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

Yet no new [sufferings]2 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]3 one victim twice,
   [Both]4 think thee poor [and]5 cruel.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   H. Lawes 

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View original text (without footnotes)

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.

1 Lawes: "blind and"
2 Lawes: "suffering"
3 Lawes: "turn"
4 Lawes: "and"
5 Lawes: "or"

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