I preserve this little relick
in his own handwriting with an affectionate care.
I am, Sir,
Your humble Servant,
JAMES BOSWELL.'
When, seventeen years later, Boswell published his 'Life of Samuel
Johnson, LL.D.', he gave an account of his dining at General
Oglethorpe's in April, 1773, with Johnson and Goldsmith; and he says
that the latter sang the 'Three Jolly Pigeons', and this song, to the
ladies in the tea-room. Croker, in a note, adds that the younger Colman
more appropriately employed the 'essentially low comic' air for Looney
Mactwolter in the ['Review; or the] Wags of Windsor', 1808 [i.e. in that
character's song beginning -- 'Oh, whack! Cupid's a mannikin'], and that
Moore tried to bring it into good company in the ninth number of the
'Irish Melodies'. But Croker did not admire the tune, and thought poorly
of Goldsmith's words. Yet they are certainly fresher than Colman's or
Moore's:--
Sing -- sing -- Music was given,
To brighten the gay, and kindle the loving;
Souls here, like planets in Heaven,
By harmony's laws alone are kept moving, etc.
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