Ah! what avails to gain a pompous Name,
With boasted Titles of paternal Fame,
Deriv'd from Anceftors of noble Blood?
Things common to the Vicious and the Proud!
Refulgent Equipage, and gaudy Shows,
Fictitious Ornaments of real Woes!
If Love be abfent, Pomp and worldly Gain
But gild our Cares, and varnish o'er our Pain,
O! had my cruel Father thought like me,
I ne'er had prov'd the Dangers of the Sea,
Nor ever wander'd here a banish'd Maid;
And, O dear Felix! thou hadft not been dead!
So fpeaks the trembling Nymph; and while
The pearly Torrents ftream adown her Cheeks;
Cold clammy Sweats, and throbbing Sighs arise,
Slow move the Blood, and dizzy roll her Eyes;
So much affected with her Lover's Fate,
Sheftruggled, groan'd, and fainted from her Seat.
Her Hoftefs ftraight a grateful Cordial fought,
And to her Lips applies the chearful Draught,
Washing her Temples with reviving Oil;
The vital Spirits answer to her Toil;
The purple Tide begins to roll again,
Again diffufes Life thro' ev'ry Vein:
And now she fighing, rais'd her drooping Head;
And, is my Death, fhe cries, again delay'd?
Why did you check me on the Brink of Fate?
Better the Soul had fled her loathfome Seat.
Death is the only Good I wish to know,
End of my Pain, and Period of my Woe.
To whom replies the Dame: Unhappy Fair! Rely on Heaven, nor let your Soul despair: Teach me to give your troubled Heart Relief; Or teach me how, at least, to share your Grief: Your mournful Story much affects my Mind, Yet fomething seems remaining still behind.
O! much, Conftantia says, remains to come,
The fatal Part that finishes my Doom:
For, when my Felix, Felix (now no more!)
Was banish'd from my haughty Father's Door,
Not able to obtain me for his Bride,
Nor willing to resign me, tho' deny'd;
Hope, from Defpair, his daring Soul conceives;
A Bark he builds, to plough the briny Waves:
Then call'd a few Domeftics to his Aid,
Embrac'd me in his Arms, and fighing, faid:
Thou, for ever dear, for ever bleft,
At once the Joy, and Trouble of my Breaft! Since Poverty expels me from thy Arms, Since Wealth alone is worthy of thy Charms; I swear by all the mighty Powers above, (Sad Fate, that drives me from the Nymph 1 love!)
Fortune on remoter Shores, And feek the Gold, thy Sire fo much adores. Perhaps the Planets, unpropitious here, In other Climes may kinder Aspects wear;
May lead me where the rocky Di'monds lie,
Or where the golden Mine may Wealth supply;
If not, the last fad Pleasure is to die.
Such was the fatal Vow he rafhly made;
A fatal Vow, and fatally obey'd!
Struck dumb, my Tears the Want of Words fupply'd ;
His, mixt with mine, increas'd the pearly Tide:
Yet, left I fhould his Refolution shake,
He rush'd away, and mounted on the Deck:
His hafty Crew expand the fwelling Sails,
Strong rolls the Sea before impulfive Gales;
The crooked Keel the frothy Flood divides,
Swift flies the Ship, and rushes thro' the Tides.
My Lover long my gazing Eyes pursue;
As long my Lover kept me in his View:
Reluctant fo, departing Souls prepare,
To wing their doubtful Flight, they know not
where ;
Reluctant fo, expiring Bodies lie,
Nor willing these to stay, nor those to fly.
Twice twenty Days I spent in fruitless Tears,
Before the fatal Tidings reach'd my Ears;
How Felix, failing o'er the watʼry Way,
Was wreck'd on Rocks, and perifh'd in the Sea.
O! then what Trouble, Grief, and anxious Care,
Confus'd my Soul, and bent me to Despair!
I curs'd the Cause that forc'd him to expire;
O Heav'n! forgive me, if I curs'd my Sire:
I fled his House, and fought the lonely Grove, (The gloomy Witness of my former Love.) Where, once resolv'd to seek the Shades below, I drew the Knife, to strike the mortal Blow; Till Piety the cruel Thought fuppreft,
And check'd the Roman Courage of my Breast: I trembling faw two doubtful Paths; nor knew, Which Path was beft to fhun, or which purfue; Oppofing Paffions in my Bofom ftrove,
And Confcience now prevail'd, and now my Love.
As when the Wind and Tide a Contest make, The Sailor, trembling, fees his Vessel shake; This Way,and that, and both, by Turns reclin❜d, As fwells the Surge, or blows the furious Wind: So was my Soul with diff'rent Notions sway'd, Of this, of that, of both, and all afraid,
Ah! why should Mortals of their Reason boast, Which most deserts'em, when they want it most? For, when the troubled Mind's confus'd with Pain,
"Tis but an Ignis Fatuus of the Brain;
Which, if our wand'ring Souls from Virtue stray,
But leads us more and more from Virtue's Way:
So led it me to ftem the devious Tide,
And feek for Death, where wretched Felix dy❜d.
Not distant far, a fishing Vessel stood,
Nor wholly on the Land, nor in the Flood
Arriv'd to this, I row'd it from the Shore;
And, bent on Death, the Tide I now explore;
Expecting, foon, the friendly-furious Wave
Would give my Troubles and myself a Grave.
But, when I faw the Billows round me flow,
The boundless Skies above, and Seas below ;
Scar'd with the Terrors of the watry Space,
I wrapt my Mantle round my tim'rous Face:
Then lay me down, to all the Dangers blind;
Chance was my Compass, and my Pilot, Wind.
Blown here and there, I floated on the Deep,
Which rock'd my Eyes, but not myFears, asleep:
For now my dreaming Soul, in Fancy's Maze,
A thousand tragic airy Ghofts furveys;
Which flutter'd round me, and reproaching,
Die, Coward! follow Felix to the Shade:
Why wouldst thou wish to live, now he is
dead?
But when,at length, your friendlyVoice I heard,
My Visions ceas'd, the Spectres difappear'd.
Thus have I told, but can't difpel my Care;
For who can conquer Love, or cure Despair?
Thus fhe; and thus Caprefa fpake again :
(So was fhe call'd, who wak'd her on the Main)
UnhappyNymph! compofe your troubled Mind,
Nor doubt the gracious Guide of human Kind:
ThatGod, who fav'd you from the foamy Wave,
Will doubtless guard the Life, he deign'd to save.
Vouchfafe to take the Counsel I can lend :
At Sufa Heav'n has bless'd me with a Friend,
F 2
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