Annotation:Lovely Nymph

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LOVELY NYMPH. AKA - "Lovely nymph asswage my anguish." Scottish, Air. G Major. The air was a celebrated composition of James Oswald and was introduced in Kane O'Hara's burletta Midas (1764), sung by the character of Apollo. Stenhouse (in his note on "Braes of Ballenten") opines: "Had [Oswald] composed nothing else but The Braes of Ballenden, and the air to Lovely Nymph,...his name would live as long as a relish existed for genuine Scottish melody...". Confusingly, a little later he writes: "The air, "Lovely Nymph," is generally attributed to the celebrated J.J. Rosseau, as well as the of "Pray Goody, please to moderate," another song in the burletta of Midas, written by Mr. Kane O'Hara, and acted at Covent Garden in 1764." The lyric begins:

Lovely nymph assuage my anguish,
At your feet a tender swain
Prays you will not let him languish;
One kind look wou'd ease his pain.

Did you know the lad that courts
You, he not long need sue in vain;
Prince of song, of dance, of sports,
You scarce will meet his like again.

The air was very popular and often reproduced in songsters and collections in the latter 18th century. It also appears in a number of musicians' manuscript copybooks of the era.

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