But oh! fell tyrant! yet expect the hour
When Virtue fhall renounce thy power;
When thou no more shalt blot the face of day,
Nor mortals tremble at thy rigid sway,
Alas! the day-where-'e'er I turn my eyes, i
Some fad memento of my lofs appears;
I fly the fatal house-fupprefs my fighs,
Refolv'd to dry my unavailing tears:
But, ah! In vain-no change of time or place
The memory can efface
Of all that sweetness, that enchanting air,
Now loft; and nought remains but anguish and despair.
Where were the delegates of Heaven, oh where!
Appointed Virtue's children safe to keep!
Had Innocence or Virtue been their care,
She had not dy'd, nor had I liv'd to weep: Mov'd by my tears, and by her patience mov❜d To fee her force the endearing smile,
My forrows to beguile,
When Torture's keeneft rage fhe prov'd;
Sure they had warded that untimely dart,
Which broke her thread of life, and rent a husband's heart, How fhall I e'er forget that dreadful hour,
When feeling Death's refiftless power,
My hand the prefs'd, wet with her falling tears,
And thus, in faultering accents, fpoke her fears!
"Ah, my lov'd lord, the tranfient scene is o'er "And we must part (alas!) to meet no more! "But oh! if e'er thy EMMA's name was dear, "If e'er thy vows have charm'd my ravish'd ear; "If, from thy lov'd embrace my heart to gain, "Proud friends have frown'd, and Fortune fmil'd in vain. "If it has been my fole endeavour, still "To act in all, obfequious to thy will;
To watch thy very fmiles, thy wish to know,
"Then only truly bleft when thou wert fo:
"If I have doted with that fond excefs,
" Nor Love could add, nor Fortune make it less:
"If this I've done, and more-oh then be kind
"To the dear lovely babe I leave behind.
* When time my once-lov'd memory shall efface,
Some happier maid may take thy EMMA's place
With envious eyes thy partial fondness see,
And hate it for the love thou bore to me:
"My dearest Shaw, forgive a woman's fears,
"But one word more (I cannot bear thy, tears).
"Promife- and I will trust thy faithful vow.
(Oft have I try'd, and ever found thee true)
"That to fome distant spot thou wilt remove
"This fatal pledge of hapless EMMA's love,
Where fafe, thy blandifhments it may partake
"And oh! be tender for its mother's fake.
"Wilt thou ?-
fad filence speaks affent,
"And in that pleafing hope thy EMMA dies content,"
I, who with more than manly strength have bore
The various ills impos'd by cruel Fate,
Sustain the firmness of my foul no more,
But fink beneath the weight:
Juft Heaven (I cry'd) from Memory's earliest day
No comfort has thy wretched fuppliant known,
Misfortune still with unrelenting sway
Has claim'd me for her own.
But in pity to my grief, restore
This only fource of bliss; I ask-I ask no more-
Vain hope th' irrevocable doom is past,
Ev'n now she looks-she fighs her last-
Vainly I ftrive to ftay her fleeting breath,
And, with rebellious heart, protest against her death.
When the ftern tyrant clos'd her lovely eyes,
How did I rave, untaught to bear the blow!
With impious wish to tear her from the skies;
How curfe my fate in bitterness of woe!
But whither would this dreadful frenzy lead?
Fond man, forbear,
Thy fruitless forrow spare,
Dare not to talk what Heaven's high will decreed;
In humble reverence kifs th' afflictive rod,
And proftrate bow to an offended God.
Perhaps kind Heaven in mercy dealt the blow,
Some faving truth thy roving foul to teach;
To wean thy heart from groveling views below,
And point out blifs beyond Misfortune's reach:
To fhew that all the flattering schemes of joy,
Which towering Hope fo fondly builds in air,
One fatal moment can destroy,
And plunge th' exulting Maniac in despair.
Then O! with pious fortitude sustain
Thy prefent lofs-haply, thy future gain;
Nor let thy EMMA die in vain;
Time shall adminifter its wonted balm,
And hush this ftorm of grief to no unpleafing calm.
poor bird, by fome disast'rous fate
Caught and imprifon'd in a lonely cage,
Torn from its native fields, and dearer mate,
Flutters awhile, and fpends its little rage:
But, finding all its efforts weak and vain,
No more it pants and rages for the plain;
Moping awhile, in fullen mood
Droops the fweet mourner-but, ere long,
Prunes its light wings, and pecks its food,
And meditates the fong:
Serenely forrowing, breathes its piteous cafe,
And with its plaintive warblings faddens all the place.
Forgive me, Heaven-yet-yet the tears will flow,
To think how foon my scene of bliss is past!
My budding joys juft promifing to blow,
All nipt and wither'd by one envious blast!
Vol. III.
My hours, that laughing wont to fleet away,
Move heavily along ;
Where's now the fprightly jeft, the jocund fong;
Time creeps unconscious of delight:
How shall I cheat the tedious day?
And Othe joyless night!
Where fhall I reft my weary head?
How fhall I find repose on a sad widow'd bed ?
Come, Theban drug, the wretch's only aid,
To my torn heart its former peace reftore;
Thy votary wrapp'd in thy Lethean fhade,
Awhile fhall cease his forrows to deplore:
Haply when lock'd in Sleep's embrace,
Again I fhall behold my EMMA's face;
Again with transport hear
Her voice foft whispering in my ear;
May steal once more a balmy kiss,
And taste at least of vifionary. blifs.
But ah! th' unwelcome morn's obtruding light
Will all my shadowy schemes of blifs depofe,
Will tear the dear illufion from my fight,
And wake me to the fense of all my woes:
If to the verdant fields I ftray,
Alas! what pleasures now can these convey?
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