No. 21 Villulia or Bartimeus, Osh 331
Pentatonic, mode 4 (I II — IV V — 7)
Mercy, O thou son of David,
Thus poor blind Bartimeus pray’d;
Others by thy grace are saved,
Now to me afford thine aid.
Money was not what he wanted,
Though by begging used to live;
But he asked and Jesus granted
Alms which none but he could give.
“Lord, remove this grievous blindness;
Let mine eyes behold the day.”
Straight he saw and, won by kindness,
Followed Jesus by the way.
Tune attributed to J. M. Day, a Georgian. Doubt as to the correctness of this source is cast by the appearance of both tune and text in the Christian Lyre of 1830, No. 4. Variants are ‘Invocation’, GOS 67, and ‘Lord Revive Us’, PB 198. The Sacred Harp editor evidently looked upon this tune as one in a-minor, whereas it is probably a dorian melody with f-sharp as its tonic, and should have also a d-sharp in its key signature.