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Punish a body which he could not please,
Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease?

And all to leave what with his toil he won
To that unfeathered, two-legged thing, a son.-
In friendship false, implacable in hate,
Resolved to ruin or to rule the state;

To compass this the triple bond he broke,
The pillars of the public safety shook,

And fitted Israel for a foreign yoke;

Then, seized with fear, yet still affecting fame, Usurped a patriot's all-atoning name.

So still it

easy

proves in factious times

With public zeal to cancel private crimes.

CHARACTER OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

Some of their chiefs were princes of the land;
In the first rank of these did Zimri stand,
A man so various that he seemed to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome:
Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong,
Was everything by starts and nothing long;
But in the course of one revolving moon
Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon;
Blest madman, who could every hour employ
With something new to wish or to enjoy!
Railing and praising were his usual themes,
And both, to show his judgment, in extremes:
So over violent or over civil

That every man with him was God or Devil.
In squandering wealth was his peculiar art;

Nothing went unrewarded but desert.

Beggared by fools whom still he found too late,
He had his jest and they had his estate.

He laughed himself from Court; then sought relief
By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief:
For spite of him, the weight of business fell
On Absalom and wise Achitophel;

Thus wicked but in will, of means bereft,
He left not faction, but of that was left.

ALEXANDER'S FEAST.

'Twas at the royal feast for Persia won
By Philip's warlike son:

Aloft in awful state

The godlike hero sate

On his imperial throne;

His valiant peers were placed around;

Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound (So should desert in arms be crowned).

The lovely Thaïs, by his side,

Sate like a blooming Eastern bride,
In flower of youth and beauty's pride.
Happy, happy, happy, pair!

None but the brave,

None but the brave,

None but the brave deserves the fair.

Chorus.

Happy, happy, happy pair!

None but the brave,

None but the brave,

None but the brave deserves the fair.

2.

Timotheus, placed on high

Amid the tuneful quire,

With flying fingers touched the lyre;
The trembling notes ascend the sky,
And heavenly joys inspire.

The song began from Jove,
Who left his blissful seats above
(Such is the power of mighty love).
A dragon's fiery form belied the god:
Sublime on radiant spheres he rode.
The listening crowd admire the lofty sound
A present deity, they shout around;

A present deity, the vaulted roofs rebound:
With ravished ears

The monarch hears,
Assumes the god,

Affects to nod,

And seems to shake the spheres

Chorus.

With ravished ears

The monarch hears,

Assumes the god,

Affects to nod,

And seems to shake the spheres.

8.

The praise of Bacchus then the sweet musician sung, Of Bacchus ever fair, and ever young.

The jolly god in triumph comes;

Sound the trumpets, beat the drums;
Flushed with a purple grace

He shows his honest face:

Now give the hautboys breath; he comes, he comes.
Bacchus, ever fair and young,
Drinking joys did first ordain;
Bacchus' blessings are a treasure,
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure;
Rich the treasure,

Sweet the pleasure,

Sweet is pleasure after pain.

Chorus.

Bacchus' blessings are a treasure,
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure;

Rich the treasure,

Sweet the pleasure,

Sweet is pleasure after pain.

4.

Soothed with the sound the king grew vain;

Fought all his battles o'er again;

And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew the slain.

The master saw the madness rise,

His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes;
And while he heaven and earth defied,

Changed his hand, and checked his pride.

He chose a mournful muse,
Soft pity to infuse;

He sung Darius great and good,
By too severe a fate,
Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,

Fallen from his high estate,
And weltering in his blood;
Deserted at his utmost need
By those his former bounty fed;
On the bare earth exposed he lies,
With not a friend to close his eyes.
With downcast looks the joyless victor sate,
Revolving in his altered soul

The various turns of chance below; And, now and then, a sigh he stole, And tears began to flow.

Chorus.

Revolving in his altered soul

The various turns of chance below; And, now and then, a sigh he stole, And tears began to flow.

5.

The mighty master smiled to see
That love was in the next degree;
'Twas but a kindred-sound to move,

For pity melts the mind to love.
Softly sweet, in Lydian measures,
Soon he soothed his soul to pleasures.

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