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THE NEGRO'S COMPLAINT.

GLEE for Four Voices.

FORCED from home, and all its pleasures,

Afric's coast I left forlorn;

To increase a stranger's treasures,

O'er the raging billows borne.

Men from England bought and sold me,
Paid my price in paltry gold;
But, tho' theirs they have enroll'd me,
Minds are never to be sold.

Still in thought are free as ever;

What are England's rights, I ask,

Me from my delights to sever,
Me to torture, me to task?

Woolly locks and black complexion,

Cannot alter Nature's claim;

Skins may differ, but affection

Dwells in white and black the same.

Why did all-creating nature,

Make the plant for which we toil; Tears must water, sighs must nurture, Blood of ours must till the soil.

J. DANBY.

Think ye, Master! iron-hearted,
Lolling at your jovial board;
Think how many blacks have smarted,
For the sweets your canes afford.

Is there, as you sometimes tell us,
Is there one that reigns on high;
Has he bid you buy and sell us,
Speaking from his throne, the sky.

He perceiving what vexations,
Afric's sons would undergo;
Fir'd the tyrants' habitations,

Where his whirlwinds answer no.

Deem us link'd with brutes no longer,
'Till some reasons you can find;
Worthier of regard, and stronger
Than the colour of our kind.

Slaves of gold, whose sordid dealings,
Tarnish all your boasted powers;
Prove that you have human feelings,
Ere ye proudly question ours.

Cowper.

GLEE for Three Voices.

FAIR Flora decks the flow'ry ground,

And plants the bloom of May, Whilst ev'ry hill, and ev'ry dale, Appears unusual gay.

The pretty warblers of the grove,
Assume their various notes;
Th' echoing woods responsive sound,
The music of their throats.

Lead on, my Celia, quit the town,
And banish ev'ry care ;
O haste, my Celia, haste away,

To breathe the rural air.

J. DANBY,

DUET-FAIR AURORA.

From Artaxerxes by Dr. ARNE.

FAIR Aurora prithee stay,

O retard unwelcome day ;

Think what anguish rends my breast,

Thus caressing and caress'd :

Forced at thy approach to part,

Think what anguish rends my heart.

Translated from Metastasio

by Dr. Arne.

MADRIGAL for Four Voices.

FORD.-1656.

FAIR, Sweet, cruel, why dost thou fly me ?

O go not from thy dearest,

Tho' thou dost hasten I am nigh thee;

When thou seem'st far, then I am nearest : Tarry then and take me with you.

Fie sweetest, here is no danger,
O fly not, love pursues thee;
I am no foe nor foreign stranger,

Thy scorn with fresher hope renews me :
Tarry then and take me with you.

GLEE for Four Voices.

Harmonized by S. HARRISON.

FAIR Ellen like a lilly grew,

Was beauty's favourite flower;

Till falsehood changed her lovely hue,

She wither'd in an hour.

Antonio in her virgin breast,

First rais'd a tender sigh;

His wish obtain'd, the lover blest,

Then left the maid to die.

T. Dibdin.

INVOCATION for Four Voices.

S. WESLEY.

FATHER of light and life! thou good supreme!

O teach me what is good.-Teach me thyself.
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice ;

From every low pursuit; and feed my soul

With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure: Sacred, substantial, never fading bliss.

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Thou thy worldly task hast done,

Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages:

Golden lads and lasses must,

All follow thee, and turn to dust.

No exorciser harm thee!

Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee! ·
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have,
And renowned be thy grave.

Shakspeare's Cymbeline.

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