Page images
PDF
EPUB

X.

A SON G.

I.

Go tell Amynta, gentle swain,

I would not die, nor dare complain :
Thy tuneful voice with numbers join,
Thy words will more prevail than mine.
To fouls opprefs'd, and dumb with grief,
The gods ordain this kind relief;
That mufic fhould in founds convey,

What dying lovers dare not fay.

II.

A figh or tear, perhaps, fhe'll give,

But love on pity cannot live.

Tell her that hearts for hearts were made,

And love with love is only paid.

Tell her my pains fo faft increase,

That foon they will be paft redress;
But ah! the wretch, that speechless lies,
Attends but death to clofe his eyes.

XI.

A SONG to a fair young

LADY,

Going out of the Town in the Spring.

I.

ASK not the caufe, why fullen Spring

So long delays her flowers to bear;

Why warbling birds forget to fing,
And winter ftorms invert the year:

3

Chloris

Chloris is gone, and fate provides

To make it Spring, where the refides.

II.

Chloris is gone, the cruel fair;
She caft not back a pitying eye:
But left her lover in despair,

To figh, to languish, and to die:
Ah, how can those fair eyes endure
To give the wounds they will not cure!

III.

Great god of love, why haft thou made
A face that can all hearts command,
That all religions can invade,

And change the laws of every land?
Where thou hadst plac'd such power before,

Thou shouldft have made her mercy more.

IV.

When Chloris to the temple comes,
Adoring crowds before her fall;
She can restore the dead from tombs,
And every life but mine recal.

I only am by Love design'd
To be the victim for mankind.

[blocks in formation]

XII.

ALEXANDER'S FEAST:
Or, the POWER of MUSIC,

An ODE, in honour of St. CECILIA's Day.

I.

WAS at the royal feast, for Perfia won

TWA

By Philip's warlike son :

Aloft in awful state

The godlike hero fate

On his imperial throne :

His valiant peers were plac'd around; Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound. (So fhould defert in arms be crown'd:

The lovely Thais, by his fide,

Sate like a blooming Eastern bride
In flower of youth and beauty's pride.
Happy, happy, happy pair!

None but the brave,

None but the brave,

None but the brave deferves the fair.

CHORUS.

Haypy, happy, happy pair!

None but the brave,

None but the brave,

None but the brave deferves the fair.

Timotheus, plac'd on high

II.

Amid the tuneful quire,

With flying fingers touch'd the lyre: The trembling notes afcend the fky,

And heavenly joys infpire.

The

The fong began from Jove,

Who left his blifsful feats above,

(Such is the power of mighty love.)

A dragon's fiery form bely'd the god :
Sublime on radiant fpires he rode,

When he to fair Olympia prefs'd :

And while he fought her fnowy breast:

Then, round her slender waist he curl'd,

And ftamp'd an image of himfelf, a fovereign of the world.

The liftening crowd admire the lofty found,
A prefent deity, they fhout around:

A prefent deity the vaulted roofs rebound:

With ravish'd ears

The monarch hears,
Affumes the god,

Affects to nod,

And feems to shake the spheres.

CHORUS.

With ravish'd ears

The monarch bears,

Affumes the god,

Affects to nod,

And feems to shake the spheres.

III.

The praise of Bacchus then, the fweet musician fung;

Of Bacchus ever fair and ever young :
The jolly god in triumph comes;
Sound the trumpets; beat the drums ;
Flush'd with a purple grace

He fhews his honeft face:

[blocks in formation]

Now give the hautboys breath; he comes, he comes.

Bacchus, ever fair and young,

Drinking joys did first ordain ;
Bacchus' bleffings are a treasure,
Drinking is the foldier's pleasure :
Rich the treafure,

Sweet the pleasure,

Sweet is pleasure after pain.

CHORUS.

Bacchus' blefings are a treasure,

Drinking is the foldier's pleasure;
Rich the treafure,

Sweet the pleasure;

Sweet is pleasure after pain.

IV.

Sooth'd with the found, the king

grew

vain ;

Fought all his battles o'er again;

And thrice he routed all his foes; and thrice he flew the

flain.

The mafter faw the madness rife ;
His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes;
And while he heaven and earth defy'd,

Chang'd his hand, and check'd his pride.
He chofe a mournful Mufe

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »