_Dumpling_ and its _Key_ were first claimed for Henry Carey by Dr. Wood (pp. 442-447). Carey (1687-1743) is generally thought to have been an illegitimate scion of the powerful Savile family,[2] with whose name he christened three of his sons. He was perhaps best known as a writer of songs. "Sally in our Alley" is a classic, and he has even a tenuous claim to the authorship of the English national anthem. Carey's _Dramatic Works_ appeared in 1743, the year in which he met his death, almost certainly by his own hand. Several of the plays were successful and particular reference should be made to the burlesques _Chrononhotonthologos_ (1734) and _The Dragon of Wantley_ (1737). The latter even outran the performances of _The Beggar's Opera_ in its first year. Not only do these plays show Carey's satiric bent, but so also do a considerable number of his poems. In 1713, 1720, and 1729 Carey published three different collections of his poetry, each entitled _Poems on Several Occasions_. Although a few of the poems were repeated, almost always revised, each edition is very much a different collection. An edition was brought out in this century by Dr. Wood.[3]
I am strongly inclined to support Carey's claim to the authorship of _Dumpling_ and its _Key_ despite Dr. E. L. Oldfield's more recent attempt to invalidate it.[4] There were at least ten editions of _Dumpling_ in the eighteenth century. The first seven (1726-27) appeared during Carey's life, and these (I have seen all but the third) contain the _Namby Pamby_ verses which later appeared under Carey's own name in his enlarged _Poems on Several Occasions_ (1729). There was also a "sixth edition" of _Dumpling_ (really the eighth extant edition) in Carey's own name published "for T. Read, in Dogwell-Court, White-Friars, Fleet-Street, MDCCXLIV." Though _Namby Pamby_ was not added to the first edition of the _Key_, it appears in the second edition. Both editions were published by Mrs. Dodd, of whom Dr. Oldfield says: she "seems to have been a neighbour, and known to Carey" (p. 375). Dr. Wood indicates that "at the foot of a folio sheet containing Carey's song _Mocking is Catching_, published in 1726, the sixth edition of _A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling_ is advertised as having been lately published" (p. 442). Dr. Wood adds in a footnote that this song "appeared in _The Musical Century_ (1740) under the title _A Sorrowful Lamentation for the Loss of a Man and No Man_." Even more striking would seem to be the fact that although there are ninety-one entries in his _Poems_ (1729), Carey has placed the _Sorrowful Lamentation_ directly adjacent to _Namby Pamby_.