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ELEGY

EGY IV.

WRITTEN SEPTEMBER 1, 1763.

HEN the ftill Night withdrew her fable

WH

fhroud,

And left thofe climes with steps fedate and slow; While fad AURORA, kerchief'd in a cloud,

With drizzly vapours hung the mountain's brow;

The wretched bird, from hapless PERDIX fprung,
With trembling wings forfook the furrow'd plain,
And, calling round her all her listening young,
In faultering accents fung this plaintive strain :

⚫ Unwelcome morn! too well thy lowering mien Foretels the flaughters of the approaching day; The gloomy fky laments with tears the scene, • Where rage and terror reaffume their fway.

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Ah, lucklefs train! ah, fate-devoted race!

The dreadful tale experience tells believe;

• Dark heavy mists obfcure the morning's face, • But blood and death fhall close the dreary eve.

This day fell man, whofe unrelenting hate

No grief can foften, and no tears affuage, • Pours dire deftruction on the feather'd state, • While pride and rapine urge his favage rage.

I, who so oft have 'fcap'd the impending fnare, Ere night arrives, may feel the fiery wound; In giddy circles quit the realms of air,

⚫ And ftain with streaming gore the dewy ground."

She faid, when lo! the pointer winds his prey,
The ruftling ftubble gives the fear'd alarm,
The gunner views the covey fleet away,

And rears the unerring tube with fkilful arm.

In vain the mother wings her whirring flight,

The leaden deaths arreft her as fhe flies;

Her fcatter'd offspring fwim before her fight,
And, bath'd in blood, fhe flutters, pants, and

dies.

VOL. I.

F

ELEGY

ELE GY V.

WRITTEN JUNE, 1764.

HEE, fad MELPOMENE, I once again.

TH

Invoke, nor ask the idly plaintive verse ;

Quit the light reed for forrow's fober strain,
And hang thy flowerets on my DELIA's herfc.

Oft by yon filver fountain's fedgy fide,

Or through the twilight fhade I us'd to rove,
Have fung her beauties to the liftening tide,
And fill'd with notes like thefe the echoing grove:

Ye fragrant roles, bow your blooming heads;

For canyour sweetness with her breath compare?

Ye envious lilies, wither in your beds,

For is

your

boafted whitenefs half fo fair?'

Vain

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Vain was the lay; for O! heart-breaking thought!
Those heavenly features ne'er again must charm,
That form divine, with each perfection fraught,
Is ftruck by Fate's inexorable arm.

Thus far, O Death, thy cruel reign extends!
Before thy fickle falls each blushing flower;
But Virtue on ethereal wings afcends,

And fmiles difdainful on thy boasted power.

Guided by her-(for Virtue's facred lore
Was ever dear to DELIA's gentle breast)
She to the endless realms of peace shall foar,
The facred manfions of eternal rest.

Nor these the wreaths that love and fancy twine Around the tomb, where refts fome flatter'd maid;

But honors, due to merit's hallow'd shrine,

By faithful truth with unfeign'd sorrow paid.

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