His flame was equal, though by mine inspired,
(For so the difference of our birth required :)
Had he been born like me, like me his love
Had first begun what mine was forced to move:
But thus beginning, thus we persevere ;
Our passions yet continue what they were,
Nor length of trial makes our joys the less sincere.
'At this my choice, though not by thine allow'd,
(Thy judgment herding with the common crowd)
Thou takest unjust offence; and, led by them,
Dost less the merit, than the man esteem.
Too sharply, Tancred, by thy pride betray'd,
Hast thou against the laws of kind inveigh'd:
For all the offence is in opinion placed,

Which deems high birth by lowly choice debased!
This thought alone with fury fires thy breast,
(For holy marriage justifies the rest)
That I have sunk the glories of the state,
And mix'd my blood with a plebeian mate:
In which I wonder thou shouldst oversee
Superior causes, or impute to me

The fault of fortune, or the fates' decree.
Or call it heaven's imperial power alone, [known:
Which moves on springs of justice, though un-
Yet this we see, though order'd for the best,
The bad exalted, and the good oppress'd;
Permitted laurels grace the lawless brow,
The' unworthy raised, the worthy cast below.
'But leaving that: search we the secret springs,
And backward trace the principles of things;
There shall we find, that when the world began,
One common mass composed the mould of man;
One paste of flesh on all degrees bestow'd,
And kneaded up alike with moistening blood.

The same Almighty Power inspired the frame
With kindled life, and form'd the souls the same:
The faculties of intellect, and will
[skill;
Dispensed with equal hand, disposed with equal
Like liberty indulged, with choice of good or ill:
Thus born alike, from virtue first began
The difference that distinguish'd man from man:
He claim'd no title from descent of blood,

But that which made him noble, made him good: "Warm'd with more particles of heavenly flame, He wing'd his upward flight, and soar'd to fame ; The rest remain'd below, a tribe without a name. "This law, though custom now diverts the course, As nature's institute, is yet in force,

Uncancell'd, though disused; and he whose mind Is virtuous, is alone of noble kind;

Though poor in fortune, of celestial race;

And he commits the crime who calls him base.

Now lay the line, and measure all thy court, By inward virtue, not external port;

And find whom justly to prefer above

The man on whom my judgment placed my love:
So shalt thou see his parts and person shine,
And, thus compared, the rest a base degenerate line.
Nor took I, when I first survey'd thy court,
His valour or his virtues on report;
But trusted what I ought to trust alone,
Relying on thy eyes, and not my own:
Thy praise (and thine was then the public voice)
First recommended Guiscard to my choice.
Directed thus by thee, I look'd, and found
A man, I thought, deserving to be crown'd;
First by my father pointed to my sight,
Nor less conspicuous by his native light;

[aright,

His mind, his mien, the features of his face,
Excelling all the rest of human race:
These were thy thoughts, and thou couldst judge
Till interest made a jaundice in thy sight.

• Or should I grant, thou didst not rightly see; Then thou wert first deceived, and I deceived by thee.

But if thou shalt allege, through pride of mind,

Thy blood with one of base condition join'd,
"Tis false; for 'tis not baseness to be poor;
His poverty augments thy crime the more;
Upbraids thy justice with the scant regard
Ofworth: whom princes praise, they should reward.
Are these the kings entrusted by the crowd
With wealth, to be dispensed for common good?
The people sweat not for their king's delight,
To' enrich a pimp, or raise a parasite;
Theirs is the toil; and he who well has served
His country, has his country's wealth deserved.
Even mighty monarchs oft are meanly born,
And kings by birth, to lowest rank return;
All subject to the power of giddy chance,
For fortune can depress, or can advance:
But true nobility is of the mind,

Not given by chance, and not to chance resign'd.
For the remaining doubt of thy decree,
What to resolve, and how dispose of me;
Be warn'd to cast that useless care aside,
Myself alone will for myself provide ;
If, in thy doting and decrepit age,
Thy soul, a stranger in thy youth to rage,
Begins in cruel deeds to take delight,

Gorge with my blood thy barbarous appetite;

For I so little am disposed to pray
For life, I would not cast a wish away.
Such as it is, the' offence is all my own;
And what to Guiscard is already done,
Or to be done, is doom'd by thy decree,
That, if not executed first by thee,
Shall on my person be perform'd by me.
'Away! with women weep, and leave me here,
Fix'd, like a man, to die without a tear;
Or save, or slay us both this present hour,
"Tis all that fate has left within thy power!'

She said: nor did her father fail to find
In all she spoke, the greatness of her mind;
Yet thought she was not obstinate to die,
Nor deem'd the death she promised was so nigh.
Secure in this belief, he left the dame,

Resolved to spare her life, and save her shame;
But that detested object to remove,

To wreak his vengeance, and to cure her love.
Intent on this, a secret order sign'd,

The death of Guiscard to his guards enjoin'd:
Strangling was chosen, and the night the time;
A mute revenge, and blind as was the crime:
His faithful heart, a bloody sacrifice,
Torn from his breast, to glut the tyrant's eyes,
Closed the severe command: for, slaves to pay,
What king's decree, the soldier must obey:
Waged against foes; and when the wars are o'er,
Fit only to maintain despotic power:
Dangerous to freedom, and desired alone
By kings who seek an arbitrary throne.

Such were these guards; as ready to have slain
The prince himself, allured with greater gain:

So was the charge perform'd with better will,
By men inured to blood, and exercised in ill.

Now though the sullen sire had eased his mind, The pomp of his revenge was yet behind, A pomp prepared to grace the present he design'd. A goblet rich with gems, and rough with gold, Of depth and breadth the precious pledge to hold, With cruel care he chose: the hollow part Inclosed, the lid conceal'd, the lover's heart. Then of his trusted mischiefs, one he sent, And bade him with these words the gift present: Thy father sends thee this, to cheer thy breast, And glad thy sight with what thou lovest the best; As thou hast pleased his eyes, and joy'd his mind, With what he loved the most of human kind.'

Ere this, the royal dame, who well had weigh'd The consequence of what her sire had said, Fix'd on her fate, against the' expected hour Procured the means to have it in her power: For this, she had distill'd with early care, The juice of simples, friendly to despair, A magazine of death; and thus prepared, Secure to die, the fatal message heard ; Then smiled severe; nor with a troubled look, Or trembling hand, the funeral present took; Even kept her countenance, when the lid, removed, Disclosed the heart unfortunately loved. She needed not be told within whose breast It lodged; the message had explain'd the rest. Or not amazed, or hiding her surprise, She sternly on the bearer fix'd her eyes; Then thus: Tell Tancred, on his daughter's part, The gold, though precious, equals not the heart: