Stephen Storace
(1762 - 1796)

Storace : Ye shepherds so cheerful and gay : illustration

Ye shepherds so cheerful and gay
(Song)
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Pub. c.1782 in Storace's Eight Canzonets. The accompaniment is for piano or harp.
Lyrics: William Shenstone

Ye shepherds, so cheerful and gay,
Whose flocks never carelessly roam;
Should Corydon's happen to stray,
Oh, call the poor wanderers home.
Allow me to muse and to sigh
Nor talk of the change that ye find;
None once was so watchful as I:
I've left my dear Phyllis behind.

But why do I languish in vain,
Why wander thus pensively here?
Oh! why did I come from the plain,
Where I fed on the smiles of my dear?
They tell me my favourite maid,
The pride of the valley is flown:
Alas! where with her I have stray'd,
I could wander with pleasure alone.

When forced the fair nymph to forego,
What anguish I felt at my heart!
Yet I thought, but it might not be so,
'Twas with pain that she saw me depart.
She gazed as I slowly withdrew,
My path I could hardly discern;
So sweetly she bade me adieu,
I thought that she bade me return.