University of Virginia Library

EPITHALAMIUM

ON THE MARRIAGES OF His Grace JOHN Duke of Athole, Right Hon. DAVID Viscount Stormont, AND THOMAS GRAHAM of Balgowan, Esq; WITH THE Three Most Amiable Daughters OF The Right Hon. CHARLES Lord Cathcart.

CANTO I.

CANTO II.

Thro' the mid Ocean, fann'd with am'rous gales,
Bright Amphitrite in state imperial sails.
Around the Queen, in blooming Beauty's pride,
The jocund bevy o'er the billows glide.
They speed their voyage all the live-long day,
And reach, with eve, Tamesias' ample bay.
There up the wid'ning channel's wond'ring stream
They wind with stately march their squadron trim,
Where lordly rises, 'mid the smiling plain,
The regal Seat where Albion monarchs reign,
And Julian Tow'rs begild the peopl'd strand,
The envy, and the dread of every land.
Here Fate ordains her fav'rite Line to rule
With Naval Scepter fear'd from pole to pole:
To awe the proud, to set the nations free
From slavish chain of grasping tyranny:
While o'er the deeps, like heav'n's red fire, is hurl'd,
Their thund'ring storm, to shake a guilty world.
To save a downward age, now Mercy brings
Th'imperial ensigns to the best of Kings;
Augustus sways and decks his triple crown
With justice, mildness, Grandeur's best renown,
And public love. Ye fretful factions, play!
Like clam'rous swarm beneath Hyperion's ray;
Short is your span, the summer breezes soil
Your varnish'd hues in dust, and close your idle toil.
Should rebel pride our scenes of peace deform,
Firm Royalty outrides the swelling storm;
The Skilful Pilot tried in boist'rous seas,
Guides public safety to the port of peace:
Whilst grateful Nations, loyal, bold, and free,
Bear down the league of factious anarchy,
Blest in Augustus' love. The Albion Queen,
Like Venus from the flood, with sov'reign mein,
And Siren voice, charming rude winds that blow,
With smiles of amity, shall kindly shew,
Like Cynthia mild, or Hesper's orient beam
That skirts the brow of night with silver gleam:
For in her sphere She shines, with virtues rare,
To soothe the Monarch's or the Peoples care.
Forgive the Muse, she soars on trembling wing,
'Mid Loyal Throng, their excellence to sing;
Would blend unequal voice in duteous lay
T'imperial Pow'r, whom three great realms obey,
And heav'n implore with pure oraisons meet,
His Toils to prosper who upholds the state.
Onward they pass, where Thamis' op'ning grove,
Splendent afar, reveals the bow'r of love.
Before the marble gate, with stedfast eye,
Watch'd Constancy, who guides the orbs on high,
In faithful course, bids vernal seasons glow,
Or rising year, love's better gifts, bestow.
Within shone faithful love, and virtue's pride,
And Virgin Beauty, grac'd on either side
With prime Nobility, and Honour high,
And blushing Merit sweet, with downcast eye,
With many a princely Dame, and gallant Peer,
To grace their nuptials rob'd in gorgeous wier.
And hark! the damsels sing their carols sweet,
While jocund hautboy, with respondence meet,
Conducts the song: “Come forth, ye Nymphs! so fair,
“Bright Venus' train, your bridal crowns prepare:
“Love's radiant harbinger, with golden crest,
“The star of ev'ning, trembles in the west;
“And, for the Bridegroom, chides the ling'ring hours,
“And brings the Bride into the bridal bow'rs.
“Now Hymen lights his torch in trim array,
“And starry night shines lovelier than the day;
“'Tis Hymen calls, attend the sacred sound,
“The cares of love, with love's best joys are crown'd.”
Now cease, ye damsels! cease your nuptial song!
Lo! where they, brightest of the virgin throng,
Whom crowns of worth and beauty prime adorn,
Break from their chambers, like the blushing morn,
Or Sol's chaste Sister, flush'd with purple ray,
From eastern palace to eclipse the day.
In glitt'ring robes array'd, and garlands green,
The Brides, in semblance like some maiden Queen,
Like Dian on Eurota's flow'ry strand,
With shafts unerring, 'mid the huntress band:
Or when Jove's Daughter calls his progeny,
They shine in beauty like the Graces Three.
But who is she! in virgin robes array'd,
Of silver silk, as suits the noble maid,
Like youthful Hebe, dazzling ev'ry eye,
Adjusts their train where ambush'd Cupids ly.
And now, with other throng, the hall rebounds,
The bright assemblage hear celestial sounds;
The warbling lute, and soft recorders clear,
With clanging trumpets pierce the echoing air,
Whilst from a golden cloud, with concourse bright,
Unfolds the state of sov'reign Amphitrite.
Great Tethys' Race, bedeck'd in em'rald sheen,
The Albion Pow'rs, and love's imperial Queen,
With meet oraisons greet each noble Bride,
Then range their squadron gay on either side.
Bright Ocean's dame, on either Bride bestows
A sparkling crown, enchaced with diamond rows.
Venus their cestus binds, where winning Smiles,
And young Desire, and Beauty, range their wiles.
The Graces, handmaids to the rival Fair,
In artful ringlets spread their flowing hair:
And all the concourse rang'd in brilliant row,
Choice service do, fond courtesy to show;
While glancing round, from many a radiant eye,
Th'unerring shafts of mighty Cupid fly.
Anon the Bridegroom's summons seems to say
“Arise, my Turtle Dove! and come away!
“Bleak Winter's gloom, with dark suspence is fled,
“The dawning year now gilds his orient head;
“The woodlands round your bridal carols sing,
“And youthful Hymen shakes his fragrant wing:
“A thousand pleasures wait in trim aray,
“Arise my best Belov'd! and come away.”
The Gallant Baron, with a Parent's pride
Conducts, in solemn state, each Sister Bride,
Where sacred priest before the altar stands,
And joins the faithful Pairs in holy bands;
Blending his utt'rence chaste with cordial pray'r,
“May faith and truth, high heav'ns best blessings, share.”
Return'd in pomp, the gay assemblage greet
The nuptial train, with gratulations meet:
In the bright van, the sov'reign Queen of Love,
With Amphitrite, their princely favour prove:
Taia and Forth, their maids, in trim array,
Before their steps with flow'rets strew'd the way.
On lovely Cathcart's brow, with bright renown,
Irradiant Athole plac'd his ducal crown:
Louisa's coronal, from the Graces' grove
Stormont intwin'd with never-fading love.
Graham's martial wreaths on fair Maria shine,
Heroic laurel wove with myrtle twine:
While Beauty's Guard, like Red-Cross Knights of old,
In shining circle stand the Brothers bold.
And now, in order plac'd, each smiling guest,
In Princely guise proceeds the nuptial feast;
The lustres blaze, the sparkling bev'rage flows,
And festive joyance in each bosom glows.
The Queen of Love demands the mystic song,
At her command begin the virgin Throng;
At her command prime Harmony descends,
The muses Train their magic pleasance blends.
Resounds Arion's harp, and Sirens three,
Commixing charm of heav'nly minstrelsy,
With trembling voice angelical, controul,
And steal with ravishment the thrilling soul.
They sung high mysteries of verse sublime,
Where daring fancy never learn'd to climb;
The loves of Vesta, crown'd in bright abodes,
Espous'd by Cœlum, eldest of the Gods,
From whom descends th'immortal progeny,
The Gods of Hades, Ocean, Earth, and Sky.
Of ancient Time, the annals of his reign
They sung, 'ere Sol illumin'd the starry plain,
When Chaos heard the dreadful voice, and fled,
Creation struggling in her infant bed:
The waters sought the deep, the fluid air
Compass'd the globe, and fire the heav'nly sphere.
Then life and light, and Nature's frame begun,
And first to measure time the regent Sun,
By whom ordain'd the hour, day, month, and year,
With unborn ages, in fixed course appear.
Anon, with martial strain, the halls rebound,
The Tritons brave, their coral trumpets sound.
They sung the terrors of the Norric sword,
When furious Suen, with vent'rous sails, explor'd
High Scotia's shore, across the foaming main,
With host vindictive, for his kinsmen slain:
They, from the burden'd deep, unloading, range
Their iron freight, of armed warriors strange,
With silvan spoils, and bowmen skilled to guide
Their Doffrine shafts: Stalks Devastation wide,
And Rape, and Death, from Bertha's martial town,
To Deva's stream, and northern Caledon.
With spoil and pride inflate, the barb'rous band,
With tyrant rod, control'd th'indignant land,
'Till Athole, Stormont, and the gallant Graham,
Their country's shield, like Northern tempest came.
Fallen, with his Peers, on Taia's purple heath,
The Scandian mourn'd his glory set in death;
In his proud fleet the flying rout consume,
The Victors whelm them in a fiery doom.
Then rear each leader's tomb with lordly guise,
Sad sable beacons, seen with streaming eyes,
While Scandia shuns high Scotia's fatal shore,
And mourns her wariors who return no more.
Thus plaintive, soon to joy they strung the lyre
With melting sounds, that kindle soft desire,
And youthful fancy; for of Love they tell,
And League of Amity, meet charm to quell
Demons of war, and hatred: How the dart
Of Venus' son, unerring, pierc'd the heart
Of Caledon, in Beauty's blooming pride,
To pine for Anna fair, his Cimbrian bride.
With wealthy dow'r, of many a verdant isle,
Which 'mid the blust'ring Ocean seems to smile,
Whose fishy lakes, and shaggy dales, the gleam
Of ling'ring Summer, greets with fost'ring beam,
The Virgin came; in gilded vessel, crown'd,
With gallant chiefs, and streamers, to the sound
Of silver fifes: beneath the waving shade
Of silken canopy, the beauteous Maid,
With winning looks, and magic charm, is seen,
To soothe rude winds and waves, like Egypt's Queen,
When up the silver Nile her galleys move,
With Anthony; nor bless'd with virtuous love.
And now the Lover spies his Bride afar,
In navy struggling with the wat'ry war;
For, envious of their joy, with adverse storm,
The sudden tempests Anna's way deform,
With barb'rous rage divide whom love conjoin'd,
The Princess captive by the ruffian wind,
Forc'd from a Bridegroom's arms, by rapine rude,
Is born on wings of tempest o'er the flood;
And hardly 'scap'd, with ships half-wreck'd, explores
High Lochlin's port, within the shelt'ring shores.
The Prince consum'd with Venus' pleasing pain,
The more the jealous elements restrain,
The more he burns for his betrothed bride,
And faithful follows o'er the angry tide.
Her virgin grace, the light of radiant eyes,
And virtue meetly shrin'd in beauteous guise,
Kindle the blazing torch beheld afar,
And, like Love's harbinger, the friendly star,
Which drew Leander cross the rapid tide
Of Thracian Bosphorus, to Hiero's bed,
With grateful splendors gild his path, and keep
His am'rous voyage o'er the foaming deep:
The torch of Venus burns to light his way,
Where Cimbrian Princess, like the blooming May,
Awaits to crown his faith, each peril o'er,
With love's sweet joys in Hymeneal bow'r.
Then pass'd the nuptial months, in pastime bright,
Of feast, and courtly mask; and many a knight
Won fame and favour at the rapid course;
Or, proudly mounted on his barbed horse,
And kindling prowess at bright Beauty's glance,
Couch'd in fierce tournament his quiv'ring lance.
Each morn shook pleasance from his fragrant wings,
And young-ey'd Love increasing treasure brings:
Till rich in public praise, and homage due,
The Royal Pair, renown'd for passion true,
In pomp departed, with their princely band,
And rul'd, with growing fame, their native land.
The minstrels ceas'd; for now in western foam
The star of evening sought his radiant dome:
The Graces and young Loves, with golden wing,
The Bridal Pairs into their chamber bring:
The Queen of Floods, and all the marine Pow'rs,
Thro' the still wave explore their wat'ry bow'rs.
'Twas silence all, in heavenly tow'rs on high,
The Spheres kept watch, with ever-waking eye:
Sweet on the lawn, from the etherial steep,
Fond Cynthia with Endymion seem'd to sleep:
When at their lattice, with sweet bird of eve,
Her mate, the muse thus parting carol gave.

The mottos of the Epithalamium may be thus translated.