The third scene opens with a stage direction—“Solemn music is heard at a distance. It comes nearer in full symphony: after which a single trumpet sounds a high and awakening air. Then the following stanzas are sung by two aerial spirits unseen:
“Hear, Alfred, father of the state
Thy genius heaven’s high will declare!
What proves the hero truly great,
Is never, never to despair:
Thy hope awake, thy heart expand
With all its vigour, all its fires.
Arise! and save a sinking land—
Thy country calls, and heaven inspires.”
If Arne composed music for the above, it was never published.
The next air is sung by Eltruda, the Queen, represented by Mrs. Horton. It was sung off the stage, and according to Arne’s score was accompanied by harpsichord and flute, the latter instrument echoing the voice-part. The libretto has two verses, but only the following was performed:
Sweet valley, say, where, pensive lying,
For me, our children, England, sighing,
The best of mortals leans his head.
Ye fountains, dimpled by my sorrow,
Ye brooks that my complainings borrow,
O lead me to his lonely bed:
Or if my lover,
Deep woods, you cover,
Ah, whisper where your shadows o’er him spread!
In the third scene, second Act, after a dialogue between Alfred, Eltruda and the Hermit, the latter summons the “Genius of England.” Then the stage direction is “Music grand and awful. The Genius descending sings the following song”:
From these eternal regions bright,
Where suns, that never set in night,
Diffuse the golden day:
Where spring unfading pours around,
O’er all the dew-impearled ground,
Her thousand colors gay:
O whether on the fountain’s flowery side,
Whence living waters glide,
Or in the fragrant grove
Whose shade embosoms peace and love,
New pleasures all your hours employ,
And rapture every sense with every joy!
Great heirs of empire! yet unborn,
Who shall this island late adorn;
A monarch’s drooping thought to chear,
Appear! Appear! Appear!
Possibly this song may have been omitted at the performance. Music for it cannot be found. The spirits of Edward the Third, Philipa his Queen, and their son the Black Prince, arise together; afterwards Queen Elizabeth, succeeded by William the Third—all are described by the Hermit. The next scene opens with a “Symphony of Martial music.” The last scene affords an opportunity for Emma, the Shepherd’s wife, represented by Kitty Clive, to sing a bright and sprightly melody, accompanied by the string orchestra in gavotte time to the following words:
If those, who live in Shepherd’s bower,
Press not the rich and stately bed:
The new-mown hay and breathing flower
A softer couch beneath them spread.
If those, who sit at Shepherd’s board,
Soothe not their taste by wanton art:
They take what Nature’s gifts afford,
And take it with a chearful heart.
If those, who drain the Shepherd’s bowl,
No high and sparkling wines can boast,
With wholesome cups they chear the soul,
And crown them with the village toast.
If those who join in Shepherd’s sport,
Gay-dancing on the daizy’d ground.
Have not the splendor of a court;
Yet Love adorns the merry round.