atrains, between Nancy and her
lover, whom she wishes to accompany on his voyage to the West Indies.
NANCY TILL, 4aabb and 4aabb, 4: A serenade by her lover "down in the
canebrakes close by the mill," urging her to be ready to go with him
"a-sailing on the Ohio."
[EPHRIAM AND LUCY], 4a3b4c3b and 4a3b4c3b, 4: The night before their
wedding-day, amid night-hawks, owls, and whippoorwills, "we danced by
the light of the moon."
2. SONGS OF LOVE INCONSTANT.
[SHE WAS HAPPY TILL SHE MET YOU], 4aa5b4cc5b4dd5e4ff5e and 4ababcc5b, 2:
A husband forsakes his wife; later, becoming repentant, he returns to
seek her at the house of her mother, who forbids him access to her.
[BEDROOM WINDOW], 4abcb, 5: The lover by night calls his sweetheart to
awake. She warns him away, saying that her father is armed to repulse
his presence. He vows to have her for his own. A suggestion of his
sinister motive closes the song.
I'LL HANG MY HARP ON A WILLOW TREE, ii, 4a3b4a3b4c3d4c3d, 3: A lover
voices his resolve to forsake the charms of his fickle mistress to court
a warrior's fate at the Saracen's hand on the field of Palestine.
THERE WAS A RICH OLD FARMER, ii, 3abcb, 9ca: The singer recites his
farewell to father and sweetheart to seek his fortune, and his faith in
her--until a letter arrives telling of her marriage to another man.
JACK AND JOE, 4a3b4b3c and 4a3b4b3c, 3ca: Both are sailors, away from
home. Jack, returning first, is commissioned by Joe to kiss his
sweetheart Nellie for him. When Joe returns, like Miles Standish, he
finds that Jack and she are married.
ALL ON THE BANKS OF CLAUDA, 3abcb, 10: By this stream the poet overhears
a maiden's complaint against her fickle Johnny. Like Oenone, she prays
the mountain to hear her, and implores Cupid to fire his heart anew.
THE AUXVILLE LOVE, 4aabb, 6: A merchant's daughter, "in Auxville town or
Delaware," love-lorn, gathers flowers, Ophelia-like, and dies under a
green pine on the mountain.
CUCKOO, ii, 4aabb, 5ca: A love-lorn maiden's warning to her sex not to
be deceived, as she, by false men in springtime when the cuckoo calls.
WE HAVE MET AND WE HAVE PARTED, ii, 4abcb and 4abcb, 5ca: A maiden's
scornful farewell to her fickle lover, as she returns him the presents
and letters he has sent her.
IF I HAD MINDED MAMMA, 3abcb and 3abcb, 6: A maiden's regret that she
has been deluded by a faithless lover:
He is like the blue-birds ever
That flies from tree
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