Exempt from every grief,’twas mine to live In dreams so sweet, enchantments so divine, A thousand joys propitious Love can give Were scarcely worth one rapturous pain of mine Bound by soft spells, in dear illusions blest, I breathed no sigh for fortune or for power; No care intruding to disturb my breast, I dwelt entranced in Love’s Elysian bower: But Fate, such transports eager to destroy, Soon rudely woke me from the dream of joy, And bade the phantoms of delight begone: Bade hope and happiness at once depart, And left but memory to distract my heart, Retracing every hour of bliss for ever flown. “Mi nueve y dulce querella.” No searching eye can pierce the veil That o’er my secret love is thrown; No outward signs reveal its tale, But to my bosom known. Thus, like the spark whose vivid light In the dark flint is hid from sight, It dwells within, alone. METASTASIO. “Dunque si sfoga in pianto.” In tears, the heart oppress’d with grief Gives language to its woes; In tears, its fulness finds relief, When rapture’s tide o’erflows! Who, then, unclouded bliss would seek On this terrestrial sphere; When e’en Delight can only speak, Like Sorrow--in a tear? “Al furor d’avversa Sorte.” He shall not dread Misfortune’s angry mien, Nor feebly sink beneath her tempest rude, Whose soul hath learn’d, through many a trying scene, To smile at fate, and suffer unsubdued. In the rough school of billows, clouds, and storms, Nursed and matured, the pilot learns his art: Thus Fate’s dread ire, by many a conflict, forms The lofty spirit and enduring heart! “Quella onda che ruina.” The torrent wave, that breaks with force Impetuous down the Alpine height, Complains and struggles in its course, But sparkles, as the diamond bright. The stream in shadowy valley deep May slumber in its narrow bed; But silent, in unbroken sleep, Its lustre and its life are fled. “Leggiadra rosa, le cui pure foglie.” Sweet rose! whose tender foliage to expand Her fostering dews the Morning lightly shed, Whilst gales of balmy breath thy blossoms fann’d, And o’er thy leaves the soft suffusion spread: That hand, whose care withdrew thee from the ground, To brighter worlds thy favour’d charms hath borne; Thy fairest buds, with grace perennial crown’d, There breathe and bloom, released from every thorn. Thus, far removed, and now transplanted flower! Exposed no more to blast or tempest rude, Shelter’d with tenderest care from frost or shower, And each rough season’s chill vicissitude, Now may thy form in bowers of peace assume Immortal fragrance, and unwithering bloom. “Che speri, instabil Dea, di sassi e spine.”