With flying fingers touch'd the lyre:

The trembling notes ascend the sky,
And heav'nly joys inspire.

The song began from Jove,

Who left his blissful seats above,
(Such is the pow'r of mighty love)
A dragon's fiery form bely'd the god:
Sublime on radiant spires 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 sovʼreign of the
The list'ning crowd admire the lofty sound; [world.
A present Deity, they shout around:

A present Deity, the vaulted roofs rebound.
With ravish'd ears

"With ravish'd ears

"The monarch hears;

"Assumes the god,

"Affects to nod,

"And seems to shake the spheres.'

III.

1

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 master saw the madness rise;

His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes;
And while he heav'n and earth defy'd,
Chang'd his hand, and check'd his pride,
He chose a mournful muse,

Soft pity to infuse:

[the slain.

He sung Darius, great and good;

By too severe a fate,

Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,

Fallen from his high estate,
And welt'ring in his blood;
Deserted at his utmost need
By those his former bounty fed;
On the bare earth expos'd he lies,
With not a friend to close his eyes.
With down-cast looks the joyless victor sate,

Revolving in his alter'd soul

The various turns of chance.below;

And, now and then, a sigh he stole,

And tears began to flow.

CHORUS.

"Revolving in his alter'd soul

"The various turns of chance below;
"And, now and then, a sigh he stole,
"And tears began to flow."

V.

The mighty master smil❜d to see
That love was in the next degree:
'Twas but a kindred sound to move,
For pity melts the mind to love.
Softly sweet, in Lydian measures,
Soon he sooth'd his soul to pleasures.
War, he sung, is toil and trouble,

nour but an empty bubble;

Never ending, still beginning.
Fighting still, and still destroying:
If the world be worth thy winning,
Think, O think it worth enjoying.
Lovely Thais sits beside thee;

Take the good the Gods provide thee.

The many rend the skies with loud applause:
So love was crown'd, but music won the cause.
The prince, unable to conceal his pain,
Gaz'd on the fair

Who caus'd his care,

And sigh'd and look'd, sigh'd and look'd,
Sigh'd and look'd, and sigh'd again.

At length, with love and wine at once opprest,
The vanquish'd victor sunk upon her breast.

CHORUS.

"The prince unable to conceal his pain,
"Gaz'd on the fair

"Who caus'd his care,

"And sigh'd and look'd, sigh'd and look'd,
"Sigh'd and look'd, and sigh'd again.

"At length with love and wine at once opprest, "The vanquish'd victor sunk upon her breast." VI.

Now strike the golden lyre again:

A louder yet, and yet a louder strain.

Break his bands of sleep asunder,

And rouze him like a rattling peal of thunder.

190

Those let me curse; what vengeance will they urge,
Whose ordures neither plague nor fire can purge?
Nor sharp experience can to duty bring,
Nor angry Heav'n nor a forgiving King!
In gospel-phrase their chapmen they betray;
Their shops are dens, the buyer is the prey:
The knack of trades is living on the spoil;
They boast e'en when each other they beguile.
Customs to steal is such a trivial thing,

195

That 'tis their charter to defraud their king.
All hands unite of ev'ry jarring sect;

They cheat their country first, and then infect.

They for God's cause their monarchs dare dethrone,
And they'll be sure to make his cause their own.200
Whether the plott'ing Jesuit laid the plan

Of murd'ring kings, or the French Puritan,
Our sacrilegious sects their guides outgo.

And kings and kingly pow'r would murder too.
What means their trait'rous combination less, 205
Too plain t'evade, too shameful to confess?
But treason is not own'd when 'tis descry'd;
Successful crimes alone are justify 'd.

The men who no conspiracy would find,
Who doubts but, had it taken, they had join❜ð; 210
Join'd in a mutual cov❜nant of defence,

At first without, at last, against their prince.
If sov'reign right by sov'reign pow'r they scan,
The saine bold maxim holds in God and man: