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ODE: IN HONOUR OF THE NUPTIALS OF THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES.
RECITATIVE, ACCOMPANIED.
1 DESCEND, and consecrate, ye sacred Nine,
2 The nuptial rites of GEORGE and CAROLINE:
3 Nor courted, nor invok'd, but wing your way,
4 Yourselves inspired, my mighty theme to obey!
5 And first, sweet Polyhimnia, muse of sound,
6 Verb'rate thy lyre; and, while thou spread'st around,
7 Trembling Aether sweetly filling,
8 Thy rapturous airs so soft, so thrilling,
9 Possess me, rule each sense at thy control;
10 Strain following strain,
11 Again, and yet again:
12 Come, with thy melody entrance my longing soul.
AIR,
13 In gliding measure charm to thee
14 The playful nymph Terpsichore,
15 With ease, and grace, and look askance:
16 Her panting bosom burning,
17 As, twining, twisting, turning,
18 In winning guise, she leads the mazy dance.
19 Now soft and soothing be thy strain,
20 To ease the fond Erato's pain,
21 Whisper, that in her realm, no more
22 False, fickle love shall she deplore;
23 Bid her behold, with glad surprise,
24 Her mistress in Love's tender arts,
25 A princess comes, to bless our isle,
26 Whose form shall captivate all eyes,
27 And whose example fix all hearts.
28 Bid her the trembling tear to dry,
29 To dissipate the deep-heav'd sigh,
30 To smooth her low'ring brow, and smile.
31 And join, accompany'd by thee,
32 The playful nymph Terpsichore,
33 With ease, and grace, and look askance;
34 Her panting bosom burning,
35 As twisting, twining, turning,
36 In winning guise, she leads the mazy dance.
RECITATIVE, ACCOMPANIED.
37 Now change the strain, and to thy spell
38 Mighty Calliope compel —
39 Displaying ample history's page —
40 Bid her Urania bring; a virgin, and a sage:
[Page 10]41 Who, skill'd in Science' wond'rous lore,
42 Can suns, and worlds, and heavens explore:
43 And — a triumvirate to fill —
44 Bid Clio, her celestial skill,
45 To aid the glorious purpose, join.
46 And, while the trumpet's silver notes proclaim
47 So great, so mighty, so august a name;
48 Bid them transmit to fame
49 Those truths divine,
50 That speak the glory of the Brunswick line.
51 But hark! upon the ear what rustic strain
52 Cleaves the free air? 'Tis gay Euterpe's train,
53 That sylvan, faun, and hamadriade, lead,
54 With horn, and flageolet, and oaten reed!
AIR.
55 And first the horn, whose mellow sound,
56 Wakes Echo in the hollow rocks,
[Page 11]57 To inspire the fleet, sagacious hound
58 Where to un-earth the subtle fox.
59 The flageolet shall imitate
60 The feathered songster, by his mate,
61 Sequestered in the conscious grove,
62 Impervious to all eyes but Love.
63 And now, as the lorn nightingale
64 Mourns, sadly, in the pensive vale,
65 Day's labour at an end,
66 Rustics the winding dance shall lead,
67 To the cadence of Euterpe's reed,
68 And mirth with sadness blend.
AIR.
69 And thou, Melpomene, appear,
70 Whose woes find no relief,
71 Whose mind's best joy's the social tear,
72 Whose luxury is grief:
73 Behold her! — dim each sorrowing eye —
74 But let the torrent flow!
75 Be hallow'd that sweet sympathy
76 That mourns for others' woe.
AIR.
77 Nor thou, Thalia, gay and trim,
78 Skulk, where behind thy mask thou'rt peeping,
79 Come forth, with frolic Wit and Whim,
80 Rouse sluggard Dullness, as he's sleeping.
81 With honest gibe, and moral jeer,
82 And humour, Honour's cause adorning;
83 Come, dissipate thy sister's tear,
84 As cheers the sun an April morning.
85 Say, as her grief thou bid'st her dry,
86 Each passion's virtue in its season,
87 That, as 'tis folly loud to cry,
88 So, laughing loud is sometimes reason.
RECITATIVE, ACCOMPANIED.
89 Begone! disperse like air!
90 To blue Olympus fly!
91 There,
92 Placed on high,
93 As the celestials, in their roseate bowers,
94 Play with the Smiles, and count the dancing Hours,
95 Strike the loud spheres!
96 Your voices raise,
97 And charm their captured ears
98 Proclaiming Caroline's unequall'd praise.
99 Her wisdom bid Minerva fear;
100 Bid her, who young Endymion embraced,
101 Blush, and resign the name of chaste;
102 Tell lovely Venus and the dimpl'd Graces
103 To yield to truth, and own,
104 All sweet, all beautiful, as are their faces.
105 Her face perfection boasts alone.
106 All, all, while sitting in celestial state,
107 That which they cannot equal, bid them wonder at:
[Page 14]108 And, as your mandate they attend,
109 And from the silver clouds astonish'd bend,
110 Bid them behold, with a benignant smile,
111 The rapture that pervades Great Britain's happy isle.
MARCH.
112 Fir'd with my theme, thus gave I Nature law;
113 Will'd at a wish, and what I fancied saw.
AIR.
114 I saw the gods, in troops attending,
115 Well pleas'd, from high Olympus bending!
116 While playful Neriedes gaily gave
117 The splendid yatch to Neptune's wave:
118 I heard old Jove by Styx declare
119 He ne'er saw mortal half so fair;
[Page 15]120 While Juno own'd he'd ne'er known strife,
121 Could she, like her, have prov'd a wife;
122 Minerva said, proud to extol her,
123 She'd always been her aptest scholar;
124 Again her mirror and again
125 Venus regarded, but in vain;
126 Then rubb'd the surface, 'twas not right,
127 At last she broke it out of spight.
128 One call'd for nectar, "Go and sip,"
129 Cry'd Hebe, "Nectar from her lip;"
130 Mars, proudly, said, he saw a race
131 Of future heroes in her face;
132 While rough-hewn Neptune, smiling, swore
133 Ne'er had his billows borne before
134 A lovelier Venus to a happier shore.
RECITATIVE, ACCOMPANIED.
135 And truly Neptune swore; scarce smil'd the fair,
136 To thank old Ocean for his anxious care,
[Page 16]137 But troops of bards burst forth in one fond lay —
138 For light is light, and day we still call day —
139 And, as the obvious truth fell from each tongue,
140 By each proud heart inspir'd, they felt and sung.
AIR.
141 Hail lovely wonder, honour's meed,
142 Rule every heart that virtue prizes,
143 Eclipse each fair, as stars recede,
144 When from old Ocean Venus rises.
145 Haste, Haste, with sacred love and truth,
146 Grace smiling Hymen's blest communion;
147 Haste and reward the only youth
148 Whose virtues merit such an union.
II.
149 See pictur'd in her face her mind,
150 Beauty and goodness ne'er asunder;
[Page 17]151 While Envy, now, no longer blind,
152 Grows kindness, and subsides to wonder!
153 Roses bloom beneath her feet,
154 Cupids for a smile implore her,
155 While Zephyr steals a kiss so sweet,
156 It perfumes all the way before her.
RECITATIVE, ACCOMPANIED.
157 Mute Admiration, that had hush'd the crowd,
158 Yielded to acclamations warm and loud;
159 For lo! a sight that ever shall impart
160 Strong, strong emotions to each British heart!
161 Scarce had the Princess, on the peopled strand,
162 Admired the beauty of fair Freedom's land,
163 When, in majestic grandeur, stood revealed,
164 Bright as her crest, refulgent as her shield,
165 BRITANNIA! — with a tender zeal impress'd,
166 As tutelary guardian of her lovely guest:
[Page 18]167 And oh! ineffable was the angelic smile
168 That bid the glorious stranger welcome to her isle.
169 Nor ended there
170 Those shouts that rent the air;
171 But as distinctions, honours, on the way,
172 Still courted some solicitous delay,
173 Their longing eyes pursu'd the splendid train,
174 Nor lost them till they reach'd fair Hymen's fane,
175 Whom they address'd in fervent prayer.
AIR.
176 Sacred Hymen, on this night,
177 Thy torch with fire celestial light;
178 And, in thy smiling crown of flowers,
179 Symbol this pair's delicious hours.
180 Let Flora's rose the wreath adorn,
181 Deprived of each intruding thorn;
[Page 19]182 Let the fond heliotrope be there;
183 And Venus' myrtle fresh and fair:
184 Mars, for his laurel, next invoke,
185 And blend it with the civic oak;
186 So Bliss, Fame, Constancy, shall prove
187 Their lot bestowed by thee and Love.
RECITATIVE ACCOMPANIED.
188 Here let me pause, ye powers, or let me claim.
189 Than inspiration, some superior name;
190 Give me to speak the force of every grace,
191 Perfection e'er bestowed on form or face,
192 With all the gifts concentred in the mind,
193 When gods their essence blend with human-kind;
194 So my strong zeal shall disappoint despair,
195 So shall I sing the worth of this illustrious pair.
AIR.
196 So shall I paint, in conflict tender,
197 As fear and joy alternate strove,
198 That form that bid her heart surrender,
199 While burning blushes spoke her love.
200 Not Sol, that Belvidere delighted,
201 Nor yet Alcides of Farnese;
202 A form more perfect, that united
203 Superior strength, with nobler ease.
II.
204 So shall I paint that manly beauty,
205 That worth, to truth and virtue dear,
206 That mildness, honour, goodness, duty,
207 All hearts admire, all minds revere.
208 These, as his portrait faintly charmed her,
209 Won her consent to be a wife;
[Page 21]210 Now Love's promethean ardour warmed her,
211 And breathed the picture into life.
RECITATIVE, ACCOMPANIED.
212 Nor shall my glowing mind its ardour cease,
213 Till, as I paint their happiness increase,
214 In willing numbers, no less warm than true,
215 I lay futurity to open view:
216 And, while a people join in loud acclaim,
217 Tell to the universe the prophecy of Fame.
AIR.
218 Long on this isle, the solar ray,
219 Benignant eye of favouring Heaven,
220 Shall beam, to consecrate the day,
221 That saw a Brunswick to a Brunswick given.
[Page 22]222 Swell every voice, beat every heart,
223 All in the general bliss bear part;
224 While the loud trumpet's notes proclaim
225 Fate's fiat, by the mouth of Fame.
226 "In other states, while rule and power
227 "That strut the pageant of an hour,
228 "Treason destroys, and time absorbs,
229 "Like circling planets in their orbs:
230 "Here shall a happy people's joys
231 "Revolve in one just equipoise,
232 "While time and virtue shall endure,
233 "Their honour safe, their rights secure.
234 "Confirmed to this blest race alone,
235 "England's hereditary throne."
THE END.
About this text
Title (in Source Edition): ODE: IN HONOUR OF THE NUPTIALS OF THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES.
Author: Charles Dibdin
Themes:
mythology; marriage
Genres:
epithalamion
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Dibdin, Charles, 1745-1814. Ode in honour of the nuptials of Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales: written and composed by Mr. Dibdin. London: printed by the author, & sold at his warehouse, 1795, pp. []-22. [6],ii,[1],8-22p.; 4⁰. (ESTC N10530; OTA K006240.000)
Editorial principles
The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.