SECANDER. Unhappy land, whose blessings tempt the sword, In vain, unheard, thou call'st thy Persian lord! In vain thou court'st him, helpless, to thine aid, To shield the shepherd, and protect the maid! Far off, in thoughtless indolence resign'd, Soft dreams of love and pleasure soothe his mind: 'Midst fair sultanas lost in idle joy, No wars alarm him, and no fears annoy. AGIB. Yet these green hills, in summer's sultry heat, Have lent the monarch oft a cool retreat. Sweet to the sight is Zabran's flowery plain; And once by maids and shepherds lov'd in vain! No more the virgins shall delight to rove By Sargis' banks, or Irwan's shady grove; On Tarkie's mountain catch the cooling gale, Or breathe the sweets of Aly's flowery vale: Fair scene! but, ah! no more with peace possest, With ease alluring, and with plenty blest! No more the shepherds whitening tents appear, Nor the kind products of a bounteous year; No more the date, with snowy blossoms crown'd! But ruin spreads her baleful fires around. SECANDER. In vain Circassia boasts her spicy groves, For ever fam'd for pure and happy loves: In vain she boasts her fairest of the fair, Their eyes blue languish, and their golden hair! Those eyes in tears their fruitless grief must send; Those hairs the Tartar's cruel hand shall rend. AGIB. Ye Georgian swains, that piteous learn from far Circassia's ruin, and the waste of war; Some weightier arms than crooks and staffs prepare, Wild as his land, in native deserts bred, The villain Arab, as he prowls for prey, To death inur'd, and nurst in scenes of woe. He said; when loud along the vale was heard A shriller shriek; and nearer fires appear'd: The affrighted shepherds, through the dews of night, Wide o'er the moon-light hills renew'd their flight. ODE TO PITY. THOU, the friend of man assign'd, When first Distress, with dagger keen, By Pella's' bard, a magic name, By all the griefs his thought could frame, Receive my humble rite: Thy sky-worn robes of tend'rest blue, And eyes of dewy light! But wherefore need I wander wide To old Illissus' distant side, 'Euripides, of whom Aristotle pronounces, on a comparison of him with Sophocles, that he was the greater master of the tender passions, ην τραγικώτερος. Deserted stream, and mute? Wild Arun2 too has heard thy strains, There first the wren thy myrtles shed And while he sung the female heart, Come, Pity, come, by Fancy's aid, Its southern site, its truth complete, There Picture's toils shall well relate, 2 The river Arun runs by the village in Sussex, where Otway had his birth. C O'er mortal bliss prevail : The buskin'd Muse shall near her stand, And sighing prompt her tender hand, With each disastrous tale. There let me oft, retir'd by day, Allow'd with thee to dwell: There waste the mournful lamp of night, Till, Virgin, thou again delight To hear a British shell! |