[Page 134]

AN ODE ON ST. CAECILIA'S DAY,

Adapted to the antient British music, viz. the salt-box, the Jew's harp, the marrow-bones and cleavers, the hum-strum or hurdy-gurdy, &c. as it was performed on June 10, 1763, at Ranelagh.

BY BONNEL THORNTON, ESQ.
Cedite, Tibicines Itali, vos cedite, Galli;
Dico iterum vobis, cedite, Tibicines.
Cedite, Tibicines, vobis ter dico; quaterque
Jam vobis dico, cedite, Tibicines.
ALEX. HEINSIUS.

TRANSLATION OF THE MOTTO.

Yield, yield ye fidlers, French, Italians.
Yield, yield, I say again — Rascallions.
One, two, three times I say, fidlers give o'er;
Yield ye, I now say, times 1, 2, 3, 4.

PART I.

RECITATIVE Accompanied.
1 BE dumb, be dumb, ye inharmonious sounds,
2 And music, that the astonish'd with discord wounds:
3 No more let common rhymes prophane the day.
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GRAND CHORUS.
4 Grac'd with divine Caecilia's name;
5 Let solemn hymns this aweful feast proclaim,
6 And heavenly notes conspire to raise the heav'nly lay.
RECIT. Accompanied.
7 The meanor melody we scorn,
8 Which vulgar instruments afford;
9 Shrill flute, sharp fiddle, bellowing horn,
10 Rumbling bassoon, or tinkling harpsichord.
AIR.
11 In strains more exalted the salt-box shall join,
12 And clattering, and battering, and clapping combine,
13 With a rap and a tap while the hollow side sounds,
14 Up and down leaps the flap, and with rattling rebounds.
RECITATIVE.
15 Strike, strike the soft Judaic harp,
16 Soft and sharp,
17 By teeth coercive in firm durance kept,
18 And lightly by the volant finger swept.
AIR.
19 Buzzing twangs the iron lyre,
20 Shrilly thrilling,
21 Trembling, thrilling.
22 Whizzing with the wav'ring wire.
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A GRAND SYMPHONY.
Accompanied with marrow-bones and cleavers.
AIR.
23 Hark, how the banging marrow-bones
24 Make clanging cleavers ring,
25 With a ding dong, ding dong,
26 Ding dong, ding dong,
27 Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding.
28 Raise your uplifted arms on high;
29 In long-prolonged tones
30 Let cleavers sound
31 A merry merry round
32 By banging marrow-bones.
FULL CHORUS.
33 Hark, how the banging marrow-bones
34 Make clanging cleavers ring;
35 With a ding dong, ding dong,
36 Ding dong, ding dong,
37 Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding.
38 Raise your uplifted arms on high;
39 In long-prolonged tones
40 Let cleavers sound
41 A merry merry round
42 By banging marrow-bones.
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RECIT. Accompanied.
43 Cease lighter numbers: Hither bring
44 The undulating string
45 Stretch'd out, and to the tumid bladder
46 In amity harmonious bound;
47 Then deeper swell the notes and sadder,
48 And let the hoarse bass slowly solemn sound.
AIR.
49 With dead, dull, doleful, heavy hums,
50 With mournful moans,
51 And grievous groans,
52 The sober
* This instrument, by the learned, is sometimes called a hum strum.
hurdy-gurdy thrums.

PART II.

RECIT. Accompanied.
1 WITH magic sounds, like these, did Orpheus' lyre
2 Motion, sense, and life inspire;
3 When, as he play'd, the list'ning flood
4 Still'd its loquacious waves, and silent stood;
5 The trees swift-bounding danc'd with loosen'd stumps,
6 And sluggish stones caper'd in active jumps.
AIR.
7 Each ruddy-breasted robin
8 The concert bore a bob in,
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9 And ev'ry hooting owl around;
10 The croaking frogs,
11 The grunting hogs,
12 All, all conspir'd to raise th' enliv'ning found.
RECITATIVE.
13 Now to Caecilia, heav'nly maid,
14 Your loud united voices raise,
15 With solemn hymns to celebrate her praise,
16 Each instrument shall lend its aid.
17 The salt-box with clattering and clapping shall sound,
18 The iron lyre
19 Buzzing twang with wav'ring wire,
20 With heavy hum
21 The sober hurdy-gurdy thrum,
22 And the merry merry marrow-bones ring round.
LAST GRAND CHORUS.
23 Such matchless strains Caecilia knew,
24 When audience from their heav'nly sphere,
25 By harmony's strong pow'r, she drew,
26 Whilst list'ning angels gladly stoop'd to hear.

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Title (in Source Edition): AN ODE ON ST. CAECILIA'S DAY, Adapted to the antient British music, viz. the salt-box, the Jew's harp, the marrow-bones and cleavers, the hum-strum or hurdy-gurdy, &c. as it was performed on June 10, 1763, at Ranelagh.
Author: Bonnell Thornton
Themes: music
Genres: ode
References: DMI 31250

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Mendez, Moses. A collection of the most esteemed pieces of poetry: that have appeared for several years. With variety of originals, by the late Moses Mendez, Esq; and other contributors to Dodsley's collection. To which this is intended as a supplement. London: printed for Richardson and Urquhart, 1767, pp. 134-138. [8],320p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T124631; DMI 1073; OTA K099398.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 148].)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.