Rice made his first appearance at the Surrey Theatre in 1836, when he played in a sketch entitled _Bone Squash Diabolo_, in which he took the part of 'Jim Crow.' The song soon went all over England, and 'Jim Crow' hats and pipes were all the rage, while _Punch_ caricatured a statesman who changed his opinions on some question of the day as the political 'Jim Crow.' To this class also belongs the song 'Buffalo Gals' (see p. 10). Amongst the contents of the shop window at the watering-place referred to in _Out of the Season_ was every polka with a coloured frontispiece that ever was published; from the original one, where a smooth male or female Pole of high rank are coming at the observer with their arms akimbo, to the 'Ratcatcher's Daughter.' This last piece is of some slight interest from the fact that certain people have claimed that the hymn-tune 'Belmont' is derived therefrom. We give the first four lines, and leave our readers to draw their own conclusions. It is worth while stating that the first appearance of the hymn-tune took place soon after the song became popular.[17] [Figure 2] In Westminster, not long ago, There lived a ratcatcher's daughter; She was not born in Westminster But on t'other side of the water. _Some Singers_ In the _Pickwick Papers_ we have at least three original poems. Wardle's carol-- I care not for Spring; on his fickle wing Let the blossoms and buds be borne-- has been set to music, but Dickens always preferred that it should be sung to the tune of 'Old King Cole,' though a little ingenuity is required to make it fit in. The 'wild and beautiful legend,' Bold Turpin vunce, on Hounslow Heath His bold mare Bess bestrode--er, with which Sam Weller favoured a small but select company on a memorable occasion appears to have been overlooked by composers until Sir Frederick Bridge set it to excellent music. It will be remembered that Sam intimated that he was not wery much in the habit o' singin' without the instrument; but anythin' for a quiet life, as the man said wen he took the sitivation at the lighthouse.