SAUL, ABNER, David.

[DAVID bearing GOLIATH's head and sword. He kneels, and lays both at SAUL'S feet.]

Saul.

Welcome to my heart,

My glorious champion! My deliverer, welcome!
How shall I speak the swelling gratitude

Of my full heart! or give thee the high praise
Thy gallant deeds deserve!

Dav.

O mighty king!

Sweet is the breath of praise when given by those
Whose own high merit claims the praise they give.
But let not this one prosperous event,

By Heav'n directed, be ascrib'd to me;

I might have fought with equal skill and courage,
And not have gain'd this conquest; then had shame,
Harsh obloquy, and foul disgrace befall'n me :
But prosp'rous fortune gains the praise of valour.
Saul. I like not this. In every thing superior!
He soars above me (aside.) Modest youth, thou'rt right.
And fortune, as thou say'st, deserves the praise
We give to human valour.

Dav.

The God of hosts deserves it.

Saul.

Rather say

Tell me, youth,

What is thy name, and what thy father's house?
Dav. My name is David; Jesse is my sire;
An humble Bethlehemite of Judah's tribe.

Saul. David, the son of Jesse! Sure, that name
Has been familiar to me. Nay, thy voice,
Thy form, and features, I remember too,
Though faint and indistinctly.

Ab.
In this hero
Behold thy sweet musician; he whose harp
Expell'd the melancholy fiend, whose power
Enslav'd thy spirit.

Saul.

This the modest youth, Whom for his skill and virtues I preferr'd To bear my armour ?

Dav.

I am he, O king!

Saul. Why this concealment ? tell me, valiant David, Why didst thou hide thy birth and name till now!

Dav. O king! I would not aught from favour claim, Or on remember'd services presume;

D

But on the strength of my own actions stand,
Ungraced and unsupported.

Ab.

Well he merits

The honours which await him. Why, O king,

Dost thou delay to bless his doubting heart

With his well-earn'd rewards? Thy lovely daughter,

By right of conquest his!

Saul (to David.)

True: thou hast won her.

She shall be thine. Yes, a king's word is past.

Dav. O boundless blessing! What! shall she be mine, For whom contending monarchs might renounce

Their slighted crowns!

[Sounds of musical instruments heard at a distance. Shouting and singing. A grand procession. Chorus of Hebrew women.]

Saul.

How's this? what sounds of joy
Salute my ears? What means this needless pomp?
This merry sound of tabret and of harp?

What mean these idle instruments of triumph?
These women, who in fair procession move,

Making sweet melody?

16.

To David are they come.

Saul (aside.)

To pay due honour

A rival's praise

Is discord to my ear! They might have spar'd
This idle pageantry: it wounds my soul !

[Martial symphony: after which Chorus of Women

sing.]

I.

!

Prepare your festal rites prepare!
Let your triumphs rend the air!

Idol gods shall reign no more:
We the living Lord adore!

Let heathen hosts on human helps repose,
Since Israel's God has routed Israel's foes.

II.

Let remotest nations know
Proud Goliath's overthrow.
Fallen, Philistia, is thy trust,
Dagon mingles with the dust!

Who fears the Lord of glory, need not fear
The brazen armour or the lifted spear.

III.

See the routed squadrons fly!

Hark! their clamours rend the sky!
Blood and carnage stain the field!

See, the vanquish'd nations yield!

Dismay and terror fill the frighten❜d land,
While conquering David routs the trembling band.
IV.

Lo! upon the tented field

Royal Saul has thousands kill'd!
Lo! upon th' ensanguin'd plain
David has ten thousand slain !

Let mighty Saul his vanquish'd thousands tell,
While tenfold triumphs David's victories swell.

BELSHAZZAR:

A Sacred Brama.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the Morning! How art thon cat down to the ground, who didst weaken the nations.-Isaiah.

The subject is taken from the Fifth Chapter of the Prophet Daniel.

SCENE-Near the Palace of Babylon.

DANIEL AND CAPTIVE JEWS.

Dan. Parent of life and light! sole Source of good.
Whose tender mercies through the tide of time,
In long successive order, have sustain'd,

And sav'd the sons of Israel! Thou, whose pow'r
Deliver'd righteous Noah from the flood,

The whelming flood, the grave of human kind!
Oh Thou, whose guardian care and outstretch'd hand
Rescued young Isaac from the lifted arm,

Rais'd at thy bidding, to devote a son,
An only son, doom'd by his sire to die :
(O saving faith, by such obedience prov'd!
O blest obedience, hallow'd thus by faith!)
Thou, who in mercy sav'dst the chosen race
In the wild desert, and didst there sustain them
By wonder-working love, though they rebell'd

And murmur'd at the miracles that sav'd them!
Oh hear thy servant Daniel! hear and help!
Thou, whose almighty pow'r did after raise
Successive leaders to defend our race:
Who sentest valiant Joshua to the field,
Thy people's champion, to the conquering field,
Where the revolving planet of the night,
Suspended in her radiant round, was stay'd;
And the bright sun, arrested in his course,
Stupendously stood still!

CHORUS OF JEWS.

I.

What ailed thee, that thou stood'st still,
O sun! nor did thy flaming orb decline!
And thou, O moon! in Ajalon's low vale,
Why didst thou long before thy period shine!

II.

Was it at Joshua's dread command,

The leader of the Israelitish band?

Yes at a mortal's bidding both stood still:
'Twas Joshua's word, but 'twas Jehovah's will.

III.

What all-controlling hand had force

To stop eternal nature's constant course?
The wand'ring moon to one fix'd spot confine,
But His whose fiat gave them first to shine?

Dan. O Thou! who, when thy discontented host, Tired of Jehovah's rule, desir'd a king,

In anger gav'st them Saul; and then again
Didst wrest the regal sceptre from his hand
To give it David-David, best belov'd!
Illustrious David! poet, prophet, king;
Thou who didst suffer Solomon the wise
To build a glorious temple to thy name,-
O hear thy servants, and forgive us too!
If, by severe necessity compell'd,

We worship here-we have no temple now:
Altar or sanctuary, none is left.