Amidst the blaze of jewels and of gold,
Adorn a throne, and dignify dominion!
Why all this glare of splendid eloquence,
To paint the pageantries of guilty state?
Must I for these renounce the hope of Heav'n,
Immortal crowns, and fulness of enjoyment?
Vain raptures all-For your inferiour natures,
Form'd to delight, and happy by delighting,
Heav'n has reserv'd no future paradise,
But bids you rove the paths of bliss, secure
Of total death, and careless of hereafter;
While Heaven's high Minister, whose awful volume,
Records each act, each thought of sov'reign man,
Surveys your plays with inattentive glance,
And leaves the lovely trifler unregarded.
Why then has Nature's vain munificence
Profusely pour'd her bounties upon woman?
Whence then those charms thy tongue has deign'd to
flatter,
That air resistless, and enchanting blush,
Unless the beauteous fabrick was design'd
A habitation for a fairer soul?
Too high, bright maid, thou rat'st exteriour grace:
Not always do the fairest flowers diffuse
The richest odours, nor the speckled shells
Conceal the gem; let female arrogance
Observe the feather'd wand'rers of the sky;
With purple varied and bedropp'd with gold,
They prune the wing, and spread the glossy plumes, Ordain'd, like you, to flutter and to shine,
And cheer the weary passenger with musick.
Mean as we are, this tyrant of the world
Implores our smiles, and trembles at our feet.
Whence flow the hopes and fears, despair and rapture,
Whence all the bliss and agonies of love?
Why, when the balm of sleep descends on man,
Do gay delusions, wand'ring o'er the brain,
Sooth the delighted soul with empty bliss?
To want give affluence? and to slav'ry freedom?
Such are love's joys, the lenitives of life,
A fancy'd treasure and a waking dream.
Then let me once, in honour of our sex,
Assume the boastful arrogance of man.
Th' attractive softness, and th' endearing smile,
And pow'rful glance, 'tis granted are our own;
Nor has impartial Nature's frugal hand
Exhausted all her nobler gifts on you.
Do not we share the comprehensive thought,
Th' enlivening wit, the penetrating reason?
Beats not the female breast with gen'rous passions,
The thirst of empire, and the love of glory?
Illustrious maid, new wonders fix me thine,
Thy soul completes the triumphs of thy face.
I thought (forgive, my Fair), the noblest aim,
The strongest effort of a female soul,
Was but to choose the graces of the day,
To tune the tongue, to teach the eye to roll,
Dispose the colours of the flowing robe,
And add new roses to the faded cheek.
Will it not charm a mind like thine exalted,
To shine the goddess of applauding nations,
To scatter happiness and plenty round thee,
To bid the prostrate captive rise and live,
To see new cities tow'r at thy command,
And blasted kingdoms flourish at thy smile?
Charm'd with the thought of blessing human kind,
Too calm I listen to the flatt'ring sounds.
O seize the pow'r to bless-Irene's, nod
Shall break the fetters of the groaning Christian;
Greece, in her lovely patroness secure,
Shall mourn no more her plunder'd palaces.
Forbear-O do not urge me to my ruin!
To state and pow'r I court thee, not to ruin :
Smile on my wishes, and command the globe.
Security shail spread her shield before thee,
And love infold thee with his downy wings.
If greatness please thee, mount th' imperial seat;
If pleasure charm thee, view this soft retreat;
Here ev'ry warbler of the sky shall sing;
Here ev'ry fragrance breathe of ev'ry spring:
To deck these bow'rs each region shall combine,
And e'en our Prophet's gardens envy thine:
Empire and love shall share the blissful day,
And varied life steal unperceiv'd away.
[CALI enters with a discontented Air; to him enters ABDALLA.]
Is this the fierce conspirator Abdalla ?
Is this the restless diligence of treason?
Where hast thou linger'd while th' encumber'd hours
Fly lab'ring with the fate of future nations,
And hungry slaughter scents imperial blood?
Some petty passion! some domestic trifle !
Some vain amusement of a vacant soul!
A weeping wife, perhaps, or dying friend,
Hung on your neck, and hinder'd your departure.
Is this a time for softness or for sorrow?
Unprofitable, peaceful, female. virtues!
When eager vengeance shows a naked foe,
And kind Ambition points the way to greatness.
Must then ambition's votaries infringe
The laws of kindness, break the bonds of nature, And quit the names of brother, friend, and father?
This sovreign passion, scornful of restraint,
E'en from the birth affects supreme command,
Swells in the breast, and with resistless force
O'erbears each gentler motion of the mind.
As when a deluge overspreads the plains,
The wand'ring rivulet, and silver lake,
Mix undistinguish'd in the gen'ral roar.
Yet can Ambition in Abdalla's breast
Claim but the second place: there mighty Love. Has fix'd his hopes, inquietudes, and fears,
His glowing wishes, and his jealous pangs..
Love is indeed the privilege of youth;
Yet on a day like this, when expectation
Pants for the dread event-But let us reason-
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