CANT AT A.

PASTORAL

SET BY DR. PEPUSCH.

RECITATIVE.

YOUNG Strephon, by his folded fheep,
Sat wakeful on the plains:

Love held his weary eyes from fleep,

While, filent in the vale,

The liftening nightingale,

Forgot her own, to hear his ftrains.
And now the beauteous Queen of Night,

Unclouded and ferene,

Sheds on the neighbouring fea her filver light; The neighbouring fea was calm and bright; 10 The shepherd fung infpir'd, and blefs'd the lovely fcen

AIR.

While the sky and feas are shining,
See, my Flora's charms they wear;
Secret Night, my joys divining,
Pleas'd my amorous tale to hear,
Smiles, and foftly turns her sphere.
While the sky and feas are shining,

See, my Flora's charms they wear.

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RECITATIVE.

Ah, foolish Strephon! change thy strain ;
The lovely scene false joy inspires:

For look, thou fond, deluded fwain,
A rising storm invades the main !
The planet of the night,
Inconftant, from thy fight
Behind a cloud retires.

Flora is fled; thou lov'ft in vain :

Ah, foolish Strephon! change thy strain.

AIR.

Hope beguiling,.

Like the moon and ocean fmiling,

Does thy eafy faith betray;

Flora ranging,

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FAI

AIR rival to the god of day,
Beauty, to thy cœleftial ray

A thousand sprightly fruits we owe ;
Gay wit, and moving eloquence,
And every art t' improve the fenfe,
And every grace that shines below.

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II. Not.

II.

Not Phoebus does our fongs infpire,
Nor did Cyllenius form the lyre,
'Tis thou art mufic's living fpring;
To thee the poet tunes his lays,
And, fweetly warbling Beauty's praise,
Describes the power that makes him fing.

III.

Painters from thee their skill derive,
By thee their works to ages live,
For ev❜n thy fhadows give furprife,
As when we view in crystal streams
The morning fun, and rifing beams,
That feem to shoot from other skies.
IV.

Enchanting vifion! who can be
Unmov'd that turns his eyes on thee?
Yet brighter ftill thy glories fhine,
And double charms thy power improve,
When Beauty, drefs'd in fmiles of love,
Grows, like its parent Heaven, divine!

MYRA,

LOVE frowns in beauteous Myra's eyes;

Ah, nymph! those cruel looks give o❜er.
While Love is frowning, Beauty dies,
And you can charm no more.

RECITATIVE.

Mark, how when fullen clouds appear,

And wintry storms deface the year,
The prudent cranes no longer stay,

But take the wing, and through the air,

From the cold region fly away,

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And far o'er land and feas to warmer climes repair. 10

Just fo, my heart-But fee-Ah no!

She fmiles-I will not, cannot go.

AIR.

Love and the Graces fmiling,
In Myra's eyes beguiling,

Again their charms recover.
Would you fecure your duty,
Let kindness aid your beauty,
Ye fair, to footh the lover.

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WAS at the royal feast, for Perfia won

"TWA

By Philip's warlike fon;

Aloft in awful ftate,

The godlike hero fate

On his imperial throne :

His valiant peers were plac'd around;

Their brows with rofes and with myrtles bound.

AIR.

Lovely Thais by his fide

Blooming fat in beauty's pride.

Happy, happy, happy pair!

None but the brave deserves the fair!

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II. REÇI