Should the then fmile,-yet ah! fhe fmiles on all,
Her gentle temper pities all distress;
On every hill, each vale, the fun-beams fall,
Each herb, and flow'r, each tree, and shrub they bless.
Alike all nature grateful owns the boon,
The univerfal ray to all is free;
Like fond Endymion should I hope the moon,
among the rest she shines on me?
Hope, vain prefumer, keep, oh keep away :
Fv'n if my woe her gentle bofom move,
Pity fome look of kindness may display;
But each foft glance is not a look of love.
Yet heav'nly visitant, thou doft not quit
Those bow'rs where angels fweet divifion fing,
Nor deigneft thou on mortal fhrine to fit
Alone, for round thee ever on the wing,
Glad choirs of loves attend, and hov'ring wait
Thy mild command; of these thy blooming train Oh bid fome fylph in morning dreams relate,
Ere yet my love awake, my fecret pain.
HERE aged elms in many a goodly row,
Give yearly fhelter to the constant crow,
A manfion ftands: - long fince the pile was rais'd,
Whofe Gothic grandeur the rude hind amaz'd.
For the rich ornament on every part,
Confefs'd the founder's wealth, and workman's art:
Though as the range of the wide court we tread,
The broken arch now totters o'er the head;
And where of old rofe high the social smoke,
Now swallows build, and lonely ravens croak.
Though Time, whofe touch each beauty can deface,
Has torn from every tow'r the sculptur'd grace;
Though round each stone the fluggard ivy crawls,
Yet ancient state fits hov'ring on the walls.
Where wont the feftal chorus to refound, And jocund dancing frequent beat the ground,
Now Silence spreads around her gloomy reign,
Save when the mastiff clanks his iron chain,
Save when his hoarfe bark echoes dire alarm,
Fierce to protect the place from midnight harm,
Its only guard; no revel founding late
Drives the night villain from the lonely gate.
An hallow'd matron and her fimple train
These folemn battlements alone contain
An hoary dowager, whofe placid face
Old age has deck'd with lovely aweful
grace;
With almoft vernal bloom her cheek still ftrow'd,
As beauty ling'ring left her lov'd abode ;
That lov'd abode, where join'd with truth and fenfe
She form'd the features to mute eloquence,
And bade them charm the ftill attentive throng,
Who watch'd the facred leffons of her tongue.
For not through life the dame had liv'd retir'd,
But once had fhone, e'en 'midst a court admir'd:
What time the lov'd poffeffor of her charms
Returning from the war in victor arms,
Call'd from his monarch's tongue the plaufive praise, While honour wreath'd him with unfading bays.
She, happy partner of each joyful hour,
Then walk'd ferene amid the
While all confefs'd no warrior's wifh could move
For fairer prize, than fuch accomplish'd love :
Nor to that love could aught more transport yield,
Than graceful valour from the victor field.
Thus flourish'd once the beauteous and the brave;
But mortal blifs meets ftill th' untimely grave:
Aurelius died—his relict's pious tear
O'er his lov'd afhes frequent flow'd fincere,
Each decent rite with due observance paid,
Each folemn requiem offer'd to his fhade,
Plac'd 'mid the brave his urn in holy ground,
And bade his hallow'd banners wave around.
Then left the gaudy scenes of pomp and power,
While prudence beckon'd to that ancient bower,
And those paternal fields, the fole remains
Of ample woods and far-extended plains,
Which tyrant custom rudely tore away
To distant heirship an expected prey.
Serene fhe fought the far-retired grove,
Once the blefs'd manfion of her happy love,
Pleas'd with the thought, that memory oft would raise
A folemn prospect of thofe blooming days
Aurelius gave: her pious purpose now
To keep ftill conftant to her facred vow;
In lonely luxury her forrows feed,
And pass her life in widow's decent weed.
One pledge of love her comfort still remain❜d,
Whom in this folitude fhe careful train'd
To virtuous lore; and while as year by year
New graces made Aurelia ftill more dear;
Full many an hour unheeded she would trace
The father's femblance in the daughter's face;
While tender fighs oft heav'd her faithful breast,
And fudden tears her lafting love expreft.
Thus long the dwelt in innate virtues great,
Amid the villagers in facred ftate:
For every grace to which fubmiffion bows,
The pow'r which confcious dignity bestows,
She felt fuperior; for from ancient race
She gloried her long ancestry to trace;
And ever bade Aurelia's thought aspire
To every grace, each ray of facred fire,
That full of heav'n-born dignity informs
The mortal breaft which ardent virtue warms;
Then led her to the venerable hall
Where her fucceffive fires adorn'd the wall,
And arched windows with their blazon bright
Shed through the herald glow a folemn light:
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