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,

What scenes appear'd,

O'er all the dreary coasts!

Dreadful gleams,

Difmal fcreams,

Fires that glow,

Shrieks of woe,

Sullen moans,

50

55

60

Hollow groans

And cries of tortur'd ghofts!

But hark! he ftrikes the golden lyre;
And fee! the tortur'd ghosts refpire,

See, fhady forms advance!

Thy stone, O Sifyphus, ftands ftill,
Ixion refts upon his wheel,

And the pale spectres dance!

The Furies fink upon their iron beds,

65

And snakes uncurl'd hang lift'ning round their heads.

V.

By the streams that ever flow,

By the fragrant winds that blow

O'er th' Elyfian flow'rs;

By thofe happy fouls who dwell

In yellow meads of Afphodel,

Or Amaranthine bow'rs;
By the hero's armed fhades,

Glitt'ring thro' the gloomy glades;

By the youths that dy'd for love,

Wand'ring in the myrtle grove,

Restore, restore Eurydice to life:

Oh take the husband, or return the wife!

He fung, and hell confented

To hear the Poet's

Stern Proferpine relented,

prayer:

And

gave him back the fair.

85

Thus fong could prevail

O'er death, and o'er hell,

A conqueft how hard and how glorious?

Tho' fate had faft bound her

With Styx nine times round her,

Yet mufic and love were victorious,

90

VI.

But foon, too foon, the lover turns his

Again the falls, again fhe dies, fhe dies!

eyes:

How wilt thou now the fatal fifters move?

No crime was thine, if 'tis no crime to love. 95

Now under hanging mountains,

Befide the falls of fountains,

Or where Hebrus wanders,

Rolling in Mæanders,

Amidst Rhodope's fnows:

See, wild as the winds, o'er the defert he flies; Hark! Hæmus refounds with the Bacchanals cries-

Ah fee, he dies!

Yet ev'n in death Eurydice he sung,

Eurydice still trembled on his tongue,

III

Eurydice the woods,

Eurydice the floods,

115

Eurydice the rocks, and hollow mountains rung.

VII.

Mufic the fiercest grief can charm,

And fate's fevereft rage difarm:

Mufic can soften pain to ease,

And make despair and madness please :
Our joys below it can improve,

And antedate the blifs above.

This the divine Cecilia found,

120

And to her Maker's praise confin'd the found. 125
When the full organ joins the tuneful quire,
Th'immortal pow'rs incline their ear;
Borne on the fwelling notes our fouls afpire,
While folemn airs improve the facred fire;

And Angels lean from heav'n to hear.
Of Orpheus now no more let Poets tell,
To bright Cecilia greater power is giv'n;

His numbers rais'd a fhade from hell,
Hers lift the foul to heav'n.

139

TWO

CHORUS'S

YE

TO THE

Tragedy of BRUTUS.

CHORUS of ATHENIANS.

STROPHE I.

E fhades, where facred truth is fought;
Groves, where immortal Sages taught:
Where heav'nly vifions Plato fir'd,
And Epicurus lay infpir'd!

In vain your guiltless laurels stood

Unfpotted long with human blood.

5

War, horrid war, your thoughtful walks invades, And steel now glitters in the Muses shades.

REMARKS.

THESE two Chorus's were compofed to enrich a very poor Play; but they had the ufual effect of ill-adjusted Ornaments, only to make its meannefs the more confpicuous.

* Altered from Shakespear by the Duke of Buckingham, at whose defire thefe 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 Buckinghamhouse. P.

VER. 3. Where heavenly Vifions Plato fir'd, And Epicurus, lay infpir'd!] The propriety of thefe lines arifes from hence, that Brutus, one of the Heroes of this Play, was of the Old Academy; and Caffius, the other, was an Epicurean; but this had not been enough to juftify the Poet's choice, had not Plato's fyftem of Divinity, and Epicurus's fyftem of Morals, been the moft rational amongst the various fects of Greek Philofophy.