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John Dryden: 1631-1700.

A Song for St Cecilia's Day.

1.

From harmony, from heavenly harmony,
This universal frame began:
When nature underneath a heap
Of jarring atoms lay,

And could not heave her head,
The tuneful voice was heard from high:
Arise, ye more than dead.'

Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry,
In order to their stations leap,
And Music's power obey.

From harmony, from heavenly harmony,
This universal frame began:

From harmony to harmony

Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in Man.

2.

What passion cannot Music raise and quell?
When Jubal struck the chorded shell,
His listening brethren stood around,
And, wondering, on their faces fell
To worship that celestial sound:

Less than a God they thought there could not dwell
Within the hollow of that shell,

That spoke so sweetly, and so well.

What passion cannot Music raise and quell?

3.

The trumpet's loud clangor

Excites us to arms,

With shrill notes of anger,

And mortal alarms.

The double double double beat

Of the thundering drum
Cries Hark! the foes come;
Charge, charge, 'tis too late to retreat.

4.

The soft complaining flute

In dying notes, discovers

The woes of hopeless lovers,

Whose dirge is whispered by the warbling lute.

5.

Sharp violins proclaim

Their jealous pangs, and desperation,

Fury, frantic indignation,

Depth of pains, and height of passion,

For the fair, disdainful dame.

6.

But oh! what art can teach,

What human voice can reach,

The sacred organ's praise?

Notes inspiring holy love,

Notes that wing their heavenly ways
To mend the choirs above.

7.

Orpheus 1 could lead the savage race;
And trees uprooted left their place,
Sequacious of the lyre;

But bright Cecilia raised the wonder higher:
When to her organ vocal breath was given,
An angel heard, and straight appeared,
Mistaking earth for heaven.

GRAND CHORUS.

As from the power of sacred lays
The spheres began to move,
And sung the great Creator's praise
To all the blessed above;

So when the last and dreadful hour
This crumbling pageant shall devour,
The trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live, the living die,
And Music shall untune the sky.

From 'The Flower and the Leaf,' a Tale from Chaucer.
Now turning from the wintry signs, the sun
His course exalted through the Ram had run,
And whirling up the skies, his chariot drove

following

Through Taurus, and the lightsome realms of love;
Where Venus from her orb descends in showers,

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To glad the ground, and paint the fields with flowers:
When first the tender blades of grass appear,
And buds, that yet the blast of Eurus 3 fear,

Stand at the door of life, and doubt to clothe the year;
Till gentle heat, and soft repeated rains,

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Make the green blood to dance within their veins ;
Then, at their call emboldened, out they come,
And swell the gems, and burst the narrow room;
Broader and broader yet, their blooms display,
Salute the welcome sun, and entertain the day.
Then from their breathing souls the sweets repair
To scent the skies, and purge the unwholesome air:
Joy spreads the heart, and, with a general song,
Spring issues out, and leads the jolly months along.
When Chanticleer the second watch had sung,
Scorning the scorner sleep, from bed I sprung;
And dressing, by the moon, in loose array,

4

Passed out in open air, preventing day,

buds

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And sought a goodly grove, as fancy led my way.
Straight as a line in beauteous order stood

going before

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Of oaks unshorn a venerable wood;

1 Orpheus is said to have been presented by Apollo with a lyre, which enchanted beasts,

trees, rocks, &c.

2 The patroness of music, and regarded as the inventor of the organ.

3 Eurus, the east wind.

4 Chanticleer, the cock, so called from his crowing so clearly.

Fresh was the grass beneath, and every tree,
At distance planted in a due degree,

Their branching arms in air with equal space
Stretched to their neighbours with a long embrace;
And the new leaves on every bough were seen,
Some ruddy coloured, some of lighter green.
The painted birds, companions of the spring,
Hopping from spray to spray, were heard to sing.
Both eyes and ears received a like delight,
Enchanting music, and a charming sight.
On Philomel1 I fixed my whole desire,
And listened for the queen of all the quire;
Fain would I hear her heavenly voice to sing;
And wanted yet an omen to the spring.
Thus as I mused, I cast aside my eye,
And saw a medlar-tree was planted nigh.
The spreading branches made a goodly show,
And full of opening blooms was every bough:
A goldfinch there I saw with gaudy pride

Of painted plumes, that hopped from side to side,
Still pecking as she passed; and still she drew
The sweets from every flower, and sucked the dew:
Sufficed at length, she warbled in her throat,
And tuned her voice to many a merry note,
But indistinct, and neither sweet nor clear,

Yet such as soothed my soul, and pleased my ear.
Her short performance was no sooner tried,
When she I sought, the nightingale, replied:
So sweet, so shrill, so variously she sung,
That the grove echoed, and the valleys rung,
And I so ravished with her heavenly note,

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I stood entranced, and had no room for thought,
But all o'erpowered with ecstasy of bliss,
Was in a pleasing dream of paradise ;

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At length I waked, and looking round the bower,

Searched every tree, and pried on every flower,

If anywhere by chance I might espy

The rural poet of the melody;

At last I found her on a laurel spray.

For still methought she sung not far away:

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Close by my side she sat, and fair in sight,

Full in a line, against her opposite,

Where stood with eglantine the laurel twined;

And both their native sweets were well conjoined.
On the green bank I sat, and listened long;
(Sitting was more convenient for the song):
Nor till her lay was ended could I move,
But wished to dwell for ever in the grove.
Only methought the time too swiftly passed,
And every note I feared would be the last.

My sight, and smell, and hearing, were employed,
And all three senses in full gust enjoyed.

1 Philomel, the nightingale.

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Joseph Addison: 1672-1719.

An Ode.

1.

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

2.

In foreign realms, and lands remote,
Supported by thy care,
Through burning climes I passed unhurt,
And breathed in tainted air.

3.

Thy mercy sweetened every soil,
Made every region please;
The hoary Alpine hills it warmed,
And smoothed the Tyrrhene seas.

4.

Think, O my soul, devoutly think,
How, with affrighted eyes,

Thou saw'st the wide-extended deep,
In all its horrors rise.

5.

Confusion dwelt on every face,

And fear in every heart;

Matthew Prior: 1664-1721.
A Simile.

Dear Thomas, didst thou never pop
Thy head into a tinman's shop?
There, Thomas, didst thou never see
('Tis but by way of simile)
A squirrel spend his little rage
In jumping round a rolling cage;
The cage, as either side turn'd up,
Striking a ring of bells at top?—
Moved in the orb, pleased with the chimes,
The foolish creature thinks he climbs:
But here or there, turn wood or wire,
He never gets two inches higher.

So fares it with those merry blades,
That frisk it under Pindus' shades.
In noble song, and lofty odes,
They tread on stars, and talk with gods;
Still dancing in an airy round,

Still pleased with their own verses' sound;
Brought back, how fast soe'er they go,
Always aspiring, always low.

John Gay: 1688-1732.
The Turkey and the Ant.

In other men we faults can spy,
And blame the mote that dims their eye,

When waves on waves, and gulfs on gulfs, Each little speck and blemish find;

O'ercame the pilot's art.

6.

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.

7.

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

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

8.

The storm was laid, the winds retired,
Obedient to thy will;

The sea, that roared at thy command,
At thy command was still.

9.

In midst of dangers, fears, and death,
Thy goodness I'll adore;
And praise thee for thy mercies past,
And humbly hope for more.
10.

My life, if thou preserv'st my life,
Thy sacrifice shall be;

And death, if death must be my doom,
Shall join my soul to thee.

To our own stronger errors blind.

A turkey, tired of common food,
Forsook the barn, and sought the wood;
Behind her ran an infant train,
Collecting here and there a grain.
'Draw near, my birds !' the mother cries;
"This hill delicious fare supplies;
Behold the busy negro race,

See millions blacken all the place!
Fear not; like me, with freedom eat;
An ant is most delightful meat.
How blessed, how envied, were our life,
Could we but 'scape the poulterer's knife!
But man, cursed man, on turkeys preys,
And Christmas shortens all our days.
Sometimes with oysters we combine,
Sometimes assist the savoury chine;
From the low peasant to the lord,
The turkey smokes on every board,
Sure men for gluttony are cursed,
Of the seven deadly sins the worst.'

An ant, who climbed beyond his reach,
Thus answered from the neighbouring
'Ere you remark another's sin, [beech:
Bid thy own conscience look within ;
Control thy more voracious bill,
Nor for a breakfast nations kill.'

Alexander Pope: 1688-1744.

The Messiah.

Ye nymphs of Solyma !1 begin the song:
To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong.
The mossy fountains and the sylvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus and the Aonian maids,
Delight no more-0 thou my voice inspire,
Who touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire!
Rapt into future times, the bard begun :
A Virgin shall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son!
From Jesse's root behold a branch arise,
Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies :
The ethereal spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top descends the mystic Dove.
Ye heavens! from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower.
The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid,
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade.

All crimes shall cease, and ancient frauds shall fail;
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale;
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend.
Swift fly the years, and rise the expected morn!
Oh, spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born!
See, nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring,
With all the incense of the breathing spring!
See lofty Lebanon his head advance!
See nodding forests on the mountains dance!
See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise,
And Carmel's flowery top perfume the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers;
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears!
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply;
The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity.
Lo! earth receives him from the bending skies;
Sink down, ye mountains; and ye valleys, rise;
With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay;
Be smooth, ye rocks: ye rapid floods, give way!
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold :
Hear him, ye deaf: and all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray,
And on the sightless eyeball pour the day:
'Tis he the obstructed paths of sound shall clear,
And bid new music charm the unfolding ear:
The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear;
From every face he wipes off every tear.
In adamantine chains shall death be bound,
And hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound.

1 Jerusalem, the Latin name of which was Hierosolyma.

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2 Pindus, a range of mountains in Northern Greece, sacred to the Muses, who are called Aonian, from their frequenting Mount Helicon in Baotia, the ancient inhabitants of which were called Aones.

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