Tancred, restrain thy tears, unsought by me,
And sorrow unavailing now to thee:
Did ever man before afflict his mind,
To see the effect of what himself design'd?
Yet, if thou hast remaining in thy heart
Some sense of love, some unextinguish'd part
Of former kindness, largely once profess'd,
Let me by that adjure thy harden'd breast,
Not to deny thy daughter's last request:
The secret love which I so long enjoy'd,
And still conceal'd, to gratify thy pride,
Thou hast disjoin'd; but, with my dying breath,
Seek not, I beg thee, to disjoin our death;
Where'er his corpse by thy command is laid,
Thither let mine in public be convey'd ;
Expos'd in open view, and side by side,
Acknowledg'd as a bridegroom and a bride.
The prince's anguish hinder'd his reply: And she, who felt her fate approaching nigh, Seiz'd the cold heart, and heaving to her breast, Here, precious pledge, she said, securely rest: These accents were her last; the creeping death
Benumb'd her senses first, then stopp'd her breath.
Thus she for disobedience justly died: The sire was justly punish'd for his pride: The youth, least guilty, suffer'd for the offence Of duty violated to his prince; Who late repenting of his cruel deed, One common sepulchre for both decreed; Intomb'd the wretched pair in royal state, And on their monument inscrib'd their fate,
THEODORE AND HONORIA.*
Or all the cities in Romanian lands,
The chief, and most renown'd, Ravenna stands,
Adorn'd in ancient times with arms and arts,
And rich inhabitants, with generous hearts.
But Theodore the brave, above the rest,
With gifts of fortune and of nature bless'd,
The foremost place for wealth and honour held,
And all in feats of chivalry excell'd.
This noble youth to madness lov'd a dame
Of high degree, Honoria was her name;
Fair as the fairest, but of haughty mind,
And fiercer than became so soft a kind
Froud of her birth; (for equal she had none ;)
The rest she scorn'd: but hated him alone;
His gifts, his constant courtship, nothing gain d;
For she, the more he lov'd, the more disdain'd.
A drama, entitled Theodore and Honoria, was scted in the wood of Chiassi, a word corrupted and altered from Classis, the naval station, which, with the intermediate road or suburb, constituted the triple city of Ravenna. Dr. J. W.
He liv'd with all the pomp he could devise,
At tilts and tournaments obtain'd the prize:
But found no favour in his lady's eyes
Relentless as a rock, the lofty maid
Turn'd all to poison that he did or said: [move,
Nor prayers, nor tears, nor offer'd vows, could
The work went backward; and, the more he
strove
To advance his suit, the farther from her love.
Wearied at length, and wanting remedy,
He doubted oft, and oft resolv'd to die.
But pride stood ready to prevent the blow,
For who would die to gratify a foe?
His generous mind disdain'd so mean a fate,
That pass'd, his next endeavour was to hate.
But vainer that relief than all the rest,
The less he hop'd, with more desire possess'd,
Love stood the siege, and would not yield his
breast.
Change was the next, but change deceiv'd his
He sought a fairer, but found none so fair.
He would have worn her out by slow degrees,
As men by fasting starve the untam'd disease:
But present love requir'd a present ease.
Looking he feeds alone his famish'd eyes,
Feeds lingering death, but looking not he dies,
Yet still he chose the longest way to fate,
Wasting at once his life, and his estate.
His friends beheld, and pified him in vain, For what advice can ease a lover's pain! Absence, the best expedient they could find, Might save the fortune, if not cure the mind: This means they long propos'd, but little gain'd, Yet after much pursuit, at length obtain'd.
Hard you may think it was to give consent,
But struggling with his own desires he went,
With large expense, and with a pompous train,
Provided as to visit France and Spain,
Or for some distant voyage o'er the main
But love had clipp'd his wings, and cut him
short,
Confin'd within the pulieus of the court.
His travels ended at his country-seat:
Three miles he went, nor farther could retreat:
To Chassis' pleasing plains he took his way There pitch'd his tents, and there resolv'd to stay,
The spring was in the prime; the neighbour
Supplied with birds, the choristers of love,
To morning walks, and lull'd his cares by night :
Music unbought, that minister'd delight
There he discharg'd his friends; but not the
Of frequent treats, and proud magnificence. He liv'd as kings retire, though more at large From public business, yet with equal charge;
With house and heart still open to receive;
As well content as love would give him leave :
He would have liv'd more free; but many a
guest,
Who could forsake the friend, pursu'd the feast.
It happ'd one morning, as his fancy led,
Before his usual hour he left his bed,
To walk within a lonely lawn, that stood
On every side surrounded by a wood:
Alone he walk'd, to please his pensive mind,
And sought the deepest solitude to find;
'T was in a grove of spreading pines he stray'd:
The winds within the quivering branches
play'd,
And dancing trees a mournful music made.
The place itself was suiting to his care,
Uncouth and savage, as the cruel fair.
He wander'd on, unknowing where he went,
Lost in the wood, and all on love intent:
The day already half his race had run,
And summon'd him to due repast at noon,
But love could feel no hunger but his own.
Whilst listening to the murmuring leaves he
stood,
More than a mile immers'd within the wood, At once the wind was laid; the whispering sound
Was dumb; a rising earthquake rock'd the ground;
With deeper brown the grove was overspread
A sudden horror seiz'd his giddy head,
And his ears tinkled, and his colour fled;
Nature was in alarm; some danger nigh
Seem'd threaten'd, though unseen to mortal eye:
Unus'd to fear, he summon'd all his soul,
And stood collected in himself, and whole;
Not long for soon a whirlwind rose around,
And from afar he heard a screaming sound,
As of a dame distress'd, who cried for aid,
And fill'd with loud laments the secret shade.
A thicket close beside the grove there stood,
With briers and brambles chok'd, and dwarfish
wood;
Whilst listening] The next fifteen lines, which so strongly paint the sensations of a man upon the sadden approach of some strange, mysterious, and supernatural danger, may be produced, among many others, as a specimen of the high poetical improvements our author has given to the original story; for the passage that furnished this animated picture is only this in Boccaccio, literally transla ted. "In this forest Theodore, walking c solitary, and musing all alone, had now wandered a mile's distance from his tents and company, entered into a grove of pine trees, not regarding the time of the repast that was prepared for him, or any thing else but the unkind requital of his love. Suddenly he heard the voice of a woman seeming to make most mournful complaints, whick breaking off his silent meditations, made him lift up his head to discover the reason of this noise."-Buecaccio, Nov. 8. First Day. Dr. J. W.
From thence the noise, which now approaching
With more distinguish'd notes invades his ear; He rais'd his head, and saw a beauteous maid, With hair dishevell'd, issuing through the shade; Stripp'd of her clothes, and e'en those parts re[ceal'd; Which modest nature keeps from sight conHer face, her hands, her naked limbs were torn, With passing through the brakes and prickly thorn;
Two mastiffs guant and grim her flight pursu'd, And oft their fasten'd fangs in blood imbru'd: Oft they came up, and pinch'd her tender side, Mercy, O mercy, Heaven, she ran, and cried: When Heaven was nam'd, they loos'd their hold again,
Then sprung she forth, they follow'd her amain.
Not far behind, a knight of swarthy face,
High on a coal-back steed pursu'd the chase;
With flashing flames his ardent eyes were
fill'd,
And in his hand a naked sword he held:
He cheer'd the dogs to follow her who fled,
And vow'd revenge on her devoted head.
As Theodore was born of noble kind,
The brutal action rous'd his manly mind;
Mov'd with unworthy usage of the maid,
He, though unarm'd, resolv'd to give her aid
A saplin pine he wrench'd from out the ground,
The readiest weapon that his fury found.
Thus furnish'd for offence, he cross'd the way
Betwixt the graceless villain and his prey.
The knight came thundering on, but, from
afar,
Thus in imperious tone forbad the war:
Cease, Theodore, to proffer vain relief,
Nor stop the vengeance of so just a grief;
But give me leave to seize my destin'd prey,
And let eternal justice take the way:
I but revenge my fate, disdain'd, betray'd,
And suffering death for this ungrateful maid.
He said, at once dismounting from the steed;
For now the hell-hounds, with superior speed
Had reach'd the dame, and fastening on her
The ground with issuing streams of purple dy'd, Stood Theodore surpris'd in deadly fright, With chattering teeth, and bristling hair up
Yet arm'd with inborn worth, Whate'er, said he
Thou art, who know'st me better than I thee;
Or prove thy rightful cause, or be defied.
The spectre, fiercely staring, thus replied:
Know, Theodore, thy ancestry I ckim,
And Guido Cavalcanti was my name.
One common sire our fathers did beget,
My name and story some remember yet:
Thee, then a boy, within my arms I laid, When for my sins I lov'd this haughty maid; Not less ador'd in life, nor serv'd by me, Than proud Honoria now is lov'd by thee What did I not her stubborn heart to gain? But al my vows were answer'd with disdain; She scorn'd my sorrows, and despis'd my pain.
Long time I dragg'd my days in fruitless care, Then loathing life, and plung'd in deep despair, To finish my unhappy life, I fell
On this sharp sword, and now am damn'd in hell. Short was her joy; for soon the insulting maid By heaven's decree in the cold grave was laid. And, as in unrepented sin she died,
Doom'd to the same bad place, is punish'd for her pride:
Because she deem'd I well deserv'd to die,
And made a merit of her cruelty.
As Friday saw me die, so she my prey
Becomes e'en here, on this revolving day
Thus while he spoke, the virgin from the ground Upstarted fresh, already clos'd the wound, And unconcern'd for all she felt before, Precipitates her flight along the shore : The hell-hounds, as ungorg'd with flesh and blood,
Pursue their prey, and seek their wonted food: The fiend remounts his courser, mends his pace, And all the vision vanish'd from the place.
Long stood the noble youth oppress'd with
And stupid at the wondrous things he saw, Surpassing common faith, transgressing nature's law:
He would have been asleep,and wish'd to wake, But dreams, he knew, no long impression make,
There, then, we met; both tried and both were Though strong at first; if vision, to what end,
And this irrevocable sentence pass'd;
That she, whom I so long pursu'd in vain,
Should suffer from my hands a lingering pain:
Renew'd to life that she might daily die,
I daily doom'd to follow, she to fly;
No more a lover, but a mortal foe,
I seek her life (for love is none below :)
As often as my dogs with better speed
Arrest her flight, is she to death decreed:
Then with this fatal sword, on which I died,
I pierce her open back, or tender side,
And tear that harden'd heart from out her
breast,
Which, with her entrails, makes my hungry
Nor lies she long, but as her fates ordain
Springs up to life, and fresh to second pain,
Is sav'd to-day, to-morrow to be slain.
This, vers'd in death, the infernal knight relates,
And then for proof fulfill'd the common fates;
Her heart and bowels through her back he drew,
And fed the hounds that help'd him to pursue.
Stern look'd the fiend, as frustrate of his will,
Not half suffic'd, and greedy yet to kill.
And now the soul, expiring through the wound,
Had left the body breathless on the ground,
When thus the grisly spectre spoke again:
Behold the fruit of ill-rewarded pain:
As many months as I sustain'd her hate,
So many years is she condemn'd by fate
To daily death; and every several place
Conscious of her disdain, and my disgrace,
Must witness her just punishment; and be
A scene of triumph and revenge to me,
As in this grove I took my last farewell,
As on this very spot of earth I fell
But such as must his future state portend?
His love the damsel, and himself the fiend.
But yet reflecting that it could not be [cree,
From Heaven, which cannot impious acts de-
Resolv'd within himself to shun the snare,
Which hell for his destruction did prepare;
And as his better genius should direct,
From an ill cause to draw a good effect. [way,
Inspir'd from heaven, he homeward took his
Nor pall'd his new design with long delay:
But of his train a trusty servant sent,
To call his friends together at his tent.
They came, and usual salutations paid,
With words premeditated thus he said:
What you have often counsell'd, to remove
My vain pursuit of unregarded love,
By thrift my sinking fortune to repair,
Though late, yet is at last become my care:
My heart shall be my own; my vast expense
Reduc'd to bounds, by timely providence;
This only I require; invite for me
Honoria, with her father's family,
Her friends, and mine, the cause I shall display,
On Friday next; for that's the appointed day Well pleas'd were all his friends, the task was
The father, mother, daughter, they invite :
Hardly the dame was drawn to this repast
But yet resolv'd, because it was the last.
The day was come, the guests invited came,
And, with the rest, the inexorable dame :
A feast prepar'd with riotous expense,
Much cost, more care, and most magnificence.
The place ordain'd was in that haunted grove,
Where the revenging ghost pursu'd his love,
The tables in a proud pavilion spread,
With flowers below, and tissue over head:
The rest in rank, Honoria, chief in place,
Was artfully contriv'd to set her face
To front the thicket, and behold the chase.
The feast was serv'd, the time so well forecast
That just when the dessert and fruits were
plac'd,
The fiend's alarm began; the hollow sound
Sung in the leaves, the forest shook around,
Air blacken'd, roll'd the thunder, groan'd the
ground.
Nor long before the loud laments arise Of one distress'd, and mastiffs' mingled cries; And first the dame came rushing through the wood,
And next the famish'd hounds that sought their food,
And grip'd her flanks, and oft essay'd their jaws
Last came the felon, on his sable steed, Arm'd with his naked sword, and urg'd his dogs to speed.
She ran, and cried, her flight directly bent (A guest unbidden) to the fatal tent.
The scene of death, and place ordain'd for pu
Loud was the noise, aghast was every guest, The women shriek'd, the men forsook the feast; The hounds at nearer distance hoarsely bay'd; The hunter close pursu'd the visionary maid, She rent the heaven with loud laments, imploring aid.
The gallants, to protect the lady's right, Their falchions brandish'd at the grisly spright High on his stirrups he provok'd the fight. Then on the crowd he cast a furious look, And wither'd all their strength before he strook : Back, on your lives, let be, said he, my prey, And let my vengeance take the destin'd way: Vain are your arms, and vainer your defence, Against the eternal doom of Providence: Mine is the ungrateful maid by heaven design'd: Mercy she would not give, nor mercy shall she find.
At this the former tale again he told
With thundering tone, and dreadful to behold: Sunk were their hearts with horror of the crime,
Nor needed to be warn'd a second time,
Bur bore each other back: some knew the face,
And all had heard the much lamented case
Of him who fell for love, and this the fatal place.
And now the infernal minister advanc'd,
Seiz'd the due victim, and with fury lane'd
Her back, and piercing through her inmost
heart,
Drew backward as before the offending part.
The reeking entrails next he tore away,
And to his meager mastiffs made a prey.
The pale assistants on each other star'd,
With gaping mouths for issuing words prepar'd,
The still-born sounds upon the palate hung,
And died imperfect on the faltering tongue.
The fright was general; but the female band
(A helpless train) in more confusion stand:
With horror shuddering, on a heap they run
Sick at the sight of hateful justice done;
For conscience rung the alarm, and made the
case their own.
So spread upon a lake, with upward eye,
A plump of fowl behold their foe on high
They close their trembling troop; and all attend
On whom the sousing eagle will descend.
But most the proud Honoria fear'd the event, And thought to her alone the vision sent. Her guilt presents to her distracted mind Heaven's justice, Theodore's revengeful kind, And the same fate to the same sin assign'd. Already sees herself the monster's prey, And feels her heart and entrails torn away 'T was a mute scene of sorrow, mix'd with fear, Still on the table lay the unfinish'd cheer: The knight and hungry mastiffs stood around, The mangled dame lay breathless on the ground; When on a sudden, reinspir'd with breath, Again she rose, again to suffer death; Nor staid the hell-hounds,nor the hunter stay'd, But follow'd, as before, the flying maid; The avenger took from earth the avenging sword, [spurr'd; And mounting light as air, his sable steed he The clouds dispell'd, the sky resum'd her light, And Nature stood recover'd of her fright. But fear, the last of ills, remain'd behind, And horror heavy sat on every mind. Nor Theodore encourag'd more the feast, But sternly look'd, as hatching in his breast Some deep designs: which when Honoria view'd,
The fresh impulse her former fright renew'd:
She thought herself the trembling dame who fled
And him the grisly ghost that spurr'd the in-
fernal steed:
[drew,
The more dismay'd, for when the guests with-
Their courteous host saluting all the crew
Regardless pass'd her o'er, nor grac'd with kind
a lieu.
That sting infix'd within her haughty mind,
The downfall of her empire she divin'd;
And her proud heart with secret sorrow pin'd.
Home as they went, the sad discourse renew'd,
Of the relentless dame to death pursu'd,
And of the sight obscene so lately view'd.
None durst arraign the righteous doom she bore,
E'en they who pitied most, yet blam'd her more:
The parallel they needed not to name,
But in the dead they damn'd the living dame.
At every little noise she look'd behind,
For still the knight was present to her mind:
And anxious oft she started on the way,
And thought the horseman-ghost came thunder-
ing for his prey.
Return'd, she took her bed with little rest,
But in short slumbers dreamt the funeral feast;
Awak'd, she turn'd her side, and slept again;
The same black vapours mounted in her brain,
And the same dreams return'd with double pain.
Now fore'd to wake, because afraid to sleep,
Her blood all fever'd, with a furious leap
She sprung from bed, distracted in her mind,
And fear'd at every step, a twitching spright
behind.
Darkling and desperate, with a staggering pace,
Of death afraid, and conscious of disgrace;
Fear, pride, remorse, at once her heart as-
sail'd,
Pride put remorse to flight, but fear prevail'd.
Friday, the fatal day, when next it came,
Her soul forethought the fiend would change his
game,
And her pursue, or Theodore be slain,
And two ghosts join their packs to hunt her o'er
the plain.
This dreadful image so possess'd her mind,
That desperate any succour else to find,
She ceas'd all farther hope: and now began
To make reflection on the unhappy man.
Rich, brave, and young, who past expression
Proof to disdain, and not to be remov'd:
Of all the men respected and admir'd,
Of all the dames, except herself, desir'd:
Why not of her? preferr'd above the rest
By him with knightly deeds, and open love pro-
fes s'd?
So had another been, where he his vows ad dress'd.
This quell'd her pride, yet other doubts remain'd,
That once disdaining, she might be disdain'd,
The fear was just, but greater fear prevail'd,
Fear of her life by hellish hounds assail'd;
He took a lowering leave: but who can tell
What outward hate might inward love conceal?
Her sex's arts she knew, and why not, then,
Might deep dissembling have a place in men?
Here hope began to dawn; resolv'd to try,
She fix'd on this her utmost remedy;
Death was behind, but hard it was to die.
'T was time enough at last on death to call,
The precipice in sight: a shrub was all
That kindly stood betwixt to break the fatal
One maid she had belov'd above the rest; Secure of her, the secret she confess'd;
And now the cheerful light her fears dispell'd, She with no winding turns the truth conceal'd, But put the woman off, and stood reveal'd: With faults confess'd commission'd her to go, If pity yet had place, and reconcile her foe: The welcome message made, was soon re ceiv'd,
'T was to be wish'd, and hop'd. but scarce belev'd;
Fate seem'd a fair occasion to present,
He knew the sex, and fear'd she might repent,
Should he delay the moment of consent.
There yet remain'd to gain her friends, (a care
The modesty of maidens well might spare ;)
But she with such a zea! the cause embrac'd
(As women, where they will, are all in haste,)
The father, mother, and the kin beside,
Were overborne by fury of the tide ;
With full consent of all she chang'd her state;
Resistless in her love, as in her hate.
By her example warn'd, the rest beware;
More easy, less imperious, were the fair;
And that one hunting, which the devil design'd
For one fair female, lost him half the kind.
OLD as I am, for ladies' love unfit,
The power of beauty I remember yet,
Which once inflam'd my soul, and still inspires
If love be folly, the severe divine
Has felt that folly, though he censures mine:
Pollutes the pleasures of a chaste embrace,
Acts what I write, and propagates in grace,
With riotous excess, a priestly race.
Suppose him free, and that I forge the offence,
He show'd the way, perverting first my sense:
In malice witty, and with venom fraught,
He makes me speak the things I never thought.
Compute the gains of his ungovern'd zeal;
Ill suits his cloth the praise of railing well.
The world will think that what we loosely write,
Though now arraign'd, he read with some de-
Because he seems to chew the cud again, When his broad comment makes the text too
And teaches more in one explaining page,
Than all the double meanings of the stage.
What needs he paraphrase on what we mean?
We were at worst but wanton; he's obscene.
I, nor my fellows, nor myself excuse;
But love's the subject of the comic muse:
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