Unequal tafk! a paffion to refign,

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For hearts fo touch'd, fo pierc'd, so loft as mine.
Ere fuch a foul regains its peaceful state,
How often muft it love, how often hate!
How often hope, defpair, refent, regret,
Conceal, difdain-do all things but forget!
But let Heav'n feize it, all at once 'tis fir'd;
Not touch'd, but rapt; not waken'd, but infpir'd!
Oh come! oh teach me Nature to fubdue,
Renounce my love, my life, myfelf-and you:
Fill my fond heart with God alone, for he
Alone can rival, can fucceed to thee.

How happy is the blameless veftal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot :
Eternal funfhine of the fpotlefs mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each with resign'd;
Labour and reft, that equal periods keep;
"Obedient flumbers, that can wake and weep ;"
Defires compos'd, affections ever ev'n;

Tears that delight, and fighs that waft to heav'n :
Grace fhines around her with fereneft beams,
And whifp'ring angels prompt her golden dreams.
For her th' unfading rofe of Eden blooms,
And wings of feraphs fhed divine perfumes;
For her the fpoufe prepares the bridal ring,
For her white virgins hymenaeals fing;
To founds of heav'nly harps the dies away,
And melts in vifions of eternal day.

Far other dreams my erring foul employ,
Far other raptures of unholy joy :
When at the clofe of each fad, forrowing day,
Fancy reftores what Vengeance fnatch'd away,
Then Confcience fleeps, and leaving Nature free,
All my loofe foul unbounded fprings to thee.
Oh curft, dear horrors of all-confcious night!
How glowing guilt exalts the keen delight!
Provoking dæmons all restraint remove,
And ftir within me ev'ry fource of love.
I hear thee, view thee, gaze o'er all thy charms,
And round thy phantom glue my clasping arms.

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I wake:

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I wake :-no more I hear, no more I view,
The phantom flies me, as unkind as you.
I call aloud; it hears not what I fay:
I ftretch my empty arms; it glides away.
To dream once more I clofe my willing eyes;
Ye foft Illufions, dear Deceits arife!
Alas, no more! methinks we wand'ring go
Through dreary waftes, and weep each other's woe,
Where round fome mould'ring tow'r pale ivy creeps,
And low-brow'd rocks hang nodding o'er the deeps,
Sudden you mount, you beckon from the fkies; 245
Clouds interpofe, waves roar, and winds arise.
I fhriek, ftart up, the fame fad profpect find,
And wake to all the griefs I left behind.

For thee the Fates, feverely kind, ordain
A cool fufpence from pleafure and from pain;
Thy life a long dead calm of fix'd repofe;
No pulfe that riots, a d no blood that glows.
Stiil as the tea, ere winds were taught to blow,
Or moving fpirits bid the waters flow;
Soft as the lumbers of a faint forgiv'n,

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And mild as open`ing gleams of promis'd heav'n.
Come, Abelard! for what haft thou to dread?
The torch of Venus burns not for the dead.
Nature ftands check'd; Religion disapproves ;
Ev'n thou art cold-yet Eloïfa loves.
Ah hopelets, lafting flames! like those that burn
To light the dead, and warm th' unfruitful urn.
What scenes appear where'er I turn my view?
The dear ideas, where I fly, pursue,

Rife in the grove, before the altar rise,
Stain all my foul, and wanton in my eyes.
I waste the matin lamp in fighs for thee
Thy image fteals between my God and me;
Thy voice I feem in ev'ry hymn to hear,
With every bead I drop too foft a tear.
When from the cenfer clouds of fragrance roll,
And swelling organs lift the rising soul,
One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight;
Priests, tapers, temples, fwim before my fight:

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In feas of flame my plunging foul is drown'd,
While altars blaze, and angels tremble round.

While proftrate here in humble grief I lie,
Kind virtuous drops juft gath'ring in my eye;
While praying, trembling, in the dust I roll,
And dawning grace is op'ning on my foul;
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 skies;

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Take back that grace, thofe forrows and thofe tears; Take back my fruitless penitence and pray'rs ;

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Snatch me, juft mounting, from the bleft abode;
Affift the fiends, and tear me from my God.
No, fly me, fly me, far as pole from pole;

Rife Alps between us! and whole oceans roll:

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Ah, come not, write not, think not once of me,
Nor fhare one pang of all I felt for thee.

Thy oaths I quit, thy memory resign;

Forget, renounce me, hate whate'er was mine.

Fair eyes and tempting looks, (which yet I view,)
Long lov'd, ador'd ideas, all adieu!

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O Grace ferene! O Virtue heav'nly fair!

Divine oblivion of low-thoughted care!

Fresh blooming Hope, gay daughter of the sky!

And Faith, our early immortality!

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Enter each mild, each amicable gueft;

Receive, and wrap me in eternal reft!
See in her cell fad Eloïfa fpread,

Propt on fome tomb, a neighbour of the dead,
In each low wind methinks a spirit calls,

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And more than Echoes talk along the walls.

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Here, as I watch'd the dying lamps around, From yonder fhrine, I heard a hollow found. "Come, fifter, come! (it faid, or feem'd to say ;) "Thy place is here, fad fifter, come away. "Once, like thyself, I trembled, wept, and pray'd; "Love's victim then, though now a fainted maid: "But all is calm in this eternal fleep;

"Here Grief forgets to groan, and Love to weep;

"Ev'n fuperftition lofes every fear:

"For God, not man, abfolves our frailties here.'
I come, I come! prepare your rofeate bow'rs,
Celestial palms, and ever-blooming flow'rs.
Thither, where finners may have reft, I go,
Where flames refin'd in breasts feraphic glow.
Thou, Abelard! the laft fad office pay,
And smooth my paffage to the realms of day:
See my lips tremble, and my eye-balls roll,
Suck my laft breath, and catch my flying foul!
Ah, no---in facred vestments mayst thou stand,
The hallow'd taper trembling in thy hand,
Prefent the Crofs before my lifted eye,
Teach me at once, and learn of me to die.
Ah then, thy once lov'd Eloïfa fee;
It will be then no crime to gaze on me;
See from my cheek the tranfient roses fly!
See the laft fparkle languish in my eye!
'Till ev'ry motion, pulfe, and breath be o'er;
And ev'n my Abelard be lov'd no more.
Oh Death, all-eloquent! you only prove
What duft we dote on, when 'tis man we love.

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Then too, when Fate fhall thy fair frame destroy,
(That cause of all my guilt, and all my joy,)
In trance ecftatic may thy pangs be drown'd,
Bright clouds defcend, and angels watch thee round
From op'ning fkies may ftreaming glories fhine, 341
And faints embrace thee with a love like mine.

May one kind grave unite each hapless name,
And graft my love immortal on thy fame!
Then, ages hence, when all my woes are o'er,
When this rebellious heart fhall beat no more;
If ever Chance two wand'ring lovers brings
To Paraclete's white walls and filver fprings,
O'er the pale marble fhall they join their heads,
And drink the falling tears each other sheds;
Then fadly fay, with mutual pity mov'd,
"Oh may we never love as thefe have lov'd!"
From the full choir when loud hofannas rife,
And fwell the pomp of dreadful facrifice,

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Amid that scene if fome relenting eye

Glance on the tone where our cold relics lie,
Devotion's felf fhall steal a thought from Heav'n,
One human tear fhall drop, and be forgiv❜n.
And fure if Fate fome future bard shall join,
In fad fimilitude of griefs to mine,

Condemn'd whole years in abfence to deplore,
And image charms he muft behold no more;
Such if there be, who loves fo long, fo well,
Let him our fad, our tender story tell;

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The well fung woes will footh my penfive ghoft;

He beft can paint 'em who shall feel 'em most;

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