1 Dunbar of 3rd Sept. 1650, with David Leslie: not of 1644. 2 Preston, &c.; August, 1648. 3 Marston-Moor, 2nd July, 1644. Alexander Leslie, Earl of Leven, who had fought against Wallenstein. 6 Taffies. 7 Not the first Civil War, 1638, but the second, 1650-1. 5 Hull. "And the Smock that his Chaplain did wear." 2 Burntisland, in Fifeshire, surrendered to Cromwell, July, 1651. 3 Charles II. with the Scotch army quitted Stirling, July 31st, 1651. 46th August, 1651, by Carlisle, not the Tweed. 5 3rd September, 1651, Battle of Worcester. 6 An allusion to the £200,000 bribe, paid as "part of arrears," to the Scots, in December, 1646; as the price of their King, who had trusted himself to them. The Scotch Highlanders offered a noble contrast to this conduct, in 1745-6, when nothing could tempt them to betray Prince Charles Edward. Printed for J. Wright, J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. [In Black-letter. Date, probably, the end of 1651.] 132 136 140 W The Soldier's Return. "The Wars are all over, Our swords are but idle, The steed bites the bridle : And the veteran grows crusty, As he yawns in the hall. He drinks-but what's drinking? A mere pause from thinking! No bugle awakes him with life-and-death call. But the wars are over, The spring is come; The bride and her lover Have sought their home; They are happy, and we rejoice; Let their hearts have an echo from every voice." The Deformed Transformed, v. 3, 1824. E know not another copy of this ballad. Such clue as the broadsheet gives inclines us to the opinion that its date is of 1690; or, at most, not more than three years later. Woodcuts seldom help materially to guide in such researches, having been in general inserted at hap-hazard, to increase the attractiveness of the wares. In our own days we find the most valueless music forced into sale by a brilliant frontispiece; but, on the principle that "Good wine needs no bush!" a publisher never needs to decorate the cover enshrining Beethoven, Mozart, or Mendelssohn. Still, these old ballad-publishers possessed a large stock of worn cuts, more or less mutilated and worm-holed; and occasionally some of these, selected, were appropriate. We fail to see what connexion "The Judgment of Paris" holds with The Soldier's Return. But we think it not unlikely that the melancholy head was intended for William of Orange. Perhaps the principal engraving (a later fragment of which met us already on p. 283) may be emblematical of the "Protestant Deliverer" asserting irresistible power outside of any beleaguered city, in the Green Isle or on the Continent; and the nondescript animal that is retreating before him may be regarded as the fancy-portrait of an Irish Rapparee about as truthfully delineated as in the Bartholomew Fair play, "The Royal Voyage," acted in 1689 and 1690. But perhaps it was intended to symbolize Popery! 1 In his preface, the author states, "The end of this play is chiefly to expose Turning to the tune mentioned, viz. "The Souldier's Departure," we find the same impression to be deepened. The name was adopted from a ballad which we give a few pages later (Bagford Coll., ii. 99). The tune had earlier been known as The Doubting Virgin;" which ballad is in the Roxb. Coll., iv. 43, printed by Ph. Brooksby (as is also our Soldier's Return). The title is "The Doubting Virgin and the Constant Young Man:" Tune, The Reprieved Captive. See details on our pp. 353, 354. It is noteworthy that, while both "The Valiant Souldier's Misfortune" (occasional, on Duke Schomberg's death, July 1st, 1690), and the present "Soldier's Return," are marked to be sung to the tune of the "Souldier's Departure," that ballad itself (p. 355) gives "The Doubting Virgin" as title to the tune. Of course, this proves that the Doubting Virgin was antecedent to the Souldier's Departure; and both of them to the other two Bagford ballads accompanying the same tune. In fact, all three Bagfords were nearly contemporary. We certainly think that to William of Orange (at that time, 1689-90, perplexed by the difficulty of subduing and tranquillizing Ireland,) the allusions throughout the "Soldier's Return" were understood to refer. That he is appealing to his "Dear Countrymen," and these not the Dutch, but Englishmen, would be an objection of no weight whatever; for the hirelings of the press during the "glorious Revolution" cared not for such proprieties, and were willing to acknowledge any nationality that offered a largesse. Respect to your great state: and let the Devil be honoured for his burning throne," was their Duke's motto. 66 the perfidious, base, cowardly, and bloody nature of the Irish." But the words of the historian (already alluded to, on p. 303) are not more flattering. "The Protestants described with contemptuous disgust the strange gluttony of their newly liberated slaves [the native Irish]. Carcasses, half raw and half burned to cinders, sometimes still bleeding, sometimes in a state of loathsome decay, were torn to pieces, and swallowed without salt, bread, or herbs. Those marauders who preferred boiled meat, being often in want of kettles, contrived to cook the steer in his own skin. An absurd tragi-comedy is still extant, which was acted in this and the following year [date as given above], at some low theatre for the amusement of the English populace. A crowd of half-naked savages appeared on the stage, howling a Celtic song, and dancing round an ox. They then proceeded to cut steaks out of the animal while still alive [Abyssinian fashion, according to traveller Bruce, and the Protestant Baron Munchausen], and to fling the bleeding flesh on the coals. In truth the barbarity and filthiness of the banquets of the Rapparees was such as the dramatists of Grub Street could scarcely caricature." The Soldier's words, in second line of ballad, "When you thought that I was slain," might refer to William's wound, at the Boyne, on July 1st, 1690, and the false announcement of his death (see p. 343). |