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A soft responsive voice was heard at ev'ry close,

And Hope enchanted smil'd, and wav'd her golden hair.

And longer had she sung, but, with a frown,

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Were ne'er prophetic sounds so full of woe.

Revenge impatient rose :

He threw his blood-stain'd sword in thunder down,

And with a with'ring look

The war-denouncing trumpet took,

And blew a blast so loud and dread,

And ever and anon he beat

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The doubling drum with furious heat;

And tho' sometimes, each dreary pause between,
Dejected Pity at his side

Her soul-subduing voice applied,

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Yet still he kept his wild unalter'd mien,

While each strain'd ball of sight seem'd bursting from his head.

Thy numbers, Jealousy, to nought were fix'd,

Sad proof of thy distressful state;

Of diff'ring themes the veering song was mix'd;

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And now it courted Love, now raving call'd on Hate.

With eyes up-rais'd, as one inspir'd,

Pale Melancholy sate retir'd,

And from her wild sequester'd seat,

In notes by distance made more sweet,

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Pour'd thro' the mellow horn her pensive soul;

And, dashing soft from rocks around,

Bubbling runnels join'd the sound;

Thro' glades and glooms the mingled measure stole,

Or o'er some haunted stream with fond delay,

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Round an holy calm diffusing,

Love of peace and lonely musing,

In hollow murmurs died away.

But, O, how alter'd was its sprightlier tone,
When Chearfulness, a nymph of healthiest hue,
Her bow a-cross her shoulder flung,
Her buskins gem'd with morning dew,

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Blew an inspiring air, that dale and thicket rung,
The hunter's call to Faun and Dryad known!

The oak-crowned sisters and their chast-eyed queen,
Satyrs and sylvan boys, were seen,

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Peeping from forth their alleys green;

Brown Exercise rejoic'd to hear,

And Sport leapt up and seiz'd his beechen spear. Last came Joy's ecstatic trial:

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He, with viny crown advancing,

First to the lively pipe his hand addrest,

But soon he saw the brisk-awak'ning viol,

Whose sweet entrancing voice he lov'd the best;
They would have thought, who heard the strain,
They saw in Tempe's vale her native maids,
Amidst the festal sounding shades,

To some unwearied minstrel dancing,

While, as his flying fingers kiss'd the strings,
Love fram'd with Mirth a gay fantastic round;
Loose were her tresses seen, her zone unbound;
And he, amidst his frolic play,

As if he would the charming air repay,
Shook thousand odours from his dewy wings.
O Music, sphere-descended maid,
Friend of Pleasure, Wisdom's aid,
Why, Goddess, why to us deny'd
Lay'st thou thy antient lyre aside?
As in that lov'd Athenian bow'r,
You learn'd an all-commanding pow'r,
Thy mimic soul, O Nymph endear'd,
Can well recall what then it heard.
Where is thy native simple heart,
Devote to Virtue, Fancy, Art?
Arise, as in that elder time,
Warm, energic, chaste, sublime!
Thy wonders, in that godlike age,
Fill thy recording Sister's page :
'Tis said, and I believe the tale,

Thy humblest reed could more prevail,
Had more of strength, diviner rage,

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Than all which charms this laggard age,
Ev'n all at once together found
Cecilia's mingled world of sound.
O bid our vain endeavors cease,
Revive the just designs of Greece !
Return in all thy simple state!
Confirm the tales her sons relate!

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GRAY.

ELEGY

WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD.

THE curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;

Save that, from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r,

The moping owl does to the moon complain Of such as, wand'ring near her secret bow'r, Molest her ancient solitary reign.

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Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap,

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Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn,

The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed, The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,

No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care;

No children run to lisp their sire's return,

Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.

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Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,

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Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke ;

How jocund did they drive their team afield!

How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,

Their homely joys, and destiny obscure; Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short and simple annals of the poor.

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The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike th' inevitable hour.

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The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Nor you, ye Proud, impute to these the fault,
If Mem'ry o'er their tomb no trophies raise,
Where thro' the long-drawn isle and fretted vault
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.

Can storied urn, or animated bust,

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,

Or Flatt'ry sooth the dull cold ear of Death?

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Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid

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Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd, Or wak'd to extasy the living lyre.

But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page
Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll;

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Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,

And froze the genial current of the soul.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene

The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear: Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

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Some village-Hampden, that, with dauntless breast,
The little Tyrant of his fields withstood,
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.

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