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ODE for for MUSIC

ON

ST. CECILIA'S DAY.

I.

Efcend, ye Nine! defcend and fing;
The breathing inftruments inspire,

Wake into voice each filent string,

And fweep the founding lyre!

In a fadly-pleasing strain

Let the warbling lute complain:
Let the loud trumpet found,
'Till the roofs all around

The fhrill echos rebound:

NOTES.

5

Ode for Mufic.] This is one of the most artful as well as fublime of our Poet's fmaller compofitions. The firft ftanza expreffes the various tones and measures in mufic. The fecond defcribes their power over the feveral paffions in general. The third explains their ufe in infpiring the Heroic paffions in particular. The fourth, fifth, and fixth, their power over all nature in the fable of Orpheus's expedition to hell; which fubject of illuftration arose naturally out of the preceding mention of the Argonautic expedition, where Orpheus gives the example of the ufe of Mufic to infpire the heroic paffions. The feventh and last conclude in praife of Mufic, and the advantages of the facred above the prophane.

VER. 7. Let the loud trumpet found, etc ] Our Author, in his rules for good writing had faid, that the found fhould be an echo to the fenfe. The graces it adds to the harmony are obvious. But we should never have seen all the advantages arifing from this rule, had this ode not been written.

While in more lengthen'd notes and flow,
The deep, majeftic, folemn organs blow.
Hark! the numbers foft and clear

Gently steal upon the ear;

Now louder, and yet louder rife

And fill with spreading founds the skies;

Exulting in triumph now fwell the bold notes, In broken air, trembling, the wild mufic floats; "Till, by degrees, remote and fmall,

The ftrains decay,

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And melt away,

In a dying, dying fall.

II.

By Mufic, minds an equal temper know,

Nor fwell too high, nor fink too low. If in the breaft tumultuous joys arife, Mufic her foft, affuafive voice applies;

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Or, when the foul is prefs'd with cares,

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Lift'ning Envy drops her fnakes;

Intestine war no more our Paffions wage,

And giddy Factions hear away their rage.

NOTES.

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In which, one may venture to say, is found all the harmony that poetic found, when it comes in aid of fenfe, is capable of producing.

III.

But when our Country's caufe provokes to Arms,
How martial mufic ev'ry bofom warms!

So when the first bold veffel dar'd the feas,
High on the ftern the Thracian rais'd his ftrain,
While Argo faw her kindred trees
Defcend from Pelion to the main.
Transported demi-gods stood round,

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And men grew heroes at the found,
Enflam'd with glory's charms:

Each chief his fev'nfold shield display'd,

And half unfheath'd the fhining blade:
And feas, and rocks, and skies rebound
To arms, to arms, to arms!

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,

Hollow groans

And cries of tortur'd ghosts!

VOL. I.

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But hark! he strikes the golden lyre ;
And fee! the tortur'd ghofts refpire,

See, fhady forms advance!

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

And the pale spectres dance!

The Furies fink upon their iron beds,

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Reftore, reftore Eurydice to life:

Oh take the husband, or return the wife!

He fung, and hell consented

To hear the Poet's prayer:
Stern Proferpine relented,
And gave him back the fair.
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.

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VI.

But foon, too foon, the lover turns his eyes:
Again fhe falls, again fhe dies, fhe dies!
How wilt thou know the fatal fifters move?

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

Now under hanging mountains,

Befide the falls of fountains,

Or where Hebrus wanders,

Rolling in Mæanders,

All alone,

Unheard, unknown,
He makes his moan;
And calls her ghoft,
For ever, ever, ever loft!
Now with Furies furrounded,
Defpairing, confounded,

He trembles, he glows,

Amidft Rhodope's fnows:

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See, wild as the winds, o'er the defert he flies; 110 Hark! Hamus refounds with the Bacchanals cries

Ah fee, he dies!

Yet ev❜n in death Eurydice he fung,

Eurydice ftill trembled on his tongue,

Eurydice the woods,

Eurydice the floods,

Eurydice the rocks, and hollow mountains rung.

VII.

Mufic the fierceft grief can charm,

And fate's fevereft rage difarm,

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