Of native music, the respondent dance.
Thus jocund fleets with them the winter-night.
The city swarms intense. The public haunt, 630
Full of each theme, and warm with mixt discourse,
Hums indistinct. The sons of riot flow
Down the loose stream of false inchanted joy,
To swift destruction. On the rankled soul,
The gaming fury falls; and in one gulph 635
Of total ruin, honour, virtue, peace,
Friends, families, and fortune, headlong sink.
Up-springs the dance along the lighted dome,
Mix'd, and evolv'd, a thousand sprightly ways.
The glittering court effuses every pomp; 640
The circle deepens: beam'd from gaudy robes,
Tapers, and sparkling gems, and radiant eyes,
A soft effulgence o'er the palace waves:
While, a gay insect in his summer-shine,
The fop, light-fluttering, spreads his mealy wings. 645
Dread o'er the scene, the ghost of Hamlet stalks:
Othello rages; poor Monimia mourns;
And Belvidera pours her soul in love.
Deep-thrilling terror shakes; the comely tear
Steals o'er the cheek: or else the Comic Muse 650
Holds to the world a picture of itself,
And raises sly the fair impartial laugh.
Sometimes she lifts her strain, and paints the scenes
Of beauteous life; whate'er can deck mankind,
Or charm the heart, in generous [1]Bevil shew'd. 655
O Thou, whose wisdom, solid yet refin'd,
Whose patriot-virtues, and consummate skill
To touch the finer springs that move the world,
Join’d
- ↑ A character in the Conscious Lovers, written by Sir Richard Steele.
