Poems on Several Occasions :: :: University of Virginia Library

Second Elder.
An aweful Air, and learned Pride,
From public Eyes our Frailties hide:
And, while the Passions lurk within,
Afford a specious Veil to Sin.
But what Discov'ry need I fear?

First Elder.
Then have I met a Rival here?

Second Elder.
What in these Shades does thee detain?

First Elder.
Of what, my Friend, dost thou complain?

DUO.
Our common Guilt, our common Pain.

First Elder.
Wisdom! Virtue! Duty!
I confess your Sway:
What are you, when Beauty
Forces to obey?
While I gaze upon her
Phantoms all of Honour
Vanish quite away.

Second Elder.
See! to the gloomy Grove she goes,
To shun the fierce Meridian Beams:
Ye Zephyrs! lull her to Repose;
And tell my Passion to her Dreams.

Susanna.
The Croud and Senators are gone:
Securely I may bathe alone:
No Eye beneath, around, above,
Can pierce the Shades of this Alcove;

158

The Spring is clear, and undefil'd;
And fann'd with Breezes breathing mild.

AIR.
Bring, ye Virgins! bring,
Liquid Sweets and fragrant Oil;
What the lavish Spring
Scatters on this happy Soil:
What Nature breathes, or Art composes,
From Nard, or Jessamin or Roses.

Maids.
What can be so fair and sweet
As when Love and Virtue meet,
Thus to bless, the wedded Pair?
He so faithful, she so fair.

Susanna
sola.
But O! ye Eastern Waters! as you flow,
Remember that our Country claims our Woe:
That neither Voice nor Lyre we can command,
Sighs check the Voice and Sorrow chills the Hand.

First Elder.
Whither dost thou hope to fly?
Love has a more piercing Eye.

Second Elder.
Whither dost thou hope to run?
Love has Flames thou canst not shun.

Susanna.
Ah me! what rustles thro' the Grove?

First Elder.
No Tiger fear ------

Second Elder.
'Tis only Love.

159

DUO.
No Tiger fear ------
'Tis only Love.

Susanna.
Ah me! what Rustles thro' the Grove.

First Elder.
See! how your Beauty can enslave
The Learned, the Severe and Grave:
How Wisdom, Honor, Justice, Fame,
Submit to the victorious Flame.

Second Elder.
If rev'rend Age be counted wise,
Let Youth attend what we advise:
Nor vainly lose thy lovely Prime;
For Wisdom is but Use of Time.

Susanna.
Strange are the Words; unheard before:
O cease! that I may hear no more.

AIR.
To Joachim my Vows are giv'n;
Be Witness Earth! and Witness Heav'n!
Can ever Earth or Heav'n allow,
That I should break the sacred Vow?

TRIO.

First Elder.
Who can our secret Love descry?

Second Elder.
Who to reveal the Tale is nigh?

Susanna.
But Witness Heav'ns all-piercing Eye.

160

AIR.

Susanna.
Or send thy Succour from above,
Or inward Force inspire, S.
To guard me from forbidden Love;
Or quench their guilty Fire.

D. C.
First Elder.
Love ill repay'd to Vengeance turns:

Second Elder.
Vengeance than Love more fiercely burns.

DUO.
Vengeance than Love ------

First Elder.
Then Love or Death.

Second Elder.
Then Love or ------

Susanna.
Be Death my Choice.

First Elder.
And Death of Fame by publick Voice.

DUO.
And Death of Fame ------

AIR.

Susanna.
In Heighth of Bliss and Bloom of Youth,
How hard it is to die?
To violate my plighted Truth
Is harder to comply.
Tho' to the Rage of impious Love
I fall a Sacrifice,
Yet know there is a Pow'r above,
Beholds with equal Eyes.

161

First Elder.
Stop, seize, pursue ------

Servants
Entering.
What means the Call?

Second Elder.
The Youth has overleap'd the Wall.

Servants.
What Youth?

First Elder.
Alas! in that Surprize
With her ------

Second Elder.
Cou'd we believe our Eyes!
He mocks our feeble Age, and flies;

First Elder.
We sought to hold, but he, more young,
Escap'd, and o'er the Fences sprung:
His Person was to us unknown;
Nor wou'd she tell when he was gone.

Servants.
Incredible! did ever Fame,
Or ev'n Suspicion touch her Name?

Second Elder.
Our Age such Credit may obtain:
Our Testimony is not vain.
And since our Victor does permit
We in Judicature should sit,
To Joachim's Abode repair:
Let all the Senators be there.

First Elder.
Beauty may to Pity move;
Pity be the Bait of Love:

162

Justice, aweful and severe,
Veils her Eyes and shuts her Ear;
Scorns, the Bribe, and slights the Tear.

Susanna.
In Heav'n alone, in Heav'n I trust:
Tho' Man be impious and unjust.

AIR.
Adieu ye Glades! ye Springs adieu!
Did ever I commit to you
A single Thought that shun'd the View!
Adieu! Adieu! Adieu!

2. SECOND PART.

Daniel.
O! whither is the Glory gone
Of Sion, once renown'd?
Our holy Place, and David's Throne,
Are levell'd with the Ground.
Alas! the slow revolving Year
Must circle seventy Times,
While we remain in Bondage here,
To languish for our Crimes.

RECITATIVE.
Nor is it all: Alas! our own
Exceed the Sins of Babylon:
Vice reigns thro' our abandon'd Tribes;
Ambition, Avarice, and Bribes.

163

Whence do I hear that furious Cry?

Israel.
It is Susanna, led to dye.

Daniel.
Susanna, of our royal Race?
Susanna, doom'd to this Disgrace?
Susanna, beautiful and chaste?

Israel.
Blessings, alas! but not to last.

Susanna.
Adagio.
O Pow'r Divine! to thee I call:
Behold! in Innocence I fall.

AIR.
What was, and is, and is to be,
Alike are visible to thee;
Tho' in Obscurity they lye:
And tho' by Perjuries I dye,
Yet I am spotless in thine Eye.

Captive Women.
What alas! shall Woman trust?
Youth and Beauty are but Dust:
If to noble Blood ally'd,
All is transitory Pride.
Honour, and a spotless Name,
Bubbles of uncertain Fame:
All to vanish with a Breath.
What is all this Scene beneath?

First Elder.
See! how the Beauty, false and frail,
Unmerited their Pity draws?

Second Elder.
Shall her dissembling Tears avail
Against the Justice of our Laws?

164

RECITATIVE.

Chelcias.
O this did ever I presage?
Is this the Comfort of my Age?
Thy pious Youth! thy modest Bloom!
Unjust and impious is the Doom,
That sinks me to the silent Tomb.

Joachin.
O! cou'd my faithful Heart deceive?
Or that fair Form my Trust betray?
O! no! I never can believe ------
Together either save, or slay.

AIR.

Susanna.
Thus the Falcon from above,
Shoots upon the tender Dove:
While hid in Silence lies
Her gentle Mate,
To mourn her Fate,
She trembles, bleeds and dies.

Daniel.
Witness my Hands, that you remain
Untainted with the purple Stain,
When helpless Innocence is slain.

D. C. 1st and 2d Lines.
First Elder.
Where is the Youth, who rash and bold
Usurps the Honours of the Old?

Second Elder.
If that thou hast receiv'd from Heav'n,
Authority, to the Ancients giv'n?

165

Daniel.
The Gifts of Heav'n are not confin'd,
An upright Heart, a searching Mind,
To young or old, or great or small:
If Heav'n the Breast of you inspires
Or Passion lead the hoary Sires,
Shall soon be visible to all.

First Elder.
Ascend the Tribune, and from thence
Thy Wisdom to the Croud dispense.

Daniel.
Then set the Witnesses aside:
Asunder; till the Cause be try'd.

Solemn Symphony.
And thou! alone supremely wise!
Unalterably just and true!
Assist me, thro' the dark Disguise
Of Falshood; to direct my View:
And all her Mazes to pursue.

Music again
Piano.
Susanna.
O Pow'r divine! attend and hear!
My Tongue is ty'd by Shame and Fear:
But when the Innocent bemoan,

Pianiss.
Ev'n Silence whispers at thy Throne.

Daniel to First Elder.
O thou! whose hoary Age can rove,
Lost in the Wilds of guilty Love!
Now heav'nly Vengeance brings to Light,
Thy Crimes; too close for human Sight:

166

For thou hast clear'd exalted Guilt,
And Blood of Innocence hast spilt.
Yet tell me, if thou hast beheld,
What Tree the lawless Love conceal'd?

First Elder.
Beneath a dropping Mastick; there
We both surpriz'd the guilty Pair.

Daniel.
'Tis well! thy Head shall bear the Lye:
O false and fraudulent, in vain;
The Angel of the Lord stands by;
Ordain'd to sever thee in twain.

To Second Elder.
O thou of Canaan's impious Race!
For Juda scorns a Son so base;
Since Beauty can thy Judgment blind,
And Passion over-rule thy Mind.
O'er Israel's Daughters aw'd by Fear
Your easy Victories you gain'd.
Which she of Juda scorn'd to bear;
And all your Artifice disdain'd.
Yet tell me, if thou hast beheld,
What Tree the lawless Love conceal'd?

Second Elder.
A stately Holm above them spread
The Shelter of his ample Head.

Daniel.
O Force of Truth! that uncontroll'd
Confutes the Wise, and daunts the Bold!
How little shall thy specious Tale
To murther Innocence avail?

167

AIR.
Thy Sentence by thyself is giv'n!
Look up and tremble with Despair!
Behold the Minister of Heav'n!
He wheels the fiery Sword in Air;
And waits to sever thee in twain.
Ye both are destin'd to be slain.

Israel.
O! bear them, bear them to their Fate;
As to another they design'd:

Second Israel.
That impious Love, and guileful Hate,
An equal Recompense may find.

First Elder.
Conscious Anguish, guilty Shame,
Pierce my Heart, and brand my Name.

Second Elder.
Hide me, Earth! that I may lye,
Safe from Scorn and Infamy.

DUO.
But unreveng'd is twice to dye.

Chelcias.
O Daniel! just is thy Decree;
The Voice of Heav'n decides in thee:

To Susanna.
Thine is the Praise of Virtue try'd;

To Joach.
And thine the Bliss of such a Bride.
The Crown of hoary Age is mine:
The Glory to the Pow'r Divine.
Present Joy for Sorrow past,
Heightens the delicious Taste.

168

AIR.

Joachim.
Rumor base, and canker'd Spight,
Hence to everlasting Night;
There in solid Fetters bound,
Fetters which in vain you bite,
Murmur thro' the dark Profound.

Susanna.
I tremble, like the frighted Deer,
That just escapes the Tiger near.

AIR.
But, O! to him the Praise is due,
Who vindicates the Chaste and True:
The Triumph is not mine.
For who the Victory cou'd win
Unless supported from within
By Fortitude divine?

D. C.
Grand CHORUS.
Show'r thy Blessings from above,
Author of connubial Love!
On the Hearts by thee combin'd;
Sacred Harmony of Mind!
Show'r thy Blessings from above,
Author of connubial Love!