But when a god once took the vanquish'd fide,
The weak prevail'd, and the victorious dy'd.

THE VISI O N.

Written during a Sea Voyage, when fent to command the Forces for the Relief of TANGIER.

W Ithin the filent fhades of foft repofe,

Where Fancy's boundless stream for ever flows;

Where the infranchis'd foul at ease can play,
Tir'd with the toilfome business of the day;
Where princes gladly rest their weary heads,
And change uneafy thrones for downy beds;
Where feeming joys delude defpairing minds,
And where ev'n jealoufy fome quiet finds;
There I and forrow for a while could part,
Sleep clos'd my eyes, and cas'd a fighing heart.
But here too soon a wretched lover found
In deepest griefs the fleep can ne'er be found;
With ftrange furprize my troubled fancy brings
Odd antic shapes of wild unheard-of things;
Dismal and terrible they all appear,

My foul was shook with an unusual fear.
But as when vifions glad the eyes of saints,
And kind relief attends devout complaints,
Some beauteous angel in bright charms will fhine,
And spreads a glory round, that's all divine;

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Juft

Juft fuch a bright and beauteous form appears,
The monsters vanifh, and with them my fears.
The fairest fhape was then before me brought,
That eyes e'er faw, or fancy ever thought;
How weak are words to fhew fuch excellence,
Which ev'n confounds the foul, as well as fenfe!
And, while our eyes transporting pleasure find,
It stops not here, but ftrikes the very mind.
Some angel fpeaks her praife; no human tongue,
But with its utmost art must do her wrong.
The only woman that has power to kill,
And yet is good enough to want the will;
Who needs no foft alluring words repeat,
Nor study'd looks of languishing deceit.

Fantaftic beauty, always in the wrong,
Still thinks fome pride must to its power belong;
An air affected, and an haughty mein,
Something that feems to fay, I would be feen.
But of all womankind this only the,

Full of its charms, and from its frailty free,
Deferves fome nobler Muse her fame to raise,

By making the whole fex befide her pyramid of praife.
She, the appear'd the fource of all my joys,.
The dearest care that all my thought employs :
Gently the look'd, as when I left her laft,
When first she seiz'd my heart, and held it fast:
When, if my vows, alas! were made too late,
I saw my doom came not from her, but fate.
With pity then fhe eas'd my raging pain,
And her kind eyes could scarce from tears refrain :

Why,

Why, gentle fwain, said she, why do you grieve
In words I fhould not hear, much lefs believe;
I gaze on that which is a fault to mind,
And ought to fly the danger which I find :
Of falfe mankind though you may be the best,
Ye all have robb'd poor women of their rest.
I fee your pain, and fee it too with grief,
Because I would, yet must not, give relief.
Thus, for a husband's fake as well as yours,
My fcrupulous foul divided pain endures;
Guilty, alas to both: for thus I do
Too much for him, yet not enough for you.
Give over then, give over, hapless swain,

A paífion moving, but a passion vain :

Not chance nor time shall ever change my thought: 'Tis better much to die, than do a fault.

Oh, worse than ever! Is it then my doom
Juft to fee heaven, where I must never come?
Your foft compaffion, if not fomething more;
Yet I remain as wretched as before;

The wind indeed is fair, but ah! no fight of fhore.
Farewell, too fcrupulous fair-one; oh! farewell;
What torments I endure, no tongue can tell :
Thank heaven, my fate transports me now where I,
Your martyr, may with ease and safety die.

With that I kneel'd, and feiz'd her trembling hand, While the impos'd this cruel kind command: Live, and love on; you will be true, I know;

But live then, and come back to tell me fo;

For though I blush at this last guilty breath,
I can endure that better than your death.

Tormenting kindness! barbarous reprieve!
Condemn'd to die, and yet compell'd to live!
This tender fcene my dream repeated o'er,
Just as it pafs'd in real truth before.
Methought I then fell groveling to the ground,
Till, on a fudden rais'd, I wondering found
A ftrange appearance all in taintless white;
His form gave reverence, and his face delight:
Goodness and greatnefs in his eyes were feen,
Gentle his look, and affable his mein.
A kindly notice of me thus he took :
"What mean thefe flowing eyes, this ghaftly look!
"Thefe trembling joints, this loofe dishevel'd hair,
"And this cold dew, the drops of deep despair?"
With grief and wonder first my spirits faint,
But thus at lait I vented my complaint :
Behold a wretch whom cruel fate has found,
And in the depth of all misfortune drown'd.
There fhines a nymph, to whom an envy'd fwain
Is ty'd in Hymen's ceremonious chain;

But, cloy'd with charms of fuch a marriage-bed,
And fed with manna, yet he longs for bread;
And will, moft husband-like, not only range
For love perhaps of nothing elfe but change,
But to inferior beauty proftrate lies,
And courts her love in fcorn of Flavia's eyes.
All this I knew (the form divine reply'd)
And did but afk to have thy temper try'd,

Which prove fincere. Of both I know the mind;
She is too fcrupulous, and thou too kind :
But fince thy fatal love's for ever fix'd,
Whatever time or abfence come betwixt ;
Since thy fond heart ev'n her difdain prefers
To others love, I'll fomething foften hers:
Elfe in the fearch of virtue the may ftray;
Well-meaning mortals fhould not lose their way.
She now indeed fins on the fafer fide,
For hearts too loofe are never to be ty'd ;
But no extremes are either good or wife,
And in the midft alone true virtue lies.

When marriage-vows unite an equal pair,
'Tis a mere contract made by human care,
By which they both are for convenience ty'd,
The bridegroom yet more ftrictly than the bride;
For circumstances alter every ill,

And woman meets with moft temptation still;
She a forfaken bed must often bear,

While he can never fail to find her there,
And therefore lefs excus'd to range elsewhere.
Yet this fhe ought to suffer, and submit :
But when no longer for each other fit,
If ufage bafe fhall just refentment move,
Or, what is worse, affronts of wandering love;
No obligation after that remains,

'Tis mean, not juft, to wear a rival's chains.
Yet decency requires the wonted cares
Of intereft, children, and remote affairs;
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But