Songs & Ballads from British Isles- Historical Themes
C. Historical Themes Contents:
30. Napoleon Bonaparte
31. The Drummer Boy of Waterloo
32. The Flaunting Flag of Liberty
C. Historical Themes
When the Stevens family wrote down these texts, the year of Waterloo (1815) was fairly recent; it is therefore no surprise
to find "Napoleon Bonaparte" and "The Year of Waterloo." "Bold Dighton," which will be found with the American historical ballads, might have been included in this group; its hero is British, and his story dates from the time of the Napoleonic Wars.
When Ralph Waldo Emerson published his Representative Men in 1850, he explained why Napoleon Bonaparte was still ranked first among eminent persons of the century: "Bonaparte is far the best known and the most powerful; and owes his predominance to the fidelity with which he expresses the tone of thought and belief, the aims of the masses of active and
cultivated men. . . . The instinct of active, brave, able men, throughout the middle class every where, has pointed out
Napoleon as the incarnate Democrat."
50. Napoleon Bonaparte
Although the Douglass version of this song gives the impression that Napoleon, who died May 5, 182 1, was still in exile at the time it was written, Flanders and Brown have final stanzas mentioning his death on St. Helena. Douglass differs from Flanders, Belden, Brown (A), and Sharp in putting second the stanza that they place fourth; the present order brings the three stanzas referring to Napoleon together. Brown (C) is in the same order as Douglass. All except Douglass have lines which promise his return. As given in Sharp they are:
For the young King of Rome and the Prince of Guiana
Says he'll bring his father home from the Isle of St. Helena.
From Belden we have the line missing in Douglass stanza 3:
With his eyes on the waves
That surround St. Helena
and clearer wording for stanza 5, lines 3 and 4:
'Tis a decree of fate
That might change your condition.
Sharp gives a tune for this song.
Napoleon Bonaparte
1 . Now Napoleon hath done
With his wars and his fightings
He hath gone to the land
That he ne'er can delight in
He may set him down and tell
Of the Battles he hath been in
While forlorn he doth mourn
On the isle St helena
2. No more shall he ride
At St clouds in great splendor
Nor march forth with troops
Like the great alexander
He may sigh at the moon
By the goddess of dianna
While forlorn he doth mourn
On the isle St helena.
3 . Now the wide rushing waves
On the shores they are crashing
Now the high billows roar
On the rough rocks are dashing
He may sigh at the wind
By the great mount eana [Diana]
While forlorn he doth mourn
On the isle St helena.
4. Now Louisa doth mourn
For her hero departed
She dreams while she sleeps
And awakes broken hearted
Not one to console
Even those who might win her
While forlorn she doth mourn
For the isle st Helena
5. All you that have wealth
Beware of ambition
Lest in some deree [decree] of health
You should change your condition
Be steadfast in time
For whats to come you do not know
Your days they may end
On the isle St Helena.
5/. The Drummer Boy of Waterloo
The Universal Songster (Duncombe, [n.d.]) credits this song to George Howard and mentions the tune as "Woodland Mary." The
same tune is mentioned in Forget-Me-Not. Although Broivn omits Douglass stanza 5, the Douglass version shows little variation from others in this story of a young English boy's death at the battle of Waterloo. Eddy prints three tunes from Ohio.
The Drummer Boy of Waterloo
1 . When battle roused each war like band
And carnage loud the trumpet blew
Young Edwin left his native land
A drummer boy for Waterloo
2. His mother when his lips [s] he pressed
And bade her noble boy adieu
With wringing hands and aching breast
Beheld him march for Waterloo
3. But he who knew no infant fours [fears]
His knapsack o'er his shoulder threw
And cried dear mother dry those tears
Till I return from Waterloo
4. He went and ere the setting sun
Beheld our arms the foe subdue
The flash of death [from] murderous gun
Had laid him low at Waterloo
5. Oh comrads comrads Edwin cried
And proudly beamed his eyes so blue
Go tell my mother Edwin died
A soldiers death at Waterloo
6. They laid his head upon his drum
And 'neath the moonlight mournfull hue
When night had stilled the battle hun
They dug his grave at Waterloo
52. The Flaunting Flag of Liberty
This is an English patriotic song, modeled apparently on "Ye Mariners of England" written in 1801 by Thomas Campbell. That song, in stanzas of ten lines instead of eight, begins:
Ye Mariners of England
That guard our native seas,
Whose flag has braved a thousand years,
The battle and the breeze. . . .
The present song probably dates from the Napoleonic Wars when a French invasion was feared. Gallia is a name often used to refer to France. The stanza form was evidently a popular one, as Rough and Ready prints a similar American patriotic song, and "Old Ironsides," written by Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1830, has much the same form, though its rhyme scheme is different.
The Flaunting Flag of Liberty
1 . The flaunting flag of liberty
Of Gallia's sons the boast
Oh never may a briton see
Upon the British coast
The only flag that freedom rears
Her emblem on the seas
Is the flag that's braved a thousand years
The battle and the breeze
2 . To aid the trampled rights of mam
And break oppressions chain
The foremost in the battles van
It never floats in vain
The maiener where'er he steers
In every clime he sees
The flag that's braved a thousand years
The battle and the breeze
3. If all unite as once we did
To keep her flag unfurled
Old england still may fearless bid
Defiance to the world
But fast will flow a nations tears
If lawless hands should seize
The flag that's braved a thousand years
The battle and the breeze