the hymn-tune 'Belmont' is
derived therefrom. We give the first four lines, and leave
our readers to draw their own conclusions. It is worth while
stating that the first appearance of the hymn-tune took place
soon after the song became popular.[17]

[Figure 2]

In Westminster, not long ago,
There lived a ratcatcher's daughter;
She was not born in Westminster
But on t'other side of the water.

_Some Singers_

In the _Pickwick Papers_ we have at least three original
poems. Wardle's carol--

I care not for Spring; on his fickle wing
Let the blossoms and buds be borne--

has been set to music, but Dickens always preferred that
it should be sung to the tune of 'Old King Cole,' though a
little ingenuity is required to make it fit in. The 'wild and
beautiful legend,'

Bold Turpin vunce, on Hounslow Heath
His bold mare Bess bestrode--er,

with which Sam Weller favoured a small but select company on a
memorable occasion appears to have been overlooked by composers
until Sir Frederick Bridge set it to excellent music. It will
be remembered that Sam intimated that he was not

wery much in the habit o' singin' without the
instrument; but anythin' for a quiet life, as the man
said wen he took the sitivation at the lighthouse.

Sam was certainly more obliging than another member of the
company, the 'mottled-faced' gentleman, who, when asked
to sing, sturdily and somewhat offensively declined to do
so. We also find references to other crusty individuals who
flatly refuse to exercise their talents, as, for instance,
after the accident to the coach which was conveying Nicholas
Nickleby and Squeers to Yorkshire. In response to the call
for a song to pass the time away, some protest they cannot,
others wish they could, others can do nothing without the
book, while the 'very fastidious lady entirely ignored the
invitation to give them some little Italian thing out of the
last opera.' A somewhat original plea for refusing to sing when
asked is given by the chairman of the musical gathering at the
Magpie and Stump (_P.P._). When asked why he won't enliven
the company he replies, 'I only know one song, and I have sung
it already, and it's a fine of glasses round to sing the same
song twice in one night.' Doubtless he was deeply thankful to
Mr. Pickwick for changing the subject. At another gathering
of a similar nature, we are told about a man who knew a song
of seven verses