ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of songs in the commemoration of revolutions in the long eighteenth century, beginning with the commemoration of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and ending with the French Revolution of 1789. It reveals the continuity of the 'Harmodium Melos' in the eighteenth-century equivalent of the symposion, the celebrations and sociability of the extra-parliamentary associations, the Revolution Society and the Society for Constitutional Information. The chapter argues that the classical song tradition was fundamental to the language of revolution commemoration and that it was deployed in all kinds of political songs in the eighteenth century. The sentiments expressed in Hawes's songs reflect a realignment of the anniversary culture of 5 November with the revolutionary events in France. Francis delivers a philippic of his own, as the only Whig who would dare to contradict Burke. The chapter explores the complexity of political song culture in relation to developing crisis created by the response to the French Revolution.
