Or did I dream what Emma never faid?
O guilty error! and O wretched Maid!
Whofe roving fancy would refolve the fame
With him who next fhould tempt her eafy fame,
And blow with empty words the fufceptible flame.
Now why fhould doubtful terms thy mind perplex?
Confefs thy frailty and avow the fex:

No longer loofe defire for conftant love

Miftake, but fay, 't is man with whom thou long fl tỏ rove.
+ EMMA. Are there not poifons, racks, and flames, and
That Emma thus muft die by Henry's words; [fwords,
Yet what could fwords or poifon, racks or flame,
But mangle and disjoint this brittle frame !

More fatal Henry's words, they murder Emma's fame.
And fall thefe fayings from that gentle tongue,
Where civil fpeech and foft perfuafion hung?
Whofe artful fweetness and harmonious flrain,
Courting my grace, yet courting it in vain,'
Call'd fighs, and tears, and wifhes, to its aid,
And, whilft it Henry's glowing flame convey'd,
Still blam'd the coldness of the Nut-brown Maid P.
Let envious Jealoufy and canker'd Spite
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 I must for ever own,
That I, of all mankind, have lov'd but thee alone?
HEN. Vainly thou talk'ft ofloving 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 firength or cunning we invade:

When

When arm'd with rage we march a gainft the foe,
We lift the battle-axe and draw the bow;
When fir'd with paffion we attack the fair,
Delufive fighs and brittle vows we bear ;
Our falfehood 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 frives to fly thee why fhould'st thou pursue ?
Forget the prefent flame, indulge a new:
Single the lovelieft of the am'rous youth;
Afk for his vow, but hope not for his truth.
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 falfe, fhun trouble, feek delight;
Change thou the firft, nor wait thy lover's flight.
Why fhouldst thou weep? let Nature judge our cafe:
faw thee, young and fair; purfu'd the chace

Of youth and beauty: I another faw
Fairer and younger yielding to the law
Of our all-ruling Mother, I purfu'd
More youth, more beauty. Bleft viciffitude!
My active heart ftill keeps its priftine fame,
The object alter'd, the defire the same.

This younger, fairer, pleads her rightful charms,
With prefent pow'r compels me to her arms;
And much I fear from my fubjected mind,
(If beauty's force to conftans 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 doft now,
With idle clamours of a broken vow.

Nor can the wildness of thy wishes err,
So wide to hope that thou may'ft live with her :
Love, well thou know'ft, no partnership allows;
Cupid averfe, rejects divided vows;

}

Then

Then from thy foolish heart, vain Maid, remove
An useless forrow and an ill-ftar'd love,, !!

And leave me, with the fair, at large in woods to rove.
EMMA. Are we in life thro' one great error led ?
Is each man perjur'd, and each nymph betray'd?
Of the fuperior fex art thou the wort ?
Am I of mine the most completely curst? ̧
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 diff'rent care,
Her let me follow; her let me attend,
A fervant: ((he may fcorn the name of friend)...
What fhe demands inceffant I'll prepare;
I'll weave her garlands, and I'll plait her hairs
My bufy diligence fhall deck her board,
For there at leaft 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 difcafe,
And ebbing life, on terms fevere as thefe,
Will have its little lamp no longer fed
When Henry's miftrefs fhows him Emma dead,
Refcue my poor remains from vile neglect:
With virgin honors let my hearfe be deck't,
And decent emblem; and, at leaft, perfuade
This happy nymph that Emma may be laid
Where thou, dear author of my death, where fhe
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 muft give one thought, and drop one tear
To her whom love abandon'd to defpair;

To

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

That of mankind the lov'd but thee alone.

HEN. Hear, folemn Jove, and, coufcious Venus, hear
And thou, bright Maid, believe me whilst I swear;
No time, no change, no future flame, fhall move
The well-plac'd bafis of my lafting love.

O pow'rful Virtue! O victorions 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,
Entreats 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't with, fhall all his life employ,
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 fhe has felt his fword,
And trembling fled before the British lord.
Him great in peace and wealth fair Deva knows,
For the amidst his fpacious meadows flows.
Inclines her urn upon his fatten'd lands,
And fees his num'rous herds imprint her fands.
And thou, my Fair, my Dove, fhalt raise thy thought
To greatnefs next to empire; fhalt be brought
With folemn pomp to my paternal feat,

Where peace and plenty on thy word fhall wait :
Mufic and fong fhall wake the marriage-day,
And while the priests accufe the bride's delay,
Myrtles and roles fhall obftruct her way.

Friendship thall fill thy ev'ning feafts adorn,
And blooming Peace fhall ever blefs thy morn;
Succeeding years their happy race fhall run
And Age unheeded by delight come on,
While yet fuperior love fhall mock his pow'r;
And when old Time fhall turn the fated hour,

Which

}

Whicb only can our well-ty'd knot unfold,
What refts of both one fepulchre fhall hold.
Hence, then, for ever, from my Enima's breast
(That heav'n of foftness, and that teat of rell)
Ye doubts and fears, and all that know to move
Tormenting grief, and all that trouble love;
Scatter'd by winds recede, and wild in forests rove.
EMMA. O day! the faireft fure that ever rofe!
Period and end of anxious Emma's woes!
Sire of her joy; and fource of her delight,
O! wing'd with pleafure take thy happy light,
And give each future morn a tincture of thy white.
Yet tell thy votry, potent queen of Love,
Henry, my Henry, will he never rove?
Will he be ever kind, and juft, and good?
And is there yet no miflrefs in the wood?
None, none there is: the thought was rath and vain,
A falfe idea, and a fancy'd pain,

Doubt fhall for ever quit my ftrengthened heart,
And anxious Jealoufy's corroding smart;
Nor other inmate (hall inhabit there,

But foft Belief. young Joy, and pleafing Care.
Hence let the tides of plenty ebb and flow,
And Fortune's various gale unheeded blow.
If at my feet the fuppliant goddefs ftands, v
And fheds her treasure with unweary'd hands,
Her prefent favor cautions I'll embrace,
And not unthankful ufe the proffer'd grace;
If the reclaims the temporary boon,
And tries her pinions, flutt'ring to begone,
Secure of mind I'll obviate her intent,
And unconcern'd return the goods fhe lent.
Nor happiness can .I, nor mifery, feel,
From any turn of her fantastic wheel :

Friendship's great laws, and Love's fuperior pow'rs,
Muft mark the colour of her future hours.
From the events which thy commands create
I muft my bleflings or my forcows date,
And Henry's will must dictate-Emma's fate.

Yeu

}