178
ENGLISH HUMOURISTS.
moment or two, the dark frenzies which obscured the lonely tyrant's brain, as he heard Gay's voice with its simple melody and artless ringing laughter.
What used to be said about Rubini, qu'il avait des larmes dans la voix, may be said of Gay,[1] and of one other humourist of whom we shall have to speak. In almost every ballad of his, however slight;[2] in the
- ↑ "Gay, like Goldsmith, had a musical talent. 'He could play on the flute,' says Malone, 'and was, therefore, enabled to adapt so happily some of the airs in the Beggar's Opera.' "—Notes to Spence.
- ↑ "T'was when the seas were roaring
With hollow blasts of wind,
A damsel lay deploring
All on a rock reclined.
Wide o'er the foaming billows
She cast a wistful look;
Her head was crown'd with willows
That trembled o'er the brook."'Twelve months are gone and over,
And nine long tedious days;
Why didst thou, veuturous lover,—
Why didst thon tmst the seas?
Cease, cease, thou cruel Ocean,
And let my lover rest;
Ah! what's thy troubled motion
To that within my breast?The merchant robb'd of pleasure,
Sees tempests in despair;
But what's the loss of treasure
To losing of my dear?
Should yon some coast be laid on,
Where gold and diamonds grow,
You'd find a richer maiden,
But none that loves you so.
