תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

Great Heav'n! how frail thy creature man is made! How by himself infenfibly betray'd!

In our own ftrength unhappily secure,
Too little cautious of the adverse pow'r ;
And by the blast of self opinion mov❜d;
We wish to charm, and feek to be belov'd.
On pleasure's flowing brink we idly stray,
Mafters as yet of our returning way:
Seeing no danger, we difarm our mind:

And give our conduct to the waves and wind ::
Then in the flow'ry mead, or verdant fhade
To wanton dalliance negligently laid,

We wave the chaplet, and we crown the bowl;
And fmiling fee the nearer waters roll:

Till the ftrong gufts of raging paffion rife ;
'Till the dire tempest mingles earth and skies;
And fwift into the boundlefs ocean born,
Our foolish confidence too late we mourn:

Round our devoted heads the billows beat,
And from our troubl'd view the leffen'd lands retreat.
O mighty love! from thy unbounded pow'r
How fhall the human bofom reft fecure?
How shall our thought avoid the various fnare?
Or wisdom to our caution'd foul declare
The diff'rent shapes, thou pleasest to employ,
When bent to hurt, and certain to deftroy?
The haughty nymph in open beauty dreft,
To-day encounters our unguarded breaft:
She looks with majefty, and moves with state:
Unbent her foul, and in misfortune great,

She fcorns the world, and dares the rage of fate.

Here whilft we take ftern manhood for our guide,
And guard our conduct with becoming pride;
Charm'd with the courage in her action fhown,
We praise her mind, the image of our own.
She that can please is certain to perfuade:
To-day belov'd, to-morrow is obey'd.

We think we fee through reafon's optics right;
Nor find, how beauty's rays elude our fight:
Struck with her eye, whilft we applaud her mind;
And when we fpeak her great, we wish her kind.
To-morrow, cruel pow'r, thou arm'ft the fair
With flowing forrow, and difhevel'd hair;
Sad her complaint, and humble is her tale,
Her fighs explaining where her accents fail.
Her gen'rous foftnefs warms the honeft breaft':
We raise the fad, and fuccour the diftrefs'd:
And whilft our wish prepares the kind relief;
Whilft pity mitigates her rifing grief:
We ficken foon from her contagious care;
Grieve for her forrows, groan for her despair;
And against love too late thofe bofoms arm,
Which tears can soften, and which fighs can warm.
Against this nearest crueleft of foes,

What shall wit meditate, or force oppose?
Whence, feeble nature, fhall we fummon aid;
If by our pity, and our pride betray'd?

External remedy fhall we hope to find,

When the close fiend has gain'd our treach'rous mind;
Infulting there does reafon's pow'r deride;
And blind himself, conducts the dazzled guide ?
My conqu'ror now, my lovely Abra, held.
My freedom in her chains; my heart was fill'd

With her, with her alone: in her alone

It fought its peace and joy: while fhe was gone,. It figh'd, and griev'd, impatient of her ftay: Return'd, the chas'd thofe fighs, that grief away: Her absence made the night: her prefence brought the day.

The ball, the play, the mafk by turns fucceed. For her. I make the fong: the dance with her I lead I court her various in each fhape and dress, That luxury may form, or thought exprefs.

[ocr errors]

To-day beneath the palm-tree on the plains
In Deborah's arms and habit Abra reigns:
The wreath denoting conqueft guides her brow
And low, like Barak, at her feet I bow.
The mimic chorus fings her profp'rous hand;
As fhe had flain the foe, and fav'd the land.
To-morrow fhe approves a fofter air;
Forfakes the pomp and pageantry of war ;
The form of peaceful Abigail affumes;
And from the village with the prefent comes ::
The youthful band depose their glittering arms
Receive her bounties, and recite her charms;
Whilft I affume my father's ftep and mien,
To meet with due regard my future queen.
If haply Abra's will be now inclin'd

To range the woods, or chace the flying hind
Soon as the fun awakes, the fprightly court
Leave their repose, and haften to the sport.
In leffen'd royalty, and humble ftate,
Thy King, Jerufalem, defcends to wait,

Till Abra comes. She comes a milk-white fteed,
Mixture of Perfia's, and Arabia's breed,,

Suftains the nymph: her garments flying loofe
(As the Sydonian maids, or Thracian, ufë)
And half her knee, and half her breaft appear,
By art, like negligence, difclos'd, and bare.
Her left hand guides the hunting courfer's flight:
A filver bow the carries in her right:

And from the golden quiver at her fide,
Ruftles the ebon arrow's feather'd pride.
Sapphires and diamonds on her front display
An artificial moon's increasing ray.

Diana, huntress, mistress of the groves,
The fav'rite Abra speaks, and looks, and moves.
Her, as the present goddess, I obey:
Beneath. her feet the captive gamé I lay.
The mingled chorus fings Diana's fame
Clarions and horns in louder peals proclaim
Her myftic: praise: the vocal triumphs bound
Against the hills: the hills reflect the found.
If tir'd this evening with the hunted woods,
To the large fish pools, or the glaffy floods
Her mind to-morrow points; a thoufand hands
To-night employ'd, obey the king's commands.
Upon the wat'ty beach an artful pile

Of planks is join'd, and forms a moving ifle.
A golden chariot in the midft is fet;

And filver cygnets feem to feel its weight.
Abra, bright Queen, afcends her gaudy throne..
In femblance of the Grecian Venus known :
Tritons and fea-green Naiads round her move;
And fing in moving ftrains the force of love:
Whilft as th' approaching pageant does appear,
And echoing crouds fpeak mighty Venus near;.

I, her adorer, too devoutly ftand
Faft on the utmoft margin of the land,
With arms and hopes extended, to receive
The fancy'd goddess rifing from the wave.
O fubject reafon ! O imperious love!
Whither yet further would my folly rove?
Is it enough, that Abra fhould be great
In the wall'd palace or the rural feat?
That making habits, and a borrow'd name
Contrive to hide my plenitude of fhame?
No, no: Jerusalem combin'd must fee
My open fault, and regal infamy,
Solemn a month is deftin'd for the feaft :-
Abra invites the nation is the gueft.

To have the honour of each day fuftain'd,

The woods are travers'd; and the lakes are drain'd: Arabia's wilds, and Egypt's, are explor'd:

The edible creation decks the board:

Hardly the Phenix 'Icapes

The men their lyres, the maids their voices raife,
To fing my happiness, and Abra's praise;
And flavish bards our mutual loves rehearse
In lying ftrains, and ignominious verse :
While from the banquet leading forth the bride,
Whom prudent love from public eyes fhould hide;
I fhow her to the world, confefs'd and known
Queen of my heart, and partner of my throne.

And now her friends and flatt'rers fill the court:
From Dan, and from Beersheba they refort:
They barter places, and difpofe of grants,
Whole provinces unequal to their wants.

« הקודםהמשך »