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النشر الإلكتروني

Nakar of these does lead the mighty band,
For eighty legions move at his command:
Gentle to all, but, far above the rest,
Mild Nakar loves his soft Damilcar best.
In airy chariots they together ride,

And sip the dew as through the clouds they glide :
These are the spirits, which in love have power.
Plac. Haste, and invoke them in a happy hour.
Nig. And so it proves: For, counting seven
from noon,

'Tis Venus' hour, and in the waxing moon,
With chalk I first describe a circle here,
Where these etherial spirits must appear.
Come in, come in; for here they will be strait:
Around, around, the place I fumigate:
My fumigation is to Venus just:
The souls of roses, and red coral's dust;
A lump of Sperma Ceti; and to these
The stalks and chips of Lignum Aloes;
And, last, to make my fumigation good,

'Tis mixt with sparrows' brains, and pigeons' blood.
[NIGRINUS takes up the swords.
They come, they come, they come! I hear them

now.

Plac. A death-like damp sits cold upon my brow, And misty vapours swim before my sight.

Nig. They come not in a shape to cause your fright.

NAKAR and DAMILCAR descend in clouds,

and sing,

Nakar. Hark, my Damilcar, we are called below! Dam. Let us go, let us go!

Go to relieve the care

Of longing lovers in despair!

Nakar. Merry, merry, merry, we sail from the

east,

Half tippled at a rain-bow feast.

Dam. In the bright moon-shine while winds whistle loud,

Tivy, tivy, tivy, we mount and we fly,

All racking along in a downy white cloud:

And lest our leap from the sky should prove too far,
IVe slide on the back of a new-falling star.
Nakar. And drop from aboce

In a jelly of love!

Dam. But now the sun's down, and the element's red,

The spirits of fire against us make head!

Nakar. They muster, they muster, like gnats in the

air:

Alas! I must leave thee, my fair;

And to my light horse-men repair.

Dam. O stay, for you need not to fear them tonight;

The wind is for us, and blows full in their sight:
And o'er the wide ocean we fight!

Like leaves in the autumn our foes will fall down ;
And hiss in the water.

Both. And hiss in the water, and drown!

Nakar. But their men lie securely intrenched in a cloud,

And a trumpeter-hornet to battle sounds loud.

Dam. Now mortals that spy

How we tilt in the sky,

With wonder will gaze;

And fear such events as will ne'er come to pass.
Nakar. Stay you to perform what the men will have

done.

Dam. Then call me again when the battle is won.
Both. So ready and quick is a spirit of air

To pity the lover, and succour the fair,
That, silent and swift, the little soft god
Is here with a wish, and is gone with a nod.

[The clouds part, NAKAR flies up, and DAMILCAR down.

power

Nig. I charge thee, spirit, stay; and by the [To DAMILCAR. Of Nakar's love, and of this holy wand, On the north quarter of my circle stand, (Seven foot around for my defence I take.) To all my questions faithful answers make! So mayest thou live thy thousand years in And see thy airy progeny increase : So mayest thou still continue young and fair, Fed by the blast of pure ætherial air, And, thy full term expired, without all pain, Dissolve into thy astral source again.

peace,

Dam. Name not my hated rival Gemory, And I'll speak true whate'er thy questions be. Nig. Thy rival's hated name I will refrain: Speak, shall the emperor his love obtain?

Dam. Few hours shall pass before your emperor shall be

Possessed of that he loves, or from that love be free. Plac Shall I enjoy that beauty I adore?

Dam. She, suppliant-like, ere long, thy succour shall implore:

And thou with her thou lovest in happiness may

live,

'st

If she not dies before, who all thy joys can give.
Nig. Say, what does the Egyptian princess now?
Dam. A gentle slumber sits upon her brow.
Nig. Go, stand before her in a golden dream:
Set all the pleasures of the world to shew,
And in vain joys let her loose spirit flow.

Dam. Twice fifty tents remove her from your
sight,

But I'll cut through them all with rays of light;
And covering other objects to your eyes,
Shew where entranced in silent sleep she lies.

DAMILCAR stamps, and the bed arises with St
CATHARINE in it.

DAMILCAR singing.

You pleasing dreams of love and sweet delight,
Appear before this slumbering virgin's sight :
Soft visions set her free

From mournful piety.

Let her sad thoughts from heaven retire;
And let the melancholy love

Of those remoter joys above

Give place to your more sprightly fire.

Let purling streams be in her fancy seen;

And flowery meads, and cales of chearful green :
And in the midst of deathless groves

Soft sighing wishes lie,

And smiling hopes fast by,

And just beyond them ever-laughing loves.

A SCENE of a Paradise is discovered.

Plac. Some pleasing objects do her mind employ ;

For on her face I read a wandering joy.

SONG.

Dam. Ah how sweet it is to love!
Ah how gay is young desire!

And what pleasing pains we prove
When we first approach love's fire!
Pains of love be sweeter far
Than all other pleasures are.

Sighs, which are from lovers blown,
Do but gently heave the heart:

Even the tears they shed alone,
Cure, like trickling balm, their smart.
Lovers when they lose their breath,
Bleed away in easy death.

Love and time with reverence use,
Treat them like a parting friend:
Nor the golden gifts refuse,
Which in youth sincere they send:
For each year their price is more,
And they less simple than before.

Love, like spring-tides full and high,
Swells in every youthful vein;
But each tide does less supply,
Till they quite shrink in again:
If a flow in age appear,

'Tis but rain, and runs not clear.

At the end of the Song a Dance of Spirits. After which AMARIEL, the Guardian-Angel of St CATHARINE, descends to soft music, with a flaming sword. The spirits crawl off the stage amazedly, and DAMILCAR runs to a corner of it.

Amar. From the bright empire of eternal day, Where waiting minds for heaven's commission stay, Amariel flies: A darted mandate came

From that great will which moves this mighty frame;

Bid me to thee, my royal charge, repair,

To guard thee from the dæmons of the air;
My flaming sword above them to display,
(All keen, and ground upon the edge of day;)
The flat to sweep the visions from thy mind,
The edge to cut them through that stay behind.
Vain spirits, you, that, shunning heaven's high noon,
Swarm here beneath the concave of the moon,

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