AMAZONS EXTEMPORE SONG FROM DAHOMEY. The king of Dahomey retains an army of female warriors, who, on certain publie solemnities, extol the greatness of their master and their country. 1. WHEN the wolf goes abroad, The sheep must fly. 2. Gezo is king of kings! While Gezo lives we have nothing to fear, Under him we are lions, not men. Power emanates from the king. 3. Let all eyes behold the king! One only, Gezo! All nations have their customs, But none so brilliant or enlightened As of Dahomey. People from far countries are here: 4. When we go to war, let the king dance, While we bring him prisoners and heads.* SONG OF THE NEGRO SLAVES IN JAMAICA.† This song alludes to a transaction which took place about fifty years ago on an estate called Spring Garden, “the owner of which," Mr. Lewis says, “is quoted as the cruelest proprietor that ever disgraced Jamaica. It was his constant practice, whenever a sick negro was pronounced incurable, to order the poor wretch to be carried to a solitary vale upon his estate, called the Gulley, where he was thrown down and abandoned to his fate-which fate was generally to be half devoured by the John-crows before death had put an end to his sufferings. By this proceeding the avaricious owner avoided the expense of maintaining the slave during his last illness; and in order that he might be as little a loser as possible, he always enjoined the negro bearers of the dying man to strip him naked before leaving the Gulley, and not to forget to bring back his frock and the board on which he had been carried down. One poor creature, while in the act of being removed, screamed out most piteously that he was not dead yet, and implored not to be left to perish in the Gulley in a manner so horrible. His cries had no effect upon his master, but operated * Dahomey and the Dahomans, by F. E. Forbes; London, 1851, vol. ii. p. 145. Slavery, of course, is now abolished in Jamaica. so forcibly on the less marble hearts of his fellow slaves, that in the night some of them removed him back to the negro village privately, and nursed him there with so much care that he recovered, and left the estate unquestioned and undiscovered. Unluckily, one day the master was passing through Kingston, when, on turning the corner of a street suddenly, he found himself face to face with the negro whom he had supposed long ago to have been picked to the bones in the Gulley. He immediately seized him, claimed him as his slave, and ordered his attendants to convey him to his house; but the fellow's cry attracted a crowd round them before he could be dragged away : he related his melancholy story, and the singular manner in which he had recovered his life and liberty; and the public indignation was so forcibly excited by the shocking tale, that Mr. B . . . . was glad to save himself from being torn to pieces, by a precipitate retreat from Kingston, and never ventured to advance his claim to the negro a second time."* TAKE him to the Gulley! Take him to the Gulley! But bringee back the frock and board. "O! massa, massa! me no deadee yet!" Take him to the Gulley! Take him to the Gulley! SONG OF AN OJIBBEWAY INDIAN GIRL. DEAR friend, worthy friend, look up, look up! Our Ninimoshin† has promised that in three months he will be here again. The time has nearly expired, and the end is quickly approaching. To-morrow, perhaps, we shall see his red canoe in the white foam of the cataracts; To-morrow, perhaps, see him sitting in his red canoe, our sunburnt friend!‡ SONG OF AN OJIBBEWAY INDIAN YOUTH. This song was made by a young Indian warrior, to console his three sisters who were mourning for him at home. WEEP not, ye three sisters, for your brother! For your brother is a brave! * Journal of a Residence among the Negroes in the West Indies, by Matthew Gregory Lewis; London, 1845, p. 141. † Cousin, or friend. Kitchi-Gami, Wanderings Round Lake Superior, by J. G. Kohl; London, 1860, p. 252. Weep not, ye three sisters, for your brother! Weep not, ye three sisters, for your brother! EXTEMPORE SONG OF ARAUCANIAN INDIAN WOMEN, ENGAGED IN GRINDING CORN. WE are grinding wheat for the stranger May the flour be white to his eye, For he has brought us beads; He has given us bells to deck our hair.† GIPSY SONG. I STOLE a plump and bonny fowl, But ere I well had din'd, The master came with scowl and growl And me would captive bind. My hat and mantle off I threw And scour'd across the lea; Then cried the beng‡ with loud halloo, Our poets have evidently hitherto understood better than our musical composers how to derive advantage from the study of national songs. It would be easy to give a long list of poets whose works clearly indicate this. I shall only name Göthe and Uhland, who have not unfrequently borrowed ideas and expressions from the popular songs of Germany. Moreover, we possess spirited observations on the beauties of national poetry in the works of writers of cultivated taste for poetry, from which the musical student may *Kohl's Kitchi-Gami, p. 250. †The Araucanians; or, Notes of a Tour among the Indian Tribes of Southern Chili, by E. R. Smith; London, 1855, p. 306. + Devil. § The Bible in Spain, by George Borrow; London, 1849, p. 45. derive valuable hints; since almost all the remarks which apply to the words of the songs, are applicable also to the music. In proof of this opinion I shall quote a few sentences: man. "When I travelled, I took a particular delight in hearing the songs and fables that are come from father to son, and are most in vogue among the common people of the countries through which I passed; for it is impossible that anything should be universally tasted and approved by a multitude, though they are only the rabble of a nation, which hath not in it some peculiar aptness to please and gratify the mind of Human nature is the same in all reasonable creatures; and whatever falls in with it, will meet with admirers amongst readers of all qualities and conditions. Molière, as we are told by Monsieur Boileau, used to read all his comedies to an old woman who was his housekeeper, as she sat with him at her work by the chimney-corner; and could foretell the success of his play in the theatre, from the reception it met at his fire-side--for he tells us the audience always followed the old woman, and never failed to laugh in the same place. . . . The old song of Chevy-Chace is the favourite ballad of the common people of England; and Ben Jonson used to say, he had rather have been the author of it than of all his works. Sir Philip Sidney, in his discourse of poetry, speaks of it in the following words:-'I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas, that I found not my heart more moved than with a trumpet: and yet it is sung by some blind crowder with no rougher voice than rude style; which being so evil apparelled in the dust and cobweb of that uncivil age, what would it work trimmed in the gorgeous eloquence of Pindar?"-(The Spectator, No. 70). "I have heard that the late Lord Dorset, who had the greatest wit tempered with the greatest candour, and was one of the finest critics as well as the best poets of his age, had a numerous collection of old English ballads, and took a particular pleasure in the reading of them. I can affirm the same of Mr. Dryden, and know several of the most refined writers of our present age who are of the same humour. I might likewise refer my reader to Molière's thoughts on this subject, as he expressed them in the character of the Misanthrope; but those only who are endowed with a true greatness of soul and genius, can divest themselves of the little images of ridicule, and admire nature in her simplicity and nakedness. As for the little conceited wits of the age, who can only show their judgment by finding fault, they cannot be supposed to admire these productions which have nothing to recommend them but the beauties of nature, when they do not know how to relish even those compositions that, with all the beauties of nature, have also the additional advantage of art."(The Spectator, No. 85). "Let me make a nation's Ballads; who will may make their Laws," is a well-known aphorism;* and from history we learn that most of the ancient legislators fully appreciated and employed popular songs as a powerful means for reforming the manners of the people. Some of the most interesting publications of national poetry will be pointed out in the last chapter of this work. Although these collections seldom contain the tunes of the songs, the musical student will often find in them valuable hints relating to musical questions. But, a collection of popular poems of the extra-European nations, illustrating the characteristics of the poetry of each nation, has hitherto not been given to the world. Such a publication would be especially interesting if the poems were given in the original languages as well as in translation. By this means, and with the help of some additional explanations, the student might be enabled to form a fairly correct idea of the metre, construction, euphony, and the characteristic features in general of a poem, even without possessing a knowledge of the language in which it is made. Indeed, much remains still to be done to render the study of national songs as useful as it might be, not only to philologists and ethnologists, but also to poets and musicians. *It is generally attributed to Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun; but he appears only to have repeated the saying of somebody else.- Vide Notes and Queries, vol. i. p. 153; London, 1850. |