My fairest child, I have no song to give you;
  No lark could [pipe in]1 skies so dull and gray;
[Yet, if you will, one quiet hint I'll leave]2 you,
  For [every]3 day.

I'll [tell]4 you how to sing a clearer carol
  Than lark [who]5 hails the dawn or breezy down;
To [earn]6 yourself a purer poet's laurel
  Than Shakespeare's crown.

Be good, sweet maid, and let who [can]7 be clever;
  Do [lovely]8 things, not dream them, all day long;
And so make Life, Death, and that vast For Ever
  One grand sweet song.

J. Paine sets stanzas 1, 3

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Frances Eliza Grenfell Kingsley, Charles Kingsley. His Letters and Memories of His Life. Edited by His Wife, H.S. King & Company, 1877, page 487. Note: C. E. G. is the author's niece, Charlotte Grenfell (later Mrs. Theodore Walrond). The second verse was left out by accident when the poem was first published.

¹ King: "sing 'neath"
² King: "But, if you will, a quiet hint I'll give"; Paine: "Yet e'er we part, one lesson I can leave"
³ King: "ev'ry"
⁴ King: "teach"
⁵ King: "that"
⁶ King: "win"
⁷ Paine: "will"
⁸ King, Paine: "noble"

Text Authorship:

• by Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875), "A Farewell: To C. E. G.", written 1856, appears in Andromeda and Other Poems, first published 1858 [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 Michael William Balfe (1808 - 1870), "My fairest child" [ unison chorus and piano ], London: Curwen [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles C. Bethune , "Farewell", published 1878 [ voice and piano ], London: Novello [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rossetter Gleason Cole (1866 - 1952), "A Farewell", published 1916 [ voice and piano ], Boston: Birchard, in the collection Junior Laurel Songs [sung text not yet checked]
• by Harvey Grace (1874 - 1944), "A Farewell", published 1912 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], London: Richards [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alfred Francis Hill (1870 - 1960), "My fairest child" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by (William Frances) Lawrence Kellie (1862 - 1932), "My fairest child", published 1892 [ voice and piano ], London: Cocks [sung text not yet checked]
• by Horatio C. King , "One grand sweet song", published 1918 [ voice and piano ], Boston: Ginn, in the collection The abridged academy song-book [sung text checked 1 time]
• by E. W. Klotschubey , "One grand sweet song", published 1929 [ voices and piano ], New York: Macm, in the collection Songs of Purpose [sung text not yet checked]
• by Samuel Liddle (1864? - 1951), "A Farewell", published 1907 [ voice and piano ], London: Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
• possibly by Thomas Mountain , "My fairest child", published 1882 [ voice and piano ], London: Novello ; composer given as T. Mountain [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Knowles Paine (1839 - 1906), "A Farewell", op. 40 (Four Songs) no. 2, published 1885, stanzas 1, 3 [ voice and piano ], Arthur P. Schmidt & Co., Boston [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Teresa del Riego (c1876 - 1968), "My gentle child", published 1897 [ voice and piano ], note: text slightly altered; London: Chappell [sung text not yet checked]
• by Sebastian Benson Schlesinger (1837 - 1917), "My fairest child", published 1889 [ voice and piano ], from An Album of Eight Songs, London: Stanley Lucas, Weber & Co. [sung text not yet checked]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2010-02-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 102