_"The Owl is abroad."_--On what ground is the fine base song, "The Owl is
abroad," attributed to Henry Purcell? Dr. Clarke has done so in his
well-known selections from Purcell's works; and Mr. G. Hogarth, in his
_Memoirs of the Musical Drama_, speaking of Purcell's _Tempest_, says:
"There is a song for Caliban, _The Owl is abroad, the Bat and the
Toad_, which one might suppose Weber to have imagined."
Is it not really the property of John Christopher Smith, the friend of
Handel? Amongst the few books of printed music in the _British Museum
Catalogue_ is _The Tempest, an Opera, composed by Mr. Smith_, in which is
the base song in question. On the other hand, I do not find it in Purcell's
_Tempest_. If, as I imagine, it belongs to Mr. Smith, it seems peculiarly
hard that the credit of the composition should be taken from him, to be
given to one who stands in no need of it.