had fought at the Boyne and at Namur.
One of the characteristics of the good old soldier is his trick of
whistling 'Lillibullero.'

"Wharton afterward boasted that he had sung a king out of three
kingdoms. But in truth the success of 'Lillibullero' was the effect,
and not the cause, of that excited state of public feeling which
produced the revolution."

The English revolution had its "Lillibullero," the French Revolution
its "Marseillaise." The former is never heard now; the latter, in
which spirited words are wedded to inspiring music, is undying.
Lamartine said, "Glory and crime, victory and death, are mingled in its
strains." Sir Walter Scott called it "the finest hymn to which Liberty
has ever given birth." Heine exclaimed, "What a song! It thrills me
with fiery delight, it kindles within me the glowing star of
enthusiasm;" and Carlyle pronounced it "the luckiest musical
composition ever promulgated."

In the spring of 1792, a young officer of artillery was in garrison at
Strasburg. His name was Rouget de Lisle, and his talents as poet,
singer, and musician had rendered him a welcome guest at the house of
Dietrich, the mayor of the city. Famine reigned in Strasburg, and one
day, when the Dietrich family could offer but a scanty repast to the
youthful soldier, Dietrich produced a bottle of wine, and said, "Let us
drink to Liberty and to our country. There will soon be a patriotic
celebration at Strasburg; may these last drops inspire De Lisle with
one of those hymns which convey to the soul of the people the
intoxication from whence they proceed." The wine was drunk and the
friends separated for the night. De Lisle went to his room and sought
inspiration, "now in his patriotic soul, now in his harpsichord;
sometimes composing the air before the words, sometimes the words
before the air, and so combining them in his thoughts that he himself
did not know whether the notes or the verses came first, and it was
impossible to separate the poetry from the music, or the sentiment from
the expression. He sang all and set down nothing."

In the morning De Lisle wrote down the words and music and went with
them to Dietrich's house. The old patriot invited some friends, who
were as fond of music as himself, to listen, and his eldest daughter
played the accompaniment, while Rouget sang. "At the first stanza all
faces turned pale; at the second tears ran down every cheek, and at the
last all the madness of enthu