There are two words in the song I can’t transcribe:
Welcome dear sir to town
Welcome to this your chief seat
Pensive at your retreat
And joyful at your return
Oh _______ majesty laid by the faction be broached
Your _______ will never, never be by your kinder arms reproached
Can anyone figure them out? I just can’t hear what they are. The first one sounds like “costerless” and the second sounds like “augusta”.
What’s it from? Or, do you have a link?
BTW, you might find someone helpful at this link - Henry Purcell - The Purcell Society
Ok, found out through the society the correct words:
Welcome dread sir to town
Thrice welcome to this your chief seat
Pensive at your retreat
As joyful at your return.
Though causeless jealousy may by the factious be broached
Your Augusta will never, never be from your kinder arms debauched".
Now, what does the “Augusta” refer to? I can’t find that name in any of Charles II’s illigitimate children.
Augustus was a flattering term for the monarch, after the Roman Emperor Augustus. Augusta would therefore refer to his Queen. (Catherine of Braganza).
Edit: Charles’ Queen came under constant attack by his opponents, due to her Catholic religion.
The poet John Dryden had popularized the identification of Charles with Augustus in his Astraea Redux, 1660.