 | The Poetical Works of Mr. William Pattison |  |
134
On hearing a very homely, and deformed Lady sing finely.
While with strange Surprize, I see
A Form so foul! such Harmony!
I fancy Things too strange to tell,—
A sudden Taste of Heaven and Hell:
That some bright Angel from above,
Pleas'd a-while on Earth to rove,
Invisible to every Eye,
Has left the Regions of the Sky;
Cœlestial Harmony to show
To us Mortals here below.
A Form so foul! such Harmony!
I fancy Things too strange to tell,—
A sudden Taste of Heaven and Hell:
That some bright Angel from above,
Pleas'd a-while on Earth to rove,
Invisible to every Eye,
Has left the Regions of the Sky;
Cœlestial Harmony to show
To us Mortals here below.
And now, (O listen) now I hear,
The very Music of the Sphere!
Unseen the Angel hovers round,
Melting in harmonious Sound.
But hideous Balba strangely vain,
With moving Lips usurps the Strain:
While her Shape, and Figure show,
A Fiend just conjur'd from below;
A Fiend, that but upon Parole,
From Hell, to hear such Musick, stole;
Knowing when she returns again,
The sure Succession of her Pain;
And learns these Notes to sooth her Grief,
Which in her Torments bring Relief;
To charm each horrid Scene of Woe,
And make another Heaven below.
The very Music of the Sphere!
135
Melting in harmonious Sound.
But hideous Balba strangely vain,
With moving Lips usurps the Strain:
While her Shape, and Figure show,
A Fiend just conjur'd from below;
A Fiend, that but upon Parole,
From Hell, to hear such Musick, stole;
Knowing when she returns again,
The sure Succession of her Pain;
And learns these Notes to sooth her Grief,
Which in her Torments bring Relief;
To charm each horrid Scene of Woe,
And make another Heaven below.
| The Poetical Works of Mr. William Pattison | |