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Mufic can foften 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,

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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 pow'r is giv❜n;
His numbers rais'd a fhade from hell,

Her's lift the foul to heav'n.

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TWO

CHORUS'S

CH

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Tragedy of BRUTUSa.

Y

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 inspir'd!

In vain your guiltless laurels ftood
Unfpotted long with human blood.

NOTES.

5

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

cuous.

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.

VER. 3. Where heav'nly 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

War, horrid war, your thoughtful Walks invades, And steel now glitters in the Mufes fhades.

ANTIS TROPHE I.

Oh heav'n-born fifters! fource of art!'

Who charm the fenfe, or mend the heart; 10
Who lead fair Virtue's train along,

Moral Truth, and mystic Song !

To what new clime, what distant sky,
Forfaken, friendlefs, fhall ye fly?
Say, will ye blefs 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 duft;
Perhaps ev'n Britain's utmost shore
Shall ceafe to blush with ftranger's gore,
See Arts her favage fons controul,

And Athens rifing near the pole!

'Till some new Tyrant lifts his purple hand, And civil madnefs tears them from the land.

NOTES.

15

20

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.

VER. 12. Moral truth AND myftic fong!] He had expreffed himself better had he said,

"Moral truth IN myftic fong!

In the Antistrophe he turns from Philofophy to Mythology ; and Mythology is nothing but moral truth in myftic fong.

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 flaves.
Oh curs'd effects of civil hate,

In ev'ry age, in ev'ry state!

Still, when the luft of tyrant pow'r fucceeds,
Some Athens perishes, fome Tully bleeds.

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CHORUS of Youths and Virgins.

SEMICHORUS.

H Tyrant Love! haft thou poffeft

The prudent, learn'd, and virtuous breast?
Wisdom and wit in vain reclaim,

And Arts but foften us to feel thy flame.
Love, foft intruder, enters here,

But entring learns to be fincere.
Marcus with blushes owns he loves,
And Brutus tenderly reproves.

Why, Virtue, doft thou blame defire,
Which Nature has impreft?
Why, Nature, doft thou fooneft fire
The mild and gen'rous breaft?

CHORU S.

Love's purer flames the Gods approve ;
The Gods and Brutus bend to love :

Brutus for absent Portia fighs,

And fterner Caffius melts at Junia's eyes.
What is loofe love? a tranfient gust,
Spent in a fudden ftorm of luft,

A vapour fed from wild defire,

A wand'ring, felf-confuming fire.
But Hymen's kinder flames unite ;

And burn for ever one;

Chafte as cold Cynthia's virgin light,

Productive as the Sun.

NOTES.

5

ΙΟ

15

20

VER. 9. Why Virtue, etc.] In allufion to that famous

conceit of Guarini,

"Se il peccare è sì dolce, etc.

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