by William Fuller, Dr., Lord-Bishop of Lincoln (1608 - 1675)
In the black dismal dungeon of despair
Language: English
In the black dismal dungeon of despair, Pined with tormenting care, Wracked with my fears, Drowned in my tears, With dreadful expectation of my doom And certain horrid judgement soon to come: Lord, here I lie, Lost to all hope of Liberty, Hence never to remove, But by a miracle of love, Which I scarce hope for or expect, Being guilty of so long, so great neglect. Fool that I was, worthy a sharper rod, To slight thy courting, O my God. For thou didst woo, entreat and grieve, Didst beg me to be happy and to live; But I would not; I chose to dwell With death, far from thee, too near to hell: But is there no redemption, no relief? Thou savedst a Magdalen, a thief - O Jesu! Thy mercy, Lord, once more advance; O give me such a glance As Peter had! Thy sweet, kind, chiding look Will change my heart, as it did melt that Rock. Look on me, sweet Jesu, as thou didst on him! 'Tis more than to create, thus to redeem.
Authorship:
- by William Fuller, Dr., Lord-Bishop of Lincoln (1608 - 1675) [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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "In the black dismal dungeon of despair", note: this is a realization of a Purcell song.  [sung text checked 1 time]
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "In the black dismal dungeon of despair", 1960 [ voice and piano ], a realization of the Purcell song. Confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Henry Purcell (1658/9 - 1695), "In the black dismal dungeon of despair", Z. 190, published 1688 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 26
Word count: 179