Personal Choice 89

Robin Adair

What's this dull town to me?

Robin's not near:

What was't I wish'd to see?

What wish'd to hear?

Where's all the joy and mirth,

Made this town a heaven on earth?

Oh! they're all fled with thee,

Robin Adair.

Long I ne'er saw thee, love,

Robin Adair;

Still I prayed for thee, love,

Robin Adair;

When thou wert far at sea,

Many made love to me,

But still I thought on thee,

Robin Adair!

Welcome on shore again,

Robin Adair!

Welcome once more again,

Robin Adair!

I feel thy trembling hand;

Tears in thy eyelids stand,

To greet thy native land,

Robin Adair!

Come to my heart again,

Robin Adair;

Never to part again,

Robin Adair;

And if thou still art true,

I will be constant too,

And will wed none but you,

Robin Adair

Caroline Keppel

Robin Adair is a traditional Irish song with lyrics written by Lady Caroline Keppel. It was popular in the 18th century. The song was mentioned by Jane Austen in her 1815 novel Emma; the character Jane Fairfax played it on the piano. Robert ‘Robin’ Adair was a real person: a surgeon-colonel in the British army, who declined a baronetcy, he was born in Dublin around 1714 and died in 1790. Lady Caroline Keppel (c. 1734–1769) the elder of the two daughters of Willem Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle, married Adair, despite the fact that her family disapproved of the match because of his lower status. Lady Caroline wrote the song bearing her husband's name during the 1750s as a rebuke to her family for what she perceived as their snobbery regarding her handsome and accomplished lover.