Note 43 — III GEORGE FARQUHAR 1677-1707

Mrs. Farquhar published in 1711 an octavo volume of the Plays, Letters, and Verses. Among the verses figures a poem of six cantos dedicated to the victorious Earl of Peterborough, entitled Barcelona. “It was found among my dear deceased husband’s writings,” says the widow, in her prefatory note. He was not at the siege, and it is possible that the six cantos were a manuscript copy of the effusion of some former comrade. Farquhar was the author of several songs, one, of highly didactic complexion, having emanated from him at the reputed age of ten. Of these, only two are of fair lyrical quality: the page’s song in Love and a Bottle, and “Tell me, Aurelia, tell me, pray,” which Robert Southey included in his collection.