'I think it is best to keep out of the way': The Benbow Ballads Lying Low at Longleat.

Admiral John Benbow's eventful naval career ended in 1702, following a courageous and much celebrated sea-fight against a French squadron in Caribbean waters, which led to his death. Due to a well-publicized trial of the admiral's seditious captains, Richard Kirkby and Cooper Wade, the episode became firmly established in the English public imagination and the tale was told and retold in song. Biographers of Benbow often encourage the idea that popular Benbow ballads were first sung immediately after his death in 1702, though well-known examples from today have only been traced in hard copy to the late eighteenth century. However, a rare publication has recently come to light at Longleat House, Wiltshire, which contains two examples of Benbow ballads printed at the time of his death, independent of the later documented ballads. Together, they reflect contemporary interest in the actions of captains Kirkby and Wade, as well as Benbow's bravery. This article, which includes a complete transcription of the ballad texts, aims to anchor the tradition of the Benbow ballad firmly in the earliest period following his death, to an extent that has not been possible before. It raises the question what other examples may have once existed, or are still to be discovered in as yet uncatalogued collections of street literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]