The works of many important authors were set to music. Burns, Byron, Scott, Tennyson and Shakespeare are widely represented among the English authors. There are several songs with words by Charles Dickens and some items suggested by passages in Dickens' works. "The Boz Waltzes" and "The Boz Quadrilles" were played at the ball given for Dickens at the Park Theatre, New York, during his first U.S. visit in 1842. The songs in the collection were printed in this country and composed, largely, by American musicians. Lyrics were written by various American authors from Aldrich to Whittier. The American authors whose poems were most widely set to music were Longfellow and Whittier. Of great rarity is a set of 6 songs to the poetry of Bret Harte. There are 13 songs from a musical comedy with lyrics by O. Henry, probably his only venture into this field.