VII. The scene then chang'd, with bold erected look Our martial king the fight with reverence ftrook : For not content to exprefs his outward part, As when, by magic, ghofts are made appear. bright, Beauty alone could beauty take fo right: 135 Before a train of heroines was feen, In beauty foremost, as in rank, the queen. 140 Still with a greater blaze fhe fhone, And her bright foul broke out on every fide. 145 What next she had defign'd, heaven only knows: To fuch immoderate growth her conqueft rofe, That fate alone its progrefs could oppofe. VIII. 151 Now all thofe charms, that blooming grace, The well-proportion'd shape, and beauteous face, Shall never more be seen by mortal eyes; In earth the much-lamented virgin lies. Not wit, nor piety could fate prevent; Nor was the cruel destiny content To finish all the murder at a blow, To sweep at once her life, and beauty too; But, like a harden'd felon, took a pride To work more mifchievously flow, And plunder'd first, and then destroy'd. O double facrilege on things divine, To rob the relick, and deface the shrine! But thus Orinda dy'd: 155 160 Heaven, by the fame disease, did both tranflate; As equal were their fouls, fo equal was their fate. IX. Mean-time her warlike brother on the seas 165 His waving ftreamers to the winds difplays, And vows for his return, with vain devotion, pays. Ver. 162. But thus Orinda dy'd:] The matchless Orinda, Mrs. Katherine Philips, was author of a book of poems published in folie, and wrote feveral other things. She died alfo of the fmall-pox in 1664, being only thirty-two years of age. She was a woman of an indifferent appearance; but of great virtue, taste, and erudition, which endeared her to the first people of the age. The Duke of Ormond, the Earls of Orrery and Rofcommon, Lady Corke, &c. Mr. Dryden, Mr. Cowley, &c. &c. were all her friends. DERRICK. Ah, generous youth, that wish forbear, 170 The winds too foon will waft thee here! No more fhalt thou behold thy fifter's face, X. 175 When in mid-air the golden trump shall found, To raise the nations under ground: 180 The judging God fhall close the book of fate; For those who wake, and those who sleep: 185 From the four corners of the sky; When finews o'er the skeletons are spread, Those cloth'd with flesh, and life inspires the dead; The facred poets first shall hear the found, And foremost from the tomb shall bound, For they are cover'd with the lightest ground; And straight, with in-born vigour, on the wing, Like mounting larks, to the new morning fing. There thou, fweet faint, before the quire fhall go, As harbinger of heaven, the way to show, The way which thou fo well haft learnt below. 195 UPON THE DEATH OF THE EARL OF DUNDEE. OH laft and beft of Scots! who didft maintain Thy country's freedom from a foreign reign; New people fill the land now thou art gone, New gods the temples, and new kings the throne. Scotland and thee did each in other live; 5 Nor would'ft thou her, nor could fhe thee fur vive. Farewell, who dying didft fupport the state, And couldft not fall but with thy country's fate. Ver. 1. Oh luft and beft] The conduct and death of this truly valiant chieftain is defcribed with much eloquence and animation in his account of the important battle at Killikranky, by Sir John Dalrymple, in the first volume of his Memoirs. Dundee, being wounded by a musket-ball, rode off the field, defiring his mifchance to be concealed, and fainting, dropped from his horfe; as foon as he was recovered, he defired to be raised, looked to the field, and afked, "How things went?" Being told, "All well;" then faid he, "I am well," and expired. Dr. J. WARTON. |