100 Now under hanging mountains, All alone, Unheard, unknown, Amidst Rhodope's fnows: See, wild as the winds, o'er the defert he flies; Ah fee, he dies! Yet ev'n in death Eurydice he fung, Eurydice ftill trembled on his tongue, Eurydice the woods, Eurydice the floods, Eurydice the rocks, and hollow mountains rung. VII. Mufic the fierceft grief can charın, And fate's feverest rage difarm: Mufic can foften pain to eafe, And make defpair and madnefs pleafe: And antedate the blifs above. This the divine Cecilia found, And to her Maker's praife confin'd the found. ES 120 125 When the full organ joins the tuneful quire, And Angels lean from heav'n to hear. 130 C H TWO ORUS' S ΤΟ THE Tragedy of BRUTUS"). CHORUS of ATHENIAN S. STROPHE I. YE fhades, where facred truth is fought; Groves, where immortal Sages taught: NOTES. THESE two Chorus's were compofed to enrich a very poor Play; but they had the ufual effect of ill-adjusted ornaments, only to make its meanhefs the more confpicuous. a) Altered from Shakespear by the Duke of Buckingham, at whofe defire these two Chorus's were compofed to fupply as many, wanting in his play. They were fet many years after. wards by the famous Bononcini, and performed at Buckinghamhouse. P. VER. 3. where heav'nly vifions Plato fir'd, And Epicurus, lay infpir'd!) The propriety of thefe lines arifes from hence, that Brutus, one of the Heroes of this Play, was of the old Academy; and Caffius, the other, was an Epicurean; but this had not been enough to justify the Poet's choice, had not Plato's fyftem of Divinity, and Epicurus's fyftem of Morals, been the moft rational amongst the various fects of Greek Philofophy. And Epicurus lay infpir'd! In vain your guiltless laurels ftood War, horrid war, your thoughtful walks invades, ANTIS TROPHE I. Oh heav'n-born filters! fource of art! Who charm the fenfe, or mend the heart; ΤΟ Who lead fair Virtue's train along, Moral Truth, and myftic Song! To what new clime, what diftant sky, Say, will ye biefs the bleak Atlantic fhore? When Athens finks by fates unjust, And Athens rifing near the pole! 'Till fome new Tyrant lifts his purple hand, And civil madness tears them from the land. NOTES. VER. 12. Moral truth AND mystic fong.) He had expreffed himfelf better had he faid. ,,Moral truth IN myftic fong! In the Antiftrophe he turns from Philofophy to Mythology, and Mythology is nothing but moral truch in myftic fang. ANTISTROPHE II. Ye Gods! what juftice rules the ball! 25 In ev'ry age, in ev'ry state! 30 Still, when the luft of tyrant pow'r fucceeds, |