Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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A35723
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A true and exact copy of some passionate letters and verses as they were writ and sent by a person of quality to the Lady --.
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C. D.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing D11; ESTC R33429
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33,408
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101
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the undoubted Right of a thousand Merits and a deathless Passion secured by all those Holy invocations that our Reason commands us to hold binding Ah Asteria your dear Image is no more to be divided from my Soul then my Soul from my Body my Love and my Life shall know but one end I am big with expectation of hearing this day from whence the only good news of my Life can come I sit telling the hours as I have a thousand times done the miles When I have wished the heavy Horse could flye truly dear Asteria every thing that comes from you has such a reception from me as the thirsty Sands gives to the joyful Showers such is the esteem Orantes makes of every thing that looks but kind from Asteria but it s no sit comparison yet surely Asteria that knows he loves beyond all things on Earth knows he will at any time make himself the price of Asteria's kindness let that be a valuable price which is all I have to offer and the rather Heaven knows that shall never want to be offer'd well poor Orantes loves and suffers and could dye before any misfortune should divest him of that Respect which will live in his Soul whilst Breath is in his Body 't is as natural to submit to Asteria as 't is to live and to live and love is all one Ah Madam How long could I entertain you and how little reason is there to suspect that I have any other pleasure Adieu Adieu Blessings surround you XXVIII HOw doth Delia melt her Oil into my Wounds and then for fear they should heal too fast applies her Corrosives prepares Po. for the hardest of Fates with so sweet a Lenitive as opiates all his Grief But alas when I go but two Lines farther she says her Inclinations are far beyond Sea Why what hath Po. done to deserve this great misfortune Hath he not always clothed his Love in that true genuine Passion of his Soul Has he not offered his Blood to expiate any misfortunes of hers and would he not at this hour drain every Vein to convince her Man never lov'd so madly as he does Yes Delia its true I want neither Resolution nor Courage if your Quiet can be bought at no cheaper rate then why if it be a Dispute should not Pol. carry it and keep two such Loves as separation in this kind would absolutely bring destruction to within the four Seas Ah Delia Where can you be within that compass that you and he may not meet often and advise for if he live he will make your ease the care and scope of all his time Yes Delia he has vowed it when the most ambitious and covetous has been at rest and he now swears not to perform it if Honour and Truth has not forsaken the Soul of Man Ah Delia I have a thousand unexpressible troubles upon me for fear you should be perswaded to that which will undeniably prove my death 'T is not Affectation nor Untruth my admired Delia as I am a Christian that it stops my Pen and Sight accept the Tribute I may with your assistance wipe these from my Eyes but never can that Sorrow which any affliction of yours will make inseparable from my Soul could I be supposed to live without Delia my Life would be either a miserable Knowledg or a dull ignorance worse than death Is not this Argument then a fit concerns my Being and indeed both our Interests of weight enough to carry the Ballance but as our Love lies so hard at stake there is nothing ought to come in competition Sure Delia did this to try her faithful Swain one who will out-do Cassandra and will not be unfortunate as long as she is Just Come we have liv'd on the cold side of the Mountain a long time Blasts and sharp Air have blown upon us if we be near enough to help one another we may climb over go round about or like Hannibal make our way thro' with Vinegar we may get on the Sunny side and though our Tubs be no bigger than Diogenes's we may have nothing to desire of Alexander but that he would stand between us and the Sun Well dear Delia think of this it will be ill driving us to despair when we may not be past hope Adieu I have not a worse Enemy to my Quiet than my Fears as Delia will manage them She may ease the torment of her ever faithful Lover Polierchus XXIX SUre nothing suits the genius of this Age worse than Orantes for that like a rowling Sea sends Billow after Billow and every Blast changes the face of the great Ocean He like the weather-beaten Shrub upon the Beach flourishes never the more for a Calm nor withers in a Storm Dear Asteria is the Rock his Love grows upon there 's Merit enough for the Roots to fix in he is now at leisure to consider the foundation all alone free to Thought the Reins are now loose Asteria is the sole Object he sees her with his Eyes shut hears her at a hundred miles distance and talks to her at the same Rapture and Dream are not very unlike yet this hath the better on it for I can think it over and over again and am not at the mercy of a starter or a noise to loose the dear Delight Charming Asteria Orantes is awake not only thinks but knows and resolves and from his strictest reasoning can averr he loves and she deserves all and more than he can ever pay yet with pleasure he is endeavouring all the dispatch possible to his design of seeing and serving her it is his whole business Sir William Temple makes an ingenious descant upon comparing the steady temper of the Dutch with the more acute Wit of other Nations he says one cuts like a Razor but blunted by hard opposition the other like a Hatchet and makes the deeper impression they are as he says more dilatory but more sure both in their Councils and Dispatch because they are always intending what they are about apply it dear Asteria and doubt not the effect 't is not the trifling Project of some one advantage that animates the Spirit of Orantes 't is no less than all the whole Cargo is at stake and then ask what every one doth for that the Miser and the Generous are then alike Adieu Gratitude and Honour would flourish upon any opportunity of serving you and would quit all pretences for this gratificacation of perfecting what I have so often promised what I have been so long about and what I hope to effect Dear Asteria farewel when you can with ease to your own Concerns think of one whose enjoyments can never amount to a cessation of misfortune till he hath the Blessing to see you again Forgive this trouble and if I may beg it to love Orantes once more Adieu My dearest powerful and propitious Fate May all thy Hours be Quiet and Sedate May'st thou be constant to thy Love and Friend And all that makes thee Happy know no end THE Relation of Delia's Concerns have like the suddain Fires you mention startled me and made me look round for Refuge But alas 't is no news to poor Pol. His Reason to hear she hath a thousand Offers and what she says is inforced with as many Considerations of Prudence the tenderest Concerns lie at stake and nothing to stand in the way but unfortunate Pol. How can I think that that which every thing crushes can oppose so mighty a force Ah Delia my Pen is ready to drop out of my hand by all that 's Sacred cold and heavy Grief has seized my Heart and my Eyes will no longer perform their Duty Forgive the little stop I make Dear Delia and I will on again Is your Prosperity Happiness and Honour dearer to me than my Lives Blood and yet must I be the only Man to oppose it Ah Delia to what necessity am I brought that I must quit both my Love and my Life 't is true when ever I part with one the other will undoubtedly follow But may I not hope my Adorable Dear Delia will look once back and think whether two Souls the nearest being one that ever were made can now be parted Consider it Delia let your Pity be moved to your Slave and I do here again upon my bended Knees implore your Compassion Deny it not for Heavens sake unless you will abandon me to all that Cruelty which would make the most barbarous Relent Adieu my Life depends upon the next remember I have no Solicitor none to Appeal to for help but Delia her self Well I have only to say that unalterable as Fate is the Passion and Friendship of poor Polierchus or may the Eternal Powers for ever hate him Adieu FINIS An Advertisement FOR want of Care in the Printing some Mistakes are made in these Papers as particularly the Second and Third Letters are joyn'd together the former of which ends at the Word Admirer Page 9. Line 6. The rest of the Errors the Reader may correct thus Page 3. Line 2. for seeing read suing p. 3. l. 15. r. virtue p. 6. l. 4. r. desect p. 9. l. 2. r. dwells p. 9. l. 20. r. the success in this p. 11. l. 16. r. desects p. 12. l. 9. r. last p. 19. l. 18. in stead of I believe I shall die r. I believe it I shall die p. 21. l. 20. r. crushed p. 24. l. 15. r. with p. 32. l. 12. r. Darling of my Thoughts p. 34. l. 21. r. charged p. 40. l. 14. r. Anchorites p. 48. l. 1. r. such p. 52. l. 2. r. so little inclinable p. 53. l. 24. r. past p. 54. l. 6. r. fine p. 56. l. 22. r. may Death and Sufferings p. 69. l pen. r. Wound p. 72. l. pen. r. I should not esteem p. 74. l. 10. r. little p. 75. l. 15. r. I should not dare to p. 79. l. 2. r. for great Merit p. 82. l. 19. r. disfavour p. 82. l. 22. r. ah those p. 84. l. 21. r. for beyond p. 86. l. 11. r. as it
do send me a thousand such Questions I 'le answer them in a thousand when you 'll permit me to see you till then I 'le only say I see nothing else that can divert me I have just sight enough to conduct me from one trouble to another Thus the kind Turtle parted from his Mate passes by a thousand Objects and only mourns at all he sees but met their Joy their Life and Love are through each others Bill conveyed Dearest Asteria give me one quarter of an hour sit down and write all that Love inspires shew me its strength in that kind Glass it may flatter and yet be like That Art our finest Painters study and Colour now set off the Features it is impossible my sweetest finest Asteria to Treat thee so nay contrarywise How dull a Rogue should I be if I were call'd to Limn thee so all I can say can never tell the World how much thou deservest my Passion and my Duty nor how much I love but whither could I flye to thy Arms I cannot What matters then my poor remove But not to be too troublesome I will only add the firm resolution I have made that as long as Heaven endues me with Reason and Sence I will love Asteria and nothing else I wish my Period and a Thought contrary to this may have one and the same Moment Adieu X. THey that court Contemplation most cannot brag of being more obliged by Her and all her Helps than I when I was last forc'd to repair to her for some assistance against those misfortunes which began to attack me when I was driven from that place which neither comparison nor expression will permit me to describe the time dearest Delia obliged me with all the quiet the Emblems of Death afford Silence Night and the general retirement of all but Poli would have easily fed an ambitious Fancy that he had all the World to himself the Stars were full as bright as those which wandring Martillo changed for his Mistriss's want of Love The Birds that Dion curst for hindring Thought were all at rest nay Earth it self had got so soft a covering my Horse could make no noise Ah Dearest Delia How do you think I spent the Night or rather can you think it possible that the Beauties and the Charms I quitted and the Passion I brought away could make me spend it otherwise than I did Blest Providence that made Thought not only the best argument of Man's living but the best way to distinguish him from other parts of Created matter I Thought indeed and in that world of Thought 't was only Delia liv'd and she appeared from thence as irresistible as unparall'd I did not long enjoy the pleasing Contemplation of the one without the more severe one of the other those very Powers which made her inevitable rendred her also inaccessible all the considerable occurrences of my life since that moment I had the presumption or rather the necessity of telling sweet Delia that I lov'd repassed the track of Thought through which they had gone guess then how many Storms I had within which all the calm without could not allay but futurity being so perfectly opposite to what is past I must not expect to support the one with what may serve the other give me leave therefore to tell you that death being infinitely my desire before life without my love for Delia that Passion must be unexpressibly miserable without her Favour Ah Madam I were unworthy and false to my own Reason if I should not say your Favour is inestimable but since Heaven it self is attainable May I not lay at your feet all the Service all the Justice and all the Fidelity which Love Merit and Gratitude have made irrevocable and beg your leave that these humble Emissaries may in my absence make use of their intercession I know they offer nothing which comes not also like Tribute to the Sea from numerous streams But Just as well as Great they who can least capitulate have most reason to be protected Thus petty States are öft preserved When greater Kingdoms are denied Where is your Mercy if deserved Or Power when a Title 's tried XI SInce a Power above my own wishes Dearest Delia permits me not to chuse my own Happiness I am forced to think it one to compound for such as I may hope to receve thus being now denied seeking for pleasures as innumerable as there are Beauties in Delia's Eyes I must beg of my Charmer to transcribe them from that Copy indeed I may not only read the Beauties of her Person but the Ornaments of her Mind I know not how kindly she may design to use me in the description of the the one but the other must he natural and I cannot but confess nay bind it with an Oath that in absence I always found the power of Delia's Wit enough to Eternize my Love and Respect without any reflections upon her Face and I must as firmly vow That whenever I had the opportunity to make my Senses my Judges I always thought it sufficient to be under the Dominion of her Eyes without considering the Beauties of her Mind But since I have heard of those who have been reproved for entertaining charming Delia upon this Subject I shall only say that it is not the first time my Love hath submitted to my Obedience Ah dearest Delia let me hear from you for I long to have some of those new Delights renewed which this kind of Converse affords Who can love as Pol. doth and not seek to redress the miseries of Absence Who that loseth the pleasure of one Sense seeks not to indulge another Who that is obliged to Thought for the greatest part of his Content can live without seeking it some subsistance where Passion and Friendship meet the integrity of the one obtains a Pardon for the other What fine Delia may not approve from her Lover she may from her Friend and it being yet disputable on which side the excess lies sure where they both joyn you must less doubt the truth than I your reception Dearest Delia they both sympathize in the Message and both beg of you to think upon poor Pol. And to conclude he thinks of nothing but you believe him in absence as miserable as he believes Delia meritorious dreaming and resolving upon nothing but his Fidelity and his Love both these Madam shall take their measures from your directions Oh do but say how I ever can or shall serve you and I will a thousand times sooner dispute being Happy than Obedient Polierchus XII IF to all my Affliction I must meet with the addition of being so misinterpreted as to have the destruction of that life attributed to me which Heaven knows I would preserve with the loss of my own I have then scarce another misfortune to look for nor indeed should want one to dispatch me were I not in Reason as well as Opinion convinced that upon consideration I shall be