 | A Collection of Original Poems |  |
80
VULCAN'S REVENGE.
A CANTATA.
Recitative.
Long had the radiant God who rules the day,Love's brighter Goddess su'd, and own'd her sway:
In vain he burns; in vain, alas! he sighs;
Mars was ordain'd to win the lovely prize.
Air.
Wit and music try, in vain,Ev'ry soul-inchanting strain;
Stranger she to real joys,
Yields to dissonance and noise.
Ye whose happiness relies
On the glance of sparkling eyes,
Know that seldom true desert
Can ensure a female heart.
81
If your mistress chuses you;
Whim alone her choice decides,
Whim alone her actions guides.
Recitative.
Alternate passions Phœbus' heart engage,Love now predominates, now jealous rage,
Revenge impells, he seeks the Lemnian cave:
To Vulcan tells the bliss that Venus gave;
How she improv'd the honours of his face,
And war's rough God clasp'd in her fond embrace.
Air.
How precarious the rapture that lovers enjoy,When stolen the pleasures, their moments employ;
Expos'd to the malice of envy, or spite,
How pall'd the embrace is, how short the delight!
Recitative.
Vulcan enrag'd quick spreads a fatal snare,And sacred springes caught the happy pair;
82
Each sneering wish'd his lot had been the same;
While merry Momus, with a comic face,
Hails him the wisest of immortal race;
Despis'd, he quits the skies; while hisses round,
Pursue him to the Lemnian caves profound.
Air.
Jealousy's the bane of pleasure'Tis to true repose a foe;
He that harbours it, the treasure
Of content, can never know.
Chloe's false perhaps—conceal it,—
Hide the secret in your breast;
He, whose passion would reveal it,
But becomes the public jest.
| A Collection of Original Poems | |