As faft I haif fped owre Scotlands faes, There ceift his brag of weir,
Sair fchamit 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 fleid.
NCE more I join the Thefpian quire,
And tafte th' infpiring fount again:
O parent of the Græcian lyre,
Admit me to thy fecret ftrain.
And lo! with ease my step invades
The pathless vale and opening fhades,
Till now I spy her verdant feat;
And now at large I drink the found,
While these her offspring, lift'ning round,
By turns her melody repeat.
I fee ANACREON fmile and fing:
His filver treffes breathe perfume;
His cheek difplays a second spring
Of roses 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 feftal pow'rs,
Lead Youth and Love, and harmless Joy.
Broke from the fetters of his native land,
Devoting fhame and vengeance to her lords,
With louder impulfe, and a threat'ning hand,
The Lefbian patriot fmites the founding chords:
Ye wretches, ye perfidious train,
Ye curft of Gods and free-born men,
Ye murd'rers of the laws,
Tho' now you glory in your luft,
Tho' now you tread the feeble neck in duft, Yet time and righteous JOVE will judge your dreadf
But lo, to SAPPHO's mournful airs
Defcends the radiant queen of love;
She fmiles, and afks what fonder cares
Her fuppliant's plaintive measures move:
Why is
my faithful maid diftreft?
Who, SAPPHO, wounds thy tender breast ?
* ALCEUS of Mitylene, the capital of Lefbos, 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 so much applauded by the ancient critics.
-Soon he fhall pursue:
Shuns he thy gifts?He too fhall give:
And bend him to thy haughtieft vow.
But, O MELPOMENE, for whom
Awakes thy golden fhell again?
What mortal breath fhall e'er prefume
To echo that unbounded ftrain?
Majeftic, in the frown of years,
Behold, the Man of Thebes appears:
For fome there are, whofe mighty frame
The hand of JOVE at birth endow'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 Mufe,
While I fo late unlock thy hallow'd fprings,
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 fhore to shore,
Thro' Greece thy lyre's perfuafive language bore,
Till towns, and ifles, and seas 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 chafte, be ftill with me
From fuch profaner difcord free:
While I frequent thy tuneful shade,
No frantic shouts of Thracian dames,
No fatyrs fierce with favage flames
Thy pleafing accents shall 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 strain,
To ev'ry pleasure, every pain,
Which mortal tribes were born to prove,
And ftrait 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 op'ning ear.
And ever watchful at thy fide,
Let wifdom's awful fuffrage guide
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