In the civil history of the navy the great event was the mutiny of 1797, illustrated here by five ballads. _The New Song_ about ‘the seventeen bright stars’ gives a sailor’s history of the origin and progress of the mutiny of the fleet at Spithead, and was evidently written about the end of May (p. 277). _British Tars Rewarded_ expresses the satisfaction of the fleet at the concessions obtained from the Government, and _The Genius of Britain_ shows the sympathy with which the movement was regarded by the Radical politicians of the time (pp. 279, 280). The more dangerous mutiny of the ships at the Nore, which began on May 20 and lasted till about the middle of June, is represented by _A New Song on Parker the Delegate_ and _The Death of Parker_ (pp. 281, 282). The latter is one of the commonest of all ballads relating to the navy, and the frequency with which it was reprinted seems to show that popular feeling was inclined to regard Parker as a hero and a martyr. The period from the renewal of the war with France in May 1803 to the general peace in 1815 supplies few ballads of any merit, and the more important the event celebrated the worse, as a rule, is the ballad. Trafalgar produced at least a dozen, of which two are selected here--_Nelson’s Glorious Victory at Trafalgar_, and another, entitled _The Death of Nelson_, which begins: ‘Come all you gallant seamen that unites a meeting.’ (pp. 301, 302). A third, beginning _Arise, ye sons of Britain, in chorus join and sing_, which usually bears the title of _Nelson’s Death and Victory_, is reprinted by Mr. Masefield (p. 131), and by Mr. Ashton (p. 18), under the title of _The Battle of Trafalgar_. Mr. Ashton also prints a fourth entitled _Nelson and Collingwood_ (p. 19). There is yet another _Battle of Trafalgar_, which begins well: ‘Come all you British heroes, come listen to my song, It is of a noble battle by our brave seamen won; The 20th of October that was the very day The combined fleet from Cadiz, my boys, did put to sea; The _Euryalus_ made the signal, the _Defence_ she did repeat, The _Mars_ and the _Colossus_ conveyed it to our fleet. ‘It was off Cape St. Mary, nine leagues from the shore, When the signal they saw down from Cadiz they bore. On Sunday the twentieth so early in the morn We espied our enemy, my boys, four leagues astern; The day it being foggy we lost them all again, But on the twenty-first, my boys, we met them on the main.’ The rest of the narrative, however, is a mere catalogue of the names of ships.