The Song
The song is said to relate the story of how he broke the heart of Bridget Belasyse of Brancepeth Castle, County Durham, where his brother Thomas was rector, when he married Anne Duncombe of Duncombe Park in Yorkshire. Bridget Belasyse is said to have died two weeks after hearing the news, although other sources claim that she died a fortnight before the wedding of pulmonary tuberculosis. Even if the song was not composed about him, his supporters almost certainly added a verse for the 1761 elections with the lyrics:
- Bobby Shafto's looking out,
- All his ribbons flew about,
- All the ladies gave a shout,
- Hey for Bobby Shafto!
Thomas and George Allan, in their Tyneside Songs and Readings (1891), argued that the "Bobby Shafto" of the song was in fact a relative, Robert Shafto (1760–1781) of Benwell. It is likely that his grandson, Robert Duncombe Shafto, also used the song for electioneering in 1861, with several of the later verses being added around this time.
Read more about this topic: Bobby Shafto
Famous quotes containing the word song:
“You praised and knew
the song they made was worthless
and the note,
they sung
was dross.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalm CXXXVII (l. CXXXVII, 4–5)