OH FAIR! OH PUREST! SAINT AUGUSTINE TO HIS SISTER.* Air.-MOORE. I. On fair! oh purest! be thou the dove Oh fair! oh purest! be like this dove. * In St. Augustine's treatise upon the advantages of a solitary life, addressed to his sister, there is the following fanciful passage, from which, the reader will perceive, the thought of this song was taken :-"Te, soror, nunquam nolo esse securam, sed timere semperque tuam fragilitatem habere suspectam, ad instar pavidæ columbæ frequentare vivos aquarum et quasi in speculo accipitris cernere supervolantis effigiem et cavere. Rivi aquarum sententiæ sunt scripturarum, quæ de limpidissimo sapientiæ fonte profluentes," etc. etc.-De Vit. Eremit. ad Sororem. II. The sacred pages of God's own book Oh fair! oh purest! be like the dove. |