Come all ye songsters of the sky, Wake and assemble in this wood; But no ill-boding bird be nigh, No, none but the harmless, and the good.
The Fairy Queen, an operatic adaptation of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream
Song Cycle by Henry Purcell (1658/9 - 1695)
7. Come all ye songsters  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Elkanah Settle (1648 - 1724)
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Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight13. Secresy's Song  [sung text checked 1 time]
One charming night Gives more delight Than a hundred lucky days: Night and I improve the taste, Make the pleasure longer last A thousand, thousand several ways.
Authorship:
- by Elkanah Settle (1648 - 1724)
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
23. When I have often heard young maids complaining  [sung text checked 1 time]
A Nymph: When I have often heard young Maids complaining, That when Men promise most they most deceive, The I thought none of them worthy of my gaining; And what they Swore, resolv'd ne're to believe. But when so humbly he made his Addresses, With Looks so soft, and with Language so kind, I thought it Sin to refuse his Caresses; Nature o'ercame, and I soon chang'd my Mind. Should he employ all his wit in deceiving, Stretch his Invention, and artfully feign; I find such Charms, such true Joy in believing, I'll have the Pleasure, let him have the Pain. If he proves Perjur'd, I shall not be Cheated, He may deceive himself, but never me; 'Tis what I look for, and shan't be defeated, For I'll be as false and inconstant as he. A Thousand Thousand ways we'll find To Entertain the Hours; No Two shall e're be known so kind, No Life so Blest as ours.
Authorship:
- by Elkanah Settle (1648 - 1724)
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Researcher for this page: Barry Kamil39bc. An Epithalamium  [sung text checked 1 time]
Thrice happy lovers, may you be For ever, ever free, From the tormenting devil, Jealousy. From all the anxious [Care]1 and Strife, That attends a married Life: Be to one another true, Kind to her as [she]2 to you. And since the Errors of this Night are past, May he be ever Constant, [she for ever Chast]3.
Authorship:
- by Elkanah Settle (1648 - 1724)
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Chant nuptial", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Epitalamio", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Purcell, Tippett: "cares"
2 Purcell, Tippett: "she's"
3 Purcell, Tippett: "she be ever chaste"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
40. The plaint  [sung text checked 1 time]
O, let me forever weep: My eyes no more shall welcome sleep. I'll hide me from the sight of day, And sigh my soul away. He's gone, his loss deplore, And I shall never see him more.
Authorship:
- by Elkanah Settle (1648 - 1724)
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La plainte", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
47. Hark! how all things  [sung text checked 1 time]
Hark! how all things in one sound rejoice. And the world seems to have one voice. Hark! how all things in one sound rejoice.
Authorship:
- by Elkanah Settle (1648 - 1724)
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Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight48. Hark! now the echoing Air  [sung text checked 1 time]
Hark! now the echoing air a triumph sings. And all around pleas'd Cupids clap their wings.
Authorship:
- by Elkanah Settle (1648 - 1724)
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Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight