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A SONG

TO A

FAIR YOUNG LADY,

GOING OUT OF THE TOWN IN THE SPRING.

I.

ASK not the cause, why sullen spring
So long delays her flowers to bear,
Why warbling birds forget to sing,
And winter storms invert the year ;-
Chloris is gone, and fate provides
To make it spring where she resides.

II.

Chloris is gone, the cruel fair;

She cast not back a pitying eye;
But left her lover in despair,

To sigh, 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 hast thou made
A face that can all hearts command,

That all religions can invade,

And change the laws of every land?

Where thou hadst placed such power before, Thou shouldst 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.

ALEXANDER'S FEAST,

OR

THE POWER OF MUSIC;

AN ODE IN HONOUR OF ST CECILIA'S DAY.

This celebrated Ode was written for the Saint's Festival in 1697, when the following stewards officiated: Hugh Colvill, Esq.; Capt. Thomas Newman; Orlando Bridgeman, Esq.; Theophilus Buller, Esq.; Leonard Wessell, Esq.; Paris Slaughter, Esq.; Jeremiah Clarke, Gent.; and Francis Rich, Gent. The merits of this unequalled effusion of lyrical poetry, are fully discussed in the general criticism.

I.

"TWAS at the royal feast, for Persia won
By Philip's warlike son:
Aloft, in awful state,

The godlike hero sate

On his imperial throne.

His valiant peers were placed around;
Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound:
(So should desert in arms be crown'd.)
The lovely Thais, by his side,

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 deserves the fair.

CHORUS.

Happy, happy, happy pair!

None but the brave,

None but the brave,

None but the brave deserves the fair.

II.

Timotheus, placed on high
Amid the tuneful quire,

With flying fingers touch'd the lyre:
The trembling notes ascend the sky,
And heavenly joys inspire,

The song began from Jove,
Who left his blissful seats above,
(Such is the power of mighty love.)
A dragon's fiery form belied the god;
Sublime on radiant spheres he rode,
When he to fair Olympia press'd,

And while he sought her snowy breast;
Then, round her slender waist he curl'd,
And stamp'd an image of himself, a sovereign of the
world.-

The listening crowd admire the lofty sound:
A present deity! they shout around;
A present deity! the vaulted roofs rebound.
With ravish'd ears,

The monarch hears;

Assumes the God,

Affects to nod,

And seems to shake the spheres.

CHORUS.

With ravish'd ears,
The monarch hears;

Assumes the God,
Affects to nod,

And seems to shake the spheres.

III.

The praise of Bacchus, then, the sweet musician sung;
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 shews his honest face:

Now, give the hautboys breath; he comes, he comes.
Bacchus, ever fair and young,

Drinking joys did first ordain ;
Bacchus' blessings are a treasure,
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure;
Rich the treasure,

Sweet the pleasure,

Sweet is pleasure after pain.

CHORUS.

Bacchus' blessings are a treasure,
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure;
Rich the treasure,

Sweet the pleasure,

Sweet is pleasure after pain.
IV.

Sooth'd with the sound, the King grew vain ;
Fought all his battles o'er again;

And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew

the slain.

The Master saw the madness rise,
His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes;
And, while he heaven and earth defied,
Changed his hand, and check'd his pride,
He chose a mournful muse,
Soft pity to infuse;

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