Pauvre Jacques

Abstract

This is a transcript of a manuscript song in one of Jane Austen's music books, digitised by the University of Southampton Library. No composer is given in the manuscript. Many arrangements of this tune are recorded in various indexes, in different keys. In some the tune is attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette and the words to the Marquise de Travenet (1753-1828), or vice versa. There is a French Wikipedia page for this song which gives details of the various theories and further references, and provides a date of 1789. It is supposed to have been inspired by the story of a Swiss dairy-maid employed by Marie Antoinette.