Annotation:Caroline of Dartmouth
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X:1 T:Caroline of Dartmouth M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Air B:”Melodist: A Collection of music in two volumes" (1826-1859, No. 57, p. 30) N:The melodist is a musician's ms., probably by a fiddler, that contains both N:tunes and songs from a variety of sources, American and European. The N:inscription on the inside cover reads, "This is from the Bridge family of N:Augusta, Maine (Horatio Bridge, friend of Hawthorne's)". However, entries in N:the ms. were in different hands indicating several contributors. N:The ms. is neat and the notation studied and precise. F: https://archive.org/details/Melodist/page/n31/mode/2up?view=theater Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G d|d3c|B2e2|d3c|B2 Bc|d2G2|G2B2|B4-| A2 d2|d3c |B2e2|d3c|B2d2|B2G2 B2d2|!fermata!c2g2| gfge |d2B2|!fermata!g2 ge|ed B2|A>GA>B |G2z||
CAROLINE OF DARTMOUTH. English, Air (whole time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. "Caroline of Dartmouth" was a song by Charles Dignum, a popular tenor singer, actor and composer. The song was published in London by Samuel, Ann and Peter Thompson in 1790, in Walker's Hibernian Magazine (Dublin, Mar. 1791), on song sheets and several period songsters, into the 19th century. Dignum (c1765–1827, fl. 1784–1812) was English-born, of Irish parentage and was a student of Thomas Linley and was the composer of numerous songs, well-known for his performance as the character Tom Tub in Dibdin's The Waterman, and was also associated with the songs of Thomas Hook. The first two stanzas go:
Fair Caroline was once my love
And I was all to her;
My state I thought e'en kings above,
While she did me prefer.
To deck her in each costly gown,
I listed in the war,
And bid adieu to Dartmouth town,
To try my fate afar.
