"My happy sisters may be, may be proud; With cruel and ungentle scoffing, "My brother Douglas may upbraid, My lover's blood is on thy spear, How canst thou ever bid me love thee? "Yes, yes, prepare the bed, the bed of love, With bridal sheets my body cover; "Pale, indeed, oh, lovely, lovely youth! Return, return, oh, mournful, mournful bride! Return and dry thy useless sorrow: [ANONYMOUS. 1726.] WHY, LOVELY CHARMER. The Hive. WHY, lovely charmer, tell me why, In vain you strive, with all your art, And bid new music charm the unfolding ear : The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego, And leap exulting like the bounding roe. No sigh, no murmur the wide world shall hear, From every face he wipes off every tear. In adamantine chains shall Death be bound, And Hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound. As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care, Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air, Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs, By day o'ersees them, and by night pro tects, The tender lambs he raises in his arms, Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms; Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage, The promised Father of the future age. No more shall nation against nation rise, Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes, Nor fields with gleaming steel be covered o'er, The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more; But useless lances into scythes shall bend, And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end. Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son Shall finish what his short-lived sire begun ; Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield, And the same hand that sow'd, shall reap the field. The swain, in barren deserts with surprise See lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise; And start, amidst the thirsty wilds, to hear New falls of water murmuring in his ear. On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes, The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods. Waste sandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn, The spiry fir and shapely boy adorn; To leafless shrubs the flowering palms succeed, And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed. The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead, And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead; The steer and lion at one crib shall meet, And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet. The smiling infant in his hand shall take The crested basilisk and speckled snake, Pleased the green lustre of the scales survey, And with their forky tongue shall innocently play. Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise! Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes! See, a long race thy spacious courts adorn; See future sons, and daughters yet unborn, In crowding ranks on every side arise, Demanding life, impatient for the skies! See barbarous nations at thy gates attend, Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend; See thy bright altars throng'd with pros trate kings, ODE ON ST. CECILIA'S DAY. Let the warbling lute complain : While in more lengthen'd notes and slow Exulting in triumph now swell the bold notes, In broken air, trembling, the wild music floats Till, by degrees, remote and small, By Music, minds an equal temper know, Not swell too high, nor sink too low; If in the brief tumultuous joys arise, Music her soft, assuasive voice applies; Or, when the soul is press'd with cares, Exalts her in enliv'ning airs: Warriors she fires with animated sounds, Pours balm into the bleeding lover's wounds; Melancholy lifts her head, Morpheus rouses from his bed, Sloth unfolds her arms and wakes, List'ning Envy drops her snakes, Intestine war no more our Passions wage, And giddy Factions hear away their rage. The Furies sink upon their iron beds, And snakes uncurl'd hang list'ning round their heads. By the streams that ever flow, O'er th' Elysian flow'rs; Ör amaranthine bow'rs; To hear the poet's prayer: And gave him back the fair : But soon, too soon, the lover turns his eyes, Again she falls-again she dies-she dies! How wilt thou now the fatal sisters move? EASE IN WRITING. TRUE ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learned to dance. No crime was thine, if 'tis no crime to 'Tis not enough no harshness gives love. Now under hanging mountains, Beside the falls of fountains, Or where Hebrus wanders, Rolling in meanders, All alone, Unheard, unknown, See, wild as the winds, o'er the desert he flies; Hark! Hamus resounds with the Bacchanals' cries-Ah see, he dies! Yet ev'n in death Eurydice he sung, Eurydice the rocks, and hollow mountains rung. Music the fiercest grief can charm, And fate's severest rage disarm; Music can soften pain to ease, And make despair and madness please; Our joys below it can improve, And antedate the bliss above. This the divine Cecilia found, And to her Maker's praise confin'd the sound. When the full organ joins the tuneful quire, Th' immortal pow'rs incline their ear Borne on the swelling notes our souls aspire, While solemn airs improve the sacred 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 shade from Hell, Hers lift the soul to Heav'n. |