The New Broom

Reverend Mr Cayley

How more than blithe am I to see
My Phoebe’s kind regard for me;
More grateful sweets thy accents bring
Than gentle gales, that breathe the spring.
With joy I recollect each day
We spent between or flocks and play;
For thee how pleasing was my toil!
All pain was lost in Phoebe’s smile.

Chorus

A Cowden-Knows! may your dear broom
In everlasting beauty bloom;
I first beheld my charmer there,
And found my Phoebe kind as fair.

2

I grac’d my songs with Phoebe’s name,
My dear, dear love was still the theme;
Surely my pipe I’d broke in twain
Had it deny’d its tend’rest strain;
But not my pipes melodious sound
Could draw the flocks in wonder round;
They gaz’d thy beauties o’er and o’er;
They nought had seen so fair before

O Cowden-Knows! &c.

3

If Phoebe, slighting splendid views,
Could nothing to her swain refuse,
Can Colin, grateful Colin, be
Content with any nymph but thee.
Tho’ I did all the world possess
I ne’er could love my Phoebe less;
Had I a thousand worlds, and more,
I without Phoebe still were poor.

O Cowden-Knows! &c.

4

Our loves, so long involv’d in night,
Shall make each future sun more bright;
And thoughts of past distress and fear
The best of blessings now endear.
Thy cruel parents, who convey’d
From Colin far his weeping maid,
To my fond arms my nymph return,
And Phoebe now no more shall mourn.

O Cowden-Knows! &c.

5

Thy griefs to me were not unknown;
I felt thy anguish in my own,
And flew thy sorrows to remove,
Rejoicing flew, on wings of love.
Kind heav’n, that saw thy chaste desires,
And crowns the goodness it inspires,
At last has given me wealth in store,
And Phoebe now to part no more.

Chorus

O Cowden-Knows! may your dear broom
In everlasting beauty bloom,
He: I first behold my charmer there,
She: I first beheld my shepherd there
He: And found my Phoebe kind and fair.
She: And found the cure of all my care