our tune. The Austrians sing Haydn's hymn, 'Got erhalte Frang deu Kaiser,' but, with all its melody and sweetness, the Austrian hymn has too much of the psalm in it; it wants the manly, majestic, full-hearted boldness of the strains in which we are accustomed to express not more our respect for our Monarch than our own national pride.' Much research has been bestowed in the endeavour to ascertain its origin, and to collect all that has been said would fill volumes. I shall confine my remarks briefly to five of the favourite theories which have obtained more or less credence as they have appeared to be supported by proof. “1st. It is said to have been composed by Mr. John Bull in 1607; but this composition, which was published by Dr. Kitchener, from the original manuscript in his possession, was found to be nothing more than a ground for the organ on four notes, C G F E, with twenty-six different bases, and bearing not the most distant resemblance to the air in question. "2nd. The Duchess of Perth has stated in her Memoirs, that the said anthem is of French origin, and was first sung by the nuns of St. Cyr to James II; and that Handel procured a copy of it when in France, and then passed it on to George I, and the English nation as his own composition. The Duchess has also given a verse of the anthem to confirm her account. But the works of Handel were much better known in England than in France, and not one syllable can be found throughout his life or writings about his claiming to be the author or composer of 'God save the King.' On the contrary, his own musical amanuensis, John Christopher Smith, commonly called Handel Smith, is the very individual who, in a letter to Dr. Heminton, declares that Harry Carey was both the author and composer. The verse her Grace has given is also at variance with her statement, for the verses or stanzas of our national anthem have each seven lines,-the one given in French has ten lines; and it is absolutely impossible to adapt all the syllables in those ten lines to the notes of God save the King,' unless we add six bars to the last strain. "3rd. Mr. Pinkerton, in his 'Recollections of Paris,' vol. ii., says, that 'the supposed national air is a mere transcript of a Scottish anthem,' in a collection printed in 1682. In this bold assertion he no doubt alludes to a work which excited some interest a few years ago from this imagined discovery Cantus; Songs and Fancies to several musical parts, &c., as taught in the Music School of Aberdeen,' printed by John Forbes, in Aberdeen.' Mr. Cross, in his account of the Yorkshire Musical Festival, informs us that a copy of this work was sold by auction, by Evans, in February, 1819, for £11, on the supposition of its containing the original of God save the King!" This singular publication, commonly called Forbes' Cantus, is an odd voice part of some old English glees, Christmas carols, &c.; and yet, in its imperfect state, it went through three editions, viz:-in 1662, 1666, and 1682; moreover this, the only known publication of music in Scotland during the whole of the seventeenth century, is now universally admitted not to contain a single Scottish air, The tune in question, Remember, O thou man,' is a Christmas carol, taken from Ravenscroft's Melismata, printed in London in 1611. · "4th A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for March, 1796, page 208, says, The original tune of God save the King-the tune, at least, which evidently furnished the subject of it-is to be found in a book of harpsichord lessons, published by Purcell's widow, in Dean's yard, Westminster;' but it is certain that God save the King' has never yet been discovered in Purcell's works, or with his name attached to it in any manner whatever. It now only remains to make a few remarks npon Henry Carey's claim to the · authorship. Carey, who was a Jacobite, in common with all who fixed their hopes on James, is said to have written it on the eve of the contest with the Pretender in 1715, at which time he was upwards of fifty years of age, and, according to his constant practice, set his own music to his own words. But the hopes of the Jacobites were defeated, and the song laid by forgotten till 1740. It has been proved that the author sang it publicly, and with the greatest success, at a dinner given to celebrate the victory of Admiral Vernon, 1740, and on this occasion Carey himself applied the song to George, in consequence of the recent splendid victory "Send him victorious, The original words were applied to James, soon to reign over us. Carey himself applied the words to George, altering soon to long. Thus applied, it then became popular beyond conception, By Dr. Pepeesch it was altered in the melody of the first bar, and immediately afterwards, with a perfect bass, introduced on the stage, and it has been constantly and enthusiastically sung to the same words, which it has retained from 1740 till the death of the last George." STEAM BETWEEN GALWAY AND NEW YORK. THE old Anglo-Norman town, which, by the trial trip of the Viceroy to New York, takes the first step to establish a claim for itself, as a great European terminus of transatlantic intercourse, is thus honourably mentioned by Peter Heylin in his Cosmography:-" Galloway, a noted emporie, and lately of so great fame with foreign merchants, that an outlandish merchant, meeting with an Irishman, demanded in what part of Galloway, Ireland stood; as if Galloway had been the name of the island, and Ireland only the name of some town." Other old writers refer to the political and commercial importance of Galway, in terms equally flattering; and there are ample authorities to show, that for a long period it was second to no town in Ireland, the metropolis excepted, in a commercial point of view. It was, in fact, one of the earliest and most successful efforts of English colonisation in Ireland, and for centuries remained a stronghold of Fnglish power, and an example of English enterprise and prosperity in the midst of a hostile and desolated country. Galway, therefore, may be said to have a special claim on the interests of Englishmen; and at the present moment, when it is making an effort to start once more into note, a few particulars of its history and local peculiarities may not be uninteresting. It would appear that Galway was a place of some consequence previous to the English invasion, and that it was the centre of whatever commerce existed on the western coast of Ireland at the period. Its position, nearly due west from Dublin, and at the head of a bay running deeper inland than any other arm of the sea, on that coast, renders it by nature one of the termini of the great central line of division which, according to the old chroniclers, separated the northern half of Ireland from the southern. And in 1230, when Richard de Burgo, the Lord Justice, appeared before Galway to demand its surrender to Felim O'Connor, whom he was commissioned to establish on the throne of Connaught, he found a strong castle there, built by the O'Flaherties, lcrds of West Connaught, and sufficiently fortified to hold out successfully against him. It does not appear that the English succeeded in entering Galway until two years afterwards, when Richard de Burgo caused a strong castle to be erected there, and for a considerable time it became one of the chief seats of the De Burgo family. The O'Flaherties were expelled, and driven still farther to the west. That powerful sect had previously occupied a large territory to the east of Lake Corrib; but from that they were early forced to retire before the encroaching invasion of the De Burgos, and others of the Anglo-Norman adventurers; and now that Galway, after having become the eastern instead of their western frontier, was altogether wrested from them, they retired to the district called the Land of the two Lakes, lying between Lake Corrib on the north, and Galway Bay, anciently called Lake Lurgan, on the south, and better known by its name Iar-Connaught, or Western Connaught. Here, and in the adjoining but still remoter territory of Conamara, the O'Flaherties lived for centuries in a state almost entirely independent of British authority, to which they were often able to oppose a very formidable resistance; and those wide and wild domains remained in their undisturbed possession until transferred to other owners in the confiscations of the seventeenth century. Soon after the occupation of Galway by the English, the value of the place as a strong position was the first consideration that suggested itself, and walls were constructed to defend the town against the O'Connors and O'Flaherties; but the place being thus rendered one of safety, commerce at once took root there, and increased with amazing rapidity, so that it became in little more than a century not only the chief emporium of the west of Ireland, but, as we have already mentioned, a town of almost the first commercial importance in the whole island. The inhabitants devoted their whole attention to commerce, and this soon became monopolized by some thirteen or fourteen families, who were all Anglo-Norman, with the exception of two or three of Irish extraction, and who, banding themselves together for every purpose, excluded all others, whether English or Irish, as strangers. These are the families which have been since known as the "tribes of Galway," and which have continued as a distinct race in the west of Ireland to the present day. Their names are Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, Darey, Deane, Flout, Ffrench, Joyce, Kirwan, Lynch, Martin, Morris, and Skerratt. The trade of Galway was chiefly carried on with Spain, and its ships might ever be found in the ports of Biscay and Gallicia. From this constant intercourse with that country civilization in Galway assumed, in process of time, almost as much of a Spanish as an English character. The people dressed like the Spaniards, built their houses after a Spanish fashion, and there were few of the merchants a portion of whose education had not been obtained in Spain. From these circumstances, combined perhaps with the old Milesian traditions of the country, it has happened that Galway has so generally been looked upon as a half Spanish town, although we are not aware that a single family there trace its origin to Spain, within the historic limits to which we now refer Galway is purely and essentially Anglo-Norman. None were so faithful to the English interests in Ireland as the tribes of Galway. The De Burgos, who were looked upon by them with jealousy from the beginning, soon became much too unsteady in their loyalty to please the men of Galway; and they, as well as some other Anglo-Norman families, were as rigidly excluded from the town and its privileges as the "wild Irish" themselves. And they carried this spirit of exclusion to such an extent, even so late as 1518, that in that year it was enacted in the bye-laws of the corporation, "that no man of this town shall oste or receive into their housses at Christmas, Easter, nor no feaste elles, any of the Burkes, M'Williams, Kellies, nor no cepte elles, without license of the mayor and councill, on payn to forfeit 51.; that neither One Mac shall struttene swaggere thro' the streets of Gallway." It is added by the historian that after this law the good people of Galway became more thrifty, so that instead of requiring any legal restrictions on their hospitality, a spur to stimulate it became necessary, and it was regulated that whenever a stranger found himself uninvited to dinner he might appear in the streets in his boots and spurs, which generally secured him an invitation. "But even this pleasant expedient," continues Mr. Hardiman, the historian, who relates the circumstance, " is now of no avail, so far have we departed from the good old customs of former times." As to the O'Flaherties, the rule of exclusion enforced against them was the most rigid of all. If by any chance, one of the name had business to transact within the walls of the town, an insulting inscription met his eye as he entered the West Gate, the spikes of which were often graced with the heads of his namesakes, and he was obliged to quit the walls again before night fell, "From the ferocious O'Flaherties, O Lord deliver us!" was one of the prayers of the Galwagians, When the commerce of Galway was at its zenith, the inhabitants had scarcely a foot of land outside their walls, which they could securely consider their own; but in the course of time, they came to purchase estates from such of the Irish families as had any to dispose of, and acquired a great deal more by confiscation. They built castles, and at length for their castles, deserted their ships. Gradually the name of Galway lost its celebrity in foreign ports, and Limerick, Cork, and Waterford, eclipsed its fame, Still the Galway merchants continued wealthy, and made up by territorial possessions, for the loss of treasures gathered from beyond sea. But the fatal period for the prosperity of their town, was the epoch of the change of religion, and the civil broils which ensued thereon. Partly, perhaps, owing to the Spanish feeling engrafted on their character, the tribes of Galway clung, for a long time, with more fidelity to the old faith than did many of the other families of Ireland of the same descent; and when popery and disloyalty were synonymous, they came in for their share of punishment for both. The spirit of commerce was paralysed under the religious persecutions carried on in Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth, but it was utterly annihilated during the civil wars of the commonwealth. Siege followed siege. Even when both were ostensibly marshalled under the same banners, the puritanical soldiers in the fort of Galway galled and annoyed the loyalist inhabitants of the town; and to the horrors of the civil war were added those of famine and pestilence. The scenes of the Cromwellian era were re-enacted in the civil war of William and James; and from this time forth Galway never raised its head again. After this period the inhabitants of Galway were solely occupied with petty dissensions among themselves; the tribes seeking to assert their ancient privi. leges against the numerous influx of "strangers"; and, until very recently they continued to do so most successfully, although they had themselves degenerated into a state of most beggarly indigence and apathy, the princely castles of their merchant ancestors having become roofless ruins about their ears, and, their streets and quays being converted into little better than quagmires. Thus it is that Galway has, for many generations past, played in Irish politics, a role so despicable and so unworthy of its ancient state, so suggestive, and so fertiie in historic interest. The following passage from one of Mr. Hardiman's additional notes to O'Flaherty's "Tribes of West Connaught," will show how the lands of that district were disposed of: "In the 17th century" says Mr. Hardiman, "the entire territory of Iar-Connaught was confiscated, and such of the O'Flaherties as survived war and famine were thrown landless on the world. The country was parcelled out, and after the Restoration was granted to several patentees. The principal of these were, the Earl of Clanricarde; Richard Martin, of Dangan; John Brown, ancestor of the Marquis of Sligo; the Archbishop of Tuam, in trust for the See; Dr. Seele, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, in trust for the college; Sir Thomas Meredith, one of Cromwell's privy council in Ireland; Sir George Bingham, of Castlebar; Colonel John Whaley, one of the 49 officers; Edward Geoghegan, a 'transplanter'; several descendants of the wealthy burghers of Galway, and others." If the hopes now entertained for Galway be realised, its history will form an exception to that of fallen commercial cities in general. Places like individuals seem to get their chance of success but once, and forfeited opportunities seldom return. Dead enterprise rarely revives, however long its ghost may hover round the scene of its action. The chance of revival for Galway, admitting this theory of fatality, seems all the more probable from the fact that its agents are not to be of the old race of its inhabitants. The tribes of Galway, whatever historic credit they may claim, are crushed for ever, and if their town is to rise from its ashes, other hands than theirs must do the work. "Strangers," whether of English or Irish descent, will be the labourers of its future enterprise, and are already in the field. Galway is already possessed of some excellent new wet docks, constructed at an enormous expense, and which, notwithstanding the mistakes made in the original plan, may be rendered highly serviceable. Its resources for the construction of wharfs and stores are immense; the junction of the island on which the lighthouse stands with the mainland by a pier, for the formation of which there are abundance of facilities, would give one of the finest harbours in the empire; the drainage of Lake Corrib, and the connexion of it with the port by a short navigable canal, will open up inland a vast field for enterprize; the redistribution of the surrounding country among fresh hands through the medium of the Encumbered Estates Commission; the establishment of the Queen's College as a nucleus of intellectual activity; the construction of the railway, placing the town within a few hours' distance of the metropolis; and, finally, the chance now offered for constituting the port the extreme western station of Europe for communication with America-all these circumstances, already existing, or in a fair way of being speedily realised, throw open to Galway, to all appearance, a new career of prosperity and happiness.-Daily News, WRECK OF THE ORION. The Orion, steamer, on her passage from Liverpool to Glasgow, with 150 passengers on board, was wrecked on a sunken rock, off Portpatrick, between one and two A.M. on Tuesday last, and almost immediately went down. The number lost is not known at present, as the accounts vary from fifty to one hundred. The passengers and crew rushed to the boats, two of which, it is stated, at once capsized, owing to the number that crowded into them, and almost all perished. To attempt to account for the loss of this noble vessel on a fine night, on our own shores, within a short distance of the land, where every stone should be familiarly known to those in charge, is at present impossible. The rock on which the Orion struck is some distance from the shore, and passed through the vessel principally in her midship compartment, breaking the engines to pieces, and within less than ten minutes from the time she struck, the Orion was at the bottom. From the accounts that could be gleaned from those saved, it would appear that it was exactly a quarter to two, when the vessel struck, not at stem on, but rather towards the bilge; and almost immediately after, she sunk gradually by the head; and before any of the cabin passengers had time to dress, the water was up to their knees in the cabin. The first boat that was launched, was so crowded with the panic-struck passengers, that she instantly sunk, and almost all on board perished. In the second boat, a number of ladies were put, and they reached the shore in safety. In the meantime, the vessel gradually filled with water, and the crew and passengers were left floating on the surface of the calm waters. As soon as the accident was discovered from the shore, a number of boats put off, and picked up all that could be seen floating on the loose portions of the wreck, or swimming towards the shore. The wreck lies with the masts and funnel vertical and half out of the water; and to the rigging several of the survivors clung until they were relieved. The place where the wreck lies is not 50 yards from the shore, and quite close to the lighthouse of Portpatrick. At the time the Fenella left, only nine of the bodies had been recovered. Such was the awful consternation and excitement amongst the survivors, after the catastrophe, that very few particulars beyond those already stated could be learned. Amongst the drowned were a father, |