Covent Garden - A notorious area of London for meeting the ladies of Ehem "Negotiatable Pleasure".

At the resk of sounding philistine, and no disparaging the fine research done by others, all this proves is that this basic tune and theme spread wildley, I would guess in the packs of the Redcoats.

With regard to Captain ___ & Captain Townsend if this form of words was in printed form it may well be that this was refering to two noted rakes of the time. I can only asumne that Captain ____ may have had sufficiebt money or Political Clout not to risk and action for libel or sedition.

Another point - If it can be dated to the 1820/30s - and thats only 5/15 years after Waterloo The title Captain would not only apply to the Royal Navey, and The regular Army, it would also apply to the militia, and fensibles, and the Merchant Marine, and those Officers or NCO's who took commisions in other foriegn Armies, such as the Portugease.

Just dome thoughts

Gareth