HYMN TO THE SUN. SET BY DR. PURCELL, AND INTENDED TO BE SUNG BEFORE THEIR MAJESTIES ON NEW-YEAR'S DAY, 1693-4. WRITTEN AT THE HAGUE. LIGHT of the world, and ruler of the year, That in fair Albion thou hast seen The greatest prince, the brightest queen, That ever sav'd a land, or blest a throne, Since first thy beams were spread, or genial power was known. So may thy godhead be confest, Springing wreaths for William's brow; As his summer's youth shall shed Eternal sweets around Maria's head: From the blessings they bestow, Our times are dated, and our eras move: They govern and enlighten all below, As thou dost all above. Let our hero in the war Active and fierce, like thee, appear: Thou marchest down o'er Delos' hills confest, With all thy arrows arm'd, in all thy glory drest. Like thee, the hero does his arms employ, The raging Python to destroy, And give the injur'd nations peace and joy. From fairest years, and Time's more happy stores, Such as with friendly care have guarded Sacred to Nassau's long renown, March them again in fair array, No brighter in the year be found, Again thy godhead we implore, Great in wisdom as in power; When happy counsels were advising; Such as have lucky omens shed O'er forming laws, and empires rising; Hand in hand, a goodly train, To bless the great Eliza's reign; What fuller bliss Maria shall bestow. As the solemn hours advance, Man can ask, or Heav'n diffuse : That great Maria all those joys may know, Which, from her cares, upon her subjects flow, For thy own glory sing our sovʼreign's praise, God of verses and of days : Let all thy tuneful sons adorn Their lasting work with William's name; Take great Maria for their future theme : Nor fear they can exhaust the store, Till thou, great God, shalt lose thy double pow'r, THE LADY'S LOOKING-GLASS.1 IN IMITATION OF A GREEK IDYLLIUM. CELIA and I the other day Walk'd o'er the sand-hills to the sea: Soft fell her words, as flew the air. That she would never miss one day But, oh the change! the winds grow high; 1 See Longinus's comparison of the Odyssey to the Setting Sun. Ed. Pearce, 8vo. p. 56. "Whether Prior had the latter words in view, one cannot say; but it is difficult to conceive how the same image could be more accurately or forcibly transferred from one language to another. That lively and most agreeable writer was very fond of copying from the Grecian school, but always in such a manner as to show the master, where he even meant to imitate, of which this little poem is a beautiful instance: the learned will easily trace in the Looking-Glass of Prior the Poet and his Muse (as it may be inscribed) of Moschus. CAPRICE is the general subject of both poems, and many images of the latter are transplanted into the former." Note to Eunomus, 1774, vol. iv. p. 108. The lightning flies; the thunder roars ; Once more at least look back, said I; But when vain doubt, and groundless fear Tell me, the rising storm is nigh: Shipwreck'd, in vain to land I make; While Love and Fate still drive me back: Forc'd to dote on thee thy own way, I chide thee first, and then obey. Wretched when from thee, vex'd when nigh, I with thee, or without thee, die. |