Little John And The Giants :: :: University of Virginia Library

Little John And The Giants

A Dramatic Opera

Brooke, Henry (1703?-1783)

LITTLE JOHN AND THE GIANTS:

SCENE III.

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SCENE III.

A Lawn.
Jillian Justice, seated as Queen of May, and crowned with flowers; her Nurse attending with her balance and sword; Shepherd and Shepherdesses alternately ranged on either hand, the lower Shepherds and Shepherdesses advance strewing flowers.
1st Shep.
Prepare—and, where our Queen shall tread,
All nature's flowery carpet spread!

2d Shep.
Pansy, and Rose, and Asphodel,
Daughters of every dale and dell.

3d Shep.
Not the forced growth of garden plots,
Of reeking beds, and artful knots—

4th Shep.
But such as willing sweetness yield,
Flowers of the spontaneous field!

1st Shep.
Jillian, fairest Queen, advance!
Lead the happy hours in dance.

2d Shep.
In your scales our seasons weigh,
And make our every month a May!

Jillian advances, while a Shepherd and Shepherdess sing alternately on either hand.

AIR XII.

Tune. “I have sixpence under my thumb.”

I.

How sweet the melodious birds that sing!
How sweet the treasure the zephyrs bring,
Light wafted from each odoriferous wing,
That winnows the breast of flowery spring!

CHORUS.
How sweet, &c.

II.

How sweet the showers with balm replete!
The fawns that frolick, and lambs that bleat!
But O, above all, though all should meet,
Our Jilly, our Queen of sweets, is sweet!

CHORUS.
How sweet the showers, &c.

Jill.
Thanks, gentle friends!—enjoy your happy state,
Below the envy of the Small, above the griefs that rack the Great.
For what's the pomp of courts, but irksome din?
Without, all glitter; but all gloom, within—
Their broadest pride, but folly more display'd;
Their state but guilt, on care-press'd purple laid!
'Tis here that Nature to true bliss invites,
And sweetens toil beyond all town delights.
In every rural stream pure pleasure flows,
Buds in the trees, and in the blossom glows;
Thrills every sense; and more than sense refined,
Enters in peace, and sinks upon the mind.

AIR XIII.

Tune. “To you fair Ladies on the Land.”

I.

Jill.
The world, a faithless ocean! tost
By passion's stormy wind,
Is spread with spoils of thousands lost,
The wreck of humankind;
Where all the freight their vessels bear,
Is but a wilful weight of care!—
With a fal, tal, &c.

CHORUS.
Where all the freight, &c.

II.

For what can Reason's feeble hand,
Before the helm perform,
Where he can spy nor port, nor land,
To scape from stress or storm—
Where Hope, amid the raging main,
His anchor casts—but casts in vain?—
With a fal, tal, &c.

CHORUS.
Where hope, &c.

III.

O turn, misguided wight, return,
To us who smile on shore;
To us, who yet your errors mourn,
Your safety who implore!
Your forfeit peace with us renew,
Who shed no tears—except for you!—
With a fal, tal, &c.

CHORUS.
Your forfeit peace, &c.

Jill.
The bustling world a deal of wisdom vaunts;
Yet few their wishes know, and none their wants:

And lest those wants or wishes should abate,
Invention labours hard new wants and wishes to create.

AIR XIV.

Tune. “Twang dillo dee.”

I.

Jill.
But we to Nature who adhere, nor further bliss require;
To lop the root of all our care, we lop our vain desire.
Twang dillo dee.

CHORUS.
To lop the root, &c.

II.

We ask no cynic law, nor saw, nor scrolls of bearded men;
For Nature's the most learned book, that Innocence can ken.
Twang dillo dee.

CHORUS.
For Nature's the, &c.

III.

To baffle want, and sweeten toil, from debt and danger free,
We learn instruction from the ant, and the industrious bee.
Twang dillo dee.

CHORUS.
We learn, &c.

IV.

From dogs we learn unfailing faith, affection from the dove;
And from the hen that guards her chick, a parent's circling love.
Tang dillo dee.

CHORUS.
And from the hen, &c.

V.

And last, we to All bounteous Heaven our daily tribute yield,
Taught by the fragrant incense breathed from every grateful field.
Twang dillo dee.

CHORUS.
Taught by the fragrant, &c.

Jill.

Now every maid to every lover dear,
And every lover kind and true, draw near!
Give me the beam that shall their fates decide,
And poize in equal scale the future groom and bride.
[Jillian takes the Scales.
Your favours! come—
[And weighs the Favours.
Here Will and Nan, you see,
In gifts and graces to a hair agree.
Hodge here is old, but wise; and Nell, his bride,
Young, fair, and vain, and greatly wants a guide:
The beam, observe, hangs fair!—
Did fortune weigh, Hob's favours would prevail;
But Doll, by nature rich, makes light her lover's scale:
Her choice is free!—
Moll is cross-shaped, and Tom a comely youth;
But Moll is beautified by love and truth:
Thomas discern, and well respect your bride;
The beam, observe, turns wholly to her side!—

Happy couples, hand in hand,
Bind the soft, the sacred band!
Long and silken be the thread,
The fates shall spin the hour you wed!
Be the flame as chaste as bright,
That shall your nuptial taper light;
And may each sun's returning ray,
Awake you to a joyful day!

AIR XV.

Tune. “You Commons and Peers.”
Jill.

I.

The time to beguile,
Now listen a while,
And I'll shew you an excellent plot;
How husband and wife,
Through the crosses of life,
May be held by the true lover's knot.

II.

As mortals are frail,
Let indulgence prevail,
And all mutual infirmities blot;
Let the husband atone
His wife's faults by his own,
And I'll vouch for the true lover's knot.

III.

My Dolly so bright,
Should your Hob, over night,
Be surprised by his pipe or his pot;
Let him sleep his dose out,
Nor by scolding and pout,
Strive to loosen the true lover's knot.

IV.

When your wives they grow grey,
And their graces decay,

Of all mortal beauty the lot;
Remember their youth,
And, by friendship and truth,
Make eternal the true lover's knot!