Can love be controlled by advice?

General information

Text by John Gay for wedding to an adapted air in the Beggar's Opera

Settings by composers (automatically updated)

• Samuel Webbe Jr. — Can love be controlled by advice?  English STB
• Johann Christoph Pepusch — Can love be controlled by advice?  English SSB, TTB, ATB

Text and translations

English text

Can love be controlled by advice,
Will Cupid our mothers obey?
Tho' my heart were as frozen as ice,
At his flame 'twould have melted away.
When he kissed me so closely he pressed,
'Twas so sweet that I must have complied;
So I thought it both safest and best
To marry for fear you should chide.