17 AUGUST 1895, Page 26

volumes, and we have to acknowledge the receipt of the

first, a handsome volume, which may be taken as an earnest of a really valuable work. Mr. Baring-Gould prefaces it with an in- troduction in which he sketches the history of English songs, from the earliest time. kThis he follows by notes on the songs included in the volume. The first of these is " God Save the Queen." The national anthem dates, the editor thinks, from 1742. He mentions the story of its being written by Ben Jenson, and first sung in Merchant Taylors' Hall in 1607. The number of songs in this volume nearly reaches sixty.