Behold the messenger of MAB your Queen, Up, up ye votaries of sainted night! You that in hills, and dales, and woods delight, Weave your quaint morrice these dark oaks among, SYLPH. You too, ye Sylphs, spread your light wings, and fleet, Dance on the waters with unwetted feet; While faintly heard, when the vex'd surge is still, Enter SIREN. Ye Nereids fair, that under humming waves Follow the white sails, and the dashing oar; And you, ye Naiads, of each brook and lake, Your glassy halls and osier groves forsake, While o'er their pebbles rushing smooth and strong The gurgling rills in music pass along. A GNOME rises. Ye Gnomes, that in impenetrable rock Earth's central caverns, and rich mines unlock; Burst your deep bowers, where you behold in turn Several fantastic figures, representing Fairies, Sylphs, Gnomes, Nymphs, Salamanders, &c. enter to soft music and dance. By a SYLPH, or PARIS. SONG. Now the blue fly's gone to bed, Sprinkling dew o'er sea and land, Lullaby. The Chorus repeats the burden, when the rock closes. TO THE HON. THOMAS BRAND. BY DR. W. L. BROWN, PRINCIPAL OF MARISCHAL COLLEGE, ABERDEEN. HAPPY the man! whose wishes never roam What nature asks, to him is richly giv❜n. By prudent culture to invite the soil To pay, with bounteous gratitude, his care, To fill the part, by ruling heav'n, assign'd, A cloudless judgment, and a conscience clear. -These are the joys that wait the simple swain Bold independence elevates his soul. Above the blast of fame, the pow'r of crowns. He spurns the despot's, and the mob's control, Nor courts their smiles, nor apprehends their frowns. Solicitations' anxious hopes and fears Sweep not his bosom with alternate tides. He heeds not how the wind of favour veers, What int'rest rises, or what pow'r subsides. He sells not truth for popular applause, Nor haunts the levees of the man in place; But pleads, with dauntless voice, his country's cause, When folly blinds, or sordid arts disgrace. He traverses, with sapient eye, the fields Yet culls the sweetest flow'rs that fancy yields, Beyond this scene of trouble, doubt, and fear, Where transient joys scarce sooth our lasting pains, He looks into a region, calm and clear, Where happiness resides, and virtue reigns. Behold the messenger of MAB your Queen, Up, up ye votaries of sainted night! You that in hills, and dales, and woods delight, Weave your quaint morrice these dark oaks among, SYLPH. You too, ye Sylphs, spread your light wings, and fleet, Dance on the waters with unwetted feet; While faintly heard, when the vex'd surge is still, Enter SIREN. Ye Nereids fair, that under humming waves Follow the white sails, and the dashing oar; And you, ye Naiads, of each brook and lake, While o'er their pebbles rushing smooth and strong The gurgling rills in music pass along. A GNOME rises. Ye Gnomes, that in impenetrable rock Earth's central caverns, and rich mines unlock; |