| Citation |
AJ.779.007
29 Apr 1779:41 (7)
ON MUSIC
Descend my muse, on airy wings sublime,
With style exalted and majestic thought;
Bright fancy bring; with never dying strains.
To musick sing; my numbers tune to praise
The art divine. Your aid bright Goddess lend,
With every stroke harmonious, strike the ear;
With melody of sound its worth to tell:
Sweet pleasing art! our senses oft awakes,
And draws attention to the warbling notes.
Ev'ry touch pleases, with heav'nly thoughts inspire;
The Diapasons echo thro' the mind,
And centers in the soul. Ev'ry gentile
Stroke, strikes soft pity thro' the heart most fro-
And pleases much the contemplative mind,
At the grand cords of martial harmony
Pusillanimity with courage rages
And kindles the flames of patriotism
In the soldiers breast. Sentiments loyal
Swell his foul with rage, and forth spurns him on
To deeds most glorious: and life he thinks
But poorly lost if not in his country's
Caule. So Timotheus with his flute and lyre,
Set great Alexander's soul in flames, and
Ambitious to rival ev'n Jove in pow'r
The appellation of a God assum'd
Then the brisk airs, cotillions, and duetts,
Sonatas, allemandas and the like,
From her gloomy seat plucks melancholly,
And on her brow it seats the smile of mirth.
Each note's enchanting to a studious mind,
Ev'ry sound dissipates thoughts intricate,
And renders clear confusions mazy path.
Such the pow'r of musick, its magic strains
Make all nature attentive to its sound.
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