Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/361

 ii s. iv. OCT. 28, ion.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

355

in a note, " have been supplied by several Sussex correspondents, and the version now given is corrected and collated from four versions slightly differing." As the " Old Cole " of the song was " Old Clem " in one version, it is not improbable that the song is that for which MB. PAGE inquires. The words are :

THE JOLLY BLACKSMITH.

Here's a health to the jolly Blacksmith,

The best* of all fellows, Who works at his anvil While the boy blows the bellows ; For it makes his bright hammer to rise and to fall, Old Cole of all.
 * Says the Old Colef to the Young Cole, and the

Chorus. Twankie dillo, twankie dillo, dillo, dillo,

dillo, dillo, dillo.

With a roaring pair of bagpipes made of the green willow.


 * 2. If a gentleman call his horse for to shoe,

He makes no denial to one pot or two ; For it makes his bright hammer, &c. Chorus.

3. Here's a health to the pretty girl the one he

loves best.

She kindles a firet all in his own breast Which makes his bright hammer, &c. Chorus.

4. Here's a health to King George and likewise

his Queen, And all the Royal Family wherever they're

seen, Which makes, &c. Chorus.

The music of the song is also given, on which Mr. Sawyer comments :

" The spirited music, which is traditional, and does not occur in Chappell's ' Popular Music of the Olden Time,' was kindly written down by Mr. Samuel Willett of Cuckfield, Sussex, and is confirmed by several Sussex people."

G. L. APPEBSON. Oakdene, Haywards Heath, Sussex.

ESSAY ON THE THEATBE, c. 1775 : R. CTJMBEBLAND (11 S. iv. 247, 315). Many thanks to MB. CUBBY for his information as to the ' Essay on the Theatres,' but I much regret that it is not the Essay that I am searching for. My authority for my asser- tions is no less a person than R. Cumberland himself. He refers to this ' Essay on the Theatre ' in the " Dedication " attached to the printed copy of his comedy ' The Choleric Man,' and speaks of it in the follow- ing terms :

" Some learned animadversions of yours, entitled an ' Essay on the Theatre ' in which you profess to draw a Comparison between


 * " Prince " in one version.

t " Clem " in one version.

One version gives it " carries a fire."

Laughing and Sentimental Comedy, and in which you are pleased evidently to point some obser- vations at my comedy of ' The Fashionable Lover.' "

There must be also some allusions to ancient comedy in the anonymous (probably Grub Street) pamphlet or article alluded to, for Cumberland goes on to give " Detraction " some hard slaps in the face as to his acquaint- ance " with the comic writers of antiquity."

As ' The Fashionable Lover ' was played for the first time on 20 January, 1772, the Essay cannot well have been written before this date. The first three editions of ' The Choleric Man ' were published before the autumn of 1775, so that the date I gave is probably correct. The edition of this play published in Bell's " British Theatre " is dated 1793, and that seems to have been the next edition after that of 1775 ; it is hardly likely that Cumberland would have waited eleven years before replying to his anonymous detractor. E. H.

Strassburg.

CEYLON OFFICIALS : CAPT. T. A. ANDEB- SON (US. iv. 268, 313). I am much obliged to the REV. DB. PENNY for having endea- voured to assist me in my inquiries, but, having spent nearly thirty-three years in the Ceylon Civil Service, I am aware of the circumstances attending the capture of the Dutch possessions in Ceylon, and the employ- ment of Madras officials for some years in the island. Such were Robert Andrews, Josiah Du Pres Alexander, Robert Alexander, Arthur Garland Blake, Thomas Eraser, Frederick Gahagan, George Garrow, George Gregory, Joseph Greenhill, John Jervis, Joseph Kerby, and John McDouall, to whom must now be added John Angus and J. H. Harington. This, I think, completes the list.

The family of Capt. Anderson, if any representatives of it exist, has probably some record of him ; but I particularly wish for information as to his family, and also as to the family of John Angus.

PENBY LEWIS.

Thomas Ajax Anderson, who was born in 1783, held the following commissions: Ensign, 19th Foot, 15 July, 1799 ; Lieutenant, 17 November, 1801 ; Captain, 4 October, 1809. Half -pay of 60th Foot, 8 April, 1819.

He probably served in the wars of 1803-4 and 1815 and the rebellion of 1818, as he alludes to all these campaigns in his ' Wan- derer in Ceylon ' poems. He died 8 January, 1824. M. L. FEBBAB, late 19th Foot.