Annotation:Bonny Fish Wife (The)

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BONNY FISH WIFE, THE. Engish, Air (whole time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A song "written by a Lady" by (written by a Lady) by Charles Edward Horn. The first line begins "At grey eyd' morn."

Patty Oliver in costume as a fishwife, late 1850's. © National Portrait Gallery, London

"The Bonny Fish Wife" was an operetta or farce by Charles Selby that premiered at the Strand Theatre on Sept. 20, 1858. The lead character, heroine Maggy Macfarlane, a Newhaven fish wife, was played by Martha Cranmer Oliver (known as "Patty" Oliver), one of the stars of Victorian comic theater. She also played the character of Miss Thistledown, 'a romantic young lady'.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Alexander (Alexander’s New Scrap Book), c. 1845; No. 845, p. 8.

Recorded sources:

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