CLAY, FREDERIC (1838-1889), English musical com poser, was the son of James Clay, M.P., the celebrated whist authority. Born in Paris, he studied music under W. B. Molique in that city and under Moritz Hauptmann at Leipzig. With the exception of a few songs and two cantatas, The Knights of the Cross (1866) and Lalla Rookh (187 7 ),—the latter of which contained his well-known song "I'll sing thee songs of Araby,"— his compositions were written for the stage, and have long since been forgotten. Two of them, Ages Ago (1869) and Princess Toto (1875) were written to libretti by W. S. Gilbert. Clay's last works, The Merry Duchess (1883) and The Golden Ring (1883) , showed an advance upon his previous work, and rendered all the more regrettable the stroke of paralysis which crippled him physically and mentally during the last few years of his life.