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by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647 - 1680)

My dear mistress has a heart
Language: English 
My dear mistress has a heart
Soft as those kind looks she gave me, 
When with love's resistless art,
And her eyes, she did enslave me.

But her constancy's so weak,
She's so wild, and apt to wander, 
That my jealous heart would break
Should we live one day asunder.

Melting joys about her move,
Killing pleasures, wounding blisses;
She can dress her eyes in love,
And her lips can arm with kisses.

Angels listen when she speaks;
She's my delight, all mankind's wonder;
But my jealous heart would break,
Should we live one day asunder.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   R. Quilter 

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Text Authorship:

  • by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647 - 1680), "Song" [author's text checked 1 time 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 Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "The jealous lover", op. 28 no. 1 (1923), published 1923 [high voice and piano], from Five Jacobean Lyrics, no. 1, London, Boosey ; note: uses modernized spelling [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: David K. Smythe

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 96

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