Music and Friends: Or, Pleasant Recollections of a Dilettante

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

64-66

text excerpt

 On entering the drawing- room, I expressed my regret that I had not heard the song just concluded, and hoped for a repetition. It was an old ballad, which I had heard once before : —

'Say, have you in the village seen A lonely youth, of pensive mien? If such a one hath passed by, With melancholy in his eye, Where is he gone ? Ah, tell me where! Tis Allan Brook, of Windermere.'

It was sung by Miss Jane. Her pensive look, and the soft accents of her voice, enchanted me. The spell, however, was suddenly broken by the wine- drinkers bursting into the room. They had listened to the song, and begged to hear it again. The Captain, however, with good taste, called upon his daughter to sing him his favourite : —

"In the world's crooked path where I've been, There to share of life's gloom my poor part, The bright sunshine that softened the scene Was a smile from the girl of my heart."

This was loudly applauded.I had crept into a corner during this interval, when my fair one asked me to sing. I was aware that nothing tender or sentimental would please at this moment, and I hit upon the convivial strain which Purcel sang to Charles the Second [...] The merriment was silenced by a flash of lightning, and the large drops of rain drove the ladies from the verandah.

excerpt from 'Music and Friends: Or, Pleasant Recollections of a Dilettante' pp. 64-66 (236 words)

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