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Seize DELIA's frame, fufpend at once her breath, "And from its long-lav'd home the wond'ring fout divide.

"Be deaf to all, nor heed the plaintive moan "Of weeping husband, parent, child, or friend; "Tis my high will, that she attend my throne, "Where flow those perfect joys which never shall have end.'

So fpake th' Omnipotent. The fpirit heard,
With azure pinions veil'd he skims the air,
The heavenly regions quickly difappear'd,
He, unperceiv'd, alights befide the happy pair.

Amaz'd he view'd this feat of humble love,
Content and joy in every breast elate,

One moment mourn'd his errand from above;
While mid' the cheerful group the thoughtless victim
fate.

With eye afkance he aims the deadly blow,
Nor dares to look while he directs the dart ;
No more her cheeks with purple blufhes glow,
But all the fpirits rush to guard the fainting heart.

In vain, in vain! the heart refufes aid,

An iron flumber feals her heavy eyes;

She finks in death-th' aftonifh'd foul, difmay'd, Burfts thro' the doors of life, and feeks more friendly fkies.

Hail, fpirit, difengag'd from cumbrous clay!
Let not our tears retard thy blissful flight;

The

The figh diffolves in faith; purfue thy way,
Till heaven's full joys fhall open on thy ravish'd fight.

O Thyrfis! raife thy low-declining head,
Nor fink beneath this mighty weight of woe;
Mourn not thy love, nor think thy Delia dead;

She lives where boundless joys fhall ever, ever flow.

'S ECT.

LXXXVI.

YEARSLEY.

FRIE

AN ADDRESS TO FRIENDSHIP.

RIENDSHIP! thou nobleft ardour of the foul!
Immortal effence! languor's best support!

Chief dignifying proof of glorious man!
Firm cement of the world! endearing tie,
Which binds the willing foul, and brings along
Her chafteft, ftrongeft, and fublimest powers!

All else the dregs of fpirit. Love's foft fame,
Bewildering, leads th' infatuated foul ;
Levels, depreffes, wraps in endless mifts,
Contracts, diffolves, enervates and enflaves,
Relaxes, finks, diftracts; while Fancy fills
Th' inflaming draught, and aids the calenture.
Intoxicating charm! yet well refin'd

By Virtue's bright'ning flame, pure it afcends,
As incenfe in its grateful circles mounts,
Till mixt and loft, with thee it boasts thy name.

Thou unfound bleffing! woo'd with eager hope,
As clowns the nightly vapour swift pursue,

H4

And

And fain would grasp to cheer their lonely way;
Vain the wide ftretch, and vain the shorten'd breath,
For, ah! the bright delufion onward flies,

While the fad fwain, deceiv'd, now cautious treads
The common beaten track, nor quits it more.
Not unexifting art thou, but fo rare,

That delving fouls ne'er find thee; 'tis to thee,
When found, if ever found, fweet fugitive,

The noble mind opes all her richest stores;
Thy firm, ftrong hold fuits the courageous breast,
Where stubborn virtues dwell in fecret league,
And each confpires to fortify the reft.

Ethereal fpirits alone may hope to prave
Thy ftrong, yet foften'd rapture; foften'd more
When penitence fucceeds to injury ;

When, doubting pardon, the meek, pleading eye
On which the foul had once with pleasure dwelt,
Swims in the tear of forrow and repentance.
The faultlefs mind with treble pity views
The tarnish'd friend, who feels the fting of fhame;
"Tis then too little barely to forgive;

Nor can the foul rest on that frigid thought,
But rufhing swiftly from her Stoic heights,
With all her frozen feelings melted down
By Pity's genial beams, fhe finks, diftreft,
Shares the contagion, and with lenient hand
Lifts the warm chalice fill'd with confolation.
Yet Friendship's name oft decks the crafty lip,
With feeming virtue clothes the ruthless foul;
Grief-foothing notes, well-feign'd to look like truth,.
Like an infidious ferpent foftly creep

To the poor, guileless, unfuspecting heart,

Wind round in wily folds, and, finking deep,›
Explore her facred treasures, bafely heave
Her hoard of woes to an unpitying world;
Firft fooths, enfnares, expofes, and betrays.
What art thou, fiend, who thus ufurp'st the form
Of the foft Cherub? Tell me, by what name
The oftentatious call thee, thou who wreck'ft
The gloomy peace of forrow-loving fouls?
Why thou art Vanity, ungenerous sprite!
Who tarnisheft the action deem'd so great,
And of foul-faving effence. But for thee,

How pure, how bright would Theron's virtues fhine!"
And, but that thou art incorp'rate with the flame,
Which elfe would bless where'er its beams illume,
My grateful fpirit had recorded here

Thy fplendid seemings. Long I've known their worth..
O, 'tis the deepest error man can prove,
To fancy joys difinterested can live,
Indiffoluble, pure, unmix'd with felf;
Why, 'twere to be immortal, 'twere to own
No part but-fpirit in this chilling gloom.

My foul's ambitious, and its utmost ftretch
Would be, to own a friend-but that's deny'd. -
Now, at this bold avowal, gaze, ye eyes,
Which kindly melted at my woe-fraught tale;
Start back, Benevolence, and fhun the charge:
Soft bending Pity, fly the fullen phrafe,
Ungrateful as it feems. My abject fate
Excites the willing hand of Charity,
The momentary figh, the pitying tear,
And inftantaneous act of bounty bland,
To mifery fo kind; yet not to you,.

H 5

Bounty

Bounty, or Charity, or Mercy mild,

The penfive thought applies fair Friendship's name; That name which never yet could dare exift,

But in equality.

YEARSLEY

SE C T. LXXXVII.

ON MRS. MONTAGUE.

WHY boast, O arrogant, imperious man,

Perfection fo exclufive? Are thy powers

Nearer approaching Deity? Canft thou folve
Questions which high infinity propounds,.
Soar nobler flights, or dare immortal deeds,
Unknown to woman, if the greatly dares
To use the powers affign'd her? Active ftrength,
The boast of animals, is clearly thine;

By this upheld, thou think'st the lesson rare
That female virtues teach; and poor the height
Which female wit obtains. The theme unfolds
Its ample maze, for Montague befriends
The puzzled thought, and, blazing in the eye
Of boldeft Oppofition, ftrait presents,
The foul's best energies, her keenest powers,.
Clear, vigorous, enlighten'd.

O Montague! forgive me, if I fing
Thy wisdom temper'd with the milder ray
Of foft humanity, and kindness bland:

So wide its influence, that the bright beams

Reach the low vale where mifts of ignorance lodge,

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