The Dargle
(Come Haste to the Wedding)
| TYPE | 3 - Complex Melody |
| TOPIC | Wedding |
| TUNE STRUCTURE | A8 B8 |
| VERSE STRUCTURE | 4v 4l + 4l ch |
| TIME SIGNATURE | 68 |
| KEY SIGNATURE | ♯♯ |
| TONAL CENTRE | D |
| INCIPIT | GEFGF'E'D'C'D'E'C'A |
| GENRE | Ballad |
| TEXT SOURCE | 'The Dargle (Come Haste to the Wedding)' [Dublin, c.1770] British Library G.808.f.(18.) |
| TUNE SOURCE | as above |
| FIRST LINE | Come haste to our wedding |
| NOTATED INCIPIT | |
| This tune is thought to be Irish in origin. The song’s first recorded performance is in a Dublin performance of the pantomime A Trip to the Dargle or the Irish Wedding (16 December 1762). The text only was then published in The court of Comus: A new collection of Three Hundred Songs, Medleys and Cantatas (Dublin, 1763), pp.192-3, where the tune was named as ‘Thurot at Carrickfergus’. It was later incorporated into a London performance of the pantomime The Elopement, or a Trip to the Dargle (1767). The tune was – and continues to be – popularly used at weddings. | |
 Come haste to our wedding.jpg)
The Dargle1.Come haste to our Wedding, ye Friends and ye Neighbours,the Lovers their bliss can no Longer delay forget all your sorrows your cares and your laboursand let every heart beat with Pleasure all day,Loves Votaries all attend to my CallCome revil in Raptures that Never can cloyCome ______ seeOur Felicity,Who all the Sweets of the DARGLE enjoy. .2.Let Envy, let Prise, let Hate and Ambition,Still rule uncontroul’d in the Breasts of the Great;To those turbulent Passions we give no Admission,But leave them alone to the Fools of the State,We boast of no Wealth,But Contentment and Health;In Mirth, Love and Friendship our Moments employCome ______ seeOur Felicity,Who all the Sweets of the DARGLE enjoy. 3.Yet Reason we mix with each innocent Pleasure,And temperately drink of the full flowing Bowl,Be Liberal _____ not Licentious our Measure,Least fatal Excess should o’erwhelm the free SoulThen fly at my bidding,To this happy Wedding,No Care shall intrude, our Bliss to annoy,Come ______ seeOur Felicity,Who all the Sweets of the DARGLE enjoy.