ODE for for MUSIC ON ST. CECILIA'S DAY. I. Efcend, ye Nine! defcend and fing; Wake into voice each filent string, And fweep the founding lyre! In a fadly-pleasing strain Let the warbling lute complain: The fhrill echos rebound: NOTES. 5 Ode for Mufic.] This is one of the most artful as well as fublime of our Poet's fmaller compofitions. The firft ftanza expreffes the various tones and measures in mufic. The fecond defcribes their power over the feveral paffions in general. The third explains their ufe in infpiring the Heroic paffions in particular. The fourth, fifth, and fixth, their power over all nature in the fable of Orpheus's expedition to hell; which fubject of illuftration arose naturally out of the preceding mention of the Argonautic expedition, where Orpheus gives the example of the ufe of Mufic to infpire the heroic paffions. The feventh and last conclude in praife of Mufic, and the advantages of the facred above the prophane. VER. 7. Let the loud trumpet found, etc ] Our Author, in his rules for good writing had faid, that the found fhould be an echo to the fenfe. The graces it adds to the harmony are obvious. But we should never have seen all the advantages arifing from this rule, had this ode not been written. While in more lengthen'd notes and flow, Gently steal upon the ear; Now louder, and yet louder rife And fill with spreading founds the skies; Exulting in triumph now fwell the bold notes, In broken air, trembling, the wild mufic floats; "Till, by degrees, remote and fmall, The ftrains decay, And melt away, In a dying, dying fall. II. By Mufic, minds an equal temper know, Nor fwell too high, nor fink too low. If in the breaft tumultuous joys arife, Mufic her foft, affuafive voice applies; 20 25 Or, when the foul is prefs'd with cares, Lift'ning Envy drops her fnakes; Intestine war no more our Paffions wage, And giddy Factions hear away their rage. NOTES. 35 In which, one may venture to say, is found all the harmony that poetic found, when it comes in aid of fenfe, is capable of producing. III. But when our Country's caufe provokes to Arms, So when the first bold veffel dar'd the feas, And men grew heroes at the found, Each chief his fev'nfold shield display'd, And half unfheath'd the fhining blade: IV. But when thro' all th' infernal bounds, Which flaming Phlegeton furrounds, Love, ftrong as Death, the Poet led To the pale nations of the dead, What founds were heard, O'er all the dreary coasts! Dreadful gleams Difmal fcreams, Fires that glow, Shrieks of woe, Sullen moans, Hollow groans And cries of tortur'd ghosts! VOL. I. H 75 40 45 50. 55 69 But hark! he strikes the golden lyre ; See, fhady forms advance! Thy stone, O Sifyphus, ftands still, And the pale spectres dance! The Furies fink upon their iron beds, 65 Reftore, reftore Eurydice to life: Oh take the husband, or return the wife! He fung, and hell consented To hear the Poet's prayer: O'er death, and o'er hell, Tho' fate had faft bound her With Styx nine times round her, Yet mufic and love were victorious. 85 90 VI. But foon, too foon, the lover turns his eyes: 95 No crime was thine, if 'tis no crime to love. Now under hanging mountains, Befide the falls of fountains, Or where Hebrus wanders, Rolling in Mæanders, All alone, Unheard, unknown, He trembles, he glows, Amidft Rhodope's fnows: 100 105 See, wild as the winds, o'er the defert he flies; 110 Hark! Hamus refounds with the Bacchanals cries Ah fee, he dies! Yet ev❜n in death Eurydice he fung, Eurydice ftill trembled on his tongue, Eurydice the woods, Eurydice the floods, Eurydice the rocks, and hollow mountains rung. VII. Mufic the fierceft grief can charm, And fate's fevereft rage difarm, 115 |