18. =Ajax.= "The beautiful distich upon Ajax puts me in mind of a description in Homer's 'Odyssey,' which none of the critics have taken notice of. It is where Sisyphus is represented lifting his stone up the hill which is no sooner carried to the top of it, but it immediately tumbles to the bottom. This double motion of the stone is admirably described in the numbers of these verses; as in the four first it is heaved up by several spondees intermixed with proper breathing places, and at last trundles down in a continual line of dactyls."--_Addison._ 19. =Camilla.= The virgin queen of the Volsci. She aided Turnus against Æneas, and was famed for her fleetness of foot. 20. =Timotheus.= See notes on "Alexander's Feast," by Dryden. 21. =son of Libyan Jove.= Alexander. See note 5, page 166. 22. =Quality.= Persons of high rank. ODE ON ST. CECILIA'S DAY. MDCCVIII. I. Descend, ye Nine!{1} descend and sing; The breathing instruments inspire, Wake into voice each silent string, And sweep the sounding lyre! In a sadly pleasing strain,{2} Let the warbling lute complain: Let the loud trumpet sound, Till the roofs all around The shrill echoes rebound; While in more lengthen'd notes and slow, The deep, majestic, solemn organs blow. Hark! the numbers soft and clear Gently steal upon the ear; Now louder, and yet louder rise, And fill with spreading sounds the skies: Exulting in triumph now swell the bold notes, In broken air, trembling, the wild music floats, Till, by degrees, remote and small, The strains decay, And melt away, In a dying, dying fall. II. By music, minds an equal temper know,{3} Nor swell too high, nor sink too low. If in the breast tumultuous joys arise, Music her soft, assuasive{4} voice applies; Or, when the soul is press'd with cares, Exalts her in enlivening airs. Warriors she fires with animated sounds; Pours balm into the bleeding lover's wounds: Melancholy lifts her head, Morpheus rouses from his bed, Sloth unfolds her arms and wakes, Listening Envy drops her snakes; Intestine war no more our passions wage, And giddy factions hear away their rage. III. But when our country's cause provokes to arms, How martial music every bosom warms! So when the first bold vessel dared the seas, High on the stern the Thracian raised his strain,{5} While Argo saw her kindred trees Descend from Pelion to the main. Transported demi-gods{6} stood round, And men grew heroes at the sound, Inflamed with glory's charms; Each chief his sevenfold shield display'd, And half unsheathed the shining blade: And seas, and rocks, and skies rebound, To arms! to arms! to arms! IV.