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When our Divorce thou cou'dft no more decline,
'Thou faid'ft, Expe& me-Phillis, I am thine :
Him I expect, who meant to come no more,
And Ships no more defign'd to touch this Shore:
Yet ftill I hope-ah! come, tho' paft thy time,
That thy Delay may be thy only Crime.
Some wanton Maid (perhaps) feduces thee.
And buys thy Love with cheap Discourse of me.
Thou can't not be unmindful who I am,
Confult thy felf for my neglected Name;
Phillis, thy constant, hospitable Friend,
Who did her Harbour and Affiftance lend:
Love, Empire, All fubmitted to thy Will,
Who gave thee much, and wish'd to give thee ftill;
Lycurgus' Land furrender'd to thy Sway,

And to thy Hand its Scepter did convey,

As far as Rhodope and Hamus go,

And the foft Streams of facred Hebrus flow;
Thee my laft Blushes bleft, thy Loves long Toils
Rewarded with my conquer'd Virgin Spoils.
The howling Fiends and ominous Birds of Night
With dismal Notes perform'd each Nuptial Rite:
With her curl'd Snakes the fierce Alecto came,
To light our Tapers with infernal Flame.
On Rocks I walk-and o'er the barren Sand,
Far as my Eyes can reach the spacious Strand,
Look out all Hours to fee what Wind ftands fair,
By Earth's cold Damp untir'd, or Heav'n's bleak Air;
When any distant Sail I chance to fpy,、 --

I fancy, thy loofe Streamers drawing nigh;

Launch'd

Launch'd into Sea, the tardy Gales I chide,
And to meet thee I ftem th' impetuous Tide;
When their Approach declares my Hopes are vain,
I fainting crave th' Affiftance of my Train.
Above the Bay, which the spent Billows blocks,
And forms a Precipice of pendent Rocks,
Thence my Despair presented me a Grave,
And nought but thy Return my Life shall fave.
May fome kind Wave to thy own Shore convey,
And at thy Feet thy floating Phillis lay,
Thy melting Heart this dismal Sound will groan,
In these Embraces join'd, we meet too foon-
Oft have I thirfted for a pois'nous Draught,
As oft a Death from fome kind Poniard fought;
Oft round that Neck a filken Twine I caft,
Which once thy dear perfidious Arms embrac'd.
By Death I'll heal my present Infamy,

But stay to choose the speediest way to die.
This fad fhort Epitaph fhall speak my Doom,
And fix my mournful Story on my Tomb,
This Monument did falfe Demophoon build,
With the cold Afbes of his Miftrefs fill'd;
He was the Cauje, and her's the Hand that kill'd.

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HYPERMNESTRA TO LINUS.

By Mr. WRIGHT.

The ARGUMEN T.

Danaus, King of Argos, had by feveral Wives fifty Daughters, his Brother Egyptus as many Sons. Danaus, refufing to Marry his Daughters to his Brother's Sons, was at laft compelled by an drmy. In Revenge, he Commands his Daughters each to Murther her Hufband on the Wedding Night: All obey'd but Hypermnestra, who affifted her Husband Linus to escape; for which being afterwards imprisoned and put in Irons, fhe writes this Epistle.

T

O that dear Brother who alone furvives,

Of Fifty, late, whofe Love betray'd their Lives,
Writes fhe that fuffers in her Lord's Defence:
Unhappy Wife, whofe Crime's her Innocence!
For faving him I love, I'm Guilty call'd:
Had I been truly fo, I'd been extoll'd,
Let me be Guilty ftill, fince this they fay
Is Guilt, I glory thus to difobey.

Torments nor Death fhall draw me to repent:
Though against me they use that Inftrument
From which I fav'd a Husband's dearer Life,
And with one Sword kill Linus and his Wife;

Yet

Yet will I ne'er repent for being true,

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Or blush t'have lov'd; That let my Sifters do:
Such Shame, and fuch Repentance is their due.
I'm feiz'd with Terror, while I but relate,
And fhun Remembrance of a Crime I hate!
The frightful Memory of that dire Night
Enervates fo my Hand I fearce can write,
Howe'er. I'll try. With Ceremony gay
About the Set of Night, and Rife of Day,
The wicked Sifters were in Triumph led,
And I among 'em, to the Nuptial Bedi¦ ¦ 10.5 wel.
The Marriage Lights, as Fun'ral Lamps Appear,
And threatning Omens meet us ev'ry where...M
Hymen they call: Hymen neglects their Cries::
Nay Juno too from her own Argos flies.

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Now come the Bridegrooms, high with Wine, to find

Something with us, more loy'd than Wine, behind.

Full of impatient Love, careless and bravel I7 ›

They feize the Bed, not feeing there a Grive

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What follow'd, Shame forbids me to exprefs! 77* But who fo Ignorant as not to guess.

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Now their tir'd Senfes they to Sleep commit,
A Sleep as ftillas Death; ah, too like it!
'Twas then, methought, I heard their Groans that dy'd
Alas! 'twas more than Thought! I terrify'd,2
Lay trembling, cold, and without Pow'r to move 1 :
In that dear Bed, which you had made me love.
While you in the foft Bonds of Sleep lay, faft,
Charm'd with the Joys of Love, then newly pafto
Fearing to difobey, Irife at languis id ud
Foulaam Dhow2 yaɩ noon 1: Witness,

Witness, sweet Heav'ns, how tender was the Strife,
Betwixt the Name of Daughter and of Wife.
Thrice o'er your Breaft, which did fo lately join
In fuch an Ecftasy of Love to mine,

I rais'd the pointed Steel to pierce that Part;"
But ah! th' Attempt ftrook nearer to my Heart.
My Soul divided thus, these Words, among
A thoufand Sighs, fell foftly from my Tongue.
• Doft thou not heed a Father's awful Will?
• Doft thou not fear his Pow'r? On then, and kill.
• How can I kill, when I confider who?

• Can I think Death? against a Lover too?
What has my Sex with Blood and Arms to do?
• Fye, thou art by Love to Shame betray'd;
Thy Sifter-Brides by this have all obey'd;
With Shame their Courage and their Duty fee:
If not a Daughter, yet a Sifter be.
No, I will never ftrike: If one must die,
• Linus fhall live, and my Death his supply.
• What has he done, or I, what greater III ?

For him to die, and I much worse, to kill? • Were he as guilty- as my Father wou'd

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• Present him, why must I be ftain'd with Blood?
Poniards and Swords ill with my Sex agree:
• Soft Looks, and Sighs of Love, our Weapons be
As I lamented thus, the Tears apace
Dropt from my pitying Eyes, on thy lov'd Face.
While you, with kind and amʼrous Dreams possest,
Threw carelefly your dear Arm o'er my Breast,
There thinking to repeat Joys lately known,
Your Hand upon my Sword was almost thrown.

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"Twas

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