YANIEWICZ, violin player. See Janiewioz vol. ii. p. 30 b.

YANKEE DOODLE. The origin of the American national air is enveloped in almost as great obscurity as that which surrounds the authorship of ‘God save the King.’ Though the song is but little more than a century old, the number of different accounts of its origin which are given in American works is extremely bewildering. The most satisfactory course will therefore be to notice briefly the various existing statements on the subject, together with a few remarks on the credibility of the different theories.

1. It has been stated repeatedly in American periodicals during the past forty years that a ballad existed in England which was sung to the tune of ‘Yankee Doodle,’ the words of which ran—

and that another ballad sung to the same tune began ‘The Roundheads and the Cavaliers.’ Both these songs were said to date from the time of the Rebellion, and the ‘Nankee Doodle’ in the former is stated to have been a nickname for Cromwell, and to have alluded to his entry into Oxford ‘on a small horse with his single plume, which he wore fastened in a sort of knot, which the adherents of the royal party called “Macaroni” out of derision.’