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But by magnanimous difdain.

A wit that, temperately bright,
With inoffenfive light

All pleafing fhone; nor ever past

The decent bounds that Wifdom's fober hand,
And fweet Benevolence's mild command,
And bafhful Modefty, before it caft.
A prudence undeceiving, undeceiv'd,
That nor too little nor too much believ'd,
That fcorn'd unjuft Sufpicion's coward fear,
And without weakness knew to be fincere.
Such Lucy was, when, in her fairest days,
Amidst th' acclaim of univerfal praise,

In life's and glory's freshest bloom,

Death came remorfelefs on, and funk her to the tomb
XIII.

So, where the filent streams of Liris glide,
In the foft bofom of Campania's vale,

When now the wintery tempefts all are fied,
And genial Summer breathes her gentle gale,
The verdant orange lifts its beauteous head:
From every branch the balmy flowerets rife,
On every bough the golden fruits are feen;
With odours fweet it fills the fmiling skies,
The wood-nymphs tend it, and th' Idalian quee
But, in the midst of all its blooming pride,
A fudden blast from Apenninus blows,

Cold with perpetual snows:

The tender blighted plant fhrinks up its leaves, and d

2

XIV. A

XIV.

Arife, O Petrarch, from th' Elyfian bowers,
With never-fading myrtles twin'd,

And fragrant with ambrofial flowers,

Where to thy Laura thou again art join'd;

Arife, and hither bring the filver lyre,
Tun'd by thy fkilful hand,

To the foft notes of elegant defire,
With which o'er many a land

Was spread the fame of thy disastrous love;
To me refign the vocal shell,

And teach my forrows to relate
Their melancholy tale fo well,

As may ev'n things inanimate,

Rough mountain oaks and defart rocks, to pity move.
XV.

What were, alas! thy woes compar'd to mine?
To thee thy mistress in the blissful band

Of Hymen never gave her hand;

The joys of wedded love were never thine.

In thy domeftic care

She never bore a share,

Nor with endearing art

Would heal thy wounded heart

Of every fecret grief that fefter'd there:
Nor did her fond affection on the bed
Of sickness watch thee, and thy languid head
Whole nights on her unwearied arm sustain,
And charm away the fenfe of pain:
Nor did the crown your mutual flame

With pledges dear, and with a father's tender name.

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XVI.

"O beft of wives! O dearer far to me
Than when thy virgin charms,
Were yielded to my arms,

How can my foul endure the loss of thee?
How in the world, to me a defart grown,

Abandon'd and alone,

Without my fweet companion can I live?
Without thy lovely fmile,

The dear reward of every virtuous toil,

What pleafures now can pall'd Ambition give? Ev'n the delightful fenfe of well-earn'd praise, Unfhar'd by thee, no more my lifelefs thoughts co raife.

XVII.

For my diftracted mind

What fuccour can I find?

On whom for confolation fhall I call?

Support me, every friend;

Your kind affiftance lend,

To bear the weight of this oppreffive woe.
Alas! each friend of mine,

My dear departed love, fo much was thine,
That none has any comfort to bestow.

My books, the best relief

In every other grief,

Are now with your idea fadden'd all :

Each favourite author we together read

My tortur'd memory wounds, and fpeaks of Lucy des

XVIII. W

XVIII.

We were the happiest pair of human kind:
The rolling year its varying courfe perform'd,
And back return'd again-;-
Another and another fmiling came,

And faw our happiness unchang'd remain :
Still in her golden chain

Harmonious Concord did our wishes bind:
Our ftudies, pleafures, tafte, the fame.
O fatal, fatal ftroke,

That all this pleafing fabric Love had rais'd
Of rare felicity,

On which ev'n wanton Vice with envy gaz'd,
And every scheme of blifs our hearts had formed,
With foothing hope, for many a future day,

In one fad moment broke!

Yet, O my foul, thy rifing murmurs stay;
Nor dare the all-wife Difpofer to arraign,
Or against his fupreme decree

With impious grief complain.

That all thy full-blown joys at once should fade; Was his moft righteous will-and be that will obey'd. XIX.

Would thy fond love his grace to her control,

And in thefe low abodes of fin and pain

Her pure exalted foul

Unjustly for thy partial good detain ?

No-rather strive thy groveling mind to raise
Up to that unclouded blaze,

That

That heavenly radiance of eternal light,
In which enthron'd she now with pity fees
How frail, how infecure, how flight,
Is every mortal bliss;

Ev'n Love itself, if rifing by degrees
Beyond the bounds of this imperfect state,
Whose fleeting joys fo foon must end,
It does not to its fovereign good afcend.
Rife then, my foul, with hope elate,
And seek those regions of ferene delight,
Whofe peaceful path and ever-open gate
No feet but thofe of harden'd Guilt fhall mifs.
There death himfelf thy Lucy fhall restore,

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MADE

ADE to engage all hearts, and charm all eyes:
Though meek, magnanimous; though witty,
wife;

Polite, as all her life in courts had been ;
Yet good, as fhe the world had never seen ;
The noble fire of an exalted mind,
With gentle female tendernefs combin'd.
Her fpeech was the melodious voice of Love,
Her fong the warbling of the vernal grove;

He

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