W Ed Harris

The Northumbrian composer and fiddler James Hill (who was born in Scotland) is sometimes credited as having composed the tune, apparently on the strength of one assignation to him in an older collection. However, it remains unclear if he is the author. Tom Paine's (1737-1809) book, The Rights of Man, was written to refute Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, and sold a phenomenol (for the time) 200,000 copies in England while causing a furor for its support of the revolution. Paine was burned in effigy on English village greens, and his book was consigned to the flames.