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890.-TO THE PASSIONS.

When Music, heavenly maid, was young,
While yet in early Greece she sung,
The Passions oft, to hear her shell,
Throng'd around her magic cell,
Exulting, trembling, raging, fainting,
Possess'd beyond the Muse's painting,
By turns they felt the glowing mind
Disturb'd, delighted, raised, refined;
Till once, 'tis said, when all were fired,
Fill'd with fury, rapt, inspired,
From the supporting myrtles round
They snatch'd her instruments of sound;
And, as they oft had heard apart
Sweet lessons of her forceful art,
Each (for Madness ruled the hour,
Would prove his own expressive power.

First Fear his hand, its skill to try,
Amid the chords bewilder'd laid,
And back recoil'd, he knew not why,

E'en at the sound himself had made.

Next Anger rush'd; his eyes on fire,

In lightnings own'd his secret stings:
In one rude clash he struck the lyre,

And swept with hurried hand the strings.

With woeful measures wan Despair

Low, sullen sounds his grief beguiled;
A solemn, strange, and mingled air,

'Twas sad by fits, by starts 'twas wild.

But thou, O Hope, with eyes so fair,

What was thy delighted measure? Still it whisper'd promised pleasure,

And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail!

Still would her touch the strain prolong;

And from the rocks, the woods, the vale, She call'd on Echo still, through all the song; And, where her sweetest theme she chose, A soft responsive voice was heard at every close,

And Hope enchanted smiled, and waved her golden hair.

And longer had she sung;-but, with a frown, Revenge impatient rose:

He threw his blood-stain'd sword, in thunder,

down;

And with a withering look,
The war-denouncing trumpet took,
And blew a blast so loud and dread,

Were ne'er prophetic sounds so full of woe!

And, ever and anon, he beat

The doubling drum, with furious heat; And though sometimes, each dreary pause between,

Dejected Pity, at his side,

Her soul-subduing voice applied,

Yet still he kept his wild unalter'd mien, While each strain'd ball of sight seem'd bursting from his head.

Thy numbers, Jealousy, to nought were fix'd; Sad proof of thy distressful state;

Of differing themes the veering song was mix'd;

And now it courted Love, now raving call'd on Hate.

With eyes up-raised, as one inspired,

Pale Melancholy sate retired,

And, from her wild sequester'd seat,

In notes by distance made more sweet,

Pour'd through the mellow horn her pensive soul:

And, dashing soft from rocks around, Bubbling runnels join'd the sound; Through glades and glooms the mingled measure stole,

Or, o'er some haunted stream, with fond delay,

Round an holy calm diffusing,

Love of Peace, and lonely musing,

In hollow murmurs died away.

But O how alter'd was its sprightlier tone,

When Cheerfulness, a nymph of healthiest hue,

Her bow across her shoulder flung,

Her buskins gemm'd with morning dew, Blew an inspiring air, that dale and thicket rung,

The hunter's call, to Faun and Dryad known!

The oak-crown'd Sisters, and their chasteeyed Queen,

Satyrs and Sylvan Boys were seen,

Peeping from forth their alleys green : Brown Exercise rejoiced to hear;

And Sport leapt up, and seized his beechen spear.

Last came Joy's ecstatic trial:
He, with viny crown advancing,

First to the lively pipe his hand addrest; But soon he saw the brisk-awakening viol, Whose sweet entrancing voice he loved the best;

They would have thought who heard the strain

They saw, in Tempé's vale, her native maids,

Amidst the festal sounding shades,

To some unwearied minstrel dancing, While, as his flying fingers kiss'd the strings,

Love framed with Mirth a gay fantastic round:

Loose were her tresses seen, her zone un

bound;

And he, amidst his frolic play,

As if he would the charming air repay, Shook thousand odours from his dewy wings.

O Music! sphere-descended maid,
Friend of Pleasure, Wisdom's aid!
Why, goddess! why, to us denied,
Lay'st thou thy ancient lyre aside?
As, in that loved Athenian bower,
You learn'd an all-commanding power,
Thy mimic soul, O Nymph endear'd,
Can well recall what then it heard;
Where is thy native simple heart,
Devote to Virtue, Fancy, Art?
Arise, as in that elder time,
Warm, energetic, chaste, sublime!
Thy wonders, in that god-like age,
Fill thy recording sister's page-
'Tis said, and I believe the tale,
Thy humblest reed could more prevail,
Had more of strength, diviner rage,
Than all which charms this laggard age;
E'en all at once together found,
Cæcilia's mingled world of sound-
O bid our vain endeavour cease;
Revive the just designs of Greece:
Return in all thy simple state!

Confirm the tales her sons relate!

William Collins.-Born 1720, Died 1756.

891.-DIRGE IN CYMBELINE.

To fair Fidele's grassy tomb

Soft maids and village hinds shall bring
Each opening sweet of earliest bloom,
And rifle all the breathing Spring.

No wailing ghost shall dare appear
To vex with shrieks this quiet grove;
But shepherd lads assemble here,

And melting virgins own their love.

No wither'd witch shall here be seen;

No goblins lead their nightly crew: The female Fays shall haunt the green, And dress thy grave with pearly dew!

The redbreast oft, at evening hours,

Shall kindly lend his little aid,
With hoary moss and gather'd flowers,

To deck the ground where thou art laid.

When howling winds, and beating rain,
In tempests shake the sylvan cell;
Or 'midst the chase, on every plain,

The tender thought on thee shall dwell;

Each lonely scene shall thee restore;
For thee the tear be duly shed;
Beloved till life can charm no more,
And mourn'd till Pity's self be dead.
William Collins.-Born 1720, Died 1756.

892.-ODE ON THE DEATH OF
THOMSON.

In yonder grave a Druid lies,

Where slowly winds the stealing wave;
The year's best sweets shall duteous rise,
To deck its poet's sylvan grave.

In yon deep bed of whispering reeds
His airy harp shall now be laid,
That he, whose heart in sorrow bleeds,
May love through life the soothing shade.

Then maids and youths shall linger here,
And, while its sounds at distance swell,
Shall sadly seem in Pity's ear

To hear the woodland pilgrim's knell.

Remembrance oft shall haunt the shore
When Thames in summer wreaths is drest,
And oft suspend the dashing oar
To bid the gentle spirit rest!

And oft, as Ease and Health retire
To breezy lawn, or forest deep,
The friend shall view yon whitening spire
And 'mid the varied landscape weep.
But thou, who own'st that earthy bed,
Ah! what will every dirge avail;
Or, tears, which Love and Pity shed,

That mourn beneath the gliding sail?

Yet lives there one, whose heedless eye

Shall scorn thy pale shrine glimmering

near? With him, sweet bard, may Fancy die, And joy desert the blooming year.

But thou, lorn stream, whose sullen tide
No sedge-crown'd sisters now attend,
Now waft me from the green hill's side,
Whose cold turf hides the buried friend!
And see, the fairy valleys fade;

Dun Night has veil'd the solemn view!
Yet once again, dear parted shade,
Meek Nature's child, again adieu!

The genial meads assign'd to bless

Thy life, shall mourn thy early doom; Their hinds and shepherd-girls shall dress, With simple hands, thy rural tomb.

Long, long, thy stone and pointed clay

Shall melt the musing Briton's eyes: "Oh! vales and wild woods," shall he say, "In yonder grave your Druid lies!" William Collins.-Born 1720, Died 1756.

893.-THE SCHOOL-MISTRESS.

Ah me! full sorely is my heart forlorn,
To think how modest Worth - neglected

lies

While partial Fame doth with her blasts adorn

Such deeds alone, as pride and pomp disguise;

Deeds of ill sort, and mischievous emprise : Lend me thy clarion, goddess! let me try To sound the praise of Merit, ere it dies, Such as I oft have chaunced to espy, Lost in the dreary shades of dull Obscurity.

In every village mark'd with little spire, Embower'd in trees, and hardly known to Fame,

There dwells in lowly shed, and mean attire,

A matron old, whom we School-mistress

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And work the simple vassals mickle woe; For not a wind might curl the leaves that blew,

But their limbs shudder'd and their pulse beat low;

And as they look'd they found their horrour grew,

And shaped it into rods, and tingled at the view.

So have I seen (who has not, may conceive)
A lifeless phantom near a garden placed;
So doth it wanton birds of peace bereave,
Of sport, of song, of pleasure, of repast;
They start, they stare, they wheel, they
look aghast ;

Sad servitude! such comfortless annoy
May no bold Briton's riper age e'er taste!
Ne superstition clog his dance of joy,
Ne vision empty, vain, his native bliss destroy.

Near to this dome is found a patch so

green,

On which the tribe their gambols do display;

And at the door imprisoning-board is seen,
Lest weakly wights of smaller size should
stray;

Eager, perdie, to bask in sunny day!
The noises intermixed, which thence re-
sound,

Do Learning's little tenement betray;
Where sits the dame, disguised in look
profound,

And eyes her fairy throng, and turns her wheel around.

Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow,
Emblem right meet of decency does yield:
Her apron dyed in grain, as blue, I trowe,
As is the hare-bell that adorns the field:
And in her hand, for sceptre, she does
wield

Tway birchen sprays; with anxious fear
entwined,

With dark distrust, and sad repentance fill'd; And stedfast hate, and sharp affliction join'd,

And fury uncontroul'd, and chastisement unkind.

Few but have ken'd, in semblance meet
pourtray'd,

The childish faces of old Eol's train;
Libs, Notus, Auster: these in frowns
array'd,

How then would fare or Earth, or Sky, or
Main,

Were the stern god to give his slaves the
rein?

And were not she rebellious breasts to quell,

And were not she her statutes to maintain, The cot no more, I ween, were deem'd the cell,

Where comely peace of mind, and decent order

dwell.

A russet stole was o'er her shoulders thrown ;

A russet kirtle fenced the nipping air; 'Twas simple russet, but it was her own; 'Twas her own country bred the flock so fair!

'Twas her Own labour did the fleece prepare;

And, sooth to say, her pupils, ranged around,

Through pious awe, did term it passing

rare;

For they in gaping wonderment abound, And think, no doubt, she been the greatest wight on ground.

Albeit ne flattery did corrupt her truth,
Ne pompous title did debauch her ear;
Goody, good-woman, gossip, n'aunt for-
sooth,

Or dame, the sole additions she did hear; Yet these she challenged, these she held right dear:

Ne would esteem him act as mought behove,

Who should not honour'd eld with these

revere:

For never title yet so mean could prove, But there was eke a mind which did that title love.

One ancient hen she took delight to feed, The plodding pattern of the busy dame; Which, ever and anon, impell'd by need, Into her school, begirt with chickens, came! Such favour did her past deportment claim :

And, if Neglect had lavish'd on the ground Fragment of bread, she would collect the

same;

For well she knew, and quaintly could expound,

What sin it were to waste the smallest crumb she found.

Herbs too she knew, and well of each could speak

That in her garden sipp'd the silvery dew; Where no vain flower disclosed a gaudy streak ;

But herbs for use, and physic, not a few, Of grey renown, within those borders grew : The tufted basil, pun-provoking thyme, Fresh baum, and marygold of cheerful hue; The lowly gill, that never dares to climb; And more I fain would sing, disdaining here to rhyme.

Yet euphrasy may not be left unsung,

That gives dim eyes to wander leagues around;

And pungent radish, biting infants' tongue; And plantain ribb'd, that heals the reaper's wound;

And marjoram sweet, in shepherd's posie found;

And lavender, whose spikes of azure bloom Shall be, ere-while, in arid bundles bound, To lurk amidst the labours of her loom, And crown her kerchiefs clean, with mickle rare perfume.

And here trim rosemarine, that whilom crown'd

The daintiest garden of the proudest peer;
Ere, driven from its envied site, it found
A sacred shelter for its branches here;
Where edged with gold its glittering skirts

appear,

Oh wassel days! O customs meet and well!

Ere this was banish'd from its lofty sphere: Simplicity then sought this humble cell, Nor ever would she more with thane and lordling dwell.

Here oft the dame, on Sabbath's decent eve,

Hymned such psalms as Sternhold forth did mete,

If winter 'twere, she to her hearth did cleave,

But in her garden found a summer-seat: Sweet melody! to hear her then repeat How Israel's sons, beneath a foreign king, While taunting foe-men did a song entreat, All, for the nonce, untuning every string, Uphung their useless lyres-small heart had they to sing.

For she was just, and friend to virtuous lore,

And pass'd much time in truly virtuous deed;

And in those elfins' ears, would oft deplore The times, when Truth by Popish rage did bleed;

And tortuous death was true Devotion's meed;

And simple Faith in iron chains did mourn, That nould on wooden image place her creed;

And lawny saints in smouldering flames did burn:

Ah! dearest Lord, forefend, thilk days should e'er return.

In elbow-chair, like that of Scottish stem By the sharp tooth of cankering eld defaced,

In which, when he receives his diadem, Our sovereign prince and liefest liege is placed,

The matron sate; and some with rank she graced,

(The source of children's and of courtiers' pride!)

edress'd affronts, for vile affronts there Rpass'd;

And warn'd them not the fretful to deride, But love each other dear, whatever them betide.

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