This clear and condensed summary of the article in the Ave Maria is reprinted here for two reasons: first, it exhibits the main contentions of the article in easily intelligible form; secondly, it lends itself readily to full quotation. A word in addition about this second reason. Within a week after its publication in America the summary appeared, with due credit, in another Catholic weekly paper, and it may well be that many Catholic papers have reproduced it since then.'

There is some ground, therefore, for fearing the growth of a legend which later may return to plague us. For the simple truth is that everything about the origin of the air of our national anthem is very far from being as clear as Dr. Flood would have his readers believe. It is true that he has "no hesitation" in claiming the air as of Irish origin, but we are under no obligation to share his confidence in this respect, for his assertions are not supported either by convincing reasons or by adequate references. His argument based on the characteristics of the melody is one which I shall enable my readers to estimate at its true value.

Meanwhile, what I shall have to say here is not meant. as an adverse criticism of the clear and condensed summary itself, which is like a mirror in its faithful reflection of the impression made by the original article on a cultured and thoughtful reader. Neither is it my purpose to deny an Irish origin to the tune. My sole desire is to prove that Dr. Flood himself proves nothing in his article. We may hope thus to preserve an open mind

1 Since writing this, a friend has sent me a clipping from the San Francisco Leader of 11 October, 1913, containing the summary. It has thus travelled the whole width of the country, from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific. I have not searched the files of any Catholic papers, but I may fairly suppose that the summary has appeared in many others. The Leader also gives due credit to America.

on the subject, and to avoid entangling ourselves in a weak argument for a cause which otherwise might enlist our hearty support. I am encouraged in this pursuit of an ungrateful task by recalling how patiently and how minutely one of the great founders of our Society, Mr. Martin I. J. Griffin, labored to attain historical accuracy, even though the quest should lead at times to the overthrow of certain pleasant convictions entertained by Catholic speakers and writers.

Also I may hope that the present paper will prove of interest to us, as the subject not only is attractive in itself but also has been the occasion of not a little controversy, and I can only trust that it may not merit. Waller's criticism of Milton's Paradise Lost: "If its length be not considered a merit, it hath no other."

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

The length of the following article may prevent the accomplishment of my main purpose in writing it, namely, to hinder the growth of a legend whose repetition is much easier than its defence. A brief statement of the principal points touched upon may therefore be permitted here. I hope to show that:

1. The article in the Ave Maria is misleading both in its assertions and in its omissions.

2. "Anacreon" has hardly any characteristic resemblance to "Bumper."

3. The words were most probably composed by Tomlinson; the tune by Smith.

4. Mr. Sonneck's singularly careful Report to Congress is completely misrepresented in Dr. Flood's article. 5. There is no evidence, or even what purports to be such, that the tune is Irish in origin, or that the words emanated from Ireland about the year 1765." In brief,

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there is no real basis for Dr. Flood's claim.

So much for the main purpose of my article. A subsidiary purpose-and one rendered desirable by reason of the main purpose—is to give some adequate idea of the present results of a lively discussion carried on in the last few years concerning the origin of the air. Into an account of the earlier vague and sometimes rather ludicrous ascriptions and contentions I do not enter, but it is interesting to note that as late as the year 1890 Grove's Dictionary of Music did not contain, even in its Appendix, any notice of our national air, while the revised edition (ed. by J. A. Fuller Maitland) of 1908 has an article of considerable length on the subject, contributed by Mr. Frank Kidson, the noted English musical antiquary. In 1909 Mr. O. G. Sonneck, chief of the Division of Music in the Library of Congress, presented to Congress an elaborate study of four of our national airs, and brought the discussion of the history of the "StarSpangled Banner" down to date with finest critical acumen. Mr. John Henry Blake, an American inventor, worked patiently in London and discovered, in October, 1910, the important date of copyright of Smith's Fifth Book of Canzonets, etc., containing the air "harmonized by the author," and subsequently came upon another volume of Smith's (1780) containing an entirely different "Anacreontic," which was perhaps the cause of misapprehension as to the date of the Anacreontic Song (the source of our air) subsequently copyrighted by him (in 1799). In 1912 Dr. Flood contended for the Irish origin of the tune, and seemed to imply that it was probably composed by O'Carolan.

THE POSITIVE ARGUMENT

The argument in the Ave Maria is partly negative, partly positive. The negative part consists in an attempt. to eliminate the commonly accepted English claim to the

tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven" (the tune, namely, of "The Star-Spangled Banner)." The positive part attempts to establish an Irish origin for the air.

This is the logical order followed by Dr. Flood. The present article reverses that order and considers, first of all, the attempt to prove an Irish origin. If (as I think can be clearly shown) the argumentation of Dr. Flood has no good basis in fact, and was therefore foredoomed to failure, the elimination of this new factor from the problem of the authorship will enable the reader to consider dispassionately the previously accepted view that the air was composed by an Englishman, John Stafford Smith. The effect which Mr. Blake's recent discovery has on the problem can then be intelligently discussed and estimated.

The positive argument is found in the third paragraph from the end of Dr. Flood's article:

Having thus eliminated the English claim to the tune, I have no hesitation in claiming the tune as of Irish origin. Furthermore, it has all the characteristics of a composition by the famous Turlough O'Carolan, as can easily be tested by a comparison of "Anacreon" with O'Carolan's "Bumpers, Squire Jones." As O'Carolan died on March 25, 1738, the tune may be dated from about the year 1730, if not earlier. His fine melody known as the "Arethusa" was appropriated by the English, and was included for over a century as a fine old English melody," until I disproved the ascription and showed its rightful provenance.

This is all of the positive proof: (1) the absence of hesitation on Dr. Flood's part in claiming an Irish origin for the tune; (2) the possession by the tune of all the characteristics of another tune by O'Carolan; (3) the English opinion that another song by O'Carolan was English, until Dr. Flood proved the opposite (but per

haps this last statement was added not by way of proof or argument but merely as a ratio convenientiae, as theologians say).

The statements in the quoted paragraph will be taken up here in their order, but will be placed under headings intended briefly to interpret and to characterize them.

1. EXPERT OPINION

I have no hesitation in claiming the tune as of Irish origin.

These are the words of "no less an authority on musical history" than Dr. Flood, as the writer in America justly remarks, for Dr. Flood has written much on musical antiquities.'

It may be said in general that the opinion of an expert is naturally worthy of careful consideration and respect, although he may not always be able clearly to define the basis of that opinion. His whole general knowledge and a certain kind of instinct born of his wide experience in restricted fields of investigation will help him to form a judgment, or at least a probable opinion, on some controverted matter-and this is valuable. It may nevertheless be that Dr. Flood is over-enthusiastic in some of his advocacies, and it is common knowledge that an

'In 1905 he published his "History of Irish Music" (Dublin, 360 pages) and his "Story of the Harp" (London, 230 pages). The titlepage of the former volume shows that he was then the organist of Enniscorthy Cathedral, Vice-President of the Irish Folk-Song Society, member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries. In 1911 he published his "Story of the Bagpipe," while he has contributed many papers to prominent magazines and articles to the "Catholic Encyclopedia." He is a Doctor of Music and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. Finally, the Holy Father has made him a Knight of St. Gregory. His words must therefore have great weight as coming from a qualified scholar in the fields both of music and of musical history. His article in the Ave Maria, however bears the appearance of haste in its composition. The interests of correctness justify me in reviewing it adversely.