The aria `` I know a bank '' from Britten 's opera A Midsummer Night 's Dream is inspired by Purcell 's aria `` Sweeter than Roses '' . Stylistically , the aria `` I know a bank '' from Britten 's opera A Midsummer Night 's Dream is clearly inspired by Purcell 's aria `` Sweeter than Roses '' , which Purcell originally wrote as part of incidental music to Richard Norton 's Pausanias , the Betrayer of His Country .