OCR Text |
Show AN OLD IRISH AIR. Interest has been revived in W. J. Ashcroft's song. "The Solid Man," first given in Belfast about twenty-five years ago which reminds a musical correspondent of the Freeman's Journal Jour-nal of Dublin that the melody to which it is set is the old R-ish air variously known as "Yousrhal Harbour" and "Castle Hrde." In 1780 this melody was very popular in Scotland, and was adapted to a song called "Bonie Bell." Robert Burns was much taken with the melody, and set new words to it. commencing, "The Smiling Spring Comes in Rejoicing." Both words and music, as supplied by Burns, appeared in the "Scots Musical Museum" in 1792, and a manuscript of the song is among the Burns papers in the British museum. mu-seum. It is not generally known that the Scottish bard adapted more than fifty Irish melodies, many of which are in consequence regarded as indigenous to Scotland, though their origin is be-i be-i yond question. Pilot. |