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by Thomas d'Urfey (1653 - 1723)

As soon as the chaos
Language: English 
As soon as the chaos was turn'd into Form,
And the first Race of Men knew a good from a harm,
		 They quickly did joyn,
		 In a knowledge Divine,
That the chiefest of Blessings were Women and Wine;
Since when by example Improving Delights,
Wine Governs our Days, Love and Beauty our Nights.
		 Then Love on and Drink,
		 'Tis a Folly to think
	 Of a Mystery out of our reaches;
		 Be moral in Thought
		 To be Merry's no Fault,
	 Tho' an Elder the contrary Preaches.
For never, my Friends, was an Age of more Vice,
Than when Knaves would seem Pious, and Fools would seem Wise.

Text Authorship:

  • by Thomas d'Urfey (1653 - 1723) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Henry Purcell (1658/9 - 1695), "As soon as the chaos", Z. 602 no. 1, from the incidental music to The Marriage-hater Match'd, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 106

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