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On MUSIC.

I.
1 MUSIC the coldest Heart can warm,
2 The hardest melt, the fiercest charm;
3 Disarm the Savage of his Rage,
4 Dispel our Cares, and Pains assuage;
5 With Joy it can our Souls inspire,
6 And tune our Tempers to the Lyre;
7 Our Passions, like the Notes, agree,
8 And stand subdu'd by Harmony.
9 This found the melancholy King,
10 When DAVID tun'd the trembling String:
11 Sweet MUSIC chas'd the sullen Spleen away,
12 And made his clouded Soul serenely gay.
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II.
13 WHILE MUSIC breathes in Martial Airs,
14 The Coward durst forget his Fears;
15 Or, if the Notes to Pity sound,
16 Revenge and Envy cease to wound:
17 The Pow'r of MUSIC has been known
18 To raise or tumble Cities down:
19 Thus Theban Turrets, Authors say,
20 Were rais'd by MUSIC's magic Lay;
21 And ancient Jericho's Heav'n-hated Wall,
22 To sacred MUSIC, ow'd its destin'd Fall.
III.
23 NOR Mortals only MUSIC love;
24 It chears celestial Saints above:
25 Sweet Hallelujahs Angels sing
26 Around their great Ethereal KING;
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27 Ceasless they sound the FATHER's Praise,
28 The FATHER too approves their Lays;
29 For HE (as all Things) MUSIC made,
30 And SERAPHIMS before Him play'd:
31 When over Horeb's Mount He came,
32 Array'd in Majesty and Flame;
33 After the sounding Trump, sublime, He rode;
34 The sounding Trump proclaim'd th'approaching GOD.
IV.
35 MUSIC had Being, long before
36 The solemn Organ learnt to roar:
37 When MICHAEL, o'er the heav'nly Plain,
38 Advanc'd, to fight the rebel Train;
39 Loud Trumpets did his Wrath declare,
40 In MUSIC, terrible to hear:
41 And when the Universe was made,
42 On golden Harps the Angels play'd:
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43 And when it falls, (as fall it must)
44 MUSIC shall penetrate the Dust;
45 The Trump shall sound with the Archangel's Breath;
46 And, sweetly dreadful! wake the Dead from Death.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): On MUSIC.
Author: Stephen Duck
Themes: music
Genres: topical verse

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Source edition

Duck, Stephen, 1705-1756. Poems on several occasions: By Stephen Duck. London: printed for the author, 1736, pp. 68-71. xl,334,[2]p. ; 4⁰. (ESTC T90234; OTA K073280.000)

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