Now welcome, Night! thou night so long expected,
That long daies labour doest at last defray, 
And all my cares, which cruell Love collected,
Hast sumd in one, and cancelled for aye.
Spread thy broad wing over my Love and me,
That no man may us see; 
And in thy sable mantle us enwrap,
From feare of perrill and foule horror free.
Let no false treason seeke us to entrap,
Nor any dread disquiet once annoy
The safety of our ioy; 
But let the night be calme and quietsome,
Without tempestuous storms or sad afray;
Lyke as when Iove with fayre Alemena lay,
When he begot the great Tirynthian groome;
Or lyke as when he with thy selfe did lie, 
And begot Maiesty:
And let the mayds and yongmen cease to sing;
Ne let the woods them answer, nor theyr eccho ring.

R. Vaughan Williams sets lines 1-8

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume V, edited by Francis J. Child, London: Imprinted for William Ponsonbie, dwelling in Paules Churchyard at the Signe of the Bishops Head, 1591.

Modernized spelling used in Vaughan Williams's music:

Now welcome night! thou night so long expected,
That long day's labour dost at last defray,
And all my cares, which cruel love collected,
Hast summed in one, and cancellèd for aye:
Spread thy broad wing over my love and me,   
that no man may us see,
And in thy sable mantle us enwrap,
From fear of peril and foul horror free...

Authorship

• by Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599), no title, appears in Epithalamion, no. 18 [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)

[ None yet in the database ]

This text (or a part of it) is used in a work

• by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "The minstrel's song", 1957, published 1957 [ baritone, mixed chorus, orchestra ], from cantata Epithalamion, no. 9, London, Oxford University Press
  • Go to the full setting text.
    

Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Gustav Ringel

Text added to the website: 2020-01-11 00:00:00
Last modified: 2020-01-12 11:57:26
Line count: 19
Word count: 142