ISHMAELITES, MAGICIANS, OFFICERS, ATTENDANTS, GUARDS, EGYPTIANS, HARVESTMEN, &c.

21

38

106

20 for this honey-Reuben read this honey'd Reuben. 10 for REUBEN read REUBEN (aside.)

23 for ebed read ebbed.

108 7 for lover-trophies read love-trophies.

135

200

212

222

238

11 for What a devil read What-a devil.
2 for holy read holly.

7 for Exit attended read Exit attendant.
2 for pastimes read pastures.

13 for How read Now.

JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN.

ACT I.

CHORUS.

In the dim age when yet the rind of earth
Unworn by time gave eager nature birth,
Zealous to furnish what the seasons wore

That in a vigorous brightness flourished ;-
When light, and dark, and constellations bright,
The splendid Sun, the silent gliding Moon

Govern'd men's habits; taught them when to thrive,

To rest and sleep, till, full of temp'rate years,

Rude in their art, and ignorant of all

But passions and affections wild, untaught,
They sank like giants in an earthy pit.
Leaving the generation of their days

'Twixt grief and rev'rence to mourn their deaths

And miss them from the village and the field. God's voice (that mingled up the beauteous world, Inlaid pure Heav'n, and sweetly colour'd it;

B

And with the wondrous magic of the clouds
Enveils the sacred flooring evermore,

Without bright golden, but within more rare)

Was then

upon the earth; and with men's ears Creating reverence and faith and love—

years,

Jacob was gone into the vale of
And like an oak that standeth by a hill
Whose sineous trunk begins to fret to dust,
And sapless knots fail in their iron strength;
Whose wrinkled branches drying up with age,
Stiff to the winds, with top emblanch'd and bare,
Though but poor spoil to winter in its leaves,
Yet still it casts a shadow o'er those slips
That from its acorns dropt into the earth
From time to time: and settled, flourish there
To keep its memory fresh in seasons new
When it is wither'd to the sodden core,
And all its beauty faded from the earth.
Like to that tree that faileth on the hill

Is aged Jacob with the wither'd arms;
And like its fruit that chane'd to spring and grow,
Are Jacob's sons that put their promise forth;
And like the guardian shadow from the tree
Is Jacob's yearning full of love for them.
To Bethel was he come with all his host,