The Duke of O—-d’s Complaint. Princeton University Library. Mss Coll. C0140, Box 37, folder ‘Pembroke.’ 36 cm tall.

It is very uncommon to get direct evidence of government authorities at work seizing street literature and jailing the perpetrators.  In the Princeton University Library’s General Manuscripts collection (C0140) there is a folder in Box 37 labeled ‘Pembroke’ containing two documents.  One is an illustrated ballad sheet without imprint headed ‘The Duke of O—-d [Ormond]’s Complaint.’ The other document is a manuscript letter from Thomas Herbert, 8^th Earl of Pembroke (1674-1738) to Lord Charles Townsend, Viscount Townsend, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (1674-1738)  It was written at St Alban’s and is dated March 10, 1725.   It is a ‘covering letter,’ explaining the circumstances by which the enclosed broadside ballad, deemed a libel, was obtained.    Transcription in full:

My Lord

This afternoone being informed two persons were singing in this Burrō, the enclosed Libel, and collecting a Mobb, harangueing them with praises of an attained Rebel, as Duke of Ormond, forced from this Countrey and Robbed of His Estate, I thought it my Duty to Order the Constable to  apprend them, and on their examination before me, (after their being searched and a large quantity of the same Edition was found upon one of them secreted between his Shirt and his Skin) they owned the publication of them at Barnet and here, & Confessed they were going further downwards and that they bot them of the Printer (Yesterday) One – Dodd near the Fleet Prison by Fleet Ditch.

I have committed them to this goal and assure myself that however small the offense may seem to others on first view, I shall have the honour of your Lordships Approbation, while I judge every publick Representation of a Traitor as being Englands delight, a great and publick misdemeanour tending to alienate ye affection of His Majesties Subjects and to Robb His Majesty of the Treasure he hath A Justly Claime to and which he most values, the hearts of His People.

Is it your Lordships pleasure the Offenders be Removed to Hereford the asizes being next Monday or remain here to be indi[c]ted at the Boroughs Sessions.

I beg your Lordships pardon for giving your Lordship this trouble and have leave to subscribe my self

my Lord

Your Lordships most Devoted and Obedient Humble Servant

Pembroke

1725 March 10 ALS Pembroke to Townsend, page 1. PUL Mss Coll C0140, Box 37, folder ‘Pembroke.’

1725 March 10 ALS Pembroke to Townsend, page 2, PUL Mss Coll C0140, Box 37, folder ‘Pembroke.’

The particulars of the misdemeanour are evident:

1. The topic of the ballad is James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormand (1665-1743), an ‘attained rebel,’ supporter of the enemy to King George I, that is, the Pretender to the throne, James III, the son of James II.
2. The import of the ballad is that it is capable of stirring up a mob that threaten the order of realm.
3. The singers were not just conducting a one-off rendering of this libelous song, they were intent on going from settlement to settlement to agitate for their cause. Their purpose was spurring larger scale unlawful behavior, not just entertainment.
4. From Pembroke’s letter, we also learn who the printer of this libel was ‘One – Dodd near the Fleet Prison by Fleet Ditch.’ That information may have prompted an effort to effect Dodd’s arrest, but, alas, directories of 18^th century British printers of this period yield no information that any such Dodd near Fleet Prison existed.

We do not yet know the fate of the jailed performers, neither as to in which court they were tried nor the sentence they may have served.

What we are left with is a text of a political song, preserved in various ways and, having been recorded in different media of print, is now known in four versions.  What follows is a chronology of these versions:

1715 — A Song on the Late Duke of Ormond . Date of 1715? assigned by David Foxon in his massive catalogue English Verse 1701-1750, entry S591. – However, the title suggests the song is about the ‘late Duke’ who is known to have died in 1745, so perhaps this text comes later – Exemplar illustrated: A Song on the Late Duke of Ormond. London?, 1715?. Cambridge University Library,  Madden ballads, vol.2, number 1377  — 5  verses

Cambridge University Library, Madden ballads

1725 – The Duke of O—–d’s Complaint. Exemplar illustrated: slip ballad held in Princeton Univ. Library’s collection  C0140 (General Mss), Box 37, folder ‘Pembroke’ – 6 verses

[1731 – Music only in George Lillo’s ballad opera Sylvia, published London: J. Watts.  Scene XIX, Air LX ]

1841 – I am Ormond the Brave [first line] reported in the 1848 publication England under the house of Hanover; its history and condition during the reigns of the three Georges, illustrated from the caricatures and satires of the day. By Thomas Wright … With numerous illustrations, executed by F. W. Fairholt, F.S.A. (London: Bentley, 1848) v.1, p. 27-29. It is claimed that the singer of this ballad, as recorded in 1841, learned it from his father and grandfather. 5 verses.  Other 19th cent. reports regarding the I am Ormand ballad repeat what Wright published in 1848.  Example: Political ballads of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, annotated by W. Walker Wilkins (London: Longmans, et al., 1860) v.2, p.168-169.

1892 (1830s) – Ormond the Brave. This version of the song appears in a collection of Devon folk songs published in 1892 by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould and the Rev. Fleetwood Sheppard, who, in subsequent work claimed they ‘listen[ed] to old yokels wheezing out almost forgotten airs.” This rendering was sourced from a singer who learned it from his father who sang it ’60 years’ ago, i.e. 1830s. 4 verses. (Cf. Songs and ballads of the West : a collection made from the mouths of the people / by S. Baring-Gould and H. Fleetwood Sheppard. Harmonised and arranged for voice and pianoforte by H. Fleetwood Sheppard. (Methuen & co., 1892) p. 26-27 [music, p. 26; lyrics, p. 27; explanatory note, p. xvi-xvii]

1841 version. Hathi Trust.

1892 (1830s) version. Hathi Trust.

Observations on the versions:

• All four versions have verse one in common with slight variations in wording.
• The 18^th century versions are more alike in verses 2 to end than the 19^th century versions. For example, stanza 5 in version (a) is stanza 6 in version (b) and stanza 6 in version (b) is stanza 5 in version (a). Several lines in stanzas 2 to 4  in version (b) appear verbatim in version (a).
• After verse one, the 19^th century versions vary greatly from the 18^th century versions. For example, version (c) [1841] renders verses 2 to 4 as a sparring dialogue between the Hanoverian supporter, the Duke of Marlborough and the Jacobean supporter, the Duke of Ormond. No such dialogue appears in the 18^th century versions.  Further, version (d) [1892 (1830s)] distinctly references Ormand’s landing with troops at Devon in 1714, an attempt to excite public support for the Jacobean cause. (It failed.)
• The 19^th century versions in their last stanzas pick up themes from the 18^th century versions, namely i) denial that Ormand was a traitor to his country and ii) that he did not rob his soldiers of their pay, a claim that was made against Marlborough.