As faft I haif fped owre Scotlands faes, There ceift his brag of weir,
Sair schamit to mynd ocht but his dame, And maiden FAIRLY fair.
Black feir he felt, but quhat to feir
He wift not zit with dreid;
Sair schuke his body, fair his limbs,
And all the warrior fled.
NCE more I join the Thespian quire,
And taste th' inspiring fount again :
O parent of the Græcian lyre,
Admit me to thy secret strain
And lo! with ease my step invades
The pathless vale and opening fhades,
Till now I spy her verdant seat;
And now at large I drink the found,
While these her offspring, lift'ning round,
By turns her melody repeat.
I fee ANACREON smile and fing:
His filver treffes breathe perfume;
His cheek displays a second spring
Of rofes, taught by wine to bloom.
Away, deceitful cares, away !
And let me liften to his lay,
While flow'ry dreams my foul employ ;
While turtle-wing'd the laughing hours
Lead hand in hand the festal pow'rs,
Lead Youth and Love, and harmless Joy.
Broke from the fetters of his native land,
Devoting shame and vengeance to her lords,
With louder impulfe, and a threat'ning hand,
The Lesbian patriot fmites the founding chords:
Ye wretches, ye perfidious train,
Ye curft of Gods and freeborn men,
Ye murd'rers of the laws,
Tho' now you glory in your luft,
Tho' now you tread the feeble neck in duft, Yettime and righteous JOVE will judge your dreadful cause.
But lo, to SAPPHO's mournful airs
Descends the radiant queen
She fmiles, and afks what fonder cares
Her fuppliant's plaintive measures move:
Why is my faithful maid distrest?
Who, SAPPHO, wounds thy tender breast?
* ALCEUS of Mitylene, the capital of Lesbos, who fled from his native city to escape the oppreffion of those who had inflav'd it, and wrote against them in his exile thofe noble invectives which are fo much applauded by the ancient Critics.
Say, flies he?- - Soon he fhall pursue:
Slights he thy forrows? ---- He fhall grieve,
And bend him to thy haughtiest vow.
But, O MELPOMENE, for whom
Awakes thy golden shell again?
What mortal breath shall e'er prefume
To echo that unbounded strain ?
Majestic in the frown of years,
Behold, the Man of Thebes appears :
For fome there are, whofe mighty frame
The hand of JOVE at birth indow'd
With hopes that mock the gazing crowd;
As eagles drink the noontide flame.
While the dim raven beats his weary wings,
And clamours far below. ---- Propitious Muse,
While I fo late unlock thy hallow'd springs,
And breathe whate'er thy ancient airs infuse,
To polish Albion's warlike ear
This long-loft melody to hear,
Thy sweetest arts imploy;
As when the winds from shore to shore,
Thro' Greece thy lyre's perfuafive language bore,
Till towns, and ifles, and feas return'd the vocal joy.
But oft amid the Græcian throng,
The loofe-rob'd forms of wild defire
With lawless notes intun'd thy fong,
To fhameful steps diffolv'd thy quire.
O fair, O chaste, be ftill with me
From fuch profaner discord free:
While I frequent thy tuneful fhade,
No frantic fhouts of Thracian dames,
No fatyrs fierce with favage flames
Thy pleafing accents fhall invade.
Queen of the lyre, in thy retreat
The fairest flow'rs of Pindus glow;
The vine afpires to crown thy feat,
And myrtles round thy laurel grow.
Thy ftrings attune their varied ftrain
To every pleasure, every pain,
Which mortal tribes were born to prove,
And strait our paffions rife or fall,
As at the wind's imperious call
The ocean fwells, the billows move.
When midnight liftens o'er the flumb'ring earth,
Let me, O Mufe, thy folemn whispers hear:
When morning fends her fragrant breezes forth,
With airy murmurs touch my opening ear.
And ever watchful at thy fide,
Let wifdom's awful fuffrage guide
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