[Page 323]

PARAPHRASE upon a FRENCH SONG.

By the late WILLIAM SOMERVILE, Esq;
Venge moy d'une ingrate maitresse,
Dieu du vin, j'implore bon yvresse.
1 KIND relief in all my pain,
2 Jolly Bacchus! hear my pray'r,
3 Vengeance on th' ingrateful fair!
4 In thy smiling cordial bowl,
5 Drown the sorrows of my soul,
6 All thy deity employ,
7 Gild each gloomy thought with joy,
[Page 324]
8 Jolly Bacchus! save, oh save
9 From the deep devouring grave,
10 A poor, despairing, dying swain.
11 Haste away,
12 Haste away,
13 Lash thy tigers do not stay,
14 I'm undone if thou delay.
15 If I view those eyes once more,
16 Still shall love, and still adore,
17 And be more wretched than before.
18 See the glory round her face!
19 See her move!
20 With what a grace!
21 Ye Gods above!
22 Is she not one of your immortal race?
23 Fly, ye winged Cupids, fly,
24 Dart like light'ning thro' the sky:
25 You'd ye in marble temples dwell,
26 The dear one to my arms compel;
27 Bring her in bands of myrtle tied,
28 Bid her forget, and bid her hide
29 All her scorn and all her pride.
30 Wou'd ye that your slave repay
31 A smoaking hecatomb each day,
32 O restore,
33 The beauteous Goddess I adore,
34 O restore, with all her charms,
35 The faithless vagrant to my arms.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): PARAPHRASE upon a FRENCH SONG.
Author: William Somervile
Themes: grief; sadness; melancholy; death
Genres: song; imitation; translation; paraphrase
References: DMI 27782

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Source edition

Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. V. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 323-324. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.005) (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.

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