The fmalleft gleam of hope I ne'er could boast;

And raptur'd love in that dire moment fled, Which fhew'd my deareft wifh for ever loft, Which gave my DELIA to a rival's bed.

Yet fhall thy memory, dear départed shade,
In this fad breaft a place for ever find;

For in thy form each beauty was difplay'd,

To charm the fenfes, and to fix the mind.'

O! were I fkill'd the immortal note to raife,

And down the ftream of time to waft thy name! Then would I fing thy worth in matchless lays,

Bright as thine eyes, and fpotlefs as thy fame.

But, though the Muse such arduous flights denies, Nor bids with fire divine my fancy glow,

These plaintive numbers nobler truth fupplies,

The artlefs voice of unaffected woe.

ELEGY

1

ELE G Y VI.

WRITTEN IN THE SPRING, 1766..

OW has bright SoL fulfill'd his circling

Now

course,

Again to TAURUS roll'd his burning car,

Since, cruel Prudence, thy refiftless force
Tore me from happiness and CYNTHIA far.

How did I then, or penfively complain,

Or in the maniac's frantic accents rave!

How often vow to prove refiftance vain,
And, fpite of prudence, live my CYNTHIA's flave!

Her much-lov'd form did every thought employ; My daily wifh fhe was, and nightly dream;

My aking bofom hop'd no dearer joy;

My raptur'd fancy own'd no nobler theme.

No more I wish'd, where Isis' clear waves flow,

To pluck fresh laurels from the mufe's fhade: I long'd to climb the CAMBRIAN mountain's brow, Since CAMBRIA's mountains hid my favorite maid.

In vain from cruel love's tyrannic reign

To friendship and to wisdom I appeal; For fuch my fufferings, that the amorous pain Nor wifdom could affuage, nor friendship heal.

Now three revolving moons had roll'd away,
Still faded forrow bent my drooping head;

In flothful reft my nobler paffions lay,

Each fire extinguish'd, and each virtue dead:

When forced to feek a more laborious field,
And mingle chearful with a focial train,

To toil and mirth those woes began to yield,

Which thought and care had combated in vain.

In other scenes I now delight could find,

And, far from CYNTHIA, found my heart at reft; Till love at length the dubious ftrife declin'd,

And reafon fix'd her empire in my breast.

Then, as by facred truth's unflattering light,
I faw the follies of my former flame,

I turn'd indignant from the hateful fight,
Struck with remorfe, and mortified with shame.

I found imagination's magic wand

Had all my CYNTHIA's dazzling charms fupplied, And love, misjudging love, with partial hand, Had given those beauties nature's touch denied.

A vifionary shape my Fancy drew,

In the fair form each polifh'd grace difplay'd;

Then like the fabled artift amorous grew,

And lov'd the image which itself had made.

F 4

ELEGY

72

And AUSTER mild, with many a genial fhower,
Renews the laughing meadow's graffy pride.

The active swallow wings her rapid flight

In fportive circies through the ether bland,

1

And in luxuriant foliage proudly dight

The verdant fathers of the forest stand.

No