These loosen'd joints, these knees which The world may worship, you must counsel smite each other, Betray I'm but a man-a weak one too! 1st court. In truth, 'tis passing strange, and full of horror! Belsh. Send for the learn'd magicians, every sage Who deals in wizard spells and magic charms. [Some go out. 1st court. How fares my lord the king? Belsh. Am I a king? What pow'r have I? Ye lying slaves, I am not. Oh, soul distracting sight! but is it real? I am a king again, and know not fear. Again, 'tis there! it is not fancy's work, It cannot be the God of these poor Jews; 3d court. Let not a phantom, an illusive shade Disturb the peace of him who rules the world. Belsh. No more, ye wretched sycophants! no more! [strike, The sweetest note which flatt'ry now can Harsh and discordant grates upon my soul. Talk not of pow'r to one so full of fear, So weak, so impotent ! Look on that wall; If thou wouldst soothe my soul explain the writing, And thou shalt be my oracle, my God! means, And I'll believe I am again a king! Friends! princes! ease my troubled breast, and say What do the mystic characters portend? 1st court. 'Tis not in us, O king, to ease thy spirit; We are not skill'd in those mysterious arts Which wait the midnight studies of the sige: But of the deep diviners thou shalt learn, The wise astrologers, the sage magicians, Who, of events unborn, take secret note, And hold deep commerce with the unseen world. Enter astrologers, magicians, &c. &c. Belsh. Approach, ye sages, 'tis the king commands. [They kneel. Astrologers, Hail, mighty king of Babylon! Nay, rise: Belsh. I do not need your homage, but your help; me. He who declares the secret of the king, His neck a princely chain of gold adorn : Meet honours for such wisdom: He shall rule The third in rank throughout our Babylon. 2d Astr. Such recompence becomes Belshazzar's bounty. Let the king speak the secret of his soul; Which heard, his humble creatures shall unfold. Belsh. (points to the wall.) Be't so-look there-behold those characters! Nay, do not start, for I will know their meaning! Ha! answer; speak, or instant death awaits you! What, dumb! all dumb! where is your boasted skill? [They confer together. Keep them asunder-no confederacyNo secret plots to make your tales agree. Speak, slaves, and dare to let me know the [They kneel. 1st Astr. O, let the king forgive his faithful servants! worst! 2d Astr. O mitigate our threatened doom of death; If we declare, with mingled grief and shame, Belsh. Off with their heads! Ye shall not live an hour! Curse on your shallow arts, your lying science! 'Tis thus you practice on the credulous world, Who think you wise because themselves are weak! But, miscreants, ye shall die! the pow'r to punish Is all that I have left me of a king. 1st court. Great sire, suspend their punishment a while Behold Nitocris comes, thy royal mother! Enter QUEEN. Queen. O my misguided son! Well may'st thou wonder to behold me here: For I have ever shunn'd this scene of riot, Where wild intemperance and dishonour'd mirth Hold festival impure. Yet, ( Belshazzar! Among the captive tribes which hither came To grace Nebassar's triumph, there was brought A youth nam'd Daniel, favour'd by high With pow'r to look into the secret page And palpable to sense. He twice explain'd seer Saw, with prophetic spirit, what befel Bel. Nitocris. Enter Daniel. Bel. Welcome, thrice venerable sage! approach. Art thou that Daniel whom my great forefather Brought hither with the captive tribes of Judah! Daniel. I am, O king! Bel. Then, pardon, holy prophet; Nor let a just resentment of thy wrongs, And long neglected merit, shut thy heart Against a king's request, a suppliant king! Daniel. The God I worship teaches to forgive. Bel. Then let thy words bring comfort to my soul. I've heard the spirit of the gods is in thee; Bel. Then, O Daniel ! Thou shalt be great beyond thy soul's ambition, And rich above thywildest dream of wealth: Clad in the scarlet robe our nobles wear, And grac'd with princely ensigns thou shalt stand Near our own throne, and third within our empire. Daniel. O mighty king, thy gifts with thee remain, And let thy high rewards on others fall. Could never satisfy the vast ambition 1st cour. Wond'rous man! Prepare to hear what courtiers seldom tell; Prepare to hear, the Truth. The mighty God, Who rules the screptres and the hearts of kings, Gave thy renown'd forefather* here to reign, With such extent of empire, weight of pow'r, And greatness of dominion, the wide earth Trembled beneath the terror of his name, And kingdoms stood or fell as he decreed. Oh! dangerous pinnacle of pow'r supreme! Who can stand safe upon its treach'rous top, Behold the gazing prostrate worid below, Whom depth and distance into pigmies shrink, And not grow giddy? Babylon's great king Forgot he was a man, a helpless man, Subject to pain, and sin, and death, like others! But who shall fight against Omnipotence? Or who hath harden'd his obdurate heart Against the Majesty of Heav'n, and prosper'd? The God he had insulted was aveng'd; From empire, from the joys of social life, He drove him forth; extinguish'd reason's lamp; Quench'd that bright spark of deity within; Compell'd him with the forest brutes to roam For scanty pasture; and the mountain dews Fell, cold and wet, on his defenceless head, Till he confess'd,-Let men, let monarchs hear! Nebuchadnezzar. Till he confess'd, PRIDE WAS NOT MADE | Conditional are all Heav'n's covenants : And when th' uplifted thunder is withheld, Nicotris. O awful instance of divine dis-'Tis pray'r that deprecates th' impending FOR MAN ! plesure! Bel. Proceed! my soul is wrapt in fix'd attention! Daniel. O king! thy grandsire not in vain had sinn'd, If, from his error, thou hadst learnt the truth. The story of his fall thou oft hast heard, But has it taught thee wisdom? Thou like him, [pride, Hast been elate with pow'r, and mad with Like him, thou hast defy'd the living God. Nay, to bold thoughts hast added deeds more bold. Thou hast outwrought the pattern he qequeath'd thee And quite outgone example; hast profan'd With impious hand, the vessels of the temple: Those vessels sanctify'd to holiest use, Thou hast polluted with unhallow'd lips, And made the instruments of foul debauch. Thou hast ador'd the gods of wood and stone, Vile, senseless deities, the work of hands, But HE, THE KING OF KINGS, AND LORD O mighty king! Hear then its awful import: Heav'n has number'd bolt. Good Hezekiah's days were number'd too; But penitence and faith were mighty pleas: At Mercy's throne they never plead in vain. [He is going. Bel. Stay, prophet, and receive thy promis'd gift; The scarlet robe and princely chain are thine: And let my herald publish through the land That Daniel stands, in dignity and pow'r, The third in Babylon. These just rewards Thou well may'st claim, though sad thy prophecy! Queen. Be not deceiv'd my son! nor let thy soul Snatch an uncertain moment's treach❜rous soon. Remember that 'tis terrible to meet Warnings despis'd are condemnations then. [Exeunt Daniel and queen. Bel. 'Tis well-my soul shakes off its load of care: 'Tis only the obscure is terrible. Imagination frames events unknown, In wild fantastic shapes of hideous ruin; And what it fears creates !-I know the worst; And awful is that worst as fear could feign : But distant are the ills I have to dread! What is remote may be uncertain too!Ha! princes! hope breaks in !—This may not be. 1st cour. Perhaps this Daniel is in league with Persia; Thy days of royalty, and soon will end them. [lance And brib'd by Cyrus to report these horrors, Our God has weigh'd thee in the even ba- To weaken and impede the mighty plans Of his own holy law, and finds thee wanting: Of thy imperial mind. And last thy kingdom shall be wrested from [possess it. And know, the Mede and Persian shall Bel. (starts up) Prophet, when shall thee; this be? Daniel. Bel. Against the pow'r of Cyrus and the Mede In God's own time; Thy days are number'd: hear, repent and avail? If Heaven's decrees immutably are fix'd, Daniel. They change our hearts, A wat'ry bulwark, guards our ample city Asatwice ten years siege could never waste. 2 Chron, chap. xxxiii. Isaiah, chap. xxxviii. Bel. (embraces him.) My better genius! Safe in such resources, I mock the prophet.-Turn me to the banquet! [As they are going to resume their places at the banquet, a dreadful uproar is heard, tumultuous cries, and warlike sounds. All stand terrified. Enter soldiers with their swords drawn and wounded.] Soldier. Oh, helpless Babylon! Oh, wretched king! Chaldea is no more, the Mede has conquer'd! The victor Cyrus, like a mighty torrent Comes rushing on, and marks his way with ruin! Destruction is at hand; escape or perish. Bel. Impossible! Villain and slave, thou ly'st! Euphrates and the brazen gates secure us. While those remain, Belshazzar laughs at danger. Soldier. Euphrates is diverted from its 2d Jew. What noise is that? 1st Jew. Hark! 'tis Belshazzar's voice! Such treasures shall reward the gentle deed And worship thee.-It is not much, I ask— PART III. Enter DANIEL and Jews. Dan: Bel boweth down,* and haughty The idols fall; the god and worshipper save, Pervert thee; and thy blessing is thy bane! Where are thy brutish deities, Chaldea ? Where are thy gods of gold?—Oh, Lord of life! Thou very God! so fall thy foes before thee! 1st Jew. So fell beneath the terrors of Thy name The idol Chemosh, Moab's empty trust; Daniel. How chang'd our fate! Not for myself, () Judah! but for thee I shed these tears of joy. For I no more Must view the cedars which adorn the brow Of Syrian Lebanon; no more shall see Thy pleasant stream, O Jordan! nor the flocks Which whiten all the mountains of Judea; Or Carmel's heights, or Sharon's flow'ry No more these eyes delighted shall review vales. I must remain in Babylon! So Heav'n, more, And martyr'd Virtue rests her weary head. Though ere my day of promis'd grace shall come, I shall be tried by perils strange and new; Nor shall I taste of death, so have I learn'd, Till I have seen the captive tribes restor❜d. 1st Jew. And shall we view, once more, thy hallow'd towers, Imperial Salem? Dan. Yes, my youthful friends! You shall behold the second temple rise, † With grateful ecstacy; but we, your sires, Now bent with hoary age; we, whose charm'd eyes Behold the matchless glories of the first, Should weep, rememb'ring what we once had seen, That model of perfection! 2d Jew. Never more Shall such a wond'rous structure grace the earth! Isaiah, chap. xlvi. Ezra, chap. i. Dan. Well have you borne affliction, men | In the still seeming safety of retreat, of Judah! Than where the world her snares entan gling spreads, More visible to sense. Guard every thought: Who thinks himself secure is half undone; For Sin, unwatch'd, may reach the sanctuary: 'T'is not the place preserves us. Righteous Lot Stem'd the strong current of Corruption's tide, E'en in polluted Sodom; safe he liv'd, While circumspective Virtue's watchful eye Was anxiously awake: but in the shade, Far from the obvious perils which alarm With palpable temptation, secret sin Ensnar'd his soul; he trusted in himself; Security betray'd him, and he fell. 2d. Jew. Thy prudent counsels in our hearts shall live As if a pen of adamant had grav'd them. 1st Jew. The dawn approaches; let us part, my friend, Secure of peace, since tyranny is fallen. Dan. So perish all thine enemies, O Lord! So mighty God, shall perish all who seek Corrupted pleasures in the turbid waves Of life's polluted stream, and madly quit The living fountain of perennial grace! DANIEL: A SACRED DRAMA. The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. The subject is taken from the sixth chapter of the prophet Daniel. PART I. PHARNACES, SORANUS. Phar, YES!-I have noted with a jealous eye, The pow'r of this new fav'rite! Daniel reigus, And not Darius! Daniel guides the springs Which move this mighty empire. High hɛ sits, Supreme in favour with both prince and people. Where is the spirit of our Median lords, Tamely to crouch and bend the supple knee |