Nor foes nor fortune take this pow'r away;
And is my Abelard lefs kind than they?

Tears ftill are mine, and those I need not fpare,
Love but demands what else were shed in pray'r;
No happier task thefe faded eyes purfue ;
To read and weep is all they now can do.

Then share thy pain, allow that fad relief;
Ah, more than fhare it, give me all thy grief.
Heav'n first taught letters for fome wretch's aid,
Some banish'd lover, or fome captive maid;
They live, they fpeak, they breathe what love infpires,
Warm from the foul, and faithful to its fires;
The virgins with without her fears impart,
Excufe the blufh, and pour out all the heart;
Speed the foft intercourse from foul to foul,
And waft a figh from Indus to the pole.

Thou know'ft how guiltless first I met thy flame, When love approach'd me under friendship's name ; My fancy form'd thee of angelic kind,

Some emanation of th' all-bounteous mind.

Thofe fmiling eyes attemp'ring ev'ry ray,

Shone fweetly lambent with celeftial day.
Guiltless I gaz'd; Heav'n liften'd while you fung;
And truths divine came mended from that tongue*.

From

He was her preceptor in philofophy and divinity.

From lips like thofe what precepts fail to move?
Too foon they taught me 'twas no fin to love:
Back thro' the paths of pleafing fenfe I ran,
Nor wish'd an angel whom I lov'd a man.
Dim and remote the joys of faints I fee;
Nor envy them that Heav'n I lofe for thee.

How oft, when prefs'd to marriage, have 1 said,
Curfe on all laws but those which love has made;
Love, free as air, at fight of human ties,
Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies.
Let wealth, let honour, wait the wedded dame,
Auguft her deed, and facred be her fame;
Before true pallion all thofe views remove;
Fame, wealth, and honour! what are you to love?
The jealous god, when we profane his fires,
Those restless paffions in revenge infpires,
And bids them make mistaken mortals groan,
Who feek in love for aught but love alone.
Should at my feet the world's great master fall,
Himself, his throne, his world, I'd fcorn them all:
Not Cæfar's emprefs would I deign to prove ;
No, make me miftrefs to the man I love:

If there be yet another name more free,

More fond than miftrefs, make me that to thee!
Oh! happy flate! when fouls each other draw,
When love is liberty, and nature law :
All then is full, poffeffing and poffeft,
No craving void left aching in the breast:

Ev'n

Ev'n thought meets thought ere from the lips it part,
And each warm wifh fprings mutual from the heart.
This fure is blifs, (if blifs on earth there be),
And once the lot of Abelard and me.

Alas, how chang'd! what fudden horrors rife!
A naked lover bound and bleeding lies!
Where, where was Eloife? her voice, her hand,
Her poniard had oppos'd the dire command.
Barbarian, ftay! that bloody stroke restrain ;
The crime was common, common be the pain.
I can no more; by fhame, by rage fupprefs'd,
Let tears, and burning blushes speak the rest.

Canft thou forget that fad, that folemn day,
When victims at yon altar's foot we lay?
Canft thou forget what tears that moment fell,
When, warm in youth, I bade the world farewel?
As with cold lips I kifs'd the facred veil,

The fhrines all trembled, and the lamps grew pale
Heav'n fcarce believ'd the conqueft it furvey'd,
And faints with wonder heard the vows I made.
Yet then, to those dread altars as I drew,

Not on the cross my eyes were fix'd, but you:
Not grace, or zeal, love only was my call;
And if I lofe thy love, I lofe my all.

Come with thy looks, thy words, relieve my woe
Thofe fill at least are left thee to bestow.

Still on that breaft enamour'd let me lie,

Still drink delicious poifon from thy eye,

Pant

Pant on thy lip, and to thy heart be preft;
Give all thou canft-and let me dream the reft.
Ah, no! inftruct me other joys to prize,
With other beauties charm my partial eyes;
Full in my view fet all the bright abode,
And make my foul quit Abelard for God.

Ah! think at least thy flock deserves thy care,
Plants of thy hand, and children of thy pray'r.
From the falfe world in early youth they fled,
By thee to mountains, wilds, and deserts led.
You rais'd these hallow'd walls; the defert fmil'd*,
And Paradife was open'd in the wild.

No weeping orphan saw his father's flores
Our fhrines irradiate, or emblaze the floors;
No filver faints, by dying mifers giv'n,
Here brib'd the rage of ill-requited Heav'n:
But fuch plain roofs as piety could raise,
And only vocal with the Maker's praise.

In thefe lone walls, (their day's eternal bound).
These mofs grown domes with fpiry turrets crown'd,
Where awful arches make a noon day night,
And the dim windows fhed a folemn light;
Thy eyes diffus'd a reconciling ray,
And gleams of glory brighten'd all the day.
But now no face divine contentment wears,
'Tis all blank fadnefs, or continual tears.
See how the force of others' pray'rs I try,
(O pious fraud of am'rous charity!)

*He founded the monaftery.

But

But why fhould I on others' pray'rs depend?
Come thou, my father, brother, husband, friend
Ah let thy handmaid, fifter, daughter, move,
And all thofe tender names in one, thy love!
The darksome pines that o'er yon rocks reclin'd
Wave high, and murmur to the hollow wind;
The wand'ring ftreams that fhine between the hills,
The grot that echo to the tinkling rills,
The dying gales that pant upon the trees,
The lakes that quiver to the curling breeze;
No more these scenes my meditation aid,
Or lull to reft the visionary maid.
But o'er the twilight groves and dusky caves,
Long-founding ifles, and intermingled graves,
Black melancholy fits, and round her throws
A death-like filence, and a dread repofe:
Her gloomy prefence faddens all the fcene,
Shades ev'ry flow'r, and darkens ev'ry green,
Deepens the murmur of the falling floods,
And breathes a browner horror on the woods.
Yet here for ever, ever must I stay;
Sad proof how well a lover can obey!
Death, only death, can break the lafting chain;
And here, ev'n then, fhall my cold duft remain,
Here all its frailties, all its flames refign,

And wait till 'tis no fin to mix with thine.

Ah, wretch! believ'd the spouse of God in vain, Confefs'd within the flave of love and man,