Within her woven cell; the humming prey,
Regardless of their fate, rush on the toils
Inextricable, nor will aught avail

Their arts, or arms, or fhapes of lovely hue;
The wafp infidious, and the buzzing drone,
And butterfly proud of expanded wings
Diftin&t with gold, entangled in her snares,
Useless refiftance make: with eager ftrides,
She tow'ring flies to her expected spoils;
Then with envenom'd jaws the vital blood
Drinks of reluctant foes, and to her cave
Their bulky carcafes triumphant drags.

So pafs my days. But, when nocturnal shades
This world invelope, and th' inclement air
Perfuades men to repel benumbing frofts

With pleasant wines, and crackling blaze of wood;
Me lonely fitting, nor the glimmering light
Of make-weight candle, nor the joyous talk
Of loving friend, delights; diftress'd, forlorn,
Amidst the horrors of the tedious night,

Darkling I figh, and feed with difmal thoughts
My anxious mind; or fometimes mournful verse
Indite, and fing of groves and myrtle shades,
Or desperate lady near a purling stream,
Or lover pendent on a willow-trée.
Meanwhile, I labour with eternal drought,
And restless wish and rave; my parched throat
Finds no relief, nor heavy eyes repose:

But if a flumber haply does invade

My weary limbs, my fancy's ftill awake,
Thoughtful of drink, and eager, in a dream,
Tipples imaginary pots of ale,

In vain awake, I find the fettled thirft
Still gnawing, and the pleasant phantom curfe.

Thus do I live, from pleasure quite debarr'd,
Nor tafte the fruits that the fun's genial rays

Mature,

Mature, john-apple, nor the downy peach,
Nor walnut in rough-furrow'd coat fecure,
Nor medlar fruit delicious in decay.
Afflictions great! yet greater ftill remain:
My galligafkins, that have long withstood
The winter's fury, and encroaching frofts,
By time fubdu'd, (what will not time fubdue!)
An horrid chafm difclofe, with orifice
Wide, difcontinuous; at which the winds,
Eurus and Aufter, and the dreadful force
Of Boreas, that congeals the Cronian waves,
Tumultuous enter with dire chilling blafts,
Portending agues. Thus a well-fraught ship,
Long fail'd fecure, or thro' th' Ægean deep,
Or the Ionian, till cruising near

The Lilybean fhore, with hideous crush
On Scylla, or Charybdis, (dang'rous rocks)
She ftrikes rebounding; whence the shatter'd oak,
So fierce a fhock unable to withstand,

Admits the fea: in at the gaping fide

The crouding waves gush with impetuous rage,
Refiftlefs, overwhelming! Horrors feize

The mariners; death in their eyes appears;

They ftare, they lave, they pump, they swear, they pray: (Vain efforts!) ftill the battering waves rush in,

Implacable; till, delug'd by the foam,

The fhip finks found'ring in the vaft abyss.

ELGIVA

ELGIVA

TO EDWY*.

BY MRS. HAMPDEN PYE.

F yet thy thoughts confefs their former flame,
If Edwy's heart ftill owns Elgiva's name,
In thefe fad lines, my grief, my paffion trace,
Tho' tears the mournful numbers half efface;
Condemn'd in çeafelefs abfence to deplore
A wretched exile on Ierne's fhore;

Since that fad day, that ever fatal hour,
That made us victims to proud Odo's pow'r,
Who dar'd abufe Religion's facred name,
And brand with fancied crimes our spotless fame.
Here while I waste the lone unfocial day,
Unconquer'd Love exerts his tyrant fway;
Here bufy Memory paints in glowing hue,
The happy fcenes when life and love were new.
E'en now I fee thee, gaze on all thy charms,
And court the phantom to my longing arms.
My king, my hero, rifes to my fight,

In youth, in beauty, and in glory bright!

* Edwy, king of that part of England formerly called Weffex; a prince, poneffed of the most amiable endowments both of mind and body, but a profeffed enemy to church power, fell in love with and married Elgiva, a lady of confummate beauty and virtue, nearly related to him. A marriage contracted under fuch fortunate aufpices, feemed to promise happiness, not only to the royal pair but to the whole kingdom; when fuddenly their union was disturbed by the interpofition of Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, a proud and ambitious prelate, who declared their marriage illegal, by reason of their being too near a-kin; and, notwithstanding all the efforts of the king to prevent it, she was marked on the forehead with a red-hot iron, branded with the name of an adultreft, and banished to Ireland; from whence fhe is fuppofed to have written the following letter to her husband. She afterwards attempted to make her efcape into England, in order to fly to the king, but was feized by fome of Odo's party, and barbareußly murdered. HUME.

Thofe

Those radiant eyes, that thro' their filken fence
Would oft on mine their humid beams difpenfe;
The auburn locks, that with redundant flow
Wave in sweet contraft o'er a front of fnow;
The downy bloom that mantles on thy cheek,
Where Health and Temperance diftinctly speak;
The lips whofe tints out-blush the moss-clad rose,
Whence the foft voice in founds perfuafive flows;
That voice harmonious, where the Graces meet,
Strong as thy fenfe, and as thy temper sweet.

Canft thou forget the vows of endless truth,
Lifp'd in our childhood, and confirm'd in youth?
No fenfual, low, inelegant defire,

It's drofs e'er mingled with our facred fire:
Nor care, nor ftrife, nor jealoufy we knew,
But wing'd with bliss the tender moments flew.
O day of rapture! when my willing hand
To thine was yielded at a fire's command;
And witness every power that guides the heart,
No joy to me could royalty impart.
My unambitious mind, engrofs'd by thee,
With careless eye view'd regal pageantry:
In thee was center'd all that bleffes life;
More than thy queen, Elgiva was— -thy wife!
Ah! little thought we that the nuptial bands,
Should foon be rent by facrilegious hands;
And fondly dream'd, from all but death secure,
Our loves as long as beings should endure;
But Odo comes! diffolves the heaven-roll'd vow,
And ftamps dishonour on my matron brow;
Drags me expiring from thy warm embrace,
An exil'd outcaft from the human race.

Throbs there a heart with hopeless love like mine,
Torn from a youth whofe merit equals thine?
She, only fhe, by kindred pangs can tell,
The death-like anguish of our last farewel.

Religion! fairest daughter of the fkies,
Guide and protectrefs of the good and wife;
Thy tenets only would mankind obey,
Chear'd and illum'd by Truth's unerring ray,
Curs'd fuperftition should no longer reign,
But thou and Reafon equal rule maintain;
From priestly power unite to fnatch the rod,
And vindicate the injur'd laws of God.
Then cloister'd Beauty would no longer mourn,
From each endearing tie untimely torn;
No longer modes of faith divide the world,
Nor Perfecution's banners be unfurl'd.

A widow'd bed I then might ne'er have known,
Nor wept my Edwy's kindred blood to own.

But thee, my love, may every blessing wait;
Still be renown'd, be happy, and be great!
Soon may a fairer bride fupply my place,
And give increase to thy imperial race!
-Diftracting thought! another fhare thy love!
The killing image from my foul remove.
In vain I strive my tortur'd heart to steel,
I love as woman, and as woman feel.
In vain thy wife that title would refign,

Since honour's laws muft ftill preferve thee mine.
Each wish abstracted, then, I cease to prove,
And fink again the willing flave of love;
Feel every fenfe in floods of fondness loft,
By doubts divided, and by paffion tofs'd.

Ah! little think the herd that envy kings,
The train of ills that purple greatness brings;
Their broken flumbers, their unquiet days,
Their fear of faction, and their thirst of praise:
Compell'd each foft affection to refign,
A painful offering, at ambition's fhrine!

Sweet Mediocrity! to thee alone,
Virtue and happiness are truly known.

With