To print, or not to print-that is the question, Whether 't is better in a trunk to bury The quirks and crotchets of outrageous fancy, Or send a well-wrote copy to the press, And by disclosing, end them? To print, to doubt No more; and by one act to say we end The head-ach, and a thousand natural shocks Of scribbling frenzy-'t is a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To print-to beam From the same shelf with Pope, in calf well bound: To sleep, perchance, with Quarles-Ay, there's the For to what class a writer may be doom'd, [rubWhen he hath shuffled off some paltry stuff, Must give us pause.-There's the respect that makes Th' unwilling poet keep his piece nine years. For who would bear th' impatient thirst of fame, The pride of conscious merit, and 'bove all, The tedious importunity of friends, When as himself might his quietus make ROUNDELAY, WRITTEN FOR THE JUBILEE AT STRATFORD UPON AVON, CELEBRATED BY MR. GARRICK IN HONOUR OF SHAKSPEARE, SEPTEMBER, 1769. SET TO MUSIC BY MR. DIBDIN. SISTERS of the tuneful train, On Avon's banks, where Shakspeare's bust To celebrate the jubilee. Come, daughters, come, and bring with you And the sister Graces three, Hang around the sculptur'd tomb The 'broider'd vest, the nodding plume, From Birnham wood, and Bosworth field, In mournful numbers now relate Poor Desdemona's hapless fate, With frantic deeds of jealousy, To celebrate the jubilee. Nor be Windsor's wives forgot, Now in jocund strains recite But see in crowds the gay, the fair, And now what transport glow'd in either's eye? And future sonnets in the chirping brood! No gen'rous precept ever touch'd his heart, With concord false, and hideous prosody, He scrawl'd his task, and blunder'd o'er his part. On mischief bent, he mark'd, with rav'nous eyes, Where wrapp'd in down the callow songsters lay, Then rushing, rudely seiz'd the glitt'ring prize, And bore it in his impious hands away! But how shall I describe, in numbers rude, The pangs for poor Chrysomitris decreed, When from her secret stand aghast she view'd The cruel spoiler perpetrate the deed? "O grief of griefs!" with shrieking voice she cried, "What sight is this that I have liv'd to see! O! that I had in youth's fair season died, From love's false joys and bitter sorrows free. "Was it for this, alas! with weary bill, Was it for this I pois'd th' unwieldy straw? For this I bore the moss from yonder bill, Nor shun'd the pond'rous stick along to draw? "Was it for this I pick'd the wool with care, Intent with nicer skill our work to crown? For this, with pain, I bent the stubborn hair, And lin'd our cradle with the thistle's down? "Was it for this my freedom I resign'd, And ceas'd to rove at large from plain to plain? For this I sat at home whole days confin'd, To bear the scorching heat, and pealing rain? "Was it for this my watchful eyes grow dim? For this the roses on my cheek turn pale? Pale is my golden plumage, once so trim! And all my wonted mirth and spirits fail! "O plund'rer vile! O more than adders fell! More murth'rous than the cat, with prudish face! Fiercer than kites in whom the furies dwell, And thievish as the cuckow's pilf'ring race! "May juicy plumbs for thee forbear to grow, For thee no flow'r unveil its charming dies; May birch-trees thrive to work thee sharper woe, And list'ning starlings mock thy frantic cries." Thus sang the mournful bird her piteous tale, The piteous tale her mournful mate return'd, Then side by side they sought the distant vale, And there in secret sadness inly mourn'd. THE SWALLOWS. AN ELEGY. PART I. ERE yellow autumn from our plains retir'd, To southern climes prepar'd their course to steer. Moses, by grant divine, led Israel's host ADAM: PART II. Ar length the winter's howling blasts are o'er, Array'd in smiles the lovely spring returns, Now fuel'd hearths attractive blaze no more, And ev'ry breast with inward fervour burns. Again the daisies peep, the violets blow, Again the vocal tenants of the grove, Forgot the patt'ring hail or driving snow, Renew the lay to melody and love. "And see, my Delia, see o'er yonder stream, Where, on the bank, the lambs in gambols play, Alike attracted by the sunny gleam, Again the swallows take their wonted way. "Welcome, ye gentle tribe, your sports pursue, Welcome again to Delia and to me, Your peaceful councils on my roof renew, And plan new settlements from danger free. "Again I'll listen to your grave debates, Again I'll hear your twitt'ring songs unfold What policy directs your wand'ring states, What bounds are settled, and what tribes enroll'd. "Again I'll hear you tell of distant lands, What insect nations rise from Egypt's mud, What painted swarms subsist on Lybia's sands, What Ganges yields, and what th' Euphratean flood. "Thrice happy race! whom Nature's call invites To travel o'er her realms with active wing, To taste her various stores, her best delights, The summer's radiance, and the sweets of spring. "While we are doom'd to bear the restless change Of varying seasons, vapours dank and dry, Forbid like you in milder climes to range, When wintry storms usurp the low'ring sky. "Yet know the period to your joys assign'd, Know ruin hovers o'er this earthly ball, As lofty tow'rs stoop prostrate to the wind, Its secret props of adamant shall fall. "But when yon radiant Sun shall shine no more, "To plains ethereal, and celestial bow'rs, Where wintry storms no rude access obtain, Where blasts no lightning, and no tempest low'rs, But ever-siniling spring and pleasure reign." OR, THE FATAL DISOBEDIENCE. AN ORATORIO. COMPILED FROM THE PARADISE LOST OF MILTON, AND ADAPTED TO MUSIC. ADVERTISEMENT. THE Comus, Allegro, Il Penseroso, Lycidas, and Samson Agonistes of Milton, have each of them had the good fortune to be made choice of as proper subjects for musical composition; but no one appears hitherto to have entertained any thoughts of adapting any part of Paradise Lost to the same use, though confessedly the most capital of all his works, and containing the greatest variety both of sentiment, and language susceptible of the graces of that harmonious art '. Indeed the plan for this purpose was not so obvious. The others were in a great measure ready prepared to the composer's hands; here the case was different. The several beautiful passages contained in this poem lay scattered through a wide compass, and it appeared difficult to assemble, and unite them into any regular and compendious form adapted to public representation. This the compiler has attempted by confining himself to those passages which have a more immediate reference to the principal story, and omitting what was more remote, and digressive. In executing this design he has varied as little as was possible from the order of time and language of Milton, and endeavoured not to offend the judgment, at the same time that he consulted the entertainment of the public. He will not say that he has omitted no particular beauties of this poem, for not to do this would be to transcribe the whole; but he can truly say that he has taken some pains to include as many as could with any propriety be brought within the compass of his undertaking, and that it will be no small pleasure to him to be the occasion of making them more that sister-art, whose expressive strains are the universally admired, by means of an alliance with only additional ornament of which they were capable. So far was written after the following piece was entirely finished, and at a time when the compiler thought that no one had engaged in the same design. In this however he finds he was mistaken, and can truly say, that had he been so much conversant in the musical world as to have known more 1 What Dr. Gregory says of religion in general as a subject for musical composition, may be applied with the strictest propriety to this work in particular, viz. that it affords almost all the variety of subjects which music can express; the sublime, the joyous, the cheerful, the serene, the devout, the plaintive, the melancholy. Comparative View of the State and early that a person of Mr. Stillingfleet's merit and abilities had undertaken this work, he would certainly have declined it: but having spent some time in it, and finding that this gentleman's plan does not entirely coincide with his, he hopes he may be excused for presenting it to the world after him. He will no further detain the reader than to say, that his aim was to furnish the composer with Milton's own beauties, so adapted as that the capital lines and most striking sentiments might naturally offer themselves to musical distinction, rather than form words for that purpose, as he thought had been done in other compositions of a like nature, in a manner very forced and unnatural; and where, though the ear is gratified, the understanding is generally disgusted. ADAM: AN ORATORIO. The persons here represented are Guardian Angels of Paradise, and others. ACT I. SCENE I. RECITATIVE. UNDER a tuft of shade, that, on a green, That to the fringed bank, with myrtle crown'd, His lithe proboscis. Close the serpent sly, AIR. ..They superior sat, As lords of all, of godlike shape erect! SCENE II. RECITATIYE. On the soft downy bank, damask'd with flow'rs, ADAM. Sole partner, and sole part of all these joys, Dearer thyself than all! needs must the Pow'r, That made us, and, for us, this ample world, Be infinitely good, and, of his good As liberal, and free as infinite; Who rais'd us from the dust, and plac'd us here, In all this happiness; who yet requires SONG. Then let us ever praise him, and extol Which, were it toilsome, yet with thee were sweet. RECITATIVE. EVE. .........O thou! for whom And from whom I was form'd! Flesh of thy flesh! And without whom am to no end! My guide, And head! what thou hast said is just and right: For we indeed to him all praises owe, And daily thanks: I chiefly, who enjoy So much the happier lot, enjoying thee. AFFETUOSO. That day I oft remember, when from sleep |