}

Loft to the world, let me to him be known
My fate I can abfolve, if he shall own,

That, leaving all mankind, I love but him alone.
HENRY.

O wildest thought of an abandon'd mind ! ·
Name, habit, parents, woman, left behind,
Ev'n honour dubious, thou preferr❜st to go
Wild to the woods with me: faid Emma fo?
Or did I dream what Emma never faid?
O guilty error! and O wretched maid!
Whofe roving fancy would refolve the same
With him, who next should tempt her eafy fame ;
And blow with empty words the fufceptible flame.
Now why should doubtful terms thy mind perplex?
Confefs thy frailty, and avow the fex.:

No longer loofe defire for conftant love

Mistake; but fay, 'tis Man with whom thou long'ft to rove. EMMA.

Are there not poifons, racks, and flames, and fwords; That Emma thus muft die by Henry's words? Yet what could fwords or poifon, racks or flame, But mangle and disjoint this brittie frame!

More fatal Henry's words; they murder Emma's

fame.

And fall these fayings from that gentle tongue,
Where civil speech and foft perfuafion hung;
Whofe artful sweetness and harmonious ftrain,
Courting my grace, yet courting it in vain,
Call'd fighs, and tears, and wishes, to its aid;
And, whilft it Henry's glowing flame convey'd,
Still blam'd the coldness of the Nut-brown Maid?

}

Let

Let envious jealoufy and canker'd fpite
Produce my actions to fevereft light,
And tax my open day, or fecret night.
Did e'er my tongue fpeak my unguarded heart
The leaft inclin'd to play the wanton's part?
Did e'er my eye one inward thought reveal,
Which angels might not hear, and virgins tell?
And haft thou, Henry, in my conduct known
One fault, but that which I must never own,
That I, of all mankind, have lov'd but thee alone?
HENRY.

Vainly thou talk'st of loving me alone :
Each man is man; and all our fex is one.
Falfe are our words, and fickle is our mind:
Nor in Love's ritual can we ever find
Vows made to laft, or promises to bind.

By Nature prompted, and for empire made,
Alike by strength or cunning we invade :
When arm'd with rage we march against the foe,
We lift the battle-ax, and draw the bow:
When, fir'd with paffion, we attack the fair,
Delufive fighs and brittle vows we bear;
Our falfhood and our arms have equal ufe;
As they our conqueft or delight produce.
The foolish heart thou gav'ft, again receive,
The only boon departing love can give.
To be lefs wretched, be no longer true;
What ftrives to fly thee, why fhould'st thou pursue?
Forget the prefent flame, indulge a new;
Single the lovelieft of the amorous youth;
Ak for his vow; but hope not for his truth.

}

}

}

The

The next man (and the next thou shalt believe)
Will pawn his gods, intending to deceive;
Will kneel, implore, perfift, o'ercome, and leave.
Hence let thy Cupid aim his arrows right;
Be wife and false, fhun trouble, feek delight;
Change thou the first, nor wait thy lover's flight.
Why should'st thou weep? let Nature judge our case;
I faw thee young and fair; pursued the chase
Of Youth and Beauty : I another saw
Fairer and younger: yielding to the law
Of our all-ruling mother, I pursued
More youth, more beauty: bleft viciffitude!
My active heart ftill keeps its priftine flame
The object alter'd, the defire the fame.

This younger fairer pleads her rightful charms;
With prefent power compels me to her arms.
And much I fear, from my subjected mind
(If Beauty's force to conftant Love can bind),
That years may roll, ere in her turn the maid
Shall weep the fury of my love decay'd;
And weeping follow me, as thou dost now,
With idle clamours of a broken vow.

Nor can the wildness of thy wishes err

So wide, to hope that thou may'st live with her.
Love, well thou know'ft, no partnership allows :
Cupid averse rejects divided vows :

Then from thy foolish heart, vain maid, remove
An useless forrow, and an ill-starr'd love;

And leave me, with the fair, at large in woods to

rove.

}

EMMA.

EMMA.

Are we in life through one great error led?
Is each man perjur'd, and each nymph betray'd?
Of the fuperior fex art thou the worst?
Am I of mine the most compleatly curft?
Yet let me go with thee; and going prove,
From what I will endure, how much I love.
This potent beauty, this triumphant fair,
This happy object of our different care,
Her let me follow; her let me attend

A fervant (the may fcorn the name of friend).
What the demands, inceffant I'll prepare :
I'll weave her garlands; and I'll plait her hair:
My bufy diligence shall deck her board
(For there at least I may approach my lord);
And, when her Henry's fofter hours advise
His fervant's abfence, with dejected eyes
Far I'll recede, and fighs forbid to rife.

Yet, when increafing grief brings flow disease;
And ebbing life, on terms fevere as these,
Will have its little lamp no longer fed;
When Henry's mistress fhews him Emma dead;
Refcue my poor remains from vile neglect:
With virgin honours let my hearse be deckt,
And decent emblem; and at least perfuade
This happy nymph, that Emma may be laid
Where thou, dear author of my death, where she,
With frequent eye my fepulchre may fee.
The nymph amidst her joys may haply breathe
One pious figh, reflecting on my death,

And the fad fate which the may one day prove,
Who hopes from Henry's vows eternal love.
And thou forfworn, thou cruel, as thou art,
If Emma's image ever touch'd thy heart;

Thou fure must give one thought, and drop one tear
To her, whom love abandon'd to defpair;

To her, who, dying, on the wounded stone
Bid it in lafting characters be known,

That, of mankind, the lov'd but thee alone,

HENRY.

Hear, folemn Jove; and confcious Venus, hear;
And thou, bright maid, believe me whilst I swear;
No time, no change, no future flame, shall move
The well-plac'd basis of my lasting love.

O powerful virtue! O victorious fair !
At least excufe a trial too fevere:

Receive the triumph, and forget the war.

No banish'd man, condemn'd in woods to rove,
Intreats thy pardon, and implores thy love :
No perjur'd knight defires to quit thy arms,
Fairest collection of thy fex's charms,

Crown of my love, and honour of my youth!
Henry, thy Henry, with eternal truth,
As thou may'st wish, fhall all his life imploy,
And found his glory in his Emma's joy.
In me behold the potent Edgar's heir,
Illuftrious earl: him terrible in war
Let Loyre confefs, for she has felt his sword,
And trembling fled before the British lord.

Him great in peace and wealth fair Deva knows;
For fhe amidft his fpacious meadows flows;

2

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}

Inclines