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The handkerchiefs duly arrived--"nice and large"--and Haydn made
his acknowledgments in appropriate terms. At the same time (in
January 1802) he wrote: "I send you with this the favourite air
'The Blue Bells of Scotland,' and I should like that this little
air should be engraved all alone and dedicated in my name as a
little complimentary gift to the renowned Mrs Jordan, whom,
without having the honour of knowing, I esteem extremely for her
great virtue and reputation." Mrs Jordan has been credited with
the air of "The Blue Bells of Scotland." She certainly
popularized the song, whether it was her own or not. In the note
just quoted Haydn must have used the term "virtue" in the Italian
sense.
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