 | A New Opera, Call'd Cinthia and Endimion : Or, The Loves of the Deities |  |
PROLOGUE to Cinthia and Endimion.
The Scene is a pleasant Country, in which appears, by an artificial Sun just setting, Mount Latmus, with pleasant Valleys round it; some full of Corn, others with Fruit; a Gloominess on the suddain o're-spreads the Stage, till after a while Saturnia, representing Night, ascends from the Stage, and Sings:Saturnia.
The weary, hot and amorous God of Day,
Desends into the Bosom of the Sea,
To revel there some pleasant Hours away,
And I, succeeding Regent of the Night,
Till mighty Cinthia rises with new Light,
O're all the gloomy World extend my awful sway:
Nature is gone to rest, and Human-kind,
Possest with Peace of Mind,
Enjoy, what in these Groves, the happy Shepherds find;
Appear my Dazling, Pleiades, appear,
Cinthia intends, to Night, to revel here;
Come, come away,
Come, come away,
Adorn'd each in her glittering Robe, and shame Approaching-day.
Enter the Pleiades, Electra, Alcinoe, Caleno, Tagete, Asterope, Maia and Merope; they joyn in a Figure like the Seven Stars; as they appear, the Scene becomes more light; then Merope prepares to Sing:
Merope.
[I.]
Behold the Daughter of fam'd Atlas come,Adorn'd with Lustre at great Night's command;
Thro' ambient Air ten thousand Leagues from home,
We come to Visit blest Ionia's Land.
II.
Say mighty Queen of Shades what's to be done!What Wonders must the bright Virgiliæ do?
Are we to Mutiny against the Sun,
And let Mankind no more his Splendor view?
Saturn.
No, no, no, no, that's too severe,
No blemish must in your bright Forms appear;
Let Faction be by drossy Mortals shown,
The purer starry Region must have done:
Joy is your business now, Joy and Delight,
Great Cinthia comes to revel here to Night.
Merope.
Then since the Affair is all Dancing and Play,
My light-footed Sisters shall trip it away,
So brisk that the Swains,
That inhabit the Plains,
Shall all at the Sight,
Have a Passion for Night,
And remember no more the dull Charms of the Day. Dance.
Bright Star, Sweet Merope, this grant of thine.
Shall make thee equal with the Plannets shine;
For now the hour draws near, and to my Sence,
Methinks I feel lov'd Zephirus's Influence;
The Charming Zephire, fragrant breezes blows,
See where he comes perfuming every Rose,
And shedding Sacred Odours as he goes.
Enter Zephirus.
[Sings this to a Minuit Tune.
Zephir.
[I.]
Night, dear Promoter of Lovers Felicity,Thou sweet Attoner for Cares of the Day.
Happy disguise of a Virgins simplicity,
Whose guilty Blushes her Heart wou'd betray;
Thou sweet Concealer of her Intreague,
Which the Day wou'd reveal,
When to a private Bower,
At some Mid-night-hour, whilst the old Dad do snore,
To her Love she wou'd steal.
II.
Then the extreams of true Joy are most ravishing,When silent Hours indulge our Delight,
Whilst happy Mortals, Loves Treasures are lavishing,
Day still they rail at, but bless the kind Night:
Day the curst cause of Mortal Debate,
Pride, Ambition and Cares,
With Sol lies dreaming,
Where Thetis is streaming,
Whilst Night, Love and Fate
Rule the World's grand Affairs.
Sat.
I know, I know, and more am pleas'd
That we are from his gaudy Beams releas'd;
For by a Light that breaks thro' yonder Skies,
And a bright Crescent that does rise:
Cinthia I see draws near,
Great Cinthia in her Splendor will appear.
GRAND CHORUS.
Let Nature then revel in Joy and Delight,
Let Cinthia and Jove be the Chorus to Night,
The God of all Power, and Goddess of Light.
| A New Opera, Call'd Cinthia and Endimion : Or, The Loves of the Deities | |