Page images
PDF
EPUB

O'er all the dreary coafts!

55

Dreadful gleams,

Difmal fcreams,

Fires that glow,

60

[ocr errors]

65

71

Shrieks of woe,

Sullen moans,

Hollow groans,

And cries of tortur'd ghofts!

But hark! he ftrikes the golden lyre;
And fee! the tortur'd ghofts refpire,

See, fhady forms advance!

Thy ftone, O Syfiphus, ftands ftill,
Ixion refts upon his wheel,

And the pale spectres dance!

The Furies fink upon their iron beds,

And snakes uncurl'd hang lift'ning round their heads.

V.

By the ftreams that ever flow,
By the fragrant winds that blow
O'er th' Elyfian flow'rs,

By thofe happy fouls who dwell
In yellow meads of Afphodel,

Or Amaranthine bow'rs;
By the hero's armed fhades,
Glitt'ring thro' the gloomy glades,
By the youths that dy'd for love,
Wand'ring in the myrtle grove,

Reftore, reftore Eurydice to life;
Oh take the hufband, or return the wife!

He fung, and hell consented
To hear the Poet's pray'r:

Stern Proferpine relented,

And gave him back the fair.

Thus fong could prevail
O'er death and o'er hell,

75

80.

85

A con

H 2

A conquest how hard and how glorious!

Tho' fate had faft bound her

With Styx nine times round her, Yet mufic and love were victorious.

VI.

But foon, too foon, the lover turns his eyes:
Again fhe falls, again fhe dies, she dies!
How wilt thou now the fatal fifters move?

[ocr errors][merged small]

No crime was thine, if 'tis no crime to love.
Now under hanging mountains,

Befide the falls of fountains,

Or where Hebrus wanders,
Rolling in meanders,

All alone,

Unheard, unknown,
He makes his moan;
And calls her ghost,
For ever, ever, ever loft!
Now with Furies furrounded,
Defpairing, confounded,
He trembles, he glows,

Amidst Rhodope's fnows:

See, wild as the winds, o'er the defart he flies;

Hark! Hemus refounds with the Bacchanals cries

Ah fee, he dies!

Yet ev'n in death Eurydice he fung,

Eurydice ftill trembled on his tongue,

Eurydice the woods,

Eurydice the floods,

Eurydice the rocks, and hollow mountains rung,

VII.

Mufic the fierceft grief can charm,

And fate's fevereft rage difarm:

100

105

110

115

Mufic can foften pain to ease,

120

And make defpair and madness please:

Our

Our joys below it can improve, And antedate the blifs above. This the divine Cecilia found,

And to her Maker's praise confin'd the found.
When the full organ joins the tuneful quire,

125

Th' immortal pow'rs incline their ear; Borne on the swelling notes our fouls aspire, While folemn airs improve the facred fire;

And Angels lean from heav'n to hear. Of Orpheus now no more let Poets tell, To bright Cecilia greater pow'r is giv'n; His numbers rais'd a fhade from hell, Hers lift the foul to heav'n,

[ocr errors]

130

TWO

TWO CHORUSES

TO THE

TRAGEDY OF BRUTUS.

CHORUS OF ATHENIANS.

STROPHE I.

E fhades, where facred truth is fought;

YE

Groves, where immortal Sages taught;
Where heav'nly vifions Plato fir'd,

And Epicurus lay infpir'd!

In vain your guiltlefs laurels ftood
Unfpotted long with human blood.

War, horrid war, your thoughtful walks invades,
And fteel now glitters in the Mufes fhades.

ANTISTROPHE I.

Oh heav'n-born fifters! fource of art!
Who charm the fenfe, or mend the heart;
Who lead fair Virtue's train along,
Moral Truth, and myftic Song!

To what new clime, what distant sky,
Forfaken, friendlefs, fhall ye fly?

Say, will ye blefs the bleak Atlantic fhore?
Or bid the furious Gaul be rude no more?!

5

15

STROPHE

STROPHE II.

When Athens finks by fates unjust,

When wild barbarians fpurn her duft;
Perhaps ev❜n Britain's utmoft shore
Shall ceafe to blush with ftranger's gore;
See Arts her favage fons controul,

An Athens rifing near the pole !

'Till fome new Tyrant lifts his purple hand, And civil madness tears them from the land.

ANTISTROPHE II.

Ye Gods! what juftice rules the ball?
Freedom and Arts together fall;
Fools grant whate'er Ambition craves,
And men, once ignorant, are flaves.
Oh curs'd effects of civil hate,

In ev'ry age, in ev'ry ftate!

20

25

Still, when the luft of tyrant pow'r fucceeds,
Some Athens perishes, fome Tully bleeds.

30

CHORUS of YOUTHS and VIRGINS.

SEMICHORUS.

H Tyrant Love! haft thou poffeft

Wisdom and wit in vain reclaim,

And Arts but foften us to feel thy flame.

Love, foft intruder, enters here,

But ent'ring learns to be fincere.
Marcus with blufhes owns he loves,
And Brutus tenderly reproves.
Why, Virtue, doft thou blame defire,

Which Nature has impreft?
Why, Nature, doft thou fooneft fire
The mild and gen'rous breast?

breaft?

10

CHORUS.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »