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ODE for MUSIC

O N

ST. CECILIA's DAY.

I.

DEfcend, ye Nine! defcend and fing;

The breathing inftruments infpire,

Wake into voice each filent ftring,
And sweep the founding lyre!

In a fadly-pleasing strain

Let the warbling lute complain:
Let the loud trumpet sound,

"Till the roofs all around

The fhrill echos rebound:

REMARKS.

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Ode for Mufic.] This is one of the most artful as well as fublime of our Poet's fmaller compofitions. The first stanza expreffes the various tones and meafures in mufic. The fecond defcribes their power over the feveral paffions in general. The third explains their ufe in infpiring the Heroic paffions in particular. The fourth, fifth, and fixth, their power over all nature in the fable of Orpheus's expedition to hell; which fubject of illuftration arofe naturally out of the preceding mention of the Argo

While in more lengthen'd notes and flow,

The deep, majestic, folemn organs blow.
Hark! the numbers foft and clear

Gently steal upon the ear;

Now louder, and yet louder rife

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And fill with spreading founds the skies; 15 Exulting in triumph now fwell the bold notes, In broken air, trembling, the wild mufic floats; "Till, by degrees, remote and finall,

The ftrains decay,

And melt away,

In a dying, dying fall.

II.

By Music, minds an equal temper know,
Nor fwell too high, nor fink too low.
If in the breaft tumultuous joys arife,
Mufic her foft, affuafive voice applies;

REMARKS.

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nautic expedition, where Orpheus gives the example of the use of Mufic to infpire the heroic paffions. The feventh and laft conclude in praife of Music, and the advantages of the facred above the prophane.

VER. 7. Let the loud trumpet found, etc.] Our Author in his rules for good writing had faid, that the found fhould be an echo to the fenfe. The graces it adds to the harmony are obvious. But we fhould never have feen all the advantages arifing from this rule, had this ode not been written. In which, one may venture to fay, is found all the harmony that poetic found, when it comes in aid of fenfe, is capable of producing.

Or, when the foul is prefs'd with cares,

Exalts her in enlivening airs.

Warriors fhe fires with animated founds;

Pours balm into the bleeding lover's wounds:

Melancholy lifts her head,

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But when our Country's caufe provokes to Arms,
How martial mufic ev'ry bofom warms!

So when the first bold veffel dar'd the feas,

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High on the ftern the Thracian rais'd his strain,
While Argo faw her kindred trees
Defcend from Pelion to the main.
Transported demi-gods ftood round,
And men grew heroes at the found,
Enflam'd with glory's charms:
Each chief his fev'nfold fhield difplay'd,
And half unsheath'd the shining blade:
And feas, and rocks, and fkies rebound
To arms, to arms, to arms!

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IV.

But when thro' all th' infernal bounds,

Which flaming Phlegeton furrounds,

Love, ftrong as Death, the Poet led

To the pale nations of the dead,

What founds were heard,

What scenes appear'd,

O'er all the dreary coafts!

Dreadful gleams,

Difmal fcreams,

Fires that glow,

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And cries of tortur'd ghofts!

But hark! he strikes the golden lyre;
And fee! the tortur'd ghofts refpire,

See, fhady forms advance!

Thy stone, O Sifyphus, ftands ftill,
Ixion refts upon his wheel,

And the pale spectres dance!

The Furies fink upon their iron beds,

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And fnakes uncurl'd hang lift'ning round their

heads.

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