[73] The late Richard Clark, of the Chapel Royal and Westminster
Abbey, published in 1823 "An Account of the National Anthem,
entitled God save the King," in which he satisfactorily proves
"that Carey neither had, nor could have had, any claim at all
to this composition," which he traces back to the celebrated
composer, Dr. John Bull, who he believes composed it for the
entertainment given by the Merchant Taylors Company to King
James I., in 1607. Ward, in his "Lives of the Gresham
Professors," gives a list of Bull's compositions, then in the
possession of Dr. Pepusch (who arranged the music for the
_Beggar's Opera_), and Art. 56 is "God save the King." At the
Doctor's death, his manuscripts, amounting to two cartloads,
were scattered or sold for waste-paper, and this was one of
the number. Clark ultimately recovered this MS.--ED.