Here we have another card showing "Rule Britannia", and giving the music and lyrics. It also mentions the writer, Dr. Arne, or Thomas Augustine Arne, who was born in 1710. And J. Thomson, who is James Thomson, who was co-writer of "Alfred", the musical comedy about Alfred the Great that we spoke of yesterday.
The strange thing is that this set is universally regarded as being National Anthems. Even the title of our version of the set, which is in French, is titled as "Chants Nationaux de Differents Pays" - or National Songs of Different Countries". Whilst the German version is "Nationalhymnen Verschiedener Volker" - or National Anthems of Different Peoples.
Yet our anthem, at the time this set was issued, and as far back, perhaps, as the seventeenth century, is "God Save The King", not "Rule Britannia". Though it had neither words nor a Kingly connotation until 1745, and it was not called the National Anthem until the early 1800s.
Even more curious is that it is not our official National Anthem, because in legal documentation we do not actually have one. This is why there has been several occasions where either William Blake`s "Jerusalem" or Edward Elgar`s "Land of Hope and Glory" have been suggested as becoming the National Anthem. And both of these tunes also have a long association with the Proms.
This set is actually often referred to as "National Anthems II", which set me off on a quest to find the first series. And I think it is set 90, but that was issued some time earlier, between 1878 and 1883. It comprises eight cards, and was published in French, as "Chants Nationaux",, or in Italian, as "Inni Nazionali". The countries there are : Austria, Belgium, England, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, and USA. And in that set the England National Anthem is actually given as "God Save The Queen".
The list of countries in our set are as follows :
| English trans. | French | German | Writers listed |
| Austria | - Autriche | - Oesterreiche | - Joseph Haydn / L Haschka |
| Belgium (La Brabanconne) |
- Belgique | - Belgien | - Campenhout |
| Denmark | - Danemark | - Daenemark | - Kemp |
| England | - Angleterre | - England | - Dr. Arne / J.Thompson |
| France (La Marsellaise) |
- France | - Frankreich (Marsellaise) |
- Rouget de Lisle |
| Germany | - Allemagne | - Deutschland | - Henry Carey / Heinrich Harries |
And if you look closely at the card, there is also a sporting connotation as the female figure has a tennis racquet and the male figure a ball, which looks more like a rugby ball than a football. However I wonder how many tennis and rugby collectors have this card in their collections - yet.....