Mark where he sits, with executing art,

Feels for each tone, and speeds it to the heart;

See, how prophetic rapture fills his form,
Awful as clouds that nurse the growing storm!
And now his voice, accordant to the string,
Prepares our monarch's victories to sing.

Air.

FIRST PROPHET.

From north, from south, from east, from west,

Conspiring nations come:

Tremble, thou vice-polluted breast

Blasphemers, all be dumb.

The tempest gathers all around,

On Babylon it lies,

Down with her! down, down to the ground

Down with her, Lord, to lick the dust,

Before yon setting sun;

Serve her as she has served the just!

'Tis fix'd-it shall be done.

FIRST PRIEST.-RECITATIVE.

No more! when slaves thus insolent presume,
The king himself shall judge, and fix their doom.
Unthinking wretches! have not you and all
Beheld our power in Zedekiah's fall?

To yonder gloomy dungeon turn your eyes:
See where dethroned your captive monarch lies,
Deprived of sight, and rankling in his chain;
See where he mourns his friends and children slain.
Yet know, ye slaves, that still remain behind
More ponderous chains, and dungeons more confined.

CHORUS.

Arise, all potent ruler, rise,

And vindicate thy people's cause,

Till every tongue in every land
Shall offer up unfeign'd applause.

[Exeunt.

K

ACT THE THIRD.

FIRST PRIEST.

Yes, my companions, Heaven's decrees are pass'd,
And our fix'd empire shall for ever last :
In vain the madd'ning prophet threatens woe-
In vain rebellion aims her secret blow;

Still shall our name and growing power be spread,
And still our justice crush the traitor's head.

Air.

Coeval with man
Our empire began,
And never shall fall

Till ruin shakes all.

When ruin shakes all,

Then shall Babylon fall,

SECOND PROPHET.

'Tis thus the proud triumphant rear the head--
A little while, and all their power is fled.
But, ha! what means yon sadly plaintive train,
That onward slowly bends along the plain?
And now, behold, to yonder bank they bear
A pallid corse, and rest the body there.
Alas! too well mine eyes indignant trace
The last remains of Judah's royal race :
Fall'n is our king, and all our fears are o'er,
Unhappy Zedekiah is no more.

Air.

Ye wretches who by fortune's hate

In want and sorrow groan—
Come, ponder his severer fate,
And learn to bless your own.

FIRST PROPHET.

Ye vain, whom youth and pleasure guide,
Awhile the bliss suspend;

Like yours, his life began in pride-
Like his, your lives shall end.

SECOND PROPHET.-RECITATIVE.

Behold his wretched corse with sorrow worn,
His squalid limbs by ponderous fetters torn;
Those eyeless orbs that shook with ghastly glare,
Those unbecoming rags, that matted hair!
And shall not Heaven for this avenge the foe,
Grasp the red bolt, and lay the guilty low?
How long, how long, Almighty God of all,
Shall wrath vindictive threaten ere it fall!

ISRAELITISH WOMAN.

Air.

As panting flies the hunted hind,
Where brooks refreshing stray ;
And rivers through the valley wind,
That stop the hunter's way :

Thus we, O Lord, alike distress'd,

For streams of mercy long;

Streams which can cheer the sore oppress'd,

And overwhelm the strong.

FIRST PROPHET.-RECITATIVE.

But whence that shout? Good heavens! Amazement all!

See yonder tower just nodding to the fall:
Behold, an army covers all the ground,
'Tis Cyrus here that pours destruction round:
The ruin smokes, the torrent pours along-
How low the proud, how feeble are the strong!
And now, behold, the battlements recline-
O God of hosts, the victory is thine!

CHORUS OF ISRAELITES.

Down with her, Lord, to lick the dust—

Thy vengeance be begun ;

Serve her as she has served the just,

And let thy will be done.

FIRST PRIEST.-RECITATIVE.

All, all is lost! The Syrian army fails,

Cyrus, the conqueror of the world, prevails.
Save us, O Lord! to Thee, though late, we pray;

And give repentance but an hour's delay.