University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

The Palace at Memphis, during the Darkness. Pharaoh, Sephres, and Attendants.
RECITATIVE.
Pharaoh.
If there be any near me let him speak;

Sephres.
May Pharaoh live for ever!

Pharaoh.
O, my Son!
Ill suits such greeting with this dreadful Gloom;
This Gloom, impervious to the Noon-tide Beam,
If the blest Sun still rises on the World—
Speak yet again, that I may hear thy Voice,
And Darkness may be Solitude no more.

Sephres.
I speak, but yet my Voice almost affrights me,
Three Times the circling Hours have brought the Morn
To other Realms, if other Realms there are
Which yet the Morn revisits, since these Eyes
Were blest with chearful Light; nor yet has Sound
Divided once the long, deep, death-like Silence.

AIR, by Pharaoh.
O Darkness! dreaded not in vain,
My Sould admits thy awful Train;
With me thy kindred Terrors dwell,
And Joy, and Peace, and Hope expel.

AIR, by Sephres.
O chearing Light! of Life and Joy
Fair Emblem! wilt thou ne'er return!
No more thy golden Shafts employ!
No more with genial Radiance burn!

RECITATIVE.
Pharaoh.
This Darkness is to Death.—Great Nature dies,
And we but perish with her—Hark!
[A Symphony, a confused Expression of Joy, as of Shouts at a Distance.
Again—

Sephres.
It seem'd a distant Shout—behold the Cause!
Transporting Sight! a dim, but bright'ning Ray
Shoots Eastward hence, and struggles through the Gloom.

Pharaoh.
It does! increasing and prevailing still!

Sephres.
A wild tumultuous Joy throbs at my Heart,
From Terror scarce distinguish'd; still I tremble.

Pharaoh.
I am again myself, and scorn the Fears,
The vain fantastic Fears, that Darkness breeds;
Let the loud Trumpets sound, that if the Sun
Still combats with a Foe not yet subdu'd,
The Sound may lend him Aid, and let your Song
Conjure the Pow'rs of Darkness from the Sky.

SONG and CHORUS.
Hence! ye Pow'rs of Death and Night!
Hence! the Living claim the Light!
By your dreary Realm that lies
Stretch'd beneath infernal Skies,
By the Ghosts that own your Sway,
Ghosts that hate the chearful Day,
Hence! ye Pow'rs of Death and Night!
Hence! the Living claim the Light.

Enter Moses.
RECITATIVE.
Pharaoh.
Enter not here, thou Enemy of Man.

Moses.
Here I must enter, for again commission'd
By him whose Hand has been so oft upon thee,
I come to claim an injur'd Nation's Freedom.

Pharaoh.
Darest thou again, with that ill-omen'd Voice,
Urge thy Demand, and tempt again my Mercy!

Moses.
What shou'd I fear from thee! I trust in God.
Sever these Limbs in Fragments small as Dust,
And give them scatter'd to the Winds of Heav'n,
If he commands, united in a Moment,
Again, as now, they shall appear before thee,
To work his Pleasure, and denounce his Vengeance.

Enter Menytis.
Menytis.
O Friend! O Brother! wherefore are ye thus?
Change these fierce Looks of Anger and Defiance
For such as heretofore ye took and gave—
Remember, Pharaoh, he who stands before thee
Our Father's Sister cherish'd as her child;
Remember, Moses, what thou wast to Pharaoh,
His Friend, the favour'd Brother of his Choice—

AIR, by Menytis.

Pharaoh.
In vain you urge me, outrag'd and defy'd—
Henceforth the Wretch shall see my Face no more.

Moses.
Well hast thou said; this Object of thy Scorn
Henceforth indeed shall see thy Face no more.

DUET.
Pharaoh and Moses.
Phar.
Fly, and see my Face no more;

Moses.
I will see thy Face no more:

Phar.
Dread my Rage.

Moses.
Thy Rage I scorn,
Dread thyself the rising Morn:

Phar.
Vain thy Menace—hence! away—

Moses.
Tyrant, I disdain to stay.

CHORUS.
Hence! and try thy Arts again,
Vain the past, the future vain;
Pharaoh shall thy Pow'r defy,
And with Glory live, or die.