Had reach'd the dame, and, fastening on her fide,
The ground with iffuing ftreams of purple dy'd,
Stood Theodore furpriz'd in deadly fright,

With chattering teeth, and bristling hair upright;
Yet arm'd with inborn worth, Whate'er, faid he,
Thou art, who know'ft me better than I thee;
Or prove thy rightful caufe, or be defy'd;
The fpectre, fiercely ftaring, thus reply'd:
Know, Theodore, thy ancestry I claim,
And Guido Cavalcanti was my name.
One common fire our fathers did beget,
My name and story some remember yet :
Thee, then a boy, within my arms I laid,
When for my fins I lov'd this haughty maid;
Not lefs ador'd in life, nor ferv'd by me,
Thin proud Honoria now is lov'd by thee.
What did I not her ftubborn heart to gain?
But all my vows were anfwer'd with difdain:
She fcorn'd my forrows, and defpis'd my pain,
Long time I dragg'd my days in fruitless care;
Then, loathing life, and plung'd in deep despair,
To finish my unhappy life, I fell

On this fharp fword, and now am damn'd in hell.

Short was her joy; for foon th' infulting maid By heaven's decree in this cold grave was laid. And as in unrepented fin fhe dy'd,

Doom'd to the fame bad place is punish'd for her pride

Because the deem'd I well deferv'd to die,

And made a merit of her cruelty.

7

There,

There, then, we met; both try'd, and both were caft,
And this irrevocable fentence pafs'd;

That fhe, whom I fo long pursued in vain,
Should fuffer from my hands a lingering pain
Renew'd to life that the might daily die,
I daily doom'd to follow, fhe to fly;
No more a lover, but a mortal foe,
I feek her life (for love is none below):
As often as my dogs with better speed
Arrest her flight, is fhe to death decreed:
Then with this fatal fword, on which I dy'd,

I pierce her open back, or tender fide,

And tear that harden'd heart from out her breast, Which, with her entrails, makes my hungry hounds a

feaft.

Nor lies the long, but, as her fates ordain,
Springs up to life, and fresh to second pain,
Is fav'd to-day, to-morrow to be slain.

This, vers'd in death, th' infernal knight relates,
And then for proof fulfill'd the common fates;
Her heart and bowels through her back he drew,
And fed the hounds that help'd him to pursue.
Stern look'd the fiend, as fruftrate of his will,
Not half fuffic'd, and greedy yet to kill.
And now the foul, expiring through the wound,
Had left the body breathlefs on the ground,
When thus the grisly spectre spoke again :
Behold the fruit of ill-rewarded pain:
As many months as I fuftain'd her hate,
So many years is the condemn'd by fate

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To daily death; and every feveral place,
Conscious of her difdain and my disgrace,
Muft witness her just punishment; and be
A fcene of triumph and revenge to me!
As in this grove I took my laft farewel,
As on this very spot of earth I fell,
As Friday faw me die, fo the my prey
Becomes ev'n here, on this revolving day.

Thus while he spoke, the virgin from the ground
Upstarted fresh, already clos'd the wound,
And, unconcern'd for all the felt before,
Precipitates her flight along the fhore:

The hell-hounds, as ungorg'd with flesh and blood,
Pursue their prey, and feek their wonted food:
The fiend remounts his courfer, mends his pace;
And all the vifion vanish'd from the place.

Long ftood the noble youth oppress'd with awe
And stupid at the wondrous things he saw,
Surpaffing common faith, tranfgreffing nature's law:
He would have been afleep, and wish'd to wake,
But dreams, he knew, no long impreffion make,
Though ftrong at firft; if vifion, to what end,
But fuch as muft his future ftate portend?
His love the damfel, and himfelf the fiend.
But yet, reflecting that it could not be
From heaven, which cannot impious acts decree,
Refolv'd within himself to fhun the fnare,
Which hell for his deftruction did prepare ;
And, as his better genius fhould direct,
From an ill caufe to draw a good effect.

Infpir'd

Inspir'd from heaven he homeward took his way,
Nor pall'd his new defign with long delay:
But of his train a trufty fervant fent
To call his friends together at his tent.
They came, and, ufual falutations paid,
With words premeditated thus he said:
What you have often counsel'd, to remove
My vain purfuit of unregarded love;

By thrift my finking fortune to repair,

Though late yet is at last become my care :
My heart fhall be my own; my vaft expence
Reduc'd to bounds, by timely providence ;
This only I require; invite for me

Honoria, with her father's family,

Her friends, and mine; the caufe I shall display,
On Friday next; for that 's th' appointed day.
Well pleas'd were all his friends, the task was light,
The father, mother, daughter, they invite;

Hardly the dame was drawn to this repast;
But yet refolv'd, because it was the laft.
The day was come, the guests invited came,
And, with the reft, th' inexorable dame :
A feaft prepar'd with riotous expence,
Much coft, more care, and most magnificence.
The place ordain'd was in that haunted grove,
Where the revenging ghoft pursued his love:
The tables in a proud pavilion spread,
With flowers below, and tiffue overhead:
The reft in rank, Honoria chief in place,
Was artfully contriv'd to set her face

To front the thicket. and behold the chace.

The

The feaft was ferv'd, the time fo well forecast,
That just when the defert and fruits were plac'd,
The fiend's alarm began; the hollow found
Sung in the leaves, the forest shook around,
Air blacken'd, roll'd the thunder, groan'd the ground.
Nor long before the loud laments arise,

Of one diftrefs'd, and maftiffs mingled cries;
And first the dame came rushing through the wood,
And next the famith'd hounds that fought their food,
And grip'd her flanks, and oft effay'd their jaws in
blood.

Laft came the felon, on his fable steed,

Arm'd with his naked fword, and urg'd his dogs to speed.

She ran, and cry'd, her flight directly bent
(A guest unbidden) to the fatal tent,

The fcene of death, and place ordain'd for punishment.
Loud was the noife, aghaft was every guest,
The women fhriek'd, the men forfook the feaft;
The hounds at nearer distance hoarsely bay'd;
The hunter clofe pursued the visionary maid,
She rent the heaven with loud laments, imploring aid.
The gallants, to protect the lady's right,
Their fauchions brandish'd at the grifly spright;
High on his ftirrups he provok'd the fight.
Then on the crowd he caft a furious look,
And wither'd all their ftrength before he spoke :
Back on your lives; let be, faid he, my prey,
And let my vengeance take the deftin'd
way:
Vain are your arms, and vainer your defence,
Against th' eternal doom of Providence: