A history of English sexual morals / by Ivan Bloch ; translated by William H. Forstern.

  • Iwan Bloch
Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A history of English sexual morals / by Ivan Bloch ; translated by William H. Forstern. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    645/700 (page 615)
    O Nancy, wilt thou go with me, Nor sigh to leave the flaming town? Can silent glens have charms for thee, The lowly cot and russet gown? No longer drest in silken sheen No longer deck'd with jewels rare, Say, canst thou quit each courtly scene, Where thou wert fairest of the fair? Other favourite and much sung English folk-songs of the ighteenth century were 6 Sweetest of Pretty Maids', Sally in Our Alley ' Oh, the Roast Beef of Old England \ ,nd ' Come, Haste to the Wedding\ Those who took pleasure in the beautiful old songs used jo congregate at the shop of the famous music-dealer Thomson in the Strand, who knew most of the tunes, and used to sing them to his visitors, who often included David Garrick. But on the whole the tendency of the eighteenth century in the field of the folk-song was to destroy all poetic feeling in the English people. This was the case particularly in the cities, though an understanding of nature and a certain poetic sense continued to maintain themselves in the country and in the remoter industrial towns. Yorkshire and Lancashire, in particular, had a rich fund of local legends and songs, and many old Scottish ballads had also found their way to these shires. In the West of England the beautiful Christmas carols continued to survive. It was not until the Victorian era that a new tone was re- introduced into the English folk-song and the poetic sense of the people was revived. As late as the year 1860, Seven Dials, London, was the headquarters of ballad-singers, who lived in miserable garrets, writing ballads for the publishers, who paid them [615]