Yet thought she was not obstinate to die,
Nor deem'd the death fhe promis'd was so nigh:
Secure in this belief, he left the dame,
Refolv'd to spare her life, and fave her shame;
But that detefted object to remove,
To wreak his vengeance, and to cure her love.
Intent on this, a fecret order fign'd,
The death of Guifcard to his guards enjoin'd;
Strangling was chofen, and the night the time,
A mute revenge, and blind as was the crime:
His faithful heart, a bloody facrifice,
Torn from his breaft, to glut the tyrant's eyes,
Clos'd the fevere command (for flaves to pay):
What kings decree, the foldier must obey:
Wag'd against foes; and when the wars are o'er,
Fit only to maintain defpotic power:
Dangerous to freedom, and defir'd alone
By kings, who seek an arbitrary throne;
Such were these guards; as ready to have slain
The prince himself, allur'd with greater gain;
So was the charge perform'd with better will,
By men inur'd to blood, and exercis'd in ill.
Now, though the fullen fire had eas'd his mind,
The pomp of his revenge was yet behind,
A pomp prepar'd to grace the prefent he defign'd.
A goblet rich with gems, and rough with gold,
Of depth, and breadth, the precious pledge to hold,
With cruel care he chofe: the hollow part
Inclos'd, the lid conceal'd the lover's heart:
Then of his trufted mifchiefs one he fent,
And bade him with these words the gift prefent:
Thy father fends thee this to cheer thy breast,
And glad thy fight with what thou lov'ft the beft;
As thou haft pleas'd his eyes, and joy'd his mind,
With what he lov'd the most of human-kind.
Ere this the royal dame, who well had weigh'd
The confequence of what her fire had faid,
Fix'd on her fate, against th' expected hour,
Procur'd the means to have it in her power;
For this, he had distill'd with early care
The juice of fimples friendly to despair,
A magazine of death; and thus prepar'd,
Secure to die, the fatal message heard :
Then fmil'd fevere; nor with a troubled look,
Or trembling hand, the funeral present took :
Ev'n kept her countenance, when the lid remov'd
Difclos'd the heart, unfortunately lov'd;
She needed not be told, within whose breast
It lodg'd; the meffage had explain'd the rest.
Or not amaz'd, or hiding her furprize,
She fternly on the bearer fix'd her eyes :
Then thus; Tell Tancred, on his daughter's part,
The gold, though precious, equals not the heart :
But he did well to give his best; and I,
Who wish'd a worthier urn, forgive his poverty.
At this fhe curb'd a groan, that elfe had come, And, paufing, view'd the prefent in the tomb; Then, to the heart ador'd devoutly glew'd Her lips, and, raising it, her speech renew'd :
Ev'n from my day of birth, to this, the bound
Of my unhappy being, I have found
My father's care and tenderness express'd;
But this last act of love excels the rest:
For this fo dear a present, bear him back
The beft return that I can live to make.
The meffenger dispatch'd, again the view'd
The lov'd remains, and fighing thus pursued:
Source of my life, and lord of my defires,
In whom I liv'd, with whom my foul expires,
Poor heart, no more the spring of vital heat,
Curs'd be the hands that tore thee from thy feat!
The course is finish'd which thy fates decreed,
And thou from thy corporeal prison freed :
Soon haft thou reach'd the goal with mended pace,
A world of woes difpatch'd in little space;
Forc'd by thy worth, thy foe, in death become
Thy friend, has lodg'd thee in a coftly tomb.
There yet remain'd thy funeral exequies,
The weeping tribute of thy widow's eyes,
And those, indulgent heaven has found the way
That I, before my death, have leave to pay.
My father ev'n in cruelty is kind,
Or heaven has turn'd the malice of his mind
To better ufes than his hate defign'd;
And made th' infult, which in his gift appears,
The means to mourn thee with my pious tears;
Which I will pay thee down, before I go,
And fave myself the pains to weep below,
If fouls can weep; though once I meant to meet
My fate with face unmov'd, and eyes unwet,
Yet fince I have thee here in narrow room,
My tears shall set thee firft afloat within thy tomb: .
Then (as I know thy fpirit hovers nigh)
Under thy friendly conduct will I fly
To regions unexplor'd, secure to share
Thy state; nor hell shall punishment appear;
And heaven is double heaven, if thou art there.
She faid her brimful eyes, that ready ftood,
And only wanted will to keep a flood,
Releas'd their watery ftore, and pour'd amain,
Like clouds low hung, a fober fhower of rain;
Mute folemn forrow, free from female noife,
Such as the majefty of grief deftroys;
For, bending o'er the cup, the tears the fhed
Seem'd by the posture to discharge her head,
O'erfill'd before (and oft her mouth apply'd
To the cold heart); she kiss'd at once, and cry'd.
Her maids, who ftood amaz'd, nor knew the cause
Of her complaining, nor whofe heart it was ;
Yet all due meafures of her mourning kept,
Did office at the dirge, and by infection wept;
And oft enquir'd th' occasion of her grief
(Unanswer'd but by fighs), and offer'd vain relief.
At length, her stock of tears already shed,
She wip'd her eyes, fhe rais'd her drooping head,
And thus pursued: O ever faithful heart,
I have perform'd the ceremonial part,
The decencies of grief; it refts behind,
That, as our bodies were, our fouls be join'd;
To thy whate'er abode, my fhade convey,
And, as an elder ghoft, direct the way.
She faid; and bade the vial to be brought,
Where the before had brew'd the deadly draught:
First pouring out the med'cinable bane,
The heart, her tears had rins'd, fhe bath'd again;
Then down her throat the death fecurely throws,
And quaffs a long oblivion of her woes.
This done, the mounts the genial bed, and there
(Her body firft compos'd with honeft care)
Attends the welcome reft; her hands yet hold
Clofe to her heart the monumental gold;
Nor farther word the fpoke, but clos'd her fight,.
And quiet fought the covert of the night.
The damfels, who the while in filence mourn'd,
Not knowing, nor fufpecting death fuborn'd,
Yet, as their duty was, to Tancred fent ;
Who, confcious of th' occafion, fear'd th' event..
Alarm'd, and with profaging heart, he came,
And drew the curtains, and expos'd the dame
To loathfome light: then with a late relief
Made vain efforts, to mitigate her grief.
She, what he could, excluding day, her eyes.
Kept firmly feal'd, and fternly thus replies:
Tancred, reftrain thy tears, unfought by me,.
And forrow unavailing now to thee:
Did ever man before afflict his mind,
To fee th' effect of what himfelf defign'd?
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