L A FRAGMENT. EST you should think that verse shall die, Which sounds the silver Thames along, Taught on the wings of Truth to fly Above the reach of vulgar song; Tho' daring Milton sits sublime 5 10 HOR. LIB. IV. ODE IX. NE forte credas interitura, quæ These rais'd new empires o'er the earth, And those new heav'ns and systems fram'd. In vain they schem'd, in vain they bled! They had no poet, and they died. They had no poet, and are dead. Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona Nocte, carent quia vate sacro. 16 AND OTHER PIECES OF MUSIC. [Written in the year 1708.] I. DESCEND, ye Nine ! descend and sing; The breathing instruments inspire; 5 The shrill echoes rebound;.. While in more length'd notes and slow, 10 The deep, majestic, solemn, organs blow. Gently steal upon the ear; Now louder, and yet louder rise, And fill with spreading sounds the skies. 15 Exulting in triumph now swell the bold notes, In broken air trembling, the wild music floats; The strains decay, And melt away. In a dying, dying, fall. 20 II. By Music, minds an equal temper know, If in the breast tumultuous joys arise, Music her soft assuasive voice applies; 25 Or when the soul is press'd with cares, Exalts her in enliv'ning airs. Warriors she fires with animated sounds, Pours balm into the bleeding lover's wounds; Melancholy lifts her head, Morpheus rouses from his bed, 30 But when our country's cause provokes to arms, So when the first bold vessel dar'd the seas, High on the stern the Thracian rais'd his strain, 40 While Argo saw her kindred trees 45 IV. But when thro' all th' infernal bounds, O'er all the dreary coasts! Dismal screams, Fires that glow, Shrieks of woe, 50 55 60 Sullen moans, Hollow groans, And cries of tortur'd ghosts! But, hark! he strikes the golden lyre; 65 Thy stone, O Sisyphus, stands still, And the pale spectres dance; The Furies sink upon their iron beds, And snakes uncurl'd hang list'ning round their heads. V. By the streams that ever flow, 71 75 |