procured the means to have it in her power; For this, she had distilled, 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 explained the rest. Or not amazed, or hiding her surprise, She sternly on the bearer fixed her eyes; Then thus:--Tell Tancred, on his daughter's part, The gold, though precious, equals not the heart: But he did well to give his best; and I, Who wished a worthier urn, forgive his poverty.-- At this she curbed a groan, that else had come, And, pausing, viewed the present in the tomb; Then to the heart, adored devoutly, glued Her lips, and, raising it, her speech renewed:-- Even from my day of birth to this, the bound Of my unhappy being, I have found My father's care and tenderness expressed; But this last act of love excels the rest: For this so dear a present, bear him back The best return that I can live to make.-- The messenger dispatched, again she viewed The loved remains, and, sighing, thus pursued:-- Source of my life, and lord of my desires, In whom I lived, with whom my soul expires! Poor heart! no more the spring of vital heat; Cursed be the hands that tore thee from thy seat! The course is finished which thy fates decreed, And thou from thy corporeal prison freed: Soon hast thou reached the goal with mended pace; A world of woes dispatched in little space. Forced by thy worth, thy foe, in death become Thy friend, has lodged thee in a costly tomb. There yet remained thy funeral exequies, The weeping tribute of thy widow's eyes; And those indulgent heaven has found the way, That I, before my death, have leave to pay. My father even in cruelty is kind, } Or heaven has turned the malice of his mind } To better uses than his hate designed; } And made the insult, which in his gift appears, The means to mourn thee with my pious tears; Which I will pay thee down before I go, And save myself the pains to weep below, If souls can weep. Though once I meant to meet My fate with face unmoved, and eyes unwet, Yet, since I have thee here in narrow room, My tears shall set thee first afloat within thy tomb. Then (as I know thy spirit hovers nigh) Under thy friendly conduct will I fly To regions unexplored, secure to share } Thy state; nor hell shall punishment appear; } And heaven is double heaven, if thou art there.-- } She said: Her brimful eyes, that ready stood, And only wanted will to weep a flood, Released their watery store, and poured amain, Like clouds low-hung, a sober shower of rain;