corbies = _crows_ fail-dyke = _wall of turf_ hause-bane = _breast-bone_ theek = _thatch_ XXXIII Begun in 1755, and finished and printed (with _The Progress of Poetry_) in 1757. 'Founded,' says the poet, 'on a tradition current in Wales, that Edward the First, when he concluded the conquest of that country, ordered all the bards that fell into his hands to be put to death.' The 'agonising king' (line 56) is Edward II.; the 'she-wolf of France' (57), Isabel his queen; the 'scourge of heaven' (60), Edward III.; the 'sable warrior' (67), Edward the Black Prince. Lines 75-82 commemorate the rise and fall of Richard II.; lines 83-90, the Wars of the Roses, the murders in the Tower, the 'faith' of Margaret of Anjou, the 'fame' of Henry V., the 'holy head' of Henry VI. The 'bristled boar' (93) is symbolical of Richard III.; 'half of thy heart' (99) of Eleanor of Castile, 'who died a few years after the conquest of Wales.' Line 110 celebrates the accession of the House of Tudor in fulfilment of the prophecies of Merlin and Taliessin; lines 115-20, Queen Elizabeth; lines 128-30, Shakespeare; lines 131-32, Milton; and the 'distant warblings' of line 133, 'the succession of poets after Milton's time' (Gray). XXXIV, XXXV Written, the one in September 1782 (in the August of which year the _Royal George_ (108 guns) was overset in Portsmouth Harbour with the loss of close on a thousand souls), and the other 'after reading Hume's _History_ in 1780' (Benham). XXXVI It is worth recalling that at one time Walter Scott attributed this gallant lyric, which he printed in the _Minstrelsy_, to a 'greater Graham'--the Marquis of Montrose. XXXVII, XXXVIII Of these, the first, _Blow High, Blow Low_, was sung in _The Seraglio_ (1776), a forgotten opera; the second, said to have been inspired by the death of the author's brother, a naval officer, in _The Oddities_ (1778)--a 'table-entertainment,' where Dibdin was author, actor, singer, musician, accompanist, everything but audience and candle-snuffer. They are among the first in time of his sea-ditties. XXXIX It is told (_Life_, W. H. Curran, 1819) that Curran met a deserter, drank a bottle, and talked of his chances, with him, and put his ideas and sentiments into this song. XL