Annotation:When first I laid siege to my Chloris

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WHEN FIRST I LAID SIEGE TO MY CHLORIS. English, Air. The words to the original song were written by Sir Charles Sedley for his comedy Bellamira (1687), and equates the course of a man's seduction of a woman with laying siege to a fortress. The air was published by Thomas D'Urfey in Pills to Purge Melancholy, vol. VI (1720), and also appears in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1729, Air XXV), as the vehicle for the song "At the tree I shall suffer with pleasure." This version of Sedley's song appeared in The Weekly Amusement; or, The Universal Magazine (1735):

When first I laid siege to my Chloris,
Cannon-oaths I brought down,
To batter the town,
And I storm'd her with amorous stories,

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 58.

Recorded sources:

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