by Thomas Stanley (1625 - 1678)

O turn away those cruel eyes
Language: English 
O turn away those cruel eyes,
   The stars of my undoing! 
Or death, in such a bright disguise,
   May tempt a second wooing.

Punish their blindly impious pride,
   Who dare contemn thy glory! 
It was my fall that deified
   Thy name, and seal’d thy story.

Yet no new sufferings can prepare
   A higher praise to crown thee; 
Though my first death proclaim thee fair,
   My second will unthrone thee.

Lovers will doubt thou canst entice
   No other for thy fuel, 
And if thou burn one victim twice,
   Both think thee poor and cruel.

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•   H. Lawes 

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Confirmed with Thomas Stanley: his original lyrics, complete, in their collated readings of 1647, 1651, 1657 by Thomas Stanley, edited by Louise Imogen Guiney, J R Tutin, Hull 1907. Page 102.


Text Authorship:

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

  • by John Gamble (d. 1687), no title, published 1657 [ voice and bass continuo ], from Ayres and dialogues, no. 51, Confirmed with Ayres and dialogues (to be sung to the theorbo-lute or bass-viol) by John Gamble. Printed by W. Godbid for Humphry Mosley at the Princes-Arms In St. Paul's Church-yard, London 1657.
        Score: IMSLP [external link]  [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Henry Lawes (c1595 - 1662), "He would not be tempted", published 1655 [ voice and continuo ], from The Second Book of Ayres, and Dialogues, no. 6, Confirmed with The Second Book of Ayres and Dialogues, for One, Two, and Three, by Henry Lawes , John Playford, London 1655, Page 7. [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2021-12-27
Line count: 16
Word count: 98