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Home  »  The Book of Elizabethan Verse  »  Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907.

Hymn to Pan

Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

1 Nymph.Of Pan we sing, the best of singers, Pan,

That taught us swains how first to tune out lays,

And on the pipe more airs than Phœbus can.

Chorus.Hear, O you groves, and hills resound his praise.

2 Nymph.Of Pan we sing, the best of leaders, Pan,

That leads the Naiads and the Dryads forth;

And to their dances more than Hermes can.

Chorus.Hear, O you groves, and hills resound his worth.

3 Nymph.Of Pan we sing, the best of hunters, Pan,

That drives the hart to seek unusèd ways,

And in the chase more than Silvanus can.

Chorus.Hear, O you groves, and hills resound his praise.

2 Nymph.Of Pan, we sing, the best of shepherds, Pan,

That keeps our flocks and us, and both leads forth

To better pastures than great Pales can.

Chorus.Hear, O you groves, and hills resound his worth.

And while his powers and praises thus we sing,

The valleys let rebound and all the rivers ring.