Her heart, whene’er she writes, feels writing to a heart.”— } “Fortune, dear Richard, is thy friend—a wife Like thine must soften every care of life, And all its woes—I know a pair, whose lives Run in the common track of men and wives; And half their worth, at least, this pair would give Could they like thee and thy Matilda live. “They were, as lovers, of the fondest kind, 70 With no defects in manner or in mind; In habit, temper, prudence, they were those Whom, as examples, I could once propose; Now this, when married, you no longer trace, But discontent and sorrow in the place: Their pictures, taken as the pair I saw In a late contest, I have tried to draw: ’Tis but a sketch, and at my idle time I put my couple in the garb of rhyme. Thou art a critic of the milder sort, 80 And thou wilt judge with favour my report. “Let me premise, twelve months have flown away, Swiftly or sadly, since the happy day. “Let us suppose the couple left to spend Some hours without engagement or a friend; And be it likewise on our mind impress’d, } They pass for persons happy and at rest; } Their love by Hymen crown’d, and all their prospects bless’d. } * * * * * “Love has slow death and sudden: wretches prove That fate severe—the sudden death of love; 90 It is as if, on day serenely bright, Came with its horrors instantaneous night; Others there are with whom love dies away In gradual waste and unperceived decay. Such is that death of love that nature finds Most fitted for the use of common minds, The natural death; but doubtless there are some Who struggle hard when they perceive it come; Loth to be loved no longer, loth to prove To the once dear that they no longer love; 100 And some with not successless arts will strive To keep the weak’ning, fluttering flame alive. “But see my verse; in this I try to paint The passion failing, fading to complaint; The gathering grief for joys remember’d yet; The vain remonstrance, and the weak regret. First speaks the wife in sorrow; she is grieved T’ admit the truth, and would be still deceived.” _HENRY AND EMMA._