ht,
Array'd in robes of purest light,
Descends, th' auspicious rites to crown.
Her golden harp the goddess brings;
Its magic sound
Commands a sudden silence all around,
And strains prophetic thus attune the strings.

DUETTO

_First Voice_.-- The Swain his Nymph possessing,
_Second Voice_.-- The Nymph her swain caressing,
_First and Second_.-- Shall still improve the blessing,
For ever kind and true.
_Both_.-- While rolling years are flying,
Love, Hymen's lamp supplying,
With fuel never dying,
Shall still the flame renew.

To so great a master as yourself I have no need to suggest that the
peculiar tone of the composition demands sprightliness, occasionally
checked by tenderness, as in the second air,--

She smiles,--she yields,--she loves.

Again, you need not be told that each fifth line of the two first
recitatives requires a crescendo.

And your exquisite taste will prevent your falling into the error of
Purcell, who at a passage similar to _that_ in my first air,

Drops his bow, and stands to hear,

directed the first violin thus:--

Here the first violin must drop his _bow_.

But, besides the absurdity of disarming his principal performer of so
necessary an adjunct to his instrument, in such an emphatic part of the
composition too, which must have had a droll effect at the time, all
such minutiae of adaptation are at this time of day very properly
exploded, and Jackson of Exeter very fairly ranks them under the head of
puns.

Should you succeed in the setting of it, we propose having it performed
(we have one very tolerable second voice here, and Mr. Holmes, I dare
say, would supply the minor parts) at the Greyhound. But it must be a
secret to the young couple till we can get the band in readiness.

Believe me, dear Novello,

Yours truly,

C. LAMB.

Enfield, 6 Nov., '28.

[Mrs. Cowden Clarke remarks in her notes on this letter that the
references to Purcell and to Jackson of Exeter are inventions. For Mr.
Holmes see note above.

Here should come a letter from Lamb to Laman Blanchard, dated Enfield,
November 9, 1828, thanking him for a book and dedicati