• victorious wreaths,' they both went through the whole fpeech without stopping.
While proftrate here, in humble grief I ly.
CLAUDIA's COMPLAINT *.
HAD I a pen that could my pangs impart,
Or wake Reflexion in thy guilty heart,
Still might increafing forróws hope relief,
And warm repentance dry the tear of grief-
But no-thou fly'st my prostituted fame,
And dread'ft each written mirror of thy fhame :
Unmov'd thou liv'ft, whilst I alone must bear
The wounding torments of a double care.
Who could refift thy charms; arrang'd to
please
With all the winning dignity of ease ?
* Claudia, a distinguished beauty, was feduced by Alca nor, on the promise of marriage, and expofed to infamy. She wrote the following letter to her Seducer while agitated by defpair and love.
Pure as the virgin air, that off the lawn
Extracts fweet odors at the rife of morn,
I met thy treach'rous flame; too soon my ear Fed on thy perjur'd tongue, nor dreamt of fear;
Too foon my eyes divulg'd a mutual flame
The torturing fource of all my present shame †.
Recal the days, that with attentive art
Thou ftrov'ft to captivate a parent's heart,
With mafk'd deceit, his moral foul to win,
How practis'd virtue, to fucceed in fin-
Recal the hour, (the laft of Claudia's fame,
Her burning bofom panting for its shame)
How fond I twin'd thee in my clofe embrace,
And eager prefs'd thee to the sweet disgrace,
When modeft reason fled. Afham'd t' annoy
The dying ecftacies of mutual joy,
Panting thou drank'ft the tears, which burfting, prov'd
How much I fuffer'd, how fincerely lov'd.
Thus did we kifs the fenfual night away,
And quite forgot th' existence of the day,
"Till fainting paffion prov'd each effort vain,
And, loft in fleep, we dreamt it o'er again.
+ Thou know'st how guiltless first I met thy flame, When love approach'd me under friendship's name; My fancy form'd thee of angelic kind,
Some emanation or th' all-beautious mind.
But oh! what thrilling torments tore my breast,
When morn, officious, woke me from my rest!
With earlier steps fhe rouz'd the hated day,
To bear my exulting ravisher away:
In vain I wept; each tear increas'd the grief;
For injur'd heav'n denied my foul relief.
Why didft thou leave me thus alone, to share
The deep upbraidings of a father's care?
Alone, to catch the forrow-breathing figh,
And wipe the tear of anguish from his eye?
To friendship loft, I fhun the hated day,
With tears repentant wafh the night away;
Still Confolation fcorns my weeping pray'r, .
And heavy time lags pregnant with Despair. -
Oh let Reflexion paint thy Claudia's lot,
Herself forgetting, by the world forgot.' To fortune born, like fortune's child was rear'd,
By many flatter'd, yet by moft rever'd.-
Recal the hours I pafs'd thy triumph'd pride,
By thoufands greeted as thy future bride-
Recal the oaths your protestations feal'd,
Review the joys my eafy breaft reveal'd;
Thus could my fancy feed on transports flown,
And only weep the dear incentive gone :
Return, Alcanor, ftill dear youth return,
Inflam'd ideas bid my passion burn;
The latent flame, with half-extinguished fire,
Burfts thro' my veins, and kindles fresh defire :
By forrows emptied, from their deepest source,
No tears remain, to damp its scorching course.
Fly to my arms, dear rifler of my peace,
In melting trances bid my troubles ceafe t
Let ftoic fouls our wanton paflions fpurn,
And cens'ring fcandal buz thy bleft return;
Still fhall I fcorn the pining loss of fame,
And ftare away the tell-tale blush of shame; .
Sinile at pale death, could I expiring prove
The fond expreffions of alternate love.
Obfcene defire!--is this the convert's pray'r,
To curb the erring foul, and footh defpair!
Wake, refolution, ere my curfe begin,
Traverse my heart, and fhut its gates to fin;
Bid exil'd virtue fix its lambent flame,
And urge my foul its foibles to reclaim :
Shut from the comforts of parental love,
What must a banish'd, female finner, prove!
Thrown to the world, ere half her youth began,
The fcorn of women and the prey of man!
Come, if thou dar'ft, all charming as thou art!
Oppofe thy felf to heav'n; difpute my heart;
Come, with one glance of thofe deluding eyes,
Blot out each bright idea of the kies.
Take back that grace, thofe forrows and thefe tears,.
Take back my fruitlefs penitence and pray'rs;
Snatch me; juft mounting, from the bleft abode,
Aflift the fiends, and tear me from my God.
Compare, Alcanor, each our fep'rate state, Then praise the partial destiny of fate :
By plenty cheer'd, thou greet'ft the laughing day,
With famifh'd want I ftarve the hours away: With heavier gloom night bends her frowns
But feems to wear an easy smile for thee.
Yet heav'n is juft alike to all mankind,
And grief and pleasure tell-tales of the mind.
Joy points to care, and good proceeds from
ill,
So thou may'st mourn, and I be happy still.
Alcanor mourn! and Claudia happy prove!
O fickle teft of conftancy in love!
No! let me wafte in one unfruitful figh,
Rather than forrow wet Alcanor's eye.
Tho' mutual guilt becomes a mutual care,
Yet grant me, heav'n, t' enjoy Alcanor's
But why repent? 'twas nature's timid fire That first inflam'd my bofom with defire, Which virtuous blushes modeftly reveal❜d('Twas honeft love, and could not be conceal'd) ... the reft divine,
And bid thy confcience fill the vacant line. Oh had my tears in one moift body ran, Drowning the page before thefe lines began,
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