Y

STROPHE I.
E shades, where sacred truth is fought;

Groves, where immortal Sages taught :
Where heav'nly visions Plato fir'd,
And Epicurus lay inspir'd !
In vain your guiltless laurels stood $

Unspotted long with human blood.
War, horrid war, your thoughtful walks invades,
And steel now glitters in the Muses shades.
ANTIS TROP-

HE I.
Oh heav'n-born filters ! source of art!
Who charm the sense, or mend the heart;
Who lead fair Virtue's train along,
Moral Truth, and mystic Song !

To * Altered from Shakespear by the Duke of Buckingham, at whose defire these two Chorus's were composed to supply as many, wanting in his play. They were fet many years afterwards by the famous Bononcini, and performed at Buckingham-house, P.

IS

To what new clime, what distant sky,

Forsaken, friendless, shall ye Ay? .
Say, will ye bless the bleak Atlantic shore ?
Or bid the furious Gaul be rude no more?

STROPHE II.
When Athens finks by fates unjust,
When wild Barbarians fpurn her dust;
Perhaps ev'n Britain's utmost shore
Shall cease to blush with stranger's gore,
See Arts her savage fons controul,

And Athens rising near the pole !
'Till some new Tyrant lifts his purple hand,
And civil madness tears them from the land.

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25

ANTIS TROPHE II.
Ye Gods! what justice rules the ball ?
Freedom and Arts together fall;
Fools grant whate'er Ambition craves,
And men, once ignorant, are slaves.
Oh curs'd effects of civil hate,

In ev'ry age, in ev'ry state!
Still, when the luft of tyrant power succeeds,
Some Athens perishes, some Tully bleeds.

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3

CHORUS

CHORUS of Youths and Virgins.

SEMICHORUS.
H.Tyrant Love ! hast thou poflest

breast?

Wisdom and wit in vain reclaim,
And Arts but foften us to feel thy flame:
Love, soft intruder, enters here,

5
But entring learns to be sincere.
Marcus with blushes owns he loves,
And Brutus tenderly reproves.
Why, Virtue, dost thou blame desire,
Which Nature has imprest?

IO
Why, Nature, dost thou sooneft fire
The mild and gen'rous breast?

CHORU S.
Love's purer Aames the Gods approve;
The Gods and Brutus bend to love :
Brutus for absent Portia sighs,

05 And ferner Cassius melts at sunia's eyes.

What is loose love? a tranfient gust,
Spent in a sudden storm of luft,
A vapour fed from wild defire,
A wand'ring, self-consuming fire.
But Hymen's kinder flames unite ;

And burn for ever one ;
Chaste as cold Cynthia's virgin light,

Productive as the Sun. Ver. 9. Why, Virtue, etc.) In allusion to chat famous conceit of Guarini, " Se il peccare è sì dolce, etc.

SE.

20

SEMICHORUS.
Oh fource of ev'ry focial tye,
United with, and mutual joy

What various joys on one attend,
As son, as father, brother, husband, friend?

Whether his hoary fire he sfies,
While thousand grateful thoughts arise;

30
Or meets his fpouse's fonder eye;
Or views his smiling progeny ;
What tender pashons take their turns,

What home-felt raptures move?
His heart now melts, now leaps, now burns,
With rev'rence, hope, and love.

CHORU S.
Hence guilty joys, distastes, surmizes,
Hence false tears, deceits, disguises,
Dangers, doubts, delays, surprizes ;

Fires that scorch, yet dare not shine: 40
Pureft love's unwasting treasure,
Constant faith, fair hope, long leifure,
Days of ease, and nights of pleasure;

Sacred Hymen ! thefe are thine.

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ODE

ODE on SOLITUD E*.

H

APPY the man, whose with and care

A few paternal acres bound, Content to breathe his native air,

In his own ground. Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Whose flocks supply him with attire,

6 Whose trees in summer yield him shade,

In winter fire.
Blest, who can unconcern'dy find
Hours, days, and years flide foft away,

10 In health of body, peace of mind,

Quiet by day, Sound sleep by night; study and ease,

Together mixt ; sweet recreation; And innocence, which moft does please 15

With meditation.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown,

Thus unlamented let me die,
Steal from the world, and not a stone

Tell where I lie.

* This was a very early production of our Author, written at about twelve years old. P.

VOL. I.

G

The