Hunting and drinking (James Hook)

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(Posted 2023-10-04) CPDL #76019:

Editor: Christopher Shaw (submitted 2023-10-04). Score information: A4, 8 pages, 1.04 MB Copyright: CC BY SA

Edition notes: Please click on the link for preview/playback/PDF download. The keyboard part is an editorial condensation of the orchestral parts, and the song may be performed with this accompaniment alone.

General Information

Title: Hunting and drinking
Composer: James Hook
Lyricist: Anonymous
Number of voices: 1v Voicing: solo low
Genre: Secular, Aria

Language: English
Instruments: Mixed ensemble

First published:
Description: Written for performance at Vauxhall; Charles Taylor was the first singer.

External websites:

Original text and translations

English text

Let philosophers boast of their wisdom profound,
And statesmen on kingdoms debate,
Let fashion's gay vot'ries pursue Folly's round,
And pedants on gravity prate:
But far wiser the man who, quite free from vain strife,
Ne'er loses his time in dry thinking,
But in jovial contentment devotes his whole life
To the pleasure of hunting and drinking.

Wine ennobles the mind and subdues ev'ry care,
While the chase ruddy vigour supplies:
Thus good liquor, assisted by sweet wholesome air,
Each sorrow, each sickness defies.
Then come, joyous hearts, push about the brisk bowl,
And ne'er from your glass be caught shrinking;
For of all the delights that enrapture the soul,
Sure, none are like hunting and drinking.

When the mellow-tongu'd hound, and the huntsman's shrill horn,
To the field's glorious pastimes invite,
Like sons of great Nimrod, we enjoy the fresh morn,
And like sons of gay Bacchus the night.
Then hark forward, brave fellows, and nobly disdain
E'er under dull gloom to be sinking;
But banish rude sorrow, forget ev'ry pain,
In the transports of hunting and drinking.