Then of his trufted mifchiefs one he sent,
And bade him with these words the gift prefent :
Thy father fends thee this to cheer thy breast,
And glad thy fight with what thou lov'st the best;
As thou haft pleas'd his eyes, and joy'd his mind,
With what he lov'd the moft of human-kind.

Ere this the royal dame, who well had weigh'd
The confequence of what her fire had faid,
Fix'd on her fate, ágainst th' expected hour,
Procur'd the means to have it in her power;
For this, he had distill'd with early care
The juice of fimples friendly to despair,
A magazine of death; and thus prepar'd,
Secure to die, the fatal message heard :

Then fmil'd fevere; nor with a troubled look,
Or trembling hand, the funeral present took :
Ev'n kept her countenance, when the lid remov'd
Difclos'd the heart, unfortunately lov'd;
She needed not be told, within whose breast
It lodg'd; the meffage had explain'd the reft.
Or not amaz'd, or hiding her furprize,

She sternly on the bearer fix'd her eyes :

"Then thus; Tell Tancred, on his daughter's part, The gold, though precious, equals not the heart: But he did well to give his beft; and I,

Who with'd a worthier urn, forgive his poverty.

At this the curb'd a groan, that else had come, And, paufing, view'd the prefent in the tomb Then, to the heart ador'd devoutly glew'd Her lips, and, raifing it, her fpeech renew'd :

Ev'n from my day of birth, to this, the bound
Of my unhappy being, I have found

My father's care and tenderness exprefs'd;
But this laft act of love excels the reft:
For this fo dear a prefent, bear him back
The beft return that I can live to make.

The meffenger dispatch'd, again fhe view'd
The lov'd remains, and fighing thus pursued :
Source of my life, and lord of my defires,
In whom I liv'd, with whom my foul expires,
Poor heart, no more the spring of vital heat,
Curs'd be the hands that tore thee from thy feat!
The courfe is finish'd which thy fates decreed,
And thou from thy corporeal prifon freed :
Soon haft thou reach'd the goal with mended pace,
A world of woes dispatch'd in little space;
Forc'd by thy worth, thy foe, in death become
Thy friend, has lodg'd thee in a costly tomb.
There yet remain'd thy funeral exequies,
The weeping tribute of thy widow's eyes,
And thofe, indulgent heaven has found the way
That I, before my death, have leave to pay.
My father ev'n in cruelty is kind,

Or heaven has turn'd the malice of his mind
To better ufes than his hate defign'd;

And made th' infult, which in his gift appears,
The means to mourn thee with my pious tears;
Which I will pay thee down, before I go,
And fave myself the pains to weep below,

If fouls can weep; though once I meant to meet
My fate with face unmov'd, and eyes unwet,
Yet fince I have thee here in narrow room,

My tears shall set thee first afloat within thy tomb :
Then (as I know thy fpirit hovers nigh)
Under thy friendly conduct will I fly
To region's unexplor'd, fecure to share
Thy state; nor hell fhall punishment appear;
And heaven is double heaven, if thou art there.
She said: her brimful eyes, that ready stood,
And only wanted will to keep a flood,
Releas'd their watery ftore, and pour'd amain,
Like clouds low hung, a fober fhower of rain;
Mute folemn forrow, free from female noife,
Such as the majefty of grief deftroys;
For, bending o'er the cup, the tears the hed
Seem'd by the posture to discharge her head,
O'erfill'd before (and oft her mouth apply'd
To the cold heart); fhe kifs'd at once, and cry'd.
Her maids, who stood amaz'd, nor knew the caufe
Of her complaining, nor whofe heart it was ;
Yet all due measures of her mourning kept,
Did office at the dirge, and by infe&ion wept;
And oft enquir'd th' occafion of her grief
(Unanswer'd but by fighs), and offer'd vain relief.
At length, her stock of tears already shed,
She wip'd her eyes, fhe rais'd her drooping head,
And thus purfued: O ever faithful heart,

I have perform'd the ceremonial part,

}

The

The decencies of grief; it rests behind,

That, as our bodies were, our fouls be join’d;
To thy whate'er abode, my fhade convey,

And, as an elder ghoft, direct the way.

She faid; and bade the vial to be brought,
Where the before had brew'd the deadly draught:
First pouring out the med'cinable bane,

The heart, her tears had rins'd, she bath'd again;
Then down her throat the death fecurely throws,
And quaffs a long oblivion of her woes.

This done, fhe mounts the genial bed, and there
(Her body first compos'd with honest care)
Attends the welcome reft; her hands yet hold
Close to her heart the monumental gold;
Nor farther word fhe spoke, but clos'd her fight,
And quiet fought the covert of the night.
The damnfels, who the while in filence mourn'd,
Not knowing, nor fufpecting death fuborn'd,
Yet, as their duty was, to Tancred fent;
Who, confcious of th' occafion, fear'd th' event.
Alarm'd, and with prefaging heart, he came,
And drew the curtains, and expos'd the dame
To loathfome light: then with a late relief
Made vain efforts, to mitigate her grief.
She, what he could, excluding day, her eyes
Kept firmly feal'd, and fternly thus replies:
Tancred, reftrain thy tears, unfought by me,
And ferrow unavailing now to thee:
Did ever man before afflict his mind,
To fee th' effect of what himself defign'd?

Yet,

Yet, if thou haft remaining in thy heart
Some fenfe of love, fome unextinguish'd part
Of former kindness, largely once profefs'd,
Let me by that adjure thy harden'd breaft,
Not to deny thy daughter's laft request:
The fecret love which I fo long enjoy'd,
And ftill conceal'd to gratify thy pride,
Thou hast disjoin'd; but, with my dying breath,
Seek not, I beg thee, to disjoin our death
Where'er his corpfe by thy command is laid,
Thither let mine in public be convey'd ;
Expos'd in open view, and fide by fide,
Acknowledg'd as a bridegroom and a bride.

The prince's anguifh hinder'd his reply:
And fhe, who felt her fate approaching nigh,
Seiz'd the cold heart, and, heaving to her breast,
Here, precious pledge, fhe faid, fecurely rest!
These accents were her laft; the creeping death
Benumb'd her fenfes first, then stopp'd her breath.
Thus fhe for difobedience juftly dy’d :

The fire was juftly punish'd for his pride:
The youth, leaft guilty, fuffer'd for th' offence,
Of duty violated to his prince;

Who, late repenting of his cruel deed,
One common fepulchre for both decreed;
Intomb'd the wretched pair in royal state,
And on their monument infcrib'd their fate.

}

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