An Essay On The Star Spangled Banner And National Songs PDF Download

Excerpt from An Essay on the Star Spangled Banner and National Songs As a slight cloak of propriety, if not of dignity, for a subject that may be considered of little importance, to which I will invite the attention of the society, for a few minutes, I will offer a familiar quotation from Andrew Fletcher, of Saltoun, a quotation of some value to Fletcher, for it has given him his best hold on the memory of modern times. He writes: "I knew a very wise man who believed that if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation." If this should be thought to be exaggeration, it will not be doubted that national songs, in some degree, form and indicate the character of a people, and are therefore worthy of historical notice. I am not aware that there is more important proof of this power of the Muses than is found in the influence of the song entitled "The Star Spangled Banner" during the struggles for the life of our nation in the last twelve years. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.