Page images
PDF
EPUB

Το

TO THE

AUTHOR

O F

ROSAMON D.

Ne forte pudori

Sit tibi mufa lyræ folers, et cantor Apollo.

By Mr. TICKEL L.

HE Opera firft Italian mafters taught,

THE

Enrich'd with fongs, but innocent of thought.

Britannia's learned theatre difdains

Melodious trifles, and enervate ftrains;

And blushes on her injur'd stage to see
Nonfenfe well-tun'd, and sweet stupidity.

No charms are wanting to thy artful fong,
Soft as Corelli, but as Virgil ftrong.

From words fo fweet new grace the notes receive,

And mufic borrows helps, the us'd to give.

[blocks in formation]

Thy ftyle hath match'd what ancient Romans knew,
Thy flowing numbers far excel the new ;
Their cadence in fuch eafy found convey'd,
That height of thought may feem fuperfluous aid;
Yet in fuch charms the noble thoughts abound,
That needless feem the sweets of easy found.

Landskips how gay the bow'ry grotto yields,
Which thought creates, and lavish fancy builds !
What art can trace the vifionary scenes,
The flow'ry groves, and everlafting greens,
The babling founds that mimic echo plays,
The fairy fhade, and its eternal maze,
Nature and art in all their charms combin'd,
And all Elyfium to one view confin'd!
No farther could imagination roam,

'Till Vanbrugh fram'd, and Marlbro' rais'd the dome.
Ten thousand pangs my anxious bosom tear,
When drown'd in tears I see th' imploring fair :
When bards lefs foft the moving words fupply,
A feeming juftice dooms the nymph to die:
But here he begs, nor can fhe beg in vain,
(In dirges thus expiring fwans complain)
Each verfe fo fwells, expreffive of her woes,
And ev'ry tear in lines fo mournful flows;
We, fpite of fame, her fate revers'd believe,
O'erlook her crimes, and think the ought to live.

Let joy transport fair Rofamonda's fhade,
And wreaths of myrtle crown the lovely maid.
While now perhaps with Dido's ghost she roves,
And hears and tells the ftory of their loves,

Alike they mourn, alike they bless their fate,

Since love, which made 'em wretched, makes 'em great,
Nor longer that relentless doom bemoan,

Which gain'd a Virgil, and an Addison.
Accept, great monarch of the British lays,
The tribute fong an humble fubject pays.
So tries the artlefs lark her early flight,

And foars, to hail the God of verse and light.
Unrival'd as thy merit be thy fame,

And thy own laurels shade thy envy'd name:
Thy name, the boast of all the tuneful choir,
Shall tremble on the ftrings of ev'ry lyre;

While the charm'd reader with thy thought complies;
Feels correfponding joys or forrows rife,

And views thy Rofamond with Henry's eyes.

[blocks in formation]

Dramatis Perfonæ.

MEN.

King Henry.

Sir Trusty, keeper of the bower.

Page.

Meffenger.

WOMEN.

Queen Eleanor.

Rofamond.

Grideline, wife to Sir Trufty.

Guardian Angels, &c.

SCENE Woodstock-Park.

ROSA

[7]

ROSA MON D.

ACTI. SCENE I.

A Profpe of Woodstock-Park, terminating in the Bower.

[blocks in formation]
« EelmineJätka »