Cecil Sharp's Note 88 (1916)

No. 88. Bold Nelson’s Praise

This is the only version of this song that I know. The singer mixed his words in all the verses except the first one, necessitating a certain amount of rearrangement. The air is in the Dorian mode, and is a variant of “Princess Royal,” a well-known Morris-Jig tune. Shield adapted the air to the words of “The Saucy Arethusa,” one of the songs in the ballad-opera The Lock and Key (1796). The composition of the air has sometimes been attributed to Carolan. The tune is also printed in Walsh’s Compleat Dancing Master (circa 1730), under the title “The Princess Royal: the new way.”