Book I

From lofty themes, from thoughts that soar'd on high,And open'd wondrous scenes above the sky,My muse descend: indulge my fond desire;With softer thoughts my melting soul inspire,And smooth my numbers to a female's praise:A partial world will listen to my lays,While Anna reigns, and sets a female nameUnrival'd in the glorious lists of fame.Hear, ye fair daughters of this happy land,Whose radiant eyes the vanquish'd world command,Virtue is beauty: but when charms of mindWith elegance of outward form are join'd;When youth makes such bright objects still more bright,And fortune sets them in the strongest light;'Tis all of heaven that we below may view,And all, but adoration, is your due.Fam'd female virtue did this isle adorn,Ere Ormond, or her glorious queen, was born:When now Maria's powerful arms prevail'd,And haughty Dudley's bold ambition fail'd,The beauteous daughter of great Suffolk's race,In blooming youth adorn'd with every grace;Who gain'd a crown by treason not her own,And innocently fill'd another's throne;Hurl'd from the summit of imperial state,With equal mind sustain'd the stroke of fate.But how will Guilford, her far dearer part,With manly reason fortify his heart?At once she longs, and is afraid, to know:Now swift she moves, and now advances slow,To find her lord; and, finding, passes by,Silent with fear, nor dares she meet his eye;Lest that, unask'd, in speechless grief, discloseThe mournful secret of his inward woes.Thus, after sickness, doubtful of her face,The melancholy virgin shuns the glass.At length, with troubled thought, but look serene,And sorrow soften'd by her heavenly mien,She clasps her lord, brave, beautiful, and young,While tender accents melt upon her tongue;Gentle, and sweet, as vernal zephyr blows,Fanning the lily, or the blooming rose."Grieve not, my lord; a crown indeed is lost;What far outshines a crown, we still may boast;A mind compos'd; a mind that can disdainA fruitless sorrow for a loss so vain.Nothing is loss that virtue can improveTo wealth eternal; and return above;Above, where no distinction shall be known'Twixt him whom storms have shaken from a throne,And him, who, basking in the smiles of fate,Shone forth in all the splendour of the great:Nor can I find the diff'rence here below;I lately was a queen; I still am so,While Guilford's wife: thee rather I obey,Than o'er mankind extend imperial sway.When we lie down in some obscure retreat,Incens'd Maria may her rage forget;And I to death my duty will improve,And what you miss in empire, add in love--Your godlike soul is open'd in your look,And I have faintly your great meaning spoke,For this alone I'm pleas'd I wore the crown,To find with what content we lay it down.Heroes may win, but 't is a heavenly raceCan quit a throne with a becoming grace."Thus spoke the fairest of her sex, and cheer'dHer drooping lord; whose boding bosom fear'dA darker cloud of ills would burst, and shedSeverer vengeance on her guiltless head:Too just, alas, the terrors which he felt!For, lo! a guard!--Forgive him, if he melt--How sharp her pangs, when sever'd from his side,The most sincerely lov'd, and loving bride,In space confin'd, the muse forbears to tell;Deep was her anguish, but she bore it well.His pain was equal, but his virtue less;He thought in grief there could be no excess.Pensive he sat, o'ercast with gloomy care,And often fondly clasp'd his absent fair;Now, silent, wander'd thro' his rooms of state,And sicken'd at the pomp, and tax'd his fate;Which thus adorn'd, in all her shining store,A splendid wretch, magnificently poor.Now on the bridal-bed his eyes were cast,And anguish fed on his enjoyments past;Each recollected pleasure made him smart,And every transport stabb'd him to the heart.That happy moon, which summon'd to delight,That moon which shone on his dear nuptial night,Which saw him fold her yet untasted charms(Denied to princes) in his longing arms;Now sees the transient blessing fleet away,Empire and love! the vision of a day.Thus, in the British clime, a summer-stormWill oft the smiling face of heaven deform;The winds with violence at once descend,Sweep flowers and fruits, and make the forest bend;A sudden winter, while the sun is near,O'ercomes the season, and inverts the year.But whither is the captive borne away,The beauteous captive, from the cheerful day?The scene is chang'd indeed; before her eyesIll boding looks and unknown horrors rise:For pomp and splendour, for her guard and crown,A gloomy dungeon, and a keeper's frown:Black thoughts, each morn, invade the lover's breast,Each night, a ruffian locks the queen to rest.Ah mournful change, if judg'd by vulgar minds!But Suffolk's daughter its advantage finds.Religion's force divine is best display'dIn deep desertion of all human aid:To succour in extremes, is her delight,And cheer the heart, when terror strikes the sight.We, disbelieving our own senses, gaze,And wonder what a mortal's heart can raiseTo triumph o'er misfortunes, smile in grief,And comfort those who come to bring relief:We gaze; and as we gaze, wealth, fame, decay,And all the world's vain glories fade away.Against her cares she rais'd a dauntless mind,And with an ardent heart, but most resign'd,Deep in the dreadful gloom, with pious heat,Amid the silence of her dark retreat,Address'd her God,--"Almighty power divine!'Tis thine to raise, and to depress, is thine;With honour to light up the name unknown,Or to put out the lustre of a throne.In my short span both fortunes I have prov'd,And though with ill frail nature will be mov'd,I'll bear it well: (O strengthen me to bear!)And if my piety may claim thy care;If I remember'd, in youth's giddy heat,And tumult of a court, a future state;O favour, when thy mercy I imploreFor one who never guilty sceptre bore!'Twas I receiv'd the crown; my lord is free;If it must fall, let vengeance fall on me.Let him survive, his country's name to raise,And in a guilty land to speak thy praise!O may th' indulgence of a father's love,Pour'd forth on me, be doubled from above!If these are safe, I'll think my prayers succeed,And bless thy tender mercies, whilst I bleed."'Twas now the mournful eve before that dayIn which the queen to her full wrath gave way;Thro' rigid justice, rush'd into offence,And drank in zeal the blood of innocence:The sun went down in clouds, and seem'd to mournThe sad necessity of his return;The hollow wind, and melancholy rain,Or did, or was imagin'd to, complain:The tapers cast an inauspicious light;Stars there were none, and doubly dark the night.Sweet innocence in chains can take her rest;Soft slumber gently creeping through her breast,She sinks; and in her sleep is reinthron'd,Mock'd by a gaudy dream, and vainly crown'd.She views her fleets and armies, seas and land,And stretches wide her shadow of command:With royal purple is her vision hung;By phantom hosts are shouts of conquest rung;Low at her feet the suppliant rival lies;Our prisoner mourns her fate, and bids her rise.Now level beams upon the waters play'd,Glanc'd on the hills, and westward cast the shade;The busy trades in city had beganTo sound, and speak the painful life of man.In tyrants' breasts the thoughts of vengeance rouse,And the fond bridegroom turns him to his spouse.At this first birth of light, while morning breaks,Our spouseless bride, our widow'd wife, awakes;Awakes, and smiles; nor night's imposture blames;Her real pomps were little more than dreams;A short-liv'd blaze, a lightning quickly o'er,That died in birth, that shone, and were no more:She turns her side, and soon resumes a stateOf mind, well suited to her alter'd fate,Serene, though serious; when dread tidings come(Ah wretched Guilford!) of her instant doom.Sun, hide thy beams; in clouds as black as nightThy face involve; be guiltless of the sight;Or haste more swiftly to the western main;Nor let her blood the conscious daylight stain!Oh! how severe! to fall so new a bride,Yet blushing from the priest, in youthful pride;When time had just matur'd each perfect grace,And open'd all the wonders of her face!To leave her Guilford dead to all relief,Fond of his woe, and obstinate in grief.Unhappy fair! whatever fancy drew,(Vain promis'd blessings,) vanish from her view;No train of cheerful days, endearing nights,No sweet domestic joys, and chaste delights;Pleasures that blossom e'en from doubts and fears;And bliss and rapture rising out of cares:No little Guilford, with paternal grace,Lull'd on her knee, or smiling in her face;Who, when her dearest father shall return,From pouring tears on her untimely urn,Might comfort to his silver hairs impart,And fill her place in his indulgent heart:As where fruits fall, quick rising blossoms smile,And the bless'd Indian of his care beguile,In vain these various reasons jointly press,To blacken death, and heighten her distress;She, thro' th' encircling terrors darts her sightTo the bless'd regions of eternal light,And fills her soul with peace: to weeping friendsHer father, and her lord, she recommends;Unmov'd herself: her foes her air survey,And rage to see their malice thrown away.She soars; now nought on earth detains her care----But Guilford; who still struggles for his share.Still will his form importunately rise,Clog and retard her transport to the skies;As trembling flames now take a feeble flight,Now catch the brand with a returning light,Thus her soul onward from the seats aboveFalls fondly back, and kindles into love:At length she conquers in the doubtful field;That heaven she seeks will be her Guilford's shield.Now death is welcome; his approach is slow;'Tis tedious longer to expect the blow.Oh! mortals, short of sight, who think the pastO'erblown misfortune still shall prove the last:Alas! misfortunes travel in a train,And oft in life form one perpetual chain;Fear buries fear, and ills on ills attend,Till life and sorrow meet one common end.She thinks that she has nought but death to fear,And death is conquer'd. Worse than death is near.Her rigid trials are not yet complete;The news arrives of her great father's fate.She sees his hoary head, all white with age,A victim to th' offended monarch's rage.How great the mercy, had she breath'd her last,Ere the dire sentence on her father past!A fonder parent nature never knew;And as his age increas'd, his fondness grew.A parent's love ne'er better was bestow'd;The pious daughter in her heart o'erflow'd.And can she from all weakness still refrain?And still the firmness of her soul maintain?Impossible! a sigh will force its way;One patient tear her mortal birth betray;She sighs and weeps! but so she weeps and sighs,As silent dews descend, and vapours rise.Celestial patience! how dost thou defeatThe foe's proud menace, and elude his hate!While passion takes his part, betrays our peace;To death and torture swells each slight disgrace;By not opposing, thou dost ills destroy,And wear thy conquer'd sorrows into joy.Now she revolves within her anxious mind,What woe still lingers in reserve behind.Griefs rise on griefs, and she can see no bound,While nature lasts, and can receive a wound.The sword is drawn; the queen to rage inclin'd,By mercy, nor by piety, confin'd.What mercy can the zealot's heart assuage,Whose piety itself converts to rage?She thought, and sigh'd. And now the blood beganTo leave her beauteous cheek all cold and wan.New sorrow dimm'd the lustre of her eye,And on her cheek the fading roses die.Alas! should Guilford too--when now she's broughtTo that dire view, that precipice of thought,While there she trembling stands, nor dares look down,Nor can recede, till heaven's decrees are known;Cure of all ills, till now, her lord appears--But not to cheer her heart, and dry her tears!Not now, as usual, like the rising day,To chase the shadows, and the damps away:But, like a gloomy storm, at once to sweepAnd plunge her to the bottom of the deep.Black were his robes, dejected was his air,His voice was frozen by his cold despair;Slow, like a ghost, he mov'd with solemn pace;A dying paleness sat upon his face.Back she recoil'd, she smote her lovely breast,Her eyes the anguish of her heart confess'd;Struck to the soul, she stagger'd with the wound,And sunk, a breathless image, to the ground.Thus the fair lily, when the sky's o'ercast,At first but shudders in the feeble blast;But when the winds and weighty rains descend,The fair and upright stem is forc'd to bend;Till broke at length, its snowy leaves are shed,And strew with dying sweets their native bed.