Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

A vicious love depraves the mind,
'Tis anguifh, guilt, and folly, join'd;
But Seraphina's eyes difpenfe
A mild and gracious influence;
Such as in vifions angels fhed
Around the heav'n-illumin'd head.
To love thee, Seraphina! fure
Is to be tender, happy, pure;
'Tis from low paffions to escape,
And wooe bright Virtue's fairest shape;
'Tis ecftafy with wisdom join'd,
And heaven infus'd into the mind.

ODE

ON EOLUS'S HARP".

I.

ETHEREAL Race, inhabitants of Air,

Who hymn your God amid the secret grove,
Ye unfeen Beings! to my harp repair,

And raise majestic strains, or melt in love.

II.

Those tender notes, how kindly they upbraid!
With what foft woe they thrill the lover's heart!
Sure from the hand of fome unhappy maid,
Who dy'd of love, thefe fweet complainings part.

olus's Harp is a musical inftrument, which plays with the wind, invented by Mr. Ofwald; its properties are fully defcribed in the Castle of Indolence.

III.

But hark! that ftrain was of a graver tone,

On the deep ftrings his hand fome hermit throws; Or he the facred Bard*, who fat alone

In the drear waste, and wept his people's woes.

IV.

Such was the fong which Zion's children fung, When by Euphrates' ftream they made their plaint; And to fuch fadly folemn notes are ftrung

Angelic harps, to sooth a dying faint.

V.

Methinks I hear the full celeftial choir

Thro' heaven's high dome their awful anthem raise;
Now chanting clear, and now they all confpire
To fwell the lofty hymn from praise to praise.
VI.

Let me, ye wand'ring Spirits of the wind!

Who, as wild Fancy prompts you, touch the string, Smit with your theme, be in your chorus join'd, For till you cease my Muse forgets to fing.

[blocks in formation]

ODE

IN THE MASK OF ALFRED.

I.

WHEN Britain firft, at Heaven's command,

Arofe from out the azure main,

This was the charter of the land,

And guardian angels fung this ftrain; "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves; "Britons never will be flaves."

II.

The nations, not fo bleft as thee,
Muft, in their turns, to tyrants fall;
While thou fhalt flourish great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.

"Rule," &c.

III.

Still more majestic fhalt thou rife,
More dreadful from each foreign ftroke:
As the loud blaft that tears the skies,

Serves but to root thy native oak.

"Rule," &c.

IV.

Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame:
All their attempts to bend thee down,
Will but aroufe thy generous flame,
But work their woe, and thy renown.
Rule," &c.

66

V.

To thee belongs the rural reign;

Thy cities shall with commerce shine:
All thine shall be the subject main,

And every fhore its circles thine.

"Rule," &c.

VI.

The Muses, ftill with Freedom found,

Shall to thy happy coaft repair:

Bleft Ifle! with matchless beauty crown'd,

And manly hearts to guard the fair.
"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves;
"Britons never will be flaves."

SONGS.

SONG.

I.

ONE day the God of fond defire,
On mischief bent, to Damon faid,
Why not difclose your tender fire,
Not own it to the lovely maid?

II.

The fhepherd mark'd his treach'rous art, And, foftly fighing, thus reply'd;

'Tis true, you have fubdu'd my heart,
But shall not triumph o'er my pride.
III.

The flave in private only bears
Your bondage who his love conceals;
But when his paffion he declares,
You drag him at your chariot-wheels.

SONG.

HARD is the fate of him who loves,
Yet dares not tell his trembling pain,
But to the sympathetic groves,
But to the lonely liftening plain.

« ElőzőTovább »