When Thisbe fought her love along the glade?
Didft thou not then behold the gleaming blade,
And gild the fatal point that flabb'd her breast
Soon I, like her, fhall feek the realms of reft.
Let groves of mournful yew a wretch furround!
O footh my ear with melancholy found!
The village-curs now ftretch their yelling throat,
And dogs from diftant cots return the note;
The ravenous wolf along the valley prowls,
And with his famifh'd cries the mountain howls.
But haris! what fudden noife advances near ?
Repeated groans alarm my frighted ear!

Stay, fleeting life; may strength a-while pravail.
Left my clos'd lips confine the imperfect tale.
Ere the ftreak'd East grew warm with amber ray,
I from the city took my doubtful way;
Far o'er the plains I fought a beauteous maid,
Who, from the Court, in thefe wide forefts
ftray'd,

Wanders unknown; as I, with weary pain,
Try'd every path, and opening glade, in vain;
A baud of thieves, forth-rufhing from the wood,
Unheath'd their daggers warm with daily blood;
Deep in my breast the barbarous steel is dy'd,
And purple hands the golden prey divide.
Hence are thefe mangling wounds. Say, gentle
fwain,

If thou haff known among the fylvan train
The vagrant nymph I feek?

CLEANTHES.

I charge you, O ye daughters of the grove,
Ye Naïads, who the mofly fountains love,
Ye happy fwains, who range the paftures wide,
Ye tender nymphs, who feed your flocks befide;
If my laft gafping breath can pity move,
If e'er ye knew the pangs of flighted love,
Show her, I charge you, where Cleanthes dy'd;
The graf's yet reeking with the fanguine tide,
A father's power to me the virgin gave,
But the difdain'd to live a nuptial flave:
So fled her native home.

DIONE.

Tis then from thee Springs the foul fource of all her mifery. Could'd thou, thy selfish appetite to please, Condemn to endlefs woes another's peace?

CLEANTEES.

451

O fpare me; nor my hapless love upbraid,
While on my heart Death's frozen hand is laid !
Go, feek her, guide her where Cleanthes bled;
When fe furveys her lover palé and dead,
Teli her, that, ince the fled my hateful fight,
Without remorfe I fought the realms of night.
And on her check indecent gladne fs reigns!
Methinks I fee her view thefe poor remains,
Full in her prefence cold Cleanthes lies,
And not oue tear tands trembling in her eyes!
O let a figh my haplef's fate deplore!
Cleanthes now controls thy love no more.

Shall I not calm the fable hour of death,
And fhew myfelf before him!-Ha! he dies.
See from his trembling lip the fpirit flies! [Afide
He knows me not: He faints, he finks to reft.
Stay yet awhile. Dione ftands confeft

CLEANTHES.

That death was welcome-
Tell her, fince all my hopes in her were loft,
[Dier

DIONE.

What fudden gufts of grief my bofom rend!
A parent's curies o'er my head impend,
For difobedient vows; () wretched mail,
Thofe very vows Evander hath betray'd.
See, at thy feet Cleanthes bath'd in bloed!
For love of thee he trod this lonely wood:
Thou art the cruel authorefs of his fate;
He falls by thine; thou, by Evander's hate.
When fhall my foul know reft? Cleanthes flain
No longer fighs and weeps for thy difdain.
Thou ftill art curft with love.

bleed.

Bleed, virgin

How fhall a wretch from anxious life be freed!
My troubled brain with fudden phrenzy burns,
What do I fee thus glittering on the plains?
And Thatter'd thought now this, now that way
Ha! the dread fword yet warm with crimfon
ftains!

turns.

[Takes up the dagger.'

452

SCENE II.

DIONE, EARTHENIA.

PARTHENIA.

Sweet is the walk when night has cool'd the hour.
This path directs me to my fylvan bower. [Afide.

DIONE.

Why is my foul with fudden fear dismay'd?

What moves thy hand to act this bloody part? Whence are thefe gnawing pangs that tear thy heart?

Is that thy friend who lies before thee flain? Why drops my trembling hand the pointed Is it his wound that reeks upon the plain?

blade?

O ftring my arm with force;

Is 't Lycidas?

[Afide.

DIONE.

-No. I the ftranger found,
Ere chilly death his frozen tongue had bound.
He faid; As at the rofy dawn of day,
He from the city took his vagrant way,
A murdering band pour'd on him from the wood,
Firft feiz'd his gold, then bath'd their fwords in
blood."

PARTHENIA.

You, whofe ambition labours to be great,
Think on the perils which on riches wait.
Safe are the Shepherd's paths; when fober Even
Streaks with pale light the bending arch of Heaven,
From danger free, through deferts wild he hies,
The rifing fmoke far o'er the mountain spies,
Which marks his diftant cottage; on he fares.
For him no murderers lay their nightly fnares;
They pafs him by, they turn their steps away :
Safe Poverty was ne'er the villain's prey.
At home he lies fecure in e fy fleep,
No bars his ivy-mantled cottage keep
No thieves in dreams the fancy'd dagger hold,
And drag him to detect the buried gold;
Nor ftarts he from his couch aghaft aud pale,
When the door murmurs with the hollow gale.
While he, whofe iron coffers ruft with wealth,
Harbours beneath his roof Deceit and Stealth;
Treachery with lurking pace frequents his walks,
And clofe behind him horrid Murder ftalks.
Tis tempting lucre makes the villain bold:
There lies a bleeding facrifice to gold.

DIONE.

To live, is but to wake to daily cares,
And journey through a tedious vale of tears.
Had you not rufh'd between, my life had flown;
And I, like him, no more had forrow known.

PARTHENIA.

When anguifh in the gloomy bofom dwells,
The counfel of a friend the cloud difpels.
Give thy breaft vent, the fecret grief impart,
And fay what woe lies heavy at thy heart.
To fave thy life, kind Heaven has fuccour fent,
The Gods by me thy threaten'd fate prevent.

DIONE.

No. To prevent it, is beyond thy power;
Thou only canft defer the welcome hour.
When you the lifted dagger turn'd afide,
Only one road to death thy force deny'd;
Still fate is in my reach. From mountains high,
Deep in whofe fhadow craggy tuins lie,
Can I not headlong fling this weight of woe,
And dah out life against the flints below?

Are there not streams, and lakes, and rivers wide,
Where my last breath may bubble on the tide ?
No. Life hall never flatter me again,
Nor fhall to-morrow bring new fighs and pain.

SCENE JIT.

DIONE, PARTHENIA, LYCIDAS.

LYCIDAS.

If Laura right direct the darkfome ways,

Into what mifchiefs is the lover led,

Who calls down vengeance on his perjur'd head!
may he ne'er bewail his defperate deed,
And may, unknown, unwept, Dione bleed! [Afide.

LYCIDAS.

What horrors on the guilty mind attend!
His confcience had reveng'd an injar'd friend,
Had thou not held the stroke. In death he fought
To lose the heart-confuming pain of thought.
Did not the smooth-tongu'd boy perfidious prove,
Plead his own paffion, and betray my love?
DIONE.

Along thefe paths the penfive shepherd strays. [Afide. O let him ne'er this bleeding victim know;

DIONE.

Let not a tear for me roll down thy cheek.

would my throbbing fighs my heart-things break!
Why was my breast the lifted stroke deny'd?
Mut then again the deathful deed be try'd?
Yes. 'Tis refolv'd.

[Snatches the dagger from Parthenia.

PARTHENIA.

Left his rash transport, to revenge the blow,
That wound would pierce my foul with double pain.
Should in his dearer heart the dagger stain!
[Afide.

PARTHENIA.

With moving eloquence thy griefs unfold!
How did his faithful lips (now pale and cold)

LYCIDAS.

Was he thus faithful? thus, to friendship true
Then I'm a wretch. All peace of mind, adieu!
If ebbing life yet beat within thy vein,
Alexis, fpeak; unclofe thofe lide again.

[Fings himself on the ground near Dione.
See at thy feet the barbarous villam kneel!
Tis Lycidas who grafps the bloody fteel

3 R

Thy once-lov'd friend. Yet, ere I cease to live,
Can't thou a wretched penitent forgive?

DIONE.

Of thy once dear Dione? With wan care
Sunk are thofe eyes, and livid with despair!

Dione !

J.YCIDAS.

LAURA.

-There pure conftancy lies dead!

LYCIDAS.

When low beneath the fable mould I reft,
May a fincerer friendship share thy breaft!
Why are thofe heaving groans (ah! ceafe to weep?)
May my loft name in dark oblivion sleep;
Let this fad tale no fpeaking stone declare,
From future eyes to draw a pitying tear.
Let o'er my grave the levelling plough-share pass,
Mark not the fpot; forget that e'er I was.
Then may'ft thou with Parthenia's love be bleft,
And not one thought on me thy joys molest!
My fwimming eyes are overpower'd with light,
And darkening fhadows fleet before my fight:
May'ft thou be happy! ah! my foul is free. [Dies.
O cruel thepherdefs, for love of thee [To Parthenia.To-morrow fhall the funeral rites be paid,
This fatal deed was done.
And thefe Love-victims in one grave be laid.

May Heaven shower vengeance on this perjur'd head!
As the dry branch that withers on the ground,
So, blaited be the hand that gave the wound!
Off; hold me not. This heart deferves the stroke';
'Tis black with treachery. Yes: the vows are
broke
[Stabs himself.

Which I fo ofte fwore. Vain world adieu!
Tho' I was falfe in life, in death I'm true. [Diss.

LAURA.

PARTHENIA.

Come, Laura, let us leave this horrid wood,
Where ftreams the purple grafs with lovers' blood;
Come to my bower, And, as we sorrowing go,
Let poor Dione's ftory feed my woe
With heart-relieving tears.

LAURA. [Pointing to Dione.
-Unhappy maid!

Hadft thou a parent's just command obey'd,
Thou yet hadft liv'd.-But who fhall Love advife?
Love fcorns command, and breaks all other ties.
Henceforth, ye fwains, be true to vows profest ;
For certain vengeance strikes the perjur'd breaft.

END OF THE SEVENTH VOLUME.