With ravish'd soul, and looks amaz'd, Upon her beauteous face he gaz'd;

Nor made his amorous complaint: In vain her eyes his heart had charm'd, Her heavenly voice her eyes disarm'd, And chang'd the lover to a saint.

GRAND CHORUS.

And now the choir complete rejoices,
With trembling strings and melting voices.
The tuneful ferment rises high,
And works with mingled melody:
Quick divisions run their rounds,

A thousand trills and quivering sounds
In airy circles o'er us fly,

Till, wafted by a gentle breeze,
They faint and languish by degrees,
And at a distance die.

AN ODE.

THE spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,

And spangled Heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.

Th' unweary'd Sun from day to day
Does his Creator's power display;
And publishes, to every land,
The work of an almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades préváil,
The Moon takes up the wonderous tale;
And hightly, to the listening Earth,
Repeats the story of her birth:

Whilst all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets, in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole,

What though, in solemn silence, all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball;"
What though, no real voice, nor sound
Amidst their radiant orbs be found:
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice;
For ever singing as they shine:
"The hand that made us is divine."

When in the slippery paths of youth
With beedless steps I ran,
Thine arm unseen convey'd me safe,
And led me up to man.

Through hidden dangers, toils, and death,
It gently clear'd my way;

And through the pleasing snares of vice,
More to be fear'd than they.

When worn with sickness, oft hast thow
With health renew'd my face;
And when in sins and sorrow sunk,
Reviv'd my soul with grace.

Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss
Has made my cup run o'er,

And in a kind and faithful friend
Has doubled all my store.

Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ;
Nor is the least a cheerful heart,
That tastes those gifts with joy.

Through every period of my life,
Thy goodness I'll pursue;

And after death, in distant worlds,
The glorious theme renew.

When nature fails, and day and night
Divide thy works no more,
My ever-grateful heart, O Lord,
Thy mercy shall adore.

Through all eternity, to thee

A joyful song I'll raise; For, oh! eternity's too short To utter all thy praise,

AN ODE.

How are thy servants blest, O Lord!
How sure is their defence!
Eternal wisdom is their guide,
Their help Omnipotence.

In foreign realms, and lands remote,
Supported by thy care,

Through burning climes I pass'd unhurt,
And breath'd in tainted air.

Thy mercy sweeten'd every soil,
Made every region please;
The hoary Alpine hills it warın'd,
And smooth'd the Tyrrbene seas♪!
Think, O my soul, devoutly think,
How, with affrighted eyes,
Thou saw'st the wide-extended deep
In all its horrours rise,

Confusion dwelt in every face,
And fear in every hearty

When waves on waves, and gulphs on gulphs,

O'ercame the pilot's art.

Yet then from all my griefs, O Lord,
Thy mercy set me free;
Whilst, in the confidence of prayer,
My soul took hold on thee.

For though in dreadful whirls we hung
High on the broken wave,

I knew thou wert not slow to hear,
Nor impotent to save.

The storm was laid, the winds retir'd,
Obedient to thy will;

The sea that roar'd at thy command,
At thy command was still.

In midst of dangers, fears, and death,
Thy goodness I'll adore;

And praise thee for thy mercies past,
And humbly hope for more.
My life, if thou preserv'st my life,
Thy sacrifice shall be;
And death, if death must be
Shall join my soul to thee.

**AN HYMN.

my

doom,

WHEN rising from the bed of death,
O'erwhelm'd with guilt and fear,
I see my Maker face to face;
O how shall I appear!

If yet, while pardon may be found,
And mercy may be sought,

हूँ

prise, S1-12 to Pusus bun 22šulená sikdi«[ TO And thundering claps and dreadful hissings rise. Here thrifty Rhires monarchs by the day, And keeps his mercenary kings in pay, 411 With deep-mouth'd actors fills the vacant seenes, And rakes the stews for goddesses and queens. Here the lewd punk, with crowns and sceptres Teaches her eyes a more majestic

And hungry monarchs with a nust grac'd,

train Of suppliant slaves, like Sancho, starve and reign.

T

But enter in, my Muse; the stage survey, ΣΠΑ And all its pomp and pageantry display, Trap-doors and pit-falls, form th unfaithful ground, And magic walls encompass it around On either side maim'd temples fill our eyes, And intermixt with brothel-houses rise, Disjointed palaces in order stand, And groves obedient to the mover's hand b A O'ershade the stage, and flourish at command. A stamp makes broken towns and trees entire: So when Amphion struck the vocal lyre, Didon A He saw the spacious circuit all around, 20an bek With crowding woods and rising cities crown'd. T But next the tiring-room survey, and see T Fals titles, and promiscuous quality, we Confusdly swarm, from heroes and from queens, To those that swing in clouds and fill machines. Their various characters they choose with art, The frowning bully fits the tyrant's part: Swoln cheeks and swaggering belly make an host, Pale meagre looks and hollow voice a ghost; From careful brows and heavy downcast eyes, Dull cits and thick-scall'd aldermen arise: m The comic tone, inspir'd by Congreve draws At every word, Iloud laughter and applause: The whining dame continues as before," Her character unchang'd, and acts a whore.

b.A

T

Above the rest, the prince with haughty stalks
Magnificent in purple buskins walks:
The royal robes his awful shoulders grace,
Profuse of spangles and of copper-lace:
Officious rascals to his mighty thigh,
Guiltless of blood, the unpointed weapon tie:
Then the gay glittering diadem put on,
Ponderous with brass, and starr'd with Bristol-
stone!'

His royal consort next consults her glass,
And out of twenty boxes culls 'a face;

The whitening first her ghastly looks besmears,
All pale and wan th3 unfinish'd form appears;
Till on her cheeks the blushing purple glows,
And a false virgin-modesty bestows.
Her ruddy lips the deep vermilion dyes;
Length to her brows the pencil's art supplies,
And with black bending arches shades her eyes.
Well pleas'd at length the picture she beholds,
And spots it o'er with artificial molds;

Her countenance complete, the beaux she warms
With looks not hers; and, spite of nature, charms.
Thus artfully their persons they disguise,
Till the last flourish bids the curtain rise.
The prince then enters on the stage in state;
Behind, a guard of candle-snuffers wait:
There swoln with empire, terrible and fierce,
He shakes the dome, and tears his lungs with verse:
His subjects tremble; the submissive pit,
Wrapt up in silence and attention, sit;
Till, freed at length, he lays aside the weight
Of public business and affairs of state;
Forgets his pomp, dead to ambitious fires,
And to some peaceful brandy-shop retires;
Where in full gills his anxious thoughts he drowns,
And quaffs away the care that waits on crowns.

The princess next her painted charms displays,
Where every look the pencil's art betrays;
The callow squire at distance feeds his eyes,
And silently for paint and washes dies:
But if the youth behind the scenes retreat,
He sees the blended colours melt with heat,
And all the trickling beauty run in sweat.
The borrow'd visage, he admires no more,
And nauseates every charm he lov'd before:
So the fam'd spear, for double force renown'd,
Apply'd the remedy that gave the wound.

In tedious lists, 'twere endless to engage, And draw at length the rabble of the stage, Where one for twenty years has giv'n alarms, And call'd contending monarchs to their arms; ▲ Another fills a more important post, And rises every other night a ghost;

TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRIN-
CESS OF WALES.

WITH THE TRAGEDY OF CATO, NOVEMBER 1714,
THE Muse that oft, with sacred rapture fir'd,
Has generous thoughts of liberty inspir'd,
And, boldly rising for Britannia's laws,
Engag'd great Cato in her country's cause,
On you submissive waits with hopes assur'd,
By whom the mighty blessings stand secur'd;
And all the glories, that our age-adorn,
Are promis'd to a people yet unborn,

No longer shall the widow'd land bemoan
A broken lineage, and a doubtful throne;
But boast her royal progeny's increase,
And count the pledges of her future peace.
O born to strengthen and to grace our isle!
While you, fair princess, in your offspring smile,
Supplying charms to the succeeding age,
Each heavenly daughter's triumphs we presage;
Already see th' illustrions youths complain,
And pity monarchs doom'd to sigh in vain.

Thou too, the darling of our fond desires, Whom Albiou, opening wide her arms, requires, With manly valour and attractive air, Shalt quell the fierce, and captivate the fair. O England's younger hope! in whom conspire The mother's sweetness, and the father's fire! For thee perhaps, ev'n now, of kingly race Some dawning beauty blooms in every grace; Some Carolina, to Heaven's dictates true, Who, while the scepter'd rivals vainly sue, Thy inborn worth with conscious eyes shall see, And slight th' imperial diadem for thee.

Pleas'd with the prospect of successive reigns, The tuneful tribe no more in daring strains

Shall vindicate, with pious fears opprest,
Endanger'd rights, and liberty distrest:
To milder sounds each Muse shall tune the lyre,
And gratitude and faith to kings inspire,
And filial love; bid impious discord cease,
And sooth the madding factions into peace;
Or rise ambitious in more lofty lays,

And teach the nation their new monarch's praise,
Describe his awful look, and godlike mind,
And Caesar's power with Cato's virtue join'd.
Meanwhile, bright princess, who, with grateful

ease

And native majesty, are form'd to please,
Behold those arts with a propitious eye,
That suppliant to their great protectress fly!
Then shall they triumph, and the British stage
Improve her manners, and refine her rage,
More noble characters expose to view,
And draw her finish'd heroines from you.
Nor you the kind indulgence will refuse,
Skill'd in the labours of the deathless Muse:
The deathless Muse, with undiminish'd rays,
Through distant times the lovely dame conveys:
To Gloriana Waller's harp was strung;
The queen still shines, because the poet sung.
Ev'n all those graces, in your frame combin'd,
The common fate of mortal charms may find
(Content our short-liv'd praises to engage,
The joy and wonder of a single age),
Unless some poet, in a lasting song,
To late posterity their fame prolong,
Instruct our sons the radiant form to prize,
And see your beauty with their fathers' eyes,

VERSES

TO THE AUTHOR OF THE TRAGEDY OF CATO.

WHILE
you the fierce divided Britons awe,
And Cato with an equal virtue draw;
While envy is itself in wonder lost,
And factions strive who shall applaud you most;
Forgive the fond ambition of a friend,
Who hopes himself, not you, to recommend
And joins th' applause which all the learn'd bestow
On one, to whom a perfect work they owe.
To my light scenes I once inscrib'd your name,
And impotently strove to borrow fame;
Soon will that die, which adds thy name to mine;
Let me, then, live, join'd to a work of thine.
Richard Steele.

Sullen approv'd, too obstinate to melt,
And sicken'd with the pleasures which they felt
Not so the fair their passions secret kept,
Silent they heard, but, as they heard, they wept;
When gloriously the blooming Marcus dy'd,
And Cato told the gods, "I'm satisfy'd."

See! how your lays the British youth inflame!
They long to shoot and ripen into fame;
Applauding theatres disturb their rest,'
And unborn Catoes heave in every breast;
Their nightly dreams, their daily thoughts repeat,
And pulses high with fancy'd glories beat.
So, griev'd to view the Marathonian spoils,
The young Themistocles vow'd equal toils;
Did then his schemes of future honours draw
From the long triumphs which with tears he saw,
How shall I your unrival'd worth proclaim,
Lost in the spreading circle of your fame!
We saw you the great William's praise rehearse,
And paint Britannia's joys in Roman verse.
We heard at distance soft enchanting strains,
From blooming mountains, and Italian plains.
Virgil began in English dress to shine,
His voice, his looks, his grandeur, still divine:
From him too soon unfriendly you withdrew,
But brought the tuneful Ovid to our view..
Then the delightful theme of every tongue,
Th' immortal Marlborough, was your darling song.
From clime to clime the mighty victor flew,
From clime to clime as swiftly you pursue,
Still with the hero's glow'd the poet's flame,
Still with his conquests you enlarg'd your fame.
With boundless raptures here the Muse could
swell,

And on your Rosamond for ever dwell:
There opening sweets and every fragrant flower
Luxuriant smile, a never-fading bower!
Next, human follies kindly to expose,

You change from numbers, but not sink in prose
Whether in visionary scenes you play,
Refine our tastes, or laugh our crimes away.
Now, by the buskin'd Muse you shine confesta
The patriot kindles in the poet's breast.
Such energy of sense might pleasure raise,
Though unembellish'd with the charms of phrase:
Such charms of phrase would with success be
crown'd,

1

Though nonsense flow'd in the melodious sound.
The learn'd themselves pot uninstructed hear.
The chastest virgin needs no blushes fear,
The libertine, in pleasures us'd to roll,
And idly sport with an immortal soul,
Here comes, and, by the virtuous beathen taught,
Turns pale, and trembles at the dreadful thought
Whene'er you traverse vast Numidia's plains,
What sluggish Briton in his isle remains!
When Juba seeks the tiger with delight,
We beat the thicket, and provoke the fight;'
By the description warm'd, we fondly sweat,
And in the chilling east wind pant with heat.
What eyes behold not, how the stream refines,
Till by degrees the floating mirror shines?
While hurricanes in circling eddies play, ཨཽ ན་ ིི་སྣ་སྦྱིན
Tear up the sands, and sweep whole plains away,
We shrink with horrour, and confess our fear,
And all the sudden sounding ruin hear.'
When royal robes, distain'd with blood, deceive,
And make poor Marcia beautifully grieve';
When she her secret thoughts no more conceals
Forgets the woman, and her flame reveals;