To Me thou ow'st that thou art Creon's Heir That now thou liv'st to call Creusa Fair You 've wrong'd me All and on you All but hold I form Revenge too mighty to be told My thoughts are now toth ' utmost Ruin bent Perhaps I shall the fatal Rage repent But on for I what e're the mischief be Shall less Repent than that I trusted Thee The God alone that Rages in my Breast Can see the dark revenge my thoughts suggest I only know 't will soon effected be And when it comes be Vast and Worthy Me. PHAEDRA TO HIPPOLYTUS BY M r. OTWAY The ARGUMENT Theseus the Son of Aegeus having slain the Minotaur promised to Ariadne the Daughter of Minos and Pasiphäe for the assistance which she gave him to carry her home with him and make her his Wife so together with her Sister Phaedra they went on Board and sail'd to Chios where being warn'd by Bacchus he left Ariadne and Married her Sister Phaedra who afterwards in Theseus her Husbands Absence fell in Love with Hippolytus her Son in Law who had Vow'd Caelibacy and was a Hunter wherefore since she could not conveniently otherwise she chose by this Epistle to give him an Account of her Passion IF Thou' rt unkind I ne're shall health Enjoy Yet much I wish to thee my Lovely Boy Read this and reading how my soul is seis'd Rather than not be with my ruin pleas'd Thus secrets safe to farthest Shoars may move By Letters Foes converse and learn to Love Thrice my sad tale as I to tell it try'd Upon my faultring Tongue abortive dy'd Long shame prevail'd nor could be conquer'd quite But what I blusht to speak Love made me write 'T is dang'rous to resist the pow'r of Love The Gods obey him and he 's King above He clear'd the doubts that did my mind confound And promis'd me to bring Thee hither bound Oh may he come and in that breast of thine Fix a kind Dart and make it flame like mine Yet of my Wedlock Vows I 'le loose no care Search back through all my fame Thou l't find it fair But Love long breeding to worst pain does turn Outward unharm'd within within I burn As the Young Bull or Courser yet untam'd When Yok't or Bridl'd first are pinch't maim'd So my unpractic't heart in Love can find No rest th' unwonted weight so toyls my mind When young loves pangs by Arts we may remove But in our riper years with rage we Love To thee I yield then all my dear Renown And prithee let 's together be undone Who would not pluck the new blown blushing Rose Or the ripe Fruit that Courts him as it grows But if my Vertue hitherto has gain'd Esteem for spotless shall it now be stain'd Oh in thy Love I shall no hazard run 'T is not a sin but when 't is coursely done And now should Iuno yield her Iove to me I 'd quit that Iove Hippolytus for Thee Believe me too with strange desires I change Amongst Wild Beasts I long with Thee to range To thy Delights and Delia I Encline Make her my Goddess too because she 's thine I long to know the Woods to drive the Deer And or'e the Mountains tops my Hounds to chear Shaking my Dart then the Chase ended lie Stretcht on the grass would'st not Thou be by Oâ—t in light Chariots I with pleasure ride And love my self the furious Steeds to guide Now like a Bacchanal more wild I stray Or Old Cybele's Priests as mad as They When under Ida's Hill They Offrings pay Ev'n mad as those the Deities of Night And Water Fauns and Dryards do afright But still each little Interval I gain Easily find 't is Love breeds all my pain Sure on our Race Love like a Fate does fall And Venus will have Tribute of us all Iove lov'd Europa whence my Father came And to a Bull transform'd Enjoy'd the Dame She like my Mother languisht to obtain And fill'd her Womb with shame as well as pain The faithless Theseus by my Sisters Aid The Monster slew and a safe Conquest made Now in that Family my right to save I am at last on the same tearms a slave 'T was fatal to my Sister and to me She lov'd thy Father but my choice was thee Let Monuments of Triumph then be shown For two unhappy Nymphs by you undone When first our Vows were at Eleusis pay'd Would I had in a Cretan Grave been laid 'T was there Thou didst a perfect Conquest gain Whilst Loves fierce Feavor rag'd in ev'ry vein White was thy Robe a Garland deck't thy Head A modest blush thy comely face orespread That face which may be terrible in Arms But Graceful seem'd to me and full of Charms I Love the man whose fashion 's least his care And hate my Sexes Coxcombs fine and fair For whil'st thus plain thy careless Locks let fly Th' unpolish't form is Beauty in my Eye If thou but ride or shake the trembling Dart I fix my Eyes and wonder at thy Art To see thee poise the Iav'lin moves delight And all thou do'st is lovely in my sight But to the Woods thy cruelty resign Nor treat it with so poor a life as mine Must cold Diana be ador'd alone Must she have all thy Vows and Venus none That pleasure palls if 't is Enjoy'd too long Love makes the weary firm the feeble strong For Cyntbia's sake unbend and ease thy Bow Else to thy Arm 't will weak and useless grow Famous was Cephalus in Wood and Plain And by him many a Boar and Pard was slain Yet to Aurora's Love he did encline Who wisely left Old Age for Youth like Thine Under the spreading shades her Am'rous Boy The fair Adonis Venus could enjoy Atlanta's Love too Meleager sought And to her Tribute paid of all he caught Be Thou and I the next blest Sylvan pair Where Love 's a Stranger Woods but Desarts are With Thee through dang'rous ways unknown before I 'le rove and fearless face the dreadful Boar. Between two Seas a little Isthmus lies Where on each side the beating Billows rise There in Trazena I thy Love will meet More blest and pleas'd than in my Native Crete As we could wish Old Theseus is away At Thessaly where alwaies let him stay With his Perithöus whom well I see Prefer'd above Hippolytus or me Nor has he only thus exprest his hate We both have suffer'd wrongs of mighty weight My Brother first he cruelly did slay â—hen from my Sister falsely ran away And left expos'd to ev'ry Beast a prey A Warlike Queen to thee thy Being gave A Mother worthy of a Son so brave From cruel Theseus yet her death did find Nor though she gave him Thee could make him kind Unwedded too he murthered her in spight To Bastardize and Rob thee of thy Right And if to wrong thee more two Sons Iv'e brought Believe it his and none of Phaedra's fault Rather thou fairest Thing the Earth contains I
can write How er'e I 'le try With Ceremony gay Just at the fall of Night and rise of Day The wicked Sisters were in triumph led And I among 'em to the Nuptial Bed The Marriage Lights as funeral Lamps appear And threatning Omens met us every where Hymen they call Hymen neglects their Cryes Nay Iuno too from her own Argos flyes Now come the Bridegrooms high with wine to find Something with us more lov'd than Wine behind â—ull of impatient Love careless and brave â—hey seize the Bed not seeing there a Grave What follow'd shame forbids me to express â—ut who so ignorant as not to guess â—ow their tyr'd Senses they to sleep commit â— sleep as still as Death ah too like it â—â—was then methought I heard their groans that dyed â—las 't was more than thought I terrified â—ay trembling cold and without power to move 〈◊〉 that dear Bed which you had made me love While you in the soft Bonds of Sleep lay fast Charmâ—d with the joys of love then newly past Fearing to disobey I rise at last Witness sweet heavens how tender was the strife Betwixt the name of Daughter and a Wife Thrice o're your breast which did so lately joyn In such an Extasie of love to mine I rais'd the pointed Steel to pierce that part But ah th' attempt strook nearer my own heart My Soul divided thus these words among A thousand sighs fell softly from my tongue ' Dost thou not heed a Fathers awful will ' Dost thou not fear his power On then and kill ' How can I kill when I consider who ' Can I think death against a Lover too ' What has my Sex with Blood and Arms to do ' Fye thou art now by Love to Shame betray'd ' Thy Sister-Brides by this have all obey'd ' With Shame their Courage and their Duty see ' If not a Daughter yet a Sister be ' No I will never strike If one must dye ' Linus shall live and my death his supply ' What has he done or I what greater ill ' For him to dye and I much worse to kill ' Were he as guilty as my Father wou'd ' Present him why must I be stain'd with bloud ' Poinards and Swords ill with my Sex agree ' Soft Looks and Sighs of Love our weapons be As I lamented thus the tears apace Dropt from my pitying eyes on thy lov'd face While you with kind amorous Dreams possest Threw carelesly your dear arm o're my breast There thinking to repeat Joys lately known Your hand upon my Sword was almost thrown 'T was time to call nor longer I forbore Dreading the Days approach my Fathers more Wake Linus wake I cry'd O quickly wake Or sleep for ever here Th' alarm you take Start up ask twenty questions in one breath To all I answer thus Delay is death Fly while 't is dark and scape eternal night While it was dark you made a happy flight I stay'd to meet the terrors of the Light With day my Father comes the dead to view And finds the dismal Sum one short by you Enrag'd to see his treachery betray'd By his command I 'me thus in Fetters laid Is this reward due to my Love from Fate Ah wretched flame Passion unfortunate Since Iö suffer'd under Iuno's Rage Nothing that Rival'd Goddess can asswage Th' unhappy Mistress of the mighty Iove Chang'd to a Cow a form unâ—pt for Love Views in her Fathers streams her heads array Sees her own horns and frighted starts away When she wou'd speak she lows and equal â—ears From her own self surprize her eyes and ears In vain to loose the frightful shape she tries For Iö follows still where Iö flies In vain she wanders over Lands and Sâ—as Can she find Cure whose self is the Disease Sadly severe the change in her appear'd Whose Beauty Iove and lov'd and Iuno fear'd Grass and the Springs her food and drink supply Her only Lodging 's the unsheltring Sky What need I urge Antiquity my fate Is a fresh instance of the Goddess hate A double stock of Tears by me are spilt Both for my Brothers death and Sisâ—ers guilt Yet as if that were small these Chains arrive 'Cause I alone am guiltless you alive But my dear Lord if any thought you have Or of the Love or of the life I gave If any memory with you does last Or of the Pleasures or the Dangers past Now Linus now some help to her afford Who wants the Liberty she gave her Lord. If life forsake me e're I you can see And death before my Linus set me free Yet my unhappy Earth from hence remove And give those Obsequies are due to Love When I 'me inter'd I know some tears will fall Then let this little Epitaph be all Here lies a Love Compleat tho hapless wife Who catch't the Death aim'd at her husbands life Here I must rest my hand tho much remains 'T is quite disabled with the weight of Chains ARIADNE TO THESEUS The ARGUMENT Minos King of Creet by a sharp Warr compell'd the Athenians who had treacherously slain his Son Androgeos to send yearly seaven young men and as many Virgins to be devour'd by the Minotaure a Monster begotten by a Bull upon his wife Pasiphae while he was engaged in that Warr. The Chance at last fell up on Theseus to be sent among those youths who by the Instructions of Ariadne escaped out of the Labyrinth after he had kill'd the Minotaure and together with her fled to the Isle of Naxos But being commanded by Bacchus he forsook her while she slept When she awaked and found herself deserted she writes this Letter THan savage Beasts more fierce more to be feard Expos'd by Thee by Them I yet am spar'd These Lines from that unhappy Shore I write Where you forsook me in your faithless flight And the most tender Lover did betray While lock'd in sleep and in your Arms she lay When Morning-dew on all the Fields did fall And Birds with early Songs for day did call Then I half sleeping stretch'd me tow'rds your place And sought to press you with a new embrace Oft sought to press you close but still in vain My folding Arms came empty back again Startled I rose and found that you were gone Then on my widow'd Bed fell raging down Beat the fond Breast where spight of me you dwell And tore that hair whâ—ch you once lik'd so well â—y the Moons light I the wide Shore did view 〈◊〉 â—ll was Desart and no sight of you Then every way with Loves mad hast I fly But ill my feet with my desires comply Weary they sink in the deep yielding Sands Refusing to obey such wild Commands To all the shore of Theseus I complain The Hills and Rocks send back that Name again Oft they repeat aloud the mournful noise And kindly aid a hoarse and dying voice Tho faint yet still impatient next I try To climb a rough steep Mountain which was nigh My
long I fear to lie alone One House contains us and weak Walls divide And you 're too pressing to be long denied Let me not live but every thing conspires To joyn our Loves and yet my fear retires You Court with words when you shou'd force employ As Rape is requisite to shamefac'd joy Indulgent to the wrongs which we receive Our Sex can suffer what we dare not give What have I said for both of us 't were best Our kindling fires if each of us supprest The Faith of Strangers is too prone to change And like themselves their wandring Passions range Hipsypile and the fond Minoian Maid Were both by trusting of their Ghests betray'd How can I doubt that other men deceive When you your self did fair Oenone leave But lest I shou'd upbraid your treachery You make a merit of that Crime to me Yet grant you were to faithful Love inclin'd Your weary Trojans wait but for a wind Shou'd you prevail while I assign the night Your Sails are hoysted and you take your flight Some bawling Mariner our Love destroys And breaks a sunder our unfinish'd joys But I with you may leave the Spartan Port To view the Trojan Wealth and Priam's Court. Shown while I see I shall expose my Fame And fill a foreign Country with my shame In Asia what reception shall I find And what dishonour leave in Greece behind What will your Brothers Priam Hecuba And what will all your modest Matrons say Ev'n you when on this action you reflect My future Conduct justly may suspect And what er'e Stranger Lands upon your Coast Conclude me by your own example lost I from your rage a Strumpet's Name shall hear While you forget what part in it you bear You my Crimes Authour will my Crime upbraid Deep under ground Oh let me first be laid You boast the Pomp and Plenty of your Land And promise all shall be at my Command Your Trojan Wealth believe me I despise My own poor NatÌ„ive Land has dearer ties Shou'd I be injur'd on your Phrygian Shore What help of Kindred cou'd I there implore Medea was by Iasons flatt'ry won I may like her believe and be undon Plain honest hearts like mine suspect no cheat And Love contributes to its own deceit The Ships about whose sides loud Tempests roar With gentle Winds were wafted from the Shore Your teeming Mother dreamt a flaming Brand Sprung from her Womb consum'd the Trojan Land To second this old Prophecies conspire That Ilium shall be burnt with Grecian fire Both give me fear nor is it much allai'd That Venus is oblig'd our Loves to aid For they who lost their Cause revenge will take And for one Friend two Enemies you make Nor can I doubt but shou'd I follow you The Sword wou'd soon our fatal Crime pursue A wrong so great my Husband's rage wou'd rouze And my Relations wou'd his Cause espouse You boast your Strength and Courage but alas Your words receive small credit from your Face Let Heroes in the Dusty field delight Those Limbs were fashion'd for another fight Bid Hector sally from the Walls of Troy A sweter quarrel shou'd your arms employ Yet fears like these shou'd not my mind perplex Were I as wise as many of my Sex But time and you may bolder thoughts inspire And I perhaps may yield to your desire You last demand a private Conference These are your words but I can ghess your sense Your unripe hopes their harvest must attend Be Rul'd by me and time may be your friend This is enough to let you understand For now my Pen has tir'd my tender hand My Woman Knows the secret of my heart And may hereafter better news impart PENELOPE TO ULYSSES BY M r. RYMER The ARGUMENT The Rape of Helen having carried all the Grecian Princes to the Siege of Troy Ulysses amongst the rest there signaliz'd his manhood and prudence particularly But the siege at an end and he not returning with the other Captains Penelope sends this Letter in quest of him She had rendred her self as deservedly famous on her part by resisting all the while the importunity of her Suitors with an unusual constancy and fidelity She complains to Ulysses of their carriage she likewise tells him her apprehensions and fears for him during the War and since acquaints him with the ill posture of his Family through his absence and desires him to hasten home as the only means to set all right again To your Penelope at length break home Send no excuse nor stay to write but come Our trouble long Troy does not hold you now Nor twenty Troy's were worth all this ado Wou'd some just storm and raging Seas had drown'd The Ruâ—â—ian when for Lacedemon bound I should not then of tedious daies complain Nor cold a nights and comfortless have lay'n Nor should this pains to pass the evenings take And work and weave ev'n till my fingers ake I alwaies fear'd worse dangers than the true As alwaies Love unquiet fears pursue Fancy'd thee by fierce Trojans compast round And Hector's name still struck me to the ground When told of Nestors Son by Hector slain Streight Nestors Son rouz'd all my fears again When for his sham how dear Patroclus paid I wept to find that wit no better sped Tlepolemus by Trojan javelin kil'd Thro' all my veins an icy terror thrill'd Whatever Greeks miscarry'd in the fray I fainted and sell well nigh dead as they Heaven for chast Love has better sate in store My Husband lives and Troy is now no more Our Captains well return'd each Altar flames And Temples all Barbarian Booty crams For their safe Loves the women Offrings bring And Trojan Fates by ours defeated sing All stand amaz'd to hear both old and young And listâ—â—ing wives upon their Husbands hung Some on the Table draw each bloody fight And spilling Wine the whole sad Iliad write This Simois that the Sigean Land And there did Priams lofty Palace stand Here skulkt Vlysses there Achilles dar'd There Hector torn the foaming Horses scar'd All did Old Nestor to your Son explain To seek you sent who told me all again Your Sword how Dolon no nor Rhesus scap'd Banter'd the one this taken as he napp'd Fool-hardy you and us remembring ill Nightly amidst those Thracian Tents to steal There numbers slay one only ayding thee Thou hast been wise and would'st have thought on me Still pant I told how all in triumph brave Round your friends Camp those Thracian Steeds you drave But what avails it me that Troy did yield And by your Prowess the Town is now a Field As when Troy stood I still remain alone Th' effect continues though the cause is gone To others sac'kt to only me upheld Ev'n whil'st it lies by Greek abiders till'd 〈◊〉 Priams Towers now lofty corn appears And Phrygian blood a pond'rous harvest rears No House remains nought of a Trojan found Unless you dig their bones from under ground Where art thou Conqueror what
Triumphs pay My Heart to Grief my Love to Rage gives way Shall I deck Temples and make Altars shine For that false man that lives but lives not mine I never was secure 'T was my long dread You by your Fathers choice a Greek might wed To no Greek Bride t'an unexpected Foe My wounds I t' a Barbarian Harlot owe One who by Spells Herbs does hearts surprize Nor are her slaves the Trophies of her Eyes She from her course the strugling Moon would hold The Sun himself in Magick shades infold She curbs the Waves and stops the rapid Floods And from their seats removes whole Rocks and Woods With her dishevell'd Hair the wandring Hag Does half-burnt Bones from their warm Ashes drag In moulten wax tho' absent kills by Art Arm'd with her Needle goar 's a tortur'd Heart Nay what Desert and Form should only move By Philters she secures her Iasons Love How can you doat on such Infernal Charms And sleep securely in a Syrens Arms You as the Bulls she does to ' her Yoke subdue And as she tam'd the Dragons Conquers you Though your great Deeds and no less Race you boast Linkt to that Fiend your sullied Fame is lost Nay by the censuring World 't is justly thought Your Conquests by her Sorceries were wrought And the Phryxean Ram's Triumphant Oar They say not Iason but Medea bore This Northren Bride your Parents disapprove Consult your Duty in your Nobler Love Let some wild Scythian her loath'd bed possess A Mistress only fit for Savages Iason more false more changeable than wind Have Vows no weight and Oaths no pow'r to bind Mine you departed ah return mine too Let my kind Arms their long lost Scenes renew If high Birth and great Names your Heart can turn Know I 'm the Royal Thoas Daughter born Bacchus my Grandsire is whose Bride divine All lesser Constellations does out shine My Dow'r These and my Fertil Lemnos make All these and me thy Equal Title take Nay I 'me a Mother a kind Father be And soften all the pains I 've born for thee Yes Heaven with Twins has blest our Genial Bed And would you in their Looks their Father read His treacherous smiles they are too young to wear In all things else you 'l find your picture there I 'had sent those Envoys in these Letters stead Both for their own and Mothers wrongs to plead Had not their Stepdames Murders bid e'm stay Too dear a Treasure for that Monsters prey Would her deaf Rage that rent her Brother's Bones Spare my young blood or hear their tenderer Groans Yet in your Arms this dearer Traitress lies Above my truth you this false Poysoner prize This mean Adultrate wretch was basely kind Loves Sacred Lamp our chast embraces ioyn'd Her Father she betray'd mine lives by me I Lemnos Pride she Colchos Infamy And thus her guilt my Piety outvies Whilst with her Crimes her Dow'r your Heart she buyes False man I blame not wonder at the Rage O' th' Lemnian Dames Wrongs do all Arms engage Suppose in vengeance to your Guilt just Heav'n Had on my Shore the perjur'd Iason driven Whilst I with my young Twins to meet you came And made you call on Rocks to hide your shame How could you look upon my Sons and Me Traytor what Pains what Death too bad for Thee Perhaps indeed I Iason had not hurt But 't is my mercy more than his Desert The Harlots blood had sprinkled all the Place Dash't in your faithless and once charming Face I to Medea should Medea prove And if Iove hears the pray'rs of injur'd Love May that loath'd Hag that has my Bed enjoy'd Be by my Fate and her own Arts destroy'd Like Me a Mother and a Wife forlorn 〈◊〉 from her Ravish't Lord and Children torn May her ill gotten Trophies never last But round the World be th' hunted Monster chac'd Those Dooms her Sire and murder'd Brother met May she t' her Husband and her Sons repeat Driv'n from the World let her attempt the skies Till in Despair by her own hand she dies Thus wrong'd Thoantias prays your Lives curst Remnant lead An Execrable Pair in a Detested Bed MEDEA TO JASON BY M r. TATE The ARGUMENT Jason arrives with his Companions at Cho'chos where the Golden Fleece was kept which before he can obtain he is to undertake several Adventures first to yoke the Wild Bulls then to sow the Serpents Teeth from whence should instantly rise an Army with which he must encounter and lastly to make his passage by the Dragon that never slept In order to this he solicits Medea Daughter to the King and skilful in Charms by whose assistance on Promise of Love he gains the Prize Then flies with her the King pursues them Medea kills her little Brother scatters his Limbs and whilst the King stays to gather them up escapes with her Lover into Thessaly where she restores decrepit Aeson to his Youth On the same promise perswades Pelias his Daughters to let out their Fathers Blood but deceitfully leaves them Guilty of Parricide For this and other Crimes Jason casts her off Marries Crëusa Daughter to Creon King of Corinth on which the enrag'd Medea according to the various Transports of her Passion writes this complaining soothing and menacing Epistle YEt I found leisure though a Queen to free By Magick Arts thy Grecian Friends Thee The Fates shou'd then have finisht with my Reign The Life that since was one continued Pain Who wou'd have dreamt the Youth of distant Greece Shou'd e're have sail'd to seize the Phrygian Fleece That th' Argo shou'd in View of Cholchos Ride A Greecian Army stem the Phasian Tide Why were those snares thy Locks so tempting made A Tongue so False so pow'rful to perswade No doubt but He that had so rashly sought Our Shore with the fierce Bulls unspell'd had fought And fondly too th' Arms-bearing Seed had sown 'Till by the Crop the Tiller were orethrown How many Frauds had then expir'd with Thee As many killing griefs remov'd from me 'T is some Relief when ill returns are made With Favours done th' Ingrateful to upbraid This Triumph will afford some little Ease False Iason leaves me This When first your doubtful Vessel reacht our Port And you had Entrance to my Fathers Court There was I then what now your new Bride 's here My Royal Father might with her's compare With Princely Pomp was your arrival grac't The meanest Greek on Tyrian Beds we plac't Then first I gaz'd my Liberty away And date my Ruin from that fatal day Fate pusht me on with your Charms combin'd I view'd your sparkling Eyes 'till I was blind You soon perceiv'd for who cou'd ever hide A flame that by its own Light is descry'd But now thy Task 's propos'd thou must tame The Bulls with brazen Hoofs and Breath of Flame With these the fatal field thou art to Plow From whence a suddain Host of Foes must grow Those dangers past still
his Youth what have thy Gods deserv'd To sink in Seas who were from fires preserv'd But neither Gods nor Parent didst thou bear Smooth stories all to please a Womans ear False was the tale of thy Romantick life Nor yet am I thy first deluded wife Left to pursuing Foes Crëusa stai'd By thee base man forsaken and betray'd This whenthou told'st me struck my tender heart That such requital follow'd such desert Nor doubt I but the Gods for crimes like these Sev'n Winters kept thee wandring on the Seas Thy starv'd Companions cast a Shore I fed Thy self admitted to my Crown and Bed To harbour Strangers succour the distrest Was kind enough but oh too kind the rest Curst be the Cave which first my ruin brought Where from the storm we common shelter sought A dreadful howling eccho'd round the place The Mountain Nymphs thought I my Nuptials grace I thought so then but now too late I know The Furies yell'd my Funerals from below O Chastity and violated Fame Exact your dues to my dead Husbands name By Death redeem my reputation lost And to his Arms restore my guilty Ghost Close by my Palace in a Gloomy Grove Is rais'dâ—a Chappel to my murder'd Love There wreath'd with boughs and wool his Statue stands The pious Monument of Artful hands Last night methought he call'd me from the dome And thrice with hollow voice cry'd Dido come She comes thy Wife thy lawful summons hears But comes more slowly clogg'd with conscious fears Forgive the wrong I offer'd to thy bed Strong were his charms who my weak faith misled His Goddess Mother and his aged Sire Born on his back did to my Fall conspire O such he was and is that were he true Without a blush I might his Love pursue But cruel Stars my birth day did attend And as my Fortune open'd it must end My plighted Lord was at the Altar slain Whose wealth was made my bloody Brothers gain Friendless and follow'd by the Murd'rers hate To forein Countrey 's I remov'd my Fate And here a suppliant from the Natives hands I bought the ground on which my City stands With all the Coast that stretches to the Sea Ev'n to the friendly Port that sheltred Thee Then rais'd these Walls which mount into the Air At once my Neighbours wonder and their fear For now they Arm and round me Leagues are made My scarce Establisht Empire to invade To Man my new built Walls I must prepare An helpless Woman and unskill'd in War Yet thousand Rivals to my Love pretend And for my Person would my Crown Defend Whose jarring Votes in one complaint agree That each unjustly is disdain'd for Thee To proud Hyarbas give me up a prey For that must follow if thou go'st away Or to my Husbands Murd'rer leave my life That to the Husband he may add the Wife Go then since no complaints can move thy mind Go perjur'd man but leave thy Gods behind Touch not those Gods by whom thou art for sworn Who will in impious hands no more be born Thy Sacrilegious worship they disdain And rather wou'd the Grecian fires sustain Perhaps my greatest shame is still to come And part of thee lies hid within my womb The Babe unborn must perish by thy hate And perish guiltless in his Mothers Fate Some God thou say'st thy Voyage does command Wou'd the same God had barr'd thee from my Land The same I doubt not thy departure Steers Who kept thee out at Sea so many years Where thy long labours were a price so great As thou to purchase Troy wouldst not repeat But Tyber now thou seek'st to be at best When there arriv'd a poor precarious Ghest Yet it deludes thy search perhaps it will To thy Old Age lie undiscover'd still A ready Crown and Wealth in Dow'r I bring And without Conqu'ring here thou art a King Here thou to Carthage may'st transfer thy Troy Here young Ascanius may his Arms emply And while we live secure in soft repose Bring many Laurells home from Conquer'd Foes By Cupids Arrows I adjure thee stay By all the Gods Companions of thy way So may they Trojans who are yet alive Live still and with no future Fortune strive So may thy Youthful Son old age attain And thy dead Fathers Bones in peace remain As thou hast pity on unhappy me Who know no Crime but too much Love of thee I am not born from fierce Achilles ' Line Nor did my Parents against Troy combine To be thy Wife if I unworthy prove By some inferiour name admit my Love To be secur'd of still possessing thee What wou'dâ— do and what wou'd I not be 〈◊〉 Coasts their certain seasons know 〈◊〉 free from Tempests Passengers may go But now with Northern Blasts the Billows roar And drive the floating Sea-weed to the Shore Leave to my care the time to Sail away When safe I will not suffer thee to stay Thy weary Men wou'd be with ease content Their Sails are tatter'd and their Masts are spent If by no merit I thy mind can move What thou deny'st my merit give my Love Stay till I learn my loss to undergo And give me time to struggle with my woe If not know this I will not suffer long My life 's too loathsome and my love too strong Death holds my pen and dictates what I say While cross my lap thy Trojan Sword I lay My tears flow down the sharp edge cuts their flood And drinks my sorrows that must drink my blood How wellthy gift does with my Fate agree My Funeral pomp is cheaply made by thee To no new wounds my bosom I display The Sword but enters where Love made the way But thou dear Sister and yet dearer friend Shalt my cold Ashesto their Urn attend Sichaeus Wife let not the Marble boast I lost that Title when my Fame I lost This short Inscription only let it bear Unhappy Dido lies in quiet here The cause of death Sword by which she dy'd Aeneas gave the rest her arm supply'd The foregoing EPISTLE OF DIDO TO AENEAS By Sir C. S. SO in unwonted Notes when sure to die The mournful Swan sings her own Elegy I do not hope by this to change my Fate Since Heaven and You are both resolv'd to Hate Rob'd of my Honour 't is no wonder now That you disdain me when I meanly sue Deaf to my Prayr's that you resolve to go And leave th' unhappy you have rendred so You and your Love the Winds away must bear Forgot is all that you so oft did swear With cruel hast to distant Lands you Fly Yet know not whose they are nor where they lie On Carthage and its rising Walls you frown And shun a Scepter which is now your own All you have gain'd you proudly do contemn And fondly seek a fancied Diadem And should you reach at last this promis'd Land who 'l give its Power into a Strangers hand Another easie Dido do you seek And new Occasions new made Vows
to break When can you Walls like ours of Carthage build And see your Streets with crowds of Subjects fill'd But tho all this Succeeded to your Mind So true a Wife no search could ever find Scorch'd up with Loves fierce fire my Life does wast Like Incense on the flaming Altar cast All day Aeneas walks before my sight In all my Dreams I see him every night But see him still Ingrateful as before And such as if I could I should abhor But the strong Flame burns on against my will I call 〈…〉 Love the Traytor still 〈…〉 Love Thee all the World Adore And shall thy Son slight thy Almighty Power His Brothers stubborn soul let Cupid move Teach me to Hate or him to Merit Love But the Impostor his high Birth did feign Tho to that Tale his Face did Credit gain He was not born of Venus who could prove So Cruel and so Faithless in his Love From Rocks or Mountains he deriv'd his Birth Fierce Wolves or Savage Tygers brought him forth Or else he sprung from the Tempestuous Main To which so eagerly he flies again How dreadful the contending Waves appear These Winter storms by force would keep you here The Storms are kinder and the Winds more true Let me ow Them what I would ow to You. You 'l shew your Hatred at too dear a rate If to fly me you run on certain Fate Stay only till these raging Tempests cease And breeding Halcyons all my Fears release Then you perhaps may change your cruel Mind And will learn Pity from the Sea and Wind. Are you not warn'd by all youv'e felt and seen And will you Tempt the Faithless Floods again Tho 't were calm now it would not long be so Think to what distant Countreys you would go There 's not one God who will that Vessel bless Which Lies and Frauds and Perjuries oppress The Sea let every faithless Lover fear The Queen of Love Rose thence Governs there Still the dear Cause of all my Ills I love And my last words Heav'n for your safety move That your false Flight may not as Fatal be To You as your Dissembled Love to me But in the Storm when the huge Billows rowl Th' unlucky Omen may kind Heav'n controul Think what Distracted Thoughts will fill your soul. You 'l then remember every broken Vow With Horror think on Murdred Dido too My Ghost all Pale and Ghastly shall be there With Mortal wounds still bleeding I 'le appear Then you will own what to such Crimes is due And think each Flash of Lightning aim'd at you Your Cruel Flight till the next Calm delay Your quiet passage will reward your stay I beg not for my self but do not joyn The Guilt of your Ascanius Death to mine What has your Son what have your Gods 〈◊〉 For a worse Fate were they from Flames 〈◊〉 But sure you neither sav'd them from the Fire Nor on your shoulders bore your Aged Sire But did Contrive that Story to Deceive A Queen so fond so willing to Believe Your ready Tongue told many a pleasing lie Nor did it practice first these cheats on me You by like Arts did fair Crëusa gain And then forsook her with a like Disdain I 've wept to hear you tell that Ladies Fate My self now justly more unfortunate T is to Revenge these Crimes the Gods Engage And make you Wander out your wretched Age. A Shipwrack'd wretch I kindly did receive My Wealth Crown to hands unknown did give Had I stop'd there I had been free from shame And had not stain'd my clear and spotless Fame Heaven to betray my Honour did Comply When Thunder black Clouds fill'd all the Sky And made us to the fatal shelter fly The Furies howl'd and dire Presages gave And shrieking Nymphs forsook the guilty Cave I cannot live that Crime torments me so Yet full of shame to my Sichaeus go In a fair Temple built by skilful hands A Sacred Image of Sichaeus stands With snowy Fleeces drest Garlands Crown'd From thence of late Iv'e heard a dismal sound Four times he call'd me with a hollow Voice My loosn'd Joynts still tremble at the Noise My dearest Lord your Summons I obey 'T is shame to meet you makes this short delay Yet such a Tempter might the Crime excuse His Heavenly Race and all his Solemn Vows The best of Fathers the most Pious Son Who could suspect he who such things had done So well had Acted all the parts of Life Could have betray'd a Princess and a Wife Had he not wanted Faith your self must own He had Deserv'd to fill my Bed and Throne In my first Youth what Cares disturb'd my Peace And my Misfortunes with my Years encrease My Husbands Blood was by my Brother spilt And still his Wealth Rewards the prosperous Guilt Through waies unknown a dangerous flight I take His Ashes and my Native Soyl forsake Here sheltred from my Brothers Crueltie I bought this Kingdom which I gave to Thee My City did in Glory daily rise Which all my Neighbours saw with envious Eyes And Force against unfinish'd Walls prepare Threatning a helpless Woman with a War Those many Kings who did my Bed desire Now to revenge their slighted Love conspire Go on my People are at your Command Give me up bound to some fierce Rivals hand Assist my Cruel Brothers black Design Drunk with Sichaeus Blood he thirsts for minâ— But then pretend to Piety no more The False and Perjur'd all the Gods abhor Even those you snatch'd from Troys devouring Flame Are griev'd that from such hands their safety came A growing Infant in my Womb you leave Of your wâ—ole self you cannot me bereave You kill not Dido only if you go The Guiltless and unborn you Murder too With me a new unknown Ascanius dies Tho' deaf to mine yet think you hear his Cries But 't is the God Commands and you Obey Ah! would that He who now forbids your stay Had never led your shatter'd Fleet this way And now this God Commands you out again T' endure another Winter on the Main Scarce Troy restor'd to all her Ancient State Were worth the seeking at so dear a Rate Cease then through such vast Dangers to pursue A Place which but in Dreams you never knew In search of which you your best years may wast And come a Stranger there and Old at last See at your Feet a willing People lies And do not offer'd Wealth and Power despise Fix here the Reliques of unhappy Troy And in soft Peace all you have sav'd enjoy But if new Dangers your Great Soul Desires If Thirst of Fame your Sons young Breast inspires You 'l frequent Tryals here for Valour find Our Neighbours are as rough as we are kind By your dear Fathers Soul I beg your stay By the kind Gods who hither blest your way And by your Brothers Darts which all Obey So may white Conquest on your Troops attend And all your long Misfortunes here take end
So with his Years may your Sons hopes encrease So may Aâ—chises Ashes rest in Peace Some Pity let a suppliant Princess move Whose only fault was an Excess of Love I am not sprung from any Grecian Race None of my Blood did your Lov'd Troy deface Yet if your Pride think such a Wife a shame I 'le Sacrifice my Honour to my Flame And meet your Love by a less Glorious name I know the dangers of this stormy Coast How many Ships have on our Shelves been lost These winds have driv'n the floating Sea weed so That your entangled Vessel cannot go Do not attempt to put to Sea in vain Till happier Gales have clear'd your way again Trust Me to watch the Calming of the Sea You shall not then tho you desir'd it stay Besides your weary Seamen rest desire And your torn Fleet now rigging does require By all I suffer all I 've done for you Some little respite to my Love allow Time and calm Thoughts may teach me how to bear That loss which now alas 't is death to hear But you resolve to force me to my Grave And are not far from all that you would have Your Sword before me whilst I write does lie And by it if I write in vain I die Already stain'd with many a falling Tear It shortly shall another Colour wear You never could an apter present make 'T will soon the Life you 've made uneasie take But this poor Breast has felt your Wounds before Slain by your Love your Steel has now no Power Dear Guilty Sister do not you deny The last kind Office to my Memory But do not on my Funeral Marble Joyn Much wrong'd Sichaeus Sacred Name with mine Of false Aeneas let the Stone complain That Dido could not bear his fierce Disdain But by his Sword and her own hand was slain BRISEIS to ACHILLES BY IOHN CARYL Esq The ARGUMENT In the War of Troy Achilles having taken and Sackt Chrynesium a Town in the Lyrnesian Country amongst his other Booty he took two very fair Women Chryseis and Briseis Chryseis he Presented to King Agamemnon and Briseis he reserved for himself Agamemnon after some time was forced by the Oracle to restore Chryseis to her Father who was one of the Priests of Apollo whereupon the King by violence took away Briseis from Achilles at which Achilles incenst left the Camp of the Grecians and prepared to Sail home in whose absence the Trojans prevailing upon the Grecians Agamemnon was compell'd to send Ulysses and others to offer him rich Presents and Briseis that he would return again to the Army But Achilles with disdain rejected them all This Letter therefore is writen by Briseis to move him that he would receive her and return to the Grecian Camp CAptive Brisëis in a aforaign Tongue More by her blots than words set's forth her wrong And yet these blots which by my tears are made Above all words or writing should perswade Subjects I know must not their Lords accuse Yet prayers and tears we lawfully may use When ravisht from your Arms I was the prey Of Agamemnons arbitrary sway 〈…〉 you must at last have left the Field 〈…〉 you too soon did yield 〈…〉 Glory it must needs disgrace 〈…〉 Summons to yield up the place 〈◊〉 Enemies themselves no less than I â—tood wondring at their easy Victory I saw their lips in whispers softly move Is this the Man so fam'd for Arms and Love Alas Aâ—hilles 't is not so we part From what we love and what is near our heart No healing kisses to my grief you gave You turn'd me off an unregarded Slave Was it your Rage that did your Love suppress Ah love Briseis more and hate Aâ—rides less He is not born of a true Hero's Race Who lets his Fury of his Love take place Tygers and Wolves can fight Love is the Test Distinguishing the Hero from the Beast Alas when I was from your bosom forc'd I felt my body from my soul divorc'd A deadly paleness overspread my face Sleep left my eyes and to my tears gave place I tore my hair and did my death decree Ah! learn to part with what you love from me A bold escape I often did essay But Greeks and Trojans too block'd up the way Yet tho a tender Maid could not break thrôw Methinks Achilles should not be so slow Achilles once the Thunderbolt of War The hope of Conquering Greece Troy's despair Me in his Rivals Arms can he behold And is his Courage with his Love grown cold But I confess that my neglected Charms Did not deserve the Conquest of your Arms Therefore the Gods did by an easier way Our wrongs attone and Dammages repay Ajax with Phoenix and Vlysses bring Humble submissions from their haughty King The Royal Penitent rich Presents sends The strongest Cement to piece broken Friends When Pray'rs well seconded with Gifts are sent Both Mortal and Immortal Powers relent Twenty bright Vessels of Corinthian Brass Their Sculpture did the costly Mine surpass Seven Chairs of State of the same Art and Mould And twice five Talents of perswasive Gold Twelve fiery Steeds of the Epirian breed Matchless they are for beauty and for speed Six Lesbian Maids but these I well could spare Their Island Sackt these were the General 's share And last a Bride ah telle'm I am thine At your own choice out of the Royal Line With these they offer me But might I chuse You should take me and all their gifts refuse But me and those you sullenly reject What have I done to merit this neglect Is it that You and Fortune jointly vow Whom you make wretched still to keep them so Your Arms my Country did in ashes lay My House destroy Brothers and Husband slay It had been kindness to have kill'd me too Rather than kill me with unkindness now With Vows as faithless as your Mother Sea You loudly promis'd that you would to me Country and Brothers and a Husband be And is it thus that you perform your Vow Even with a Dowry to reject me too Nay Fame reports that with the next fair wind Leaving your Honour Faith and me behind You quit our Coasts Before that fatal hour May Thunder strike me or kind Earth devour I all things but your absence can endure That 's a disease which Death must only cure If to Achaia you will needs return Leaving all Greece your sullen rage to mourn Place me but in the number of your train And I no servile Office will disdain If I 'm deny'd the Honour of your Bed Let me at least be as your Captive led Rather than banisht from your Familie I will endure another Wife to see A Wife to make the great Aeacian Line Like Starry Heaven as numerously shine That so your spreading Progeny may prove Worthy of Thetis and their Grandsire Iove Let me on her an humble hand-Maid wait On her because to you she does relate I fear I know not why that she may
furious Love unusual strength supply'd From thence casting my eyes on every â—ide â—ar off the flying Vessel I espy'd â—n your swell'd Sayls the wanton winds did play They Court you since they see you false as they â— saw or fancy'd that I saw you there And my chill Veins froze up with cold despair Thus did I languish till returning Rage In new extreams did my fir'd Soul engage Theseus I cry perfidious Theseus stay But you are deaf deaf as the Winds or Sea Stay your false flight and let your Vessel bear Hence the whole number which she landed here In loud and doleful shrieks I tell the rest And with fresh Fury wound my hated Breast Then all my shining Ornaments I tear And with stretch'd Arms wave them in open Air That you might see her whom you could not hear But when out of my sight the Vessel flew And the Horizon shut me from the view From my sad eyes what floods of tears did fall Till then Rage would not let me weep at all Still let them weep for loosing sight of you 'T is the whole business which they ought to do Like Bacchus raving Priests sometimes I go With such wild hast with hair dishevel'd so Then on some craggy Rock sit silent down As cold unmov'd and sensless as the Stone To our once happy Bed I often fly No more the place of mutual Love and Joy See where my much lov'd Theseus once was laid And kiss the print which his dear Body made Here we both lay I cry false Bed restore My Theseus kind and faithful as before I brought him here here lost him while I slept How well false Bed you have my Lover kâ—pt Alone and helpless in this Desert place The steps of Man or Beast I cannot trace On every side the foaming Billows beat But no kind Ship does offer a retreat And should the Gods send me some lucky Sail â—alm Sâ—as good Pilots and a prosperous Gale Yet then my Native Soil I durst not see But a sad Exile must for ever be From all â—rete hundred Cities I am curst From that fam'd Isle where Infant Iove was nurst Crete I betray'd for you and what 's more dear Betray'd my Father who that Crown does wear When to your hands the fatal Clew I gave Which through the winding Lab'rinth led you safe Then how you lov'd how eagerly embrac'd How oâ—t you swore by all your dangers past That with my life your love should ever last Ah perjur'd Theseus I thy love survive If one forsaken and expos'd does live Had you slain me as you my Brother slew You'ad then absolv'd your self from ev'ry Vow Now both my present Grief denies me Rest And all that a wild Fancy can suggest 〈◊〉 â—â—eadâ—ul Ills to come distracts my Brâ—ast Before my eyes a thousand deaths appear I live yet suffer all the deaths I fear Sometimes I think that Lyons there do go And scarce dare trust my sight that 't is not so â—magine that fierce Wolves are howling there And at th' imagin'd Noise shrink up with fear â—hen think what Monsters from the Sea may rise Or fancy bloudy Swords before my eyes But most I dread to be a Captive made â—nd see these hands in servile works imploy'd Unworthy my Extraction from a Line On one side Royal and on both Divine â—nd which my Indignation more would move â—nworthy her whom Theseus once did love If tow'rds the Sea I look or tow'rds the Land â—bjects of horror still before me stand or dare I look tow'rds Heaven or hope to find â—â—d from those Gods who chang'd my Theseus's mind If Beasts alone within this Island stay Behold me left to them a helpless Prey If Men dwell here they must be Savage too This Soyl this Heaven made gentle Theseus so Would Athens never had my Brother slain Nor for his paid so many lives again Would thy strong Arm had never given the wound Which struck the doubtful Monster to the ground Nor I had given the guiding Thred to Thee Which to my own destruction set Thee free Let the unknowing World thy Conquest praise It does not Ariadâ—es wonder raise So hard a Heart unarm'd might safely scorn The strength and sharpness of the Monsters horn 〈◊〉 Flint or Steel could be secure of wound No room for fear could in that Breast be found Câ—rst be the sleep which seal'd these eyes so fast 〈◊〉 that begun it did not ever last For ever curst be that officious Wind Which fill'd thy Sayls and in my ruin joyn'd Curst hand which me and which my Brother kill'd With what Misfortunes our sad House 't has fill'd And curst the Tongue which with soft words betray'd And empty Vows a poor believing Maid Sleep and the Winds against me had combin'd In vain if perjur'd Theseus had not joyn'd Poor Ariadne thou must perish here Breath out thy Soul in strange and hated Air Nor see thy pittying Mother shed one Tear Want a kind hand which thy fix'd eyes may close And thy stiff Limbs may decently compose Thy Carcass to the Birds must be a Prey Thus Theseus all thy Kindness does repay Mean while to Athens your swift Ship does run There tell the wondring Crowd what you have done How the mix'd Prodigy you did subdue The Beast and Man how with one stroke you slew Describe the Labyrinth and how taught by me You scap'd from all those perplext Mazes free Tell in return what generous things you 've done Such Gratitude will all your Triumphs Crown Sprung sure from Rocks and not of human Race Thy Cruelty does thy great Line disgrace Yet couldst thou see as barbarous as thou art These dismal looks sure they would touch thy heart You cannot see yet think you saw me now Fix'd to some Rock as if I there did grow And trembling at the Waves which roul below Look on my torn and my disordred hairs Look on my Robâ— wet through with show'rs of tears With the cold blasts see my wole body shakes And my numm'd hand unequal Letters makes I do not urge my hated Merit now But yield this once that you do nothing ow. I neither sav'd your Life nor set you free Yet therefore must you force this death on Me Ah! see this wounded Breast worn out with sighs And these faint Arms stretch'd to the seas skiâ—s See these few hairs yet spar'd by Grief and Rage Some Pitty let these flowing Tears engage Turn back and if I 'me dead when you return Yet lay my Ashes in their peaceful Urn. HERMIONE TO ORESTES The ARGUMENT Hermione the Daughter of Menelaus and Helena was by Tyndarus her Grandfather to whom Menelaus had committed the government of his House when he went to Troy contracted to Orestes Her Father Menelaus not knowing thereof had betroth'd her to Pyrrhus the Son of Achilles who returning from the Trojan Wars stole her away Whereupon she writes to Orestes as follows THis dear Orestes this with health to you From her that was your
Wife Cosin too Your Cosin still but oh that dearer Name Of Wife another now does falsly claim What Woman can I have already done yet I 'm confin'd by rough Achilles's Son With much of Pain and all the Art I knew I strove to shun him yet all wou'd not do Stand off said I foul Ravisher take heed My injur'd Husband will revenge this deed Yet he more deaf then angry Tempests are To his loath'd Chamber drag'd me by the hair Had Troy still stood had every Grecian Dame Become a Prey to th' haughty Victors flame What cou'd I more have suffer'd then I do Far more then poor Andromache e're knew But oh my Dear if as I have for thee Thou hast a tender care or thought for me Come bravely on and as rob'd Tygers bold Snatch me half murder'd from this Monsters hold Can you pursue each petty Rober's life And yet thus tamely loose a Ravish't wife Think how my Father Menelaus rag'd For his lost Qâ—een think what a War he wag'd When pow'rful Greece was in his Cause engag'd Had he sat quietly and nothing try'd As once she was she 'd still been Paris Bride Prepare no Fleet you will no Forces need By you and only you I wou'd be free'd Not but wrong'd Marriage is a Cause alone Sufficient for th' ingaging World to own Sprung from the Royal Pelopean line You are no less by Blood then Marriage mine These double Ties a double Love perswade And each sufficient to deserve your Aid I to your Arms was by my Guardian given The only Bliss I wou'd have beg'd from Heaven But that unknown O my unhappy Fate My Father gave me to the Man I hate Just were those Infant Vows to you I made But this last Act had all those Vows betray'd Too well he knows what 't is to be in Love How can he then my Passion disapprove Since Love himself has felt he will nay must Allow this Passion in his Daughter just My Fate resembles my wrong'd Father's Case And Pyrrhus is that Thief that Paris was Let my proud Goaler the brave deeds run o're Count all the Laurels his great Parents wore Whate're his cou'd yours greater did more Let him claim Kindred with some God above You are descended from the Mighty Iove Brave as you are I wish 't were understood By something else then by Aegysthus Blood Yet you are innocent Fate drew the Sword And a religious Duty gave the word With this the Tyrant does my Lord disgrace And what 's still worse dares do it to my Face Whilst burst with Envy I am forc'd to be Rack't and tormented with his Blasphemy Shall my Orestes be abus'd and I As one that 's unconcer'nd sit careless by No though disabled and of Arms bereft Yet as a Woman I have one way left Tears I can shed such as will yield relief To my sick Mind choakt with excess of grief For when the big-charg'd Storm hath lost its power It sighs it self into a silent showre This I can do whilst by each other prest The dewy Pearls run â—rickling o're my breast But how shou'd I this fatal woe escape All our whole Race was subject to a Rape I need not tell how in soft Feathers drest The wanton God his softer Nymph possest How through the deep in unknown ships convey'd Hippodame was from her Friends betray'd How the fair Tyndaris by force detain'd By th' Amyclaean brethren was regain'd How afterwards by all the Grecian Power She was brought back from the Idaean shore I scarce remember that sad day and yet Young as I was I do remember it Her Brothers wept her Sister to remove Her Fears call'd on the Gods and her own Iove Mother said I in a weak mournful Tone Will you be gone and leave me here alone When you are gone why shou'd I stay behind All this I spoke but spoke it to the wind Now like the rest of my curst Pedigree By this loath'd Wretch I am detain'd from Thee The brave Achilles wou'd have blam'd his Son Nor had he liv'd wou'd this have e're been done He ne're had thought it lawful to divide Those two whom Marriage had so firmly ty'd What is 't ye Gods that thus provokes your hate Or what curs'd Star rules my unhappy Fate Why am I plagu'd by your injurious power Rob'd of my Parents in a tender hour He to the war she with her Lover â—led Though living both yet both to me were dead No babling words half fram'd upon thy tongue Lull'd me to soft repose when I was young Your tender neck was ne're embrac't by me Nor sat I ever smiling on your knee You never tended me nor was I led By thee dear Mother to my Marriage-bed At your return I saw but knew you not So sure my Mothers Face I had forgot I gaz'd and gaz'd but knew no Feature there Yet thoughâ— 't was you 'cause so Divinely fair Such was our Ignorance even you alas Ask'd your own Daughter where your Daughter was Thou my Orestes wert my sole delight Yet thee too I must loose unless you fight Pyrrhus withholds me from thy Arms that 's all Hermione has gain'd by Iliums fall Soon as the early Harbinger of day Guilds the glad Orb with his Resplendent Ray My Grief 's made gentler by th' approaching light And some pain seems to vanish with the night But when a Darkness o're the Earth is spread And I return all pensive to my Bed Tears from my Eyes as streams from Fountains flow I shun this Husband as I 'd shun a Foe Oft grown unmindful through distractive Cares I 've strâ—tcht my Arms and toucht him unawares Strait then I check the wandring Sense and sly To the Bed's utmost limits yet I lye Restless ev'n there and think I 'm still too nigh Oft I for Pyrrhus have Orestes said But blest the Error which my Tongue had made Now by that Royal God whose Frown can make The Vassal Globe of his Creation shake Th' Almighty Sire of our unhappy Race And by the Scared Urn that does embrace Thy Father's dust whose once loud blood may boast Thou in repose hast laid his sleeping Ghost I 'le either live my dear Orestes's Wife Or to untimely Fate resign my Life LEANDER TO HERO BY M r. TATE The ARGUMENT â—eander accustomed nightly to swim over the Hellespont to visit Hero Priestess of Venus Temple being at last hinder'd by Storms from his wonted course sends her the following Epistle REceive this Letter from Leander fraught With Service which he rather would have brought Read with a smile and yet if thou wouldst crown My wiser wishes read them with a frown That Anger from thy Kindness will proceed 'Cause of Leander thou canst only read The Seas rage high and scarce could we prevail With the most daring Mariner to fail Embarqu'd at last and sculking in the Hold My stealth is to my jealous Parents told As much too tim'rous they as I too bold I writ