Hark, hark! the horrid sound
Ilas raised up his head :
As awaked from the dead
And amazed he stares around.
Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries,
See the Furies arise !
See the snakes that they rear
How they hiss in their hair,
And the sparkles that flash from their eyes !
Behold a ghastly band,
Each a torch in his hand !
Those are Grecian ghosts, that in battle were slain
And unburied remain
Inglorious on the plain :
Give the vengeance duc
To the valiant crew !
Behold how they toss their torches on high,
How they point to the Persian abodes
And glittering temples of their hostile gods.
—The princes applaud with a furious joy :
And the King seized a flambeau with zeal to

destroy ;
Thais led the way
To light him to his prey,
And like another Helen, fired another Troy!

-Thus, long ago,
Ere heaving bellows learn'd to blow,
While organs yet were mute,
Timotheus, to his breathing flute
And sounding lyre
Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire,
At last divine Cecilia came,
Inventress of the vocal frame;
The sweet enthusiast from her sacred store
Enlarged the former narrow bounds,
And added length to solemn sounds,
With Nature's mother-wit, and arts unknown before
~Let old Timotheus yield the prize
Or both divide the crown;
He raised a mortal to the skies;
She drew an angel down!

J. Dryden

The

Golden Treasury

Book Third

CLII

ODE ON THE PLEASURE ARISING FRONI

VICISSITUDE

Now the golden Morn aloft

Waves her dew-bespangled wing,
With vermeil cheek and whisper soft

She woos the tardy Spring :
Till April starts, and calls around
The sleeping fragrance from the ground,
And lightly

o'er the living scene
Scatters his freshest, tenderest green.
New-born flocks, in rustic dance,

Frisking ply their feeble feet;
Forgetful of their wintry trance

The birds his presence greet:
But chief, the sky-lark warbles high
His trembling thrilling ecstasy ;
And lessening from the dazzled sight,
Melts into air and liquid light.
Yesterday the sullen year

Saw the snowy whirlwind fly;
Mute was the music of the air,

The herd stood drooping by:
Their raptures now that wildly flow
No yesterday nor morrow know;
'Tis Man alone that joy descries
With forward and reverted eyes.

Smiles on past misfortune's brow

Soft reflection's hand can trace,
And o'er the cheek of sorrow throw

A melancholy grace ;
While hope prolongs our happier hour,
Or deepest shades, that dimly lour
And blacken round our weary way,
Gilds with a gleam of distant day.
Still, where rosy pleasure leads,

See a kindred grief pursue ;
Behind the steps that misery treads

Approaching comfort view :
The hues of bliss more brightly glow
Chastised by sabler tints of woe,
And blended form, with artful strife,
The strength and harmony of life
See the wretch that long has tost

On the thorny bed of pain,
At length repair his vigour lost

And breathe and walk again :
The meanest floweret of the vale,
The simplest note that swells the gale,
The common sun, the air, the skies,
To him are opening Paradise.

T. Gray

CLIII
ODE TO SIMPLICITY
0 Thou, by Nature taught

To breathe her genuine thought
In numbers warmly pure, and sweetly strong ;

Who first, on mountains wild,

In Fancy, loveliest child, Thy babe, or Pleasure's, nursed the powers of song!

Thou, who with hermit heart,

Disdain'st the wealth of art,
And gauds, and pageant weeds, and trailing pall,

But com'st, a decent maid

In Attic robe array'd,
O chaste, unboastful Nymph, to thee I call !

By all the honey'd store

On IIybla's thymy shore, By all her blooms and mingled murmurs dear;

By her whose love-lorn woe

In evening musings slow
Soothed sweetly sad Electra's poet's ear :

By old Cephisus deep,

Who spread his wavy sweep In warbled wanderings round thy green retreat ;

On whose enamell’d side,

When holy Freedom died,
No equal haunt allured thy future feet :--

O sister meek of Truth,

To my admiring youth
Thy sober aid and native charms infuse !

The flowers that sweetest breathe,

Though Beauty cull’d the wreath,
Still ask thy hand to range their order'd hues.

While Rome could none esteem

But Virtue's patriot theme, You loved her hills, and led her laureat band;

But stay'd to sing alone

To one distinguish’ıl throne;
And turn'd thy face, and fled her alter'd land.

No more, in hall or bower,

The Passions own thy power; Love, only Love, her forceless numbers mean :

For thou hast left her shrine ;

Nor olive more, nor vine,
Shall gain thy feet to bless the servile scene.

Though taste, though genius, bless

To some divine excess, Faints the cold work till thou inspire the whole ;

What each, what all supply

May court, may charm our eye;
Thou, only thou, canst raise the meeting soul !

Of these let others ask
To aid some mighty task;

I only seek to find thy temperate vale ;

Where oft my reed might sound

To maids and shepherds round,
And all thy sons, O Nature ! learn my tale.

IV. Collins

CLIV

SOLITUDE

Happy the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air

In his own ground.
Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire;
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,

In winter fire.
Blest, who can unconcern’dly find
Hours, days, and years, slide soft away
In health of body, peace of mind,

Quiet by day,
Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mixt, sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please

With meditation.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die ;
Steal from the world, and not a stone

Tell where I lie.

A. Pope

CLV

THE BLIND BOY

O say what is that thing call'd Light,

Which I must ne'er enjoy;
What are the blessings of the sight,

O tell your poor blind boy!