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REIGNS OF JAMES I. AND CHARLES I. 373 |
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jEneas, wandering prince of Troy,
When he for land long time had sought,
At length arriving with great joy,
To mighty Carthage walls was brought;
Where' Dido queen, with sumptuous feast,
Did entertain that wandering guest.
And, as in hall at meat they sate, The queen, desirous news to hear,
Says, ' Of thy Troy's unhappy fate Declare to me, thou Trojan dear :
The heavy hap and chance so bad,
That thou, poor wandering prince, hast had.'
And then anon this comely knight, With words demure, as he could well,
Of his unhappy ten years' fight, So true a tale began to tell,
With words so sweet, and sighs so deep,
That oft he made them all to weep.
And then a thousand sighs he fet, And every sigh brought tears amain;
That where he sate the place was wet, As though he had seen those wars again:
So that the queen, with ruth therefore,
Said, worthy prince, enough, no more.
And then the darksome night drew on, And twinkling stars the sky bespread;
When he his doleful tale had done, And every one was laid in bed :
Where they full sweetly took their rest,
Save only Dido's boiling breast. |
This silly woman never slept,
But in her chamber, all alone, As one unhappy, always wept,
And to the walls she made her moan ; That she _shouI J still desire in vain The thing she never must obtain.
And thus in grief she spent the night, Till twinkling stars the sky were fled,
And Phoebus, with his glistering light, Through misty clouds appeared red;
Then tidings came to her anon,
That all the Trojan ships were gone.
And then the queen, with bloody knife, Did arm her heart as hard as stone,
Yet, something loth to loose her life, In woful wise she made her moan ;
And, rolling on her careful bed,
With sighs and sobs these words she said :
O wretched Dido, queen! quoth she, I see thy end approacheth near;
For he is fled away from thee,
Whom thou didst love and hold so dear:
What! is he gone, and passed by?
O heart, prepare thyself to die.
Though reason says, thou shouldst forbear, And stay thy hand from bloody stroke,
Yet fancy bids thee not to fear,
Which fetter'd thee in Cupid's yoke.
Come death, quoth she, resolve thy smart!
And with those words she pierced her heart. |
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REMEMBER, O THOU MAK.
This Christmas Carol is the last of the " Country Pastimes " in " Melismata: Musicall Phansies fitting the Court, Citie, and Countrey Humours," edited by Ravenscroft, 4to., 1611. It is paraphrased in " Ane compendious booke of Godly and Spirituall Songs.. with sundrie.. ballates changed out of prophaino Sanges," fee, printed by Andre- Hart, in Edinburgh, in 1621.
" Remember, man, remember, man, And hes done for thee what I can,
That I thy saull from Sathan wan, Thow art full deir to me," &c.
Scottish Poems of the Sixteenth Century, ii. 188, 1801.
From Melismata the carol was copied into Forbes' Cantus, and taught in the Music School at Aberdeen. Some years ago, the latter work was sold for a comparatively high price at public auctions in London (about 10?.), and chiefly on the reputation of containing, in this carol, the original of Grod save the King. The report originated with Mr. Pinkerton, who asserted in his Recollections of Paris, ii. 4, that " the supposed national air is a mere transcript of a Scottish Anthem " contained in a collection printed in 1682. Forbes' Cantus is comparatively useless to a musician, since it contains only the "cantus," or treble voice |
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