Classical Side.

[82] Leckhampton Hill, near Cheltenham.

[83] Mr. Henry Irving produced _Othello_ at the Lyceum
Theatre on February 14, 1876. At that period the London
_Figaro_ was most unjust and ungenerous in its comments on
Mr. Irving, decrying his efforts as an actor in every part
he undertook.

[84] Without paying the Customs duty imposed on silver plate
in the United States.

[85] Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, Mayor of Birmingham, then
holding very advanced Radical views.

[86] “He of Blackfriars Road,” viz., the late Rev. Rowland
Hill, who is said to have preached a sermon congratulating
his congregation on the catastrophe at Drury Lane Theatre.

[87] “Padmanaba,” viz., in a pantomime called _Harlequin in
Padmanaba_. This elephant, some years afterwards, was
exhibited over Exeter ’Change, where it was found necessary
to destroy the poor animal by discharges of musketry. When
he made his entrance in the pantomime above-mentioned,
Johnson, the machinist of the rival house exclaimed, “I
should be very sorry if I could not make a better elephant
than that!” Johnson was right: we go to the theatre to be
pleased with the skill of the imitator, and not to look at
the reality.

[88] Hungerford suspension bridge was opened on May 1, 1845,
it was removed in 1862 to make way for the Charing Cross
railway bridge, and was afterwards erected over the River
Avon at Clifton, near Bristol.

[89] It is currently reported that Robert Warren, Esq., is a
native of Birmingham.

[90] The Lord Chancellor Eldon, “_Old Bags_.”

[91] Lord Stewart at a dinner in Ireland proposed as a toast
“the health of the Prince Regent, the first cavalry officer
in Europe.”

[92] It was generally supposed that the Prince Regent’s
whiskers were artificial. But as the Prince was never true
to either his word, his oath, his wife, or his mistress, it
matters little by what, or by whom, he swore.

[93] Bishop Gray.

[94] Lord Westbury.

[95] Bishop Colenso died after a brief illness, in 1883,
leaving behind him the memory of an honest and fearless
thinker, and of a true and devoted missionary.

[96] Sir William Harcourt.

[97] Mr. Whitbread, the brewer, who was very active in the
rebuilding of Drury Lane Theatre.

[98] This appeared soon after a tremendous fire at
Whiteley’s stores, in Westbourne Grove, London.

[99] G. V. Brooke, the tragedian herein referred to, was
lost in the ill-fated steamer _London_ which foundered in
the Bay of Biscay in January, 1866.

[100] This and subsequent allusions to the Valentino, the
_Poses Plastiques_, Brixton Treadmill, and other familiar
objects of our youth, since swept away by the broom of Time,
would fix the authorship of this ballad at a date anterior
to the present generation. For instance, in stanza xiv., the
students are described as singing now obsolete melodies of
Ethiopian origin. In the present day the chosen chorus under
similar circumstances would have been the “Ratcatcher’s
Daughter,” or possibly, “Villikins.” The allusion to Cowell
in stanza viii., reads like an interpolation.――Ed. “O.M.”

[101] At a meeting of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers held in Manchester, on November 5, 1875, Mr.
Charles Cochrane, of Stourbridge, read a paper entitled “On
the Ultimate Capacity of Blast Furnaces” (for making pig
iron.) As was appropriate to such a burning question, the
discussion was somewhat heated, although, as need hardly be
said, the parodist has availed himself largely of poetical
_lie-sense_ in his account of the proceedings. Mr. C.
Cochrane asserted that he had effected a great saving in
fuel by the construction of his large furnace, in
conjunction with Cowper’s patent stoves for heating the
blast. The most eminent engineers of the day spoke in the
discussion, Messrs. I. L. Bell (now Sir I. L. Bell, M. P.),
E. A. Cowper, Sir. Charles W. Siemens, E. H. Carbutt, Sir
Frederick Bramwell, and others.

[102] Mr. W. P. Marshall, Secretary of the Institution.

[103] Lord Hartington, then Secretary of State for War, was
responsible for the measures taken for the relief of General
Gordon.

[104] Sir John Lawrence, Governor-General of India, 1863 to
1868.

[105] Jovis. Bacchi. Veneris.

[106] Sir James Mc. G. Hogg, of the Metropolitan Board of
Works.

[107] There is something’ like this in MACAULAY’S Lays:――
“And, like a dam, the mighty wreck,” &c.

[108] Of the Whartonites.

[109] Sic appellata, principio “lucus a non,” quod nostri
reges rarissime viuunt illic.

[110] Templum Sancti Pauli quod est unus leonum in Londino.

[111] Ut “Ite id, Cantabrigia” aut “Strenue! Fusci Coerulei”
aut “Bene remigatum.”

[112] So clomb this first grand thief――――
Thence up he flew, and on the tree of life
Sat like a cormorant.
_Paradise Lost_, iv.

[113] Then the residence of George, Prince Regent, his
present address is rather doubtful.

[114] _i.e._ Paternoster Row. A Publisher. “Now Barabbas was
a――_publisher_.”

[115] The Earl of Liverpool, who was premier from 1812 to
1820.

[116] _Temple Bar_ was removed from Fleet Street, to make
way for the costly, and still more unsightly obstruction
known as the Griffin.

[117] What is a caxen?――ED. P.

[118] Thomas Dibdin, song-writer and dramatist, was born in
1771. He was apprenticed to Sir William Rawlins, Knt., who
then kept a broker’s shop in Moorfields.

[119] The manager of a strolling company.

[120] _A Trip to the Nile_ was Mr. Dibdin’s first production
on Covent Garden boards.

[121] _Family Quarrels_, in which the Jews were attacked.
Thomas Dibdin died on September 16, 1841.

[122] The “Rule of Three,” useful for calculating which
political party to adopt, in order quickly to obtain a
profitable place.

[123] Had Grouchy arrived at the appointed time Napoleon
would probably not have been beaten at Waterloo.

[124] In a foot note the author of _The New Timon_ wrote
“The whole of this _Poem_ (! ! !) is worth reading, in order
to see to what depths of silliness the human intellect can
descend:――

“O Darling room, my heart’s delight
Dear room, the apple of my sight,
With thy two couches soft and white,
There is no room so exquisite,
No little room so warm and bright,
Wherein to read, wherein to write.”

[There were two other verses, but in later editions of his
works Tennyson has omitted the entire poem. Messrs. Harper
and Brothers, of New York, have however recently published
an edition containing all Tennyson’s early and suppressed
poems. This is invaluable as a book of reference for
literary men. Ed. P.]

[125] Be pleased to give this word the proper Cockney
pronunciation――Mama_r_! None others are genuine.

[126] Corpses.

[127] To shoot.

[128] _Uncle Sam._ The people of the United States use this
term of themselves, in the same way that Britons speak of
“John Bull.”

[129] Renegaders.――People in the Northern States who
sympathised with the slaveholders.

[130] Kinney and Walker were two leaders of the
“fillibusters” who went “piratifying to extend the area of
freedom” in Central America in 1855-60. Walker was shot, as
he richly deserved, by the Honduras folks in 1860. He lived
in San Francisco, 1850-55, and the southerners there (they
are quite numerous and are called the “chivs,” from
chivalry), are still noticeably inclined to think his views
were not far wrong.

[131] Nothing shorter. A circumlocutive intended to
strengthen an assertion by means of affirming something
through the exclusion of everything else. A similar form of
speech is to say, when asked if you will do something, to
say “I won’t do anything else.”

[132] To fix one’s flint: _i.e._, to do for him; to settle
his hash; to cook his goose; to wind up his worsted.

[133] A gum game: _i.e._, a swindle, fraudulent transaction,
or imposition.

[134] Squash, a vegetable resembling a small pumpkin,
tasting like vegetable marrow.

[135] Sass. A New England term for vegetables for the table,
known collectively as garden sass (or sarse). “Long sass” is
applied to long vegetables, such as carrots and radishes,
and “short sass” to round ones.

[136] Lord Randolph Churchill.

[137] Mr. Sullivan’s playful name for his cell in Tullamore
gaol, where he was treated with a little less severity than
some of his fellow political prisoners.

[138] _Ye Sette of Odd Volumes_, a small and very exclusive
literary society founded in 1878 by Mr. Bernard Quaritch.
The Brethren (as they style themselves) are united once a
month to form a perfect sette for the purposes of
Conviviality, and Mutual Admiration. The Brethren are, for
the most part, men of note in Art, Literature, or the Drama.
Each “Odd Volume” has his special title and office in the
“Sette,” many of the observances at the meetings are quaint
and peculiar, whilst the dainty little _Opuscula_ containing
reports of their proceedings are eagerly sought after by
collectors of literary curiosities.

[139] Proprietor of the Daily Telegraph, London.

[140] “_Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur istis._” Dr.
Goldsmith quoting _Ovid_.

[141] The Common Council of the City of London.

[142] R. B. Sheridan’s attachment to the bottle was
notorious.

[143] The Middle Temple Hall Tower, a modern antique.

[144] Mr. Hiram Henton, Bandmaster of the London Rifle
Brigade. The L.R.B. Band was selected for several years, for
Camp duty, by the National Rifle Association.

Transcriber’s Note:

This book was written in a period when many words had not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated below.

Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like this_. Notes associated with stanza numbers in Gray's Elegy follow the poem. All other footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to the end of the book. Obvious printing errors, such as backwards, upside down, unprinted or partially printed letters, were corrected. Final stops missing at the end of sentences and abbreviations were added. Duplicate letters at line endings or page breaks were removed.

The poem, ODE FOR A SOCIAL MEETING, contains underlined words placed above the original words as the "alteration by a teetotaler." These alterations are shown surrounded by hash marks, thus: #teetotaler.#

There are multiple anchors to Footnotes [2], [58], [61], [62], [63], [64]. There were no anchors to Footnote [83] or [116]; anchors were added where they may belong.

Unprinted diacriticals were added to words in languages other than English. Quotation marks were adjusted to matched sets. Extraneous punctuation was deleted.

Spelling corrections:

To restless nights a sacifice / sacrifice
His waiscoat / waistcoat
Twice in Footnote [87]: pantomine / pantomime
But moss and rarest misletoe / mistletoe
But the waves of the Styz / Styx
Who went to sea ia / in
like Milton’s demons I could clime / climb
Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusets / Massachusetts