[Page 233]

A SONG.

1 O Nancy, wilt thou go with me,
2 Nor sigh to leave the flaunting town:
3 Can silent glens have charms for thee,
4 The lowly cot and russet gown?
5 No longer dress'd in silken sheen,
6 No longer deck'd with jewels rare,
7 Say can'st thou quit each courtly scene,
8 Where thou wert fairest of the fair?
9 O Nancy! when thou'rt far away,
10 Wilt thou not cast a wish behind?
11 Say canst thou face the parching ray,
12 Nor shrink before the wintry wind?
13 O can that soft and gentle mien
14 Extremes of hardship learn to bear,
15 Nor sad regret each courtly scene,
16 Where thou wert fairest of the fair?
[Page 234]
17 O Nancy! can'st thou love so true,
18 Thro' perils keen with me to go,
19 Or when thy swain mishap shall rue,
20 To share with him the pang of woe?
21 Say should disease or pain befal,
22 Wilt thou assume the nurse's care,
23 Nor wistful those gay scenes recall
24 Where thou wert fairest of the fair?
25 And when at last thy love shall die,
26 Wilt thou receive his parting breath?
27 Wilt thou repress each struggling sigh,
28 And clear with smiles the bed of death?
29 And wilt thou o'er his breathless clay
30 Strew flow'rs, and drop the tender tear,
31 Nor then regret those scenes so gay,
32 Where thou wert fairest of the fair?

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): A SONG.
Author: Thomas Percy
Themes: sex; relations between the sexes
Genres: song
References: DMI 27865

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Source edition

Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. VI. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 233-234. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.006) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)

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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.