Fall, round me fall, ye little things, MAN SPEAKER. Yet let that wisdom, urged by her example, When they have journey'd through a world of cares, May oft distract us with their sad solemnity. Death, when unmask'd, shows me a friendly face, For as the line of life conducts me on To death's great court, the prospect seems more fair, 'Tis nature's kind retreat, that's always open Where all the humble, all the great, Promiscuously recline: Where wildly huddled to the eye, The beggar's pouch and prince's purple lie, And ah! blest spirit, wheresoe'er thy flight, Through rolling worlds, or fields of liquid light, May cherubs welcome their expected guest, May saints with songs receive thee to their rest, May peace that claim'd while here thy warmest love, May blissful endless peace be thine above. SONG. BY A WOMAN-AMOROSO. Lovely lasting Peace below, Comforter of every woe, Heavenly born and bred on high, And man contains it in his breast. WOMAN SPEAKER. Our vows are heard! Long, long to mortal eyes, Her soul was fitting to its kindred skies: Celestial-like her bounty fell, Where modest want and patient sorrow dwell, Want pass'd for merit at her door, Her constant pity fed the poor Then only poor, indeed, the day she died. And oh! for this! while sculpture decks thy shrine, And art exhausts profusion round, The tribute of a tear be mine, A simple song, a sigh profound. 1 There Faith shall come, a pilgrim gray, To bless the tomb that wraps thy clay: And calm Religion shall repair To dwell a weeping hermit there. Truth, Fortitude, and Friendship, shall agree To blend their virtues while they think of thee. AIR. CHORUS-POMPOSO. Let us, let all the world agree, PART II. OVERTURE-PASTORALE. MAN SPEAKER. FAST by that shore where Thames' translucent stream Reflects new glories on his breast, Where, splendid as the youthful poet's dream, These four lines, with some alteration, taken from Collins's Ode in the year 1746. While novelty, with cautious cunning, CHORUS AFFETUOSO, LARGO. Ye shady walks, ye waving greens, That she who form'd your beauties is no more. MAN SPEAKER First of the train the patient rustic came, Whose callous hand had form'd the scene, Bending at once with sorrow and with age, With many a tear, and many a sigh between, 2 All that on Granta's fruitful plain Rich streams of regal bounty pour'd. Gray's Inst. Ode, st. iv. ' And where,' he cried, shall now my babes have bread, Or how shall age support its feeble fire? Nor can my strength perform what they require: WOMAN SPEAKER. In decent dress, and coarsely clean, Oh! where shall weeping want repair Too late in life for me to ask, And shame prevents the deed, And tardy, tardy are the times To succour, should I need. But all my wants, before I spoke, She still reliev'd, nor sought my praise, |