Ponder on love, sweet soul,
On joy,—the end—the goal
Of all endeavour!
But if earth’s pains will rise
(As damps will seek the skies)
Then, Night, seal thou mine eyes
In sleep for ever!
The ‘Serenade’ is too long and laboured for an evensong in the open air; and the sameness of the accompaniment, running on in one unvarying stream through three verses, becomes at last rather fatiguing.
The fourth, ‘The Night,’ opens with a sweet and gentle melody; the changes of time, however, are too frequent for a song, though, as well as the declamatory parts, they would be proper enough in a cantata. The whole of this appears the result of study. In truth the words are difficult to set.
No. 5, ‘The Evening Star,’ presents no feature at all remarkable. The accentuation of this is free from all reproach.