'Sestette and Chorus'

The Village Coquettes, An Operatic Burletta in Two Acts (1836). London: John Dicks. 

Internet Archive: Access to the Archive’s Collections is provided at no cost and is granted for scholarship and research purposes only (https://archive.org/about/terms.php).

Dickens, Charles. 'Sestette and Chorus.' The Village Coquettes (1836): pp. 10-11. Dickens Search. Eds. Emily Bell and Lydia Craig. Accessed [date]. https://dickenssearch.com/verse/1836-The_Village_Coquettes_Sestette_and_Chorus.

Young Benson. Turn him from the farm! From his home will you cast

The old man who has tilled it for years!

Ev’ry tree, ev’ry flower, is linked with the past,

And a friend of his childhood appears.

Turn him from the farm! O’er its grassy hillside,

A gay boy he once loved to range;

His boyhood has fled, and its dear friends are dead,

But these meadows have never known change.

Edmunds. Oppressor, hear me!

Lucy. On my knees I implore.

Squire. I command it, and you will obey.

Rose. Rise, dear Lucy, rise; you shall not kneel before

The tyrant who drives us away.

Squire. Your sorrows are useless, your prayers are in vain:

I command it, and you will begone.

I’ll hear no more.

Edmunds. No, they shall not beg again

Of a man whom I view with deep scorn.

Flam. Do not yield.

Young Benson - Squire - Lucy - Rose. Leave the farm!

Edmunds. Your pow’r I despise.

Squire. And your threats, boy, I disregard too.

Flam. Do not yield. 

Young Benson - Squire - Lucy - Rose. Leave the farm!

Rose. If he leaves it, he dies.

Edmunds. This base act, proud man, you shall rue.

Young Benson. Turn him from the farm! From his home will you cast,

The old man who has tilled it for years? 

Ev’ry tree, ev’ry flower, is linked with the past,

And a friend of his childhood appears!

Squire. Yes, yes, leave the farm! From his home I will cast

The old man who has tilled it for years;

Though each tree and flower, is linked with the past,

And a friend of his childhood appears.

Chorus.

He has turned from his farm! From his home he has cast

The old man who has tilled it for years;

Though each tree and flower is linked with the past,

And a friend of his childhood appears.