Faint, breathless, thus she pray'd, nor pray'd in | vain ; "Ah, Cynthia! ah-though banish'd from thy Still bears the name the hapless virgin bore, Then foaming pour along, and rush into the Thames, Happy the man whom this bright court ap proves, 235 His sovereign favours, and his country loves: He gathers health from herbs the forest yields, Or looks on Heaven with more than mortal eyes, Such was the life great Scipio once admir'd, Thus Atticus and Trumbull thus retir'd. Ye sacred Nine! that all my soul possess, Whose raptures fire me, and whose visions bless, Bear me, oh bear me to sequester'd scenes, The bowery mazes, and surrounding greens; To Thames's banks which fragrant breezes fill, Or where ye, Muses, sport on Cooper's Hill; (On Cooper's Hill eternal wreaths shall grow, While last the mountain, or while Thames shall flow): I seem through consecrated walks to rove, 267 I hear soft music die along the grove: Led by the sound, I roam from shade to shade. 275 Since Fate relentless stopp'd their heavenly voice, No more the forests ring, or groves rejoice; Who now shall charm the shades, where Cowley His living harp, and lofty Denham sung? [strung But hark! the groves rejoice, the forest rings! Are these reviv'd? or is it Granville sings! 'Tis yours, my lord, to bless our soft retreats, And call the Muses to their ancient seats; To paint anew the flowery sylvan scenes, To crown the forests with immortal greens, Make Windsor hills in lofty numbers rise, And lift her turrets nearer to the skies; To sing those honours you deserve to wear, And add new lustre to her silver star. Here uoble Surrey felt the sacred rage, Surrey, the Granville of a former age: Matchless his pen, victorious was his lance, Bold in the lists, and graceful in the dance: In the same shades the Cupids tan'd his lyre, To the same notes, of love, and soft desire : Fair Geraldine, bright object of his vow, Then fill'd the groves, as heavenly Mira now. 290 Oh wouldst thou sing what heroes Windsor bore, What kings first breath'd upon her winding shore, Or raise old warriors, whose ador'd remains In weeping vaults her hallow'd earth contains! With Edward's acts adorn the shining page, Stretch his long triumphs down through every age; VARIATIONS. Ver. 267. It stood thus in the MS. Methinks around your holy scenes I rove, And hear your music echoing through the grove, Ver. 275. What sighs, what murmurs, fill the vocal shore ! His tuneful swans were heard to sing no more. Ver. 290. her silver star.] All the lines that follow were not added to the poem till the year 1713. What immediately follows this, and made the conclusion, were these: My humble Muse, in unambitious strains, Draw monarchs chain'd, and Cressi's glorious field, I The god appear'd: he turn'd his azure eyes The lilies blazing on the regal shield: [307 Then, from her roofs when Verrio's colours fall, Let softer strains ill-fated Henry mourn, Make sacred Charles's tomb for ever known: (Obscure the place, and uninscrib'd the stone) Oh fact accurs'd! what tears has Albion shed! 321 Heavens, what new wounds! and how her old have She saw her sons with purple deaths expire, [bled! Her sacred domes involv'd in rolling fire, A dreadful series of intestine wars, Inglorious triumphs, and dishonest scars. At length great Anna said, - "Let discord cease!" 527 She said, the world obcy'd, and all was peace! High in the midst, upon his urn reclin'd, VARIATIONS. Ver. 307. Originally thus in the MS. When brass decays, when trophies lie o'erthrown, And mouldering into dust drops the proud stone. Ver. 321. Originally thus in the MS. Oh fact accurs'd! oh sacrilegious brood, Ver. 327. Thus in the MS. 'Till Anna rose, and bade the Furies cease; From shore to shore exulting shouts he heard, Where Windsor-domes and pompous turrets rise; Then bow'd, and spoke; the winds forget to roar, And the hush'd waves glide softly to the shore. "Hail, sacred Peace! hail, long-expected days, That Thames's glory to the stars shall raise ! Though Tyber's streams immortal Rome behold, Though foaming Hermus swells with tides of gold, From Heaven itself the seven-fold Nilus flows, And harvests on a hundred realms bestows; These now no more shall be the Muses' themes, Lost in my fame, as in the sea their streams. Let Volga's banks with iron squadrons shine, 363 And groves of lances glitter on the Rhine; Let barbarous Ganges arm a servile train: Be mine the blessing of a peaceful reign. No more my sons shall dye with British blood Red Iber's sands, or Ister's foaming flood: Safe on my shore each unmolested swain Shall tend the flocks, or reap the bearded grain: The shady empire shall retain no trace Of war or blood, but in the sylvan chase : The trumpet sleep, while cheerful horns are blown, And arms employ'd on birds and beasts alone. Behold! th' ascending villas on my side, Project long shadows o'er the crystal tide. Behold! Augusta's glittering spires increase, And temples rise, the beauteous works of Peace. I see, I sec, where two fair cities bend Their ample bow, a new Whitehall ascend! There mighty nations shall inquire their doom, The world's great oracle in times to come; There kings shall sue, and suppliant states be seen Once more to bend before a British queen.. "Thy trees, fair Windsor! now shall leave their And half thy forests rush into thy floods; [woods, 385 Bear Britain's thunder, and her cross display, To the bright regions of the rising day : Tempt icy seas, where scarce the waters roll, Where clearer flames glow round the frozen pole; Or under southern skies exalt their sails, Led by new stars, and borne by spicy gales! For me the balm shall bleed, and amber flow, The coral redden, and the ruby glow, The pearly shell its lucid globe unfold, And Phoebus warm the ripening ore to gold. The time shall come, when free as seas or wind Unbounded Thames shall flow for all mankind, Whole nations enter with each swelling tide,. And seas but join the regions they divide; Earth's distant ends our glory shall behold, And the new world lanch forth to seek the old. Then ships of uncouth form shall stem the tide, And feather'd people crowd my wealthy side, And naked youths and painted chiefs admire Our specch, our colour, and our strange attire! Oh, stretch thy reign, fair Peace! from shore to Till conquest cease and slavery be no more; [shore, VARIATIONS. Ver. 363. Originally thus in the MS. Let Venice boast her towers amidst the main, Where the rough Adrian swells and roars in vain; Here not a town, but spacious realm shall have A sure foundation on the rolling wave. Ver. 385, &c. were originally thus in the MS. Now shall our fleets the bloody cross display To the rich regions of the rising day, Or those green isles, where headlong Titan steep His hissing axle in th' Atlantic deeps: Tempt icy seas, &c. Till the freed Indians in their native groves ODE ON ST. CECILIA'S DAY, M DCC VIII. AND OTHER PIECES FOR MUSIC. ODE FOR MUSIC ON ST. CECILIA'S DAY. DESCEND, ye Nine! descend, and sing; In a sadly-pleasing strain The shrill echoes rebound: While, in more lengthen'd notes and slow, Now louder, and yet louder rise, And fill with spreading sounds the skies; Exulting in triumph now swell the bold notes, In broken air trembling, the wild music floats; Till, by degrees, remote and sinall, The strains decay, And melt away, By Music, minds an equal temper know, Or, when the soul is press'd with cares, Melancholy lifts her head, Morpheus rouses from his bed, Sloth unfolds her arms and wakes, Listening Envy drops her snakes; Intestine war no more our passions wage, And giddy factions hear away their rage. But when our country's cause provokes to arms, To arms, to arms, to arins! But when through all th' infernal bounds, Love, strong as Death, the poets led O'er all the dreary coasts! And cries of tortur'd ghosts! See, shady forms advance! And the pale spectres dance! The Furies sink upon their iron beds, [heads, And snakes uncurl'd hang listening round their By the streams that ever flow, By the fragrant winds that blow By those happy souls who dwell Yet Music and Love were victorious. But soon, too soon the lover turns his eyes! Now under hanging mountains, All alone, Unheard, unknown, He makes his moan; And calls her ghost, For ever, ever, ever lost! Now with Furies surrounded, Despairing, confounded, He trembles, he glows, Amidst Rhodope's snows: See, wild as the winds, o'er the desert he flies; Hark! Hamus resounds with the Bacchanals' criesAh see, he dies! Yet ev'n in death Eurydice he sung; Eurydice still trembled on his tongue; Eurydice the woods, Eurydice the floods, Eurydice the rocks and hollow mountains rung, Music the fiercest grief can charm, And make despair and madness please; And to her Maker's praise confin'd the sound, TWO CHORUSES, TO THE TRAGEDY OF BRUTUS. ALTERED FROM SHAKESPEARE BY THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, AT WHOSE DESIRE THESE TWO CHORUSES WERE COMPOSED, TO SUPPLY AS MANY, WANTING IN HIS PLAY. THEY WERE SET MANY YEARS AFTERWARDS BY THE FAMOUS BONONCINI, AND PERFORMED AT BUCKINGHAM-HOUSE. CHORUS OF ATHENIANS. Ye shades, where sacred truth is sought; In vain your guiltless laurels stood War, horrid war, your thoughtful walks invades, ANTISTROPHE 1. Oh heaven-born sisters! source of art! To what new crime, what distant sky, Forsaken, friendless, shall ye fly? Say, will ye bless the bleak Atlantic shore? Or bid the furious Gaul be rude no more? STROPHE II. When Athens sinks by fates unjust, When wild Barbarians spurn her dust; Perhaps ev'n Britain's utmost shore Shall cease to blush with stranger's gore See Arts her savage sons control, And Athens rising near the pole ! Till some new tyrant lifts his purple hand, And civil madness tears them from the land. ANTISTROPHE II. Ye gods! what justice rules the ball! In every age, in every state! Still, when the lust of tyrant power succeeds, Some Athens perishes, some Tully bleeds. CHORUS OF YOUTHS AND VIRGINS, SEMICHORUS. OH tyrant Love! hast thou possest Why, Nature, dost thou soonest fire CHORUS. Love's purer flames the gods approve; Chaste as cold Cynthia's virgin light, SEMICHORUS. Oh source of every social tye, As son, as father, brother, husband, friend! While thousand grateful thoughts arise; Or views his smiling progeny; What tender passions take their turns, His heart now melts, now leaps, now burns, CHORUS. Hence, guilty joys, distastes, surmises; Hence, false tears, deceits, disguises, Dangers, doubts, delays, surprizes; THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL. VITAL spark of heavenly flame! Hark! they whisper; angels say, Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly! O Death! where is thy sting? AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Si quid novisti rectius istis, THE Poem is in one book, but divided into three principal parts or members. The first [to ver. 1 Mr. Pope told me himself, that the Essay on Criticism was indeed written in 1707, though said 1709 by mistake. J. Richardson. 201.] give rules for the study of the art of criticism; the second [from thence to ver. 560.] exposes the causes of wrong judgment; and the third [from thence to the end] marks out the morals of the critic. When the reader hath well considered the whole, and hath observed the regularity of the plan, the masterly conduct of the several parts, the penetration into Nature, and the compass of learning so conspicuous throughout, he should then be told, that it was the work of an author who had not attained the twentieth year of his age.-A very learned critic has shown, that Horace had the same attention to method in his Art of Poetry. CONTENTS OF THE ESSAY ON CRITICISM, PART I. INTRODUCTION. That it is as great a fault to judge ill, as to write ill, and a more dangerous one to to the public, ver. 1. That a true taste is as rare to be found as a true genius, ver. 9 to 18. That most men are born with some taste, but spoiled by false education, ver. 10 to 25. The multitude of critics, and causes of them, ver. 26 to 45. That we are to study our own taste, and know the limits of it, ver. 46 to 67. Nature the best guide of judgment, ver. 68 to 87. Improved by art and rules, which are but methodized nature, ver. 88. Rules derived from the practice of ancient poets, ver. 88 to 110. That therefore the ancients are necessary to be studied by a critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, ver. 120 to 138. Of licences, and the use of them by the an cients, ver. 140 to 180. Reverence due to the ancients, and praise of them, ver. 181, &c. PART II. VER. 203, &c. Causes hindering a true judgment. 4. 1. Pride, ver. 201. 2. Imperfect learning, ver. 215. 3. Judging by parts, and not by the whole, ver. 233 to 288. Critics in wit, language, versification, only, 288, 305, 339, &c. Being too hard to please, or too apt to admire, ver. 384. 5. Partiality-too much love to a sect, to the ancients or moderns, ver. 394. 6. Prejudice or prevention, ver. 408. 7. Singularity, ver. 424. 8. Inconstancy, ver. 430. 9. Party spirit, ver. 352, &c. 10. Envy, ver. 466. Against envy, and in praise of good-nature, ver. 508, &c. When severity is chiefly to be used by the critics, ver. 526, &c. PART III. VER. 560, &c. Rules for the conduct of manners in a critic. 1. Candour, ver. 563. Modesty, ver. 566. Good-breeding, ver. 572. Sincerity and freedom of advice, ver. 578. 2. When one's counsel is to be restrained, ver. 584. Character of an incorrigible poet, ver. 600; and of an impertinent critic, ver. 610, &c. Character of a good critic, ver. 629. The history of criticism, and characters of the best critics : Aristotle, ver. 645. Horace, ver. 653. Dionysius, ver. 665. Petronius, ver. 667. Quin |