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The VISION.

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

W

WITHIN the filent fhades of foft repofe,
Where fancy's boundless stream for ever flows;
Where the enfranchis'd foul at ease can play,
Tir'd with the toilfome business of the day;
Where princes gladly reft their weary heads,
And change uneafy thrones for downy beds;
Where feeming joys delude despairing minds,
And where ev'n jealoufy fome quiet finds;
There I and forrow for a while could part,
Sleep clos'd my eyes, and eas'd a fighing heart.
But here too soon a wretched lover found
In deepest griefs the fleep can ne'er be found;
With strange furprize my troubled fancy brings
Odd antick shapes of wild unheard-of things;
Difmal and terrible they all appear,

My foul was fhook with an unusual fear.
But as when vifions glad the eyes of faints,
And kind relief attends devout complaints,
Some beauteous angel in bright charms will fhine,
And spreads a glory round, that's all divine;
Juft fuch a bright and beauteous form
The monsters vanish, and with them my
G

appears,

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 tranfporting pleasure find,
It stops not here, but strikes the very mind.
Some angel fpeak her praife! No human tongue,
But with its utmost art must do her wrong.
The only woman that has pow'r 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.
Fantastick beauty, always in the wrong,
Still thinks fome pride muft to its pow'r belong;
An air affected, and a haughty mien;
Something that seems to fay, "I would be seen."
But of all womankind this only fhe,

Full of its charms, and from its frailty free,
Deferves fome nobler mufe her fame to raise,
By making the whole fex befide, her pyramid of praise.
She, fhe appear'd, the fource of all my joys;
The dearest care that all my thought employs :
Gently fhe look'd, as when I left her laft;
When first she seiz'd my heart, and held it faft;
When, if my vows, alas! were made too late,
I faw my doom came not from her, but fate.
With pity then she eas'd my raging pain,

And her kind eyes could scarce from tears refrain:
Why gentle fwain, faid fhe, why do you grieve
In words I should not hear, much less believe?
gaze on that which is a fault to mind,

And ought to fly the danger which I find :

Of falfe mankind tho' you may be the best,
Ye all have robb'd poor women of their rest.
I see 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 fcrup'lous foul divided pain endures;
Guilty, alas! to both; for thus I do
Too much for him, yet not enough for

Give over then, give over, hapless swain,
A passion moving, but a passion vain.

you.

Not chance, nor time fhall 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 Heav'n, 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 shore. Farewell, too fcrup'lous fair-one; oh! farewell. What torments I endure, no tongue can tell; Thank Heav'n, my fate tranfports 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 tho' I blush at this last guilty breath, I can endure that better than your death. Tormenting kindnefs! Barbarous reprieve! Condemn'd to die, and yet compell'd to live! This tender scene my dream repeated o'er, Juft as it pafs'd in real truth before.

Methought I then fell grov'ling to the ground,
'Till on a fudden rais'd, I wond'ring found
A ftrange appearance all in taintless white;
His form gave rev'rence, and his face delight :
Goodness and greatnefs in his eyes were seen ;
Gentle his look, and affable his mien.

A kindly notice of me thus he took:

"What mean these flowing eyes, this ghastly look!
"Thefe trembling joints, this loofe difhevel'd hair,
"And this cold dew, the drops of deep defpair?"
With grief and wonder first my fpirits faint,
But thus, at last, I vented my complaint.
Behold a wretch whom cruel fate has found,
And in the depth of all misfortune drown'd.
There shines a nymph, to whom an envy'd swain
Is ty'd in HYMEN's ceremonious chain;
But cloy'd with charms of such 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 else 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 ask 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 disdain prefers
To others love, I'll fomething foften hers.
Elfe in the fearch of virtue fhe may stray:
Well meaning mortals fhould not lose their

way,

She now indeed fins on the fafer fide,
For hearts too loose 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 strictly than the bride:
For circumstances alter ev'ry ill,

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

While he can never fail to find here there,
And therefore lefs excus'd to range elsewhere.
Yet this fhe ought to fuffer and fubmit:
But when no longer for each other fit,
If ufage base fhall just resentment move,
Or, what is worfe, affronts of wand'ring love;
No obligation after that remains.

}

'Tis mean, not just, to wear a rival's chains.
Yet decency requires the wonted cares
Of int❜relt, children, and remote affairs;
But in her love, that dear concern of life,
She all the while may be another's wife :
Heav'n that beholds her wrong'd and widow'd bed,
Permits a lover in her husband's stead.

I flung me at his feet, his robes would kifs,
And cry'd,- -Ev'n our base world is just in this;
Amidft our cenfures, love we gently blame;
And love fometimes preferves a female fame.
What tie lefs ftrong can woman's will restrain ?
When honour, checks, and confcience plead in vain;

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