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By the lingering day forlorn,

And the dread of the drear morrow,

By the infant yet unborn,

Waiting for its' world of sorrow,

By youth, forgetful to rejoice,
And middle age's failing voice;

By the griefs of many lands,

And hearts that waste in secret places,

By the lift of trembling hands,

And the tears on furrow'd faces,

Say, shall anguish yet rejoice?

Spirit dear, put forth a voice.

SPIRIT SINGS.

To the griefs of many lands,

To hearts that waste in secret places,

To the lift of trembling hands,

And the tears on furrowed faces,

To Beauty's and to Virtue's voice,

I am come to bid rejoice.

Two Echoes. Rejoice! Rejoice!

RECITATIVE.

'Tis my brethren of the sky,

Couriers we of Liberty,

Coming hither, one by one,

Like the streaks before the sun.

She herself is now not far,

But has passed the morning-star;

And if ye would wish to see

What shall help to set ye free,

From the greenwood start ye forth,

And turn your eyes from south to north.

(A symphony of pipes mingles in; and the

spirit sings again).

Elsewhere now I take my voice ;

Locks of grey!

And lips of May!

And shepherds all, rejoice, rejoice.

Echoes dying off. Rejoice! Rejoice!

Myrt. This is deliciousness!-Our friends will go, And bring us word, dear father, of this sight: You must in-doors, and rest your spirit awhile.

(Exeunt severally).

SCENE THE SECOND.

THE Confines of a wood with a large plain stretching up the country in the back-ground, and shewing a city in the distance. Over the city hangs a dark cloud.

Enter the Shepherds meeting on either side.

3d Shep. Did you remark the strange and sudden mist

That parted us?

1st Shep.

Ay, and was lost in wonder.

3d Shep. How it came rolling tow'rds us through

the trees,

And wrapp'd us from each other!

1st Shep.

Visibly passing. All my faculties

"Twas like night

Seem'd stuff'd and blinded till it had gone by.

Yet here we are all met.

2d Shep.

Some trick no doubt

Of this tyrannic juggler to delude us :

It's failure looks well-omen'd.

What do you see?

C

3d Shep. Nothing as yet in the north.

1st Shep.

But tow'rds the south

There is a streak of light in the dark sky;

And the Enchanter in his city seems

At troubled work.

2d Shep.

That's plain.

Heav'n alter him!

What choice has his been of these dark vexations,

These sullen heights, this flound'ring in Heav'n's worst,

This poor and purblind acting of the god,

When by the same good gift of understanding
Thus devilishly abus'd, and by applying

To books of clearer wisdom, he had been
Blessing and blest, and helped to keep our land
In still and shiny peace, it's vital air

Pure and at liberty, and it's happy families
As numerous, and as smiling, and as rich
With joy at heart, as the small orbs that throng
Their laughing cheeks together on our vines.

What flash was that? Was it not lightning?

1st and 3d Shep.

Now the light's coming.

2d Shep.

Look,

Something flashes thick

As from a forge, and spits against the dark:

The wind too,-how it musters on the sudden !

Now, now!

Another cloud, similar to that over the city, emerges from the north after the light, and begins to come slowly onward, the latter meantime shifting it's place a little towards it, and leaving the spires of the city whitening up into the air.

1st Shep. The Enchanter, wrapp'd within his cloud, Seems to await it. Heaven send us good!

For after all, my friends, what if this voice

We heard delude us, and this other cloud

Contain but other evils like himself,

Come to dispute with him the power to vex us?

2d Shep. That thought has cross'd me also; but I feel

It cannot be; the voice had something in it

So frank and kind, I feel assured 'twas true.

Besides, those counter-ills have failed already :-
He is so fixed and potent in his art,

They have but furnish'd him with proud occasion
To play the master, and bring under him,
One after one, the trusters in his trade.

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