Garb of Old Gaul, The

DESCRIPTION: "In the garb of old Gaul, with the fire of old Rome, From the heath-covered mountains of Scotia we come." The people of the HIghland have always been fiercely independent; and now they will defy the French wherever they are
AUTHOR: probably Harry Erskine (died 1765) (source: Ford-SongHistories)
EARLIEST DATE: 1765 ("The Lark," according to Ford-SongHistories)
KEYWORDS: patriotic nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1756-1763 - Seven Years' War
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ford-SongHistories, pp. 242-247, "The Garb of Old Gaul" (2 texts)
Roud #V12814
NOTES [156 words]: Although Ford decided to devote an article to this, it is clearly not traditional; there are no traditional collections, and if someone did decide to sing it, it's so flowery that it would clearly degenerate pretty quickly. Nor is it as popular as the other non-traditional songs Ford looks at; at least, there are no listings of it in Granger's Index to Poetry. It does have a Wikipedia entry. Ford suggests that his two texts may be independent translations of a Gaelic original but does not offer one.
Ford's summary article is flatly not reliable. For starters, he tries to estimate the time an officer needs to get promoted from one rank to another -- at a time when promotion by purchase was still possible, so the estimates mean nothing. For another, he believes major generals are senior to lieutenant generals when the reverse is true. Yes, majors are senior to lieutenants, but not major generals to lieutenant generals. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: NothGoOG

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