by Thomas Lisle, Dr. (1709 - 1767)
Orpheus and Euridice See original
Language: English
When Orpheus went down to the regions below, Which men are forbidden to see, He tun'd up his Lyre, as old histories show, To set his Euridice free. All Hell was astonish'd a person so wise Should rashly endanger his life, And venture so far -- but how vast their surprise, When they heard that he came for his Wife! To find out a punishment due to the fault Old Pluto had puzzl'd his brain; But Hell had not torments sufficient, he thought, So he gave him his Wife back again. But pity, succeeding, soon vanquished his, And, pleas'd with his playing so well, He took her again, in reward of his Art: Such power had Music in Hell!
Note: A version of this exists as copied down (or possibly written down from memory given the discrepancies) by Benjamin Franklin.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Composition:
- Set to music by William Boyce (1710 - 1779), "Orpheus and Euridice"
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Lisle, Dr. (1709 - 1767), "The Power of Music", subtitle: "Imitated from the Spanish"
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 127